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Episode 12 of Top Chef season 22 was released on May 29, 2025. The episode was titled Foraged in Fire and saw the contestants searching the Calgary forest for ingredients to cook their dish. They also had to do the cooking outside over open flames, while they were allowed to get supplemental ingredients from the supermarket.
Massimo got eliminated in this episode after he made a roasted trout with mustard sauce and potato mash. He made the sauce with mustard leaves and also incorporated wildflowers as a garnish, pairing it with bannock crackers. Talking about the wildflower garnish, Massimo said he was going to chop it up and top it on the flatbread, which he made on a heated rock.
"It sounds delicious to me," he said.
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This very addition to his main dish proved dangerous for him because the judges thought that the garnish on his bread was too strong and bitter. They also stated that it felt disconnected from the main dish, and he was eventually eliminated because of the same.
What Massimo made in Top Chef season 22 episode 12
In this episode, the contestants were accompanied by Brenda Holder, the proprietor of the trails they foraged into, and Tracy Little, a local chef and forager. Chef Tracy showed them the yarrow flowers and suggested that they could be used for garnishing. The flowers had a bitter licorice-like flavour and could be used as a substitute for rosemary. Subsequently, Massimo picked them up.
He then noted in a Top Chef confessional that those were early summer flowers, and he felt lucky to see that they were still there. Massimo stated he used flowers only when they were in season, as he uses wild ones picked fresh from his mother's garden.
"I'm a lot like my mother; she knows what she likes, she knows what she wants, she knows what she demands, and she expects it," he added.
Meanwhile, before going to the supermarket to shop for some supplements, Chef Shuai remarked that it was a team challenge because, according to him, four of them were competing against Massimo on Top Chef.
At the supermarket, Massimo shared that when he woke up from his nap in the car, he had a very clear picture of what he wanted to make. He further stated that he had some juniper, so he wanted to grill a trout and smoke it with the plant.
"The way that the smoke dispenses all the flavor, you cannot get that any other way," he added.
He then got a beer because he was making bannock, and he was going to garnish it with the wildflowers he picked. Then, while cooking the next day, Massimo mentioned to Judge Tom that he had an extra 30 minutes because of the challenge he won in the previous episode, and he was going to use it to make some bannock crackers on a heated rock.
He said he saw mustard root and mustard flowers while foraging, so he decided to make a mustard sauce with an espuma, along with potatoes on coal, and pair it with trout's protein. While making the said cracker, Massimo appeared in a Top Chef confessional to say,
"A nice bannock cracker, that's crispy, that you can dip in. Maybe those other wild herbs that I foraged; chop up, make into a condiment."
He thought his dish was going to be "cool" because he got some "really nice" flowers the previous day. Massimo then roasted a trout, saying that he wanted to make its flesh as fondant as possible. He further added that it was going to be difficult to get the trout's skin crispy thin, its flesh cooked well, and the added smoky flavor, all on an open flame.
The Top Chef judges ultimately thought that the fish was perfectly cooked, and they liked that he focused on one ingredient, which was the mustard. On the other hand, they thought that the bannock with the flowers had a bitter note and felt disconnected from the trout. Kristen said the sauce was "outstanding," while Gail liked the bitterness but thought it didn't match with the rest of the dish.
At the end of this Top Chef episode, the judges concluded that the garnish on top of Massimo's bannock was "incredibly strong," and it made the dish feel disconnected. So, they summoned the cast members and announced that Massimo was sent home, while Kristen got emotional as she said she had looked forward to seeing Massimo cooking every morning.
For more updates on Top Chef season 22, fans can follow the show's official Instagram account, @bravotopchef.
