- 13 hours ago
Chopped S64E02
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00:00Lifted up over his head, full reveal.
00:03So whose dish is on the chopping block?
00:08If Ted Allen loved my food, I would burst into tears.
00:11I am taking over the baskets.
00:13Oh, God.
00:15And here's the big one.
00:16I finally get to taste the food.
00:19Dreams do come true.
00:22I don't want Ted to eat raw dough.
00:25Ted got me in here sweating.
00:27I'm cutting it close.
00:28Oh, my God.
00:29And sometimes you need to pivot.
00:32Ted, why would you do this to us?
00:34Oh, come on.
00:35What could possibly go wrong?
00:41When I fell in love with food, I was definitely determined to be the best.
00:45I rarely play it safe.
00:47All gas, no brakes.
00:50I'm the executive chef of Gibson's Italia in Chicago, Illinois.
00:54This is not my first rodeo.
00:55I would call my style of cooking punk rock.
00:59Loud.
00:59Woo!
01:01Aggressively seasoned, high acids, big, bold flavors.
01:04I like Ted Allen because both him and I have an absolute hatred for pretentious, uppity food.
01:10I'm just an absolute monster at this because I'm willing to risk it all to achieve my goals, man.
01:15Like Michael Jordan said, I only brought one soup.
01:21There is no chop without Ted Allen.
01:23And for me to be a part of the first time he tries any of the chef's food, I am
01:27jacked out of my mind.
01:29I'm really excited.
01:30I'm a private chef in Brooklyn, New York.
01:33I've always loved food.
01:34My household was lively with Haitian cooks.
01:38My style of cooking is Caribbean Afro with a little bit of an Asian flair.
01:42It's going to be delicious.
01:43I can still smell my grandfather making delicious soup on a Sunday morning,
01:48on my mom making codfish and yucca.
01:52I'm going to come into the competition like you've never seen before.
01:57You're going to see a lot of fire and you're going to see a lot of delicious, sexy food on
02:03that plate.
02:10Ted, you better be ready for these flavors.
02:12I'm a chef and restaurateur from Milford, New Hampshire.
02:14My style of cooking is contemporary American inspired by food that I grew up eating.
02:18I like incorporating my Haitian influence because it helps tell my story.
02:21And my mom's cooking always inspired me.
02:23I would always be watching her in the kitchen, helping out wherever I could.
02:26It tastes just like mom would make it.
02:27I competed at the highest level.
02:29I'm a 2022 nominated emerging chef for James Beard Foundation.
02:332024 nominated chef for Outstanding Restaurateur.
02:36I've been featured in Forbes, Cuisine Noir, Boston Globe.
02:40I have the drive, the motivation, the passion, the skills, the competitive edge.
02:43I'm going to open that basket and I'm going to win it all.
02:50I'm not feisty, but I am zesty.
02:55Global and whimsical is my style.
02:57I pack a punch and I will not stop.
03:01I will come for you.
03:03I'm chef de cuisine and pastry chef at Centralina in Washington, DC.
03:08So I heard that Ted loves Crab Rangoon pasta.
03:13And Ted's going to like my food.
03:15And everybody's going to like jump around and say, Mary's.
03:19I grew up in the Philippines and living in America showed me what I'm capable of,
03:26what I can accomplish.
03:29I'm so excited to meet Ted.
03:31Boom.
03:36Palms are sweaty.
03:40Hi.
03:41Hey, how are you?
03:42What's happening, Ted?
03:43What's going on, guys?
03:44Judges?
03:44Hey, thanks for being here.
03:46Too short for this basket.
03:48Hello, everybody.
03:49Hey, Ted.
03:50Chefs, you are in for a Chopped battle like never before.
03:55After all these years of hosting Chopped, I finally get to join the judges panel and help
04:01choose a champion.
04:03And here's the big one.
04:04I am taking over the basket.
04:07Let's go.
04:09My personally curated appetizer basket is in front of you.
04:14Not only is Ted judging, but he's also picked all the basket ingredients.
04:19I would say that ups the stakes immensely.
04:21Go ahead and see what I chose for your appetizers.
04:28Oh, all right.
04:30Cheeseburger in a tube.
04:31Oh, yum.
04:32Ted's favorite.
04:34Ha, a personal favorite.
04:36Cheeseburger in a tube.
04:38It's a wrench.
04:39There's also green beans.
04:41Ham.
04:42Spiral ham.
04:44And sour cream and onion chips.
04:47I actually like the cheeseburger in a tube.
04:50There's a 20-minute time limit to make sense of it all.
04:54Clock starts now.
04:55Go, go, go, go.
04:56Go, go, go.
04:57Let's go.
04:59Go, go, go, go.
05:01Make it for Ted.
05:05Your first basket is not what I thought it was going to be.
05:08You weren't expecting cheeseburger in a tube?
05:10I wasn't.
05:10I mean, I know you are an astronaut fan.
05:13It actually tastes exactly like a cheeseburger.
05:15And that is something that the astronauts take with them for a taste of home.
