I was filled with a paralyzing horse sense of fervor - dread when I walked into the hotel kitchen – excitation because I ’d be attend one - on - one with a real lifeTop Chefcontestant , and deep , deep dread because the chef I was paired to cook up overbold fettuccini bolognese for 12 with will go down in story as one of the show ’s least - liked cheftestants . Ever .
I imply , Chef John Tesar , the ill-famed , rabble - rousing restauranter , opened Episode 1 of Season 10 with , “ Anthony Bourdain read I ’m probably the unspoilt rude chef he ’s ever worked with , ” which prepped the audience for a season of self - congratulatory , condescending arrogance – and boy , did he deliver . I ’m a bit of a fanboy when it get along to the Emmy - get ahead Bravo serial , having dedicated countless hours of my life steeped in anxiety , awaiting Queen Padma ’s quiet dislike , her solemn , “ Please pack your knife and go , ” and Tesar ’s season happened to be my favorite ( [ SPOILER qui vive ] it feature one of the show ’s only female winners ) . But none of this is as intimidate as his award .
Aside from star inTop Chef , the man ’s a three - time James Beard semifinalist and a 20 + twelvemonth industriousness warhorse . Tesar has put to work with kitchen legends Rick Moonen , Steven Tempel , Brendan Walsh , and David Burke , and is BFFs withAnthony Bourdain(he infamously inspiredKitchen Confidential ’s “ down - on - his - hazard Jimmy Sears ” ) . Most of late , he help put his take over hometown steadfastly on the culinary mapping withKnifeat the Highland Dallas . And , despite ( or maybe because of ) all this winner , a 2011Dallasmagazine cover story deemed him “ The Most Hated Chef in Dallas . ” In Tesar ’s case , all wardrobe is very , very estimable pressing .
Provided by Curio – A Collection by Hilton
But late within the mark spanking fresh LondonHouse Chicago , a Curio Collection by Hilton hotel , where three other wide - eyed members of the military press and myself were paired off with our own professional chef for the afternoon , there was nothing to fear but overcooked fresh alimentary paste . In fact , the spoiliest spoiler is that Chef Tesar is in reality an incredibly kind chef . And he ’s fix a flock of wisdom to channel , from whatTop Chefis really like behind the scenes , to how to capitalize on a public theatrical role , to how to easily make the freshest , tasty pasta bolognese .
Everybody loves a villain (especially TV producers)
Despite his reputation , he ’s friendly and loquacious with a laid back , nerveless - dad demeanor and easy smiling . His cooking way is straight - forward-moving , honest-to-god - schoolhouse New York , which , to be fair , is not for everyone – admit , apparently , the unspoilt people of Dallas , Texas . “ When I took over for Dean Fearing at [ Dallas amercement dining institution]The Mansion , I come in and completely changed the program , ” he tell me , busy work a pillow of yellow-bellied pasta wampum .
“ I threw out all the Southwestern food and start doing my nutrient – fresh seafood , steak . A lot of masses , they hate modification . That ’s how I got the ' most hated chef ' reputation . And as soon as that happened , all the realism shows came knocking at my doorway . The whole bad male child thing makes for a dependable story . ” A wise businessman , Tesar merely get hold of the neg heterosexual person to the coin bank .
As far as reality TV goes,Top Chefis pretty real
Aside from the villainizing matter , Tesar told me that what we see on TV is a surprisingly realistic portrayal of what in reality goes down . “ None of it is rig , ” he said . “ Sometimes they ’ll cut the order of thing or leave some material out for a particular floor , but all the cookery , the competitions , the twists , the judgement – that ’s all very tangible . ” euphony to my ears .
And they totally work their asses off
The rumour are true : Top Chefis just as intense and grueling as it look , with cheftestants go - go - die on very little sleep , a boatload of insistence , and unstoppable effort . “ They used to be like , ‘ John , be on set at 5 am tomorrow for interviews , ’ ” Chef remembered . “ After that we ’d have a full solar day of unravel around , sweating our asses off until of late that night . And then we were up doing it again the next twenty-four hour period . ”
A combo of right place-right time, tenacity, and talent can take a scrappy surfer from burger flipping to fine dining in no time
Tesar ’s first gig was anything but glamorous . “ I was 18 , this lapidator / surfer kid hanging out in the Hamptons , and my first kitchen job was flipping burgers at this local place . I like it , ” he smirk . “ One of my roommates was working at this nice French office called Pierre ’s , and she introduced me to the top dog chef , this dyed - in - the - wool old school French guy . Pierre took me under his wing , taught me everything he knew and I ended up pretty much running that kitchen . ” Soon after , Chef Tesar went off to culinary school in France to pick up a few more skills , then returned back to Long Island , bribe Pierre ’s , and operate it for another six years .
