America's Culinary Cup Season 1 Episode 6

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🏘️ America's Culinary Cup (2026) - Season 1 Episode 6  The road to the finale narrows. In Episode 6 "Semi-Final Stakes", the remaining chefs face a two-part challenge: create an innovative appetizer AND a show-stopping main course. Only the most versatile advance. Who has the range to reach the finale... and who falls short?  🔹 Episode Highlights: • Dual-course challenge: creativity + consistency tested simultaneously • Judges' toughest criteria yet: innovation, execution & menu cohesion • Emotional stakes: chefs reflect on their journey so far • Semi-final elimination: heartbreaking goodbyes before the finale • Signature competition climax: skill, strategy & survival instinct  🔹 Series Info: • Format: Cooking Competition / Reality TV / Culinary Talent Serial • Original Network: [Streaming Platform] | Production: 2026 • Season: 1 | Episode: 6 | Title: "Semi-Final Stakes" • Setting: United States (National Competition) | Language: English • Runtime: ~45-60 minutes  🎧 Prefer audio? Listen to cooking competition recaps on Spotify, Apple Podcasts.  👉 Enjoying the series? Hit LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and comment: "Who deserves a spot in the finale? 👇" Turn on notifications 🔔 for Episode 7 Finale Preview!  #ShowTVMovies #AmericasCulinaryCup #CookingCompetition #SemiFinal #S01E06 #ChefLife #RealityTV #Foodie #BingeWatch #RoadToFinale  ⚠️ Copyright Disclaimer: This video is shared for promotional, review, and informational purposes only. All rights to "America's Culinary Cup" belong to the respective producers and networks. This upload complies with Fair Use guidelines (Section 107, U.S. Copyright Act). No copyright infringement intended.

Transcript

00:00I'm Padma Lakshmi, and we've scoured the nation to bring together the most elite chefs

00:05and the most renowned judges into the ultimate culinary battleground.

00:11This is a test of our 10 culinary commandments.

00:14Master them and you win $1 million.

00:18Brought to you by our official cleanup partners, Don Powerwash.

00:28Last time on America's Culinary Cup.

00:30Today's culinary commandment, vegetables.

00:33I'm like not in a good place.

00:35I just underestimated time.

00:37Holy .

00:38The only vegetable on this dish is broccoli.

00:40Yes.

00:41Well done.

00:41My dessert has to be perfect.

00:44The individual components weren't saying pay attention to me.

00:47I'm sorry, Emily.

00:49You've served your final dish.

00:51Oh man, I'm relieved.

00:52Oh my God.

00:53This is freaking close.

01:05Here we go.

01:07Here we go.

01:08That floor.

01:09Oh.

01:10Whoa.

01:10Beautiful.

01:11This is very cool.

01:14What happened to this place?

01:17It is not the kitchen that I left last week.

01:21Wait, peacocks.

01:23This is gorgeous.

01:25On my right, it looks like a wedding.

01:27It's flowers and gentleness and purity.

01:31And then I look to the left.

01:33It's kind of creepy over here.

01:34Oh, black roses.

01:36There's black crows, skulls with a snake coming out.

01:39Oh, I don't know why.

01:40I don't want to be on the side.

01:41I'm getting angry.

01:44I definitely want to know what's under the gold dome.

01:47That's forbidden.

01:48Don't touch it.

02:18Don't touch it.

02:18He's going to be on the side.

02:19He's kind of, like, mean today.

02:21Behold, my garden of good and evil, where anything can happen.

02:29Your commandment today is...

02:34Desserts.

02:36Oh, God, again. I made dessert last week, and it did not go so well.

02:41Be gone with you.

02:44Chefs, we all know that no great meal is complete without a great dessert.

02:49We expect you to create desserts that are technically sound, well-executed, and most of all, delicious.

02:56I love a good execution.

02:59I love this Padma. I'm scared of her, but I'm also, like, in awe of her.

03:05To make great desserts, you have to be a scientist, an artist, and a storyteller all at once.

03:11Today, you'll be tasked with not one, but two desserts.

03:16Wow.

03:17Inspired by our whimsical garden of good and evil.

03:22So one dessert will be good, and one dessert will be evil.

03:29Speaking of evil, I'm feeling a little extra evil this evening.

03:35And I'm wondering who you think is most likely to win this competition, and who is least likely.

03:46So I want each of you, alone, to head to my garden confessional and cast your votes.

03:54Told you I was feeling a little evil.

03:57Now you, my pretty, go off there first and go cast your vote.

04:02It's not personal, I promise.

04:05It's not a popularity contest, but it kind of feels like that for a moment.

04:09It's easy to vote someone to the top, because that is an expression of confidence.

04:15Beverly.

04:16But having to vote someone on the bottom, the last thing I want to do is hurt someone's feelings.

