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America's Culinary Cup Season 1 Episode 10
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00:01I'm Padma Lakshmi and we've scoured the nation to bring together the most elite chefs and the
00:07most renowned judges into the ultimate culinary battleground. This is a test of our 10 culinary
00:15commandments. Master them and you win one million dollars. Brought to you by our official cleanup
00:21partners. Don Powerwash. Last time on America's Culinary Cup, our culinary commandment is world
00:32cuisine. I feel let down. This is a very bad lemon rice. I could be going hard. I haven't felt
00:37like
00:38this ever. I feel like I have something to prove. I was voted least likely to win the competition.
00:44Congratulations, Chris. Wow. The first chef to earn a perfect score on a dish. Thank you.
00:51Katie, you served your final dish. Thank you. This is the final four. It's do or die for all of
00:58us.
00:58You are most likely to win now. There's no room to hide and I'm ready to win a million dollars.
01:04I
01:04think some people are more nervous than others. The expectations set. May the best chef win.
01:20Well, that's the wrong floor.
01:23Not a lot left. It's down to the four of us. If I had to say who is my strongest
01:28competition,
01:29it would be Buddha. He knows how to play the game. So stark in here. I guess despite being rusty,
01:35I still made it to the final four. It feels reaffirming that I can, like riding a bike,
01:40I guess. Wow. I know this is wild. I'm a runner. This competition is definitely more of a marathon
01:47than a sprint. I've fallen into a bit of a rhythm here after a few stumbles early on.
01:52Now that we're close to the finale, I feel like I'm kind of in that runner's high.
02:06Huh. How's that helping us? That's a lot of cinnamon. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner? I don't
02:11think we're doing a breakfast challenge. You know, I've had a great couple of weeks and then
02:14I bumbled it last week. And just like sports, you know, you're going to have an off day. And
02:18I flew way too close to the sun than I want to be. What could it be?
02:35Welcome to the semifinals of America's Culinary Cup. Give yourselves a hand.
02:40By the end of today, only three of you will be left and advance to the finals. There,
02:48you'll fight one last time for America's Culinary Cup and $1 million. Brought to you by our official
02:56cleanup partner, Don Powerwash. Chefs, you've conquered every culinary commandment we've thrown
03:01at you. But today, we go to the heart of your craft. Today's commandment is...
03:10Mastering the art of taste. There's no greater weapon in a chef's arsenal than their own palate.
03:20Today, you'll be tested on the five taste profiles. Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami.
03:28Mastering the five basic tastes is essential to creating food that's balanced, satisfying,
03:35and memorable. Knowing how to use them to layer dishes is an essential skill. Today, we will test
03:42your ability to use these five tastes to create memorable and delicious dishes. Taste is by far
03:48the number one commandment for probably most chefs out there. I'm excited. I think that is one of the
03:54strengths that I have. For today's commandment, you each have to create two dishes. One must be hot,
04:00and one dish must be cold. Both dishes have to showcase one of the flavor profiles. And of course,
04:07your dishes still have to be balanced. However, you won't be deciding your flavor profile.
04:13It will be determined at random by the board.
04:17Everybody would love to have umami. Umami is like the easiest one to do.
04:22All the good has umami. I might be the only person who likes bitter.
04:31So sweet is Chris. Sour is Cara. Salty is Matt. And bitter is Buddha. And no one got umami.
04:41I got bitter. Not really my choice of the five flavor profiles. But if I make it through to the
04:47end,
04:47I want to be bitter about that. Chefs, you'll have 75 minutes to create your two dishes.
04:54However, since Chris won the last commandment, you earned an extra 30 minutes for your cook.
05:03Wow. Wow.
05:04Feel pretty sweet? Uh, yeah, now I do. Now I really do.
05:08Oh, but here's the catch. Oh, boy.
05:11In order to get those 30 minutes, you'll have to take it from your competitors.
05:17Oh, wow.
