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America's Culinary Cup Season 1 Episode 10
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00:00By our official cleanup partners, Don Powerwash.
00:06Last time on America's Culinary Cup, our culinary commandment is world cuisine.
00:13I feel like Don, this is a very bad lemon rice.
00:15I could be going hard. I haven't felt like this ever.
00:18I feel like I have something to prove. I was voted least likely to win the competition.
00:23Congratulations, Chris.
00:25Wow.
00:25The first chef to earn a perfect score on a dish.
00:30Katie, you served your final dish.
00:34This is the final four. It's do or die for all of us.
00:36You are most likely to win now.
00:39There's no room to hide.
00:40And I'm ready to win a million dollars.
00:42I think some people are more nervous than others.
00:44The expectations set.
00:45May the best chef win.
00:57That's the wrong floor.
01:00Not a lot left.
01:01It's down to the four of us.
01:03If I had to say, who is my strongest competition, it would be Buddha.
01:07He knows how to play the game.
01:09So stark in here.
01:11I guess despite being rusty, I still made it to the final four.
01:14It feels reaffirming that I can, like riding a bike, I guess.
01:17Wow.
01:18I know.
01:18This is wild.
01:19I'm a runner.
01:20This competition is definitely more of a marathon than a sprint.
01:24I've fallen into a bit of a rhythm here after a few stumbles early on.
01:28Now that we're close to the finale, I feel like I'm kind of in that runner's high.
01:41How's that helping us?
01:42That's a lot of sermon.
01:44Breakfast lunch and dinner?
01:45I don't think we're doing a breakfast challenge.
01:47You know, I've had a great couple of weeks and then I bumbled it last week.
01:50And just like sports, you know, you're going to have an off day.
01:52And I flew way too close to the sun than I want to be.
01:56What could I be?
02:08Welcome to the semifinals of America's Culinary Cup.
02:12Give yourselves a hand.
02:14By the end of today, only three of you will be left and advance to the finals.
02:20There, you'll fight one last time for America's Culinary Cup and $1 million.
02:27Brought to you by our official cleanup partner, Don Powerwash.
02:31Chefs, you've conquered every culinary commandment we've thrown at you.
02:34But today, we go to the heart of your craft.
02:39Today's commandment is mastering the art of taste.
02:46There's no greater weapon in a chef's arsenal than their own palate.
02:51Today, you'll be tested on the five taste profile.
02:55Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami.
02:59Mastering the five basic tastes is essential to creating food that's balanced, satisfying, and memorable.
03:06Knowing how to use them to layer dishes is an essential skill.
03:11Today, we will test your ability to use these five tastes to create memorable and delicious dishes.
03:17Taste is by far the number one commandment for probably most chefs out there.
03:22I'm excited.
03:22I think that is one of the strengths that I have.
03:25For today's commandment, you each have to create two dishes.
03:29One must be hot, and one dish must be cold.
03:31Both dishes have to showcase one of the flavor profiles, and of course, your dishes still have to be balanced.
03:38However, you won't be deciding your flavor profile.
03:41It will be determined at random by the board.
03:45Everybody would love to have umami.
03:48Umami is like the easiest one to do.
03:51All the good has umami.
03:53I might be the only person who likes bitter.
03:59So sweet is Chris, sour is Kara, salty is Matt, and bitter is Buddha.
04:06And no one got umami.
04:08I got bitter, not really my choice of the five flavor profiles, but if I make it through to the
04:14end, I want to be bitter about that.
04:16Chefs, you'll have 75 minutes to create your two dishes.
04:21However, since Chris won the last commandment, you earned an extra 30 minutes for your cook.
04:29Wow, wow.
04:31Feel pretty sweet?
04:32Uh, yeah, now I do.
04:33Now I really do.
04:34Oh, but here's the catch.
04:36Oh, boy.
04:37In order to get those 30 minutes, you'll have to take it from your competitors.
04:42Oh, wow.
04:44You can take 30 minutes from one chef or 15 minutes from two chefs.
04:49It's up to you.
04:50Playing the strategy right could be the difference between winning a million dollars or just going home.
04:56Feeling a little salty.
04:57Oh, boy.
04:58I don't know if I like that.
04:59If I was Chris, I'd take 30 minutes away from Matt.
05:01Good, it's the biggest threat.
05:03I'm pregnant.
05:03Yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:06I've never won once, though.
05:08Just saying.
05:09Regardless of her saying anything, the woman's in her second trimester running around and making food.
05:13I'm not going to steal time away from her.
05:14My mom would slap me upside the head.
05:16I'll give both of these gentlemen 15.
05:17I mean, Matt and Buda have some of the best chances of winning.
05:21Just like, sorry, boys.
05:22Someone's got to go home, and I don't want it to be me.
05:24The baby thanks you.
05:25That means that Matt and Buda will each have one hour, and Kara, you'll have your full 75 minutes.
05:33And Chris, that means you'll have one hour and 45 minutes.