05:18It has that flavor of fully formed cheeseburger, mean aioli.
05:21I would take that hamburger paste and I would mix it with the anchovies.
05:25And I'd make like a little pintero vinaigrette.
05:27Interesting.
05:28And I'd toss warm green beans in that.
05:30And then a beautiful salad.
05:31The only redeeming quality of this cheeseburger in a tube is actually like its texture.
05:36Like it's kind of smooth and malleable.
05:38I'm thinking I could make some sort of vinaigrette.
05:40For my appetizer, I am making a warm green bean salad with a sour cream and onion cashew crunch
05:47and a cheeseburger vinaigrette.
05:50It's kind of good.
05:52I chose spiral ham because it's so useful.
05:55You can have a ham steak for dinner.
05:57You can have obviously ham with your eggs in the morning.
05:59You can have a ham sandwich for lunch.
06:01Couldn't you just do almost like a ham mousse and have a beautiful like crostini.
06:06Good idea.
06:06With a spread of the cheeseburger and a tube.
06:08Excellent idea.
06:09A little green bean on top.
06:10Nice little hors d'oeuvre.
06:12Just like make a clean, simple bite.
06:14I don't think anyone's ever made like an omelet.
06:20I have always had a passion for cooking ever since I was a child.
06:25I grew up around my mom and grandfather always cooking in the kitchen and being around food.
06:29I was in retail for over 10 years.
06:31But when I had a health scare, I had to have five blood transfusions.
06:34And that really changed the way I viewed life and what I wanted to do in it.
06:38And I was like, you know what?
06:39It's now or never.
06:40Chef Rashida, what are you whipping up?
06:42I am whipping up kind of like a breakfast infused dish.
06:47A little sweet potato, a little ham.
06:49Okay, well remember to focus on the basket ingredients, folks.
06:52We were talking about bringing egg to this basket because there's so much salt in that really
06:57salty cured ham, those salty chips.
06:59All right, Chef Chris, what are you making for us?
07:01I'm going simple.
07:02I'm just doing a green bean casserole kind of sort of situation here.
07:06Oh, that's brilliant.
07:07That really is a great plan.
07:09Very much.
07:10We all have memories of that kind of food.
07:13I start by making my base layer, some mushrooms, some peppers, some onions.
07:16Next I dice up this spiral ham and then a cheeseburger in a tube.
07:21Also incorporates the cheeseburger in a tube in that pan.
07:24It has a similar texture to like wet bread.
07:26So I feel as though it could act as a binder.
07:29Ted is such an idol of mine because he talks about food with a lot of conviction.
07:35He's very serious, but it's also fun.
07:38Chef Mary has a pastry background, so right away she's going to her comfort zone.
07:44Uh, Chef Mary, what's your plan?
07:46I am using the pizza dough to almost do like some sort of calzone, ricotta sour cream to match the
07:54potato chips, chives inside to marry all the flavors, green bean sauce on the bottom.
08:00It sounds delicious.
08:01Keep your focus on the basket.
08:03Burger, check.
08:04Ham, check.
08:05Okay.
08:06Focus, focus, focus.
08:07Chef, just under 10 minutes on the clock.
08:09Mary, you have time.
08:10Mary, you have time.
08:11Don't freak out.
08:15Green beans and ham.
08:17Definitely some of the greatest hits from my mom's kitchen.
08:20My parents are both from the south, and so naturally mom brought those traditions with her.
08:24My mom is southern as well, and it was always pork product.
08:27There was always green beans, but she would boil the green beans until they were nearly disintegrated.
08:33Green beans.
08:34Thank you, Ted.
08:35One of my favorite ingredients.
08:36I don't blanch them for very long.
08:38Throw them in the ice bath to shock them.
08:39I want to make sure these green beans are crisp, crunchy.
08:42So in a pan, I have shallots and cashews because I want the oil from the cashews to start coating
08:47the green beans.
08:51Who doesn't love a green bean casserole? I know it's always at our family table.
08:54My wife and daughter are definitely my motivation.
08:56I want to show my family by competing that I still got it.
09:00And all these years of determination, hard work, all the sacrifices were worth it.
09:06Just relax.
09:08We're still messing around with dough.
09:10We're still messing around with dough.
09:12It's just not where you need to be right now.
09:14No, it's just spending all this time on a non-basket ingredient.
09:17Correct. And the pizza dough, it's overworked at this point.
09:21All right, Chef's getting close.
09:22Sometimes you need to pivot.
09:26Stop looking the clock.
09:28Time is winding down and my pizza dough is not cooperating.
09:33It's fighting me back.
09:34But I just, I just, I just got to go.
09:37I just have to roll with it.
09:38All right, it's a disaster.
09:44Sometimes you need to pivot.
09:46Ted wants to eat.
09:48Time is winding down.
09:49And as I'm working with the pizza dough, this is not cooperating with too much filling.
09:54And then I'm trying to pinch it.
09:56It's like, keep like spreading out.
09:59I'm going to roll it.
