- 5 hours ago
Chopped.S64E06
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00:02Food is medicine, and food is power.
00:05This is a dish to show people that indigenous foods
00:08are not living in the past.
00:10No way.
00:12Really cool to see indigenous food being elevated.
00:16Justin's plates look beautiful.
00:17It's like Jackson Pollock.
00:18I think I'm feeling every kind of emotion
00:20there could be right now.
00:22We're still here.
00:23We've always been here.
00:24And our food is beautiful.
00:25Our cultures are beautiful.
00:26And we want people to realize that.
00:28I see you.
00:29Like, I see you on the plate.
00:31This sauce, bro, is absolutely insane.
00:38I'm not setting out to be the Rachel Ray of Indian Country.
00:41I love it.
00:42No.
00:43I'm Mariah Gladstone.
00:44I am Blackfeet on my father's side,
00:46and Cherokee on my mother's side.
00:47I live on the Blackfeet Reservation in Northwest Montana.
00:50Steering up some elk steak,
00:52which my Blackfeet ancestors hunted for thousands of years.
00:58I'm the chef and owner of Indigikitchen.
01:00It's a teaching tool for instructing and re-indigenizing our diets,
01:06predominantly through culinary education.
01:09It would mean so much to win Chopped,
01:11because it would be validation for the work that I'm doing in my community.
01:17I can't, I saw my clock here.
01:24I'm co-owner and chef of Piochi Food Group in Upper Fruitland, New Mexico.
01:28We highlight different Navajo foods in a more modern, upscale setting,
01:31like liquid nitrogen, spherification, a lot of different modern techniques.
01:35There are no rules in cooking.
01:37Certain principles we have to follow,
01:39but who's going to tell me how to cook or whatever?
01:44We've been featured in New York Times and Forbes.
01:47I was actually a James Beard finalist for Best Chef Southwest in 2023.
01:52Navajos, when we do this, we sift it through the whisk.
01:55I am the chef to beat because of the little accolades that I've been getting.
01:59I deserve to win.
02:02Go for it right.
02:05I grew up on Santa Clara Pueblo Reservation.
02:07Food is medicine, and food is power.
02:10It's so important we even pray with our food.
02:12So we're going to slow roast this duck until it gets nice and tender,
02:15and then we're going to reverse steer it.
02:18Oh, yeah.
02:19I'm chef-owner of Manco Native American Fusion
02:22out of Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico.
02:24Went to culinary school, I came out on fire,
02:27and I became an executive chef at 23.
02:29Indigenous cuisine is based off of the three sisters,
02:33orange, and beans, and squash.
02:34And then, depending on where you're from,
02:36it elaborates into different things.
02:39Being at Chopped is so amazing.
02:40I can't wait to represent my Pueblo people.
02:44Alrighty. Tell me when you're ready.
02:48I think I'm the chef to beat because I bring to the table my passion,
02:53my heart, my soul, and my skills.
02:58We're waiting until it smells as nutty as me.
03:02I am the chef and owner of Kitapanen Kitchen in Chicago, Illinois.
03:06Kitapanen is an expression of love in the Menominee language.
03:09I would consider my style of cooking a modern, indigenous comfort food.
03:14It nurtures your mind, body, and soul.
03:18Now that's pretty neat.
03:20It almost looks the color of my hair.
03:22I was a guest judge on Top Chef.
03:25I've had a whole lot of exposure and experience.
03:28I know what the judges are looking for.
03:31Perfection.
03:36Hello, chefs.
03:37Hello.
03:37Hi.
03:38Hey, how's it going?
03:39For this special competition, we are honored to have four chefs
03:42whose culinary points of view are so deeply aligned
03:45with their indigenous communities and cultures.
03:47We are very excited to be inspired by what you create on the plates.
03:52It's incredible to be representing indigenous cuisine on chop.
03:56It's going to bring visibility to our people, indigenous people as a whole.
04:01Are you all ready?
04:03We're ready.
04:03Ready.
04:04Absolutely.
04:05Excellent.
04:06Please turn your attention to this first basket.
04:12Open it up.
04:15What do we have here?
04:16And you'll be working with staghorn sumac.
04:19Sumac is great.
04:21It's going to have that tartness.
04:23Smells like yogurt.
04:25Pawpaw pulp.
04:26The pawpaw has a very tropical smell to me, like papaya or mango.
04:32Whitefish.
04:33Whitefish.
04:35Bunch of bones in this one.
04:37And casheroni.
04:38Oh, I have tiny fry breads.
04:41This basket is gnarly.
04:43It's going to be a lot of fun to work with.
04:44I can't wait to start cooking.
04:46You'll have just 20 minutes to make appetizers.
04:50And the clock starts now.
04:52Let's go, chef.
04:53Let's go.
04:54All right.
04:55Let's see what they do with this basket.
04:58Do this.