05:38Please take your stations.
05:40It's a big advantage time, but for Chris, it might be his own Achilles heel.
05:45It makes him think too much, but it is, in general, the best advantage.
05:49Chris, your time starts now.
05:51Good luck.
05:53I hope that the extra time does not trip up, Chris, because last week's pappardelle, one of the best dishes
06:01he made, he made when he didn't have that much time.
06:03He does have a tendency to add rather than subtract.
06:06We shall see.
06:07I did just come off with a perfect score, which is a massive win, but there's more pressure on me
06:11because I have extra time, so I just start hustling.
06:14I walk in the pantry and just see the cod, and I love cod, and that naturally speaks to me.
06:18I love sweet applications with cod, so I'm like, okay, let's use that as the driving point for the hot
06:23dish.
06:24Then I'm looking at cold, and I'm like, all right, well, we're already doing fish.
06:26Why not do two different fish dishes, which is a little bit of a risk, but I'm like, you know
06:29what?
06:30I'm just going for it.
06:31Chris is having a nice little delicate stroll into the pantry.
06:36It's like he's shopping for his kid at home.
06:38Yeah, do I need milk?
06:40God, that must be nice to have an extra 45 minutes, then me and Matt to just take your time
06:44and get everything out, but hey, I should have won the last challenge.
06:49I saw a little bit of a different Chris today after winning last week.
06:53You think he gave him a little swagger?
06:54Yeah, like, he kind of ran away with it last week.
06:56Yeah.
06:56He had been at the bottom, and his fellow competitors also voted him to be the one most likely to
07:02lose this competition.
07:03That's right.
07:04I think he's found a little bit of confidence.
07:06I'm just going to portion some fish just to get it out of the way.
07:08Are you doing tuna for both dishes?
07:10This one.
07:11Black cod with one, tuna the other.
07:13Last thing I want to do is have extra time and not take full advantage of it, so I'm trying
07:16to focus on just getting myself set up so I can just focus on flavor, execution, and beautiful plating.
07:21Best chance of success is when you know you're cooking food that you're in love with.
07:24I absolutely love roasted cabbage.
07:25It's one of my favorite things to eat on the planet.
07:27Cabbage has a little natural sweetness when roasted nicely.
07:29I have the time to roast them in the pizza oven, bring out some of the natural sweetness as well.
07:35Cara, your time starts now.
07:37I'm feeling like it's tight for time, this challenge, so my strategy is to work on the things that take
07:42the longest first and then progressively move through what I can push towards the end.
07:46My hot dish is a Kung Pao cauliflower, which is a classic Sichuan-style stir-fry made with cauliflower instead
07:53of chicken.
07:54Sour is one of my favorite tastes.
07:57I love a lot of acidity in everything I cook.
08:00Cara loves to cook from her Chinese heritage, and there's all sorts of incredible Chinese dishes that really feature very,
08:06very sour tastes, which I love.
08:16I'm starting on cauliflower, so I'm going to cry back in some kimchi juice.
08:20They're going to get deep-fried for a Gong Bao-ji.
08:22I just want some acid pumped into them because, you know, the whole sour challenge.
08:26I'm adding kimchi juice in, which is not standard, but I want to reinforce the sour to make sure that
08:31we have another layer of acid in the dish.
08:33So it's already almost been an hour?
08:35Yeah, it's been 45 minutes already.
08:37Like, jeez, I don't remember that ever feeling that fast.
08:41I'm not happy with just the one hour.
08:44Losing that 15 minutes, it hurts.
08:46It's a lot to ask for in one hour.
08:48Yeah.
08:49Better in one hour, there's no room for error.
08:51This could be it.
08:52I could be going home.
09:02Chris decided to take 15 minutes from both Buddha and I, so we only have one hour to cook.
09:07Matt and Buddha, your time starts now.
09:13It's already hard enough to put up one quality dish in one hour.
09:17But to do two dishes, one hot, one cold, that is where it gets really difficult.
09:23In this competition, you have to be quick and you have to take all your experience and trust your gut.
09:31I get salty and I need something simple and fast to plate, specifically seafood.
09:36The scallops are going to be for my hot.
09:38For my hot dish, I am going to be making a seared scallop almondine with salt roasted and baked leeks
09:44and lots of briny salted capers.
09:49We're at the semifinals now, and one of these four chefs will not make it to the final.
09:54The chefs are in a tough spot right now.
09:57My flavor profile is bitter.
09:59I probably got the most difficult category to go into the semifinal with.
10:03I'm bitter about losing out on time.
10:05Plus, Chris just took 15 minutes away from me.
10:08Yeah, things aren't looking up.
10:09For my bitter hot dish, I'm doing lamb with some bitter leaves.
10:13I want to go more for, like, a Sunday roast limes, beautiful bitter leaf salad with roasted lamb.
10:17Buddha has bitter.
10:19That's a harder category because you don't want it to be over-bitter.
10:23I love bitter.
