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Top Chef<\/a><\/p>\n Puckerbutt<\/p>\n \n Season 23<\/p>\n Episode 2\n <\/p>\n \n Editor\u2019s Rating<\/p>\n 3 stars<\/p>\n ***\n <\/p>\n \n Top Chef heats things up with a visit to PuckerButt farm and a progressively spicier Elimination challenge. Let me start off this recap with a little confession: I have indirectly given PuckerButt impresario Ed Currie my money. My partner makes hot sauces as a hobby, and every summer we plant jalape\u00f1os, habaneros, banana peppers, ghost peppers, scorpion peppers, and, most recently, Carolina reapers, the pepper that Ed developed at his PuckerButt Pepper Company. One time, we accidentally pepper-sprayed the house by putting a second batch of peppers we were cooking directly into an already-hot pan, which you don\u2019t want to do in an enclosed space. We opened every window, turned on every fan, and tied bandannas over our faces (we already had masks on), and we were still coughing, choking, and crying for hours. It was not a good time! But the hot sauce was delicious. Maybe we\u2019ll start selling it at our local farmers\u2019 market, get a little side hustle going. Very millennial behavior.<\/p>\n This week on Top Chef, Ed and his pepper farm shape the Elimination challenge. It\u2019s all about heat, while the Quickfire is all about cool \u2014 featuring Talenti! Mei Lin, Top Chef: Boston winner and Mike Voltaggio\u2019s former sous chef, walks out into the gigantic set kitchen carrying a tray of Talenti pints, and I\u2019m disappointed in the contestants for not all immediately clocking that clearly they would have to use these sweet treats in their first challenge. Top Chef rarely does snacks without strings attached. For the Quickfire, the judges have to make a savory dish inspired by the region attached to the gelato or sorbet they tasted \u2014 Mediterranean mint gelato, Southern butter pecan, etc. They\u2019ll have access in the pantry to ingredients from that region, and their savory dish will then need to pair well with the gelato or sorbet itself, which Mei and Kristen will taste after their offering.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a complicated premise, but I like it! It\u2019s definitely more creative than just \u201cmake a dessert inspired by this dessert,\u201d which is what I assumed the challenge would be. The chefs seem to like it, too, with Laurence noting that most times chefs think about how their dish might be paired with wine or another alcohol but rarely with a dessert course. There are two chefs per gelato or sorbet flavor, and they\u2019ll present their dishes at the same time. During the 30-minute cook, no one really has any issues, so let\u2019s just dive into the dishes:<\/p>\n Alphonso Mango Sorbetto, India:<\/strong> Caramel Cookie Crunch Gelato, Argentina:<\/strong> Pacific Coast Pistachio Gelato, California:<\/strong> Southern Butter Pecan Gelato, the American South:<\/strong> Coffee Chocolate Chip Gelato, Colombia:<\/strong> Mediterranean Mint Chip Gelato, the Mediterranean:<\/strong> Madagascan Vanilla Bean Gelato, Madagascar:<\/strong> It\u2019s actually adorable that Justin and Jennifer both tried the Mediterranean mint gelato before knowing the specifications of the Quickfire and then end up making similar dishes. I want their love to endure forever. And both of them are safe! The low dishes belong to Brittany, who didn\u2019t get enough coffee flavor into her tartare; Sieger, who added the vanilla gelato to his actual sauce and made it taste muddy \u2014 an ice-cream sauce served with fish? Sieger, what the hell, man??? \u2014 and Duyen, whose pork was very underseasoned. In the top are Oscar, singled out by Mei for his crispy fried cheese; Laurence, whose b\u00f6rek wasn\u2019t as good as Kristen\u2019s mother-in-law\u2019s but was still delicious; and Nana, whose spiced cauliflower worked well with the mango sorbet. Laurence gets the win and $10,000 in cash, bringing his total so far to $15,000, and I am really curious to see how far he can go with these Turkish flavors. What can this guy do with sumac, you know?<\/p>\n Time for the Elimination challenge! The chefs randomly divide into two teams, and they\u2019re tasked with working together to create a progressively spicier seven-course meal. On the Red Team are Brandon, Nana, Laurence, Sherry, Duyen, Justin, and Jassi, and on the Green Team are Sieger, Rhoda, Brittany, Oscar, Jennifer, Anthony, and Jonathan. Mei takes the group to Ed\u2019s farm so they can try some of his peppers, and everyone gets redder and sweatier as they eat little slivers of cayenne, Scotch bonnet, Carolina reaper, and Pepper X peppers. (The latter is Ed\u2019s latest evil experiment<\/a>.) Justin saying he was hallucinating and \u201cin another dimension\u201d after trying the peppers got a great laugh out of me, especially as he legitimately looked like the lone surviving soldier on a battlefield, glassy-eyed and bent over as the spices fucked with his brain. I was a little sad no one made a reference to The Simpsons\u2019s \u201cThe Mysterious Voyage of Our Homer\u201d and the Guatemalan Insanity Pepper, but now I\u2019m doing it, so that\u2019s that.