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Dishes prepared in
Top Chef ™: Wisconsin
Danny: "This is my version of a 'piragua con leche' - melon sorbet with avocado yogurt, candied seaweed, and a condensed milk stamp. As a kid, my grandfather would pick me up from school, and we would always get something sweet before he took me home. And it was traditionally a piragua, which is a really classic Puerto Rican shaved ice."
Judges, behind the scenes
"Danny's dish brought the element of the sea so beautifully."
"The seaweed is so clever, and it added just what it needed."
"That melon sorbet played so beautifully with the nuts and the seaweed, the lemon. It is a perfect end to his progression."
"What I love about it is you have an eight year old kid with his grandfather walking down the streets of Brooklyn, and this is what you end up with. That's the beauty of food."
Judges Table
"Danny, your dessert. Have you ever been in New Orleans? We have these snowball stands that are all over the place. Well, we don't have candied seaweed? But i wish we did!"
"I wish you had another one right now. It was so delicious."
"I didn't know that there was lemon in there, but as soon as I got that, I was like, oh. And it was excellent."
"What I liked about this dessert is why I think I like food that you can evoke that memory. Fantastic. It's gonna become a signature. It's one of those dishes."
Savannah: "I did a dessert inspired by hummingbird cake. It's actually a banana upside down cake. The banana is bruleed. There's a lime pineapple granita, a rum coconut sauce. It actually comes from Jamaica, but I grew up eating it a lot in the south."
Judges, behind the scenes
"Savannah's hummingbird cake. I like the flavor of the pineapple and the rum."
"Thought the sauce complemented it really well."
"I love the salinity in the pineapple sorbet. The dish was kind hearted, and Savannah has a kind hearted style about her food."
Judges Table
"Savannah, I've never had a hummingbird cake. I love salty desserts. That was my favorite part of the dish."
"I was the kid that takes cake, and I melt ice cream, and it just melts all together. It gave me a childlike memory without ever having hummingbird cake. That was really special for me."
Dan: "So we have a yogurt mousse with coriander, olive oil, salted phyllo crisps cooked in a little bit of lemon oil, and yummy grilled pineapple. You know, I wanted to end the meal with something light and refreshing, especially after that oxtail course."
Judges, behind the scenes
"I love pineapple. I love the creaminess. It was really well done."
"I really enjoy the use of basil and I love the flavor."
"You know, using filo, the way he used it, I thought was really clever."
"I thought it was toasty and salty, and it really balanced the rest of Dan's dish."
Judges Table
"Dan, your fourth course, it was really delicious. It was tropical. It was time and place. It was exactly what you wanted it to be."
"I also like that, the compote. Instead of just taking pineapples and making a compote, you grill them first, create a little smoke in there."
"I thought that was a nice counterpoint. I enjoyed it. I thought it was a really well balanced dessert. Truly."
Danny: "I have for you my interpretation of chaaza. And so I did spiny lobster with salsa matcha and squash and persimmon over top. And then the sauce itself is the chaaza."
Judges, behind the scenes
"I actually loved the complexity of Danny's lobster and chaaza course."
"Raw pumpkin. I don't get it."
"I had an issue with the raw pumpkin too."
"I enjoyed it. I thought it was a great contrast to the persimmon."
"I love the squash and the persimmon, but the lobster, two thirds of it was not cooked enough."
"I didn't find my lobster to be undercooked. I thought it to be, like, medium rare, medium but the two sauces made the dish, in a way, for me."
Judges Table
"Danny, your third course, the lobster temperature, did you want it fully cooked, or did you want it more in the center?"
Danny: "A medium rare lobster."
"About two thirds of our lobster was perfectly cooked, but as we worked up towards it was a little bit undercooked."
"But I love the story presentation. I thought it was really cool."
"The two sauces, your chaaza and your salsa matcha together was just magic."
Dan: "We have oxtail ragu, tomato concasse. We have a yeasted dumpling, a little Pikliz with cabbage, carrots, scallions."
Judges, behind the scenes
"I think Dan did a great job cooking the oxtail. Pretty rustic, but that's what he wanted it to be."
"To me, it's a little on the sweet side, but even though the stew is sweet, I think the acid works really well with that."
"I like the combination together."