04:21I don't want to do this.

04:23Also, I don't quite know what's going to happen.

04:29I definitely think when everybody thinks you're going to win, you end up forming a target on your back.

04:38I'm not loving this.

04:40Padma's definitely leaning into her evil character, because this is far from fun for any of us.

04:47Chris, least likely to win.

04:50Beverly, most likely to win.

04:56At this point, if you're to put money anywhere, who is the most likely to win?

04:59It's not who I hope to win.

05:06That was hard.

05:07Sorry.

05:09All the votes are in.

05:11And now, the results.

05:16The chef voted most likely to win America's Culinary Cup.

05:29The chef voted most likely to win America's Culinary Cup.

05:34The chef voted most likely to win America's Culinary Cup.

05:39My whole life, I've been fighting to get recognition.

05:44And it's been really emotional for me.

05:49I'm just not the kind of girl that people believed in.

05:54Well, we believe in you.

05:56Yeah, we do believe in you.

05:59That means a lot to me.

06:01I've always been an underdog.

06:05Watching Beverly next to me cry and say that she's an underdog,

06:08well, it sounds like you're the biggest threat.

06:10I am doing the best dishes I've ever done, and I'm getting nowhere.

06:14It feels like I'm the underdog.

06:16And now, let's find out who was voted least likely to win America's Culinary Cup.

06:25Behold!

06:35Doesn't feel good.

06:38Chris Morgan?

06:40Apparently.

06:41How are you feeling, Chris?

06:43It's disappointing, but I've been on the bottom a couple times.

06:47I love a good bottom.

06:51Come to me.

06:52I'm just nervous.

06:53I have no idea what this means.

06:56Either I'm going home or I'm at a disadvantage.

06:58In this challenge, your evil desserts must each include one of our forbidden ingredients.

07:09Something you typically wouldn't put into a dessert.

07:17We have blue cheese, pickles, dandelion greens, mustard seeds, anchovies, my favorite, coarse radish, cured black olives, and of course,

07:32sriracha.

07:35I wouldn't want to be one of you guys right now.

07:38The things that I definitely don't want would be pickles, blue cheese.

07:43I just hope I don't get dandelion greens.

07:45Hot sauce is a condiment.

07:46I don't use condiments in my cooking.

07:47Chris, want to get revenge?

07:51Maybe a tidbit.

07:53Since all the chefs did you dirty, voting you least likely, now's your chance.

08:00Okay.

08:01You must assign one of these ingredients to one of the chefs.

08:09Critical.

08:09Remember, Chris, you have to cook with one of them yourself.

08:14What the ?

08:15Is it too late?

08:17Can we re-vote?

08:17I'll take the bottom.

08:19Chris is assigning pickles to Beverly.

08:23Blue cheese.

08:24Kara.

08:27It's rough.

08:29Dandelion greens.

08:31Katie.

08:32Oh, God.

08:35Horseradish.

08:36O'Keefe.

08:38Yeah, I don't know what the hell to do with that.

08:42Diana has mustard seeds, cured black olives for Buddha, and sriracha for you, Matt.

08:50You gave yourself anchovies?

08:52I did, yeah.

08:53Just see if he's got a fever.

08:54Don't get too close to me.

08:57I think I have an immediate direction for those that I think would work, so.

09:01I love a man with a plan.

09:03Be gone with you, mere mortal.

09:05All right.

09:06All of you have your forbidden ingredients.

09:09You'll have six hours to create your desserts.

09:15Chefs, please head to your cauldrons.

09:23Kara, your time starts now.

09:27Now!

09:29I'm here.

09:36Going into this challenge, I feel like I have something to prove.

09:40I may be voted most likely to lose, but it lit a fire under my ass, you know?

09:44If everybody here thinks I'm gonna go home, I'm gonna prove them wrong.

09:49Chris, what's going on with all those pots, baby?

09:51Ice cream, syrups, lots of stuff.

09:54Lots of stuff, heard.

09:54Lots of stuff.

09:56Keith's a machine.

09:57He cooks with such confidence, and we've quickly formed a bond here.

10:03Let's get it, Chef.

10:08I've done desserts, I just don't do it on a regular, so I'm just not 100% confident.

10:14Let's go, let's get this one over with.

10:21Pickles are great.

10:23I grew up on pickles.

10:25I grew up on kimchi.

10:27Every single day of my life, I had pickles in front of me.

10:30First thing I'm gonna do is my evil dessert, and I'm gonna make pickle granita right away.

10:35Two pounds.

10:37With potato chip panna cotta.

10:40It's potatoes, pickles, and dill.

10:44Potato chips are a forbidden food in my family.

10:46My kids, they'll just eat the whole bag.

10:48They sneak it in, though, at school.