10:24Coffee, arugula salad, grapefruit, Michael.
10:29Yeah.
10:29We all know, like, Wiley is a bitter pill to swallow.
10:32But, as Wiley said, there's all sorts of opportunities when it comes to bitter foods.
10:41I'm toasting some coriander seeds, and I'm going to make my tahini with date sauce, which adds a little bit
10:47of sweetness.
10:47Traditionally, this is a base for a crudo for a tuna, so that'll be my cold dish.
10:52I feel great about the extra time I have, but it's also, you know, I just want to make sure
10:55I execute.
10:56Last thing I want to do is have extra time and then not take full advantage of it.
10:59My cold dish is a bigger risk.
11:01I've never done this preparation of sauce alongside raw seafood before.
11:06This is either going to hit or it's going to sink me.
11:10I'm making a kung pao sauce.
11:12For the kung pao cauliflower, there's an acidic product in every component in the sauce except for sugar because you
11:19need some balance there.
11:20Cashew butter is going to add a lot of fat to cut through the acid.
11:23So that combination allows you to balance the acid but make it the star of the show.
11:32What do you think the pitfalls are for Nats dishes?
11:35Salty is the one where I think you have to push it to the limit, but you have to realize
11:40where that limit is.
11:41Give us all those really strong salty flavors, but balance them.
11:47For my cold dish, I'm using naturally salted ingredients, sea urchin, caviar, sea beans.
11:53So I'm going to take toasted brioche, kind of do an uni toast.
11:58This is going to be a little bit of this church-sheet avocado puree that I'm going to use with
12:02the uni and the caviar.
12:03The salty element doesn't really bother me.
12:05It really comes down to time.
12:07Chris and Cara both have additional time, and their dishes are probably going to be more elaborate because of that
12:14time advantage.
12:15I need to make sure that these two dishes look like I had an hour and 45 minutes.
12:22I'm slicing my hamachi.
12:24For my cold dish, I'll be making a hamachi crudo, which is going to have sort of Thai influence into
12:30that.
12:32I'm adding some bitter melon.
12:33Bitter melon is the epitome of bitter.
12:37It literally numbs your tongue.
12:39If you don't pickle it or make it sweet and sour, it's going to hurt your palate.
12:43It's a lot of risk using it, but I'm a risk taker.
12:47Perfect.
12:49Oh, yeah.
12:50I'm making a glaze for my cabins.
12:53This is going to bring out the sweetness in my hot dish.
12:58For my sour cold dish, I'm making a crudo.
13:02This is sort of an East East West kind of dish in the sense that it's got lots of Asian
13:06undertones with a few dollops of cream and fat and dill that was more typical in Europe.
13:12It's got at least four different types of citrus going into it.
13:15Ponzu is also acidic.
13:16Sour cream and crème fraîche are also naturally sour, so you're going to get lots of variations of the version
13:22of sour and different flavor profiles.
13:25Chris, you have five minutes left.
13:29I want to prove that I'm supposed to be in the finals.
13:32The extra time I had has given me a lot more time to really take my time, but also it's
13:37scary that I could have an advantage and still be going home.
13:39Three, two, one.
13:42Time's up, Chris.
13:43Hands up.
13:45Let's eat, Chris.
13:47All right.
13:49Chris, what was your taste profile?
13:51And tell us about your hot dish.
13:52My taste profile was sweet.
13:54You have seared black cod, tahina arra, just spicy tahini sauce, and then like a sweet glazed cabbage.
14:00It is delicious.
14:02Okay.
14:02There's no doubt about that.
14:03It's super delicious.
14:04That cabbage is the star of your plate.
14:06Okay.
14:06I wonder why you chose to put the sweetest element on the cabbage, which is not really like the center
14:14of this dish.
14:15Taking it, you think I should have done it on the fish?
14:17Or not even served us the fish.
14:18You didn't need it.
14:19Okay.
14:20I think you could have gotten away with just putting this tahina in the bottom, dropping a cabbage on top
14:25of it with the sauce, and that would have been a real mic drop.
14:29Understood.
14:29Thank you, chef.
14:29Let's talk about your cold dish.
14:32My cold dish is a tuna crudo.
14:34This is a play on an Iranian dish called Kali-e-Korma, which Korma, and there's a word in Farsi
14:39for dates.
14:40So it's a sauce of caramelized red onion, garlic, dates to be poured over top.
14:45I mean, I've never had sliced raw tuna bathed in this kind of sauce, but I have to say, I
14:52really like it.
14:53With your cold dish, you really hit the nail on the head.
14:56So congratulations.
14:56I like this tuna dish a lot, Chris.
14:59I like the fact there's a little floral element that you put in the sauce that was really quite nice.
15:03In some way, this sauce reminded me of French dressing.
15:06I definitely get the sweetness in both your dishes.
15:09I'm just trying to wrap my head around making fish when you could have taken an easier path.
15:16Well, hopefully that doesn't take me down.
