Tournament of Champions All-Star Christmas S01E03

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Transcript

00:00:00As super duos, to make their best sweet and savory dishes.

00:00:04How do you feel?

00:00:05I feel awesome!

00:00:06Merry Christmas, you filthy animals!

00:00:08In an epic team versus team holiday tournament.

00:00:11Yeah!

00:00:13Oh!

00:00:15Last time, six teams went head to head,

00:00:18but only three moved on.

00:00:21Mayanine!

00:00:24Grim and Giuseppe!

00:00:27Chef Michael Wright!

00:00:29And tonight, TOC titan Britt Messigno and Chicago chef Jonathan Sawyer.

00:00:33Teamwork makes the dream work, baby, let's go.

00:00:35Battle TOC six finalists, Chef Leanne Wong and pastry master chef, Zach Young.

00:00:43Let's go!

00:00:45And in the main event, two-time TOC champ,

00:00:48Maneet Shohan and Iron Chef Stephanie Izard,

00:00:51take on culinary beast, Chef Kevin Lee and Chef Dale Tallday.

00:00:55We good, baby!

00:00:56When we win this competition,

00:00:58we're gonna have the biggest dance party to celebrate later.

00:01:00Which team will jingle all the way to the title?

00:01:03The trophy, big bucks for charity, and thanks to Carnival Cruise Line,

00:01:06the $100,000 grand prize.

00:01:09Whoo!

00:01:11This is Tournament of Champions.

00:01:13How do you look?

00:01:13I always look fabulous.

00:01:15Welcome to night three of our jam-packed TOC Christmas Tournament.

00:01:31First up, we have our number two seed team.

00:01:33That is Chef Britt Resigno and Chef Jonathan Sawyer.

00:01:38Age before beauty.

00:01:39A little bit of both.

00:01:40The two chefs have an incredible bond.

00:01:43Let's get you on a nice leg.

00:01:45It all began here at TOC.

00:01:47We met on season four of TOC.

00:01:50We were just like, okay, we're gonna be best friends, right?

00:01:53Yeah.

00:01:53And he married my wife and I.

00:01:55Yeah, I was the officiant.

00:01:57We cook all the time together.

00:01:59When you talk about a relationship and whether it's culinary or otherwise,

00:02:04trust is a huge part of that.

00:02:05Yep.

00:02:06I'm gonna lean sweet and he's gonna lean savory.

00:02:09My passion since I was a kid has always been pastry.

00:02:12And I know any meat that he cooks, it's gonna be absolutely spectacular.

00:02:16He is so good with meat and fabrication and grilling.

00:02:20Teamwork makes the dream work, baby, let's go.

00:02:22Their opponent's the number three seed team.

00:02:25Chef Leigh-Anne Wong and acclaimed pastry chef, Zach Young.

00:02:29This is us.

00:02:30Yes.

00:02:31Both are highly regarded in the food world.

00:02:33And they spent a lot of time cooking together over their 25 year friendship.

00:02:37This is when I dog sat for him.

00:02:39I stayed at his apartment by the Empire State Building.

00:02:42We bonded over bacon and chocolate.

00:02:43Leigh-Anne, I think, took me aside and was like, we need to be friends.

00:02:46Bacon and chocolate, what?

00:02:48When I think of holidays, I also think of Leigh-Anne because we spent so many

00:02:51of the early New York holidays together.

00:02:52We would just throw these crazy dinner parties.

00:02:54This feels like an extension.

00:02:56This is Zach's first time in TOC, but I'm not worried.

00:02:59Like, I feel like I've kind of broken the mold for pastry chefs in these competitions.

00:03:03The pastry technique is in my back pocket.

00:03:05Like, that's my advantage.

00:03:08Chefs, they're ready for you.

00:03:09Let's get it.

00:03:16Are you ready for the first Christmas cook-off of the night?

00:03:19Chef Leigh-Anne Wong has worked with Jean-Georges Marcus Samuelsson before opening her own

00:03:34cocoa head cafes in Hawaii and Japan.

00:03:37She received a James Beard nod from Best Chef Northwest and Pacific 2023.

00:03:46And her teammate, Chef Zach Young, is an executive pastry chef who has worked with Thomas Teller and

00:03:51Alex Guarnaschelli.

00:03:53Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Mama Wong and the Sweet Assassin, Team Leigh-Anne and Zach!

00:03:59Did you make your own team t-shirts?

00:04:11We made one for you too.

00:04:12And you made one for me?

00:04:13Yes.

00:04:14How did you meet?

00:04:15We met when I was at the French Culinary Institute.

00:04:18If Mama Wong gets to pick anybody she wants to work with, I think you're the real deal.

00:04:23I'm just a very simple man who makes very simple, non-complicated things.

00:04:28Like pie-caken.

00:04:30You make something called a pie-caken?

00:04:32The turducken of dessert.

00:04:34Love the name pie-caken.

00:04:36Next level.

00:04:37You're going to need to go next level with who you're going against.

00:04:45Britt Bersigno is the co-owner and executive chef of Fiamma, a four-diamond Italian restaurant

00:04:51in Sun Valley, Idaho.

00:04:54Now, Chef Jonathan Sawyer was awarded Best New Restaurant

00:04:57by Bon Appetit and Esquire, and the James Beard Award for Best Chef Great Lakes in 2017.

00:05:04Put your hands together for the angry Italian and the bearded baller team, Britt and Jonathan.

00:05:19We're going to battle, but we're having huggy time.

00:05:28Do you want one?

00:05:30No.

00:05:31Good luck, good luck.

00:05:34Good luck, we got you.

00:05:36When did this brother-sister combination take place?

00:05:41Season four.

00:05:42We made eyes across the bar.

00:05:47Shame on all of you.

00:05:48Santa's watching.

00:05:49And I just kind of looked at her and I was like, you want to be friends?

00:05:53Yup.

00:05:53This is a step-brothers level relationship, trust me.

00:05:57Yeah, we even finished each other's.

00:05:58Sandwiches.

00:05:59And this is why this is going to be a super battle to kick tonight off.

00:06:02It's time to take it to the randomizer right this way, Chef.

00:06:12The randomizer will determine the mandatory details of both of your dishes.

00:06:17Now, the savory ingredient is for one dish.

00:06:19The sweet item is for the sweet dish.

00:06:22However, the equipment, the style, and the wild card are for both dishes.

00:06:27Sometimes the selections are holly jolly, and other times it's just a resting Grinch face.

00:06:36Let's do this.

00:06:37Going after savory.

00:06:38Oh, boy.

00:06:47In the savory category, calamari tubes and tentacles for sweet, cranberries, stand mixer.

00:06:55The style tonight is boozy, and the wild card ingredient is dried figs.

00:07:00Wow.

00:07:00I've been giving all the chefs this first round 35 minutes, but you know what?

00:07:04I'm going to give you two extra minutes to confer right now.

00:07:07Good luck.

00:07:08I think that we have to go cranberries in both dish.

00:07:11Yeah.

00:07:12I mean, Christmas is stressful, so why not just do TOC during it as well?

00:07:17Vodka sauce.

00:07:18A boozy and vodka is a no-brainer.

00:07:20Stuff the squid, and then I'll do it like a red wine fig sauce.

00:07:24This is my entry into the Tournament of Champions arena.

00:07:28Luckily, I am with the heavy hitter.

00:07:30Trust me, she's punched me before.

00:07:32I'm very upset.

00:07:33I'm okay.

00:07:34I flip around.

00:07:35I'm losing.

00:07:36I'm losing notes.

00:07:37Keep it super simple.

00:07:38That'll work?

00:07:39Love it.

00:07:3935 minutes.

00:07:40Starts now.

00:07:41Go get them.