10:55Six hours to make two desserts.

10:57Sounds like it's a lot of time, but it's gonna take me a long time to execute the things that

11:03I want to execute.

11:06Here's some more cherry puree.

11:10Pastry cream.

11:12The first thing I think of with blue cheese is a classic French dessert.

11:16It's called milfeuille.

11:17It's layers of puff pastry on layers of puff pastry mixed with pastry cream.

11:21The blue cheese would lend itself well, because it will be sweet, but not too sweet.

11:25That looks good.

11:26What is that?

11:27It's pastry cream.

11:28I got blue cheese.

11:30And, yeah.

11:32So I'm trying to think of...

11:33I'm making puff.

11:35You're making puff pastry?

11:36Puff pastry takes a tremendous amount of time and energy and precision to do correctly.

11:41You know there's puff pastry in the pantry.

11:44I can't do that.

11:46It's a pastry challenge.

11:47It's a pastry challenge.

11:48I appreciate your ambition.

11:49All right, we'll leave you alone.

11:51Good luck, Karen.

11:52Good luck.

11:52Yeah, good luck.

11:53Are you making puff pastry?

11:54Yeah.

11:54I'm jumping off the deep end.

11:56What do you think about pulling off a real puff pastry in six hours?

11:59I think that's ballsy and...

12:01It's high risk, high reward.

12:03We've been encouraging to take risks and take chances, but...

12:06I don't know if I would take that on.

12:07What am I doing?

12:20It's a dessert challenge.

12:21We have to make one dessert good, one dessert evil.

12:25What do we got here?

12:26A white chocolate mousse for heaven.

12:28And then for dessert, for hail, I was gonna play on like a bau bau rum.

12:34I'm gonna bring the heat with the liquor and the horseradish.

12:37How's your dessert date be?

12:38Strong, would you say?

12:39We gonna all learn together.

12:41That's right.

12:42Because I can tell you, everything I'm doing right now, I have not done before.

12:47Oh.

12:47Okay.

12:48That is very risky.

12:49Yes.

12:50I told you to take risks, so there you go.

12:52Good luck.

12:59This challenge is hard, because you're trying to incorporate flavor that most people would

13:03not associate with dessert.

13:04Everyone in this room thinks I'm absolutely out of my mind, because I pick anchovies.

13:09But I really like my approach.

13:11I'm gonna puree fish sauce with anchovies, strain it out, add that into my caramel.

13:16Any anchovies in the caramel?

13:18First time ever doing that.

13:19There is, fish head.

13:21A fish head.

13:22I know I'm a little crazy, but you guys figured that out already.

13:25Yeah.

13:25Were you stabbed in the heart when you found out everyone thought you would be the least

13:29likely?

13:30Yeah, absolutely.

13:31Better to be underestimated and over-delivered.

13:33Yeah, because if I go home after this, it's like, okay, well, they were right.

13:36You're the one with the Michelin stars.

13:38Show them how it's done.

13:40I'll try my best.

13:45I'm doing a Black Forest-inspired evil dessert with black olives.

13:49Chris gives me cured black olives.

13:51They're quite salty.

13:52I soak them in water.

13:53I rinse them out about five times to get all that salt out.

13:56I'm just canning my olives.

13:58It's similar to like a praline.

14:00Buddha, your wife teach you everything you know?

14:02Yeah, pretty much.

14:03I'm not afraid to say that.

14:05My wife is actually a fully qualified chef.

14:08She was the pastry sous chef at Lev Manson Park for five years.

14:13My wife did not like me at the start.

14:15She thought I was cocky.

14:16Then you just find out that my cockiness is not being cocky.

14:19It's actually someone who's just deeply passionate about their craft.

14:23My wife's the best thing that's ever happened to me.

14:25Without her, I don't get my two little angels.

14:28When we're around, you'll share more than just food.

14:32Me and Rebecca have not had a proper wedding.

14:35We got married on our day off from work.

14:38You can't really fit that shoe, but you can try, my love.

14:41She's doing it.

14:42It would be lovely to be having a wedding with all of our family together.

14:47So a million dollars would definitely help out a lot.

14:52Man, you remember that time you trained for the Baku store and you used Sriracha for that?

14:57How did it go for you?

14:58It won me gold.

14:59You're in trouble, Buddha.

15:01I'm a little inspired by our black candles.

15:03For my evil dessert, I'm going to mimic these black candles.

15:07It's a dark chocolate candlestick with mango ice cream flame.

15:11And I'm going to add the Sriracha in with some of the mango.

15:15How are you feeling?

15:18I'm doing, I feel like I'm taking one step at a time.

15:22Heard.

15:24For my evil dessert, I'm making a dobladita de chocolate.

15:29Doblad is to bend.

15:30So dobladita is a fold over.

