Photo: NBC/BravoCompeting onTop Chefis hard enough as it is, andJackson Kalbfaced an extra challenge while cooking in the current season.The chef and restaurateur, 31, who is battling it out on season 19 of Bravo’s Emmy-winning reality seriesset in Houston, contracted COVID-19 just a couple of weeks before the show started filming. While he didn’t lose his spot among 15 chefs chosen to compete, he did lose something else after his bout with the virus: his taste and smell.In a field where taste tests are so valuable, Kalb tells PEOPLE that this setback was one of the “most stressful things” he’s ever gone through. “I could not think of a single thing that would make this advantageous,” he says.To combat his new handicap, Kalb and his wife, Melissa, did some flavor tests to assess his taste level before he jetted off to Texas to film.“I could feel some sort of tingling sensation on my tongue, based on the salinity level,” he says. “When I would be able to feel that, it would be way over-salted. That’s how I would kind of piecemeal it in my head.“This wasn’t exactly a fool-proof plan, so the Los Angeles native says he also just had to trust his instincts.“It was mind-bending and weird, and I still don’t really know what anything tasted like that I put up, but I guess my instincts were better than I thought they were, just for seasoning purposes,” he says.NBC/BravoKalb thought he’d get eliminated in the first round, but he defeated the odds. Not only has he made it past the first episode but he’s also won both a quickfire and elimination challenge so far.Top Chef’s quickfire and elimination rounds both often involve working in a group. But Kalb strategically decided not to disclose his long-term symptoms to the other chefs.“I thought about it from the other competitors' perspectives — they wouldn’t want to be on someone’s team if they couldn’t taste — at least that’s what I thought,” he says. “That’s really why I didn’t tell anyone.“On the show, he occasionally asks fellow contestants to smell or taste something he cooked — but in a casual way. If they said it was missing something, he would adjust.Since he only did that a handful of times, another tactic to help him through challenges was looking at the food, then closing his eyes and plugging his ears so he couldn’t hear anything. In doing so, he’d really try to concentrate on what it would taste like given his prior knowledge of ingredients.Challenges that required components Kalb had never tried before were definitely more difficult, he says. In the quickfire challenge during theJurassic Parkepisode, he says the ingredients he had to use were “foreign” to him.“So that was kind of just like, ‘Hey, let’s throw it all together and see what happens,’ because [when] you’re just winging it without a baseline, it’s a little more interesting,” he says.Now that Kalb’s sense of taste is “100% back,” he’s looking forward to recreating some of the dishes he cooked on the show and subsequently couldn’t taste himself.NBC/BravoKalb is no stranger to overcoming challenges in the restaurant world.Jame EnotecaandOspiare the two Los Angeles restaurants where he works as chef and owner, along with his wife. He started professionally cooking when he was 13 — working through middle school and high school — atJosiah Citrin’s Melisse restaurant, which gained two Michelin stars while he was there.While his culinary background spans almost two decades, he’s still gained lots of wisdom from hisTop Chefrun.“WithinTop Chefspecifically, it pushed me way out of [my] comfort zone,” he says. “They judge it as if they’re eating a meal anywhere. They’re not going to say, ‘Well, they only had two and a half hours, so let’s be easy on them.’ It is impressive to do anything within that timeframe and just push your limits, it makes you feel a lot more capable I think as a chef.“WatchTop Chefon Thursdays at 8/7c on Bravo.
Photo: NBC/Bravo
Competing onTop Chefis hard enough as it is, andJackson Kalbfaced an extra challenge while cooking in the current season.The chef and restaurateur, 31, who is battling it out on season 19 of Bravo’s Emmy-winning reality seriesset in Houston, contracted COVID-19 just a couple of weeks before the show started filming. While he didn’t lose his spot among 15 chefs chosen to compete, he did lose something else after his bout with the virus: his taste and smell.In a field where taste tests are so valuable, Kalb tells PEOPLE that this setback was one of the “most stressful things” he’s ever gone through. “I could not think of a single thing that would make this advantageous,” he says.To combat his new handicap, Kalb and his wife, Melissa, did some flavor tests to assess his taste level before he jetted off to Texas to film.“I could feel some sort of tingling sensation on my tongue, based on the salinity level,” he says. “When I would be able to feel that, it would be way over-salted. That’s how I would kind of piecemeal it in my head.“This wasn’t exactly a fool-proof plan, so the Los Angeles native says he also just had to trust his instincts.“It was mind-bending and weird, and I still don’t really know what anything tasted like that I put up, but I guess my instincts were better than I thought they were, just for seasoning purposes,” he says.NBC/BravoKalb thought he’d get eliminated in the first round, but he defeated the odds. Not only has he made it past the first episode but he’s also won both a quickfire and elimination challenge so far.Top Chef’s quickfire and elimination rounds both often involve working in a group. But Kalb strategically decided not to disclose his long-term symptoms to the other chefs.“I thought about it from the other competitors' perspectives — they wouldn’t want to be on someone’s team if they couldn’t taste — at least that’s what I thought,” he says. “That’s really why I didn’t tell anyone.