05:18You can take 30 minutes from one chef or 15 minutes from two chefs. It's up to you.
05:25Playing the strategy right could be the difference between winning a million dollars or just going home.
05:31Feeling a little salty. Oh, boy. I don't know if I like that.
05:34If I was Chris, I would take 30 minutes away from Matt.
05:36Good. It's the biggest threat.
05:38I'm pregnant.
05:39Yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:41I've never won once, though. Just saying.
05:44Regardless of her saying anything, the woman's in her second trimester running around and making food.
05:49I'm not going to steal time away from her. My mom would slap me upside the head.
05:52I'll give both of these gentlemen 15.
05:55Matt and Buddha have some of the best chances of winning.
05:57Just like, sorry, boys. Someone's got to go home, and I don't want it to be me.
06:01The baby thanks you.
06:02That means that Matt and Buddha will each have one hour, and Kara, you'll have your full 75 minutes.
06:10And Chris, that means you'll have one hour and 45 minutes.
06:15Please take your stations.
06:17It's a big advantage time, but for Chris, it might be his own Achilles heel.
06:22It makes him think too much, but it is, in general, the best advantage.
06:27Chris, your time starts now. Good luck.
06:31I hope that the extra time does not trip up, Chris, because last week's pappardelle,
06:38one of the best dishes he made, he made when he didn't have that much time.
06:41He does have a tendency to add rather than subtract.
06:45We shall see.
06:46I did just come off of a perfect score, which is a massive win,
06:48but there's more pressure on me because I have extra time, so I just start hustling.
06:53I walk in the pantry and just see the cod, and I love cod, and that naturally speaks to me.
06:57I love sweet applications with cod, so I'm like, okay, let's use that as the driving point for the hot
07:02dish.
07:03Then I'm looking at cold, and I'm like, all right, well, we're already doing fish.
07:06Why not do two different fish dishes, which is a little bit of a risk, but I'm like, you know
07:09what?
07:09I'm just going for it.
07:11Chris is having a nice little delicate stroll into the pantry.
07:16It's like he's shopping for his kid at home.
07:18Yeah, do I need milk?
07:20God, that must be nice to have an extra 45 minutes, then me and Matt to just take your time
07:24and get everything out.
07:26But, hey, I should have won the last challenge.
07:29I saw a little bit of a different Chris today.
07:32After winning last week.
07:33I think it gave him a little swagger.
07:35Yeah, like, he kind of ran away with it last week.
07:37Yeah.
07:37He had been at the bottom, and his fellow competitors also voted him to be the one most likely to
07:43lose this competition.
07:44That's right.
07:45I think he's found a little bit of confidence.
07:47I'm just going to portion some fish just to get it out of the way.
07:50Are you doing tuna for both dishes?
07:52Just one.
07:52Black cod with one, tuna with the other.
07:54Last thing I want to do is have extra time and not take full advantage of it, so I'm trying
07:58to focus on just getting myself set up so I can just focus on flavor, execution, and beautiful plating.
08:03Best chance of success is when you know you're cooking food that you're in love with.
08:06I absolutely love roasted cabbage.
08:07It's one of my favorite things to eat on the planet.
08:09Cabbage has a little natural sweetness when roasted nicely.
08:12I have the time to roast them in the pizza oven, bring out some of the natural sweetness as well.
08:17Cara, your time starts now.
08:20I'm feeling like it's tight for time, this challenge.
08:23So my strategy is to work on the things that take the longest first and then progressively move through what
08:28I can push towards the end.
08:29My hot dish is a Kung Pao cauliflower, which is a classic Sichuan-style stir-fry made with cauliflower instead
08:37of chicken.
08:38Sour is one of my favorite tastes.
08:41I love a lot of acidity in everything I cook.
08:45Cara loves to cook, like, from her Chinese heritage, and there's all sorts of incredible Chinese dishes that really feature
08:50very, very sour tastes, which I love.
09:01I'm starting on cauliflower threads, and I'm going to cry back in some kimchi juice.
