Top Chef ™
Top Chef ™ Challenge Type:
Elimination
Top Chef - Chef Name:
Season:
Week:
Grilled Octopus with Olives
Grilled Octopus with Kalamata Caramel Glaze and Charred Green Olive Honey Relish
Tristen and Bailey both visited Soulas Modern Greek Cuisine.
Tristen, cooking for the challenge: "Pressure cooker's on, Octopus is pure muscle, and it takes a really, really long time to cook it. Let's hope 40 minutes under pressure is long enough."
Tristen: " I'm just gonna put on a nice little tester and grill it. A lot of things are kissed by fire in Greece, so we are gonna make out with this mother. My little touch to this dish is this kalamata olive and Greek honey caramel. I'm gonna use it kind of like barbecue sauce, actually. It will really create an accelerant. A great browning on the octopus, and get it nice and charred."
Judges: "Tristen, can you tell me about the Kalamata Caramel?"
Tristen: "We took kalamata olives, robot-couped them with garlic, caramelized sugar, a little bit of Greek honey ..."
Tom Colicchio: "I thought it was really clever making that caramel. It helped with the char, while still leaving that briny flavor. Really simple, too, but enormously effective. it really was reminiscent of Greek food."
Tristen: "Yes, it was a lesson in restraint."
Gail Simmons: "You let the cuisine guide the dish and what you had learned and it really showed."
