Top Chef: Wisconsin Episode Six Recap: How the Austin Chefs Did

Top bossSeason 21 of airs Wednesday night on Bravo, and Eater Austin recaps the home team’s progress in Wisconsin. Last week, the contestants hosted an old-school Wisconsin supper club. Amanda Turner of Southern restaurant Olamaie shone with her chicken katsu. Kevin D’Andrea of ​​French bakery Foliepops stumbled upon an undercooked beef tenderloin. Fortunately, his team won the overall challenge and the two are still in the game.

In the sixth episode, the chefs enter the multiverse of Matty Mathison’s madness and embrace the “kitchen of chaos.” Don’t worry – most of them were confused too.

Quickfire is not dairy free

The producers focus on D’Andrea at the beginning of the episode. The French chef was unhappy when he first came to America, he explains. He dug deep, bought a plane ticket, and ended up in Austin, where he found fulfillment at Foliepops.

As he tells the story, D’Andrea and top competitor Manny Barella work up a sweat in the hotel gym. “This is the Power Bottom workout,” D’Andrea says, keeping the duo’s team name from episode four alive. Hopefully they make matching t-shirts.

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We head to the kitchen. Chicago chef Kalina Bliss, eliminated in episode four, returns after winning the Kitchen last chance accompanying show. She brought a friend: fellow Chicago chef Sue Ann, the surprise 16th contestant who was also in the same sideshow the whole time.

“I don’t know anything about you,” Arlo Grey’s host and chef/partner Kristen Kish jokes with Ann. “I love it when shit shakes.” But then she softens the happy moment. Two people back in the kitchen means the judges can send two people home at any time.

Our host welcomes Christina Tosi from Milk Bar to present this week’s Quickfire Challenge. The chefs will make dairy desserts. Kish says she was on a frozen custard while in Wisconsin. (Maybe he’s a fan of the Culver’s drive-thru in Austin now?)

Turner began working on a cookie recipe. New York chef Rasika Venkatesa asks if she’s made these before. Turner emphatically says yes. Austinites can attest that Olamaie’s chef totally knows about biscuits.

“I want to be the best like no one ever was,” says the unabashed geek Turner, referring to Pokemon main tune of a movie. “That’s the kind of energy I try to channel.”

Turner makes the top three for her Cheddar Cookie Cake with Banana Cream and Vanilla. Quiche enjoys the salty cheese. D’Andrea is in the middle of the pack with a butterscotch cookie with strawberry basil jam, vanilla cream cheese and butter tuile. It looks like fun – the judges spoon it open like a creme brulee.

However, Houston craftswoman Michelle Wallace wins the Quickfire with her corn cake dessert. At least it’s a win for Texas.

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Turner is the queen mother of cooking chaos

Celebrity chef and The bear star Mathison heads to the kitchen to present the elimination challenge. Turner, clearly a fan, looks delighted. “This is the best day of my life,” she says.

This week, the chefs will “let loose and embrace the chaos of the kitchen,” says Kish. They are tasked with preparing dishes that break the regime of culinary convention.

“I want you to do what you feel. Dream the biggest dream,” Mathison says.

And listen, the brief is confusing. Dare we say… chaotic. Chefs struggle to understand what is being asked of them.

“I feel like this is my wheelhouse,” Turner says. Chaos cuisine is about cooking without boundaries and bringing different foods and techniques together on a plate, she says.

Kish is grateful for the clarification. “I will come to cook. We’re taking turns,” the presenter jokes.

David Moir/Bravo

Chefs go shopping to specialty markets before returning to the kitchen, no longer bound by the laws of order and reality. D’Andrea white potatoes for what will look like a “huge big atom.”

Turner works on a black garlic pasta dough. “Chaos cuisine is the brand that is put on my food,” she says. She considers it a modern synthesis.

Are our Austin chefs getting left behind?

Despite the constant presence of judges Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, chaos reigned at the judges’ table.

First: Turner serves black garlic pappardelle with cumin lamb ragout, XO sauce, celery leaves and shrimp chips. Kish thinks the macarons have the wrong texture for macarons – too crunchy. Simmons doubts whether the apparently delicious pappardelles were actually chaotic in any way. Matheson agrees; it’s just a nice pasta dish.

Aspiring nuclear physicist D’Andrea heard the chaos and thought “Big Bang,” and it’s a real joy to hear him say those words multiple times. He arranges a bed of sweet potato puree topped with tarragon and a white chocolate sphere filled with raspberry coulis. The judges don’t seem sure what to make of it – it tastes like raspberry but has a potato texture. They respect the swing. Kish says this meal finally helped her understand the challenge. Colicchio is happy that D’Andrea actually did.

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The moment of truth is coming. No Austin chefs make it to this week’s top four. Brooklyn chef Danny Garcia earns his second win with a flawless, mousse-filled chow farsi.

This week we have two bottoms: Venkatesa and Wallace. They both performed well during the season, so it’s shocking. In the end, Kish sends Venkatesa packing his knives, due to a slimy, tasteless, crab-stuffed eggplant.

Heading into next week, let’s be real. The herd is thinning. Despite some praise in Quickfire circles, Turner and D’Andrea have been either safe or on the bottom every week so far. The Austin delegation must put points on the board and an extra. We’ll pray to Willie Nelson or the Mexican god of free-tailed bats or whoever to make this happen.