04:59Our judges for this competition are the host of Food Network's wildcard kitchen chef, Eric Ajepong,
05:06plus award-winning private chef Piette Despain and indigenous cuisine expert chef, Sean Sherman.
05:13Good.
05:13Thank you for joining us.
05:15Thanks for having us.
05:15Thanks for having us.
05:17Well, appropriately, this appetizer basket is a tribute to Native American ingredients.
05:22This is a very special day in the Chopped Kitchen.
05:24You guys cooked with these chefs before and maybe know a little bit about them.
05:28They all come from different, you know, regions.
05:30And I'm really excited to see in what way they're going to utilize these ingredients to really tell their own
05:35story.
05:35In the Southwest, you know, like where Ray and Justin are from, like, they use a lot of the smooth
05:39sumac and they're able to just, like, make a tea out of it.
05:42And it's really good to get a light pink color.
05:44But this, the staghorn sumac's a little bit different.
05:47So, you know, where Jessica is from and Mariah is from, like, they have more of the staghorn in those
05:52regions, Montana, Wisconsin, Chicago.
05:57Justin, what's going on, man?
05:59So, I'm just trying to clean out the pin bones without taking too much time, so I just cut the
06:03middle part out.
06:04Okay.
06:05I'm going to probably crust it with some of this, fry that real quick, and finish it in the oven.
06:09I think I'm going to make, like, a little salsa.
06:11I have some sumac boiling right now.
06:13Make a little tea for that for you guys.
06:15A little treat.
06:16Ooh.
06:16Yeah, yeah.
06:18Seems like Justin is clearly showing a lot of expertise behind the ingredient.
06:21Now I'm going to finish the tea.
06:23A little bit of agave, because it's lower on the glycemic index.
06:27European ingredients that were introduced to us in the Americas, like dairy, wheat flour, and cane sugar just don't sit
06:33well.
06:34Okay, so that's why Justin went with agave.
06:37Agave.
06:37Because it's from his region.
06:38Then you have, like, the maple trees that are up north.
06:41Gandelion.
06:43That white fish, it's super delicate.
06:45Yeah, it is.
06:45Very, very neutral in flavor.
06:46But they do have some pin bones.
06:48Yeah, we'll see what happens.
06:49And I think, really, the casheroni is going to be probably the most difficult.
06:53I know this has a very specific cultural relevancy to some of the tribes in the Northeast, especially some of
06:58the Haudenosaunee tribes.
07:00But this is going to be something that's completely different for them, so they're going to take it like fry
07:04bread.
07:04I would love, like, a little fried nugget, maybe with the fish.
07:08You can use that casheroni as the breading.
07:12Fry bread comes from a time when we were dependent on government ration boxes, and so we created fry bread
07:18with those things, so we didn't have to face starvation.
07:21But fry bread isn't exactly super healthy, and so I just don't incorporate it a lot.
07:26But, of course, with any type of bread, I'm thinking sandwich.
07:30I'm making an open-faced fry bread sandwich with sumac whitefish, raspberry pawpaw sauce, and quick pickled onions.
07:40Pawpaw.
07:40It's like a cross between, like, a banana texture, but tastes kind of like a bitter apple almost, you know?
07:47I would say so, yeah, yeah.
07:48It's the biggest fruit in North America.
07:50So we just saw some raspberries go in a pot with the pawpaws.
07:54You know, raspberries are indigenous to the Americas as well, so good play on keeping the theme with indigenous ingredients.
08:04Menominee people, we're not a very big tribe, but we're a big family.
08:07I'm hoping that by being on CHOP that I become an inspiration to our younger people.
08:14Because whitefish is such a flavorless fish, it's very important to find a way to infuse flavor into the fish.
08:21And the citrusy taste of sumac complements fish.
08:25I'm making a pan-seared sumac and garlic whitefish with pawpaw maple glaze on fry bread.
08:31The sumac's, you know, got the real citrusy flavor.
08:34Right.
08:34Some tribes make a lemonade with it.
08:37I'm going to crush the sumac and leave some of it whole just to get the burst of flavor along
08:42with some texture.
08:45I want to grab my bone.
08:49I taste the pawpaw and it did remind me a bit of a mango, and I'm using the maple to
08:55offset it.
08:56On our reservation, we produce a lot of maple syrup for our tribe, so I wanted to bring a piece
09:01of home there.
09:04I grew up in New Mexico on the reservation.
09:08Geographically, we are considered the northern rim of the Aztec empire.
09:15Five years, right?
09:16So I'm doing the tostada because it ties into our relationship to Mexican ingredients and Mexican cuisine.
09:23Whitefish, I don't know where this is from, and I don't really work with it.
09:26And I'm noticing that it has a lot of pin bones.
09:30Ray's in the zone right now. Ray, man, what do you got going on?
09:33I got a sumac dusted whitefish. I'm going to be working on a little tostada action going on here.
