A Top Chef's Secret to Brightening Flavors

On Wednesday, Bravo's Top Chefsaid goodbye to Kristen Kish, a Boston-based chef with a knack for French and Italian cuisines. The chef's departure from the show was one of the biggest surprises of the season.

It all came down to a bad bouillabaisse during Top Chef's "Restaurant Wars" competition, and Kish took the high road, taking much of the blame for the flawed dish. "After I took responsibility for so much, it definitely crossed my mind that I could be going home," said the chef. "The judges don't look at all the back-footage so, in the moment, for what they saw, I think it was fair."

The chef describes her time on the show as "a complete roller coaster" and as a growing experience during which she uncovered skills and abilities she never knew she had.

For one, Kish cooked faster than she ever thought possible. "You get in [those] situations and your adrenaline starts," Kish admits. "I never knew I could move that quickly."

She also found inspiration in places she hadn't ever before. While Kish typically played off of the other chefs in her Boston-based restaurant group, on Top Chef, she had to look elsewhere and she found the limitations within the challenges to be her new culinary muses. "I gained inspiration from the challenge," says Kish. "When [I was] faced with having to make a decision in literally ten seconds, I [thought] of different things which is really kind of cool."

Upon her departure from the show, Kish shared her best cooking secrets with Kitchen Daily. Check out the slideshow above for her expert tips to enliven your cuisine.

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