by Chandra Clewley

 

Last night, on Top Chef Masters Season 2, Jody Adams was let go after the entire team had to face the excruciating challenge of cooking with oddities such as Sea Cucumber and Duck Tongue. Appetizing! No one can say that Jody didn't show up for this competition though. She left with $17,500 for her charity Partners in Health and several wins under her belt. Jody, a self-proclaimed New England girl, runs Rialto Restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a 4 star dining establishment. She also has a James Beard Award under that belt! Now back in New England, with her supportive family and staff, Jody spoke with Reality Wanted about the nuances of competitive cooking, the intimidating challenge of cooking with food you have never seen before and my personal favorite, the new trend of "guerilla grilling"! 

 

Q. Chandra, Reality Wanted: What inspired you to go on Top Chef Masters Season 2?

A. Jody Adams: It was a combination of things. I knew about Top Chef and I thought I couldn’t possibly do it.  I was not really interested in competitive cooking and I thought it wasn’t really for me. But, Bravo had done such a nice job of showing a cooking challenge and it reached a huge audience, so I thought, why am I saying no to this? I’m taking myself too seriously! I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and do something different for a change. It also benefited Partners in Health and exposure would be great for the restaurant, the charity and me.

 

Q. Chandra, Reality Wanted: What did you think of the competition in general?

A. Jody: It was tough! There were many different approaches, egos, and talent. Everybody was so different from each other!

 

Q. Chandra, Reality Wanted: The Quick Fire challenge went very well for you. What were your thoughts on cooking for The Simpson’s character Lisa?

A. Jody: The Quick Fire Challenge and the Elimination Challenge were so yin and yang. I had just a small glance of Lisa’s personality and I knew she was a vegetarian.  I loved cooking a dish that I would love to cook for myself. A mentor chef of mine once said to “cook for yourself first, then cook for your customer and lastly, cook for the press.” That is the key to authentic cooking.

 

Q. Chandra, Reality Wanted: What happened with the Elimination Challenge?

A. Jody: Well, none of us had worked with that food before, really. I was 4^th in line to pick my proteins and all that was left was Kangaroo, Goat Leg or Duck Tongue on the turf side, and Geoduck, Sea Cucumber, and Giant Squid on the surf side. I figured, I am a New England girl and I know clams, so I picked the Geoduck. I thought the Goat would be similar to Lamb, so I picked that. If it hadn’t been a competition television show, it would have been a comedy. Here were these food items that were controlling all of the chefs! Everyone but Susur. The flavor of the Geoduck was similar to clam and it behaves the same way. I know with little neck clams you either don’t cook them or steam them open. And Cohogs, you cook for a long time. I knew that Geoduck could be served uncooked or cooked. The Goat Leg was older and a tougher animal than I had anticipated. I could braise it forever and a day. I had worked with Wild Boar before and I approached it in a similar way. It was undercooked though and I needed more time to put it back in the oven. At the elimination table I was really mad at myself.

 

Q. Chandra, Reality Wanted: What is next for you?

A. Jody: I work closely with Partners in Health and we are doing a fundraiser in June. My husband and I are collecting a series of vegetable based recipes, for instance, fiddleheads, asparagus, peas. We want to put that together as a website or a cook book. We want to focus on more vegetable based diets with animal proteins as an addition. It is better for the planet, for the animals, and for our health. For example, the lamb I did for Wedding Wars (Episode 5). It had vegetables completely surrounding it and the critics and guests asked which dish I was presenting. I told them  both in one!

 

Q. Chandra, Reality Wanted: Tell me more about responsible eating.

A. Jody: A group of us are going to Washington D.C. to talk to the Environmental Protection Agency about the responsibility we face with food and spontaneous conferences are popping up all over the place discussing this. The word is getting out to the public that we need to eat differently, and communities are seeing the issues they face with eating. Younger cooks who are getting the attention these days; we call them the 3 P’s, pigs, piercings and pickles. While it is “sexy”, it is so contrary to what we should do, and it is unrealistic and unhealthy. It just is not where we should be or where we should be going. But somehow we need to make eating vegetables “sexy”. Our website www.rialto-restaurant.com touches more on the subject. We do something called Guerilla Grilling, where the chefs go out to the farms and cook what we have to work with on that specific farm! 

 

Top Chef Masters airs Wednesday nights on Bravo at 10/9 c

 

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

 

Follow Chandra at http://twitter.com/ChandraClewley

For more Top Chef Masters links visit Sirlinksalot.net