09:39Ooh, tostada.
09:40I'm not mad at that.
09:41Speaking my language.
09:43I'm watching Chef Mariah. That whitefish hasn't been touched at all.
09:48Oh, my gosh.
09:49Oh, my goodness.
09:49I need to get the whitefish cooking for my open-faced sumac whitefish sandwich.
09:54And she's now going into a cold pan as well.
09:59My pan's not hot enough when I add my whitefish.
10:02It's not getting cooked. It's messy. It's sticking to the pan.
10:06She's searing, but it's not going to sear.
10:08Yeah.
10:08Yeah, that pan doesn't look hot enough.
10:11Pan does not look hot whatsoever.
10:19My pan wasn't hot enough when I added my whitefish.
10:22At this point, the fish is not going to have the crispiness that I wanted.
10:27So that's a disappointment, but I still need to get it cooked.
10:32Okay, chefs, you're down to four minutes.
10:34Let's go, chefs.
10:35Four minutes.
10:36Now it's against the wire.
10:39I sliced my fry bread in half. It's cold and lifeless.
10:43I figure the best way to add that love is to sear it in a pan with some butter to
10:47add some caramelization.
10:50Jessica's got a big slab of butter. That's what I'm talking about.
10:53We are cooking with love down there.
10:59Two minutes.
11:01So I'm doing the lime mayo sauce because it goes great with the fish.
11:07Paw paw also has a citrus background to it. This will be great to add to the sauce.
11:13I'm adding the fry bread because it will enhance the sauce a little bit.
11:1930 seconds, chefs.
11:22Oh, my goodness.
11:23That's so fast.
11:24It's really fast.
11:2420 minutes is quick.
11:27All right, guys.
11:28Let's go.
11:28Finish strong.
11:29Finish strong.
11:30Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
11:31Final touches.
11:33Power through.
11:34Oh, yeah. Let's go.
11:35You guys got this.
11:36You guys got this.
11:37You guys got the nine.
11:38Let's go.
11:39Seven.
11:40Six.
11:41Five.
11:42Four.
11:43Three.
11:44Two.
11:45One.
11:47Time's up.
11:48All right.
11:49Way to go.
11:51That was the fastest 20 minutes I've ever cooked.
11:56The other competitors are really awesome.
11:59I know Ray, also Mariah Gladstone.
12:01We've done events together before, and they have put out some really delicious food every time I've had their food,
12:06so I'm a little nervous.
12:10Chefs, you've arrived at the chopping block for the first round of our special competition honoring Native American cooking.
12:17In the first basket, you got staghorn sumac, pawpaw pulp, whitefish, and kasharoni.
12:27Chef Justin, please tell us about your appetizer.
12:30I made sauteed whitefish with pawpaw salsa, and on the side, I took the sumac and made a little tea
12:36on there made with agave syrup because agave is low around the glycemic index, and as Native Americans, we need
12:41to watch our sugar intake.
12:44It's something that's healing for my people. Whenever we have an upset stomach, that's what we drink.
12:52Yeah, I really enjoyed the tea.
12:54I do wish that the fish was served with a crispy skin, because the skin for me is like the
13:00best part of a whitefish, but the cook was perfect.
13:03The fish is really nice and delicate. The pawpaw really comes through.
13:07Thank you, Chef.
13:08I agree. I thought the use of the pawpaw puree was perfect, a very inviting sauce, one that goes very,
13:14very well with the fish.
13:15I thought the use of the staghorn sumac and the tea, it invites me to the dish.
13:19It also gives me a little bit of an education about you, your people, and some of the things that
13:23you guys go through as far as the dietary concerns.
13:25Yeah.
13:26Chef, how much does health and nutrition factor into your cooking?
13:30Our bodies don't break down sugars, alcohols, and flours, because that was never a part of our diet.
13:35Back in the day, a long time ago, there was only one Navajo on the reservation who had diabetes, and
13:40now it's one in three.
13:42So I try my best to not use colonized ingredients.
13:48Those diabetes figures are staggering.
13:50Yep.
13:51Devastating.
13:52Next up, Chef Mariah.
13:54I made an open-faced fry bread sandwich with sumac, white fish, pan-fried with a pawpaw raspberry sauce.
14:05Where are you cooking now, Chef?
14:06So I live on the Blackfeet Reservation in Northwest Montana, and I run a business called Indigikitchen.
14:13A lot of what I do is focused on indigenous food education.
14:16So I do online cooking classes, I do workshops just to teach people about indigenous foods and to re-indigenize
14:24our diets.
14:25The combination of the pawpaw puree and the raspberry is just out of this world.
14:29Just insanely good.
14:31And what's nice, it pulls with the sumac because it gives me a little bit of tartness as well.
14:37I really love the approach to the ingredients here.
14:40I love me a nice little handheld open sandwich situation because I was like, I just want to get in
14:44there with my hands.
