'Top Chef' will move from Canada to Italy for the Season 22 finale, Kristen Kish announces in Calgary
Top Chef Season 22 moved to a different Canadian city this week, with the competitors making the journey from Toronto to the Alberta city of Calgary. As the chefs stood together at the city's Olympic Plaza, Kristen Kish announced the upcoming finale will take place in Milan, Italy. Maybe an odd choice for a season technically called Top Chef: Destination Canada, but the chefs were excited.
A guest judge this week was Connie Desousa, chef at Charcut in Calgary. The Top Chef Canada finalist stood with the judges, including Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, to announce the Quickfire Challenge, inspired by the Calgary Stampede. The chefs were given 45 minutes to create their own handheld pancake breakfast to feed 50 diners.
There was $10,000 up for grabs for the Quickfire Challenge winner, which was Shuai, who made a cornmeal pancake with scrambled eggs, lap cheong, cheddar and chili crisp avocado aioli.
Moving into the Elimination Challenge, chef Denia Baltzer, chef and owner of Creative Cuisine Catering, and member of the Łııdlı̨ı̨ Kųę First Nation, greeted the competitors and provided more details about the Stampede. Specifically its history of being an event where ranchers and First Nations people come together.
Kristen explained that the Elimination Challenge would be centred around two ingredients, one from each of these communities, beef and berries. The chefs got to decide amongst themselves which cut of beef they would use, and drew knives for the type of berry.
With Shuai being the winner of the Quickfire Challenge, he was given three hours to cook, while the rest of the chefs had two hours.
Much like we've seen throughout the season, there weren't any significant cooking disasters during this Elimination Challenge, before the chefs brought their dishes to the judges table, which included Paul Roglaski, chef and co-owner of Rogue restaurant and co-host of Wild Harvest.
The dishes made by each chef and the judges feedback went as follows:
Lana — Grilled New York strip steak with pommes anna, haskap berry condiment and smoked haskap berry jus — Connie loved the sauce and the savoury element of the condiment, but Denia wanted to see more berry, Kristen found the sage overpowering, Gail found the potato too dry, and Tom said the meat was over-rested, cooked too early
Massimo — Tenderloin with umeboshi, pickled elderberry sauce, smoked kohlrabi and elderberry soup purée — Gail called the dish a "showstopper," Kristen said the beef was cooked beautifully
Bailey — Saskatoon braised beef cheek, creamy polenta, brûléed blue cheese and roasted walnut — Gail said the brûléed blue cheese threw her off, with Tom questioning the decision as well, while Denia said the Saskatoon berry flavour got lost in the sauce
Tristen — Alberta flat iron with kohlrabi, gooseberries and bone marrow pemmican — Tom said there was a ton of flavour, Kristen loved that the gooseberries reminded her of sour candies, but Gail identified that her steak wasn't cooked properly
César — Grilled ribeye, chokeberry reduction, rutabaga cream and bone marrow cornbread — Gail said everything on her plate was cooked perfectly, but all the chefs criticized the lack of tartness from the berries
Shuai — Mama Wang's stuffed cabbage with braised short rib, wild rice congee and black currant black pepper sauce — Connie loved it and said it reminded her of a dish her mother makes, Tom said the beef was rich and the congee was also rich, but it was flavourful, and Gail loved the tartness from the black currents
The winning chef was Canadian Massimo, who will get an advantage next week, while Lana was eliminated from the competition.
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