15:33The inspiration behind the dobladas is the dish where my family's from in Mexico.

15:40Enchiladas Potocinas.

15:41And it's a chocolate masa tortilla stuffed with chocolate cookie crumble.

15:46And passion fruit, pickled mustard seed, salsa.

15:49And then you fold it over and sear it.

15:52It's a lot.

15:53Time is never my friend.

15:55Last week, I know I didn't have a good cook.

15:58Today's a new day.

15:59Let's start moving forward.

16:01Where does the time go?

16:07This is definitely my nemesis.

16:10For my evil dessert, Chris gives me dandelion greens.

16:14Definitely evil.

16:17I've decided to make this chocolate passion fruit custard and shape it like a snake with candied dandelion greens.

16:26Like a snake in the garden.

16:28But after I blanched the dandelion greens, they're still so bitter.

16:34Blanche.

16:35Shock.

16:36Taste.

16:37Still super bitter.

16:38Blanche.

16:38Shock.

16:39Taste.

16:39Still super bitter.

16:40Nope.

16:41I'm afraid this evil ingredient is gonna cost me a million dollars.

16:45They are bitter.

16:52I'm thinking outside the box.

16:54For my good dessert, I had to be opposite of the evil dessert.

16:57I've never actually baked this cake fresh.

17:00I think that's a nice touch.

17:02I'm going to make a black sesame tea cake.

17:05It's so warm.

17:07It kind of gives you the same satisfaction of like a warm brownie, but like with black sesame.

17:11Oh, no.

17:12That's flour.

17:13What am I doing?

17:14I did get voted the most likely to win this competition.

17:17I don't know how to handle this attention right now.

17:20Do I rise to it?

17:21I feel like so much pressure.

17:23This work is focused.

17:29Chefs, it looks like you have things pretty much under control in here.

17:33The three of us are going to go to the airport to pick up our guest judge.

17:39Take care.

17:42I'm wondering who the guest judge is.

17:45My mind starts spinning.

17:46I'm definitely a little nervous as to who I'm going to be cooking for.

17:58Right now, I'm weighing out black sesame paste.

18:00I'm going to fill these dumplings with them.

18:03My good dessert is a Chinese mochi soup dumpling.

18:06It's still a dessert, but it's something that's like good for you.

18:08Keith, you ever made this dessert before?

18:10Never made it before.

18:11I love that, chap.

18:15When I cool down my syrup, I taste it and there's no horseradish.

18:19Want horseradish?

18:21Damn.

18:21If there's no horseradish, I'm definitely going home.

18:24Sometimes you got to go for it, right?

18:25Yeah, I'm like, I'm in trouble.

18:33I cooked all the horseradish flavor out, refining the syrup.

18:38The horseradish is gone.

18:40And so I've shaved the horseradish in there off heat and let it steep like tea.

18:48Yes.

18:50That was it.

18:51Now you got your horseradish syrup.

18:56I'm worried about my dandelion greens.

18:59They're so bitter.

19:01That's better.

19:03A hint of bitter instead of a kick in your face of bitter.

19:06That's better.

19:07Okay.

19:07Now it's time to quickly blanch them in simple syrup and lay them out on the dehydrator trays.

19:12Hey, Katie, how you doing over there?

19:15I'm doing good.

19:16Oh, this is tedious.

19:26Chefs, I'd like to introduce you to Nina Metier.

19:32Voted the world's best pastry chef.

19:35Not one, but two years in a row.

19:38Welcome.

19:40I'm very happy to try your creation for my evil dessert.

19:46I'm making a classic French pastry.

19:47No pressure.

19:49All right, shall we go to the dining room?

19:51Yes.

19:57Time's almost up.

19:58My puff pastry better be the way I want them to turn out.

20:01There will be no opportunity to make a second puff.

20:08Perfect.

20:08The layers are there.

20:10But any time you're serving someone a food that they're known for making, you have to be nervous.

20:20Here it is.

20:25Hi, Kara.

20:26Look at that.

20:27My good dessert is tangyuan.

20:29It's made with chrysanthemum tea and it's rice mochi filled with black sesame, which is this typical New Year's dumpling.

20:36My evil dessert is a blue cheese milfoy and it's evil because it is decadent and rich.

20:46To make puff pastry, I know it's a lot of work and you made it very well.

20:53So, congratulations for that.

20:56And the blue cheese is very nice.

20:58I love it.

20:59The fact that you made puff pastry from scratch in six hours, that alone is something we'll be talking about

21:05throughout the competition.

21:06No complaints.

21:08Really good.

21:08Kara, if this dessert is evil, I don't want to be good because I really, I loved it.

21:13I like that you had the confidence just to put a few chunks of blue cheese in that pastry cream.

21:19Your good dessert.