14:47Yeah, Chef thought the fish was well done.
14:49But for me, like, the fry bread is so prominent.
14:52It takes away the beauty that you created a little bit.
14:55Next up, Chef Ray.
14:57So I have for you a sumac-dusted white fish tostada with a pawpaw mayo.
15:04Okay, what inspired that direction for you, Chef?
15:06The story that I like with my food is that when you eat food from the Southwest and Mexican cultures,
15:12it's also indigenous and often overlooked.
15:16I really love that you're utilizing some of the Mexican styling here because Mexican food is more indigenous than it
15:24is European.
15:25Yeah, I love this dish.
15:27Give me a tostada all day, I'm happy.
15:29I love the bringing out the fish on top with like this aioli mayo sauce situation.
15:35It's very tasty and I want to keep eating it, but I'm trying to be a lady.
15:40This is fantastic.
15:42Clearly, I get the sumac.
15:43Clearly, I get the white fish.
15:44The fish is treated perfectly.
15:49But I pulled a ton of bones out of this, so I think just a little bit more attention to
15:53that detail.
15:55Finally, Chef Jessica.
15:56I did a pan-seared sumac and garlic white fish with pawpaw maple glaze and I'm going to call that
16:04fry bread.
16:06Chef, could you please tell us where you're from?
16:09I am from the great Menominee nation in northern Wisconsin by way of Chicago.
16:14So I like the little bit of the stag horn that you left whole because it adds like some crunchy
16:19texture to it.
16:21You're the only one that kept it whole and I get those beautiful kind of like bursts of tartness and
16:25a little bit of citrus, which adds a little bit more intrigue to the dish.
16:29The fish was cooked beautifully and the pawpaw, getting maple, getting some of that pawpaw, it's not too overpowering, which
16:35is good.
16:36Fun idea, just needed more fish and a little bit more of everything because the fry bread kind of takes
16:41over a little bit of all of it.
16:43Okay.
16:45Chef, what is your motivation to put yourself through this competition?
16:48You know, being right here today, all of us.
16:51I mean, we have families that look up to us, communities that look up to us.
16:55It's a big step for every one of us.
16:57And for my grandchildren and child to see that, then they know that it's okay to chase their dreams.
17:03Mm-hmm.
17:04That's powerful.
17:08What a pleasure it has been to have all of you here.
17:11But one competitor must leave us now.
17:14I'm kicking myself in the behind now.
17:16Like, there's things I should have done different.
17:18And so, I think I'm feeling every kind of emotion there could be right now.
17:23I don't work with too much fish on my reservation.
17:26I should have taken the skin off, but I just didn't know it was 20 minutes goes faster than I
17:32thought it would.
17:42So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
17:57Chief Jessica, you've been chopped.
18:00Judges?
18:01Jessica, the fish was so delicious.
18:04And unfortunately, the fry bread was just so prominent over everything else.
18:08It really swallowed everything up when the fish and the sumac and the pawpaw really should have shown brighter.
18:13And so, we had to chop you.
18:18You know, although I'm not moving forward, I think working with the other Native chefs, knowing that all of us
18:22are doing work that matters,
18:23and we all got to come together in one beautiful place and have this large platform to showcase who we
18:30are and the work that we do.
18:31I think that was the best part of this whole experience.
18:39Chef Ray, Chef Mariah, Chef Justin, take a deep breath and get ready.
18:47Go for it.
18:50And you've got sweet corn ice cream sandwiches.
18:54Ice cream.
18:56Lima beans.
18:57Lima beans.
18:58Love lima beans.
19:00Bison ribeye.
19:01I live in the middle of bison country.
19:04I'm happy.
19:07And dried Anaheim chiles.
19:10Anaheim chile is very bitter, if not correct.
19:15The entree round is 30 minutes.
19:18Time starts now.
19:19Let's go, Chefs!
19:20Let's go!
19:22It's hard to even fathom the legacy of indigenous agriculture.
19:26Native Americans are responsible for developing or discovering about 60% of the food the world eats today.
19:34Talking corn, beans, chilies.
19:37Sean and Kit, as far as how recipes have come to you and your plate, has it been orally transferred
19:43through the years?
19:44Some tribes have maintained a lot of tradition in their foodways, but we were pushed through assimilation efforts.
19:53A lot of our knowledge was taken away from us.
19:56Yeah, a lot of us are re-educating ourselves, which is why we share so much of what we learn
20:00with our peers, with our communities.
20:02Wow.
20:03And here we see another example of health being a factor in native cooking.
20:08Bison typically is a healthier red meat to eat, compared to the cattle anyway.
20:12Absolutely.
20:14Blackfeet people have pretty rights to hunt bison outside of Yellowstone.
20:19Bison is a really lean meat.
20:22You just want to make sure that you're cooking hot and fast.
20:27Lima beans are from South America.
20:29Sweet potatoes are from South America.