“On the show, he occasionally asks fellow contestants to smell or taste something he cooked — but in a casual way. If they said it was missing something, he would adjust.Since he only did that a handful of times, another tactic to help him through challenges was looking at the food, then closing his eyes and plugging his ears so he couldn’t hear anything. In doing so, he’d really try to concentrate on what it would taste like given his prior knowledge of ingredients.Challenges that required components Kalb had never tried before were definitely more difficult, he says. In the quickfire challenge during theJurassic Parkepisode, he says the ingredients he had to use were “foreign” to him.“So that was kind of just like, ‘Hey, let’s throw it all together and see what happens,’ because [when] you’re just winging it without a baseline, it’s a little more interesting,” he says.Now that Kalb’s sense of taste is “100% back,” he’s looking forward to recreating some of the dishes he cooked on the show and subsequently couldn’t taste himself.NBC/BravoKalb is no stranger to overcoming challenges in the restaurant world.Jame EnotecaandOspiare the two Los Angeles restaurants where he works as chef and owner, along with his wife. He started professionally cooking when he was 13 — working through middle school and high school — atJosiah Citrin’s Melisse restaurant, which gained two Michelin stars while he was there.While his culinary background spans almost two decades, he’s still gained lots of wisdom from hisTop Chefrun.“WithinTop Chefspecifically, it pushed me way out of [my] comfort zone,” he says. “They judge it as if they’re eating a meal anywhere. They’re not going to say, ‘Well, they only had two and a half hours, so let’s be easy on them.’ It is impressive to do anything within that timeframe and just push your limits, it makes you feel a lot more capable I think as a chef.“WatchTop Chefon Thursdays at 8/7c on Bravo.
Competing onTop Chefis hard enough as it is, andJackson Kalbfaced an extra challenge while cooking in the current season.
The chef and restaurateur, 31, who is battling it out on season 19 of Bravo’s Emmy-winning reality seriesset in Houston, contracted COVID-19 just a couple of weeks before the show started filming. While he didn’t lose his spot among 15 chefs chosen to compete, he did lose something else after his bout with the virus: his taste and smell.
In a field where taste tests are so valuable, Kalb tells PEOPLE that this setback was one of the “most stressful things” he’s ever gone through. “I could not think of a single thing that would make this advantageous,” he says.
To combat his new handicap, Kalb and his wife, Melissa, did some flavor tests to assess his taste level before he jetted off to Texas to film.
“I could feel some sort of tingling sensation on my tongue, based on the salinity level,” he says. “When I would be able to feel that, it would be way over-salted. That’s how I would kind of piecemeal it in my head.”
This wasn’t exactly a fool-proof plan, so the Los Angeles native says he also just had to trust his instincts.
“It was mind-bending and weird, and I still don’t really know what anything tasted like that I put up, but I guess my instincts were better than I thought they were, just for seasoning purposes,” he says.
NBC/Bravo
Kalb thought he’d get eliminated in the first round, but he defeated the odds. Not only has he made it past the first episode but he’s also won both a quickfire and elimination challenge so far.
Top Chef’s quickfire and elimination rounds both often involve working in a group. But Kalb strategically decided not to disclose his long-term symptoms to the other chefs.
“I thought about it from the other competitors' perspectives — they wouldn’t want to be on someone’s team if they couldn’t taste — at least that’s what I thought,” he says. “That’s really why I didn’t tell anyone.”
On the show, he occasionally asks fellow contestants to smell or taste something he cooked — but in a casual way. If they said it was missing something, he would adjust.
Since he only did that a handful of times, another tactic to help him through challenges was looking at the food, then closing his eyes and plugging his ears so he couldn’t hear anything. In doing so, he’d really try to concentrate on what it would taste like given his prior knowledge of ingredients.
Challenges that required components Kalb had never tried before were definitely more difficult, he says. In the quickfire challenge during theJurassic Parkepisode, he says the ingredients he had to use were “foreign” to him.
“So that was kind of just like, ‘Hey, let’s throw it all together and see what happens,’ because [when] you’re just winging it without a baseline, it’s a little more interesting,” he says.
Now that Kalb’s sense of taste is “100% back,” he’s looking forward to recreating some of the dishes he cooked on the show and subsequently couldn’t taste himself.
Kalb is no stranger to overcoming challenges in the restaurant world.Jame EnotecaandOspiare the two Los Angeles restaurants where he works as chef and owner, along with his wife. He started professionally cooking when he was 13 — working through middle school and high school — atJosiah Citrin’s Melisse restaurant, which gained two Michelin stars while he was there.
While his culinary background spans almost two decades, he’s still gained lots of wisdom from hisTop Chefrun.
“WithinTop Chefspecifically, it pushed me way out of [my] comfort zone,” he says. “They judge it as if they’re eating a meal anywhere. They’re not going to say, ‘Well, they only had two and a half hours, so let’s be easy on them.’ It is impressive to do anything within that timeframe and just push your limits, it makes you feel a lot more capable I think as a chef.”
WatchTop Chefon Thursdays at 8/7c on Bravo.
source: people.com
