Having written the book (literally) on chowder, Summer Shack‘s Jasper White was a shoo-in to judge the chowder cook-off on last week’s Top Chef Boston. We caught up with the busy restaurateur (and partner at Georges Bank wholesale fish company, who knew?) about what he thought of the judges, the chowders and the cheftestants.

Boston Chefs: How did your appearance come about?
Jasper White: They called when they were scouting restaurants and people and said “We’re going to do something with you, we don’t know what yet.” I invited them to come over and see the restaurant but the slant of the show is pretty much fine dining so the Summer Shack was too casual to use as a location.

Boston Chefs: Did you guys work together to come up with the chowder challenge?
White: No, that was their decision. I just said “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do.” I was excited to be on the show. I didn’t want to not be on the show when it came to Boston. It would have been kind of crazy not to have an episode on chowder. And I wrote a book about chowders too so I think it was a pretty easy fit.

Boston Chefs: Yeah. You’re known as a chowder expert – and rightfully so. When it comes to chowders are you more of a traditionalist?
White: No, because after writing the book and really studying the history of chowder, it’s a dish that’s 400 years old and it has evolved constantly. The chowder that we think of – the creamy clam chowder most restaurants serve – is actually a pretty recent addition that only dates back to the late 1940s. That’s a whole other story about the way it evolved, but that was actually the work of some French chefs who basically made a velouté and put chowder ingredients in it. So, I’m not stuck on any one chowder, I’m pretty open-minded as you can probably tell because I chose Gregory’s as the best chowder and that had distinctly Asian flavors. But I have to say, I was a little surprised that chefs knew they were coming to Boston and so few of them really took the half an hour it would’ve taken to learn what chowder is. Almost every chowder has a pork product in it. Bacon or salt pork or some of the modern ones have pancetta. And it has some kind of potato in it usually. And Gregory’s, even though he’d used Asian flavors, had bacon and sweet potatoes in it. So, it wasn’t like I picked this farfetched chowder that tasted great, it was actually interesting because he had some of the traditional ingredients. It was a really good chowder and he deserved to win it. And using razor clams was really smart because he only had a little bit of time to work with them. He’s a real talent, that guy.

Boston Chefs: He seems like a pretty strong contender.
White: I would say so, yeah. The other chowders… Adam’s Manhattan clam chowder was very, very good, it was very close. It was right there in second place that’s for sure. Melissa’s cioppino version was pretty good. But the rest of them … just not so great.

Boston Chefs: You were not impressed.
White: Katie’s was really bad. It was just poorly conceived and it was just a paste, I mean it was just pureed bread. And she was a two-time loser on that episode. In the second part where she was competing against George, that was a blind tasting so I didn’t know whose dish was whose but one of them was clearly from an inexperienced cook. Anyone who has cooked rabbit even two or three times would know that it takes a lot longer than the 45 minutes that they had to cook the thigh of the rabbit. I would’ve gone straight for the loin and then spent the rest of my time working on the rest of the dish. And to the credit of George, he started it off wrong too. I always tell my cooks “It’s not a mistake until you serve it.” And George made a good call; he made an error but he changed his plan at the last minute and it worked. And without a doubt, it’s pretty clear to me that all the judging is based on the proteins, so whatever the main part of the dish is which is why Adam got eliminated. That shrimp was way undercooked; and he got eliminated because of it.

Boston Chefs: Yeah, that dish sounded pretty unpleasant.
White: He’s been doing really well, I’ve been watching the whole series and he made a mistake. Almost every competition I’ve noticed, and rightfully so, that if you don’t get the main part of the dish right, it doesn’t matter what the rest of it is. You’ve got to get the protein right. George he knew it wasn’t right so he fixed it. And we didn’t know, I just assumed he knew enough about rabbit to go right to the loin.

Boston Chefs: It was certainly fun to watch.
White: My daughter is a huge fan but I’ve really only watched maybe one or two over the years. After watching this season, I think the human part of it is fun. You get attached to people, and you see people growing and you see people failing so it’s pretty interesting. It was really fun to be a part of it.

Boston Chefs: If you were designing your own Top Chef challenge, not chowder-related, what would it be?
White: For Boston, I would definitely do a lobster competition: let’s see the best version of what you can do with this amazing creature which happens to be, I wrote a book on lobsters, too, very versatile. Most people eat them plain which I think is smart if you don’t eat them a lot, but in terms of cooking it’s very versatile. I did 90 dishes in my lobster book and I could’ve done 200. It would be a great protein for all of them to work with and it would’ve fit in with the Boston theme. There are still a few episodes left so they may still do that.

Boston Chefs: Is there anything else you want to tell us about Top Chef and your time on it?
White: Yes, Padma is as beautiful in person as she is on television.

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