09:05They're going to get deep-fried for a Gong Bao-ji.
09:07I just want some acid pumped into them because, you know, the whole sour challenge.
09:11I'm adding kimchi juice in, which is not standard, but I want to reinforce the sour to make sure that
09:16we have another layer of acid in the dish.
09:19So it's already almost been an hour?
09:21Yeah, it's been 45 minutes already.
09:24She's...
09:24I don't remember that ever feeling that fast.
09:27I'm not happy with just the one hour.
09:30Losing that 15 minutes, it hurts.
09:33It's a lot to ask for in one hour.
09:34Yeah.
09:35Better in one hour, there's no room for error.
09:38This could be it.
09:39I could be going home.
09:49Chris decided to take 15 minutes from both Buda and I, so we only have one hour to cook.
09:55Matt and Buda, your time starts now.
10:00It's already hard enough to put up one quality dish in one hour, but to do two dishes, one hot,
10:07one cold, that is where it gets really difficult.
10:11In this competition, you have to be quick, and you have to take all your experience and trust your gut.
10:19I get salty, and I need something simple and fast to plate, specifically seafood.
10:25The scallops are going to be for my hot.
10:27For my hot dish, I am going to be making a seared scallop almondine with salt, roasted and baked leeks,
10:34and lots of brownie, salted capers.
10:39We're at the semifinals now, and one of these four chefs will not make it to the final.
10:44The chefs are in a tough spot right now.
10:47My flavor profile is bitter.
10:49I probably got the most difficult category to go into the semifinal with.
10:53I'm bitter about losing out on time.
10:55Plus, Chris just took 15 minutes away from me.
10:58Yeah, things aren't looking up.
11:00For my bitter hot dish, I'm doing lamb with some bitter leeks.
11:03I want to go more for like a Sunday roast vibe, beautiful bitter leaf salad with roasted lamb.
11:08Buda has bitter.
11:10That's a harder category because you don't want it to be over-bitter.
11:14I love bitter.
11:15Coffee, arugula salad, grapefruit, Michael.
11:20Yeah, we all know like Wiley's a bitter pill to swallow, but as Wiley said, there's all sorts of opportunities
11:26when it comes to bitter foods.
11:33I'm toasting some coriander seeds, and I'm going to make my tahini with date sauce, which adds a little bit
11:39of sweetness.
11:40Traditionally, this is a base for a crudo for a tuna, so that'll be my cold dish.
11:44I feel great about the extra time I have, but it's also, you know, I just want to make sure
11:48I execute.
11:49Last thing I want to do is have extra time and then not take full advantage of it.
11:52My cold dish is a bigger risk.
11:55I've never done this preparation of sauce alongside raw seafood before.
11:59This is either going to hit or it's going to sink me.
12:04I'm making a kung pao sauce.
12:06For the kung pao cauliflower, there's an acidic product in every component in the sauce except for sugar, because you
12:13need some balance there.
12:14Cashew butter is going to add a lot of fat to cut through the acid.
12:18So that combination allows you to balance the acid, but make it the star of the show.
12:27What do you think the pitfalls are for mass dishes?
12:30Salty is the one where I think you have to push it to the limit, but you have to realize
12:35where that limit is.
12:37Give us all those really strong salty flavors, but balance them.
12:43For my cold dish, I'm using naturally salted ingredients, sea urchin, caviar, sea beans.
12:48So I'm going to take toasted brioche, kind of do it unitos.
12:54This is going to be a little bit of this church cheeto avocado puree that I'm going to use with
12:58the uni and the caviar.
12:59The salty element doesn't really bother me.
13:01It really comes down to time.
13:03Chris and Kara both have additional time, and their dishes are probably going to be more elaborate because of that
13:11time advantage.
13:12I need to make sure that these two dishes look like I had an hour and 45 minutes.
13:19I'm flossing my hamachi.
13:21For my cold dish, I'll be making a hamachi crudo, which is going to have sort of Thai influence into
13:28that.