15:19I cooked really well last week.
15:21I got a perfect score.
15:22Thank you very much.
15:23And now, all I can think of right now is, is that first dish going to send me home?
15:27Why?
15:28Why did you put the fish on?
15:36Two minutes left, Kara.
15:38With two minutes left, the last thing I have to do is tossing the cauliflower in that sort of glaze.
15:46Are those pans on her stove?
15:48They're two walks.
15:49They're walks, yes.
15:50Maybe she'll be walking into the finals.
15:55Plating these two dishes.
15:56I'm feeling the pressure being in the final four.
15:59Anything could send anyone home at this point.
16:01I'm also nervous that I made it too spicy because I'm always worried to make everything too spicy.
16:06Nothing like a fiery dish to go out on.
16:09The willing time is a lot of money.
16:10I want to win.
16:11It's not worth putting up something okay versus putting up something great.
16:15Here we go.
16:16Your time is up, Kara.
16:21Hi, Kara.
16:22Hello.
16:23Beautiful.
16:25What is your taste profile?
16:27I'm sour.
16:28You're sour.
16:30And tell us about your hot dish.
16:32It's a hot and sour gong bao cauliflower.
16:35It's a classic dish from Sichuan.
16:37There's some cashew butter on the bottom, some pickled chilies.
16:40I know this dish well.
16:42This is a particularly good version of it.
16:44I think you've got a lot of tart and sour notes, and they're very well layered.
16:49I think you did an excellent job, and I have no notes on your cauliflower dish.
16:54I love the spice level that exists in this dish.
16:56The sour element definitely comes through.
16:59And then the cashew butter itself, just kind of the perfect foil for all of that acidity and all of
17:05that spice.
17:06I feel it's got a lot of umami.
17:09I would actually like to see it a little bit more sour.
17:14And tell us about your cold dish.
17:16So it's a scallop crudo.
17:18There's a creme fraiche sour cream and koshu with some citrus juice as the base.
17:23Well, I definitely get the sour.
17:25I enjoyed this dish as well.
17:26I especially like the white soy that you put in the creme fraiche.
17:29I love that, like, savory kind of base note that it gave to the dish.
17:33I love how it's got multiple forms of sour on it.
17:37I love the raw scallop.
17:38I love the fact that there's these tiny little crunchy bits of poppy seed on it.
17:42I think this dish is fantastic.
17:44All right.
17:45I have a few things to say.
17:47I'm not a fan of raw scallops.
17:50And I thought that the scallops were drowning in the sauce.
17:55But the flavors combined of all your sauces was really sour.
17:59And that's what the assignment was.
18:01Thank you, Cara.
18:03I feel proud of what I made.
18:05Whether the judge is like it or not is out of my control at this point.
18:07The cauliflower dish, I mean, it seems to be two against one.
18:10I just think she didn't need so much of the sauce.
18:13Cara's cauliflower dish was sour yet balanced.
18:15And Cara's scallop dish was sour and unbalanced.
18:19Let's score Cara's dish.
18:23How'd it go?
18:24You never know.
18:26I mean, I had a lot more time than everybody and I should have just done vegetarian.
18:29Nothing ever turns out exactly what I want.
18:32Even though I had extra time today, you get an idea in your head and it's hard to self-edit.
18:37It felt like I would be playing it too safe and not trying hard enough.
18:40And, you know, we'll see.
18:41I just hope it doesn't send me home.
18:43I love washing with Don Power Wash.
18:45Software's magic.
18:46Magic.
18:48Matt and Buddha, you have 10 minutes left.
18:55We're up to erase this.
18:59If they want a cold dish, I'm going to give them a cold dish.
19:01Believe it or not, the only times I've actually used liquid nitrogen is when I've been on television.
19:07If you use this ingredient properly, it saves you so much time.
19:10And what I don't have is time.
19:15I just put lemongrass, cilantro, scallions, a little bit of garlic, bird's eye chili, and I chopped them into a
19:21powder.
19:22I did that in 20 seconds because of liquid nitrogen.
19:25So I'll just show you five minutes.
19:27Matt and Buddha, three minutes left.
19:30Right now, I know as I'm plating this that I'm one step closer to getting the finale.
19:34My goal was never to run somebody else's restaurant.
19:38And so winning a million dollars in this competition is finally going to get me across the finish line of
19:43completing the restaurant that I've always dreamt of opening.
19:47Now that we're closer to the finale, I am closer to a million dollar win.
19:52Five, four, three, two, one.
19:56Time's up, everybody.
19:58Hands up.
20:03Will the judges deduct points for the simplicity of my toast?
20:08Oh, boy.
20:08Oh, chef.
20:09I'm not sure, but hopefully the balance of those flavors, they can understand where my approach is.
20:14Matt, what was your flavor profile?
20:16Uh, salty.
20:17What is your hot dish?
20:18So the hot dish is pan-roasted scallops with kind of like an almondine, if you will.