10:01There's a few things going on on Mary's station that I'm just very quizzical about.
10:05Like the amount of basket ingredients going into a calzone.
10:08Everything.
10:09It's all in there.
10:10Behind, behind, behind, behind, behind.
10:11Mary's made a croquetta and she's frying the whole thing.
10:15At this point, I just pivot a little bit and get them to the fryer.
10:19I don't want the judges, especially Ted, to eat raw dough.
10:24It's not so graceful.
10:26I'm adding sour cream to give the green beans some body so it can stand up to the main part
10:32of my dish.
10:33Okay, chefs, we're coming up on four minutes on the clock.
10:36We've got plenty of time.
10:37Oh my God.
10:38No pressure, first time Ted's ever eating on Chopped.
10:42That's true.
10:43It's coming down to the wire and I'm going to saute my green beans with the cheeseburger in a tube
10:48and incorporate that mustard flavor that was coming through throughout the hash.
10:54Ted, how do we make your sour cream and onion chips shine and not hide in this basket?
10:58What I would do is open the bag and eat the entire bag in one sitting.
11:02I take the sour cream and onion chips, crunch them in my hand, toss them in the bowl with my
11:06green bean salad.
11:07My plan for the sour cream and onion chips, incorporate those as the textural element on the green bean casserole.
11:14How you doing, chefs?
11:15How you feeling, dude?
11:16We're in there. We're in there. We're getting it.
11:17The clock's real.
11:1930 seconds, chefs.
11:20I know what you're doing.
11:21Yeah, I know what you're doing.
11:23Finish it up. Get it on the plate.
11:27Now we just dress it up.
11:30Okay, chefs, do my ingredients proud.
11:3310, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
11:44Time's up.
11:51Ted's taking over this basket. I thought he'd be throwing us a bone here.
11:54Uh, he was not. That was a crazy round.
11:5820 minutes goes by like it's two minutes, so it was really pressure-filled, but I feel excited.
12:03I'm a huge fan of Ted's, so I'm really anxious to see what he has to say as well.
12:16Chefs, you've arrived at the chopping block.
12:20What ingredients did I pick for you?
12:23Cheeseburger in a tube, green beans, spiral ham, and sour cream and onion chips.
12:30We're starting with you, Chef Rashida. What did you make?
12:32Today, judges, I've made for you a green bean and ham hash with a fried egg and a sour cream
12:38and
12:38shallot crumble on top.
12:42You know, Rashida, when you were just getting the dish started, the first thing I heard you say was
12:46that you were going to work with sweet potato, and I thought, okay, but remember to focus on the basket.
12:50Yes.
12:51Well, your use of sweet potato in this hash is really important here.
12:55I was eating this thinking, what's that little sweet note?
12:57But all of the basket ingredients are right here, and your knife work here is beautiful.
13:01I love listening to Ted talk about the dishes. It's so fun.
13:06Chef Rashida, I think it's really easy to kind of overlook the sour cream and onion chips crumble
13:10on the top of the egg. It's permeating the egg yolk, which is really interesting.
13:15So the egg yolk has this onion-y vibe to it, which is really cool in the context of this
13:20hash.
13:20You know, the cheeseburger in the tube just gives salinity, a little bit of umami,
13:26a little richness, but it needs a little relief.
13:29Maybe perhaps if you made something like a grummelata, parsley, a little garlic,
13:33and some lemon zest or something, it's delicious.
13:37Thank you so much.
13:38Next up, Chef Chris.
13:40Judges, what I've made for you is a green meat casserole. So I started with the base layer of
13:44onions, peppers, and jalapeno, and mushroom, and then built the gravy from there. I added the
13:50cheeseburger in a tube as a binding agent, and then on top, fried some shallots, crushed that with the
13:54sour cream and onion chips as the crispy element.
13:57Chef, I really love the cook that you have on the green beans. Is there mustard in the sauce?
14:01There's no mustard in the sauce. I think you might be picking that up from the cheeseburger in the tube.
14:04Did you use a lot of the cheeseburger in a tube? I used the whole tube. I really wanted to
14:09make
14:10sure that you could taste it. Okay. The one ingredient I think that could have been celebrated
14:13a little bit more would be the sour cream and onion chip, because it does look like it was just
14:17crunched up and put on at the end. Absolutely. The sour cream is heavy enough and dense enough,
14:21and once you reduce it, it's a little heavier on the palate. If you had left that out,
14:26I think it would have been much better. Flavors are really good. I also think the ham in the saute
14:31is
14:31great, and there's also there was really, really crispy, like almost burnt ham bits on top that
14:35I loved. Absolutely. I hear what Jeezy is saying about like a little bit of the gloppiness of the
14:40sauce. I think that's fixed by plating, right? Like I think instead of tossing everything together,
14:45placing these beans on the bottom and letting them be a little bit loose and then putting that sauce on
14:49top and then finishing with everything crispy, this becomes like more of a deconstructed casserole.