21:20I love the dumpling.

21:21I love that filling and the way it meets with the mochi.

21:24I think it's delicious.

21:25Just for me, it could be ever so slightly sweeter.

21:28It's really refreshing and I think it tells a wonderful story.

21:31For me, your dumplings were really nice, but the filling is sort of gritty, dense, black sesame.

21:40So, I think to break up that denseness, maybe just a little sweeter inside.

21:46Thank you, Kara.

21:47Merci beaucoup.

21:48Well done.

21:49These two desserts kind of are the two sides of Kara as we're coming to learn.

21:54She's got clearly like a mastery of Chinese cuisine.

21:57But then here, she proves that she's got very rigorous French training somewhere in her background.

22:02All right, let's score Kara.

22:08Keith, you want a little bit of rum?

22:10Take the edge off.

22:12For my good dessert, I'm making rum cake, leaning into like my love of Jamaica and the Caribbean.

22:18My aunt is Jamaican.

22:20She introduced me to Caribbean food at a very young age.

22:23You like cheese, Bubby?

22:24And my wife's Jamaican Chinese.

22:27I don't know.

22:27It feels different when you're cooking a cuisine that you have like a personal attachment to.

22:31If I win this million dollars, first thing I'm doing is flying to Jamaica with my wife and daughters immediately.

22:37Rum cake.

22:38You like it?

22:39I love it.

22:41I'm making that for 10 years.

22:42It's my jam.

22:48All the components are good to me, but I won't know if the techniques were executed properly until I put

22:55it before the judges.

22:56Cakes are too big.

22:59Should have the smaller pieces.

23:00I've never made these things before.

23:03You just never know.

23:11Hey, Keith.

23:12Hello.

23:13Tell us what you made.

23:14My dishes are called Heaven and Hell.

23:16For my good dessert, I made a white chocolate mousse with an almond crumble, basil and mint granita, and a

23:23citrus gel.

23:24Kind of playing off the colors you have today.

23:26White for your angels.

23:28Red.

23:29I don't want to call you the devil.

23:31Oh, you can call me a devil any day.

23:34And then my evil dessert, I did a baba rum cake with a horseradish lava.

23:41It's very difficult to have a baba.

23:43Not too wet, but wet enough.

23:46The balance is complicated.

23:48So congrats for that.

23:49But Yuri, you can improve its balance because I want more cream.

23:53I said that when I plated it, and I'm like, I should have cut a smaller piece of square more

23:58elegant.

23:59Or give us more cream.

24:00Okay.

24:00Did you sweeten the red lava sauce?

24:03Yeah, it's a syrup.

24:04The lava is a kind of punch in the face a little bit.

24:07Okay.

24:08For your good dessert, it's a very good idea, but I just need it a little bit more together.

24:12Okay.

24:13I agree with the chef.

24:14The problem with this dessert is the way it's been assembled.

24:17Had you put it in a bowl, it would have been much easier to get all of those flavors in

24:20one bite.

24:21Yeah.

24:21Keith, you called it a mousse, but textually as a mousse, I would want it a little bit airier, a

24:26little bit lighter.

24:27Okay.

24:27Thank you so much, Keith.

24:29Just never know.

24:31And so I've stopped walking out of that room confident a long time ago.

24:35Let's go with Keith.

24:41This is going to mimic a little bit of the garden going on over there.

24:44For the good dessert, I'm making a yuzu curd.

24:47You know, being shortbread cookie that it's going to sit underneath the curd stuffed with raspberries and coated in white

24:54chocolate tops with twill.

24:55So the idea is to have this kind of whimsical branches coming up from the dome.

25:01They get hard baked just to be able to kind of like drip over the mold.

25:08These are breaking apart.

25:10I mean, they're fragile.

25:11Time's running out.

25:12I do another one.

25:13And then by the time I'm trying to transfer them, they're breaking apart again.

25:18The smallest error one, something that's very delicate and detail-oriented, could get me eliminated from the competition.

25:25But I was like, screw it.

25:26I need to get something out now.

25:27Oh, wow.

25:44Jeez.

25:47Slid right out.

25:50Yeah, but listen, I saved a whole stack of plates.

25:55I can show all my service staff and be like, see how easy it is to fall down and still

26:00not break the plate.

26:01It's like I got hit by a linebacker.

26:15Lovely.

26:18Wow.

26:19I had fun with this one.

26:21Dark is usually with evil.

26:23Light is usually with good.

26:24So I really wanted to play off of those two tones.

26:27My good dessert is a yuzu curd with raspberries and a vanilla shortbread.

26:33And then my evil dessert is a dark chocolate sponge with mango ice cream.

26:39How beautiful.

26:40Is this a candle?

26:41I was inspired by everything that was on the floor today.