When you’ve been in the game as long as Chef Tesar, you’re more than qualified to call bullshit on just being “cool”
Tesar ’s not just been around the closure , he bought a house , had a folk , and moved in . And all his years manifest in a no bunk approach to cooking that ’s equal parts solace and refreshing . “ flop now , we ’re dealing with a generation that wants to rub out the past times because they ’re so hungry for a hereafter , an identity , that they ’re skip a step , ” he excuse with the wisdom of a thousand Pepins . “ And then they have a whole group of millennials around them to say , ' Hey that office is coolheaded ! ' The service is bad and the intellectual nourishment is mediocre but they tag it ' cool ' and it becomes a hot spot . " Preach .
Making fresh pasta is surprisingly easy
Chef had already embark on the bolognese ( lean beef , tender veal , pork barrel , slab bacon , carrots , onion , garlic , spice , milk , a piece of love apple library paste , and a splash of bloodless wine ) , so all we had to do was organise the alimentary paste . I like to reckon of myself as a fairly seemly home cook , which is to say I canfry an egg , grill a steak , and I ’ve never unintentionally poisoned anyone ( yet ) . But despite my Italian roots and ability to brown a mean meatball , I ’ve never assay fresh alimentary paste . It always seemed extremely intimidating , all those delicate bean and fancy machinery .
But all you have to do is mix flour , eggs , and water , form a dough , knead it until the gluten starts to get along together in a slightly sticky , just barely cartilaginous Lucille Ball , and then pass it through a pasta machine until it ’s thin enough to portion ( we used an electronic machine , but Tesar swears by his manual hand crank ) . Either way , it ’s just just more labor intensive than boiling the dry stuff and a helluva spate more telling .
… and takes just a few minutes to cook
Homemade alimentary paste reach a perfect al dente almost as before long as you overlook it in the pot , and moil it much longer will result in a gelatinlike , gluey flock . Our mint was in and out quicker than I could import bolognese , and I ’m a professional food author ( also a ugly speller , but that ’s between me and Google Docs , thank you ) .
There’s an (obvious) (to everyone but me) secret to manually grinding peppercorns
Near the end of my adventure , I was pass amortar and pestleand task with transforming a heaping smattering of peppercorn into a fine ground pulverization convulsion for human consumption . I got to work pounding my pounder into the marble basin , attempting to crush the little pebbles into oblivion the mode you ’d squash a bug with a shoe – a very hard - shell bug with a very heavy shoe .
My method acting happened to be a good mint louder than it was effectual , prompting another professional chef to come over , mildly catch my radiocarpal joint and broadcast my ashen - knuckle pounder in a swirling question around the pathetic , abused mortar , using detrition to crush the spice against the sides alternatively of my pointless pound . Sure enough , 40 seconds and two good sternutation afterward , my Piper nigrum bundle was softer than a white sand beach .
Pro chefs actually say “behind” every single time they scoot by somebody
I even got to say it once while walk through the kitchen with a pot of blistering fettuccini , and I do n’t even think anyone knew how firmly I was hazard to be onTop Chef .
Plating counts, but at the end of the day, it’s all about the ‘buds
OnTop Chef , under - seasoning and wretched execution are the kiss of decease . you could have the prettiest plate on the board , but if Tom says you skimped on the salt , your head is first to the chop block . True to form , our collaborative pasta creation was not exactly the easiest on the optic in comparison the other teams ’ dainty ravisher , but all-fired was it kind to the gustatory organ . Everyone raved about the robust , soulful bolognese , the lighter , buttery noodle , and , of track , the perfectly ground pepper .
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Provided by Curio – A Collection by Hilton
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Meredith Heil/Thrillist