20:31So I'm going to try to make some type of crispy fritter.
20:35I'm making bison steak strips with a sweet potato and lima bean fritter and red chili cream sauce.
20:44And Mariah, how's it going?
20:46It's good. I have a plan for this weird ice cream thing.
20:49Okay. All right.
20:51That's a tricky one.
20:53I'm going to need something to kind of help these fritters stick together a little bit.
20:58So I put those in the food processor until that's forming kind of a dough.
21:02You would think, off first glance, corn would play well with all the other ingredients, but then it's ice cream,
21:08right?
21:08So how do you get around that?
21:09Right.
21:09I mean, I think polenta is a perfect place for you to bury some of that sweetness and bring in
21:14lots of savory flavor.
21:17Chef Ray, he may have pulled grits.
21:19That's the right idea.
21:22So Ray, what's the plan over there?
21:25We're going to do a bison steak with a red chili sauce and root corn grits to go with that.
21:32Starting grits?
21:33I'm adding the ice cream.
21:35I'm hoping that the tang of goat cheese will help to balance out the dish because the ice cream was
21:41just super sweet.
21:44I started to run my own business three years ago.
21:47Mexico Native American Fusion is a catering business and a food truck.
21:50My son works with me, my daughters work with me, and I'm trying to pass down what I know to
21:55them.
21:55I want to win $10,000 because I have big plans to get into our own brick and mortar restaurant.
22:02All right, Justin, what's going on with that food processor right there?
22:05What are you doing?
22:06I'll process that corn sandwich thing or weird thing, whatever it is.
22:11And I'm going to make like grits with it.
22:13Okay, grits.
22:14So we've got two different styles of grits happening right now.
22:19I'm going to make an Anaheim chili rub bison because chilies are native to where I grew up,
22:25and I found that they make a really great rub for steaks.
22:31The fritters are looking good.
22:33Now I really need to focus on my sauce.
22:36Maybe I'll let this chili flavor infuse my ice cream.
22:42We have 10 minutes left.
22:4410 minutes?
22:45Yeah.
22:50Lima beans are pretty awesome.
22:52I'm going to char them with a little bit of shallot and some soy sauce just to add some more
22:57taste to it.
23:00I'm using my Anaheim chilies to make a sauce.
23:03I put it into the Issy canister.
23:05I charge it twice.
23:09But unfortunately, nothing's coming out.
23:12Chefs, about five minutes left on that clock.
23:14Now I got to change my game plan.
23:16So I'm just going to let it splatter on the plate and then make it look a little avant-garde
23:20-ish.
23:22My sauce is really watery.
23:23I need to blend it.
23:25I'm running out of time.
23:27Oh, that's not good.
23:29That was the wrong side.
23:31At this point, my sauce is already a mess.
23:34So there's not too many things I could do to frustrate myself even more.
23:38I just need to get food on the plate.
23:42Oh, 40 seconds.
23:4440 seconds, Chefs.
23:45Down to the wire.
23:47All right, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.
23:50Chefs, finish strong here.
23:51Come on, Mariah.
23:52Get it on the plate.
23:53Come on, Mariah, come on.
23:54Eight.
23:54Seven.
23:55Here we go.
23:56Five.
23:57Four.
23:58Three.
23:59Two.
24:00One.
24:02Time's up.
24:04I feel as if all three of our chefs have really done well in this round.
24:08Justin's plates look beautiful.
24:10It's like Jackson Pollard.
24:11Yeah.
24:11Jackson Pollard.
24:12There you go.
24:14I'm feeling a little disappointed that my sauce didn't get it thick enough.
24:18But I'm hoping that the creativity of my little fritters comes through.
24:25Chefs, in the entree round, your job was to celebrate sweet corn ice cream sandwiches, lima beans, bison ribeye, and
24:34dried Anaheim chilies.
24:36All right, Chef Ray, please tell us about your main course.
24:39So we have grilled buffalo steak, a sauce made of Anaheim chilies with a kiss of maple syrup, blue corn
24:46grits with goat cheese, and the ice cream, and sauteed lima beans.
24:56This sauce is stunning.
24:58It is so delicious.
24:59I love the little kiss of maple that has a nice flavor to it.
25:03The chilies are, like, so prominent and so there.
25:06Pairs perfectly with everything that you've put here on the table.
25:08Thank you, Chef.
25:09I agree with Chef Pia.
25:10This sauce, bro, is absolutely insane.
25:15The bison, for me, is cooked really well.
25:17I wish I had a little bit more salt.
25:18Yeah.
25:19And maybe a little bit more of the ice cream, because I can't really taste it in the mush.
25:23I feel like the masa kind of hides it a tiny bit.
25:27All together, all the flavor components are working for sure.
25:31Thank you, Chef.
25:32Next up, Chef Mariah.
25:34I made bison steak strips on top of sweet potato and lima bean fritters with a creamy Anaheim chili sauce.