26:43So immediately I saw the black candles and I'm like, this is going to be a lot of fun with

26:48the dark chocolate.

26:49And then the sriracha and that spice was the secret ingredient here in the flame of the candle.

26:55I love the idea of the burning black candle, but I'm sorry you didn't put sriracha in the chocolate.

27:01That being said, I loved the ice cream. I thought the texture of the ice cream was great.

27:06The chocolate ganache and biscuits with cocoa, it's just a little bit too heavy.

27:11I would prefer like a ganache montée or something more light.

27:17The good dessert I thought was really good.

27:19I love yuzu. I love raspberry. I love lemon.

27:23I like the raspberry jelly that you put inside.

27:25And I like the little hints of meringue that you had on the outside too.

27:27Your sable is very good texture.

27:30But for me, the white chocolate is too much.

27:32Matt, I think both of your desserts are visually really stunning and you're cooking at a very high level.

27:39Thank you, Matt.

27:40Well done, chef.

27:41Good work.

27:43Let's score, Matt.

27:46In the molcajete, I have here my rose petals, making a mole de rosas.

27:51With Mexican food, one of my favorite desserts is a sweet tamal.

27:57I love horchata.

27:58So for my good dessert, I'm also making a horchata pudding.

28:05Please set.

28:07In this competition, I overthink everything.

28:09And all of a sudden, I realize that I am so not in a good place.

28:16One hour.

28:26What do you think?

28:27Looks good.

28:29Chris got to choose the forbidden ingredients that every other chef would use, and he took anchovies.

28:36Hello.

28:38Hello.

28:39Tell us what you made.

28:41So for my evil dessert, I made Paradise Lost.

28:44The green pandan ice cream is supposed to represent the good, and then the anchovy fish sauce caramel underneath is

28:49kind of swallowing it up.

28:50And then I made a black sesame shortbread cookie with a little crumble underneath to represent fire and brimstone.

28:56And then my good dessert is paradise found.

28:59I'm my most happiest.

29:00I'm at the beach, and specifically in Jamaica.

29:02So it's passion fruit ice cream, passion fruit meringue, and then you have caramelized plantains and rum cake.

29:08Your good dessert was really good.

29:13The different crunchy bits and the creamy bits and the caramelized bits.

29:17It was great.

29:18I really love the cake.

29:19I really love the ice cream and the crumble, and I really love the plantain.

29:22But I miss the plantain in the other part of the dessert, because I like all this preparation, but it

29:28looks like three different desserts.

29:30Let's talk about your other dessert.

29:32Let's talk about your other dessert.

29:33We have all struggled with why on earth you picked anchovies, but 100% you sold me.

29:40This caramel was really delicious.

29:42Thank you, Chef.

29:43I really love the burning on top.

29:46It made me in childhood when I was cooking the marshmallow.

29:50Yeah, yeah, yeah.

29:51I thought your caramel was really delicious.

29:54I really enjoyed it.

29:55Thank you, Chef.

29:55But I did think you were crazy for picking anchovies, and I'm sticking by that.

29:59Thank you, Chris.

30:00Thank you, Chris.

30:01Thank you, Chef.

30:02Okay, let's score Chris.

30:19Damn.

30:20Whoa.

30:22You're doing a lot.

30:23America's Culinary Cup.

30:25Ain't no joke.

30:26So right in front of you is the evil dessert.

30:29Black cherry, dark chocolate cake, black cherry sorbet.

30:32It's inspired by walking into a black forest.

30:34The butterfly is going to that evil.

30:36But as you go into it, it gets very dark, very rich.

30:40Like, it swallows you into the swamp.

30:42The forbidden ingredient is black olives.

30:44To go on the side, a black olive filled with black olive caramel.

30:48You delivered a great flavor of oil cured olive without it being too strong.

30:53I liked it very much.

30:55I really love these olives.

30:58The only thing I would like a little bit more freshness inside, maybe a little bit more sorbet.

31:04I almost wish you had just given me this, because this was fantastic.

31:08Okay, I'll just take this away.

31:13You didn't even need all this.

31:15That one little bite was supplied.

31:18Okay.

31:19For my good dessert, I made what I imagined heaven to be, and that's going home.

31:23I grew up in Port Douglas.

31:25It's a very tropical town by the beach.

31:28It's variations of tropical fruit with white chocolate and coconut sorbet.

31:32Buddha, how many people did you have helping you make all this?

31:34I had about five people from production, and then...

31:36The florist.

31:37Yeah, the florist.

31:38Your good dessert, it's so beautiful.

31:42Inside all the small bowl, it's so nice, so amazing, with lots of flavor.

31:46But the outside, maybe it was a good choice for the presentation, but maybe not the good choice for the

31:52taste.

31:52I would like to have the citrus flavor in the mouth now.