20:24Toasted capers, brown butter, salted and roasted grapes, and then salt-baked leeks.
20:29Your hot dish was salty in all the right ways.
20:31You made this crunchy and bright, very well-balanced almondine.
20:36The only thing I wish is that, you know, I've come to love your sauces over the course of this
20:39competition,
20:40and I would have loved a little bit more almondine.
20:42Yeah.
20:43Pan juices.
20:44Yeah.
20:44I think your leeks are the star of this plate.
20:48I love how salty they were, but you did need that touch of sweetness from the grape to break up
20:54all the saltiness in this dish,
20:56which really was right on the verge.
20:58But I mean, all in all, great dish.
21:01Please describe your cold dish.
21:02That's our uni toast.
21:04For salty, I really wanted to use ingredients that were already salted.
21:07Roasted shishito and avocado puree, salted yuzu kosho, and then some salted sea beans glazed over top of the uni,
21:14with some caviar.
21:15Is there anything we should know about the toast, or is it just toast?
21:18You didn't make the bread?
21:20You had it a whole hour, man.
21:22If I was able to do that in an hour, I mean, give me the check now.
21:25I really like this dish, and I thought it was very smart of you to just highlight three ingredients,
21:29which were naturally salty.
21:30The only thing I would say is maybe I would have also put a couple drops of lime juice over
21:34the top of the whole thing,
21:35just to set off, like, the natural salinity from those ingredients.
21:39I really liked your cold dish.
21:40And I think you have a nice amount of salinity,
21:43so it didn't feel like you tried to over-salt something,
21:46and it tastes of the ocean, which is beautiful.
21:49I think I would have loved to have maybe had it smaller and more of that delicious green puree,
21:53but very clever.
21:54Thank you, Matt.
21:56Nice job.
21:56Appreciate it.
21:58Question?
21:59Yep.
22:00If food it crosses, then I'm going home.
22:02Let's score Matt.
22:03I think all in all, given an hour, it was an impressive amount of work.
22:08Impressive.
22:13Oh, wow.
22:14Hi, Buddha.
22:15Hello.
22:16What is your taste profile?
22:17Taste profile is bitter.
22:18Tell us about your hot dish.
22:19So my hot dish is a lamb saddle.
22:21It's been roasted in a little bit of Reza Anut with a braised undive that's been cooked in date molasses,
22:26served with a light salad of Castle Franco with goat's curd, hazelnuts, and honey.
22:31I like that you used some bitter greens, but unfortunately I had two pieces of bone on my plate.
22:36I think I would have liked to have had it be just a little bit more bitter.
22:39Okay.
22:40I like the lamb, Buddha.
22:41I think I probably got better cuts than what you got, Wiley.
22:44I love braised endive, and I thought what you gave us was a really good example of a properly prepared
22:49braised endive.
22:50I did get the bitter, not only in those beautiful leaves, but I got it also in the hazelnut.
22:56I just wish my lamb was treated a little bit better.
23:00Tell us about your cold dish, Buddha.
23:03So it's hamachi with a dressing made from pomelo and pickled bitter melon with avocado.
23:08You certainly found the bitterness in all of these ingredients.
23:11There's no doubt about that.
23:12My only comment about this is that I think all of it kind of overwhelms that poor yellowtail.
23:18You really nailed the bitter, Buddha, but I have to agree with Michael.
23:21I think the fish is completely lost.
23:23It's drowning in everything that's put on top of it.
23:26I might be the biggest fan of bitter at the table, and I love what's going on here in terms
23:31of the different textures and the bitterness.
23:34I like bitter melon.
23:35I've never had bitter melon like this.
23:36And you clearly, in a mere hour, came up with a dish that you put a lot of thought into.
23:42All right.
23:42Thank you, Buddha.
23:43Thank you, Buddha.
23:44I can't confidently say that they liked it that much.
23:47It is what it is.
23:48That's how everyone feels.
23:49Let's score Buddha.
23:53What can you do in an hour?
23:54Right.
23:54It's like I did what I could.
23:57Yeah.
23:58It just really depends on how the judges score everything.
24:01I hope it's enough to get me into the finale.
24:05Chefs, your task was to take your assigned taste profiles and make two dishes, one hot and one cold.
24:12Only three of you will move forward in the finals.
24:15The two chefs with the top scores will automatically advance,
24:18while the bottom two will go head-to-head in a sudden-death cook-off for the final spot.
24:24We thought whoever had the lowest-scoring dish was going to go home, but I guess we were wrong.
24:28Now there's a sudden death.
24:29That was a long cook.
24:30And to have to jump back in there and go head-to-head would not be fun.
24:34Shall we see who's in first?
24:45Matt, in first place with 105 points out of a possible 120 to lock in your spot in the finals.
24:54Congratulations.
24:56It's amazing.
24:58After last week, I thought I was going home.
25:00To know that, like, I am now in the finals, I can, like, kind of breathe and sleep easy tonight.
25:05I'm one step closer to a million dollars.