25:46This bison is, I'm so happy you took a cast iron to it.
25:50It's seared perfectly.
25:51I'm also glad that you pan seared and also just letting the steak rest the way you did, too.
25:56Which is really important.
25:57If anybody knows meat, Montanans.
26:01I got a bison tattoo.
26:03Exactly.
26:04I should know my way around a bison.
26:06You know your way around some flavor.
26:08I also even get that sweet corn ice cream in there as well.
26:11It's there, but it's not taking over the dish.
26:14And I think that's just a really experienced chef that would do that.
26:19Love the fritter.
26:20The only issue I really have with the dish is that lackluster sauce that was kind of put on at
26:25the last minute.
26:26We can't necessarily call it creamy.
26:29Yeah.
26:30Chef, would it mean something, anything special to you to win this competition?
26:35Yeah, my goal is always to magnify indigenous food voices and to share information about indigenous cooking
26:45and how that all blends with ecology and nutrition.
26:49Winning Chopped would mean a bigger platform to get more people excited about native foods.
26:54Finally, Chef Justin, please tell us about your entree.
26:58Chefs, for you today I have Anaheim chili rubbed bison ribeye, Anaheim chili sauce, some charred lima beans, and also
27:05sweet corn grits.
27:09Well, Justin, obviously this plate was beautiful.
27:12Every piece is well executed.
27:14And so the biggest critique that I have is, I just want more of this sauce.
27:18We did see you struggle with trying to make the foam.
27:21Yeah.
27:21But I thought it was genius to be like, wow, now it looks like a perfect splatter, you know?
27:25So go with, just roll with it.
27:28Yeah, I definitely agree.
27:29Everything was so delicious.
27:31We just needed more sauce.
27:33There was a perfect char on that steak.
27:36And then that char on the lima beans, there's just this essence of earthiness that's coming through that's just so
27:41spectacular.
27:42And then you have that sweet corn that's coming in and just making the perfect flavor profile.
27:46This is a very well composed dish.
27:49A little bit more salt on the mash.
27:52But bro, you did it.
27:53Nice job.
27:54Thank you, Chefs.
27:55Okay, Chefs.
28:00I know that my competition is really steep, but I feel like I did something creative with the lima beans.
28:07I'm just disappointed in my sauce.
28:08I'm not feeling very safe right now.
28:26So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
28:40Chef Ray, you've been chopped.
28:42Judges?
28:44Chef Ray, it is such an honor to be able to eat your food.
28:48But at the end of the day, collectively, we felt the sweet corn ice cream got lost in the masa.
28:53And so, unfortunately, we had to chop you.
28:58I don't see that as a loss at all.
29:00I see it as a win for native country.
29:02We got to show our communities what we're all about.
29:03So, hey, it's a good thing.
29:13Chef Justin, Chef Mariah, no time like the present to make the best desserts of your careers.
29:22Open them up.
29:27This is jerky.
29:28You are looking at pemmican.
29:32Saskatoon berries.
29:36Saddest berries.
29:37Blackie people would traditionally harvest gallons of these berries.
29:41Tastes a little bit like a blueberry.
29:44Sweet potatoes.
29:45Sweet potatoes.
29:48And stone milled whole wheat flour.
29:53Another half hour left in the chopped kitchen.
29:55We're going to figure something out.
29:57Get started now.
30:00Woo!
30:02Let's go.
30:02Let's go.
30:04I'm excited to see what they're going to do.
30:08It's going to be interesting because, again, like, both of these chefs don't typically use wheat flour.
30:12You know, since wheat flour is not indigenous to the Americas, but this particular wheat flour is coming from Ramona
30:19Farms.
30:20Ramona.
30:20And it's an heirloom variety of wheat that that particular tribe has been saving and growing.
30:24So it's got a lot of cultural meaning to them.
30:29Chef Justin.
30:30Yes, sir.
30:30What's your plan so far?
30:32I'm going to make pemmican bread pudding.
30:35Oh, not bad.
30:36I'm also making cognac whipped cream, hand-eat sweet potatoes.
30:40How are you using the wheat?
30:42It's going to go in here as a binder.
30:44Okay.
30:45This wind would be really great for Piyochi Fugu.
30:48I run it with my sister and my mom.
30:50A little extra cash in our pockets to help us go to the next level.
30:55What is pemmican?
30:56So, like, in Lakota, when we grew up, dehydrated bison was a big part of our food sources.
31:00We would pound that out and with a little bit of berries and fat and call that wasna, which is
31:06very similar to what pemmican is, which is kind of a combination of usually berries and protein and fat.
31:11You could go to, like, our local, like, quick stops on Osage Res Reservation, where I grew up, and you
31:16can get, like, a pack of, like, dried meat that's, like, kind of like a powder.
31:21And it was so good.
31:25Hey, Justin, what's in the blender?
