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00:01For your final round, you're going to make a mother sauce.
00:10What the ? I feel right now.
00:13There's going to be a lot of bleeping in this episode.
00:15Oh, yeah.
00:21I'm Padma Lakshmi, and we've scoured the nation
00:24to bring together the most elite chefs
00:26and the most renowned judges
00:29into the ultimate culinary battleground.
00:32This is a test of our 10 Culinary Commandments.
00:36Master them and you win $1 million.
00:39Brought to you by our official cleanup partners,
00:42Dawn Powerwash.
00:46Last time on America's Culinary Cup.
00:49Second commandment is sustainability.
00:53That's like not your average shopping.
00:56Beverly, you were one point away.
00:59Oh, my God.
01:01From perfection.
01:02Keith and Michael, you're going to have to cook for your life.
01:06This cook against Chef Michael, I have to stay true to who I am.
01:10Michael, you've served your final dish.
01:17I'm here today. I'm here.
01:27Oh, my gosh.
01:30Ah!
01:30Oh, my God.
01:33Ketchup!
01:34Oh!
01:36Every time the board goes off, it's definitely anxiety-producing.
01:40But right now, I'm looking for clues as to what the next challenge is.
01:44One person.
01:4571 pounds.
01:4671 pounds.
01:46That is too much ketchup.
01:48That's too much ketchup.
01:48What the hell does that have to do with the competition?
01:57Oh, my goodness.
02:02How's everyone feeling?
02:04I'm excited.
02:05All right.
02:06Let's get down to business.
02:08Only 10 of you remaining.
02:09And each week, we get closer and closer to finding out who will win America's Culinary Cup and $1 million.
02:19Yes.
02:20Provided by our official cleanup partner, Don Power Wash.
02:24Today, you'll be tested on the third culinary commandment, mastering the art of the sauce.
02:33You can't be a great chef without first being a great saucier.
02:37Mastering sauces can take a good dish and make it great.
02:42Chefs, think of today as our tournament of sauces.
02:45And in order to prove your mastery of the sauce commandment, there will be three rounds of cooking.
02:51After round one, the top three chefs will be safe.
02:55And we'll get an advantage in the next commandment.
02:58After round two, three more chefs will be safe.
03:02And then, in round three, a four-way cook-off where the loser gets burnt for good.
03:08The first round of the tournament is to make a dish featuring one of the five mother sauces.
03:16Hollandaise, bechamel, velouté, espagnol, and tomate.
03:21I'm very comfortable with the mother sauces because I am French-trained, and you do need to understand the base
03:27of those sauces.
03:28Now, you don't get to decide which sauce you'll be working with.
03:32The board will randomly assign each chef a sauce.
03:39Chefs, this is not a head-to-head competition.
03:43You have one hour to make your dish.
03:45Please take your stations.
03:47The goal for today is cook only once, get safety, and the advantage for the next commandment.
03:54Melina and Katie, your time starts now.
03:57Let's go, guys.
03:58For each round of the tournament, chefs will be judged on four judging criteria.
04:02Taste, creativity, presentation, and mastery of the commandment for a possible perfect score from each judge of 20 points and
04:12a total perfect score of 60 points.
04:15Learning to make mother sauces is like learning your scales as a musician.
04:19You have to understand the basics before you can move on and really start to create.
04:23You just can't scramble your eggs, you know?
04:25A great hollandaise is really thick. Egg yolks, lemon juice, then add your butter.
04:30The butter is still a little warm.
04:33Hollandaise, it's so temperamental.
04:35You have to really emulsify the butter into the egg yolk.
04:40It tastes good. It just needs a little bit more seasoning.
04:42I stuck with the traditional hollandaise, but I'm adding some shrimp cooking liquid.
04:46I'm making a Spanish dish called gambas al ajero.
04:50It's shrimp with lots of garlic.
04:53I've definitely worked with hollandaise before.
04:55It's not something I work with a lot.
04:56I'm gonna make a hollandaise sauce with, like, all of the parts of the prawns infused in it.
05:03Keith and Carrie, your time starts now.
05:07She's running for two.
05:09Onion, garlic, thyme, boom, boom, boom.
05:11I want to land in the top three. I want to sit out. That's what I want to do.
05:16Bechamel is almost all dairy.
05:17Right. Milk, butter, and flour.
05:20Yeah, milk, butter, flour.
05:22Oh, no. Here we go.
05:23My training originally was, like, in classic French food.
05:26So I know the mother sauces, but I also think French food's boring.
05:30And mother sauces are .
05:33What makes the French decide what the mother sauce should be?
05:36It's very colonialist. Let's leave it at that.
05:39So I'm pushing the limits of what technically a bechamel is.
05:42What you doing over there, Kira?
05:43I'm going off the deep end.
05:45I'm gonna make a gluten-free, dairy-free tom kha bechamel, which is a very classic Thai dish.
05:53Like, I'm not saying it won't be delicious and great, but will it be a bechamel?
05:56It's a risk.
05:57Bechamel has to be a milk-based sauce, and, like, I'm using coconut milk.
06:01I'm fully aware it's a risk, but, like, I should be making food that's true to myself.