14:53Thank you. Next up, Chef Drew. We got a green bean salad with ham croutons,
15:00sour cream and onion cashew chip crunch with a cheeseburger vinaigrette. So much good stuff
15:06in here. The cheeseburger vinaigrette, I think there's a really successful use of the cheeseburger
15:11in a tube, words I've never said before. Weird sentence, right? Yep. Sounds terrible,
15:15but at least the flavor of your vinaigrette is delicious. Some really great ingredients here.
15:20I love the crunch. Green beans are done good. I'm getting all these components. I want to eat the salad
15:25together, you know? It's like the bowl is, you know, it's hard to eat it. And the ham is great,
15:30but it just needs to be composed better. Got it. My primary problem with it was just the bowl. It's
15:36really hard to cut green beans from that angle. It would have been much better for you to have plated
15:39this on a plate, but good flavors. Thank you. Finally, Chef Mary. So I made a cheeseburger
15:48ham potato chip fritter with green bean sauce on the bottom. I used pizza dough for the outside.
15:56I was a little bit skeptical when I saw you putting green beans in the blender,
15:59but you taste them and it lends this really gorgeous green color to the dip,
16:04so I think that was a power move. You were really under the gun. You were planning to make a
16:10calzone,
16:11which we all know is really difficult to pull off in 20 minutes. Smart that you pivoted it to the
16:16fritter. You got the sour cream chip flavor in there, but it just, that pizza dough was like,
16:22it was hard. There are little pieces of ham that met the outside of the fryer and it got this
16:28like
16:28beautiful caramelized ham with a little bit of like the pizza dough on the outside. I think that play
16:32is really smart. Thank you. I was so looking forward to this being full of ham, but I think it
16:40got a
16:40little lost with the ricotta and the cheeseburger in the tube. So where are you from, Chef? I'm from the
16:46Philippines and I've been watching you since I was 12. And growing up in the Philippines, like,
16:52it's a very conservative society. So watching the show, it's like a symbol that you can be yourself
16:58and live life and not be judged. Thank you, Chef Mary. Chefs, it's been an honor not just to watch
17:06you cook, but to taste the results of your hard work. Now the judges and I have a tough decision
17:12to make.
17:13I feel like I could definitely be on the chopping block mainly because of the plate decision. Now,
17:18we'll see what happens. After hearing what the judges said, I felt like, oh, I have a chance because
17:24I've provided layers of flavors. At the same time, I'm scared. Am I excited? Am I scared that I'm going
17:30home? I'm scared for the next round. Who knows?
17:40So whose dish is on the chopping block?
17:55Chef Mary, you've been chopped. Judges? Chef Mary, unfortunately that pizza dough just was a
18:02little bit tough. There wasn't enough ham in there. And so we had to chop you. Thank you.
18:08Thank you for your story. Although I didn't move forward, I'm happy for this experience.
18:15It's so exciting for me to meet Ted because he is a beacon of hope for people who want to
18:21be themselves.
18:23Everyone had their triumphs and troubles in that first round. Take what you've learned from the
18:28judges' critiques. Remember to focus on the basket ingredients.
18:35Chef Chris, Chef Rashida, Chef Drew, the entree baskets are in front of you.
18:40Oh, God. Please open your second basket.
18:46What is this? Ted, why would you do this to us? What's in this bowl?
18:53I picked Thai curry. We all share our love for Thai food.
18:57A little radicchio. We'll play with that. Radicchio.
19:00Okay. Skirt steak.
19:02And then the largest crab I've ever seen in real life.
19:07An Alaskan king crab. This is huge.
19:11That is insane. 30-minute round. Starts now.
19:16Come on. Do it for Ted.
19:21This is a challenging basket. This is a great basket.
19:25What I find challenging about it is what's going to be the star protein here.
19:28I say crab. No, I say beef. Let's just have surf and turf.
19:32I don't think you have to pick the star protein when you have crab and steak.
19:36I think you could easily do like a crab Oscar. You could do like a steak Oscar.
19:43This basket is leading me straight old-school steakhouse.
19:48Chef Drew, what are you making?
