Some of the ingredients were unfamiliar, but at the end of an hour and 20 minutes of cooking, St. Louis chef Tyler “Tai” Davis reigned supreme.
In Monday night’s broadcast of the long-running Food Network show “Chopped,” Davis beat out three other competitors to take home a $10,000 prize and a dash of national fame.
“I’m on Cloud 9. I’m really happy about all the support that St. Louis showed me. I’m happy to represent St. Louis,” said Davis, who is an artist and musician as well as a chef and author of cookbooks. Currently, he works as a caterer and hosts an occasional pop-up called Lineage.
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On the show, four chefs are given a basket with four items that they must use to cook an appetizer in 20 minutes. Three judges taste the results and eliminate one of the contestants. The remaining chefs then have 30 minutes to use four different items in an entrée. One chef is eliminated and the remaining two have a final 30 minutes to use four different items in a dessert.
“Thirty minutes is insane. One menu item usually takes a day to develop,” Davis said.
For his appetizer, Davis whipped up a deep-fried hamachi collar (yellowfin tuna from the head to the gills) with cauliflower and succotash made with black corn (an Asian corn that is sweet and starchy) flavored with a Russian gelatinized stock called khololdets.
For the entrée, he used the spicy Yemeni cilantro condiment zhoug to marinate a Denver steak, which he served with a bearnaise sauce made with deep-fried egg yolks, and he served a leafy form of broccoli called spigarello — he had never heard of it, he said — with a pancetta vinaigrette.
He took his inspiration for dessert from a lemon meringue pie. He made a pink lemon curd pie with a graham cracker and mooncake crust, and a vanilla bean meringue, which he topped with a berry compote including sour candy belts.
Davis is no stranger to national television. He has appeared on Disney+ and HBO Max!, and this was his third time on Food Network.
“Third time’s the charm,” he said.
The episode will be rebroadcast at 1 p.m. Nov. 5 on the Food Network.
When Tai Davis moved into the Metropolitan Artists Lofts, the accomplished chef, musician, p…
This is one of 10 recipes by Tai Davis, of Alchemy Bakery, which he operates out of his home, geared to home cooks in his book, “#4 Tai Davis,” which is scheduled for release in June or July.
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This steak blanketed with a creamy sauce is as mouthwatering as it sounds. Dan Neman shows you how to make it. Video by Colter Peterson, cpeterson@post-dispatch.com