06:05So I am gonna do a roasted chicken white gravy and mashed potatoes.
06:11I am going southern on this.
06:12Grandma's dish, what I've eaten growing up.
06:15Just keeping it traditional, best way to go.
06:18Buddha, Diana, your time starts now, guys.
06:23A velouté, you can take it in so many different directions.
06:27It's just a creamy sauce. It's smooth.
06:30How am I gonna do a Mexican take on velouté?
06:33And then I see flowers from the corner of my eye.
06:36I'm like, oh, I'm gonna make a squash blossom.
06:39Atole.
06:39I'm working on masa.
06:41Masa and squash.
06:43These are cornerstones of indigenous cooking.
06:47Just kind of using my imagination.
06:50I'm making a velouté, but I'm doing more of a modern take of a velouté.
06:55I'm gonna do a boudin blanc of scallops with caviar with a fish velouté.
07:02Malina and Katie, you have 30 minutes.
07:05You've gotta start working on your sauce.
07:07Chris and Matt, your time starts now.
07:10Whoo!
07:10Get going, gentlemen.
07:12Very traditional espanol.
07:14It can be a very tricky sauce to make.
07:15Roasting veal bones, making a stock.
07:18It's very easy to, like, have it tip just a little bit too far in terms of the way you
07:23reduce the sauce.
07:24Yeah.
07:24So what we're gonna do is make our espanol sauce.
07:27Keeping the traditional, but we really want to kind of push it with some of these lighter flavors.
07:31So it's gonna be a chicken espanol, a little Asian twist to it.
07:34So it's gonna have a combination of, like, sweet soy, a little bit of hoisin.
07:37So very excited to pull this one together.
07:40So I'm making jerk pork with callaloo, and then a play on sauce espanol.
07:45Last week, I almost got sent home, and it was very disappointing.
07:49So trying to get some redemption here.
07:51This is very similar to what I do when I make oxtail, kind of like a Jamaican gravy.
07:56I'm adding tamari and fresh thyme, scotch bonnets, lime juice.
08:01Let's see if you figure out how to smoke this bad boy.
08:03I'm getting a little nervous that this is taking it way out of bounds from being traditional sauce espanol,
08:09but I'm hoping that it can still pass.
08:11Emily and Beverly, your time starts now.
08:15Oh, a bit of choreography there.
08:20I'm making a sauce tomat with squid ink udon.
08:24Tomat is a tomato-based sauce.
08:26This dish was actually on my menu at Parachute, and it truly was a hit dish.
08:32I'm a chef in Chicago.
08:34I co-chef with my husband, Johnny.
08:36He is Ukrainian-American and such a big part of my culinary journey.
08:41We own two restaurants.
08:43Parachute had Michelin stars as well as James Beard.
08:46And we have Nenelya, the first Ukrainian restaurant to be listed on the Michelin guide in the world.
08:51I'm excited making this dish.
08:54Hoping it's a hit with all the judges.
08:56Going all the way, baby.
08:58That's what I told my kids.
09:00What was that liquid?
09:01Do we know what Emily's making for her sauce tomat dish?
09:04I am making, I guess, my version of shakshuka.
09:09Shakshuka is a tomato-based Mediterranean breakfast dish with baked eggs, and then you bake it in the oven.
09:15Now I'm adding in turmeric coconut cream, a little Japanese curry in there.
09:20This is not like a traditional shakshuka, girl.
09:28Katie's got that hollandaise horn in her butter.
09:31Very late in the game.
09:32She doesn't look as calm and collected as she normally does.
09:38I am freaking out because it looks more like a hot mayonnaise with butter.
09:44Katie and Melina, you have five minutes.
09:48Heard.
09:48I'm just whisking as quickly as I can.
09:51I hope this works.
09:52I need a freaking miracle.
09:5930 seconds, Melina and Katie.
10:02My God, this hollandaise is not cutting it.
10:065, 4, 3, 2, 1.
10:11Time is up.
10:11Woo!
10:13It's not perfection, but I'm hoping they can taste the love and care in the sauce.
10:20Katie.
10:21I made a gamba and sous salsa.
10:24It's a prawn poached and then topped with a hollandaise made from stock from the shells and heads of the
10:31prawn.
10:31I love the way you cook the prawn.
10:33There's a tiny bit of bitterness in the hollandaise.
10:37Maybe the addition of that delicious shellfish broth kind of weighed down your hollandaise.
10:46Melina.
10:47I made a gambas al ajio, which is shrimp and garlic with hollandaise and celery root chips.
10:54And what is the other sauce besides the hollandaise?
10:56I use just the cooking liquid for the shrimp.
10:59I love all the different textures.
11:01The shrimp is cooked beautifully.
11:03I love the cooking liquid addition, but I think what it did is dilute the hollandaise.
11:09Thank you both.
11:10Thank you so much.
11:12Let's score.
11:17Keith and Cara, 90 seconds left for your bechamel dishes.
11:21Here we go.
11:21Put my chicken down, put my sauce over the mashed potatoes.
11:25It's a homey dish.
11:27I know how to risk making a French bechamel with a tom kha broth.
11:31It could go either way.
11:32Keith and Cara, your time is up.
11:34Okay.