"The dumplings were cooked really well, and I loved it. I really did."
Judges Table
"Dan, your third course. I loved this dish from you, Dan."
"It was rich. It was unctuous. It's homey. The oxtail was cooked perfectly."
"Loved the fried Brussels sprouts, loved the pickled carrot. I was happy that you presented something from your heart."
Savannah: "My second course is inspired by my time spent cooking in Boston. I have spiny lobster agnolotti. It has a lobster broth, smoked marcona almonds, and grapes that are tossed in a tarragon vinaigrette."
Kristen Kish: "What's the egg to flour ratio in your pasta dough?"
Savannah: "We did eight cups of flour and then twelve eggs, and it was more yolk than whole egg."
Judges, behind the scenes
"I think Savannah is trying to find herself in her cooking."
"The pasta dough itself is not right. Technically speaking, it felt dry and brittle."
"I actually like her broth. It's on the verge of being salty, but a lot of lobster flavor comes through."
"Lobster pasta gives me feelings of luxury, which means not too many textures, but I think the almonds just get in the way of that for me."
Judges Table
"Savannah, your lobster course, do you make a lot of pasta?"
Savannah: "I do. At home, I did a tester, and the texture was a little bit different than I'm used to, but that was at a point where I couldn't really turn back."
"The pasta was a real problem. For a stuffed pasta, you want something softer."
"That filling just felt like it was only some pieces of slightly overcooked lobster. I wanted a voluptuousness in the middle there."
Dan: "We have grilled snapper with some ginger and scallions on top, braised pumpkin, and a dashi made from smoked snapper bones."
Judges, behind the scenes
"I thought Dan's dish was this perfect umami-ish song to seafood."
"I think Dan's dish is simple but executed perfectly."
"I like the texture of the pumpkin. I'm going back for another bite."
"Yes. The dashi was really flavorful. Found a nice little line there of having some flavor, but still being light."
Judges Table
"Dan, your snapper dish. I wanted it to be simple and, you know, to the point, simplicity sometimes goes a long way."
"The fish was cooked perfectly. It was exactly the dish that you said it was going to be. "
"That broth was lovely. It was bright, but it also was subtle."
Danny: "I have for you smoked mussels, plantains, and cabbage. On the base of the plate is a smoked mussel mayo, and then a fines herbes puree."
Judges, behind the scenes
"I love the cabbage."
"The char was beautiful."
"I love char."
"I really like all the flavors, but I had a hard time figuring out how to get it onto my fork and then into my mouth. There's a lot going on. Like, throw everything in this dish and see what happens."
"That's it. I like it. Yeah, weirdly like it."
Judges Table
"Danny, your smoked muscle course ... was the idea to kind of go in with a fork and knife and cut into it?"
Danny: "I probably would have pulled the plantain chip out and put a bunch of things on it. I like to eat with my hands a lot."
"I feel like that would have been more successful had that instruction come, because it does impact how someone receives the flavor of the dish. But whichever way you want to eat it. I thought it was really tasty."
"I was a little reluctant about the mayonnaise, but it really made the dish. The flavors were there."
Savannah: "I have seared grouper. On top is epis spice, and mofongo of plantains on the side. Leek sprout, and then there's a butter sauce with flying fish."
Judges, behind the scenes
"Savannah's grouper dish, I feel like you could imagine yourself at, like, a beachside cabana and having, like, a garlicky green sauce, having really good mofongo."
"Maybe that's what she was reaching for. When 50% of your dish is supposed to be mofongo, and you're calling it mofongo. That is not a mofongo."
"It's a mofong-no."
Judges Table
"Savannah, have you made mofongo before?"
Savannah: "I haven't. The plantains were probably a little under ripe."
"The mofongo was a little bit dry, a little bit starchy, and it wasn't having a conversation with the other side of the plate."
"If you had just given us sauce and fish and sea urchin, I think it would have been fine."
Savannah: "I wanted to reference locations and certain dishes that brought back food memories for me, but also inspired me throughout my career. I am starting with North Carolina, which is where I'm born and raised. I grew up eating a lot of sweet potatoes and hush puppies. This is a salt fish fritter. It has a sweet potato puree, pickled mussels, and then a habanero honey glaze."
