Hannah KirbyMilwaukee Journal Sentinel
In her first season as "Top Chef" host, Season 10 winner Kristen Kish is pulling double duty.
In addition to hosting the Emmy-, James Beard- and Critics’ Choice Award-winning series, she's hosting a weekly digital companion to it, according to Bravo TV.
And, with Season 21 filmed in Wisconsin, the more the merrier.
Each week after "Top Chef," "Top Chef:The Dish with Kish" will air on Peaco*ck,BravoTV.comor theBravo app.
On the new, digital show Kish will be joined by "Top Chef" all stars, winners and fan favorites to "dish about each episode’s most memorable moments and answer behind-the-scenes questions about the series." And, they'll be cooking while doing it.
If you didn't watch the "Top Chef" Season 21 premiere, which aired Wednesday — or you need a refresher — check out dining critic Rachel Bernhard's recap here.
Otherwise, if you're all caught up, here's a look at the first installment of "The Dish with Kish":
Who were Kristen Kish's special guests?
Kish's friend Stephanie Izard, "Top Chef" Chicago Season 4 winner and fan favorite; and, Kish's best friend Stephanie Cmar from "Top Chef" Seattle Season 10, New Orleans Season 11 and "All-Stars" Season 17. Cmar is a culinary producer for the show.
On Season 10, Kish and Cmar had to compete against each other, making soup for Emeril Lagasse. They told the tale on Kish's new show.
Kish "hit it out of the park," Lagasse said, while Cmar "missed the mark" and was eliminated.
While there was no hard feelings, it was awkward/weird between them for a couple weeks, they shared.
Kristen Kish challenged Stephanie Izard to make a good plate of food with scraps
On "Top Chef" Season 21's premiere, the bottom three cheftestants competed in a last-chance cook-off to determine who would go home. The challenge: “Make a good plate of food.”
They had 20 minutes to make that good plate, using only the ingredients leftover in the kitchen after the main challenge.
While this seemed right in contestant David's wheelhouse — using leftover ingredients is the concept of the restaurant he runs in San Francisco — he ultimately was the one asked to leave. His dish? A poached shrimp with tomatoes over a green curry and coconut cilantro sauce.
David will head to "Last Chance Kitchen," where he’ll face off with the next eliminated chef for a chance to return to the competition.
Kish had a similar challenge for Izard on the first episode of "The Dish with Kish." Izard was tasked with making something good out of whatever was in Kish's kitchen ... well, set kitchen.
"I think you want to get a lot of flavor in a short amount of time as possible," Izard told Kish.
Izard was thinking a pozole-inspired dish, which is what Manny made to become this season's first elimination challenge winner. Kish told Izard that Manny's pozole — a green pozole with chicken and charred salsa verde — was as "perfect as perfect can be."
Kish got to making broth out of bones while Izard started on salsa matcha, which Kish loves.
While discarded ingredients are strewn about the "Top Chef" kitchen after an elimination challenge, Kish asked Izard if she thinks there's "opportunity in the mess and the chaos?"
"I think so," Izard said. "I mean, I think in restaurants, realistically, we have to use all of our scraps."
Leftover flavored chicken can be made into a sauce or broth, Izard said. And, "little bits of anything" can go into stocks, sauces, fillings or another dish.
So, what did Izard end up making for Kish? A seared snapper with green pozole and hazelnut salsa macha.
"There's so much flavor," Izard said. "I love that texture of the hominy. The smokiness from the bacon, I think, is really nice with the smoky notes from the chilies in the salsa macha. The spice in the broth is so nice with the fish."
While "leftovers are not great ingredients," Kish agreed it was "a very delicious dish."
How 'Top Chef' gets those beautiful shots of cheftestants' dishes
Cmar joined Izard and Kish to help with the fish, but mostly to reveal the mystery behind the show's "beauties."
When a cheftestant is finished making their dishes, one of them is taken for beauties, the perfectly lit, individually filmed shots of each dish made on the show.
The magic happens in a black tent with perfect lighting where the dish is going to be placed. The chef is always asked which way they want the plate to face, Cmar noted.
"This process happens because we want to make sure that everything that the chef's done is represented 100%" Cmar said. "We also want to capture the food when it's still warm and not coagulated and congealed and stuff. We want to make sure it looks as fresh and as appetizing for the viewers as possible."
The hardest dish to photograph? Ice cream, Cmar shared.
Does hosting 'Top Chef' make Kristen Kish miss being on the cooking side of it?
With Kish hosting instead of competing this time around, Izard asked her if she misses the cooking side of it.
"It makes me want to cook, but not to be confused with going on and competing again," Kish said. "Because that is a hard no."
Izard actually judged one of Kish's proudest quickfires: An almond and chocolate sponge cake with a sabayon.
A look ahead to the next episode of 'Top Chef: The Dish with Kish'
On the next episode of "The Dish with Kish," "Top Chef" alum Amar Santana will join Kish to do a "deep dive" into Season 21's first quickfire.