19:50I'm going to do a little grilled skirt steak. I season that with salt pepper and some mushroom
19:54powder. Then I'm going to do like a king crab Oscar kind of deal with this. Green curry like
19:59hollandaise. Grilled radicchio and some vegetables, I'm thinking. We'll see how it turns out. I might
20:03mess it all up. All right. Let's see what you're about, buddy. I started with the king crab because
20:08I love Alaska king crab. There's a bit of labor involved in extracting that meat, particularly if you
20:13never cook with it. Ted has really put us the test in this one with this whole crab. If you
20:17don't know
20:17what you're doing, this could take 30 minutes. The secret in that leg is just to crack it open gently
20:21and just put it in the butter and let it just settle there. And you could actually add some
20:26tarragon or some curry, something really subtle, and then attack the rest. So now that I have the
20:32crab cleaned, I let that just marinate in that Thai curry. Already cooked, so there's not much that
20:37need to be added. Hey, Chef Chris. Yes, let's hear it. Is Ted kidding with this king crab? It's a
20:43massive
20:43crab, but we're going to make something real nice with it. Do you have a plan? I do. I do
20:47have a plan. I'm
20:50incorporated a little of my own heritage. So I'm going to do a curry with the crab, buttered rice,
20:54and a warm cabbage salad with the radicchio. I love that. It's a traditional side dish that you
21:00typically see with a lot of Caribbean cuisine. To get started on my sauce, I'm using flavors from
21:06my Haitian background. Some curry powder and turmeric and a little bit of coconut milk. Then I'm going to go
21:11ahead and incorporate that Thai coconut curry sauce in there. It does make me nervous to think that someone
21:17in the competition is cooking very similar flavors. So the pressure really is on. Chef Chris,
21:22what are you making for Ted? I'm going a little bit Haitian spice bold on this. So I started with
21:27a piece marinated skirt steak, and I'm going to take this radicchio and turn it into a piquets,
21:32which are spicy cabbage slaw. Oh, I love piquets. Oh, nice. We're going to have a lot of Haitian
21:36influence here today. Love that. Looking at the radicchio, I know that I can substitute for cabbage in our
21:42spicy cabbage slaw that's called piquets. I'm focusing more on my Haitian heritage as I feel it's a
21:47great way to connect my story with others. And I want Ted to be able to appreciate and see that
21:51as
21:51well. Chef's 15 minutes left on the clock. I really love what Drew is doing with radicchio.
22:01He really seems to be a steakhouse chef. Obviously, he's going to make some sort of hollandaise.
22:05This should be really in his wheelhouse. I think you're onto something, Jeffrey,
22:09and you see someone who feels like he's really in control and totally on the right page.
22:13I started making tortillas in a basement kitchen in Nashville, Tennessee,
22:16and now I'm the executive chef of Gibson Italia in Chicago, Illinois. I'm here to win shop today
22:21to prove to myself that every long shift, the burns, the scrapes, you know, this has all been worth it.
22:28Drew took dried shiitakes and ground that in a spice grinder to make a mushroom powder.
22:32It's really great for the steak. It brings this sort of like next level earthiness against the sweetness
22:36of that crab. Hey, listen, the marinade on Chef Chris's steak looks really green and bright and
22:42beautiful. I deeply adore skirt steak. It's a cut of steak that if you know how to cook it properly,
22:47it's one of the most delicious things on the whole animal.
22:52I've only been in the industry for four years, but about a year ago, I started my small business,
22:57The 23rd Bite, and winning $10,000 would truly change everything for the business. It'll allow me to
23:03nurture it more. I want to win really bad. Jeff, just under 10 minutes on the clock.
23:14I'm making a Thai curry coconut creole sauce. I want to enhance the seafood flavor of this creole
23:20sauce. So I begin by torching the body of the crab and really getting some heat on there,
23:25get some nice char marks before adding that to the creole sauce.
23:28You smell that like burny iodine quality. That's the shell of the crab.
23:32The problem is anytime you burn crustacean shell, it starts to get really bitter and weird. And
23:37that's why it smells like burnt hair in here. Okay.
23:41Picking up on the nuances of coconuts being used often in the Caribbean, instead of using just
23:47coconut milk, I add the Thai curry to this creole sauce. I feel like that works really well with the
23:53tomato, a piece, and peppers and onions. Ted got me in here sweating. No one wants to make a
24:00Hollandaise during competition, but this Thai curry Hollandaise, it is a statement piece. The trick is
24:06here to slowly cook the eggs, whisk it in the fat. You know, you can make scrambled eggs in a
24:10heartbeat here.
24:10If it breaks, I do not have the time to make it again. Behind, behind, behind, behind.
24:20Just remain focused and I will be finished. Time is winding down and I really need to get this meat
24:25out
24:25to my sauce to highlight the sweetness and tenderness of the crab legs.
24:31Is that skirt on the fire? Yes. Skirt take rear to medium rear, not further or else it gets really
24:36chewy. Cut it against the grain. Gotta be on the plates, chefs. Everything on the plate.
24:41All four ingredients. You got this. Chefs, the countdown is happening, ready or not. 10, 9, 8, 7,
24:526, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Time's up. Yeah. Dinner for 10.
25:0110, 10, 10. Honestly, this is such a huge moment for me. It was just like, Rashida,
25:09don't let yourself down. Keep pushing, keep pushing, keep pushing because this is,
25:12this is all you on a plate. I love making coconut curries. I think that's really going to sing to
25:16who
25:17I am. I knew they were sweating just as much as I was, but the food looks great and I'm,
25:22I'm worried,
25:22you know, it's going to be, it's going to be a tight round for sure.
25:36Chefs, my takeover of the chopped kitchen continues. For the entree round, I gave you
25:41Thai curry, radicchio, skirt steak, and Alaskan king crab. Chef Drew, please tell us about your entree.
25:49We have a grilled skirt steak, Oscar style with some of the Alaskan king crab on top with a Thai
25:56curry hollandaise and some grilled radicchio on the bottom there.
