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Top Chef season 22 returned with a new episode on April 10, 2025. Titled Line Cook for a Day, it paired chefs in teams of two and challenged them to work the line at a local restaurant, drawing inspiration from the multiple cuisines before cooking for 150 diners. Corwin and Kat worked at a Portuguese restaurant and were inspired to make a croquette dish, however, it failed to hit the mark.
While analyzing their dish with the other experts, Tom Colicchio said:
"It was watery and mushy and just not very good."
Co-panelist, Kristen Kish, chimed in, saying their dish had become "gummy" and was unpleasant to eat overall. Gail Simmons expressed a similar sentiment, criticizing the execution of the croquette.
Kat and Corwin had prepared a Portuguese-inspired cod and shrimp bomba with saffron aioli, smoked roe, piri piri, and pickles. While the judges were impressed by the team's conception of the dish and its flavors, it was the croquette's texture that disappointed them. It ultimately landed the pair in the bottom two, leading to their elimination.
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"We couldn't get past that croquette" — Top Chef judge Tom states the reason behind Kat and Corwin's elimination
After working at the Portuguese restaurant, Mercado, and drawing inspiration for their dish, Kat and Corwin headed to Whole Foods to shop for their ingredients. However, their key ingredient, salt cod, was unavailable at the store. Kat then suggested that they buy regular cod and hope to "make the best of it."
Soon after, the Top Chef contestants arrived at the kitchen and started preparing their dishes for serving the 150 diners at The Bentway. While explaining their vision for the dish, Kat stated that she wanted to bake and rice the potatoes for the fritters instead of boiling them because they were using fresh cod instead of the salted one.
"We're trying to counterbalance the moisture in the cod," she added.
The Top Chef star further expressed that she was nervous about the "tedious" knife work required to prepare the sauces. Regardless, she was determined to stay on top of things.
With four minutes remaining, Kat and Corwin started finishing their prep for the main event. While speaking to the cameras, Kat confessed that she would have preferred testing a croquette before they left, but could not since they were out of time.
At The Bentway, Corwin fried a fritter and found it to be wetter than expected. However, he was pleased that it did not break apart. He then added more flour to ensure it balanced the moisture. However, the Top Chef contestant's efforts failed to ensure the desired results as the judges immediately tasted the wetness in the texture of the bombas.
The panelists, joined by guest judge Sara Bradley, stated that had Kat and Corwin, cooked the fritter with salted cod, they would not have faced an issue with the moisture.
During deliberations, the judges conveyed their concerns to Kat and Corwin. Although they praised the flavors of their dish, noting that the fritter was "fried nicely," they criticized the "mushy" texture of the croquette.
"We were concerned also about overworking it, having a filling that ran the risk of being over dense at all," Kat said.
When the Top Chef star added that she seasoned the fish with "quite a bit of salt," Sara mentioned it was why their filling became wet because salt attracts liquid. Tom chimed in, saying the texture of the dish "got in the way," preventing him from enjoying it.
After some deliberation, the judges decided to send Kat and Corwin packing.
"We couldn't get past that croquette," Tom said.
However, he encouraged them to prepare for Last Chance Kitchen to re-enter the competition. While speaking to the cameras, Corwin expressed he had to "learn how to be a good loser" because he was a "very competitive person." Regardless, he was determined not to back down and prove to the judges and to himself why he was a top chef.
Top Chef airs new episodes every Thursday at 8 pm ET exclusively on Bravo.