25:07That means Kara, Buda, and Chris.
25:10One of you will join Matt in the final three and will be one step closer to winning $1 million.
25:18Let's see the scores.
25:26Kara, second place.
25:28Congratulations.
25:29You will be joining Matt in the finals.
25:33It's a moment of relief.
25:34It's a moment of happiness.
25:35It's a moment of joy.
25:36I've made it to the finale.
25:37I don't have to cook again.
25:39Like, all things are good.
25:41It always sucks being in the bottom.
25:43Yeah, at least it wasn't the bottom score goes home because I'd definitely be going home.
25:47Chris and Buda, you have the lowest scores, so you'll be cooking in the head-to-head cook-off.
25:53How are you feeling about it?
25:55I mean, I'm disappointed given the advantage I had, but it came to cook, so what's one more
26:00time after this gauntlet, you know?
26:02Buda?
26:03To have one more shot and to go head-to-head, I mean, that's fair for me.
26:07Well, Buda and Chris, it's do or die, and it's your last chance to earn a spot in the
26:13finals of America's Culinary Cup.
26:16And for one of you, this will be your last and final challenge.
26:22In your head-to-head cook-off, you need to use two taste profiles and feature them on
26:28one dish.
26:30One of your tastes will be umami, the taste profile that no one had, and the other will
26:35be your choice.
26:36And of course, the dish must be perfectly executed and perfectly balanced.
26:41So choose wisely, because there's only one spot remaining.
26:46All right, chefs, take your stations.
26:48Good luck to both of you.
26:49I'm not happy that I have to go head-to-head with Buda.
26:52He intimidates me.
26:53He's insanely technical.
26:54His food's beautiful.
26:55So is he the number one person I want to go against?
26:58Absolutely not.
26:59But hopefully I give him hell.
27:0075 minutes, two taste profiles, one dish.
27:05Your time starts now.
27:11This could be quite the battle.
27:14Yeah, 100%.
27:15I still can't believe I'm here.
27:18Don't underestimate yourself.
27:20I'm very thankful for one last shot.
27:22I've never had a chance to get into the finale.
27:24This is the most important dish that I cooked in the whole competition, because it really
27:27determines whether or not I can cook for that million dollars.
27:31How would you describe umami?
27:33To me, it's defined as mouth-filling deliciousness.
27:36It's more than just a taste.
27:37It's also a feeling.
27:38It's that center bite on the cheeseburger.
27:40You can't stop.
27:41You want to go right back.
27:42And it makes your mouth water.
27:43Once you've eaten a bite of something that's packed with umami, you just want to take another
27:47one.
27:48To me, it's really that savoriness, that richness of flavor that is more satisfying to the palate.
27:54I'm doing simple, delicious today, and I hope it pays off.
27:58All I've got to do is cook a good dish.
27:59And if I go home, because Buddha beats me, at least I know I went out with a dish I
28:04can
28:04be proud of.
28:05So I'm going all in on this one.
28:07Chris, what's your other flavor profile?
28:08Uh, sweet.
28:09Sweet?
28:10Yeah.
28:10I'm doing scallops, XO, brown butter, celery root puree, and then like sweet glaze,
28:15pea-peenie mushrooms, other umami bangers folded into all that.
28:19This sweetness plays off of umami really well.
28:22Jeff, are you breaking out the liquid nitrogen?
28:23I might just do it just for giggles.
28:26My first head-to-head delimination, Chris has danced on the bottom a lot.
28:30Sometimes he gets in his own head.
28:32I guess he puts a lot of things on the plate.
28:33But I know he's a strong competitor.
28:35I just need to do the things that I've been doing since day one.
28:38I'll cook them.
28:38Just toasting my seaweed.
28:40Umami is always paired with salt.
28:42So I'm going to be doing umami and salty.
28:45Buddha, are you going to cook the fish after?
28:47There's going to be several.
28:48My taste profile is they're going to be salty and umami.
28:50I'm going to do a kombu-cured hamachi with cauliflower cream and a champagne sauce with caviar.
28:57Kombu is the king of umami.
29:00It's literally what MSG comes from.
29:03Yeah, it's very smart.
29:04It's got as clear-cut a definition of umami as you get.
29:07You've got 45 minutes.
29:11Their dishes are surprisingly not that far away from each other.
29:14No.
29:14We're doing different highlights.
29:16Fish, white puree, umami.
29:18One sweet one's going to be salty.
29:25It is kind of eerily similar.
29:28I'm taking less risks on this one.
29:30I've never been in a situation in my life where I'm cooking and I have to self-edit as much
29:33as I do here.
29:35I keep getting the same comment about putting too much of everything on the plate.
29:39And it's hard to self-edit.
29:40But with a million dollars on the line, I'm going to try to tighten up and just focus on three
29:44components.
29:45Beautiful puree, well-executed scallops, and roasted mushrooms.
29:49If I go home on this, then so be it.
29:52But I don't want to go home today.
