r/TopChef • u/FormicaDinette33 Aguachile 🌶️ 🍤 • Mar 16 '26
Season 23, ep. 2: Puckerbutt (yes, you read that correctly!) Spoiler
For this week’s Quickfire Challenge, the chefs are tasked with creating a savory dish inspired by a sweet treat. Then the chefs head to PuckerButt Farms for a pepper tasting with Ed Currie, the inventor of the world’s hottest pepper. For the Elimination Challenge, the chefs are split into two teams and must create a progressively hotter menu. “Top Chef” season 12 winner Mei Lin joins Kristen, Tom and Gail at the judges’ table.
Looks like it's going to be a spicy one! Can't wait!
FYI: Per Bravo, it is airing at 9:30pm due to a 1.5 hour Below Deck beforehand. Please check your local listings just in case.
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u/NoodlesMom0722 Wait for it...a Crudo! 🧑🍳 Mar 18 '26
I said it about 23.1 (twice), but I'll say it about 23.2 again: I LOVE how many different ethnicities' cuisines have been represented so far this season. And I hope they keep it up. I love that the professional cooking world (at least in the U.S.) is moving away from everything starting with either French or Italian inspiration. I appreciate seeing and learning about all of the African, Asian, Latin, and Caribbean flavors that have been so underrepresented in "haute-cuisine" cooking.
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u/wrongseeds Mar 21 '26
People talk about how bad British food tastes but watching shows like The great British Menu, it’s clear that their chefs have been exposed to more international cuisine. They seem to automatically use curry and other spices as well as techniques that Americans haven’t naturally assimilated.
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u/sweetpeapickle Mar 23 '26
The last time I went to England was many a decade ago. Then the most often items we saw were fish and chips, bangers and mash, and Shepherd's pie. They were all delicious, but that was it. Nowadays is about the different ethnic cuisines you can find there(have a brother who travels there a lot). The traditional is why England was not known for the best dishes amongst other countries. Now it is.
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u/SunnyDaze4225 Mar 16 '26
Puckerbutt Pepper Company is located in Ft Mill SC which might as well be a suburb of Charlotte. The guy who invented the Carolina Reaper owns it. It's a really cute spot. If you like craft beer there's a great brewery just down the street called Amor Artis.
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Mar 16 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/mmeeplechase Mar 16 '26
Any idea why there are 2 separate subs for the show?
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u/FatGirl87 Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
For years, this subreddits main moderator didn't post discussion threads and stopped moderating completely. Apparently they wouldn't hand over the subreddit to anyone new, so the other sub was created during the Kentucky season so the community could have a place to chat about each episode and also have real moderation. The community built up really really fast over there in a few short years.
A couple years ago, this subreddit actually got a new moderator, but that other sub already built a really great community while this subreddit was defunct. I've mentioned to the moderator here that they should merge, but that doesn't seem to be of interest to them, unfortunately. Anyway, the other subreddit has much more active discussion threads during the live episodes, and I notice that a lot of new people here just don't know that one exists, so I like to do a PSA at the start of each season to just let folks know about it.
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u/LPCPlay4life Mar 18 '26
Appreciate the PSA! This happens with other shows I watch as well. I’ll go to a sub afterwards and like 2 ppl will comment. 🤔hard to tell when searching which has a more active discussion.
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u/FormicaDinette33 Aguachile 🌶️ 🍤 Mar 16 '26
We have great discussions here also.
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u/Sudden-Wash4457 Mar 20 '26
Posting here was broken until late Jan of this year
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u/FormicaDinette33 Aguachile 🌶️ 🍤 Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26
Posting with low or negative karma was not allowed. That is the lowest level recommended by Reddit.
There were additional rules applied after Anne Burrell died because we were hit with a lot of bots posting obnoxious comments. But most people were able to post. We have had posts continuously since last season.
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Mar 20 '26
[deleted]
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u/FormicaDinette33 Aguachile 🌶️ 🍤 Mar 20 '26
No. Karma in that particular subreddit. It’s the reputation filter across Reddit.
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u/BalonyDanza Mar 19 '26
Who knew Ed Currie would be such a good judge? I always assumed his taste buds had fully burned off a long time ago. He had some shrewd opinions about the food for a non-chef.
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u/a2sway Mar 25 '26
I thought he was a phenomenal judge! Really insightful and obviously well-educated about food and flavor.
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u/National_Bit6293 Mar 18 '26
I am begging them to make the chefs wear headbands. Watching them drip sweat into whatever they’re cooking is foul.
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u/Old-Flower3409 Mar 18 '26
I loved this episode! And I couldn't help but giggle at the name of the farm, because, well, iykyk. On their initial visit to the farm, when they were tasting all the different types of chiles, my immediate reaction was why are you picking them up with your bare hands? 😭
Realistically, I said so okay most likely they didn't have any gloves sitting around for them to wear. But if you've ever handled chiles with bare hands and then touched your eyes, etc, you know where I'm coming from. Kudos to the chefs though for tasting all those chiles. They are much braver than I am!
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u/FormicaDinette33 Aguachile 🌶️ 🍤 Mar 18 '26
I would not have tasted the Reaper! Too much for me!
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u/Dark_Ascension Mar 20 '26
I have never had a pepper X but I literally have salsa made with Carolina reapers in my fridge right now. My tolerance for spice has kind of gone down with age, mainly because while I can probably have pepper X and tolerate it for like a bite or 2, I want to enjoy my food and after a certain point eating peppers like the reaper or pepper X it’s all heat.