26:03I like what you did with the radicchio. That had some great flavor on it,
26:07but I do think the steak, it's a little bit dry in some parts. Okay. But I'm, I think I
26:12lucked out
26:13on the pieces that I got because mine are nice and thick. It's all medium rare, which is just how
26:16it
26:16should be. Also, I appreciate you doing very little to that crab because I don't think there's much
26:20that should be done to it. I think I did a good job, Ted, like the simplistic approach I took
26:25with just
26:25cooking the steak right, not overpowering the crab. The crab is pretty, I really like what you did with
26:31the Thai curry, putting it in your butter and kind of letting it infused with the crab. I think that's
26:34really, really smart. To me, the hollandaise is a little, it's raw to me. I don't think the
26:40yolks are cooked all the way through. The hollandaise, it's tough and it's, it is eggy,
26:44but it's good. It's well-seasoned. Just some technical errors here.
26:49Yeah. Next we go to Chef Rashida. So I cook Haitian food. It's like more of a Caribbean
26:53Afro cuisine. And, um, today I've made for you a coconut curry with a little bit of the crab meat
26:58in there, wilted radicchio and napa cabbage, and some buttered rice to go with it.
27:06Very nice to do the rice. Rice is done well. Radicchio's done well. The sauce is excellent.
27:10I don't have any trouble picking up the curry. I appreciate the spice. I appreciate the heat.
27:14What I'm having a little bit less success, uh, with is the steak. I mean, it looks carved with
27:19the grain. It's mandatory to carve it against the grain. I agree. I'm struggling with the steak a
27:25little bit, just the way that you cut it. Chef, where did you put the crab? The crab,
27:30I folded it into that curry sauce at the very end. I'm having a hard time finding it. I don't
27:35have any
27:35pieces. Sorry about this, Chef. I got a lot of crab. Thank you. I shared none of it. I'm sorry.
27:42King crab. That's crab that can stand up to the spice and the richness of this curry.
27:46It's delicious. Thank you so much, Chef. I appreciate that.
27:49Next up, Chef Chris. Judges, for your main course, I prepared a piece marinated skirt steak
27:54with Thai curry coconut Creole sauce and a spicy cabbage slaw called piklis.
28:06The sauce is dynamite. What I get is a lot of brightness, a lot of very measured heat. I
28:12wouldn't even mind a little more, to be honest, but it just pops. You got a lot going on on
28:17this plate.
28:18A lot of flavors. I actually really love the bracing spice and acid of this slaw, the radicchio,
28:27but I'm kind of tasting that burn from the shell. Crab has little hairs, right? And so when that goes
28:35directly on the flame, that hair burns and we're getting just a little bit of that flavor in here.
28:39I think the cook on the steak is really great. I think it's a perfect medium rare.
28:42I really like that. It's cooked well. It just has no flavors. It needs serious salt. It needs to be
28:49seasoned. Okay. Unfortunately, only two of you will get to see the ingredients I selected for dessert.
28:55Thank you, Chefs. I feel like it might be a toss of who could be on the chopping block. Chris's
28:59steak
29:00was under seasoned. Rashida's steak was cut wrong. Chef Rashida might have put too much attention into her
29:05rice. The steak was just a bit of an afterthought. I think that might be a cause for her being
29:10chopped.
29:15So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
29:26Chef Chris, you've been chopped.
29:30Judges? Chef Chris, the steak had some issues in seasoning. I think the most issue came with
29:37Alaskan king crab. Within the sauce, we felt the burning of the shell is bitter. And so we had to
29:45chop you. Absolutely. It was my pleasure. Thank you all, judges. I appreciate it. Thank you, Chef. Thank you, Chef.
29:49Good luck to you. Thank you. Thank you, Chef.
29:51I mean, it's tough to hear, but we're here. I'm proud of the dishes that I did present. Walking out
29:57of here,
29:58I definitely feel as though I celebrated my culture and I did the best that I could to represent who
30:01I am.
30:01My wife and daughter will definitely still be proud to be able to get to the entree round. I mean,
30:05that's a feat in itself.
30:09I think at this point in the competition, it's neck and neck with Chef Rashida. I just got to sell
30:13one
30:13more dish to these judges and it's all mine. I'm a pint-sized badass. Just to be in this third
30:20round
30:20means so much to me. Everything is on the line in this final round. Chef Drew, Chef Rashida, if I
30:27do say so
30:28myself, I think I've designed the best chopped dessert basket ever. See what I've packed for you.
30:35Let's take a look. We got peaches. Ooh. You've got white peaches. Delish.
30:43Bourbon fennel dried chilies. Bourbon fennel dried chilies. Durian extract.
30:49Oh, yum. Ted's favorite. Brushes his teeth with him. That's why nobody will go out with me.
30:54And my partner's favorite dessert, a tiramisu. A tiramisu. A tiramisu.
31:00This basket is very interesting. 30 minutes to make sweet final plates.