11:36Cara, tell us about your dish.
11:38It's basically a tom kha, reimagined.
11:40So the thickness of classic bechamels mixed with all that intensity of aromatics of a traditional Thai coconut sauce.
11:46I think you took the commandment and you certainly ran with it in a direction that is all your own,
11:52which I think is commendable.
11:53It does feel more like I'm having a deconstructed soup than I'm having a bechamel sauce.
11:59That's exactly what I was thinking.
12:02It actually reminds me of a gummy tom kha.
12:07Keith.
12:08I grew up with my grandmother making white gravy.
12:10So I decided just to make a white gravy bechamel over mashed potatoes and roasted chicken.
12:15I think this is a delicious, homey plate of food.
12:18I feel like someone's giving me a hug.
12:20Chicken's cooked beautifully.
12:21It's spiced really well, which I think is nice.
12:23But because you dressed the mashed potatoes, which are delicious, I don't know where the sauce is ending and where
12:31the mashed potato is beginning.
12:33Thank you both.
12:35I lost track of it being a sauce challenge.
12:38I put the sauce on top of the mashed potatoes.
12:40I should have knew better.
12:43Buddha, tell us about your dish.
12:45Uh, so I made a scallop boudin blanc, basically white sausage, served with caviar and a velouté fish fumé.
12:53This is a beautiful plate of food.
12:55There's a ton of technique.
12:56The dish was delicious, but there's some oil separation in your velouté.
13:01Okay.
13:01Deanna, what's the name of your dish?
13:04It is a squash blossom atolada, something I kind of made up.
13:09Atole is a masa that can drink.
13:12And so here I made a squash blossom white sauce thickened with corn, masa.
13:16The idea that rather than make a roux, you added masa to the sauce was, um, super clever.
13:24You sort of took this and put it into a box that reflects your culture.
13:29Your voice comes through.
13:31You gave us an indigenous American velouté.
13:34And you did a beautiful job.
13:36Thank you both.
13:38All right, thank you.
13:38Let's score Buddha and Gianna's dishes.
13:43Chris, what did you make for us?
13:45In front of you, you have jerk pork and callaloo made with collard greens,
13:49and then kind of a Caribbean-style sauce espanol.
13:52That sauce didn't have a clarity of flavor.
13:56I'm reaching for the espanol.
13:58It should read like a very meaty sauce.
14:00And this is sauce challenge, and that needs to be the star.
14:03I just knew my sauce was wrong, but, like, I love sauces so much that I have to come back
14:08from this.
14:09Matt.
14:09What you have in front of you is a whole roasted chicken with a blackberry and a szechuan peppercorn jus.
14:14I really made that the traditional espanol.
14:17You got a lot of good flavor into that sauce.
14:20I just think it was too acidic.
14:22I totally disagree.
14:24I love the acidity.
14:25It was so full of meat flavor.
14:28I think you succeeded in modernizing sauce espanol.
14:32I got nothing.
14:33It was delicious.
14:33Appreciate it.
14:34Thank you both.
14:35Thank you, guys.
14:35Good job, brother.
14:36That sauce is bad.
14:38Yeah, it's great.
14:38Too acidic.
14:39No, it's not.
14:40You're gonna taste that.
14:41Your palate is such a delicate flower.
14:43You're welcome.
14:45You're too acidic, and I like you.
14:48Let's score Chris and Matt.
14:55Emily and Beverly, 30 seconds.
14:58Remember, the top three scores from this round will be safe.
15:01I'm really hoping that this will be the only time I cook.
15:03Two, one.
15:05Time's up.
15:06Woo!
15:09Emily, what did you make for us?
15:10I made shakshuka.
15:12My version.
15:13I put harissa in there.
15:14I put a good Japanese type of curry shakshuka.
15:17Not traditional in a shakshuka at all.
15:19This is maybe one of the most clever versions of a sauce tomat that you could have made for this
15:24challenge.
15:25The egg was a little underdone for me, but that sauce had a ton of umami, but also a ton
15:31of sweetness.
15:32Super tasty, so nice job.
15:35Beverly.
15:35Yes, I made squid ink udon noodle with uni.
15:40I don't know how you made a tomato sauce this black, but the tomato, in spite of the fact you
15:44can't see it, you can certainly taste it.
15:47Calling it sauce tomat I think was clever.
15:50You made a great version of udon.
15:51I love the texture.
15:54And I'm sorry I'm bowing every time I say thank you.
15:57I'm trying not to do that.
15:59There's nothing about this that says sauce tomat until you eat it.
16:03You really, really surprised us all.
16:06Don't bow.
16:06Don't bow.
16:07We're not going to bow.
16:09But we're going to walk backwards.
16:11Beverly.
16:12She's entertaining.
16:13She's dancing.
16:13She's doing all these things, but she's so systematic and so calculated inside.
16:18It's like watching Post Malone in St. Condry.
16:20I'm like, what?
16:28Chefs, the scores are in.
16:31Let's see which three of you are safe and can take the rest of the day off.
16:36In first place.
16:41Rihanna.
16:42Wow.
16:42With 58 points.
16:45In second place.
16:49Beverly.
16:52Good job.
16:56And our final safe chef after round one is.