00:07:4335 minutes for a savory and a sweet dish.

00:07:48This is going to be a battle.

00:07:49Calamari tubes and tentacles are the two main edible parts of the squid.

00:07:54Great texture, but usually get cooked together.

00:07:56I think that this is going to be a really creative protein for them to start working with.

00:08:01Cranberries, you can't think of the holidays and not think about them.

00:08:04Sauces, drinks, desserts, you name it.

00:08:07We can use a stand mixer to mix.

00:08:09We can use the attachments to do meat grinding, to make pasta, boozy.

00:08:13This can be applied in so many different ways.

00:08:15And then dried figs.

00:08:16These are in all different cultures of food, and that is Christmas.

00:08:22Hi.

00:08:22Calamari does not say Merry Christmas to me.

00:08:26Santa doesn't want calamari.

00:08:28Oh, yay, Mom. Calamari.

00:08:30Come on along.

00:08:31Hi.

00:08:32What's the plan looking like?

00:08:33We're going to do an andouya and fig stuffed calamari.

00:08:36I'm going to do like a nice cognac red wine fig sauce to go with it.

00:08:41It'll have acid.

00:08:43It'll have that savoriness to balance out the sweetness of the figs.

00:08:46Perfect.

00:08:47I am definitely here to hold up my end of the bargain with the savory.

00:08:51And Zach is entirely going to be the knight in shining armor with pastry.

00:08:57How are we feeling, Zach?

00:08:58Pretty good.

00:08:59Do you have an idea of what you're making?

00:09:00The driving force is the sweet ingredient.

00:09:03Cranberry.

00:09:04Making that the star.

00:09:05Like a cranberry upside-down cake and cranberry chocolate.

00:09:08A little, like, boozy mousse.

00:09:10I start with my cake batter.

00:09:12Brown sugar, eggs, softened butter, almond liqueur.

00:09:17We love booze.

00:09:18We love booze.

00:09:19We love boozy.

00:09:20The stand mixer for me is a friend and an enemy here,

00:09:23because it'd be much faster for me to do all of this by hand.

00:09:26Add the cranberry mixture, add the cake, throw it in the oven.

00:09:31The baking slash making sweets in a competition in the same time frame as savory chefs get is really, really hard.

00:09:42And I find it fun.

00:09:44I should talk to my therapist about that.

00:09:49It's a little bit of tag team.

00:10:01He leans a little savory, I lean a little sweet.

00:10:04This is tough, right?

00:10:06It's not something I'm super excited about.

00:10:09I mean, they're so sweet.

00:10:11There's a textural component that you also have to think about.

00:10:14There's gonna have to be a lot of thought and a lot of process to really make these things make sense.

00:10:20You guys are cooking already?

00:10:21I haven't even said anything.

00:10:22I'm gonna braise out that tentacle, get it nice and tender.

00:10:26For savory, I think tubes and tentacles fit right into our narrative.

00:10:31And are we going bolognese over there?

00:10:33I see some pasta sheets here.

00:10:34We might see some sort of vodka sauce.

00:10:36There you go.

00:10:38Vodka sauce.

00:10:38Ding, ding, ding.

00:10:39Pasta is an absolutely high risk, high reward.

00:10:42We're gonna finish it with some of the tubes.

00:10:45Sort of bring that sweetness and acidity of the vodka.

00:10:49Right on dessert.

00:10:50Looks like we've got some mascarpone, cream cheese.

00:10:54My deconstructed cheesecake.

00:10:55Italian style, mascarpone.

00:10:57Yep.

00:10:58Inherently, when you make cranberries, you have to go sweet with it.

00:11:01And all of the figs and cranberries make sense inside of there.

00:11:04And I feel like the two dishes presented together definitely land at the same family table.

00:11:10I think you're spot on.

00:11:11Like the bowl, it's the holiday season.

00:11:18I got one thing to say about that, Chef.

00:11:20Pa-rum-pa-pum-pa-rum!

00:11:22Yeah!

00:11:25Mama Wong is stuffing her calamari with the injuja, which is cool.

00:11:29I thought we'd see that coming for sure.

00:11:30Anduja that's spicy and could go with the sweet so well.

00:11:34Also, it'll bind it really nicely.

00:11:36What's the plan with the tentacles, Chef?

00:11:38We're just gonna saute the tentacles.

00:11:40Okay.

00:11:41Very lightly.

00:11:43Are we grinding into the cranberries?

00:11:46Yep.

00:11:46Putting figs in there as well?

00:11:47Yes.

00:11:48And tentacles.

00:11:49All that through the grinder.

00:11:51Savory chefs, by the way, ride stand mixers hard.

00:11:54Like, they are abusive towards stand mixers.

00:11:57This is a public service announcement.

00:12:01Come on!

00:12:02Let's go!

00:12:06Pipe filling into my tubes, and it's calamari and calamari.

00:12:11Smart, Chef.

00:12:12You just have to be really careful on the grill because the tubes can bust when they're

00:12:15stuffed and then braising in her liquid.

00:12:18What was it braised in?

00:12:19Port, cognac, and red wine with a little bit of veal sauce.

00:12:24Are you a big fan of freeze-dried cranberries?

00:12:26You know, I'm a big fan of freeze-dried fruit period.

00:12:30Right.

00:12:30You know, it's an easy way to add flavor without adding moisture.

00:12:33It makes a great powder.

00:12:34Yeah.

00:12:34Cranberries, I think, are a beacon of the season.

00:12:37Like, when you start seeing cranberries, you're like, yes, it's the holidays.

00:12:40However, incredibly tart.

00:12:42Cranberry likes friends.

00:12:44Chef, what's the plan with the white chocolate?

00:12:46I'm going to add the freeze-dried cranberry powder to it.

00:12:49I know I can quickly temper some white chocolate.

00:12:52Real pastry chef moves.

00:12:53Look at this.

00:12:54Woo!

00:12:55Woo!

00:13:00Chef, I'm grinding figs.

00:13:02Okay.

00:13:02I need to get these figs done.

00:13:04Sawyer needs some dried figs for his sauce, and I also need it for my caramel.

00:13:09So I'm just going to bang it out.

00:13:11The teamwork is, again, next to none.

00:13:14We're going to put a lot through that stand mixer, and it's going to start with the grinder.

00:13:17Yeah, we want the figs to bring some sweetness to it.

00:13:20The thing that I love about using the grinder is also you're cutting down the time that you need to saute.

00:13:25Hey, is three garlics enough?

00:13:28No.

00:13:28No, okay.

00:13:29Hell no.

00:13:30I think it's a pretty exciting move to use tentacles as a grind to kind of simulate the meat in a bolognese.

00:13:35So it's kind of like the dark meat of the squid, as opposed to the tube or mantle.

00:13:39It's where you hang the stockings with care.

00:13:43Grinding cephalopods and shellfish is something I've always done.

00:13:47Or a pasta sauce.

00:13:48It's a great technique for you to use.

00:13:50I'm starting with my figs.

00:13:53Then I add all of my vegetables.

00:13:56Lastly, I'm adding in the calamari tentacles.

00:13:59Oh, it smells awesome.

00:14:00How much vodka makes it boozy?

00:14:02Half bottle?

00:14:03Nothing says boozy like someone who used to be boozy.

00:14:08Formerly boozy here.

00:14:09Quarter bottle?

00:14:11Call it a quarter.

00:14:11I think that looks good.

00:14:13Lord knows I know how to cook with booze.

00:14:20I haven't had a drink in 39 months, and I'm pretty proud about it.

00:14:24This is just another opportunity for me to prove that I'm a better person I've ever been before.

00:14:27I love it.

00:14:28Figs and cranberries.

00:14:31Figs and cranberries.

00:14:32A little sweetness, yeah?

