Sad the Season of Top Chef is Over
I don’t watch much television but one show I never miss is Top Chef. This week was the finale, naming the chef who prepared the judges favorite meal.
There are many reasons why I love this show.
Mainly, the cooking.
I love cooking. Baking is my favorite but I love anything to do with kitchens!
The reason I like Top Chef above all the cooking shows is the level of their cooking expertise, how they come up with these amazing dishes on the fly and the reason they all come on the show (or so they say)…
…because of the competition.
Episode 6 meal by Shirley Chung
Competition fine tunes your skills. It can bring you to your peak performance even when under stress, which these chefs are often! It requires you to have to think on your feet, often without much time to process an answer or react to a problem.
In Top Chef, this happens in the Quickfires. They have about 20 minutes to come up with a dish to satisfy certain ingredients or requirements. I am amazed at the unique and intriguing dishes they create.
Episode 3 Quickfire by Sam and Amanda 
But the real creativity comes in the Elimination Challenges. Sometimes a chef will get eliminated just because of how a dish is seasoned. The competition near the end of the season is especially tough and the judges often say, it can come down to the most minute thing.
These chefs are just that good!
Episode 13 meal by Sheldon Simeon
My favorite line in the show this year was when head judge and chef Tom Colicchio said to two contestants right before one was eliminated: as chefs we are lucky that…
…”we know what we want to do and we get to do it every day.”
That is the crux of work. Knowing what you were meant to do, then being able to do it.
And loving it.
Bringing your passion to it.
You can tell every chef on the show, loves to cook. It comes out in their interviews, in how they prepare their food, in how upset they get when they don’t think they made a good plate of food.
The winner this year was Brooke Williamson. She was the runner-up to one of my favorite seasons when Kirsten Kish won. Brooke came back (along with 8 other returning alumni) because she felt she had unfinished business.
Winning dish by Brooke Williamson 
There have been many chefs who come back to try to win. Some are successful like Brooke and others not so. But they return for the challenge, for the competition, to be the called the best.
Something we all strive to be.