17:04Matt Peters.
17:06Good job, Matt.
17:08I wasn't the top top, but I'm not cooking yet, so I feel good.
17:12Congratulations, Beverly, Matt, and Deanna.
17:15The three of you are safe, and you'll get an advantage in the next culinary commandment.
17:21And the rest of you will be cooking again.
17:24But let's see how you did first.
17:28You really have to show it.
17:32Oh, man.
17:33Chris, you came in last with 24 points.
17:37For me, it's like you deserve to be cooking again because you served a non-amazing dish in the first
17:41sauce challenge.
17:42Sucks being in seventh place.
17:44I thought it looked beautiful.
17:45I thought it was creative.
17:46So, yeah, I'm kind of shocked.
17:48All right.
17:48So, Beverly, Matt, and Deanna, head over here to the sidelines.
17:53Kick back.
17:54Relax.
17:55All right, chefs.
17:56It's time for round two.
17:58It's your last chance to save yourself before round three, where someone will be going home.
18:04For this round, you'll be creating your own mother sauce, inspired by a comfort food from your childhood.
18:13Your story will become your sauce.
18:17I already know what I'm making.
18:18You talk about a mother sauce.
18:19This is like my grandmother sauce, which on my mother, which then I now teach my own child.
18:23You have one hour to make your dish.
18:25Please head to your stations.
18:27My brain is like tuna sloppy joes, baked ziti.
18:31How do I turn that into a sauce?
18:33Emily?
18:34Yes?
18:35Your time starts now.
18:41I'm always, like, almost at the top.
18:44I mean, the scores are so tight.
18:45Every little error is, like, under a microscope.
18:48I'm not going home.
18:48I'm not going home.
18:49I'm not going home today.
18:51Emily's all hustled.
18:52Totally respect her energy.
18:54Emily, what are you making?
18:55Seafood sauce.
18:56Because I grew up in Vancouver, eating a lot of seafood.
18:59Some of my favorite memories are going out with my parents.
19:01Eating scallops right by the ocean.
19:04We just, like, bring all these crabs and prawns home and sit around the table.
19:08The adults would drink beer.
19:09I had my first sip.
19:11And now my daughter, Lily, she's a perfect age where I can, like, kind of bring her along.
19:16I'm here because I want to show my daughter that I followed my dreams and I want her to follow
19:21her dreams.
19:22Woo!
19:23Let's go, Gabe.
19:25My sauce is a boule base with udon noodles.
19:30I seriously do not know how Beverly made udon noodles in one hour in the first round.
19:35There are some hidden muscles there.
19:38I'm going to use dry noodles because I don't think I can make fresh udon noodles like Bev.
19:43For this challenge, my inspired sauce will be from a gumbo that my grandmother used to make.
19:48Just don't put it over mashed potatoes.
19:52Nice shots.
19:54Cooking again is a redemption, right?
19:55I'm upset with myself about the first round and I want to show the judges that my sauce works as
20:00good as I think it is.
20:02Cream.
20:02I'm not going down.
20:03Not on sauces.
20:05Honestly, my comfort food growing up was going to Vietnamese place called Little Viet Garden that I was in love
20:09with.
20:09So my sauce is going to be a Vietnamese-flavored beur blanc.
20:13I'm going to be doing seared black cod.
20:15Going to those restaurants was really fun because it was the first time I got to try all these really
20:19exciting flavors.
20:20I think that's what got me excited about cooking in the first place.
20:23This challenge definitely makes me think of my mother.
20:25Unfortunately, she passed away in January.
20:28So I miss every day.
20:30She's the reason I'm here.
20:32So I hope I do her proud today.
20:34Kara is just like, yeah, one trip.
20:37I'm trying to not have to go back and forth.
20:39I can't run with the baby anyway.
20:41I'm making hong shiao chicken.
20:43The sauce is soy sauce based.
20:46It's like every family in China has a version of it.
20:49I cook it for my daughter.
20:50My mom tells me I bastardize it, so we'll see how it goes.
20:54Chinese ways you do this.
20:57It's going to be slower.
20:58It's going to be slower.
20:59Okay, fine.
21:00When I lived in Beijing, I started an underground restaurant with my mom.
21:03We did it for almost a year, and she's like, I can't do this anymore.
21:06You're crazy.
21:06Fast forward five years, and we decided to open another restaurant together.
21:10You said, no, no, no, no, don't do it.
21:13Oh, my God.
21:15Working with my mother is like a sitcom.
21:16There's like two bears coming to the party with a poking stick, and we both just poke.
21:21My roast pork buns are better than your roast pork buns.
21:23That's debatable.
21:24We choose my mom, and we fight it out, and then it's fine.
21:26More.
21:27I'm good.
21:27Yeah.
21:29Family is the thing that matters most to me.
21:30I mean, a million dollars would relieve a huge amount of stress about sending my children to college.
21:35What this?
21:37What this?
21:37I know, it's so exciting.
21:39It's a microphone.
21:43The sauce I'm making is grung, which is the base of almost all Cambodian cooking.
21:48This is something that you make with your family.
21:50I've never made this before.
21:51My mom always makes it for me, and I refuse to because I'll never make it like my mom.