00:14:33Okay, here, open your mouth.

00:14:35I'm not gonna add any more salt yet.

00:14:38So good.

00:14:39All right, teams, you got 20 minutes.

00:14:4120 minutes to be plated savory and sweet.

00:14:46I'm gonna start getting my fig sauce going.

00:14:49I mean, it's supposed to be boozy.

00:14:51Essentially, I want, like, layers of alcohol red wine fig sauce.

00:14:56So it's a very kind of, like, Mediterranean feel.

00:14:59I love that.

00:15:00Boozy as anything.

00:15:03This is the mostarda.

00:15:04Yeah.

00:15:05Mostarda is kind of like a sweet, sour condiment.

00:15:08And figs traditionally appear in mostarda.

00:15:11Rum, sugar, cranberries, mustard.

00:15:14Mostarda is also code word for, like, whatever's in the pantry just has to have a little mustard.

00:15:21Great with upside-down cranberries.

00:15:23Great with upside-down cranberries.

00:15:24That old recipe, I remember my grandmother used to make that.

00:15:29What do you need?

00:15:30Is there another cutting board?

00:15:32Yes, right behind you.

00:15:33It's literally, like...

00:15:34I heard, Chef.

00:15:36Microplane?

00:15:38Uh, up top, up top.

00:15:40Behind.

00:15:42And this poor guy, like, doesn't know where anything is.

00:15:45Did you get more piping bags, Lee?

00:15:46Did I get more what?

00:15:47Piping bags?

00:15:48Uh, no.

00:15:49They're over in the corner on the pastry shelf.

00:15:53Chef, we're on the clock here.

00:15:54Well, stressed is dessert spelled backwards.

00:15:57That is actually true.

00:16:01Oh, gosh.

00:16:0217 minutes, guys.

00:16:0417.

00:16:05You're gonna cut noodles out of the lasagna sheets, Chef.

00:16:07I think we are.

00:16:08Like tagliatelle?

00:16:09Thinner.

00:16:10I like it.

00:16:11I'm gonna run it through the pasta sheeter, checking another box on sand mixer.

00:16:17And we want to slice them about the exact same thickness as we're gonna slice those calamari

00:16:22tubes to make those two shapes really congruent, so that way their textures can sort of complement each other.

00:16:27Love it.

00:16:28I'm Italian.

00:16:29Christmas Eve is our biggest day.

00:16:31Seven fish dinner.

00:16:32I do it every year with my dad's side of the family.

00:16:37Bourbon in the cranberry fig sauce, because it's the holidays, baby.

00:16:41We gotta make this thing boozy.

00:16:42Oh, yeah.

00:16:47Brown sugar.

00:16:48Caramel.

00:16:49Mo' butter, mo' bitter.

00:16:55Sawyer.

00:16:56She's bad and boozy, baby.

00:16:58Bad and boozy.

00:16:59Seasoning, pasta water.

00:17:01Please.

00:17:02Done.

00:17:03Hands in every single pot.

00:17:05He's doing one thing, I'm doing another.

00:17:06Chef, are the tubes gonna get cooked in the vodka sauce?

00:17:09Yes, I've sliced those calamari tubes the same exact thickness as the pasta.

00:17:15Check that pasta, yeah?

00:17:16It's in the sauce.

00:17:17In the sauce, let's go!

00:17:21I really gotta make sure I focus on the second usage of the tentacles,

00:17:25which is gonna be a crispy fried garnish on top.

00:17:28Nothing says Christmas like the gift of the TOC title.

00:17:32I think weaning together would just mean the absolute world to me.

00:17:36Since it's the holidays, we have even more surprises under the tree,

00:17:41including a special golden gift for the team with the highest score in the first round.

00:17:47Right now, the score to beat is 87.

00:17:50Ten minutes, Chef.

00:17:50Ten minutes hurt.

00:17:51All right, Chef.

00:17:53It's a lot of movement.

00:17:54It feels like being at my house during the holidays and everyone's fighting,

00:17:57but I think I've got it under control.

00:17:59We've cooked together many, many times, but trying to figure out who's going where

00:18:05and where everything's going and then having two mixers side by side.

00:18:08It's a difficult dance.

00:18:10Making a whipped cream.

00:18:12A lot going on right now.

00:18:15Sorry, I'm good.

00:18:17Move anything.

00:18:18I'm just flipping.

00:18:20So I decided to make this kind of quick mousse.

00:18:22I add a little bit of balsamic vinegar and almond liqueur and a little bit more rum to really

00:18:29jack it up.

00:18:30I love this man and I'm just so happy to be with him and cooking by his side.

00:18:36It's really nice to spend time together, but you know what's nicer?

00:18:41Winning.

00:18:43Four and a half minutes and you must be plated.

00:18:47Cakes are out.

00:18:48They are finally done.

00:18:50Cakes spring back when I tap them.

00:18:52They're nice and boinky.

00:18:54Hot, hot, hot behind.

00:18:56Boinky is a technical pastry term, by the way.

00:18:58Flip them out onto the plates.

00:19:01Spoon the mostarda onto the warm cranberry cakes.

00:19:05Amaretto mousse.

00:19:07Break the cranberry chocolate.

00:19:09Throw some on top of the mousse.

00:19:11Throw some on top of the cake.

00:19:14Take my calamari, line them up three on the plate,

00:19:17and I spoon my fig sauce around my salad.

00:19:20It's going to go right on top of my squid.

00:19:25Two minutes.

00:19:26Two to go.

00:19:27I am going to start plating my dessert.

00:19:29Red on green, baby.

00:19:30That's so holiday.

00:19:31I put my three dollops, different sizes of the cheesecake mixture.

00:19:36I'm putting my cranberries throughout, making sure that there's a lot of whole berries.

00:19:40I'm putting all of my crunchies.

00:19:42And then I want to garnish everything and anoint it with that beautiful fig caramel bourbon sauce.

00:19:47It's the holidays. If there's ever an excuse to indulge in your sweet tooth, it's right now.

00:19:53And I think the great thing about our team is that we're taking turns,

00:19:56making sure it all lands to the plate, right?

00:19:58Put the utensils up there, put the pasta up there, you start to twirl.

00:20:01It's time for me to go oregano, fresh herbs, calamari bits, over the top.

00:20:06One more dusting of that bread crumb.

00:20:08We're garnishing each other's plates.

00:20:10This is the dream team, baby.

00:20:11Five, four, three, two, one.

00:20:16That's it, we're done!

00:20:22Back to your trailers.

00:20:23And the Santa judges are going to show up and do their magic.

00:20:26Thank you very much.

00:20:26Good luck.

00:20:30That was a cook.

00:20:32Man, I'm feeling crazy.

00:20:35That was hard.

00:20:35That was brutal.

00:20:38Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

00:20:40Our judges have been patiently waiting in their trailer, signing Christmas cards,

00:20:43and I really do hope I'm going to get one this year.

00:20:46Let's meet them.

00:20:47Give me someone Italian.

00:20:49First, the winner of the James Beard Awards for Rising Star Chef and Outstanding Pastry Chef.

00:20:54Now, you may have seen her appearance as herself on the bear.

00:20:57No!

00:20:58The one and only Chef Christina Tosi.

00:21:03Let's go!

00:21:06James Beard Award-winning chef and Emmy Award-winning culinary host, famed for her Latin flavors.

00:21:13Oh, this is a spicy one.

00:21:14The one and only Chef Michelle Bernstein.

00:21:17And finally, Michelin-starred restaurateur, esteemed shop judge, and legendary Iron Chef,

00:21:30the one, the only, wait, he's just getting done working out, Chef Jeffrey Zakarian.

00:21:39Oh, no.

00:21:41Tough panel.

00:21:42Oh, my God.