31:56I think you told your story well.

31:58All these beautiful tropical flavors.

32:01I felt the beach.

32:02This is probably your best dish I've seen from you in this competition.

32:07Well done, Buddha.

32:08Thank you, chef.

32:10I mean, that should have been like his mic drop.

32:12He's an overachiever.

32:13Mm-hmm.

32:14Let's score, Buddha.

32:20Wow.

32:21Whoa.

32:22In the bowl, you have your good as wholesome as pie.

32:28How nice to have an old-fashioned pie.

32:31It's a liquid hazelnut tart with cherry sorbet.

32:36And what's the reduction that kind of circles the place?

32:38Pedro Jimenez.

32:39And why is this very beautiful dessert evil?

32:42It's a serpent in the garden.

32:44A white chocolate passion fruit custard.

32:47I really think like the curve ball that Chris gave you in the form of these dandelion greens are one

32:53of my favorite parts of this dish.

32:54Oh.

32:55Well, great.

32:55You tamed the bitterness and turned them into something that is so enjoyable.

32:59I wish you'd given me more.

33:01Okay.

33:01Yes.

33:02I never tried a liquid tart and I really loved it.

33:05The only thing, this is not cooked enough.

33:08I love the fact that he brought together like three of my favorite things.

33:12Pedro Jimenez, sherry, cherries, and hazelnuts.

33:14Thank you, Katie.

33:16Thank you very much, Chef.

33:19Thank you very much.

33:19Michael, I really thought you were going to say some of your three favorite things are Padma, Nina, and I.

33:25I'm kind of disappointed.

33:28Wow.

33:29Whoa.

33:30I recommend starting with the evil dish.

33:33This one?

33:34No.

33:34It's the white one.

33:35Oh, yay.

33:36Okay.

33:36The evil is the sour pickle granita with potato chip panna cotta, dill oil, and potato chip tuiles dusted with

33:47dill powder.

33:47In my household, potato chips are forbidden.

33:50Why?

33:51It's just bad for you.

33:53So that's why it's evil.

33:54The good is the black sesame tea cake with the black sesame ice cream, Asian pear and calamansi jam, and

34:01fresh Asian pear.

34:01Also, black sesame is supposed to be really good for you, as opposed to potato chips.

34:06So that's a good thing.

34:07You know, when both these desserts came to our table, it was very easy to assume that the black sesame

34:13dessert was the evil.

34:15But I love that you flipped them.

34:18Are these actually fried potatoes?

34:19This is a tuile.

34:20Yeah.

34:21You need to put that in a bag and sell it.

34:23Okay.

34:24I love it.

34:25Yeah.

34:26You used your forbidden ingredient to great effect.

34:29I thought it was delicious.

34:30I love the crunch of the potato chips.

34:32The dill sour pickles really came through.

34:36If there's anybody at this table that can appreciate bad ideas that really work out well, I'm your guy.

34:44Okay.

34:45It's fun.

34:46It's whimsical.

34:48This is just great, great stuff.

34:51For your good desserts, I love these fluffy biscuits.

34:55It's amazing.

34:56Maybe one of the best cakes we've had today, but as much as I love Asian pear, I am not

35:01a fan of the skin of an Asian pear.

35:03Okay.

35:04I understand what Wiley's saying, much as I hate to admit it, but I think every element was so necessary

35:10on this plate.

35:11Thank you, Beverly.

35:13Great job.

35:14Well done, chef.

35:15Well done.

35:18All right.

35:19Let's score.

35:2920 seconds.

35:30Oh, .

35:31Oh, my God.

35:32Like, time is running out, and I still didn't have my evil dessert on a plate.

35:38.

35:38I'm not going to make it.

35:39I'm out of time.

35:495, 4, 3, 2, 1, I'm done.

35:56I didn't finish.

35:58I did not plate my evil dessert, which was the forbidden ingredient, the mustard seeds.

36:05I feel like vomiting.

36:06Oh, my God.

36:10Is something else coming?

36:14No.

36:17Tell us what you made.

36:19For my good dessert, I made a tamal dulce with muddled mole of rose petals with a little whipped horchata.

36:28And what happened to your evil dessert?

36:31I just didn't finish it on time.

36:33I didn't plate it.

36:36Well, let's talk about the dish that we do have.

36:39It doesn't matter what the challenge is.

36:40You find a way to express your culture and the flavors that are most dear to you.

36:45The horchata cream that you made is absolutely delicious, but it's very easy to go a bit too far with

36:51the flavor of rose.

36:52And for me, unfortunately, I think in this dessert, you've done that.

36:56I love Mexico.

36:57I lived there for one year, and you bring me all the flavor I love from Mexico.

37:03For me, the mole, it's very balanced.

