Top Chef ™

Season:

Week:

Blind Taste Test

Kristen Kish: "For today's Quickfire Challenge we gathered a wide range of ingredients to test your taste buds. You will each have 5 minutes, blindfolded, to guess as many as possible of the 26 foods. Afterwards, you will each be able to use all the ingredients that you guessed correctly, along with a limited pantry, to prepare a dish. The more ingredients you guess, the fewer your restrictions. There will be a $5,000 prize for the blind tasting and a further $10,000 cash prize for the best dish."

The 26 ingredients were:

Anchovies

Bacon

Cheddar Cheese Dill Edamame Flank Steak Gooseberries Horseradish Italian Parsley

Jalapenos Kalamata Olives Lemongrass Mussels Nutmeg Okra Pork Chop Quinoa Rosemary

Salmon Tofu Umeboshi (plums) Vadouvan Watermelon XO Sauce Yuzu Za'atar

Results:

Dan and Savannah tied for last place with 9 out of 26 guessed correctly

Danny correctly guessed 13 of 26 and Laura got 15 right.

Manny was far ahead, correctly guessing 23 of 26.

How the Top Chef ™ competitors teamed up

What the Top Chef ™ contestants prepared

Salmon Crudo

Manny: "I made an edamame and jalapeno puree on the bottom, salmon crudo with a jalapeno parsley, and a gooseberry relish on top."

Kristen Kish: "Anything you wanted to use but couldn't get in there from your ingredients?"

Manny: "No, not really."

Mussel Escabeche with Umeboshi and Rosemary Cracker

Laura: "I had 15 ingredients. I made mussels escabeche using parsley, the dill, a little bit of the umeboshi, anchovies, some garlic. I made a cracker with a rosemary. Then on top, onion, watermelon, and gooseberry."

Kristen Kish: "Did you find it hard to narrow it down to this dish?"

Laura: "Yeah, you know, it was kind of a mix of multiple things all in one dish."

Grilled Flank Steak with Jus and Okra

Danny: "13 ingredients. I did a little grilled flank steak with a watermelon and gooseberry jus, a little anchovy, grilled okra with parsley, anchovy, horseradish ... call it gremolata, maybe?"

Kristen Kish: "Tom, what do you think of that okra? I know, it's your favorite thing."

Grilled Flank Steak with Scrambled Eggs

Dan: "So we have steak and eggs, grilled flank steak, scrambled eggs with the Hook's cheddar. I made a sauce using some of the steak trim, horseradish, red wine, sour cream."

Kristen Kish: "Were you hoping for some more ingredients to use?"

Dan: "Oh, yeah."

Fried Pork with Two Sauces

Savannah: "I did a fried pork loin, but I made two sauces for you. The first is like a faux caesar. It has anchovy, egg, and cheddar cheese instead of parmesan. And then the other sauce is made with horseradish, kalmata, olives, parsley, olive oil."

Guest judge: "Were you going with cheddar because I'm from Wisconsin? (grinning) Are you working the judge."

Savannah (also grinning): "Yep."

Culinary Learnings from this challenge

What is escabeche?

Escabeche is the name for a food treatment, found in Southern Europe and Latin America, that involves fish or chicken (and occasionally other meats and vegetables). The fish (etc.) is fried then cooled and pickled in an acidic sauce, and flavored, typically with paprika and/or garlic. Chefs work to balance the acid with the other elements of the dish.

Like its distant relative ceviche, escabeche often involves seafood and an acid, but the similarities end there. Escabeche is served cold.

In Top Chef Wisconsin ™, Laura was praised for the balance of her Mussel Escabeche.

What are umeboshi?

Umeboshi are a Japanese treat made from pickling ripe ume plums. (Ume plums are more closely related to apricots than plums) that are salted and sun-dried. The umeboshi are soaked in salt brine until they are plump and juicy, and have a tart and salty taste.

The 'plums' are often colored naturally with red shiso leaves, which turn bright red when they react with the vinegary brine that comes from the plums. The shiso also adds flavor and antibacterial properties. In Japanese cuisine, umeboshi are often eaten with steamed rice, rice porridge, or rice balls. They can also be used in dressings, dips, sauces, and marinades.

In Season 21 of Top Chef ™ we saw umeboshi used in a blind taste test. We didn't find out how many chefs correctly guessed the taste, but one of the chefs used umeboshi in her Quickfire dish. It seems notable that she was careful to state that she used just a "little" umeboshi - this is a delicacy that is not at all delicate!