Top Chef

Previously, on Top Chef...

29 chefs from across the country arrived in Texas...

It's Emeril. Bam!

Announcer: To compete for a coveted Top Chef coat.

Can I move while you're checking?

Pack up your knives, and you can go.

Okay, fair enough.

Announcer: After a grueling series of challenges...

- You have to go home. - Okay.

13 chefs failed to make the cut.

Welcome to the Top Chef house.

Whoo-hoo!

But once the smoke settled, a new generation of chefs

claimed their place in the Top Chef house.

Yes!

Thank you so much.

My name's Paul.

I'm the executive chef of Uchiko restaurant

in Austin, Texas.

I couldn't feel happier. I passed the first trial.

Come get your jacket.

My name is Richie.

I am the sous chef at Moto restaurant in Chicago.

I've worked long and hard to get one of those jackets

and show what I can do.

My name is Lindsay Autry.

I'm the executive chef

of the Omphoy Ocean Resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

Congratulations.

Getting the coat is like 3,000 pounds

being lifted off my shoulders.

16 chefs remain,

all hoping to win...

A feature in Food & Wine magazine,

a showcase at the annual Food & Wine classic in Aspen,

$125,000, furnished by Healthy Choice,

to bring their culinary dreams to life,

and the title of Top Chef.

== sync by elderman ==

- You ready? - Almost.

I printed out a sheet that says,

"congratulations, Top Chef Beverly Kim."

I look at it every day.

If I can believe it, I'm gonna achieve it,

so I keep telling myself that.

I'm used to having my wife beside me

and, like, embrace the little small goals that I got.

You know, like it's her idea.

My name is Keith Rhodes.

I'm the owner and executive chef

of Catch restaurant in Wilmington, North Carolina.

When I was young, I went to prison,

but I think that cookin' saved my life.

And this year I was nominated for the James Beard award.

Just wanna compete against some other guys

who think they're the top chefs in their area too.

- Morning. - Good morning.

How are you doing?

My name is Chris Jones. I live in Chicago.

Now I'm getting to know everybody,

and where they've come from, and I'm just like, holy .

I'm going against the best of the best.

I work with Richie at Moto in Chicago,

and he's my competitor,

but we bounce things off each other all the time.

So I'm very lucky.

He's like a brother at arms with me.

Ready to see what's gonna happen.

Let's do it!

As I walk into the Top Chef kitchen,

I see these little boxes, and this huge aquarium

with snakes.

I'm beginning to get a little nervous,

because I don't like snakes.

Congratulations.

Chefs: Thank you.

The 16 of you have proven that you're worthy to compete

for the title of Top Chef.

I was the last chef to make it

into the competition.

So winning the very first quickfire

would prove to the other chefs

that I'm a fierce competitor.

Winning Top Chef requires nerves of steel.

And that's exactly what we'll be testing in this quickfire.

If you haven't guessed it,

for your first quickfire,

you'll be cooking up some rattlesnake.

Oh, boy.

I have this major fear of snakes.

Slithering, and the coiling, and eww...

I'd like you to meet your guest judge.

He's the chef and owner of La Gloria restaurant,

right here in San Antonio.

Please meet Johnny Hernandez.

Hi, chefs. Welcome to Texas.

Chefs: Hi, chef.

- Johnny Hernandez is really well-known

for cooking wild game meats.

He's an amazing chef.

Rattlesnakes are something

very traditional in Texas cuisine.

It's something that we use in our company.

We do about 700, 800 pounds annually.

It's a meat that's very delicate.

It can take spices,

but it's gonna have to have a gentle touch.

It will challenge you, so lots of luck.

Chefs, you'll have one hour to cook.

And your ingredient...

Is in the box in front of you.

Whoa.

Oh, . This sucks.

Immunity and $5,000 are on the line,

so make it count.

When time is up, I better see

some mother snakes on some mother plates.

Your time starts now.

- Whoo! - Whoa...

- It's not alive. - Thank God.

The snake is skinned, and it's dead.

.

Whoo!

Right behind you.

Ugh...

Wow.

I'm kinda freaking out a little bit.

There's not a lotta meat on this .

At my restaurant, Moto, in Chicago,

I've never worked with snake before.

The first thing that goes in my mind

is I wanna break the snake down.

Oh, wow, you got nice little fillets off that guy, huh?

Yeah, you gotta cut it into sections, Richie.

Get it small so you can work with it.

That makes sense.

Me and Richie are both from Chicago.

His style is, like, fun and whimsy,

and total opposite of what I cook.

With my Italian background,

I like to keep things very simple.

It's okay to go simple.

And often that can really be the best-tasting dish.

It's gonna taste effin' delicious.

10 minutes down!

Shoulda practiced my rattlesnake skills.

I don't like snake,

I don't like the look of it, it doesn't like the look of me.

We're not friends.

I'm making a rattlesnake fritter.

Yummy.

At my restaurant I cook a lotta weird stuff,

like goat liver and barracuda,

but rattlesnake is new to me,

and I'm freaking out about it.

Corner!

I had a pretty unique childhood,

growing up halfway between California and Mexico.

- Órale! - I grew up on a farm.

Slaughtering animals was real common,

so I'm not afraid of snakes.

That's why I like baking, freshman bitches.

The dish that I'm making

is influenced from southeast Asia street food,

so it's barbecued snake with an Asian slaw.

Being from Texas, my pride is on the line

with this first quickfire challenge.

16 minutes!

Oh, , there's only 16 minutes left?

Wow, that went quick.

I am a little unsure

if I cooked the rattlesnake properly.

It has a little bit of a chew,

but from a Korean background,

some things are supposed to have a chew to it.

So I go with it.

Jerk seasoning with pineapple,

roasted corn, and some other .

I want Richie to go very far in this competition.

If we go number one, number two, so be it, Jedi.

All right, dude. Good luck, buddy.

It's go time, baby.

.

Needs more flavor.

Hands up, utensils down.

I don't like rattlesnake too much.

- Hi. - How are you?

Sarah, what'd you make for us?

I never worked with snake before,

so I just wanted to quickly flash-fry it

and then finish it with a little brown butter,

shallot, and caper.

- Anything else that you put on before you flash-fried it?

I did a little minced lemon zest on the rattlesnake.

- Thank you so much. - Thank you so much.

I made a rattlesnake nigiri out of it,

and I put a Thai basil jalapeno aioli with it,

so I hope you enjoy it.

Today I made rattlesnake nicoise

with olive oil pudding and some olive panko.