This story contains spoilers about episode 5 of “Top Chef.” Read more of our “Top Chef: Wisconsin” coverage here.
1. Within the first few minutes, the cheftestants had their comfort level challenged – big time. At their hotel in Madison, they received a text from host Kristen Kish telling them they would need to shop for their ingredients before knowing what their next cooking challenge would be. They were let loose at the famous Dane County Farmers Market, held on the Square in downtown Madison. It involved a lot of running, as usual.
2. The Quickfire Challenge shined a light on a lesser-known figure in Wisconsin’s culinary history. His name is Carson Gulley, and he was the head chef for university housing at UW-Madison from 1926-54. His cooking was said to be exceptional – more like fine dining than residence hall food. He was also the first African American to host a cooking show – that fact was shared by “Top Chef” host Kristen Kish, when she explained the premise of the Quickfire Challenge. The chef-testants were asked to choose a sauce from Gulley’s recipe box. The 10 sauces ranged from raisin (Michelle picked that) to Creole (Charly’s pick). Their directive was to make the sauce they picked and an accompanying dish with the ingredients they bought at the farmers market.
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3. The guest judges included two names known to Madison – and Milwaukee – foodies. L’Etoile owners/chefs Tory and Kristine Miller. They were joined by W. Kamau Bell, a nationally known stand-up comedian, podcast host, writer and food lover.
4. We learned more about chef-testant Charly. We’re only getting a little bit of a back story on each person, and it was really cool to know a little more about him. The dish he created for the Quickfire Challenge was inspired by his mom. He took to heart Kish’s message at the end of episode 4 that the judges wanted to see more of the chefs’ own stories in the cooking. Charly ended up winning the challenge.
5. The cooking challenges were not dominated by Rasika, who has proved to be a cooking force since episode 1.
6. The Wisconsin supper club is king. This state culinary treasure was the theme of the episode’s premier competition, the Elimination Challenge, and the chef-testants were given a quick lesson in supper clubbery by dining at The Harvey House, a well-known supper club in Madison. They had it all – relish trays, schnitzel, prime rib, fish fry.
7. The Elimination Challenge was about working together as a team. The chef-testants were grouped into two teams – Green and Purple. Each team was asked to prepare these supper club-inspired dishes: a relish tray, fish dish, chicken dish, beef dish, dessert. The dishes were judged at a meal featuring Kish, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, and 40 diners at The Harvey House.
8. Milwaukee’s Dan Jacobs – who competed on the Purple Team – makes a mean relish tray. Jacobs pulled from his own family history of visiting supper clubs to create his chicken liver mousse, steak tartare and crudites “in soil,” among other accompaniments. “My dad would eat the raw scallions” on the relish tray, Jacobs said. “My brother and I thought that was so cool.”
9. The Green Team struggled in the big supper club competition, starting with the budget. Laura spent too much on ingredients for her “four leches” dessert – not leaving enough for Danny to buy what he needed for his relish tray. Manny’s steak was undercooked and tough, the judges said. Trying to avoid a problem he had in an earlier episode’s competition, Charly focused on getting his fish dish cooked correctly. But it went the other way this time – instead of undercooked, it was overcooked.
10. The Purple Team prevailed, with Dan winning the challenge for his relish tray and earning immunity for next week’s episode. But … someone had to go home, and unfortunately, even after winning the Quickfire Challenge, the judges picked Charly. But just like other eliminations, he has the chance to come back on “Last Chance Kitchen.”