<\/p>\n As the groups start planning their menus, we get some legitimate friction at Whole Foods. In a classic bit of Top Chef shadiness, Jonathan and Sherry wildly overspend, blowing the Red Team\u2019s budget and forcing the group to reevaluate all their purchases during checkout. Justin is the last to be rung up, and he gets $9 fewer than the $100 he should have had by the end. That\u2019s just one sign of the Red Team\u2019s lack of cohesion. Jossi insists that he cook vindaloo as the final and hottest dish, but he also admits that he can\u2019t handle hot food at all. Justin decides to do chicken wings as the penultimate dish, which doesn\u2019t really work well within the menu progression. Brandon unexpectedly makes his opening dish so spicy that Sherry has to make her second-course chowder spicier, too. No one really takes the leadership role in the Red Team, while over on the Green Team, Rhoda steps up. Yes, she has immunity from winning last week\u2019s sweet potato Elimination challenge, but she doesn\u2019t want to get complacent. She encourages the Green Team to all taste their dishes all the time and ensure that their meal progression really builds the heat throughout, which helps keep the team disciplined and collaborative.<\/p>\n This all plays out during judging, which progresses with Red and Green Team members presenting their courses at the same time to judges, including Ed, Mei, and Heatonist founder and CEO Noah Chaimberg. (Heatonist makes the Pepper X hot sauce and the official branded Hot Ones sauces.) Overall, judging is incredibly positive; in fact, the only real ding on either team is the aforementioned issues with the Red Team.<\/p>\n First course:<\/strong> Second course:<\/strong> Third course:<\/strong> Fourth course:<\/strong> Fifth course:<\/strong> Sixth course:<\/strong> Seventh course:\u00a0<\/strong> None of the dishes blow out the judges\u2019 palates, but they\u2019re all gasping, fanning themselves, and wiping snot off their faces by the end of the challenge, which amused me. (Kristen amused herself by asking the judging panel, \u201cAnyone\u2019s butt puckering yet?\u201d) It\u2019s a unanimous choice for the Red Team to win, and then seemingly another unanimous choice for Rhoda to win the Elimination challenge, making her two for two so far. They loved the smoky layers of her \u201cflavor explosion,\u201d and though her leadership role in the team isn\u2019t really discussed, it\u2019s clear that her guidance gave the team focus. Over on the Green Team, poor protein cookery brings Justin, Nana, and Jassi all to the bottom. Justin\u2019s chicken wing was flabby and not grilled enough, Nana\u2019s snapper was inconsistently cooked (we saw her struggle with the sous-vide machine, and Tom says his fish was fully raw), and Jassi\u2019s lamb was dry and tough \u2014 and coupled with his not-nearly-hot-enough vindaloo, that gets Jassi sent home. He didn\u2019t cook enough peppers into his vindaloo from the beginning, so his dish\u2019s heat wasn\u2019t long-lasting, and braising the lamb instead of roasting it gave the meat the wrong texture. I liked Jassi\u2019s personality, and I think his team let him down a little by not more aggressively tasting the vindaloo and challenging him to put more pepper in it. Oh well. Since we won\u2019t see him again in Last Chance Kitchen, good-bye to Jassi.<\/p>\n \u2022 The dishes I most wanted to eat this episode: Both Mediterranean Quickfire dishes sounded good, and Jennifer\u2019s crab grits looked amazing. Oscar\u2019s Quickfire was also covetable, but I can\u2019t learn more about frying provolone and how easy it might be to do in my own home. I already do this with halloumi; I cannot incorporate more fried cheese into the mix. That\u2019s too dangerous for my health.<\/p>\n \u2022 I probably complained about this the last time Talenti products were featured on Top Chef, but it bears repeating: The Talenti layered ice cream pints are a scam. There\u2019s only like, half as much ice cream as you would normally get in there! And you\u2019re charging the same amount? Absolutely not. Shrinkflation!