America’s Culinary Cup, hosted by Padma Lakshmi, continued its search for America’s best chef with the roll out of yet another culinary commandment: Consistency. To be a great chef, it’s not enough to make something great once, you have to make it great every single time.
The challenge for the commandment was for the Top 6 remaining chefs to whip up 30 identical fish dishes.
The America’s Culinary Cup winner will be awarded the biggest cash prize in culinary history: $1 million dollars. Here’s our spoiler-filled recap of who went home tonight.
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Who went home on America’s Culinary Cup tonight?
Keith Corbin
James Beard Nominee
Advancing contestants tonight on America’s Culinary Cup Season 1 Night 8
Buddah Lo
Michelin Starred Chef & Two-Time Top Chef winner
Cara Stadler
James Beard Nominee
Chris Morgan
Michelin Starred Chef
Katie Button
James Beard Winner
Matt Peters
Bocuse D’Or Gold Medalist
Related: America’s Culinary Cup Reveals Powerhouse Lineup of 14 Guest Judges for $1 Million Cooking Competition (Exclusive)
What was the challenge tonight on America’s Culinary Cup, and who won it?
Photo: Jackie Brown/CBS
Judge Michael Cimarusti, who’s famous for his seafood cuisine, chose fish as the protein for the challenge, because it is one of the most difficult things to master in the professional kitchen. The three methods the chefs were allowed to cook with were grilling, poaching, and searing. They were also paired in teams of two and since Buddha Lo won last week’s challenge, he got to pick the teams and the cooking methods for each.
He chose Matt as his partner and poaching as their cooking method. Then he paired Keith and Chris on searing and Katie and Cara on grilling.
As usual, Padma, Michael and Wylie Dufresne awarded points based on Taste, Creativity, Presentation and Mastery of the Commandment with each quality worth 5 points, so each judge’s total would be 20 points for a cumulative possibility of 60 points.
The scores were:
Buddha/Matt: 57
Katie/Cara: 48
Keith/Chris: 35
Related: Can Two-Time Top Chef Champ Buddha Lo Win Again? Inside His America’s Culinary Cup Strategy (Exclusive)
Who lost the elimination challenge on America’s Culinary Cup tonight?
Photo: Jackie Brown/CBS
The elimination challenge was a four-way showdown between Katie, Cara, Chris and Keith, and in keeping with the consistency commandment, the challenge was to make three French omelets, one for each of the judges.
Padma’s least consistent omelet was Keith, Michael’s was also Keith, and Wylie’s was Keith’s as well, which ended his time in the America’s Culinary Cup kitchen.
“One thing I’ve been consistent at was fighting in this competition for my place, and I’m proud of that,” Keith said. “I am someone who grew up with less than other people. I come from Watts. I overcame the gangs, prison, poverty; I didn’t go to culinary school. My introduction to the kitchen was survival. If I inspire one person where I come from, I’ve won.”
America’s Culinary Cup airs Wednesday nights at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Streams next day on Paramount+.
Next, Top Chef Star Joins Padma Lakshmi’s New Culinary Competition Show