21:55Aw.
21:56What are you making?
21:57I'm making a laksa sauce.
21:58Southeast Asian curry.
22:00It's usually a soup, but I'm turning this into a sauce.
22:02I hate being in seventh place.
22:04So for this challenge, I'm going to approach it through beauty, execution, technique, then
22:10hopefully resonate with the judges.
22:12Mother sauce.
22:13Yeah, mama.
22:14Let's go, Kate.
22:15Appreciate the confidence.
22:17I need it.
22:18I need it.
22:18My head is like going through all these things.
22:20I remember my dad had a few dishes that were like always his.
22:25And one of those was linguine with clam sauce.
22:28So I'm making a halibut in clam sauce instead of linguine in clam sauce.
22:33I really, really don't want to cook again today.
22:37That would be my dream.
22:40Emily, you have five minutes left.
22:43I check on the noodles and they're just a little bit mushy.
22:47I wonder what she's doing.
22:49I want it a little bit under more than what it is.
22:53I think she's unsure about the noodles and that's how she started a second pot.
22:57When Beverly made her noodles, Wiley said that he loved the chewiness of what udon noodles are supposed to be.
23:02I better have like perfectly cooked noodles if I'm not going to make my own noodles.
23:07Emily's redoing her noodles.
23:08She's replating.
23:09Ay-yi-yi.
23:19One minute, Emily.
23:21I look at the noodles.
23:22Some are fully cooked and some are not.
23:2430 seconds, Emily.
23:26It doesn't matter though.
23:26I have to get this on a plate because it's, you know, I can't serve nothing.
23:30Five, four, three, two, times up.
23:35My gosh.
23:36That was down to the wire.
23:38Tell us about the childhood comfort food that inspired your dish.
23:42This is my mom's seafood noodles.
23:44She always made a seafood broth when we grew up, so this is kind of my reinterpretation of it.
23:49Your sauce was so full of flavor, so refined.
23:52I love how luscious it was, how the sauce really enrobed your udon.
23:57It's really yummy.
23:58I did see that you cooked your udon twice.
24:01Yeah.
24:01This one's just a tiny bit under.
24:04It's a little crunchy in the middle.
24:08I made scallop over rice with gumbo sauce.
24:11So you have the cajun spice, oregano, and thon.
24:14My granny, every year we had gumbo at the end of the year.
24:18Your scallop is cooked perfectly.
24:19It's a great complement to the sauce.
24:21If you didn't tell me it was a gumbo, I wouldn't have pegged this as a gumbo.
24:24You could have reduced it a little bit more just to get more concentrated.
24:29Actual gumbo flavor.
24:30But, you know, as far as the sauce, it's on point.
24:35Here's the piece de resistance.
24:36So this is the Vietnamese flavored beur blanc sauce.
24:39I do feel like I have a different energy cooking this round, because I want retention really bad.
24:44I really hope the judges like it, because I gave them my all, you know?
24:47Time's up, Chris.
24:48Bring your plates on up.
24:50We cooked a lot at home, but my mother and father used to take us out a lot.
24:53Specifically, we'd go to Vietnamese restaurants a lot, which are my absolute favorites.
24:56You have seared black cod, Vietnamese beur blanc, and then grilled eggplant.
25:00This is so beautiful, Chris.
25:02I love the vegetable work.
25:04But the star of this plate is this sauce.
25:07The eggplant is delicious, but the sauce is the canvas here, and everything else just adds a little something to
25:12it.
25:13I think you're back, baby.
25:15Great comeback.
25:16Thank you, guys.
25:16This is the kind of food I cook.
25:18It's more refined, dialed in.
25:19I feel like I redeemed myself with this dish.
25:22Cara, you have one minute remaining.
25:28How do you feel?
25:29I think I did well.
25:31Yeah, yeah.
25:31I mean, I needed that.
25:32I mean, how do you think you did it?
25:33I think they enjoyed the sauce, but I think I'm making a lot of execution errors here.
25:38So, I don't know.
25:39I mean, I don't know.
25:40I love this spray bottle.
25:42It's a little bit life-changing, isn't it?
25:44Dawn Power Wash is a must-have in my household.
25:47100%.
25:49Time's up, Cara.
25:52Cara, what was the childhood comfort food that inspired your sauce?
25:56It's called heng chow ji.
25:57In Chinese, it just means soy braise.
25:59My grandma made it.
26:00My mom made it.
26:01It's a staple, once-a-week dish in my family.
26:04This sauce packs a ton of flavor.
26:06And all the vegetables sort of feel deep and rich and long-simmered.
26:09I can taste the slivers of ginger put in the rice.
26:12I can taste the garlic.
26:14It's so comforting.
26:15It's just a warm hug in a bowl.
26:19Great job.
26:21I made salomachukrung, which is a Cambodian soup that I made into a sauce with the lemongrass,
26:28shallots, turmeric.
26:30Then I added hanger steak.
26:31This is the only thing I ever asked my mom to make.
26:34It's my sister and I's favorite Cambodian dish.
26:36I think you could have given me more sauce.
26:39Like, I wanted more of it to enjoy it.
26:41Yeah, I think for me, the steak was a little hard to chew.