13:29I'm adding some bitter melon.
13:31Bitter melon is the epitome of bitter.
13:35It literally numbs your tongue.
13:37If you don't pickle it or make it sweet and sour, it's going to hurt your palate.
13:41It's a lot of risk using it, but I'm a risk taker.
13:46Perfect.
13:48Oh, yeah.
13:49I'm making a glaze for my cabbage.
13:52This is going to bring out the sweetness in my hot dish.
13:57For my sour cold dish, I'm making a crudo.
14:02This is sort of an East East West kind of dish in the sense that it's got lots of Asian
14:06undertones with a few dollops of cream and fat and dill that was more typical in Europe.
14:12It's got at least four different types of citrus going into it.
14:15Ponzu is also acidic.
14:17Sour cream and creme fraiche are also naturally sour.
14:19So you're going to get lots of variations of the version of sour and different flavor profiles.
14:25Chris, you have five minutes left.
14:29I want to prove that I'm supposed to be in the finals.
14:32The extra time I had has given me a lot more time to really take my time.
14:36But also, it's scary that I could have an advantage and still be going home.
14:41Three, two, one.
14:43Time's up, Chris.
14:45Hands up.
14:46Let's eat, Chris.
14:48All right.
14:50Chris, what was your taste profile?
14:52And tell us about your hot dish.
14:54My taste profile was sweet.
14:56You have seared black cod, tahina arra, which is spicy tahini sauce, and then like a sweet glazed cabbage.
15:03It is delicious.
15:04Okay.
15:04There's no doubt about that.
15:05It's super delicious.
15:06That cabbage is the star of your plate.
15:08Okay.
15:09I wonder why you chose to put the sweetest element on the cabbage, which is not really like the center
15:16of this dish.
15:17Taking it, you think I should have done it on the fish?
15:19Or not even served us the fish.
15:21You didn't need it.
15:22Okay.
15:23I think you could have gotten away with just putting this tahina in the bottom, dropping the cabbage on top
15:28of it with the sauce, and that would have been a real mic drop.
15:32Understood.
15:32Thank you, Chef.
15:33Let's talk about your cold dish.
15:35My cold dish is a tuna crudo.
15:38This is a play on an Iranian dish called Kaliye Korma, which Korma, and there's a word in Farsi for
15:43dates.
15:43So it's a sauce of caramelized red onion, garlic, dates to be poured over top.
15:49I mean, I've never had sliced raw tuna bathed in this kind of sauce, but I have to say, I
15:57really like it.
15:58With your cold dish, you really hit the nail on the head, so congratulations.
16:01I like this tuna dish a lot, Chris.
16:04I like the fact there's a little floral element that you put in the sauce, so that was really quite
16:08nice.
16:08In some way, this sauce reminded me of French dressing.
16:11I definitely get the sweetness in both your dishes.
16:15I'm just trying to wrap my head around making fish when you could have taken an easier path.
16:21Well, hopefully that doesn't take me down.
16:25I cooked really well last week.
16:27I got a perfect score.
16:28Thank you very much.
16:29And now all I can think of right now is, is that first dish going to send me home?
16:34Why?
16:34Why did he put the fish on?
16:43Two minutes left, Kara.
16:45With two minutes left, the last thing I have to do is tossing the cauliflower in that sort of glazed.
16:53Are those pans on her stove?
16:56They're two walks.
16:57They're walks, yes.
16:58Maybe she'll be walking into the finals.
17:02Plating these two dishes, I'm feeling the pressure being in the final four.
17:07Anything could send anyone home at this point.
17:09I'm also nervous I made it too spicy,
17:11because I'm always worried to make everything too spicy.
17:14Nothing like a fiery dish to go out on.
17:17A million dollars is a lot of money.
17:19I want to win.
17:20It's not worth putting up something okay versus putting up something great.
17:24Here we go. Your time is up, Sarah.
17:30Hi Cara.