31:27Pemmican, berries, and a little bit of pine nuts.
31:30You added orange juice to it.
31:32Copy that.
31:33Okay.
31:33The orange will be a little citric acid just to help pop it, especially because that berry isn't super citric,
31:39you know?
31:39The berry is very mild.
31:40It didn't have too much of a sweetness to it either.
31:44No, no.
31:44If you cook them downright, then, again, it will come out.
31:46The natural sugars will come out.
31:48Yep.
31:49So we have sweet potatoes in this basket because sweet potatoes are indigenous to the Americas.
31:54Surprise!
31:55Comes from South America.
31:56First thing Mariah did was she got those sweet potatoes in a pot, got them cooked up, and she pureed
32:03them.
32:03I have a sweet potato muffin recipe in my kid's cookbook.
32:09I use pumpkin seed flour in that.
32:11I think I can make it work by using this whole wheat flour.
32:15Mariah, what's your plan?
32:17My plan is to do a sweet potato muffin with a meat berry sauce.
32:24All right.
32:25No pressure on that.
32:27Yeah.
32:28When I win $10,000, I'm going to use it to update my pop-up kitchen space and to bring
32:33an even better experience to Indigikitchen visitors and folks that are learning in the space that I have in Montana.
32:43I've always been told that my desserts have been whimsical and have like a Willy Wonka-ish take on things.
32:49My plan is to put the whipped cream on the anti-griddle.
32:53Is that the anti-griddle being used?
32:55Which is a surface that will freeze anything that you put on it very, very quickly.
32:59All of my days.
33:00Okay.
33:00All of my days.
33:01Justin's pulling out all the bells and whistles.
33:06Chefs, less than 10 minutes to go.
33:07Where does your mind go with the pemmican in a dessert?
33:11It's a tricky one.
33:12It's very savory.
33:13My idea was kind of like a play on candied bacon.
33:18Exactly.
33:18I decided I'm going to make a berry sauce.
33:21It's going to candy that pemmican, but it's also going to rehydrate that dry meat with all the delicious berry
33:28juices.
33:30I think that Mariah's muffins are out of the oven.
33:33They puffed up nicely.
33:35They really did.
33:39Mariah's made a muffin and I'm just like, oh my gosh, that looks really good.
33:43I need to make sure that everything tastes as perfect as possible.
33:47I'm checking my whipped cream.
33:50It's not even cold.
33:54Not working.
33:55The anti-grill is not cold enough.
33:57That's not even cold.
33:59It's like a grill pan.
34:00You have to get it cold.
34:02Yeah.
34:02You have to prep it, you know, in order to get it ready.
34:04I think he just went in when it wasn't.
34:13That's not even cold.
34:15I realized that the anti-grill is not cold enough.
34:18There's no basket ingredients in this whipped cream, but it's important to my dish because it's going to help elevate
34:24the dish, add some more sweetness to it.
34:26I'm just going to have to go old fashioned and just put it on top of my bread pudding.
34:30And what?
34:31We have a successful whip.
34:32Wow, a whip.
34:33He's got it.
34:33Indeed we do.
34:34One minute, chefs.
34:39Right now we're seeing Justin pull out the bread pudding and it looks insane.
34:43It looks pretty stunning.
34:44We want everyone to succeed.
34:45It's just so exciting to see them succeeding simultaneously in this round.
34:50Wow.
34:50It's just really exciting.
34:51All right.
34:52Let's go, chefs.
34:54Final seconds of the final round, chefs.
34:5710, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
35:08Time's up.
35:09Wow.
35:09Wow, wow, wow, wow.
35:11Congratulations.
35:12That's awesome.
35:12Great job, chefs.
35:13Oh, I cannot wait.
35:15Wow, me neither.
35:18I feel like this is a dish to show people that native foods, like native people, are not
35:24living in the past.
35:25We're here.
35:26We're doing something amazing every day in the 21st century.
35:42Chef Mariah and Chef Justin, in the final round, you made desserts using pemmican,
35:47saskatoon berries, sweet potatoes, and stone-milled whole wheat flour.
35:54Chef Mariah, please tell us what you made.
35:57Yeah, this is a sweet potato muffin with a pemmican sabbis berry sauce and maple candied walnuts.
36:05I was really excited to see the saskatoon berries.
36:10We call them sabbis berries back on Blackfeet.
36:12And the meat and the berries, we make berry soup out of it.
36:17It's ceremony food for us.
36:18I love the cultural pulls into the dish.
36:23Got traces of mint.
36:24And the stone-milled whole wheat flour muffin with the sweet potato is just a stroke of genius.
36:30They turned out really tender, fluffy, and nice.
36:33The pemmican that you soaked in with the berries, it really soaked up that flavor.
36:38It became tender, it almost candied, and it really hit the right note.
36:43But I wish I had more of that pemmican because it was just so spot-on and delicious.