26:45Honestly, it could have well been a vegetarian dish.
26:47Just make it about the sauce and the vegetables.
26:49To me, those were the highlights of this dish anyway.
26:51Thank you, Melina.
26:54For my dish, I made lobster with laksa sauce.
26:57My mother, this is what she cooks.
26:59It's inspired by the mother sauce, right?
27:01I like the silkiness that the carrot puree offered to the dish, but I didn't get a lot
27:05of shellfish out of the sauce itself.
27:07I would have liked, actually, just a touch more of coconut milk.
27:11Okay.
27:12You have one minute, Katie.
27:14Hey, you guys, how's it feel to be done and on the other side?
27:18If the judges don't think I've mastered the commandment by now, then I'll have to cook
27:22again.
27:23I really don't want to cook a third time.
27:26Time's up.
27:27Hands up.
27:29I made halibut with clam sauce.
27:31My dad used to make linguine with clam sauce all the time, so this is inspired by my dad.
27:39This fish is cooked really well.
27:40It was a bit of a light sauce, but nonetheless, a delicious one.
27:44But it's eating, for me, borderline salty.
27:47I liked how there were saltier elements.
27:50I thought it was delicious.
27:53All right, chefs, please gather around.
27:56The three chefs who scored the highest will be safe and join the others.
28:00If you're not in the top three, you'll have one last chance to save yourself.
28:05Let's see the top two scores.
28:12Chris and Cara, you are safe.
28:15Not only do I not have to cook again, but I placed first among the remaining seven, and
28:19that feels absolutely incredible.
28:21It was lovely to taste and experience a little bit of your childhood.
28:24I'm relieved, but I'll never hear the end of it from my mother, because I put garlic in,
28:28and she still will never let that go.
28:31Now let's see who's at the bottom.
28:39Damn.
28:40Damn.
28:41Buddha, 48.
28:43Malina, 45.
28:44And Keith, 41.
28:46The three of you are going to have to cook again in the final round.
28:49I'm not excited about cooking again for the third time.
28:52I don't want to be going home, nor will I be going home today.
28:56Emily and Katie, that leaves you two.
28:58This was incredibly close.
29:01In fact, it was a tie.
29:04Can we both go there then?
29:07So we had to use your mastery of the commandment scores to determine which one of you is in third
29:13place and safe,
29:14and which one came in fourth and will have to cook again.
29:17Let's see the scores.
29:27Emily and Katie, one of you is going to be safe, and one of you will cook again.
29:33Let's see the scores.
29:40Katie, you had the higher mastery of commandment score and came in third and are safe.
29:47I was so close.
29:48So it really, really sucks.
29:50I'm always just so close to the top.
29:53Emily, I'm afraid you're going to have to cook again.
29:56It was that frickin' udon.
29:58Can I say frickin'?
29:58Yeah, you can.
29:59Yeah, it was that frickin' udon.
30:00All right, Chris, Kara, and Katie, you can join your colleagues over there in the safe circle.
30:07I am in the winner's circle, and it feels great.
30:10I love sitting on a stool watching the others cook.
30:13Your mom's not gonna do that at you.
30:15Chats, you've made dishes based on the mother sauces in round one
30:19and created your own mother sauces in round two.
30:23Now, for your final round, you're going to make a mother sauce.
30:31Wait, she gets to say that?
30:33What?
30:34What the ?
30:36That's right.
30:37I said it, and I know they blurred me, but I don't care.
30:40What?
30:41You have to create a brand new sauce with ingredients chosen by your six safe colleagues.
30:50The six of you will each pick one ingredient.
30:54But keep in mind that these four chefs will have to use all six ingredients you choose in their one
31:01sauce.
31:01Damn.
31:03I feel right now.
31:07My safe chefs, please go into the pantry, pick your ingredients, and put them in the box we left for
31:13you.
31:13Remember, there is one million dollars at stake.
31:17Be nice.
31:19All right, what are we thinking?
31:21Let's pick out one funky ingredient.
31:24I think we should not totally screw them over.
31:27What about Concord grapes?
31:28I like the grapes, actually.
31:30And I love preserved lemons.
31:32All right, so we got two locked in.
31:33This advantage is a gift.
31:35We can go as crazy as we want.
31:37So we need to at least have something really just off the wall.
31:42What if we added something like the razor clams?
31:45Or...
31:45Vanilla?
31:45Yes, I love that.
31:47Vanilla?
31:48Are you serious?
31:49Honestly, I love chile pasilla.
31:51Chili's is so easy.
31:52Chili's you throw into anything, and it's going to taste good.
31:55What about coriander?
31:56You guys okay with that?
31:57I just go, we'll throw coriander in there, like...
32:00I actually think this is going to be delicious.
32:03It's like, where was the generosity at the beginning?
32:05Day one, and he just, like, kicked me under the bus against Phil.
32:08Listen, there's a million dollars on the line.
32:10You've got to be more cutthroat.
32:13Oh, come on.
32:18White miso, coriander seed, preserved lemons.
32:22Okay.
32:23Grapes, vanilla bean, and pasilla chilis.
32:27Okay, I was expecting way worse.
32:29It's an interesting array of ingredients.