17:32Hello.
17:32Beautiful.
17:35What is your taste profile?
17:37I'm sour.
17:38You're sour.
17:40And tell us about your hot dish.
17:42It's a hot and sour gong bao cauliflower.
17:45It's a classic dish from Sichuan.
17:47There's some cashew butter on the bottom, some pickled chilies.
17:50I know this dish well.
17:52This is a particularly good version of it.
17:54I think you got a lot of tart and sour notes and they're very well layered.
17:59I think you did an excellent job.
18:01And I have no notes on your cauliflower dish.
18:04I love the spice level that exists in this dish.
18:07The sour element definitely comes through.
18:10And then the cashew butter itself, just kind of the perfect foil for all of that acidity and all of
18:17that spice.
18:18I feel it's got a lot of umami.
18:21I would actually like to see it a little bit more sour.
18:26And tell us about your cold dish.
18:28So it's a scallop crudo.
18:30There's a creme fraiche sour cream and koshu with some citrus juice as the base.
18:36I definitely get the sour.
18:37I enjoyed this dish as well.
18:39I especially like the white soy that you put in the creme fraiche.
18:42I love that like savory kind of base note that it gave to the dish.
18:45I love how it's got multiple forms of sour on it.
18:50I love the raw scallop.
18:51I love the fact that there's these tiny little crunchy bits of poppy seed on it.
18:55I think this dish is fantastic.
18:58All right.
18:58I have a few things to say.
19:01I'm not a fan of raw scallops.
19:04And I thought that the scallops were drowning in the sauce.
19:08But the flavors combined of all your sauces was really sour.
19:13And that's what the assignment was.
19:15Thank you, Cara.
19:18I feel proud of what I made.
19:19Whether the judges like it or not is out of my control at this point.
19:22The cauliflower dish, I mean, it seems to be two against one.
19:25I just think she didn't need so much of the sauce.
19:27Cara's cauliflower dish was sour yet balanced.
19:30And Cara's scallop dish was sour and unbalanced.
19:33Let's score Cara's dish.
19:38How'd it go?
19:39You never know.
19:41I mean, I had a lot more time than everybody.
19:43And I should have just done vegetarian.
19:45Nothing ever turns out exactly that I want.
19:47Even though I had extra time today.
19:49You get an idea in your head and it's hard to self edit.
19:53It felt like I would be playing it too safe and not trying hard enough.
19:56And, you know, we'll see.
19:57I just hope it doesn't send me home.
19:59I love washing with Don Parawash.
20:01Stuff works magic.
20:02Magic.
20:04Matt and Buddha, you have ten minutes left.
20:12We're off to the races.
20:16If they want a cold dish, I'm going to give them a cold dish.
20:19Believe it or not, the only times I've actually used liquid nitrogen is when I've been on television.
20:24If you use this ingredient properly, it saves you so much time.
20:28And what I don't have is time.
20:32I just put lemongrass, cilantro, scallions, a little bit of garlic, bird's eye chili, and I chopped them into a
20:39powder.
20:40I did that in 20 seconds because of liquid nitrogen.
20:43So I'll just show you five minutes.
20:45Matt and Buddha, three minutes left.
20:49Right now, I know as I'm plating this that I'm one step closer to getting to the finale.
20:54My goal was never to run somebody else's restaurant.
20:57And so winning a million dollars in this competition is finally going to get me across the finish line of
21:02completing the restaurant that I've always dreamt of opening.
21:06Now that we're closer to the finale, I am closer to a million dollar win.
21:11Five, four, three, two, one.
21:16Time's up, everybody.
21:18Hands up.
21:23Will the judges deduct points for the simplicity of my toast?
21:28Oh, boy.
21:28Oh, chef.
21:29I'm not sure, but hopefully the balance of those flavors, they can understand where my approach is.
21:35Matt, what was your flavor profile?
21:37Salty.
21:38What is your hot dish?
