Lessons Learned from Top Chef

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You know, it sort of I think gave me permission to have the confidence that I have now. Michelle Bouteux referred to as a Beyonce of cooking. And one of my favorite parts of every episode is the elevators open and there seems to be a wind machine. We're TV show and because we're not giving you any of the drama of people arguing or any of that silliness , I like a fan. Hello and welcome to another episode of Obsess the Podcast. I'm Kevin Fallon here to guide you through all the TV shows, movies, and pop culture nonsense that we think is unamissible . And today's guest has been referred to before as the Beyonce of the Cooking world, she's one of my favorite people. It's Padma Lakshmi. You might know her from all of her years as a judge and top chef . You might have seen her past TV series Taste and Nation with Padma Lakshmi, or you might have just watched her hit CBS culinary competition, America's Culinary Cup, where she just gave away a prize for one million dollars . Not so shabby. We get into all those culinary competitions. What she learned from her time in top chef that she brought to her new role, what it's like to be a sexy host in the cooking world and so much more. So here is my interview with Padma Laksmi . Hello, Padma. How are you ? Hi, I'm Frank Kevin. How are you? You know, I'm in New York City right now, so the next just one , the vibes are electric. I'm very good. I know you're a fan. Yes, I am. I mean, I didn't go to the playoff games, but I have been going for years and years and years. I love going to Masson Square Garden. It's so exciting. I can't believe it. I really just I didn't think I'd see you in my lifetime, so I'm very happy. I mean, you know, I'm a New Yorker. I came to New York when I was four . And so the Knicks have never won you know, since I've been going certainly. And so I was happy . I'm still kind of buzzing and happy. Yes, I'm from generations of long suffering fans who are over the moon. It was so cool to even just be in New York and just hear out the window. Everyone screaming at the same time. You could hear it indoors. It was wild how loud it was. Yeah, it was great. Awesome. Well, I'm a fan of the Nix, but I'm an even bigger fan of yours. I'm so happy to chat with you about America's culinary cup , which just wrapped its season a few weeks ago and is hopefully up for any consideration or is up for Emmy consideration . Hopefully we'll be on that shortlist because it really has changed the game. So I hope you could talk to me a little bit about the sort of genesis of the show and the way that you really did sort of up the ante in terms of how we think about these kinds of cooking competitions. Well, thank you. I mean, I do hope we get an emin . You know, I'm very, very proud of my whole crew and all my producers who helped me put this show on , you know, to be the number one food competition show in your first season in a very crowded field is really, really special and I'm really , really humbled and grateful . You know, we I wanted to create something new. I wanted to create something that was fresh and that felt modern and really invigorate the whole genre and I think we did that. I developed it along with my old showrunner from season two of Tastination, Rachel Tung and another producer named T. Wynne, who I had worked with on my other shows as well. And you know, the three of us just rolled up our sleeves. I knew I didn't want it to have a predictable format. And I think we've seen that before. You know, I just thought, look, if I'm going to add to this collection of shows that are on every network and streamer, it has to feel different, especially because I've done it already, right? So it's also a case of like competing with myself in a way . But they were all on . All of them we just happened to air at the same time. And so I'm gratified that we found not only our audience, but the biggest aud ience of any of any type of that show . Basically the show doesn't ever format. I wanted to keep the audience guessing. I wanted it to be just about the cooking without all the , you g knowim,mickicks and trs of, you know, cook with children's square or, you know, cook out of only these, you know, gas station ingredients or whatever. Yeah, I think through the trash. I think, you know, over the years, I've heard a lot of feedback. I'm not a chef. I'm a food writer, but a producer, but obviously I've been around hundreds of chefs. And I listened to them and I heard what they were saying and they were like, We just want to cook. We just want to cook the best boot we know how . And so I tried to create a forum and an arena for them to do that. And I needed something to unify the show, of course, if we weren't going to have any format . And so we came up with the culinary commandments, which I think every chef should be able to master. You know, there's nowhere to hide. We don't ever tell people what to cook, but we do say like, here are the parameters and this is about meat. So you either know how to carve and cook meat or you don't. This one is about sauces. So you either know how to make a great balanced sauce or you don't. And so there's really nowhere to hide , but on the other hand , there's a lot of room for the chefs to express their own identities and their points of view and their heritage. And I think right off the bat in season one you saw that a lot. You know, we had all these chefs from totally different backgrounds. And you saw that reflected in the food, which was really exciting. Yeah. And I think one of the other big things about the show that it got a lot of headlines before it premiered this one million dollar prize . Oh yes, yeah. That's mind blowing to have that much money at stake here. Well, you know, I was going from cable to or streamer and cable to network . And the other two big competition shows, which, you know, each of our institutions in their own right all have a million dollar prize. So I didn't want to be, you know, the little sister at the table . I wanted to make sure that we