31:07Clock starts now. Yeah. Yeah, the pro tube. Teddy sweet treats. Well, judges, how do you think my
31:15Ted's takeover is going so far? Kudos to the basket king. I've been really impressed with your choices.
31:20Great basket. How are you feeling? Are you full? I'm a little full. Yeah, I'm much
31:24fuller than usual. I'll tell you that. All right. All right. Let's see what this tastes like.
31:29Definitely spicy. Okay. That's actually pretty delicious. Lately, I've been using those chilies
31:33on top of ice cream. It's a layup for ice cream. I also think you can probably dose a little
31:37bit of
31:37this durian extract into the ice cream. Guys, I see a couple pounds of cream cheese being whipped on
31:42Chef Drew's station. And to that, he's dosing in some of the tiramisu. Doing a cheesecake,
31:47like a no-bake cheesecake, is kind of smart. Very good idea. Chef Drew, Teddy treats. What's in there? What
31:53are we doing?
31:54We're doing like a whipped tiramisu cheesecake with grilled white peaches. And then we're doing a
32:02brown butter bourbon crumble with some of the chili fennel things. Nice. All right. I toss
32:08peaches in a little bit of olive oil, some salt, and I get them on the grill. That's bring out
32:12some
32:12of those sugars, caramelize some of it. And I want to marinate them in a mixture of fennel bourbon
32:17dried chilies and some dark brown sugar. I love, love, love, love peaches. They are so great. These
32:24need some manipulation for sure. And I think you can embrace those chilies and that bourbon idea with
32:30the peaches. Ted is really forcing us to be creative with his baskets and think outside the box.
32:36Don't take a guess, don't take a guess. Okay. Chef Rosita, tell us your dessert plan for Ted.
32:42I am actually making you panna cotta with a little bit of warm peaches with some of the bourbon
32:48sandal chilies. And then I'm going to incorporate some of that durn extract in there to really
32:52incorporate those flavors. You're making a panna cotta, which takes 18 to 20 minutes minimum to set.
32:58Yeah. I just don't think it's going to happen. Oh, perfect. The gelatin sheets play an important
33:05role. This is what's going to allow it to set and have that velvety thick texture. Since the tiramisu
33:11already has a little bit of that espresso and that mascarpone, it's just going to make my panna cotta even
33:15more velvety and delicious. So once, you know, you put that panna cotta in, that's it. You roll the
33:21dice. I just hope it works. Chefs, 10 minutes on the clock. Is anybody in the lead here, judges?
33:32You know, I think the main course kind of might go to Drew. Yeah. But we'll see. It looks like
33:37her
33:37dessert is going to be great if that panna cotta comes out right. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. She has not
33:42even
33:42looked at her panna cotta, which is kind of good. And luckily... Although she doesn't have time to
33:46change anything if it's not right. No matter how you look at it, this round is going to be critical
33:50for both of these chefs. The durian extract, it's not as intense as I thought. And I feel like it
33:56could
33:56definitely go in the ground butter to add to this crumble without being crazy overpowering. The durian,
34:02I'm not really quite sure how I'm going to defend durian extract. I think the bottle tells you a lot
34:06of how you should deal with it. That dropper is saying, go slow. All right, chefs, getting close
34:12to four minutes on the clock. They're both really focused. Well, they know there's 10 grand. One of
34:17them is going to get 10 grand and one of them is going to not. What if she takes the
34:21panna cotta out
34:21and it's not set? Three minutes on the clock. I go and check on my panna cotta and the center
34:29is not set.
34:29And I have only three minutes left and I'm panicking that I won't get this done.
34:40Time is winding down fast. Making panna cotta is a risk in the kitchen. Are they setting up or no?
34:47They're setting up a little bit, but I'm cutting it close. I'm going to take them out at the very
34:51last minute so they can set up as much as I can. One minute to go, chefs. A little bit
34:56under a minute.
35:00This is nerve wracking. You think it's nerve wracking for us?
35:04I really feel like my flavors are coming together. If I was to win the $10,000, I'd invest it
35:12in the
35:13cooking class business my partner and I started. I want to be able to give other cooks the opportunity
35:17that I didn't have and have some sort of education. 35 seconds. Chef Rashida, she's got to get him out
35:25of the glass dealer. I don't know if my panna cotta's have fully set. I have no more time to
35:31wait.
35:32All right, chefs. Final seconds of the final round. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
35:46Done. Time's up.
35:50Two up top.
35:51Your food looks good.
35:56Oh, that was too close.
35:58My dessert is concise and straightforward. I'm feeling nervous, but thrilled to see what the judges have
36:06to say. I'm pretty happy with dessert. I feel like I did nail it, but it all tastes good and
36:11it's on the
36:11plate. If Chef Rashida's panna cotta didn't set, I won this.
36:23Chef Rashida and Chef Drew, I hope you've enjoyed my takeover as much as I have. After careful
36:29thought, I came up with a dessert basket of durian extract, white peaches, bourbon fennel dried chilies,
36:36and tiramisu. Start with you, Chef Rashida. Please tell us about your dessert.
