Top Chef recap: Release the Racing Sausages

“Holy shit,” the chef-testants announced when they entered the kitchen during this week’s edition of Top Chef: Wisconsin. That’s because host Kristen Kish was joined by a very familiar face: Brian Voltaggio, chef-owner of Maryland’s Thacher & Rye, brother to fellow celebrity chef Michael Voltaggio, and alum of Top Chef, Top Chef Masters, and Top Chef: All-Stars. “I’m just happy I’m not doing the cooking,” our guest judge joked.

If the mere presence of one of the franchise’s most notable names didn’t get the competitors fired up, then the QuickFire Challenge surely did: With only 20 minutes (and a clunky Finish Powerball Ultimate brand tie-in), the chefs would have to flambé not only for their lives but also a cool $10,000. With lofty future goals like Michelle trying to open a sandwich company and Danny wanting to buy a home with his wife, that ten grand would be put to good use, so everyone was feeling the heat with this one.

Danny impressed Kristen and Brian with his grilled prawns with satsuma-habanero sauce, hit with some flambéed mezcal; as did Amanda with her brioche French Toast topped with cachaça-flambéed mangoes and lime-coconut meringue. And our favorite French himbo Kévin—a self-proclaimed “little pyro man”—also stood out with his grilled shrimp flambé au pastis with fennel potato purée. “Normally, this is where we tell you who did well and who didn’t,” Kristen announced to the waiting chefs. “But don’t think we’re done just yet!” (Per Manny: “Jesus Christ.”) That top three would have to cook all over again, this time showcasing their char skills. But they weren’t working twice as hard for nothing: That already hefty prize pool doubled to $20,000 for the winner.

Danny wanted to do a perfectly charred filet of fish, except the seafood on offer was a skins-on, fins-on whole branzino and the allotted time was only a mere 20 minutes. Any concern over a speedy butcher breakdown didn’t pause Kévin, who basically went full Ghostface on a squab in the hopes of securing that cash to fund a trip home to France to visit his family. And Amanda boldly opted to char a veal chop in less than a half hour. (“Girl, you crazy as hell!” Danny declared.) But despite those early concerns, Danny’s charred branzino with charred poblano purée and charred avocado ended up taking the win and giving a major boost to his “brownstone fund.”

And the grill theme continued with a sausage-themed Elimination Challenge, dubbed “The Top Chef Sausage Race.” Inspired by the Famous Racing Sausages, a beloved sixth-inning tradition during every Milwaukee Brewers games at American Family Field, the team challenge would see each lineup creating dishes around five different sausages—Italian, chorizo, Polish, bratwurst, and a classic hot hog—for a head-to-head judging. (“I. Love. Eating. Chorizo,” Manny declared, and, again, Horny Twitter won.) After drawing knives, we had a nearly-clean gender split between teams: the female-forward Yellow Team featured Kaleena, Michelle, Amanda, Laura, and Danny (“What up, ladies!”), while the male-dominant Blue Team was composed of Dan, Soo, Manny, Kévin (“The boyfriends are together!”), and Savannah.

We’re not going to lie to you, there were a lot of baseball-themed puns and instructions that we didn’t entirely understand but the gist was, the order of the Racing Sausages would dictate the menu progression. Whichever team won the most “innings,” i.e. courses, would be “the weiner,” Voltaggio announced to a cacophony of groans.

Along with Kish, Voltaggio, Tom Colicchio, and Gail Simmons, the judges’ panel would include Top Chef alum Amar Santana, former Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun, Pitch Perfect star Brittany Snow (Savannah’s jaw-drop at that announcement was very relatable), and about a dozen food-world and sausage-specific personalities. This would also, importantly, be the last Elimination in which immunity is up for grabs, as the competition is now in its “seventh inning stretch,” whatever that means.

After a truly absurd Chariots Of Fire-esque race between the Brewers mascots—during which Amanda rooted for Chorizo because he was “the only sausage of color”—the humble Hot Dog was the first tuber of the head-to-head challenge. Despite initially being intimidated to go against Danny and his bacon-wrapped frank with braised cabbage and beet relish, Soo’s elevated corn dog with wasabi and hoisin gave the Blue Team their first “run.” But Team Yellow retaliated with back-to-back wins, with Michelle’s Polish sausage Étouffée with creamy grits and collard salad and Kaleena’s Italian sausage ragù with “perfect” potato gnocchi taking the next two innings.

The chorizo course was a nail-biter, with both players impressing with their on-field skills: Manny with his chorizo and cheese tetela with roasted tomato sauce and Laura with her chorizo kebab tacos with yogurt sauce. (“We wanted to make sure our pitch was perfect,” Manny punned to Brittany Snow.) The beautiful balance of heat in his dish, more so than those bad puns, was what eked Manny the win, tying up the game.

It all came down to the brats: Both Dan and Amanda served up traditional flavor combinations for their bratwurst courses—he with potato pancakes, charred cabbage, and mustard butter; she with caraway spaetzle, crispy sauerkraut, and caramelized-onion sauce—but the creativity and cohesion of Amanda’s iteration secured the Yellow Team’s victory. As for this week’s individual winner, that MVP title went to Michelle, a much-welcome boost of confidence after finding herself in the bottom two with Rasika last episode.

That meant that Blue Team was benched, with Dan’s brat and Kévin’s ballsy risotto up for elimination. Despite the fact that, as Dan proclaimed earlier in the ep, “cooking risotto on Top Chef is historically not a great move,” Gail did praise Kévin’s rendition as one of the best versions they’ve had in 20 years of Top Chef. However, with the competition now this close and cutthroat, even that face couldn’t save our sweet French himbo. “My husband!” Manny cried after Kévin was told to pack his knives and go. Alas, Kévin will have to win Last Chance Kitchen against Rasika if he wants to return to the competition and continue having his Top Chef hubby calling him a hot sausage on national TV.

Stray observations

• Was anyone else deeply upset that it didn’t turn out to be Tom, Gail & Co. underneath those Racing Sausages costumes?
• Danny’s Brooklyn jumped out when it came to the budget this week. “I’m making very meaningful eye contact with Laura,” the New Yorker declared, having been left with Laura’s literal crumbs after she ran up the budget during the last group challenge.
• Casting Brittany Snow as a Top Chef guest judge was as seemingly random to the actor herself as it was to the rest of us. “I think it’s a good risotto? But I don’t know any better!” the Pitch Perfect star hilariously declared during tasting.