21:39So the hot dish is pan-roasted scallops with kind of like an almondine, if you will.
21:45Toasted capers, brown butter, salted and roasted grapes, and then salt-baked leeks.
21:50Your hot dish was salty in all the right ways.
21:53You made this crunchy and bright, very well-balanced almondine.
21:57The only thing I wish is that, you know, I've come to love your sauces over the course of this
22:01competition, and I would have loved a little bit more almondine.
22:05Yeah.
22:05Pan juices.
22:06Yeah.
22:06I think your leeks are the star of this plate.
22:10I love how salty they were, but you did need that touch of sweetness from the grape to break up
22:17all the saltiness in this dish, which really was right on the verge.
22:21But I mean all in all, great dish.
22:24Please describe your cold dish.
22:25That's our uni toast.
22:27For salty, I really wanted to use ingredients that were already salted.
22:31Roasted shishito and avocado puree, salted yuzu kosho, and then some salted sea beans, blazed over top of the uni
22:37with some caviar.
22:39Is there anything we should know about the toast, or is it just toast?
22:42I mean...
22:42You didn't make the bread.
22:44You had it whole hour, man.
22:45If I was able to do that in an hour, I mean, give me the check now.
22:49I really like this dish, and I thought it was very smart of you to just highlight three ingredients, which
22:53were naturally salty.
22:55The only thing I would say is maybe I would have also put a couple drops of lime juice over
22:59the top of the whole thing just to set off like the natural salinity in those ingredients.
23:04I really like your cold dish, and I think you have a nice amount of salinity, so it didn't feel
23:09like you tried to over-salt something in a taste of the ocean, which is beautiful.
23:14I think I would have loved to have maybe had it smaller and more of that delicious green puree, but
23:19very clever.
23:20Thank you, Matt.
23:21Nice job.
23:22Thank you. Appreciate it.
23:24Question?
23:25Yep.
23:26If Buddha crushes it, I'm going home.
23:28Let's score Matt.
23:30I think all in all, giving an hour is an impressive...
23:32A lot of work, yeah.
23:32An impressive amount of work.
23:33Very impressive.
23:34Impressive.
23:40Oh, wow.
23:40Hi, Buddha.
23:42Hello.
23:42What is your taste profile?
23:44Taste profile is bitter.
23:45Tell us about your hot dish.
23:46So my hot dish is a lamb saddle.
23:48It's been roasted in a little bit of Reza Anut with a braised undive that's been cooked in date molasses,
23:53served with a light salad of Casso Franco with goat's curd, hazelnuts, and honey.
23:58I like that you used some bitter greens, but unfortunately I had two pieces of bone on my plate.
24:04I think I would have liked to have had it be just a little bit more bitter.
24:07Okay.
24:08I like the lamb, Buddha.
24:10I think I probably got better cuts than what you got, Wiley.
24:12I love braised endive, and I thought what you gave us was a really good example of a properly prepared
24:18braised endive.
24:19I did get the bitter, not only in those beautiful leaves, but I got it also in the hazelnut.
24:25I just wish my lamb was treated a little bit better.
24:30Tell us about your cold dish, Buddha.
24:31Okay.
24:32So it's hamachi with a dressing made from pomelo and pickled bitter melon with avocado.
24:37You certainly found the bitterness in all of these ingredients.
24:40There's no doubt about that.
24:42My only comment about this is that I think all of it kind of overwhelms that poor yellowtail.
24:48You really nailed the bitter, Buddha, but I have to agree with Michael.
24:51I think the fish is completely lost.
24:54It's drowning in everything that's put on top of it.
24:57I might be the biggest fan of bitter at the table, and I love what's going on here in terms
25:02of the different textures and the bitterness.
25:05I like bitter melon.
25:06I've never had bitter melon like this.
25:07And you clearly, in a mere hour, came up with a dish that you put a lot of thought into.
25:13All right.
25:14Thank you, Buddha.
25:14Thank you, Buddha.
