Tom Colicchio - Top Chef: The Cookbook

THE COOKBOOK

INTRODUCTION BY TOM COLICCHIO

Text by Brett Martin
Food photography by Lisa Hubbard
Recipes edited by Liana Krissoff and Leda Scheintaub

Copyright 2008 Bravo Media, LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

The information in this book has been carefully researched and tested, and all efforts have been made to ensure accuracy. Neither the publisher nor the creators can assume responsibility for any accident, injuries, losses, or other damages resulting from the use of this book.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

eISBN: 978-0-8118-7522-6

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I had a pretty dim view of reality TVcant stand those shows where people eat bugs or pretend to find true love just to get their fifteen minutes of fame. So when Bravo came to me with Top Chef, I dismissed the offer. Twice. The third time around they sent me the entire first two seasons of Project Runway. I holed up for a weekend, surprised to find myself first a reluctant convert, then a hard-boiled junkie.

The show was good. There was skill involved, creativity, long hours, hard work. Ideas mattered. Execution was crucial. Small mistakes could derail an entire day of work. It struck a chord with me. Producer Shauna Minoprio, of Magical Elves Productions, called to explain that my role would be something of a hybrid between mentor and judge. My life has always been about stepping into the abyss. I view risk as healthy, crucial even. So I said yes.

I could not have known what I was in for. For starters, there was the shoot itselflong, stretching into the wee hours, at times harrowing. I felt instantly comfortable around the crew, a talented, headset-wearing clutch of young people who resembled carnies. Long after they were done with me, I sensed, theyd be packed and off to the next set of fortune-seekers.

And then there were the chef-testants. The first group was motley and, for the most part, wonderful. I recognized something of myself in each of them, regardless of background and experience. At one point, I too was willing to do whatever it took to get my talent out into the world. Any chef who says he or she hasnt been there is lying.

What we put that first group of chefs, and those from subsequent seasons, through was hard. And while sometimes the Quickfires and Elimination Challenges may have seemed contrived, they were rarely irrelevant. Why? Because just about anyone could be a good cook with unlimited time and resourcestwo things a real chef never has.

Each meal is a rush. Ten minutes from order-in to app, twenty minutes to entre. Now do it again, two hundred times. Each meal brings blind-siding variablesa diners allergies, a rush to the theater, a missing delivery. Budgets must be adhered to, equipment breaks down. The trick is to think on your feet, respond calmly and inventively to pressure. The challenges on Top Chef give viewers a chance to see the chefs thought processes as they are forced to ask themselves, How do I adapt my skills, my training, my personality to the obstacles Ive been handed? This is exactly what real chefs do every day.

We also compete, in our own way. There is always the next hot young thing coming up with great ideas, limitless energy, unbridled enthusiasm. The chef who rests on his laurels and ceases to invent is yesterdays news. The diners who eat in my place are spending their money somewhere else the next night, and you better believe theyll be comparing notes. I think of it this way: my guests wait eight weeks for a table. They may be celebrating a birthday, an important anniversary, or planning to propose. If we ruin their meal, theyll take little consolation in the notion that we usually get it right, that overall we are the best at what we do, that this was just an off night. They certainly dont care whether Im likeable or telegenic.

This is the axiom I carry with me to the Judges Table: you might be a great contender, but one really bad showing could get you eliminated, just as an off night or a careless effort might remove my restaurant permanently from a diners list. Theres no rest. No excuses. No slacking off.

And I wouldnt have it any other way.

Twenty years ago, a show like Top Chef wasnt available to us up-and-comers. All we had was the usual warpath of long hours and low pay. But we also didnt have the phenomena of celebrity chefs to peer up at, to aim for. When I told my father I wanted to cook for a living, I think he pictured me as a fry cook somewhere, cigarette dangling. The idea that one could be famous... renowned, sure, but TV-celebrity famous? For cooking? It was preposterous. To this day, Im still not one hundred percent sure how it happened. But it did, and I was in the right place (and working my ass off) at the right time.

The amazing thing is that, in the space of a few short years, Top Chef has become a legitimate stepping stone for young talent, a real proving ground. A way to demonstrate ones craft early on while still immersed in the years of slogging prep-work and crummy hours, that slow but deliberate climb. Some call it a shortcut, but, honestly, its more of a trial by fire. Making it through takes integrity, vision, and grit, and I applaud all of Top Chefs contestants to date. In that sensethe only one that finally matterstheyre all winners in my book.

Cook often, eat well.

Chef Tom Colicchio, Head Judge

Maybe, in recent years, youve been at a dinner party and suddenly found yourself picking apart each dish in ruthless detail. Or maybe youve noticed more and more people at the supermarket asking for strange ingredients like rattlesnake and stabilizing gelatins. Perhaps youve caught yourself staring at the office vending machine, wondering how you could work that beef jerky into a dinner menu. Or maybe, the night before you have to cook Thanksgiving dinner, your dreams are haunted by bald men and tall, beautiful Indian women.

Theres a real kinship among chefs, because they live in a kind of netherworldalways working while the rest of the world is celebrating. But theres also a fierce competition.
DAN CUTFORTH, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

If any or all of these things are true, you may be under the spell of Top Chef. And youre certainly not alone.

But to tell the story of how Top Chef became such a phenomenon, you have to start with the transformation of a cable network.

The Bravo network had previously been the home of commercial-free, sober arts coverage. Under network president Lauren Zalaznick, who took over in 2004, it began to reinvent itself as TVs place for smart, literate, reality programming focusing on culture and the arts. Fashion, food, beauty, design, and pop culturethose became our mandates, Zalaznick says. Not surprisingly, these were exactly the areas of expertise on display in the networks first major hit: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

In the realm of fashion, Bravo introduced Project Runway and Make Me a Supermodel; for beauty, the network generated the hairdressing competition Shear Genius, Blow Out, and Work Out; Top Design and Flipping Out handled design; and such shows as