were announcing our arrival as being, you know, the top of the line. I always said that my North Star when we created the show was to be the Wimbled on or the Olympics of cooking. And so if you're asking the best of the best to come out, you have to award them a prize that is commensurate with their stature. And you know, a million dollars is a lot of money. And so it brings out just a higher caliber of chef who may not care to compete on TV or be in a reality show, quote unquote. I mean, I don't really see America's culinary cup as a reality show, it's more a game show at the highest level about food. And you see also the production value from the very top of the very first episode where you're arriving to host via helicopter flying over New York City. And what seems to be like a tracking shot of you introducing the show , again, while up in the air and then you get out of the helicopter right into a car that takes you to the competition. That's, I mean, what was it like to film that kind of thing? It looked so crazy. It was so much fun . It was a lot of fun and I love helicopters. And I wanted to get the feeling that this was not going to be some hokey little show, that this was going to be expansive and glamorous. And you know, going out to eat at these chefs restaurants is a high end affair, right? A lot of these people are not all of them, but a lot of them are doing tasting menus. They all have reservation books that are already filled for weeks on end . You know, they're Michelin Sardfs, they're Jane's Beard Award winners, they're bacos medalists, right? So we wanted something to feel big and grand in order. I think those first few frames of the show are really important to set the tone . And you know, because we're mostly a studio based show , we also wanted to make sure that every episode had that feeling of expansiveness because that is what we did when we cast the show. We really, it was by inv ite only . You know, people suggested themselves or other people , but we really took the casting of the show very seriously. And we had a great casting director named Galoka who helped us with that. And I think it shows, you know, also another reason I don't think it's a reality show is because we never sequester these chefs . We don't make them live in a house together. People don't realize that, but if you notice there's no reality beats like in their house when they're all stuck together in a living room or they're, you know, in bunk beds, we don't do any of that. We don't take away their phone. I mean, we do when they're coming to compete ob,viously , just for fairness, we don't want anybody to have an edge or not that anybody would because there's like eighteen cameras rolling. We would see it. But I mean they have a notebook, which they have to leave on set and then in their locker, and then they get their phone and then they turn in their phone, they get the notebook. So when they're off duty, when they're not in the arena competing , they can go out to dinner, they can have their family come and stay with them. They can stay up all night and memorize, you know, cake formulas if they want to. That's really we wanted to do everything we could to support the chefs . And that's why we don't even have them away in some other room. Like you can see them. They're watching the competition just like I and the other two judges are because that's what would happen at a very high level , you know, world forum, right? Whether it was the French open or, you know, again would pick any sport The ND eight finals, right? You're not you're not like sequestering yeah the sports thing is harder for me to compare is that my besides it . To be honest, neither is it mine, but luckily I had people who were advising me who were. But you know, that's also what the big board is about. That's why it has a scoring system so that people at home can play along. And they see the scores just as I do. I mean, I'm getting the information at the same time. So I wanted to also be transparent and I wanted every judge to have equal weight and capability to weigh in with exactly the number of points for each category they wanted. And I think our audience really appreciated that as well. And we're live from the living room as Doug eyes up the matcha spread. He's reaching for the buffalo wing. Perfect. Hang on, what's this? Oh, he's going for a can of peepsy too. Incredible . What a finish . Sensational combination . Look at the delight on his face. There's no doubt about it. It just tastes better. Match days deserve Pepsi. Food deserves P,epsi. Grab a pack of Pepsi Zero Sugar for today's match. It's poetry in motion. Study . Come together on a Windows eleven PC. And for a limited time, college students get of both worlds. Get the unreal college deal, everything you need to study and play with select Windows eleven PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft three hundred and sixty five Premium, and a year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn more at Windows. com slash student offer. Law Supplies last ends june thirtieth terms at Akka dot ms slash college pc. And you had mentioned the glamour of the show . And one my of favorite parts of every episode is when the elevators open , and there seems to be, I would say, a fan or a wind machine blowing your hair back and you and the other judges sort of stret out and it's all very sexy . Curious how you feel about bringing stuff like high fashion and sex appeal to the world of cooking competitions . I mean I think a little bit of , you know, we're TV show . And because we're not giving you any of the drama of people back biting each other or arguing or any of that silliness . You know, I think it's very hot in that kitchen . And also I like a fan. I like a wooden machine so I believe I read once. Michelle Bouteux referred to as you the Beyonce of cooking and I think in those moments, you really are living up to that moniker. Thank you. Well, I'm not cooking, so I'm dressing as I would dress to go to a high end meal. You know, that's not how I dress every day too. Like when I'm walking