Chef Julia Shares “Amazing” Kitchen Hack You Didn’t See in Yes, Chef! Challenge
With limited (or assigned) ingredients, Yes, Chef! competitors have to think on their feet. This week’s challenge was no exception.
For the first time, Yes, Chef! hosts Martha Stewart and José Andrés decided which chef had to exit the competition, but it’s not the last you’ll see of her.
The pressure for the team challenges only got more intense once the captains realized they had to pick between their teammates' dishes for what the judges would taste.
Green team captain Chef Julia Chebotar ended up being selected for elimination by Martha and José for her gem lettuce salad with a grilled oyster. She was up against her team with Chef Zain Ismail and Chef Ronny Miranda.
“I’ve made 11 best new friends for life and we’ve all kind of helped each other, like we’ve helped each other get new jobs or ideas or ingredients,” Julia told NBC Insider about the group’s dynamics since filming wrapped. “We’re definitely one big Yes, Chef! family.”
Now Julia is giving a deeper look at her final challenges and what’s next for her.
What viewers didn’t see in the final challenge in Yes, Chef! Episode 4
“I thought that the vanilla was actually not that difficult of a twist, and I’m super happy that I got it,” Julia said.
Among the three additional required ingredients thanks to the safe competitors on the sidelines, Julia says she thinks the licorice given to Zain was probably the hardest to use in a dish.
“She probably needed more time to get the essence of that licorice into her cream and into her sauce,” Julia said. As for Ronny’s chocolate, she highlighted an unseen kitchen hack he employed: “Dark chocolate, there’s a lot of ways to manipulate it. The thing that they didn’t show on Ronny’s dish, which I thought was amazing is that he…cooked down mirin because we didn’t have sugar as an option, so he took Japanese rice wine and cooked it down to become simple syrup for his dish.”
Julia was happy with the ingredients they took off the table prior to the challenge was well.
“I did not want to have to use like caviar or crudo or prime rib because I felt like those are just too easy of an option to make it good,” Julia said. “I don’t think we had enough time to do foie gras justice so I’m glad that it was not an option.”
Chef Julia shares what’s next for her career: “The world is my oyster”
The New York based chef is on social media with her Instagram bio reading “elevating wellness through food.”
She currently works as a private chef in New York City available for dinner parties, events, and celebrations.
“Stay tuned for all the food videos and receipts that I post, and who knows, the world is my oyster so let’s see what’s next,” Julia said.