00:21:43Wow.

00:21:44Tonight, in the savory category, the chef was given calamari tubes and tentacles.

00:21:50The sweet category used cranberries. Both dishes needed to use a stand mixer.

00:21:56The style tonight is boozy, and the wild card ingredient is dried figs.

00:22:01And here is the ambassador herself, TOC3 champ, Chef Tiffany Faison.

00:22:07Chef, may I present to you two holiday-worthy dishes.

00:22:11On your right, you have your favorite course.

00:22:13Boozy braised squid.

00:22:15The farce in the squid was made with induya, mission, and Turkish dried figs.

00:22:20The farce was then whipped in the stand mixer, and then it was stuffed into the tubes.

00:22:25The calamari was then grilled and braised in a boozy trio of red wine, port, and cognac with braised figs.

00:22:32They haven't stopped eating. That always scares me.

00:22:35Moving you along to your amaretto brown sugar cake.

00:22:38Sugared cranberries were put in the bottom of the cake, and the cake was emulsified in the stand mixer and then baked to perfection.

00:22:45In front of the cake, you have an amaretto rum mousse that was also whipped in the stand mixer.

00:22:50The sauce is a cranberry rum fig mostarda sauce.

00:22:54Freeze-dried cranberries were worked into the tuile that is both on the cake and also on your mousse.

00:22:58I'm so nervous. I'm gonna cry.

00:23:03The way that they use the randomizer, it's really cool, especially having the cranberries and then the figs.

00:23:09It's a lot, right? And it could have ended up really sweet, but it didn't, which I really appreciate.

00:23:14It's so smart.

00:23:15The red wine reduction could have been a little more reduced just because it does have a little bit of that alcohol wine-y quality to it, but it is boozy.

00:23:23It's boozy!

00:23:24Moving over to this pastry, the almond with the fig and then the cranberry and the white chocolate, it's just really smart.

00:23:33This is so clever and so delicious because it totally cut the sweetness of the white chocolate, and it really tastes like a cranberry.

00:23:41Cranberries taste like cranberries! But I think that I'm missing a little bit of booziness.

00:23:46Try the mousse. Girl, I love garlic, I love and I love calamari, so I think it's a perfect bite.

00:23:54I love the figs. I love the red wine reduction. I need some acid here. I would love a vinegar.

00:23:59Overall, really lovely flavors and a great presentation.

00:24:04The cake, I love the flavor. It really is Christmas holiday.

00:24:07A great use of cranberries, which I'm a big fan of, and I agree that it needs booze.

00:24:11Eat the cream! Eat the cream!

00:24:14I'd say take a big spoonful of the beautiful amaretto whipped cream below, because I had a bite of that and I was like, boozy.

00:24:21You're right. You're right.

00:24:22Yes!

00:24:23Eat the cream!

00:24:26Judges, I have stocked all three of your trailers with full bark. Yeah.

00:24:31I definitely hammered home the booze.

00:24:34The dish is very well executed. The calamari is cooked well. It is stuffed beautifully and evenly.

00:24:39I think their decision to keep the figs whole dried is tricky, because it's a little grainy,

00:24:45it's a little gritty, and that is pulling away from the beautiful execution of the texture of the dish.

00:24:50The dessert is actually incredibly impressive. This is cranberry, it's fig, it's stand mixer,

00:24:56it's boozy. For 35 minutes as a pastry chef, it's not an easy feat.

00:25:01Yeah!

00:25:03We'll take it. A beautifully well-mixed cake. The reduction is just sticky and sweet enough in a way

00:25:10that you want on your holiday dessert. Bravissima. It's Zach Young. He nailed it.

00:25:16Yeah. Great, judges. Thank you very much. Two scorecards in front of you. We have 50 points

00:25:21available for each dish, 25 points available for taste, 20 points available for the use of the randomizer,

00:25:28and five points available for the plating. I feel like I got okays fours. On the other hand,

00:25:36maybe you save me, chef. Overall, they were like, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom. Let's bring out the

00:25:41second team's dish. Here to explain this fantastic dish is the wild card, Justin Warner. So just we'll

00:25:48start with the savory portion of these dishes. This is calamari a la vodka. The tubes you will find

00:25:54sent through the standing mixer grinder attachment to form a ragu, a bit of the fried tentacle on top.

00:26:00A heap and a helping of vodka is present in the sauce. In addition to that, some figs were ground

00:26:05into this as well. For the sweets, you have not your known as mascarpone cheesecake. The cranberries

00:26:11met their fate in a pan with white sugar, ground figs, and a big blast of bourbon. A stand mixer was used

00:26:17to grind those figs, also then to craft that whipped sort of cheesecake filling. I'm praying to the

00:26:22Christmas gods. Visually, both the sweet and the savory, and then the sort of like grandma's china

00:26:28that doesn't come out. It's like hanging on the wall. They both feel like Christmas. This is very

00:26:32feast of the seven fishes. Yes! If you served this to my Italian Nona, she would not believe that

00:26:39someone made it in 35 minutes. The dessert, I think it was smart the way that they used the fig and the

00:26:45sweetness of the sauce. It's very focused, which I love. As a pastry chef, I would have taken it in this

00:26:51direction. I'm freaking out. I think it's cooked beautifully, and I love the rings of calamari that

00:26:59are in there. Really great. The vodka sauce, it's going to sound strange. I think there's not enough

00:27:03vodka in this. Wow. But I think it's a really, really well done pasta. That was a gut punch. Over to

00:27:10the next course. Just need some more booze. I love figs. I'm Middle Eastern. I have figs all the time.

00:27:17It's delicious, but it's not to me a dessert. He's getting some coal in his stocking.

00:27:23I think it's smart. I think it's well done. And I happen to love the fried crispy tentacles on the

00:27:28top. Mixed with the pasta, I think that it allows you to identify the calamari even more so. Is it a

00:27:33pasta dish, not a calamari dish? I do like the idea of it being like a cheesecake idea with the ricotta.

00:27:40All in all, I think it was really smart, and it was a really good use of the time that they had.

00:27:45I'm not, I'm not feeling good. Yeah. I'm sure it was delicious. It looked delicious. Great judges,

00:27:51thank you very much. Two dishes to score, 50 points available for each. I have no clue.

00:27:57It's anyone's game. It's the best team. Right. We are the best team. We are the best team. I love you so much. I love you.

00:28:05All right chefs, they're ready for your scores. Whoa. Let's go see. Let's go.

00:28:10Let's go. Let's go ahead and bring our chefs back in. Chef Leanne. Chef Chef. Chef Rick. Chef Jonathan.

00:28:23Killed it. You killed it. You killed it. I thought that was some fine cookery, and we have a three-point

00:28:29difference. Wow. Wow. One team scored a 37 out of 50 in savory, a 42 out of 50 in sweet for a score of 79.

00:28:42Wow. One team scored a 42 out of 50 in savory, a 40 out of 50 in sweet for a score of 82.

00:28:54Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of the TOC all-star Christmas battle between team Britt and Jonathan,

00:29:01and team Leanne and Zach is...

00:29:14Britt and Jonathan. Thank you. I love you. Congratulations. I love you so much.

00:29:19Thank you. Thank you. I love you. Thank you.

00:29:24I think you both did a fantastic job. I'm sorry this isn't going to go any further,

00:29:28but it sure was great to watch you two cook. I'll be back. Thank you.

00:29:32Ladies and gentlemen, Leanne Wong, Zach Young.

00:29:39Beast of a randomizer. He's a beast of a randomizer. What did we say? What did we say?

00:29:43We're going to go rob a bank now. Did you think you'd won? No. No. I thought I was going home.

00:29:50You pulled it off and you looked great doing it. I just got to say for one second,

00:29:55that is the most vodka I've been near in 39 months.