my dog in New York City when I'm just, you know, going out to see a friend for whatever I'm not, you know, in stiltos and have full glam. But you know, it's our kitchen, especially is very luxurious, but it's very spartan in its decor. You know, I think that is where I took the biggest risk for the show because if you look at it, it doesn't really look like any other set for never mind any other kitchen or for another cooking show. Just doesn't look like any other show because we don't have a lot of blinking lights , we don't have velvet walls. We don't have a lot of chochkis on shelves or whatever. We have what a chef needs to excel, of course, and plenty of it . And unlike other shows, each person has their own station with six feet by three feet of space and underneath there, they can put whatever they want underneath there so they have it ready. They have sheet p,ant theys cut'tingve boards, they have basic utensils and pots and pans, so they're not running all the time. They don't have to fight for space . But what that does is it gives you a visual landscape that is very clean and very minimal almost, Japanese in its style. And if you noticed, our kitchen doesn't have any corners, the pantry does, but the kitchen actually is o itval. It's like an colosseum or an amphitheater. And I do consider it a sort of culinary cathedral because that place is sacred to many of us and they're taking their work so seriously . And so we wanted them to feel like this is your space. And when you're stepping into that kitchen , you are stepping into the ultimate culinary arena. And that is , you know, it's a visual medium. So like the wind is also part of that. It's like when I walk out, it's like, okay , we are here to do this very important sacred thing. Yeah . And as fans, including myself who have, watched you on top chef and then Tasination and now this , I know and I've seen how your palate and your food expertise and your calmir expertise is really revered and respected. Thank you. And I'm curious if it always felt that way when you were starting to get into food television . No, it didn't at all. I mean, look, I am, as I said earlier, I'm not a chef. I didn't work in restaurants . I don't want to. I mean, I have a lot of respect for that skill set. It's so incredible. That's why I'm still doing shows catering to them. But I think when I first started , even though in that first show, even before that, I was doing a show on the food network called Pubma's Passport as part of the Melting Plut series. And it was just a stand and stir show . And you know, my recipes were very simple and healthy . And I just did that for one season before I went on to do Planet Food, which was a documentary style show . And I felt more comfortable sort of traveling and just showing people because even the first few seasons, I felt comfortable doing that, but the first few seasons of Top Shaft I did have imp oster syndrome. It did take me a while to find my own confidence. And you know, I'm not a chef, but I have traveled extensively across my life. And I have experienced a lot of food enough to develop my palate over the years. And so I think as women, we also, a lot of us do have imposter syndrome. And then at some point, I just decided like, okay, I may not be a chef, but I have eyes and ears and I can smell and taste and feel whether the food is done. And I've certainly been doing this for long enough now. There were a few years in, I think two or three years in when Eric Rapha was on our show and you know, he sort of gave me a talking to, and he's become a friend since then. And he just sort of said like, I've been on the show a few times now . Your palette is one of the most sensitive pallets I've ever experienced. Oh wow. And so I think just having someone of his caliber say, Hey , you don't have to feel like you're less than just because you haven't worked in a kitchen. You know, this is otherwise no critic should ever criticize food, which I'm sure chefs would say some critics shouldn't be criticizing food, but you know, it sort of, I think, gave me a little bit of a bounce in my step and just, you know, gave me permission to have the confidence that I have now . And to a certain extent , yes, tasting food is subject ive, but then it's also not. Like there's a right way and a wrong way to clean an artistope. There's a right way and a wrong way to cook chicken. And yes, you know, some of us may like are beef rarer than others. But you know, you can tell if a steak or a piece of meat had been handled properly by someone if they've let it rest enough, if they know what they're doing, if they know how to season. So those things are sort of empirical. Whether you may want a little bit more to the left or right , you know , it's some of it's not as subjective as you think, especially at certain levels of cooking. So now I don't , but I'm also more confident enough to admit when I don't know something. You know, you know, there are things that I don't know how to do. You know, I've never used a Sous vide ine. I haven't cooked with liquid nitrogen. I've played with it in our kitchens because I'm curious about it, but most home cooks haven't. You know, I write cookbooks, I write encyclopedia spices and herbs there is my expertise and that's what I'm very qualified to do. So I had no problem saying, hey, you know, I'm not sure. And what do you think, Mike , or what do you think, Wylie or Daniella or whoever , you know, because I always want to be a lifelong learner . And the show is also designed for people who want to learn about cooking. Like I always want, you know, the audience to come away having had a really good time in the time they've watched any show of mine, but I also want them to learn something or have some kind of takeaway. We had all these like asides that we filmed where we broke down what a mother sauce was and what they were and also explained all these techniques. But then we didn't have time in a show because of course it's not a streamer. It's going on CB first. And so it's like, okay, what can you fit in there in forty two minutes? That's