29:55Smells good.
29:56Now that my fish is in the fridge, I need to work the base of my sauce.
30:00It's possibly my last challenge.
30:01I'm definitely going to be going out with a bag.
30:04Shots fired, Chris.
30:06I want to pull out the Prosecco, the caviar, the gold leaf to make this beautiful sauce.
30:12Last time I competed, I didn't have two beautiful daughters, but now I do.
30:15And all I can do is think about them.
30:17I've been missing them a lot.
30:18And I'm doing this for my family, just so we can live more comfortably and I can spend more time
30:24with them.
30:29Ten minutes left.
30:31Chris, how you doing?
30:32Are you making a million-dollar dish?
30:35That's up for debate, I guess, right?
30:36Going with flavors, I know.
30:38I'm not trying to shoot the moon on this one.
30:39Going simple, exo sauce all day.
30:41Just to bring it home.
30:43Hopefully it pays off.
30:44Exo sauce is the umami bomb of the dish.
30:47It's made from dried shrimp, scallops, garlic, onion, chilies, often dried pork products.
30:54Then I'm adding fish sauce, lemon juice, some sweet soy as well, and a little bit of miso.
30:59And I'm going to use that to dress the scallops, really hammering home that sweet and umami combination.
31:05I'm going to give this a face.
31:07I'm a hard man to beat when I'm motivated.
31:09I'm doing this for my mom.
31:10I'm doing this for my family.
31:11And I have two little girls to look out for.
31:13So I'd like to do something nice for my wife and then pay for schooling without worry and give my
31:19daughters the opportunities I had growing up.
31:22That's what I wanted.
31:23Two minutes.
31:26Time is winding down.
31:29I'm going to zhuzh it up with a little bit of gold leaf.
31:31Why not?
31:32If it's my last time here, let's go out with a bag.
31:35So the plating's almost done.
31:37So the last thing that I'm doing is pouring my sauce.
31:40The sauce tastes great, but I do feel like it is reading a little bit too salty umami.
31:47So I'm going to turn it down just a little bit.
31:48So I'm adding a couple more cubes of cold butter.
31:51Trying to get all the balancing around.
31:53I'm still adjusting the flavors.
31:54This is going to be really, really down to the wire.
31:57Cooking for my place to win a million dollars right now.
31:59I need to make sure that everything is perfect because everything runs on this dish.
32:03Still not happy with that sauce.
32:06I'm trying to make sure that I can get all my plating perfect.
32:11Three, two, one.
32:14Time's up.
32:16It's going to be a long deliberation.
32:21We're all very proud of ourselves for making it this far because this cooking competition,
32:25it's metal warfare.
32:28It would really suck to go home at this point.
32:32Great job, man.
32:33Final four.
32:33Final four.
32:35Chris, can you tell us what taste profile you picked to pair with umami?
32:40It's so sweet again.
32:41Look at me.
32:42So I have for you roasted scallops with XO, brown butter, miso, celery root puree.
32:47There's also some roasted piopinis glazed in a little bit of reduced pickling liquid.
32:51And I also pickled some celery root for a little crunch and texture.
32:54This is such a well-composed, focused dish.
32:58Scallops are cooked beautifully.
33:00The puree is luscious and creamy.
33:02I do think you hit the sweet element and the umami element beautifully.
33:08Scallops are well-prepared.
33:10I like the mushrooms on the side.
33:12Maybe a little sweet, but very impressed.
33:15Thank you, Chef.
33:16Chris, what I like about your dish is that the scallop comes through very, very clearly.
33:19And, of course, you use the XO to great effect, and that gave you the umami in this dish.
33:24The celery root itself, the pickled bits, they have a little bit of a weird chew to them.
33:28But they do bring a lot to the dish, and they do deliver on flavor.
33:33Hudo, tell us what you made and what profile you chose to pair with umami.
33:37So I did hamachi with caviar, cauliflower cream, and a white soy butter sauce.
33:42Some pickled turnips on there.
33:43It is salty and umami.
33:46Very pretty.
33:48This dish shows some of your best work.
33:50The kombujime technique that you used to bring more umami to the fish definitely paid off.
33:56The addition of the caviar kind of helped drive home both the umami and the salt.
34:00If I had one negative thing to say about it, this sauce is just pure umami.
34:05It's a real umami bomb.
34:07It comes off tasting almost a little cheesy because of the dairy that you put in there.
34:11I actually liked the cheesiness, but I think of cheese as being very rich in umami.
34:15The cauliflower was delicious.
34:17I think you could have given us a little bit more of that, but this is just fantastic stuff.
34:21Really good.
34:23Hudo, I really loved your sauce.
34:26It was an umami bomb in the best way, but a couple of drops of lemon or something in
34:32the sauce would have given you a more uniform counterpoint to that umami.
34:38It's very hard to decide who had the better dish here.
34:45But ultimately, only one of you can go to the finals.