00:30:03Love you. You have taken control of your life. You did it for yourself, your family,

00:30:07your kids, and look what it's done to your career. Well done. Let's take a look.

00:30:19Chet and Ashley, and that puts us in the quarterfinals with you two. Ashley is a pastry powerhouse.

00:30:26Our teamwork has never been better, and I think that's what's going to pull us through.

00:30:31Congratulations, Chef Britt, Chef Jonathan. Big win!

00:30:37Is this real life? Congratulations. Good to see you. Thank you so much.

00:30:46So good to see you. I know you have some trepidations about your execution on dessert.

00:30:50I mean, I'm a chef. I'm not a pastry chef. Yeah. I don't do this every day. Right.

00:30:56But I can give you really good flavors. And to take down Zach? I mean, he is a legend. Yeah.

00:31:01And so is Mama Wong. Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready to meet the teams that will battle for the

00:31:07final spot in the great eight? That's what I want to hear. From our eight division,

00:31:14we have the number one seed team, Chef Manit Shohan and Chef Stephanie Izar. Their years of

00:31:20experience in the restaurant industry combined with their longtime friendship make them one of the

00:31:26teams to beat. Why are you? Because we are fabulous. Top Chef, Iron Chef, the OG of competition

00:31:36is right next to me. And then we have Manit. Not only has won tournament champions once, but twice.

00:31:43We are the team to beat. We've been doing this for such a long time. Let's say in comparison to us,

00:31:49Kevin and Dale, they are newbies. We've got insane flavors and our chemistry is incredible. Both Stephanie

00:31:59and I, we are incredible savory chefs, but we are also incredible pastry chefs. I am taking savory.

00:32:05I'm going to take sweet. And my number one goal is just don't let my partner Manit down. Our culinary

00:32:12language is the same. And our dance language is the same, right? They're going up against Chef Kevin

00:32:18Lee and Chef Dale Tallday. They're coming in at the number four seed. Since meeting on TOC 5,

00:32:24they've become fast friends. You know, we met in TOC Season 5. And when you see someone that has

00:32:30a little bit of you and them, you know, he's a little younger than me, we have a lot of similar

00:32:35POB. We're Asian Americans. So we've cooked together very recently at an event. It was amazing how we,

00:32:42how much we really didn't have to communicate. We just really understand each other's food very well.

00:32:47I've taken out some big dragons in this arena before. So it's nothing new going against the

00:32:51number one seed for me. Anytime you're up against a two-ton champ, an Iron Chef, you're going to be

00:32:57nervous, but Randomizer treats everybody the same. I'm going to tackle the sweet side and then Kevin

00:33:03is going to tackle the savory side. Chef Dale over here has a lot of restaurants and never had a pastry

00:33:09chef. Chefs, they're ready for you. Let's go! We got this!

00:33:19Are you ready for the final first round battle of our Christmas tournament? Give it to me!

00:33:24Kevin Lee is a successful restaurateur who has earned the title of Best Chef from the

00:33:39Oklahoma Gazette and was a James Beard semi-finalist this year for Best Chef Southwest.

00:33:45Now, Dale Tallday was a James Beard nominee for Best Chef New York in 2022, and his restaurant,

00:33:53Goose Feather, was named Best New Restaurant by Esquire Magazine.

00:33:59Give it up, ladies and gentlemen, for the dragon slayer and the boogeyman,

00:34:03team Kevin and Dale. Let's go! Let's go! Come on! Merry Christmas!

00:34:20What was your handshake? You had some...

00:34:22Oh, we got you. What was this? Pepper grinder, salt, LeBron.

00:34:29You're gonna need all of that and then some going against these opponents.

00:34:38Chef Monique Chauhan made her name in elite restaurants in New York and Chicago and Nashville.

00:34:44She was crowned TOC2 champ and three years later came back and took the belt again,

00:34:52making her the winningest chef in TOC history.

00:34:57Her partner in crime, Chef Stephanie Izard, is a James Beard Award winner for Best Chef Great Lakes.

00:35:05And she is the only chef in history to hold the title of both Iron Chef and Top Chef.

00:35:12Make some noise for the Dancing Spice Queen and the GOAT, Team Monique and Stephanie!

00:35:18Powerhouse, powerhouse, very scary. What do you think, gentlemen?

00:35:36Up for the challenge. Up for the challenge.

00:35:39Let's go. Tough match, tough match.

00:35:40Well, chefs, it's got to start with the randomizer. Let's take it this way. Let's go.

00:35:50The randomizer will determine the mandatory details of both of your dishes.

00:35:56The savory ingredient is for one dish. The sweet item is for the other dish.

00:36:00The equipment, the style, and the wild card, all of those are for both dishes.

00:36:06All right. Let's get into this. Let's go for the savory.

00:36:08Let's go, Randall.

00:36:13I don't want to look at it.

00:36:15For savory, turkey breast.

00:36:19For sweet, plums, panini breast, layered, and chocolate orange.

00:36:27Wow. How do you feel?

00:36:29Good.

00:36:29Dale, you liar.

00:36:33I got my dad for Christmas and his birthday every year chocolate-covered orange peels.

00:36:37So you have some comfortable nature with that?

00:36:39I never liked them. That was the problem.

00:36:40Okay, good. That's good.

00:36:42Well, listen, chefs. I'm going to give you two minutes right now to confer and discuss your menu.

00:36:47And right after that, it will launch into the 35 minutes you have to prepare your award-winning

00:36:53savory and sweet dish. And your two minutes starts now. Good luck.

00:36:57Okay. What do you think?

00:36:59Right. Sort of a butter pie with plum filling, if it's possible.

00:37:03And I was thinking of a roulade. Do you think a roulade will be layered?

00:37:06Okay.

00:37:06Individually, we are really, really strong competitors.

00:37:10But together, I would suggest to the rest of the guys, you know what? Just, just go. Just go.

00:37:15We got this. We got this.

00:37:17So.

00:37:18Leftover. Leftover.

00:37:19I'm going to do a left over.

00:37:20Then layer your sandwich and make it stack.

00:37:22Watch out. The Boogeyman and the Dragon Slayer is coming.

00:37:27Then I'm going to do shaved ice, um, plums, grate the chocolate into there.

00:37:32The pressure's off of us. The pressure's not on the fourth seat. They're the ones who have the

00:37:35target on their back. We're the hungry kids that are trying to go after that.

00:37:38And that's what makes us dangerous.

00:37:39Three, two, one, and good luck.

00:37:45Chef Kevin has scored major upsets in the past. Will the dragon slaying duo take down two culinary giants?

00:37:53They're off to the races.

00:37:59Grab some plums for me also.

00:38:01Plums. Got it.

00:38:02The turkey breast, super popular as a Christmas dish. Plums. This is going to be a really fun one

00:38:09for them to work with. It's going to work into sauces, work into desserts. It'll be fantastic.

00:38:13The panini breast, this is working with heat and pressure. Remember, they've got to use it.

00:38:19Layered. This is really going to be a visual component. And chocolate orange, it's chocolate

00:38:25that is orange flavored. Oh, that's a whole different story.

00:38:30I know we've got our headbands and wristbands and our Hawaiian shirts going on, but we're taking

00:38:36this tournament seriously, and we're here to win. The plan of attack here is that I'm going to tackle

00:38:43the sweet side plums, and then Kevin is going to tackle the turkey savory side.

00:38:47Chef Dale Tawley here, he's been a great mentor. Chemistry wins championships,

00:38:52and there is a great chemistry here. I mean, we went on vacation together with our families and our kids.

00:38:57That's how much this relationship has blossomed over, like, the last three years. It's good to have

00:39:03someone to lean on when you come to these things. You guys are working too fast. Chef,

00:39:06what's the plan here? I'm making a bingsu. Korean layered shaved ice. Got it.