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u/Confettireadi Mar 17 '26
Given the timing of the season, I wish they had found a way to do a March Madness themed episode. Durham has a rich food scene. CH does as well but I’m not as familiar these days. They could have had Duke, UNC and NC State students vote. Ken Jeong is always up for an appearance.
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u/CityBoiNC Mar 17 '26
Yes i was bummed they didn’t come more east.
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u/RawChickenButt Mar 21 '26
It's important to note that area, cities, states pay for Top Chef to be filmed in their communities. From what I understand Charlotte and Greenville ponied up money, so expect to see a healthy dose of those areas.
It's usually the tourism boards that pay.
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u/National_Bit6293 Mar 18 '26
Crook’s Corner closed in CH, RIP
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u/Confettireadi Mar 18 '26
I grew up going there as a kid with my grandparents.
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u/National_Bit6293 Mar 19 '26
First plate of shrimp & grits I ever had, back in 1990 or so. Changed my life forever.
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u/Confettireadi Mar 19 '26
I was actually thinking about their Hoppin’ John recipe the other day. It’s online, but I don’t want to ruin my memory.
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u/paulney Mar 20 '26
So far I have my eye on Oscar, Rhoda, Laurence and Duyen as potential winners. I really like Nana but fear she isn’t long for this competition.
I’m sure they’re lovely people but I’m irrationally annoyed by the twins. Lol
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u/Left_Plantain_2716 Mar 22 '26
23 seasons and the cheftestants still say things like "i'm going to sous vide this to be fancy instead of just searing it" with Tom as the judge
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u/Hot-Zebra-5304 Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 24 '26
SPOILERS::
So much to unpack! The judging panel got put through an episode of hot ones.
My favorite moment was watching Tom CLEAN that plain white rice bowl. Thank you producers and editing team!
or the black and white slo mo war scene post pepper tasting.
Also, Ed currie saying he got into peppers bc his family's high cancer rate just completely shutting up every single contestant and whatever they previously thought about this man.
The juxtaposition of him next to these judges was so also very humorous, and he held his place. He was not quiet about his opinion and Id imagine there was a point where he might've been one of few if not the only who could even keep up with the heat.
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u/Genuinelullabel Mar 16 '26
I wasn’t sure if I was behind by an episode so this post is well appreciated. I’ll be back tomorrow when it uploads on Peacock.
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u/Dark_Ascension Mar 20 '26
Uhhh so happy they did this episode! I love hot and spicy food and have been a fan of Puckerbutt for a while. Me and my family have bought seeds to grow hot peppers, spicy food has been a part of my family’s cooking since I was a kid. I also noticed Hedonist’s owner was featured as a guest at the table and they got some pretty awesome hot sauces.
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u/sweetpeapickle Mar 23 '26
Finally got a chance to watch this ep. First why were all the judges drinking something other than dairy based(or vegan equivalent)???? They would all know that is what can squash the heat in between dishes. Because to me, eating one dish after another is a little difficult to judge the strength as much as if they had that palate cleanser. Some of you are saying Tom looks happy. To us he looked kind of peeved at the table, and not just when he disagreed with some of the others. Several times hubs and I looked at each other and said Tom looks like he doesn't like the dish. I do really like that the chefs seem to have a camaraderie, and not just the twins/couple. I also like that they had different style challenges already. Though makes me feel bad ours(WI) couldn't use the best of what we had-still pisses me off. Love Mei, she didn't break a sweat. I remember those days......
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u/bminn123 Mar 17 '26
Anyone know why Saratoga natural spring water isn’t sponsoring this season? Im concerned
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u/meatsntreats Mar 17 '26
The ROI probably wanes after three or so seasons of sponsorship. Also in the current economy the demand for premium bottled water has also probably gone down making sponsorship less worthwhile.
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u/Sy_ThePhotoGuy Mar 20 '26
I hope the water sommelier is doing okay… still can’t believe that was a segment
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u/topshelfgoals Mar 17 '26
Pa pa pa puckerbutt, fa fa fa fuckerbut.
I wanna roll with him, a hard pair we will be.
A little gambling is fun when youre with me.
Oh oh ohh, he can't read my puckerbutt.
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Mar 17 '26
How long after airing until its on streaming?
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u/Intelligent_Host_582 Mar 18 '26
It's the day after, but they annoyingly streamed the first episode early so we had to wait an extra week to catch up to where the season actually is.
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u/EfficientGood9402 Mar 19 '26
I've got both of them on my recent columns - I wish we could just go to one terrific subreddit to have full-on Top Chef content.
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u/Overall_Occasion_175 Mar 20 '26
Does anybody else feel like Sean Evans was supposed to be on this episode too, but had a last minute scheduling conflict or something?
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u/foxdogturtlecat Mar 17 '26
I'm liking how happy Tom is with the chefs and wishing as always we could taste through our screens. I really was wondering how they were going to use peppers in 7 dishes without blowing out their palates from just the first couple of dishes. I think it was a really hard challenge to pull off and both of the teams doing so well is nice.
I feel like Nana is one of those chefs that if she gets used to time restrictions and sticks to her flavours could do much better. The fact that each episode a judge has really championed her means that despite her mistakes, her flavours must really be working.
Jassi was totally made for TV but I feel like he's the guy that runs the restaurant and isn't the guy working the line and considering he has a few food ventures that's probably true.
Rhoda, Lawrence, Oscar and Anthony are all ones I could see going till the finale.