hard. Yeah, it's very hard . Do you hear that? Sounds like breakfast is ready . Because Quakers coming in hot with morning nutrition , one hundred percent whole grain oats, and a good source of fiber to fuel the rhythm of your morning and kickstart your day . And that sounds absolutely delicious . Fuel to start whatever's next. Quaker, official sponsor of FIFA World Cup twenty six. Hi let's go . Good sleep is everything . That's why Ollie's science back support is made with a blend of melatonin and L theianine for both kiddos and grown ups. So when your mind won't switch off, you've got something that can help . Your racing thoughts and restless nights won't stand a chance. Find Ollie Sleep Solutions for the whole family at Ollie. com That's OL . com . And from that sort of related to that, from a standpoint of a person who is making television and in production and producing and being behind the scenes , when you get to make in America's culinary cup or taste the nation before that, which is a show that I adored. Thank you. I'm curious if there was something that from your personal experience working on a show like Top Chef, which you're on for such a long time, that you wanted to either course correct or do differently when making these shows that you get to do now . Well, one of the big things was not treating our chefs like children and locking them up and taking their phone away and stuff like that. You know, I just felt that was inhumane. And I also didn't think it produced good food. You know, if you're under duress and you haven't slept because your bunk mate is snoring all night, that's going to affect your performance . And if you think about any captain of industry, whether it's, you know, again, boxing or tennis or singing, right? You don't deprive them of their rest or their normal food or any access to their family. You want to give them everything that's going to put them in the greatest mindset to do well and that is what we do, you know, really are treating these people like the rock stars that they are . And I think word gets around, you know, so if we didn't, the next year, we will have trouble getting contestants. I think people appreciate that. That was a big change that I made and the other big change. I mean, there are a lot of changes that I made that really the audience doesn't see but have to do with the crew and how our day is set up and how things work on set , which I'm a big believer in the atmosphere on set is very important to the quality of life of the people holding boom mics or holding sixty pound camera packs on their shoulders sometimes in the August sun. And after being on so many sets of different shows where I didn't have that power and seeing how things were organized, I wanted to do things differently. So there's a lot of changes that people wouldn't recognize just watching the show . But the other big one not having every episode be the same. And in every reality show , you know, there's a format, right ? You know, whatever it is, if it's about sewing or tattooing or whatever, there's this, and then there's that, next level chef, or I'm just throwing names off the top of my head, or there's a quick fire and then a main challenge. Or there's a mystery box of ingredients or whatever . So you know after the first or second episode, you pretty much know how the show is going to go. And there's comfort in that , but wanted to do something different, you know, I just did. And so I just thought this should be full, this is a really elite contest and it should be focused on what matters to a chef . And what matters to a chef , you know, these principles of really being a world class world renowned chef, you know, it's vegetable work, it's sauce work, it's innovation, it's understanding how to have consistency. Look, we can all be good cooks when we're standing in our kitchen, but can we get twelve different plates out to one hundred different people sitting at different tables all at the same time all hot, all looking exactly like they did the other three times you came to that restaurant, that was something only a chef and their staff can do. And so it was important to really test for those principles of fine dining, you know, and making sure our chefs understood global cuisine too, and they understood basic things like making pasta or cooking rice or any of that stuff. Yeah. So I wanted to really quick before I let you go . Thank you because I recently had to be on camera eating. I got to go to restaurant whereas, which was a huge thrill for me to get to do that as a top chef fan. But I was so self conscious about having to eat food on camera, but then I saw the video of you eating the McDonald's hamburger that you posted after that whole McDonald's CEO fiasco. Oh, Carl Jr. Carl Jr. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The same difference, yeah. Yeah, it was like, if she could look that sexy's eating hamb aurger, I can be okay eating food on top shelf. So I appreciate that. I'm so glad yeah, that was done a few years ago and it was meant to be very tongue in cheek, but I'm glad it came in handy when the discussion was happening. I appreciate it. Well, thank you so much for chatting with me. I've been a fan of yours throughout all these shows, all these all this time, so this has been very fun for me. Thank you, Kevin. I appreciate it. And from your lips to theadem Acy's ears, I hope we do get a nomination. I would love that, especially for all the producers who work so hard. Thank you so much, Padma. It was so much fun to talk to you. I'm a huge fan, and I promise I will thank you every time I eat a hamburger from now on. What did you think? Are you a fan of top chef? Are you a fan of America's culinary cup? Are you a fan of Padma's? Let us know. We'd love to hear from you. And as always, subscribe to us on YouTube at the Obsessed Channel , follow us wherever you get your podcast . And if you like me, subscribe to me at obsessed substack dot com dot Thank you to our producer, Rachel Passer, and we'll see you next time. 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