37:06Every time you give us ingredients that I'm totally familiar with, but you could deliver them to me in a

37:11way that I've never had before, and that's the sign of a great chef.

37:14And when I say this last thing, I mean it as the highest compliment.

37:18This is like the best Twinkie I ever had.

37:21You could see that, yeah.

37:23It was like the cream, the cake, the shape was fantastic.

37:25Orchata is one of my favorite drinks, and I love how you got it on the plate in that cream.

37:31But I'm sorry I didn't get to taste your evil dessert.

37:35Yeah.

37:35Thank you so much.

37:36Thank you so much.

37:37Thank you, Diana.

37:39All right, let's score.

37:42It's sad, but it is what it is.

37:44I'm proud of my dish.

37:46They definitely liked it, but I only did one dish.

37:50I don't know how it's going to be received lined up to other dishes and what they're making.

37:55Like, I have no idea.

37:56If you want to just chill, I can just leave you alone.

38:07Today's commandment was our sweetest one yet.

38:10It was surprising.

38:12It was full of emotion, and I was very impressed of your work.

38:17High praise from the world's best pastry chef.

38:19And although I wish I could be good to all of you, the bottom line is the chef with the

38:25lowest score will be going home.

38:30If you see your name on this scoreboard, that means you're safe and we'll be moving on in the competition.

38:38Let's see the top six scores.

38:47Congratulations, Beverly.

38:49You finished first with 155 points out of a possible 160.

38:54You are five points away from perfection.

38:58Hallelujah.

38:59You were voted by your peers earlier today to be most likely to win America's Culinary Cup, and you just

39:06showed us why.

39:08I kind of feel like I'm going to faint.

39:09It feels really great because I think it's empowering me.

39:12I'm trying to, like, say, you know what?

39:14That voice in your head that's, like, afraid to shine, like, because something bad's going to happen to you, that

39:19is an illusion.

39:21Congratulations to all six of you, Keith and Deanna.

39:26Since your names are not on the board, that means you two have the lowest scores and one of you

39:32will be going home.

39:36The chef going home today is...

39:48Deanna.

39:50Deanna, unfortunately, there was just no way for you to make up the difference, since you only plated one dessert.

39:56I'm so sorry, but you served your final dish.

40:00Six hours, I know, sounds like a long time, but not for me, apparently.

40:06Thank you for the opportunity, and it's been really great to be able to cook Mexican food in this platform

40:11and getting to know you guys.

40:13You know, it's been my mission for a long time to, like, dedicate my professional career to Mexican food.

40:20So, it's been great to do this in such a large platform like this.

40:25Even just, like, talking about it with all these chefs and, like, all these questions, it's been really nice.

40:32And then there were seven.

40:35Now, you're past the halfway point.

40:37Keith, how are you feeling?

40:39I don't even want to say relieved. I'm really beating myself up right now.

40:43I don't want you to beat yourself up.

40:45Well, I also don't want to be here because Dion only had one dish, neither.

40:49I'm questioning if she had two desserts, where do I land?

40:52But also, I have to accept the fact that the competition was to put up two desserts.

40:56The commandments are going to keep coming, so get some rest. Good night.

41:00Thank you, Chef.

41:01Thank you, Chef.

41:02Great stuff, guys.

41:03Thank you so much.

41:06Good job, brother.

41:06Yep, yep.

41:07If everybody here thinks I'm going to go home, I'm going to prove them wrong.

41:10Congrats.

41:10That's it, boy.

41:13Each week I'm learning more about how to compete in this setting, and I'm only going to get better.

41:19Now we got the pastry part out.

41:21How do I feel?

41:21Yeah.

41:22Let's get back to cooking again.

41:26Stay tuned for scenes from our next episode.

41:30Next time on America's Culinary Cup.

41:32Today's culinary commandment is culinary science and technology.

41:38Oh, .

41:38I made it through desserts, but I'm going home today.

41:42Today's a no-holds-barred, non-stop cook-off.

41:45You'll have five hours.

41:48Five hours.

41:49Is your head exploding, Buddha?

41:52Just going to be a meringue.

41:53I'm doing spherification.

41:54I'm smoking everything.

41:57Ooh.

41:57As you crack into it, you should, like, pour out.

42:00Oh, my.

42:01Ooh.

42:02When I came up with this challenge, I did not think we would be eating.

42:0540 dishes, yeah.

42:07I'm going to throw up.

42:08Oh, I'm so full.

42:11What happens when a ghost gets a job?

42:13HR wants to see me in person.

42:16Quote, send nudes.

42:17It's actually impressive how prolifically problematic you managed to be.

42:21Ghost is all new, CBS Thursday, and streaming on Paramount+.

42:26Boston Blue is all new, CBS Friday 10, 9, 7, and streaming on Paramount+.

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