<\/p>\n \u2022 Re: commenters on last week\u2019s recap saying that Jonathan and Brandon are more annoying than the Voltaggios \u2026 How recently have you rewatched their original season? Because Mike\u2019s behavior in particular did not age well; he\u2019s constantly sexist and ageist to other competitors. Jonathan and Brandon are loudmouths so far, but they haven\u2019t actively insulted or harassed anyone yet. However, I will hear no ill against Bryan Voltaggio, whom I want to see in The Traitors castle<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2022 How long do we think Nana will stick around? She pulled herself together in this episode and did better with the Quickfire, but the inconsistent fish for her Elimination challenge was worrying. Time management in the kitchen is hard, and sometimes you dig yourself into a hole you can\u2019t get out of. Also, her behavior in the premiere wasn\u2019t great, but there have been so many times over Top Chef\u2019s run when chefs lose their temper with their servers, and I think that\u2019s way worse than Nana losing her temper with herself.<\/p>\n \u2022 If anyone can share some science that aligns with Ed\u2019s claim that Indigenous communities ate more peppers and therefore had fewer instances of heart disease and cancer, I\u2019d love to read it. Not being shady; genuinely curious.<\/p>\n \u2022 Is anyone else watching Padma on America\u2019s Culinary Cup? The series is entertaining, if still figuring itself out.<\/a><\/p>\n \u2022 Next week, the chefs cook with natural dyes and Tom says during judging, \u201cI\u2019m starting to get grumpy.\u201d Uh oh!<\/p>\n Sign Up for the Vulture Newsletter<\/p>\n Entertainment news, for the pop-culture obsessed.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n
\n Photo: Paul Cheney\/Bravo\n <\/p>\n
\u2022 Nana: Curried cauliflower steak with chunky tomato salsa and spinach.
\u2022 Jassi: Malani paneer tikka with kachumber salad and spice mix.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Sherry: Polenta-crusted grouper, kabocha crema, guava gastrique, Champagne grapes.
\u2022 Oscar: Polenta cachapa (Venezuelan pancakes), brown sugar and butter caramel, fresno chile, almonds, crispy-skin provolone.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Laurence: Lamb b\u00f6rek (Turkish pastry) with apricot jam, pickled tomatillos, and pistachios.
\u2022 Anthony: Crispy artichoke with Mexican pipi\u00e1n sauce, candied apricot, and pistachio.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Duyen: Pecan-crusted pork tenderloin with peach-and-grape reduction, braised mustard greens.
\u2022 Brandon: Pork-loin medallion with peach mostarda and crispy mustard leaf.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Rhoda: Coffee- and chile-rubbed pork lamp chop with pan jus, tostones, and dragon-fruit salsa.
\u2022 Brittany: Coffee-spiced lamb tartare with crispy plantains, a\u00efoli, pickled chiles.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Jennifer: Marinated fennel salad, oranges, cured black olives, figs, feta cheese, chocolate, and lemon pur\u00e9e.
\u2022 Justin: Oven-roasted fennel, feta, roasted pine nuts, roasted figs, olives.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Jonathan: Charred eggplant, tamarind, miso-and-vanilla sauce, litchi, coconut.
\u2022 Sieger: Strawberry snapper with cracked coconut and uni.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Green Team, Sieger: Kumamoto oyster with cucumber mignonette granita and green jalape\u00f1os.
\u2022 Red Team, Brandon: Tuna tartare with jalape\u00f1o tomato jelly.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Green Team, Brittany: Poached shrimp and corn salad with pickled cayenne pepper.
\u2022 Red Team, Sherry: Chilled seafood chowder with Fresno-chile granita.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Green Team, Jennifer: Pepper crab and Southern grits with Fresno-pepper mash.
\u2022 Red Team, Duyen: Pork laab salad with puffed rice crackers and jalape\u00f1os.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Green Team, Jonathan: Seared snapper with habanero and mango emulsion.
\u2022 Red Team, Laurence: Carolina-style Yuxiang eggplant with anchovy and basil pesto.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Green Team, Anthony: Grilled jerk lamb with pikliz, hoe cake, and cayenne-pepper mash.
\u2022 Red Team, Nana: Marinated shito red snapper with light soup, fufu espuma, and okra salsa.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Green Team, Oscar: Pork al pastor, blue-corn huarache, salsa diabla, salsa criolla, and pickled pineapple.
\u2022 Red Team, Justin: Shrimp-stuffed fried chicken wing with habanero oil and yogurt ranch.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Green Team, Rhoda: Pepper-braised short rib, chile-pickled pearl onions, blistered cayenne pepper.
\u2022 Red Team, Jassi: Lamb vindaloo with flaky paratha, potato mash, yogurt, and lime shot.<\/p>\n