Pack Your Knives Sara Bradley Predicts Season 23
Feb 27, 2026
Sara Bradley, former Top Chef contender and Appalachian-influenced chef, predicts likely dishes and Restaurant Wars themes for Top Chef: Carolinas. She imagines smoked sorghum rabbit, ramp-stuffed trout with pawpaw, cornmeal madeleines, Filipino adobo-brined fried chicken, calamansi desserts, fermented turnip with trout roe, deconstructed summer sweets, and four themed restaurant concepts.
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Seasonal Smoke And Appalachian Protein
- Top Chef Carolinas will lean into regional smoke and barbecue traditions.
- Sara predicts smoked sorghum-glazed rabbit with Carolina Gold rice grits as a representative dish showing that direction.
Forage Timing Drives Dish Choices
- Local foraged produce will appear on menus timed to shoot dates like pawpaw season.
- Sara specifically expects a ramp-stuffed trout with pawpaw beurre blanc because pawpaw ripens when they film.
French Technique Meets Southern Corn
- Chefs with French training will adapt techniques to Southern ingredients, creating hybrid pastry items.
- Sara expects cornmeal madeleines as a crossover between French form and Southern corn flavors.