00:39:11It's this dirt that Kevin and I have actually eaten together. For me, tradition is important because

00:39:17my parents are immigrants. They took a chance to come to America, and if you keep food traditions alive,

00:39:22people will continue to understand what their culture is. And I want to keep that tradition

00:39:26alive. I want my kids to kind of see me doing it. First thing I need to do is get some plums

00:39:30roasting on the panini press so I can make plum liquid to freeze. Once my plums are roasted,

00:39:36I add it to my prune juice. Prunes are plums that are just dried. I had no idea a prune was a dried

00:39:43pull up until now. What kind of knowledge the boogeyman has over here?

00:39:52Got a good game plan? I'll make a leftover turkey cutlet sandwich.

00:39:56Layer it with stuffing, some cranberry sauce. Make like a spiced chocolate gravy to dip it in.

00:40:03So my favorite thing to eat during the holidays is really making a sandwich out of the leftovers.

00:40:07What's more perfect than a sandwich when it comes to layers? You're literally stacking one thing

00:40:12after another. Sandwich in this round is the go-to move. You got to cook turkey, make stuffing.

00:40:20That is a daunting task. I'm going to pound out the turkey breast and fry it to really get that nice

00:40:24crispy in there to speed up the process. I'm going to pound the thinly sliced turkey breast.

00:40:33I got my egg wash. Also adding the orange chocolate in there. Adding the chocolate is going to add a nice

00:40:40sweetness. Also going to add a nice zesty orange flavor. I'm quickly coating the turkey breast with

00:40:46some panko. I'm going to do a first fry on it to make sure I know I'm going to finish on time.

00:40:51And right before we play, I'm going to drop it down for the second fry.

00:40:56The dancing spice queen over here, manhandling, lady handling some turkey breast.

00:41:00Have you seen the number of titles sitting over here? I mean, the best part is that we're going to

00:41:04have the biggest dance party to celebrate later. It's double the talent. It's double the dance

00:41:10and double the celebration when we win. It's true. Turkey breast can be a little bit dry. It's a dense

00:41:16piece of protein. Plums with turkey breast, I think, works really well together. What's the plan,

00:41:21Manit? Almost like a turkey roulade. I always do a turkey in the holidays and usually it is with an

00:41:27Indian flair. It's a tandoori turkey. Making the marinade right now for the turkey. For the turkey?

00:41:31Okay. Along with some plums, garam masala, ginger, curry powder, salt, and red Thai chili. And I put

00:41:39the chocolate orange in the marinade. Lots of depth of flavor. I love the use of the plum in there.

00:41:44There's no way we're not getting flavor on this station. This is panini turkey skin. I wonder if that

00:41:51can get it as crispy as you'd want it. It's gonna take a long time. They have a lot more skin in the

00:41:57game. You know what I mean? How we doing, goat? Good. I'm trying to make this butter pie grape

00:42:04cracker crust. Sweet lands on plums. Plums are full of acidity. They've got sweetness. I'm thinking

00:42:11holiday pie layered. Sort of a butter pie with plum filling. To make the filling, add in the egg,

00:42:18add in the cream. And when it's baked, it's sticky, gooey. And nothing says the holidays like a pie.

00:42:26Exactly. That's it. Do you need anything? I don't think so. I'm trying to make these little

00:42:30crusts real quick with some plums inside. Yes, chocolate orange. Is it hollow? There you go.

00:42:39Well, that's satisfying. This is just gonna be a super quick ganache.

00:42:43That's delicious. What is this lade going to be? I marinated it in a plum and an orange chocolate

00:42:54marinade. And then I am going to roll it up. We do not want boring turkey because turkey is already

00:43:00boring by itself. Yeah. Find me turkey that I'm excited to eat. 20 minutes, chefs. 20 to have both

00:43:07dishes plated. 20 to go. Next, I make the filling for the turkey roulade.

00:43:15Plums, pistachios, cream cheese, sage. Sage, yeah. I've also put the chocolate orange in the stuffing.

00:43:21The cream cheese is really going to add fat and give it the turkey, which is always so dry. Some

00:43:26blushes-ness. Minnie, how are you feeling? I think okay, Stephanie.

00:43:35I feel like I maybe put an extra egg or something's going wrong. My butter pie filling is like completely

00:43:41broken. Pie filling is like broken looking. Put it in the KitchenAid. I've tried the whisk. I've tried the

00:43:47mixer. I've tried the blender. This filling is just fully broken. This isn't gonna work.

00:43:52Just have to do buzz out that butter filling. It's just, it's broken. I just feel like I'm going

00:44:00down in flames because it's like my worst Christmas nightmare is to let you down. I'm struggling to

00:44:05eat. I'm not gonna lie. 16 and a half, chef. I feel like I should just be pleased and make a decision

00:44:14after that. I need to take a moment to just regain composure. And my thought process always is,

00:44:19when you need to pivot, just keep cooking. It's okay. You got it. It's okay. We got this.

00:44:26I have something in the oven. Remind me in a couple minutes. Goat, how we doing? I've been better.

00:44:31How are you doing? I look at Mineet. She's got all the stuff going on. And my thought is like,

00:44:37how do I pivot? Steph, what's the pivot? Ice cream maybe? Okay. So I go from trying to make a pie

00:44:43filling that doesn't work to deciding to make an ice cream because pie not a la mode. Why eat pie?

00:44:48I agree. Chocolate orange ice cream? Yeah. Love it. And then some orange zest and a little bit of

00:44:53orange juice. Cook the egg yolks just enough. Because isn't that what you think when you have 15

00:44:57minutes in your life? I think I'll just make an ice cream. Only if you're Stephanie. Okay, I'm going

00:45:01into the ice cream maker. Thank you. Go like this.

00:45:09That's nuts. That's actually good. It's orangey, but it's not really polarizing orangey.

00:45:20Let's talk about something that's on my Christmas list. This little snow maker. Chef,

00:45:25do you want to build a snowman? Yes. Chef Dale's seemingly no stranger to this

00:45:29sort of machine. He's doing all the right stuff here. Making sure he's got the right amount of sugar

00:45:33so this stuff doesn't freeze like jagged ice crystals. Have you used this before? Oui, Chef.

00:45:39I have one at my restaurant. Amazing. We have this beautiful machine here that can take fruit,

00:45:45puree, and make shaved ice dessert. Shaves it nice and fine and thin. And let the shaved ice thing do

00:45:51what it needs to do and keep it moving. Seems like it's, uh, maybe this liquid is not chilled enough.

00:45:58Right. Because you see it kind of melting off of it. The blade is supposed to shave it. It's actually

00:46:04just dumping just ice. And I don't have the time to adjust it, but it's just turning into goop. I don't

00:46:09have my sea legs underneath me right now. The pressure comes fast and furious, even though it is the

00:46:15Christmas edition. Smart little insurance policy here. It's got a bane of liquid nitrogen going

00:46:21underneath. It's making a slow stream of stuff. Being a chef is being flexible. You have to be able to

00:46:27pivot and you have to do it quickly. If you've ever been to the mall and you've had the ice cream of

00:46:32the future, Dale just made it on a microscopic level. Kevin, you good? I'm good. For my stuffing,

00:46:39I'm adding all the aromatics of the holidays, like rosemary, sage, and thyme. I'm deglazing with some

00:46:45chicken stock and adding the sourdough croutons, tossing it together, throwing it in the oven to make sure

00:46:51that gets nice and moist stuffing for my perfect sandwich. What's the plan with brown sugar and butter,

00:46:56chocolate? Making a little orange chocolate bark. This is a real homey thyme kind of dessert. Like,

00:47:02my friend's wife makes this kind of bark. So I'm taking crackers, butter, sugar, and the chocolate

00:47:09will go inside there. Chocolate orange, I had no idea what that was. Of course, Mr. Encyclopedia of

00:47:15Culinary over here knew exactly what it was. You go to grandma's house and that chocolate orange has been

00:47:19there for maybe five or six years or she just got it like, you know, yesterday. You don't know. I also zest some

00:47:25oranges on top of it to reinforce that orange flavor.