36:40Judges, today I have for you a tiramisu panna cotta,
36:44dusted with a little bit of cinnamon and the bourbon fennel chilies. And on the side,
36:49you have like a little warm peach jam.
36:56Chef Rashida, I don't think I've ever had a panna cotta like this in the chopped kitchen.
36:59It is texturally perfect. It's light. It's got the ripe bounce to it.
37:05In 30 minutes, that's quite a feat.
37:08Had I not seen you put like half a bottle of the durian extract in your dessert, I would not
37:12believe that it was there because I don't really get it. We were worried. I was worried. I was too,
37:17but it works. It's okay. It's subtle. This dessert is delicious.
37:20That's a good thing. Um, the peaches definitely need to be highlighted.
37:25And I think because you put the tiramisu in there, it overwhelmed the peaches. So we're not
37:31getting the fresh brightness of the fruit, you know, and that would be so good with this panna cotta.
37:36You're clearly aiming for refinement here. I can taste the bourbon fennel chilies. They're great.
37:40I could use more, but this reads like a fine dining dessert.
37:43Thank you so much, Ted. Finally, Chef Drew.
37:45We have a no-bake whipped tiramisu cheesecake with some grilled white peaches and a bourbon chili crumble.
37:56Okay, so now that I've got some of the peaches in front of me, they're not that ripe.
38:00They are not that ripe. I wanted to grill it, try to bring out some of the sugars,
38:03and then I realized it wasn't still good. That's where I started adding brown sugar. I love brown
38:07sugar and peaches. The sugar should have been applied before you cook them. Right. So that you
38:11could have made some caramelization on the outside. Do you think they actually needed to cook in order to
38:17make them softer? Because right now they're in that in-between place where they're not crispy,
38:20crunchy and fresh, but they're not soft and baked. Yeah. I know they hit the grill, but not enough.
38:26Got it. It's a good dessert, peaches with tiramisu cream. I like that idea. But you needed to fold
38:32some chocolate whipped cream to lighten it up. It tasted more like a dense cream. It really wasn't a mousse.
38:39But this crumble is so delicious. Thank you. I love the bourbon chilies in it. I love the heat in
38:44it.
38:45Chef Drew, thank you. Thank you. Just like that, my work as executive in charge
38:50of mystery ingredients is almost over. And now to decide on a winner. Thank you, chefs.
38:58Those are really skilled competitors. Both chefs did a pretty good job.
39:02I think the first basket, Ted, that you provided was quite interesting.
39:06The green bean salad that Drew did, he made an interesting vinaigrette out of the cheeseburger
39:11in the tube. I thought he had a great idea taking ham, crisping it up. That was so delicious. When
39:17you cook ham that aggressively, it turns into a little bacon bit. I liked Rashida's hash. I love
39:22the crispy ham. The way she pulled sweet potatoes from the pantry and cooked those down such that they
39:28got really crucial to the success of that hash. I thought it was a really delicious start. And then we
39:35flavored the whole egg, which I thought was fabulous. So fun to be discussing the food,
39:41having tasted it. And actually, I'm lucky because our food today has been really, really good.
39:45Yes. For me, Rashida won the second round. She had giant chunks of meaty, sweet crab in this
39:51gorgeous curry. But Rashida's dish was overcooked and cut with the grain, which is like chewing elastic.
39:59And Drew did know that you have to cut it across the grain. Right. I like Drew's preparation a lot.
40:04I know it
40:04was very simple. I thought his steak was really good. The crab was touching a little crab butter.
40:08I really liked that. The problem was the egg and the hollandaise wasn't cooked enough.
40:12I completely agree with that. That was a bit of a fail for me.
40:19I am feeling excited. I feel confident. I really think my panna cotta came through. So I really think
40:26that's going to put me above Chef Drew. So whose dish is on the chopping block? Making panna cotta,
40:33that's a ballsy move. But losing is not in my vocabulary. I came here for one reason,
40:38and that was to win.
40:48Congratulations. Chef Drew, you've been chopped. Judges?
40:52Drew, your first course, you did a beautiful green bean salad. The second course, the hollandaise
40:57looked really good. But at the end of the day, it just needed some more cooking. It was eggy. The
41:02dessert,
41:02we like the idea of a cheesecake tiramisu mousse. However, it's very dense. And so,
41:10we had to chop you. Thank you for being with us. Thank you. So nice to meet you.
41:16Well, the takeaway from this experience is just keep cooking. Keep your head down. Keep working.
41:21Now it's not the time to give up. Now it's time to step on the gas. Like, just keep it
41:25moving.
41:27And that means Chef Rashida Woolley, you are the chopped champion.
41:32Whoa.
41:33For turning my Ted's Takeover ingredients into the best meal, you scored 10 grand. Congratulations.
41:40Well done.
41:46I am more than thrilled and overwhelmed with emotion. But more than anything,
41:51I'm really proud of myself. Today was a pleasure.
41:53Well done.
41:53Thank you. Thank you. I miss one.
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