32:31I thought they were going to come out with blue cheese, anchovies.
32:35A severed hand.
32:36I think you guys were awfully kind.
32:38I think we wanted to showcase ingredients that would let everybody kind of shine in different ways.
32:43Whatever.
32:45All right, chefs.
32:46Please head to your stations.
32:49Your time starts now.
32:52Go kids!
32:55Last week, I had to cook for my life in a sustainability commandment.
33:00Now, I have to do a cook-off again.
33:03This is my last shot.
33:04But I know just what I'm making.
33:06Right off the bat.
33:07That's a lot of chilies.
33:09Keith, I think I know what you're making.
33:11What do they think I'm making?
33:13Mole.
33:14I have a small amount of time to get this going.
33:17I hope he's not resting that thing all up.
33:19In an hour?
33:20He's got no time to make chicken in mole.
33:23Emily, welcome to the party.
33:25Let the evidence show I am toasting some coriander.
33:28Let the evidence show I'm putting grapes in the blender.
33:31Miso.
33:32Vanilla bean pie.
33:33Preserve lemon.
33:35I wouldn't be here if I just cooked those noodles perfectly.
33:38And now I have to cook again.
33:39Emily, what are you making over there?
33:41I'm not telling.
33:44Some grapes.
33:46Delicious.
33:47I need some sweetness in my dish.
33:48Thanks for all the ingredients, mother truckers.
33:53Emily, you so saucy.
33:55Don't let that sweet demeanor fool you.
33:58Starting to smell good in here.
34:06Vinegar.
34:06Melina, what are you making?
34:07I'm making pork secreto with a date and pasilla sauce.
34:12I love secreto.
34:13Me too.
34:14I'm gonna salt it on both sides.
34:16Now I'm adding in my roasted Concord grapes.
34:19The judges want maximum use of the commandment.
34:22I'm trying to achieve that.
34:23So I'm gonna do the best sauce that I can.
34:25Cutting the preserved lemon.
34:26I'm just gonna use the zest.
34:28Hopefully it works this time,
34:29because getting eliminated from competition
34:31is not my plan right now.
34:32So I'm making a black garlic caramel
34:35Concord grape sauce.
34:37Are you nervous at all?
34:38Of course I'm f***ing nervous.
34:40There's gonna be a lot of bleeping in this episode.
34:42Oh, yeah, totally.
34:43Keith, you have ten minutes left.
34:45Ten minutes.
34:46Wait, he took the chicken out.
34:48He did?
34:48The chicken I'm actually curious on, like, is it done?
34:51I'm worried about that chicken.
34:52I'm worried about that chicken.
34:54Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
35:03That chicken's gonna make me trouble.
35:05I pulled my chicken out.
35:07Cut it off the bone.
35:09The chicken's wrong.
35:10The chicken's wrong.
35:12The chicken's wrong.
35:14But it's fine.
35:14I got it.
35:15I know what I'm doing.
35:16Spike Lee's been a little under.
35:18I do see the chicken, but I don't see any panic
35:20written on Keith's face.
35:21He must know what he's doing.
35:23I think he's all right with it.
35:24I roasted the chicken to where I wanted it
35:26because I wanted to finish it in a pan with butter.
35:28So I'm not freaking out.
35:29This is all planned.
35:31Slow and steady for Keith.
35:33Always.
35:35Because all of these ingredients don't normally go together,
35:39I have to have a vehicle in the sauce.
35:43And the vehicle that makes the most sense to me
35:45is the chicken demi because it's nice and thick.
35:48It has all of the ingredients in it.
35:5030 seconds, Keith.
35:5230 seconds.
35:54I made mole in one hour.
35:56Like, that's hard.
35:59Time's up, Keith.
36:02Tell us what you made.
36:04We made a chicken and mole.
36:06And you used all six of the ingredients?
36:09All six.
36:09All six.
36:10Everything's in the mole.
36:13This is delicious and pungent
36:16and really had a lot of heat.
36:18When I heard you were doing mole...
36:20It was scary, right?
36:20I was so worried for you.
36:22The amount of complexity and nuance you created in this sauce
36:26is truly impressive.
36:27If you told me it took you a week to make it,
36:29I'd believe it.
36:30Your chicken was properly cooked.
36:31It was moist.
36:33That's all it needed to be.
36:34Thank you so much.
36:35Good job.
36:38There's not a chance in hell I'm going home.
36:41Let's be clear.
36:42I'm not going home for this mole.
36:44Tell us about your sauce.
36:47I made cauliflower naan bun,
36:48which is like tempura cauliflower.
36:50And the sauce is kind of like in between
36:53the sweet and sour and like a gastric.
36:55And on the bottom, it's a lime curry crema.
36:57This one really does match my suit.
36:59It does.
36:59You're well suited.
37:01Another dad joke.
37:01You're welcome.
37:03So the sauce is getting all of its color
37:05from the juice of the grape?
37:06Yeah.
37:07Oh, there's also dark brown sugar.
37:08I think the sauce comes off a little bit sweet.
37:11You could have omitted the brown sugar,
37:13but I'm so glad you had that crema
37:16because that bridged the gap between the gastric
37:19and the cauliflower.
37:21Thank you, Emily.
