Top Chef ™

Season:

Week:

Quickfire Challenge

The guest judge was the highly esteemed Santiago Lastra.

Championing British produce in his innovative Mexican dishes, Santiago Lastra serves a menu both rooted in tradition and featuring plenty of modern twists at Marylebone (London) restaurant KOL where he is owner and head chef.

For the challenge, the chefs were tasked with creating a bite-sized amuse-bouche served on top of a cracker for a Ritz Crackers-sponsored challenge. First, each contestant chose one item from a display table showcasing several "unique and unexpected" ingredients, which included:

dragon fruit
oyster leaves
Brazil nuts
guajillo chilis
lemongrass
lotus root
plantains
yeast extract (Marmite)
Montenegro ash goat cheese
caviar cream
sauerkraut
wasabi
capers
fermented shrimp paste
tamarind
bottarga
hibiscus
piquillo peppers
kumquats
jackfruit

The chefs were then split into groups of three, though they still competed individually.

Group 1: Nicole, Sara, Sylwia (Goat Cheese, Guajillo Chilis, Horseradish)
Group 2: Amar, Begoña, Tom (Bottarga, Oyster Leaves, Piquillo Peppers)
Group 3: Charbel, Dale, Luciana (Capers, Plantains, Wasabi)
Group 4: Ali, May, Victoire (Hibiscus, Kumquats, Yeast Extract)
Group 5: Buddha, Dawn, Gabri (Caviar Cream, Jackfruit, Tamarind)

The group members were required to incorporate all three of their ingredients into their dishes. The judges then selected the chef with their favorite dish from each group.

The chef with the best overall dish from the list of favorites was declared the winner, receiving immunity from elimination and $10,000.

How the Top Chef ™ competitors teamed up

What the Top Chef ™ contestants prepared

Guajillo and Goat's Cheese Amuse-Bouche

Chef Sara "I made a dish from guajillo, goat's cheese and horseradish. I have a brown butter and guajillo fried Ritz cracker with goat cheese, pepper jelly, and an apple and horseradish salad."

Salsa Plantain with Fried Capers

Chef Luciana: "I made salsa plantain with fried capers and a bit of wasabi."

Cracker with Mascarpone mousse, kumquat and hibiscus

Chef Ali: " I have topped Ritz cracker with yeast extract and mascarpone mousse, then with kumquat spiced jam and glazed hibiscus."

Tapenade with Oyster Leaves and Bottarga

Chef Begona: "I made a tapenade with a mousse of Oyster Leaves and Bottarga."

Salmon with caviar and Jackfruit

Chef Dawn: "I made caviar butter basted salmon with tamarind and jackfruit tiger cry.

Veal Tartare with Jackfruit

Chef Buddha: "Veal Tartare with jackfruit tamarind, and caviar cream and the cucumber dressed in a little bit of a tamarind dressing."

Spicy Kumquat Jam on Cracker

Chef May" I made spicy kumquat jam with hibiscus juice and cooked with yeast extract."

Cracker with Panzanella and Mackerel

Chef Victoire: "I make panzanella cracker with kumquat salad and smoked mackerel."

Jackfruit a la Mexicana

Chef Gabri: "My dish is jackfruit a la Mexicana with caviar paste and tamarind butter."

Sauteed corn, capers and plantain

Chef Charbel: "I sauteed some corn and capers, and then I fried some plantain on top."

Guajillo peppers on a pillow of goat cheese with truffle

Chef Sylwia" I made Guajillo peppers on a pillow of goat cheese with the truffle."

Plantain Fried Cod

Chef Dale: "I did plantain fried cod with wasabi, caper aioli, and some fried caper."

Grilled Bavette Steak with goat's cheese and horseradish

Chef Nicole: "I have a grilled bavette with goat's cheese and an agave horseradish, black garlic jam, and a salsa matcha."

Lightly smoked hot Myanmar dip

Chef Amar: "I made a lightly smoked hot dip with avocado, pickled mustard seeds, and shaved Bottarga. This is food, Myanmar style."

To learn more about Bottarga, see here.

Shrimp Cocktail "My Way"

Chef Tom: "I made "Shrimp cocktail my way", which is the avocado roulade. And then on top, you have a persillade with bottaga and the oyster fennels."

Culinary Learnings from this challenge

What is Panzanella?

In Top Chef ™: World All Stars, Chef Victoire put a teaspoon of panzanella salad on top of a Ritz cracker with kumquat and smoked mackerel.

Panzanella is a Tuscan/Umbrian salad of soaked cubes of stale bread, finely chopped onions and tomatoes. It often includes cucumbers, and basil and is dressed with olive oil and vinegar.

Bavette

Bavette steak is the unsung hero of beef. Also known as "flap steak," the bavette cuts are flat, flexible in texture, and often contain a great ratio of muscle and fat.

This abundance of fat makes the bavette highly flavorful as well as easy to cook. Because of bavette steaks' size and shape, they are best used for any dish that requires the steak to be sliced into many pieces.

Fermented Shrimp Paste

Fermented shrimp paste, also known as prawn sauce, is a condiment used in many Asian cuisines. It's made by mixing finely crushed shrimp or krill with salt and fermenting it for weeks. The result is a dense, savory, pungent paste that can range in color from light to dark brown and texture from soft to rock hard.

Persillade

Persillade is a mixture of parsley chopped together with seasonings including garlic, herbs, oil, and vinegar and served as a sauce or dressing. (Fancy word for something very simple but delicious.)

Marmite (Yeast Extract)

Marmite is a savory spread made from yeast extract, salt, and vegetable and spice extracts. It's a British staple that's especially popular in the UK, where it's often spread on toast, crackers, and sandwiches. Marmite is also vegan and a good source of B vitamins, including vitamin B12. It is a great option when looking for 'umami' in a dish.

Bottarga

Bottarga is a delicacy of salted, cured fish roe , typically of the grey mullet or the bluefin tuna. It is often called "poor man's caviar".

The best-known version is produced around the Mediterranean; similar foods are the Japanese karasumi and Taiwanese wuyutsu, which is softer, and Korean eoran, from mullet or freshwater drum.

Featured Recipes from Top Chef ™

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