00:47:32The turkey skin just came off the panini press and has gone into the pan with some plums. I

00:47:36make a plum chutney. I let the turkey skin render. Then I put some plums in it and just let that

00:47:42reduce. That's what the turkey skin in the pan was. Uh-huh.

00:47:45It's going to be served on a chorizo stuffing. Put some raw plums so that there is some of that

00:47:55freshness which comes through with the bread.

00:47:58It's grilled on the panini press. Panini press? Chef Monique cooked the roulade in the panini press.

00:48:06Cook through, Chef? No. It's raw in the center. She's now going to the deep

00:48:11fire and with very little time, like 12 minutes left.

00:48:14I keep saying this to myself with everything that I'm doing. Maybe I shouldn't do this.

00:48:19Maybe you should, though. Maybe I shouldn't do this. But maybe you should.

00:48:22So once I make the ice cream, now I've got the layers. I've got graham cracker crust. I've got

00:48:27plum on the inside for tart. So we've got a pie. And then we have the ganache sitting on top.

00:48:32I think if I add this ice cream, I can add a little bit of marshmallow and then another graham

00:48:37cracker on top. It's cooked in the panini press. It appears I have made a delicious layered s'mores

00:48:43pie. And I think, why don't I just make an Italian meringue, which basically is a marshmallow. It's

00:48:48not set. Because why not? How do we look, Stephanie? I look okay. Good. How do you look? I always look

00:48:56fabulous. Ten minutes to go. Ice cream? Check it. It's the testament of this teamwork. That's what it's

00:49:06all about. Supporting each other when you need help. It's not really working out the way I need it

00:49:12to. Just caution, Chef. Basically, I'm just going to have to take the ice out of this liquid nitrogen,

00:49:16put it in a food processor, and blend it. I want fluffy snow. When you're a four seed, it's the best

00:49:25position to be in. Because no one expects you to win, right? We got the two-time champ. We got an iron

00:49:30chef to go up against us. There's no pressure on us. The pressure's on them. What's the holiday

00:49:35leftover sandwich without a cranberry sauce? Grabbing the frozen cranberries, I'm adding

00:49:40orange juice, a little bit of sugar. You still have some chocolate orange I can use? Yeah, get this

00:49:44chocolate in your cranberry sauce, bro. Now, I'm using that orange chocolate to reinforce that

00:49:50chocolate flavor. Chef, what do you got in here? Gravy? Gravy sauce made with chocolate and some

00:49:57chilies. For a holiday turkey leftover sandwich, you need a nice grape to dip it in.

00:50:08What's going on here? Cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk.

00:50:12Mascarpone. Yeah, like a light, airy mousse so I can layer it. And I just get it whipping in a

00:50:16stand mixer to get it nice and fluffy. How are you doing on time? Start building my sandwich. Turkey,

00:50:22cranberry sauce, proper amount of stuffing, and pressing it in that panini press nice and crispy

00:50:29and have the nice ridges. So when you dip it in that chili chocolate gravy, it picks up all the sauce

00:50:34to make that perfect moist holiday turkey leftover sandwich. What do you got, baby? Five minutes left.

00:50:43Five minutes left for the competition.

00:50:45To plate my turkey leftover sandwich, I have my sandwich cut in half. And on the top of the sandwich,

00:50:55I'm garnishing with some extra cranberries and some fried sage to really reinforce the holiday season.

00:51:02Then I'm going to put the chocolate gravy and a little small cup on the side for dipping of the sandwich.

00:51:09It worked.

00:51:12Four minutes, Chef. How are you feeling? It's good. Really good.

00:51:15So I have these beautiful little coupe glasses that I'm ready to plate. And I just start layering.

00:51:19Plums, the orange chocolate bar, mascarpone cream, plum, ice, and then repeat. Just keep building

00:51:27this thing up and up and up. I'm hoping the judges just understand this dessert.

00:51:33I know it's not traditional and I know it's a little out of the box, but that's my food.

00:51:39How much time?

00:51:40Three minutes.

00:51:42I take the roulade out of the fryer. It's evenly cooked. I actually am really happy because I know

00:51:47that this is delicious because I've tasted each and every component. I put the stuffing at the bottom,

00:51:53put the turkey roulade right on top of it, a little bit of the cream cheese filling right on top,

00:51:59a little bit of the chutney, and that crispy, crispy turkey skin that looks so good. Sprinkle it with

00:52:07some of the rosemary. It's almost like a confetti.

00:52:12One minute to go.

00:52:17So I put the little pie into the bottom, try to leave it as in layers as possible. It's got the

00:52:22ice cream on top. Then I take some of my Italian meringue that's just been finished so that I can

00:52:27scoop it out, torch it, and it's like a marshmallow on a spoon. I don't know who the judges are, but I'm just

00:52:32hoping that at least one of them appreciates a dessert that isn't necessarily a showstopper in

00:52:37its presentation, but you take a bite of it and you just can't stop taking more bites.

00:52:41One, four, three, two, one. Stop!

00:52:53This is the chaos of Christmas morning. That's exactly what this was.

00:52:58Great job, both teams. Thank you so much.

00:53:01Bring in the judges. They got their work cut out for them, for sure.

00:53:04It looked, it looked great. It tasted absolutely fantastic.

00:53:13It tasted. The ice cream is great. There's chocolate and ash.

00:53:15We didn't have to talk a lot. We knew what we were doing. I think that's,

00:53:18that's what happens when you have really good chemistry between two people.

00:53:20Five minutes after you walk out of there, you have like five ideas that are better.

00:53:23Yeah. Or I do.

00:53:24It is what it is. It is what it is.

00:53:26Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back our judges, Chef Christina Tosi,

00:53:30Chef Michelle Bernstein, and Chef Jeffrey Sicarius.

00:53:33Christina Tosi likes casual and malicious.

00:53:37Oh my God. Michelle, we used to have a restaurant in the same hotel.

00:53:40Jeffrey Sicarian, a very fair judge, right?

00:53:42Yeah. That's a powerhouse, huh?

00:53:44Well, you should have seen what was going on here.

00:53:48Tonight, the lovely randomizer served up in savory turkey breast, in sweet plums,

00:53:55the panini press, style was to be layered, and the wild card ingredient, chocolate orange.

00:54:01Here to explain this fantastic dish is the wild card, Justin Warner.

00:54:06For your savory course, we have a Black Friday sandwich with a chocolate infused gravy for dipping.

00:54:12In the very center of this layered contraption, you will find the turkey breast, which has been fried.

00:54:17The panini press was utilized to craft the sandwich. Now that gravy, it's been finished with that chocolate orange.

00:54:24Onto the sweets. This is a frozen plum trifle with an orange chocolate and buttercracker bark.

00:54:31The plums were panini-fied. The layers are as such, fresh plum, mascarpone cream,

00:54:36the pulverized frozen plum, orange chocolate chunks, and orange chocolate bark.

00:54:42Dip. You gotta dip. Dip it.

00:54:44Judges, I want to remind you the chef's intention was for you to pick the sandwich up and dip it into

00:54:49the gravy. There we go. Nice. Such a more fulfilling bite.

00:54:55This is a beautiful celebration of leftovers. Look at those beautiful layers.

00:55:00Yeah. Come on.

00:55:03I love the turkey being breaded. I love the gravy as the dipping.