37:23Walking away, I'm not sure how I feel about it.
37:26Let's score, Emily.
37:28Sauce out.
37:29One minute, Melina.
37:31Heard.
37:31That chard looks good, Melina.
37:33What are you doing with that?
37:34It'll be a garnish with the parsnips.
37:36Mmm.
37:37This commandment has been incredibly physically
37:39and mentally demanding.
37:41It's incredibly difficult to cook three times in one day,
37:44and this is my last chance to save myself.
37:47I hope it pays off.
37:49Time's up, Melina.
37:53Melina, what did you make for us?
37:54I made Iberco Secreto with parsnips and Swiss chard,
37:58and then I made chicken demi.
38:00All the ingredients are in there.
38:02Your sauce, it's a bit thick and very spicy.
38:05It's like mostly I'm getting the chilies.
38:07I'm not picking up a ton of the other flavors.
38:10The sauce for me is a little bit out of balance,
38:12and I also think that your pork is slightly dry.
38:16Thank you, Melina.
38:2030 seconds, Buddha.
38:2130 seconds.
38:22Feel good.
38:23See how it goes.
38:24I don't know how it's going to keep me in here,
38:26but I hope so.
38:28We'll find out.
38:29Time's up.
38:31Last plate of the night.
38:32I gave everything that I could.
38:34As this is my last dish,
38:35I'm definitely going to be going out with a bag.
38:37Buddha, what did you make for us?
38:39I made a wagyu strip loin,
38:41and then an eggplant shrimp tempura
38:43with a Chinese black vinegar caramel sauce.
38:44I feel like for you, this dish is a complete departure.
38:49I think this is the best plate of food
38:50that you've made for us yet in this competition.
38:53Fantastic.
38:54The beef is cooked well.
38:55It's well seasoned.
38:55The sauce is delicious.
38:57Really a fantastic plate of food.
38:58It was tangy and sweet,
39:01and that is a mother sauce.
39:03All right, Chefs.
39:05Gather around.
39:08Buddha, Molina, Keith, and Emily.
39:13Unfortunately for one of you,
39:15the journey will come to an end.
39:19The two chefs who will move on are...
39:25This damn board.
39:29Keith and Buddha, congratulations.
39:31Well done.
39:32You can breathe a sigh of relief.
39:34And Buddha, you were one point away from a perfect score.
39:38Someone want to talk about where that one point went?
39:40Oh.
39:42What?
39:43To feel like it was one of the best dishes of the day,
39:46with probably the most challenging of challenges,
39:48I feel quite proud of myself.
39:50Emily and Molina, please step forward.
39:55One of you will be continuing on,
39:57and the other will be eliminated.
39:59The chef going home today is...
40:13Molina, I'm sorry.
40:15You've served your final dish.
40:17Thank you so much.
40:18Thank you, Chef.
40:20I love you.
40:21Love you.
40:21Love you, buddy.
40:23Okay.
40:24There are a lot of talented people in this competition,
40:26so everything has to be perfect.
40:29And the small errors are what did me in.
40:32My journey ends here,
40:34but I'm very grateful and made friends for life.
40:45Great job, guys.
40:47I'm here for another day.
40:48Yay!
40:49Putting the sauces in bed,
40:50throwing them in the garbage like no more.
40:52Everything is dry from now on.
40:53I'm really proud of you guys.
40:55You survived the sauce commandment.
40:57Matt, Beverly, and Deanna,
40:59because you three scored highest,
41:01you will have an advantage going into the next commandment.
41:04I'm feeling really good about having an advantage going into next week.
41:07It gives me control in a situation where we don't have very much control.
41:12I'll let you guys enjoy your safety for now.
41:16Yay!
41:17Get some rest.
41:21Aren't you going to ask me how my date went?
41:24How did your date go?
41:25Nah.
41:25Yes.
41:26With Wiley and I had a great date.
41:28All right, let's do top nine.
41:30Top nine.
41:30I want to know what was the real ingredients y'all were going to give us.
41:33Razor clams.
41:34Razor clam.
41:35Chocolate.
41:35Chocolate.
41:36I was going to do cactus.
41:38Blue.
41:38Cactus.
41:40What?
41:41Yeah, cactus.
41:42Can we put a hand in there?
41:45One, two, three.
41:46Top nine!
41:51Next time on America's Culinary Cup.
41:53Today's culinary commandment.
41:56Mastery of vegetables.
41:57Ooh.
41:58You'll have to create a dessert.
42:00No.
42:01You didn't have a broccoli ice cream recipe?
42:03Yeah.
42:04Diana, do you need help with anything?
42:05I'm, like, not in a good place.
42:07That's too much.
42:07Way too much.
42:08Way too much.
42:09We have to go from enemies to teammates very quickly.
42:12Eggplant's going to be my show.
42:14You know how much I love eggplant.
42:20Delicious.
42:37Wh� 삶.
42:38C уровень d Croc.
42:39Pretty much.
42:40Too much.
42:42Maybe two miles.
42:43Eating.��게
42:43Do you quit and spend a brief sich aroundiking the groceryвistle mog�로? How
42:44Do you eat? Just
42:45teachers are asking me right away. How
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