36:50Final dish of the day, Chef Justin.
36:52Today I made you a pemmican bread pudding with cognac whipped cream and candied sweet potatoes
37:00and toasted pine nuts on there as well.
37:07I love whimsicalness.
37:09For me, this was like a celebration of textures.
37:14There were so many different little crunchy bits, but yet softness from the bread pudding.
37:18And my bread pudding is spot-on.
37:21Like, I love the way it's cooked.
37:23I love it's like, still has a sponginess to it.
37:26Cream was just so airy.
37:28Came through with flavor.
37:29I love the knife skills as well, man, on the sweet potato.
37:31Perfect uniform dice.
37:33They're all candied perfectly.
37:34Obviously, it took time to treat them.
37:35They're delicious.
37:37Well, this was bold with the pemmican and the berry sauce, and I thought it was going to be sweet,
37:43but it does have a little bit of that gaminess, a little bit of that smokiness.
37:46In my opinion, it was a little salt-forward.
37:49It hit us all.
37:51What do you think it would mean to you to win this competition?
37:55It would mean a lot to me because my family has always been behind me.
37:59My sister is my sous chef and co-owner.
38:01My mom is also our momager.
38:03They deserve as much bragging rights as I do because they're the ones who lift me up.
38:08Okay.
38:09The judges will think back over all your dishes as they decide on the champion.
38:14Thank you, chefs.
38:18The food was absolutely insane today.
38:21What do you guys think?
38:22So, so good.
38:23Let's start off with the appetizer.
38:25I really love that Mariah put the pop-pop puree with raspberries.
38:29Those flavors pair really well together.
38:32That was something that I didn't expect.
38:33I was completely blown away by Chef Mariah's casceroni, sort of fried bread crostini that she clearly knows her way
38:41around fish cookery.
38:42And it showed right there.
38:44I thought maybe the casceroni was maybe cut just a little too thick.
38:48Absolutely.
38:49And, you know, obviously Justin's very creative mind when it comes to his culinary technique.
38:54It was just fun to watch him grow.
38:56I thought the use of the pop-pop pulp was so good.
38:59That sauce complimented the fish.
39:01But if you are going to commit to serving a pan-seared white fish with skin on, I would love
39:08to have a crispy skin on my fish.
39:11Both chefs came in swinging with the entrees.
39:14And Chef Mariah clearly knows her way around bison.
39:17It was like hands down the best steak that was presented to us today.
39:20Yeah, absolutely.
39:21She did have this lima bean fritter that was really outside of the box that I enjoyed.
39:26I enjoyed the flavor profile of that a lot.
39:29And just if her sauce would have really, like, been what she wanted it to be, it would have been
39:33a near-perfect dish.
39:35Yeah, for sure.
39:36And then you go over to Justin's Ming.
39:38Yeah.
39:38That dried Anaheim chili sauce.
39:41Yeah.
39:42Beautiful.
39:43Stunning.
39:43We wanted more.
39:44More sauce.
39:45More sauce.
39:46And so I think you just did a phenomenal job also adding that little bit of char on the lima
39:50beans.
39:50That also added some flavor, some smokiness, the sweetness from that corn mush.
39:54Yeah.
39:54Like, everything was just perfectly balanced on that plate.
39:57Very well balanced.
39:58Just so good.
40:02Mariah's a really good competitor, and she put out some really good-looking food as well.
40:06But I feel like I got it in the bag.
40:10I think I was definitely the underdog going into the dessert round just because I feel like my entree could
40:16have been better.
40:17But I feel like we're pretty head-to-head.
40:22So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
40:32Chef Mariah, you've been chopped.
40:35Judges?
40:36Chef Mariah, it was such an honor watching you cook and share your stories.
40:41You cooked us three amazing plates.
40:44But unfortunately, the appetizer round, the casceroni crostini that's just cut a little too thick,
40:49the entree round, again, stellar cook on that bison.
40:53But unfortunately, that Anaheim cream sauce did not have enough time to develop flavor.
40:59And so, for that, we had to chop you.
41:03I mean, I'm obviously disappointed that I didn't win.
41:06Chef, awesome job.
41:08Winning Chopped was important to me because it means an elevated platform for indigenous foods and for teaching.
41:17I'm able to walk away with that even without winning.
41:23And that means Chef Justin Pioci, you are the Chopped champion.
41:28Congratulations, sir.
41:29Yay!
41:33So, how does that feel?
41:35It feels really good.
41:38I just want Chopped and I feel really ecstatic and I can't believe that I really pulled through.
41:44I had some really tough competition.
41:46Brother.
41:46Appreciate it.
41:47You're not supposed to dress better than me.
41:49Oh, please.
41:50Mom and my sister, they've always been my rock.
41:54Congratulations.
41:54They're going to be really excited when they hear this news.
41:57You
41:57You
42:00That gives me responsibility.
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