00:55:07I don't know that I'm getting any chocolate orange.

00:55:10I think it was really brilliant to make a milanes out of the turkey. Really, really smart.

00:55:18I mean, they did a beautiful job with the panini press. I don't know if I needed the gravy with it.

00:55:22I agree. A milanes is a great way to treat it.

00:55:25This is like a Thanksgiving Christmas gift package.

00:55:28I love the panini, but it's unfortunately dry.

00:55:31I don't taste the chocolate orange, but I love the concept. Creativity is off the charts.

00:55:35The dessert. Check we got the layers. I don't know about the panini press on the plum.

00:55:41Is it my favorite dessert? No. Do I think it's a nice execution? Yeah.

00:55:46I'm not really sure what I'm eating, but it's fun to eat. I do love when I find a little something

00:55:52tart and a little something sweet and a little crisp and then creaminess with the chocolate orange.

00:55:56It's definitely like a treasure hunt. This is Willy Wonka.

00:56:01That's a beautiful presentation. But the problem with it is it's one texture. It's all frozen,

00:56:06but it is fun. Judges, thank you very much. Let's go to the scoring card.

00:56:1150 points available for each dish, 25 available in taste, 20 in the use of the randomizer,

00:56:17and five points for plating. That was a rough one. But you know what? I feel like

00:56:24I just don't understand what we're doing. Sometimes culturally, I think if you had never

00:56:28had something like a shaved ice dessert, which we grew up eating that, then it doesn't make a whole

00:56:32lot of sense to some people. That's hard because honestly, like each of the three judges seem to have

00:56:36a very different opinion. I am not worried about your dessert. I'm worried about my dish.

00:56:41It looked like a Christmas tree. It looks like your earrings on a plate made out of turkey.

00:56:47All right, here we are for the second team's dishes. And to present that to you is Chef Tiffany.

00:56:51We have a layered plum and chocolate orange marinated turkey breast roulade grilled on the

00:56:56panini press. This was layered on a stuffing of panini press grilled ciabatta that was sauteed with

00:57:03spicy chorizo plum, rosemary, and pistachios. We then have a panini grilled turkey skin and plum

00:57:09chutney. And finally, this is layered with a grilled panini style grilled turkey skin. On the left side,

00:57:16we have a layered plum and orange chocolate s'more. We have butter roasted plums. We then have an orange

00:57:22chocolate ganache and freshly made meringue finished with the roasted plum sauce and a little bit of the

00:57:26chocolate orange ice cream. The turkey roulade is definitely layered. It's very hard to do this kind

00:57:32of thing because it's a lot of cooking, but they got it right. And you can see how beautifully moist

00:57:37it is inside. But it definitely needs an acid, and it needs salt and pepper, like basic stuff. It's

00:57:41really an oversight. I do get enough saltiness personally. It's a little messy because of the

00:57:47raw big chunks of plums. Oh gosh. It maybe could have been a little cleaner. I thought the spiced skin

00:57:54was actually really well executed. I'm shocked at how this chef did so many things in the amount of time

00:58:00that they had. I'm with you. I love the stuffing of it. There's layering. I did not like the cream

00:58:06cheese topping. I don't want cream cheese anywhere near this dish. Is the orange chocolate here? Isn't

00:58:12it here? I don't know. There's a little bit of clumsiness here, but overall this dish was delicious.

00:58:16The fact that your turkey was cooked perfectly is pretty freaking impressive, and you did like 25,000 things

00:58:22on that plate. This is probably the best thing I've eaten today. Chocolate and orange with meringue

00:58:28goes delicious. So I really like this dessert a lot. And I think it's very playful and beautiful

00:58:32and simple, but it's very understandable. The fact that they made the ganache, you know,

00:58:36with the chocolate orange and the ice cream and even the spice on the crisp is great. But I just need

00:58:43like something to cut through a bit of that sweetness. I just feel like it was sweet on sweet on sweet.

00:58:48This chef really leaned into the chocolate orange a bit. I like that. This plums really like the sweet

00:58:53flavor here. It's not the star of this dessert, but it's layered. It checks. I'm going to keep

00:58:59eating it because it's very delicious. Come on. Come on. All right, judges. Thank you very much.

00:59:04Let's go to the scoring card. That was amazing. If we go, it's going to be because of my messy,

00:59:09this thing. I'm proud of what we did. And we're drinking something like bubbles after done. No questions

00:59:14about it. I feel like Kevin got the upper hand on the savory, and then I feel like Stephanie might

00:59:20have got the upper hand on dessert. We put up a fight, right? And now at this point,

00:59:24I feel like it's a toss up. Cook their heart out. And that's all you can say. All right, judges,

00:59:29you've been fantastic, entertaining. Thank you very much for an awesome job. Good night.

00:59:35Well done. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Ladies and gentlemen,

00:59:41time to welcome the chefs back. I've got the scores. We've got the totals. Let's bring them back in.

00:59:47Chef Kevin. Chef Dale. Chef Monique. Chef Stephanie.

00:59:56Well, well, well. Dancing Spice Queen and the Goat.

01:00:00Boogie Man and the Dragon Slayer. One team scored a 41 out of 50 in savory,

01:00:06a 36 out of 50 in sweet for a total of 77. The other team scored a 37 out of 50

01:00:16in savory, 37 out of 50 in sweet for a total of 74. We have a three-point difference. The winner

01:00:25in the battle between Team Monique and Stephanie and Team Kevin and Dale is...

01:00:39Kevin and Dale. Kevin and Dale.

01:00:47What?

01:00:48Well done. Congratulations.

01:00:51Congratulations. Well done. Congratulations.

01:00:55Chefs, I will say you're a dynamic duo. It was wonderful to watch you compete. I'm sorry we're

01:01:02saying goodbye. We need to give other kids a chance also.

01:01:05That is the benevolent one that you are sharing during the holidays, giving to others.

01:01:10I know.

01:01:11Thank you so much. Thank you. Good job. Good job.

01:01:13To your CGM. Thank you very much.

01:01:16Okay. Come on.

01:01:21I wish I could go back and, like, do things, yeah, with more finesse.

01:01:24Yeah. Is it done? Where's the wind? Yeah.

01:01:27Aww.

01:01:29The only thing I'm sad about is that we won't be cooking more.

01:01:32I know. And we have so many cute shirts.

01:01:33I know. It's true.

01:01:34I know.

01:01:35Oh, baby. Gentlemen, one thing you do not lack, and that is enthusiasm, creativity,

01:01:41dynamite teamwork. This is the only upset that has happened in the competition the entire time.

01:01:49Yeah!

01:01:50A big win and you're going to the great eight.

01:01:52Yeah, baby! Let's go! Let's go!

01:01:55Chef Kevin, Chef Dale, big win tonight.

01:01:58Yeah! Let's go!

01:02:00That was wild. What an upset.

01:02:06You know, at some point, you got to take a loss, so why not be us?

01:02:09So, clearly, his dragon slain capability is rubbing off on you now.

01:02:12Hey, I'll take it.

01:02:13That's team chemistry right there, trusting each other,

01:02:16and working together as a team, and that's how we got the W.

01:02:18Well, congratulations, guys. Good luck in the next round.

01:02:20Thank you. Good job.

01:02:21Thanks, bud. All right.

01:02:22The final two sweet and savory super duos have taken their place in our quarterfinal brackets.

01:02:28Join us next time when the great eight teams of elite chefs return to the TOC Arena.

01:02:35I'm definitely behind.

01:02:36This is a one-point difference.

01:02:40And continue their Christmas quest to take their division and go on to win the championship.

01:02:46This is what TOC holiday dreams are made of.

01:02:49Let's go!

01:02:50See you next week. Adios!

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