Judges, behind the scenes
"Savannah's first course was a great way to start the meal with something crunchy and sweet, savory."
"The honey habanero I loved. I thought there was some harmony there. There was a little bit of spice in there as well."
"I thought it was nicely balanced. The fritter, I thought she just did a really great job."
Judges Table
Savannah: "My first course kind of being centered around growing up in North Carolina. I didn't want it to be a salt cod dish."
"For me, the dish was about hush puppies and sweet potatoes. To be honest, growing up with salt cod, it was well done."
"It was perfectly fried. The honey on the fritter with the mussels was a great combination."
"It was really delicious. It was a good way to start. It sets us up for the following courses pretty nicely."
Dan: "The other night, Morimoto cooked for us, and he also gave us a proverb, 'live in the moment'. And I think my whole menu is just about being in this moment. For my first course, we have a little tuna tartar, ruby red grapefruit, caribbean pepper puree, garlic chips, black garlic labneh on the bottom."
Judges, behind the scenes
"I like the lebneh."
"There's something going on with the tuna. I don't know whether he's sous vided it at a very low temperature. The texture of the tuna, you can't differentiate between the grapefruit."
"I like the spice, though. I keep going back to it. There's something addictive about it."
Judges Table
"Let's start with the first course, Dan's tuna dish."
"I thought the flavors were good. I liked the heat. The question I have is the texture of the tuna. What did you do with that?"
Dan: "We bagged it with lemon oil, and we cooked it at 40 degrees celsius. It sets the texture and makes it almost, like, jammy."
"You wanted that texture?"
Dan: "I did."
"It was a weird texture, but flavorwise, it was a really bold way to start. That labneh for me, was the star of the plate."
"I was really surprised on how much heat that you really brought to the plate. The flavors, Dan, were just really incredible."
Danny: "I want to take you guys on a journey of significant food memories for me and also highlighting the ocean and the sea. Scallops. Just one of the first things that I ever cooked in a professional kitchen. For your first course for me is a scallop habanero leche de tigre with a breadfruit and nori tuile."
Judges, behind the scenes
"Danny's dish was very beautiful."
"I loved the mimicking of the scallop shell with that nori and breadfruit tuile, and the scallops were just pristine."
"As much as there are elements that I really do love. This needs salt, right?"
"Right, totally. A couple grains of salt makes this dish almost a perfect dish."
"I do find myself going back to Danny's sauce. I like, I'm just. It's all gone."
Judges Table
"Danny, you talked about your progression, a journey of some of your first significant food memories. The presentation was so beautiful and inviting."
"You open that scallop and this treasure inside."
"The breadfruit tuile. I've never made one before. I would like to know how to make one."
"I love the story. I love where your progression went."
"I think the scallops needed a little bit of salt."
Danny: "I brined them for 15 minutes."
"If it were only me at the table who thought it needed salt, I would have said, all right, maybe it's me. Every single person at the table thought it needed salt."
Culinary Challenges inspired by
Top Chef ™: Wisconsin
Escovitch sauce is a vibrant Jamaican condiment featuring colorful bell peppers, fiery scotch bonnet chilies, onions, and carrots quick-pickled in a tangy vinegar brine infused with aromatic spices like peppercorns, allspice, and thyme.
The magic of escovitch lies in its preparation. Vegetables should be sliced thin for maximum flavor absorption and briefly cooked to maintain their crunch. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over vegetables to slightly soften while preserving their texture and bright colors.
Traditionally served over fried fish, escovitch sauce should be spooned generously over protein while still warm, allowing the tangy liquid to penetrate and transform the dish. The sauce develops deeper flavor after 24 hours but maintains its best quality when used within a week of preparation.
Dawadawa (or iru) is a fermented condiment made from locust beans, essential to West African cuisine, particularly in Nigeria and Ghana. This deeply aromatic flavor enhancer undergoes a transformative fermentation process, creating a complex umami taste similar to aged cheese or miso.
Traditional preparation involves boiling, dehulling, and fermenting locust beans until they develop their characteristic pungent aroma and sticky texture. The fermented beans are then formed into patties or balls for storage.