34:51While both dishes were extraordinary and delicious, there was one plate I felt demonstrated the
34:59two taste profiles a little bit better than the other.
35:04And that plate was Chris's.
35:10Wiley, who had the better dish?
35:17Chris.
35:19It was unanimous.
35:21Today, it was Chris.
35:22Thank you very much.
35:24Sorry, bro.
35:25It was so good.
35:26Amazing getting in the room.
35:27Good good with you.
35:28Yeah, absolutely.
35:29Congratulations, Chris.
35:30Very much.
35:31Woot, I'm so sorry.
35:32You've served your final dish.
35:34Well, thank you so much for everything.
35:37Of course, I'm super bummed out.
35:39Like, I want to make it all the way to the finale, at least.
35:43Good day, everyone.
35:44I almost wish you had just given me this, because this was fantastic.
35:48Okay, I'll just take this away.
35:51Buddha, congratulations.
35:53You are the winner.
35:54Talk of that.
35:55I haven't felt like this defeat ever.
35:57But at the same time, I'm accepting it.
36:00This is the best dish I've seen from you in this competition.
36:04Because I'm a risk taker.
36:05I'm always going to try and push myself further.
36:08He's an overachiever.
36:10Buddha, you were one point away from a perfect score.
36:13Someone want to talk about it at one point?
36:15No.
36:19Great stuff, man.
36:21Fantastic.
36:21Really good.
36:22You're incredibly talented.
36:23I love competitions.
36:24I'd probably say, I dare say maybe this might be my last.
36:31You win some, you lose some.
36:33Can't always win everything.
36:41Chris, congratulations.
36:43Oh my gosh.
36:44What a journey you've had.
36:46Yeah, I could cry right now.
36:48I've been worried about specifically going against Matt and Buddha.
36:51And to win against Buddha in a head-to-head gives me a lot of confidence going into the finals.
36:56Cook from your heart, trust your instincts, and a million dollars could be yours.
37:08Congratulations.
37:11I am shocked to see Buddha go home.
37:13Another strong competitor is now off the table.
37:15But also, these other two chefs are performing really well and performing better than the one that you perceived as
37:22being the best.
37:23On to the next one, I guess.
37:24Still in it.
37:25Still in it.
37:26Voted most likely to leave, and I'm still here.
37:29I was voted least likely to win the competition, and now I'm headed to the finals.
37:32So, I now have a 33% chance of winning a million dollars.
37:37They said that he and I put up two stunning dishes.
37:39Yeah, they were like, it was splitting hairs.
37:41I mean, they sent him home because he needed a couple more drops of lemon juice.
37:44Literally, that was it.
37:51Congratulations.
37:52Well done, chefs.
37:54It still feels surreal that I'm here, that I've made it this far.
37:56The validation of being able to compete at this level is huge, and I'm here to play the game.
38:01If you think this competition has been tough so far, you ain't seen nothing yet.
38:06I'd like to end by saying no pressure, but we all know that would be a lie.
38:13See you later.
38:15Come on, boys.
38:19I'd be worried if I were them.
38:21I'd be worried.
38:22I'd be worried.
38:26Congratulations.
38:27I did it.
38:28I want to win, and hopefully take the million dollars home.
38:32They also made it sound like there's going to be a little twist to it.
38:34Yeah, they did.
38:35This is wild.
38:36Like, my emotions are, I'm like on tilt.
38:39I've cried so many times, and I don't cry.
38:42Like, I'm not really, I'm a crier kind of, more than most men probably, but I don't like,
38:46I can tell you how many times I've cried in the last year.
38:48You know, it's not like, um...
38:52All right, final three.
38:54Final three.
38:55Final three.
38:56I mean, it's unbelievable to still be here.
38:58I just knew I needed to give it my best, and I did that.
39:01I'm just happy to be in the finale.
39:05Stay tuned for...
39:06Welcome to the finals of America's Culinary Cup.
39:10You'll be serving us along with Eric Repair, Suzanne Gowen, and Daniela Xochitl Enas.
39:16No pressure.
39:19Wasn't expected this.
39:20Nope.
39:21I know I can really excel at this, but the best chef win.
39:23I've never done this before.
39:25If this goes wrong, I'm probably going home.
39:26If I were Chris, I'd be worried about that pressure cooker.
39:29Very worried.
39:29I did not think it was going to be this close.
39:31My heart's pounding out of my chest.
39:33The winner of America's Culinary Cup and $1 million is...
39:44They started out as neighbors, then became family.
39:47I'm going to make a t-shirt that says, Calvin is my best friend.
39:49This Monday, their story comes to a close.
39:51I'm going to miss you, man.
39:52I love you, too.
39:53I did not say that.
39:54The Neighborhood Series Finale.
39:56CBS Monday, 8, 7 Central.
39:58Queen Latifah hosts the American Music Awards.
40:01Live, CBS Memorial Day Monday.
40:03It's called in S QVM generated at the bar.
40:03I love my spirit.
40:03You haveaudio in the world.
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