When cooking, use dawadawa sparingly. Its intense flavor requires a light hand. Add small amounts early in the cooking process for soups, stews, and sauces, allowing its rich umami notes to permeate the dish. Store unused portions wrapped tightly, as its powerful aroma can dominate your refrigerator.
Pot liquor (or potlikker) is the deeply flavorful broth created when cooking greens like collards, mustard, or turnip greens, a treasured element of Southern cuisine. This nutrient-rich liquid captures all the minerals and flavors from the greens and their seasoning.
Traditional preparation involves simmering greens with smoked ham hock, onion, and seasonings until tender, creating this gorgeous amber-green elixir. Never discard this liquid gold. It contains both flavor and nutrients that leached from the greens during cooking.
Use pot liquor to moisten cornbread, as a base for soups, to cook beans, or simply enjoyed as a restorative broth. Some Southern families even save and freeze their pot liquor, treating it as a cherished ingredient that carries the essence of generations of cooking wisdom.
A pithivier is a stunning French pastry featuring two discs of buttery puff pastry encasing a rich filling, traditionally almond cream (frangipane). The hallmark is its characteristic sunburst pattern scored on top and scalloped edges.
Cooking Tips: Handle puff pastry with cool hands and minimal working to maintain its layers. After assembling, refrigerate a pithivier for at least 30 minutes before baking—this critical step prevents butter melting prematurely and ensures those magnificent flaky layers.
Bake in a hot oven (375-400°F) until deeply golden and puffed.
The key to perfection lies in the glaze—brush with egg wash twice for that professional sheen. Allow pithivier to cool slightly before serving, as the filling continues setting after baking.
Using beer as the primary liquid in pizza dough transforms your homemade crust into something extraordinary. The carbonation in beer creates additional air pockets throughout the dough, contributing to a lighter texture, while the alcohol promotes faster fermentation than water alone.
The malted barley in beer introduces natural sugars and enzymes that feed the yeast, accelerating fermentation and developing complex flavors. During baking, these sugars caramelize beautifully, creating that coveted golden-brown, crispy exterior.
The alcohol content also helps inhibit gluten formation, preventing the dough from becoming too chewy. Choose lighter beers for subtle flavor or craft ales for more pronounced notes. Remember to reduce salt slightly, as beer already contains sodium.
Tigelle are traditional Italian pocket breads from Emilia-Romagna, particularly the Modena mountains. These small, round flatbreads feature a distinct pattern from the special cast-iron molds they're cooked in.
The dough requires simple ingredients—flour, water, yeast and a touch of lard for authenticity—but needs proper resting time to develop flavor. Cook tigelle on medium heat in their traditional patterned presses or between two heavy skillets until golden with a slightly crisp exterior and tender interior.
Slice tigelle horizontally while warm and fill with classic combinations of cured meats, cheeses, and spreads like Parmigiano-Reggiano, prosciutto, or herb-infused lard (cunza).
These versatile breads shine as vehicles for both savory and sweet fillings.
Jollof rice is a beloved West African dish featuring rice cooked in a rich tomato-based sauce seasoned with aromatic spices. The key to perfect jollof is building layers of flavor. Start by sautéing onions until golden, then add tomatoes, peppers, and spices to create a deeply flavorful base.
The rice should cook slowly, absorbing the sauce until it develops its signature orange-red hue and each grain remains separate yet tender. Never rush jollof since it demands patience as it simmers to perfection. The slightly charred bottom layer (called "bottom pot" or "kanzo") is particularly prized.
Serve jollof rice hot, traditionally alongside fried plantains and your protein of choice.
Gastrique: Sweet-Sour Balance in French Cuisine
A gastrique is a sophisticated French sweet-and-sour sauce created by caramelizing sugar and deglazing with vinegar. This classic technique dates back to 17th century French haute cuisine, where it emerged as a way to balance rich dishes with bright acidity.
To prepare a basic gastrique, caramelize granulated sugar in a heavy saucepan until amber-colored, then carefully deglaze with vinegar (wine, fruit, or balsamic). Once incorporated, add stock or fruit purees for additional flavor complexity, and simmer until slightly thickened.
Modern gastriques often feature fruit elements like orange, raspberry, or fig paired with complementary vinegars. The resulting sauce - tangy, sweet, and slightly syrupy - adds brilliant contrast to rich proteins like duck breast, pork tenderloin, or seared scallops, cutting through richness while enhancing the dish's depth. Equally, a gastrique can be used on a dessert to add piquancy.
In Season 22 of Top Chef ™ we saw Cesar making a dessert from pickles, and part of his dish was a gastrique made from Bread and Butter Pickles.
Jus lié is a classic French culinary technique that refers to a meat sauce or gravy that has been lightly thickened. The term translates directly to "bound juice" in English.
It's made by taking a natural meat stock or pan drippings (jus) and thickening it slightly with a starch, typically a roux (butter and flour mixture), cornstarch, or arrowroot. Unlike a full gravy, jus lié maintains much of the clarity and intense flavor of the original jus while having just enough body to coat the back of a spoon.
In traditional French cuisine, jus lié often serves as an elegant finishing sauce for roasted meats, providing richness and moisture without overwhelming the main protein. The subtle thickening enhances the sauce's ability to cling to meat while maintaining the pure, concentrated flavors of the meat juices.
Chefs appreciate jus lié for striking the perfect balance between the intensity of a pure jus and the coating properties of a thicker sauce.
Cannolo (singular of cannoli) is an iconic Sicilian pastry featuring a crispy tubular shell traditionally filled with sweetened ricotta cream. Dating back to Arab-ruled Sicily (9th-11th centuries), legend claims they were created in a harem near Caltanissetta as a fertility symbol for Carnival celebrations.
To make authentic cannoli, create a dough with flour, sugar, butter, egg, and marsala wine. Roll thin, wrap around metal tubes, then fry until golden and crisp. The classic filling combines sheep's milk ricotta with sugar, candied fruits, and sometimes chocolate chips or pistachios.
The secret to perfect cannoli lies in filling the shells just before serving to maintain their delightful contrast between crispy exterior and creamy interior. Traditionally dusted with powdered sugar and garnished with candied orange peel or chopped pistachios.
Cannolo, while traditionally a Sicilian sweet pastry, offers exciting possibilities for savory reinvention. The iconic crispy tubular shell can be brilliantly transformed into an elegant savory appetizer or main course component.
To create savory cannoli, prepare the shell dough without sugar, incorporating herbs or spices instead. After frying to golden perfection, fill with savory mixtures like herb-infused goat cheese, seasoned ricotta with sun-dried tomatoes, smoked salmon with cream cheese, or even spiced meat fillings.
The tubular shape is designed for handheld eating. This practical form maintains the essential textural contrast—crispy exterior with creamy interior—that makes cannoli so satisfying in both sweet and savory applications. Keep the shells separate from filling until serving for maximum crispness.
Obe Ata is a vibrant red pepper sauce central to Nigerian cuisine, particularly Yoruba cooking. This aromatic base combines red bell peppers, scotch bonnet or habanero peppers, tomatoes, onions, and sometimes garlic, all blended and then slowly simmered until rich and flavorful.
To prepare authentic Obe Ata, blend the peppers, tomatoes, and onions until smooth. Heat palm oil (or vegetable oil) in a pot, then simmer the blended mixture on low heat, allowing the water to evaporate and the flavors to concentrate. Season with salt, bouillon, and traditional spices like locust bean (iru) for depth.
Obe Ata serves as the foundation for numerous Nigerian stews and is traditionally paired with rice, yam, or enjoyed with protein like fish or beef.
Tsukune are Japanese chicken meatballs, popular in yakitori restaurants and izakayas.
These juicy meatballs combine ground chicken with finely chopped onions, ginger, and sometimes shiitake mushrooms. The mixture is typically seasoned with soy sauce, sake, and mirin, then shaped around skewers before grilling.
What makes tsukune distinctive is their texture—slightly bouncy yet tender—achieved by kneading the mixture until sticky. They're typically glazed with tare (a sweet-savory sauce) during grilling for a caramelized finish.
Home cooks can bake them instead of grilling and adjust the seasonings to taste. For authentic texture, include cartilage or use chicken thigh meat with its natural fat. Serve tsukune hot, brushed with additional tare and optionally topped with a sprinkle of sansho pepper.
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Top Chef ™: Wisconsin
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Top Chef ™: Wisconsin
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