25:16I can't confidently say that they liked it that much.
25:19It is what it is.
25:20That's how everyone feels.
25:21Let's score Buddha.
25:24What can you do in an hour, right?
25:27It's like...
25:27It's tight.
25:28I did what I could.
25:29Yeah.
25:30It just really depends on how the judges score everything.
25:33I hope it's enough to get me into the finale.
25:38Chefs, your task was to take your assigned taste profiles and make two dishes, one hot and one cold.
25:44Only three of you will move forward in the finals.
25:47The two chefs with the top scores will automatically advance, while the bottom two will go head-to-head in
25:54a sudden-death cook-off for the final spot.
25:57We thought whoever had the lowest-scoring dish was going to go home, but I guess we were wrong.
26:01Now there's a sudden death.
26:02That was a long cook, and to have to jump back in there and go head-to-head would not
26:07be fun.
26:08Shall we see who's in first?
26:18Matt, in first place with 105 points out of a possible 120 to lock in your spot in the finals.
26:28Congratulations.
26:31It's amazing.
26:33After last week, I thought I was going home.
26:35To know that, like, I am now in the finals, I can, like, kind of breathe and sleep easy tonight.
26:40I'm one step closer to a million dollars.
26:42That means Kara, Buda, and Chris.
26:46One of you will join Matt in the final three and will be one step closer to winning one million
26:53dollars.
26:54Let's see the scores.
27:03Kara, second place.
27:05Congratulations.
27:06You will be joining Matt in the finals.
27:09It's a moment of relief.
27:11It's a moment of happiness.
27:12It's a moment of joy.
27:13I've made it to the finale.
27:14I don't have to cook again.
27:16Like, all things are good.
27:18It always sucks being in the bottom.
27:20At least it wasn't the bottom score goes home because I'd definitely be going home.
27:24Chris and Buda, you have the lowest scores, so you'll be cooking in the head-to-head cook-off.
27:31How are you feeling about it?
27:33I mean, I'm disappointed given the advantage I had, but it came to cook, so what's one more time after
27:39this gauntlet, you know?
27:40Buda?
27:41To have one more shot and to go head-to-head, I mean, that's fair for me.
27:45Well, Buda and Chris, it's do or die, and it's your last chance to earn a spot in the finals
27:52of America's Culinary Cup.
27:55And for one of you, this will be your last and final challenge.
28:01In your head-to-head cook-off, you need to use two taste profiles and feature them on one dish.
28:09One of your tastes will be umami, the taste profile that no one had, and the other will be your
28:15choice.
28:16And of course, the dish must be perfectly executed and perfectly balanced.
28:21So choose wisely, because there's only one spot remaining.
28:26All right, chefs, take your stations.
28:28Good luck to both of you.
28:30I'm not happy that I have to go head-to-head with Buda.
28:33He intimidates me.
28:34He's insanely technical.
28:35His food's beautiful.
28:36So is he the number one person I want to go against?
28:39Absolutely not.
28:40But hopefully I give him hell.
28:4175 minutes.
28:43Two taste profiles.
28:45One dish.
28:47Your time starts now.
28:53This could be quite the battle.
28:55Yeah.
28:56100%.
28:57I still can't believe I'm here.
29:00Don't underestimate yourself.
29:02I'm very thankful for one last shot.
29:04I have another chance to get into the finale.
29:06This is the most important dish that I cooked in the whole competition, because it really determines whether or not
29:11I can cook for that million dollars.
29:14How would you describe umami?
29:16To me, it's defined as mouth-filling deliciousness.
29:19It's more than just a taste.
29:20It's also a feeling.
29:21It's that center bite on the cheeseburger.
29:23You can't stop.
29:24You want to go right back.
29:25And it makes your mouth water.
29:27Once you've eaten a bite of something that's packed with umami, you just want to take another one.
29:31To me, it's really that savoriness, that richness of flavor that is more satisfying to the palate.
29:38I'm doing simple, delicious today.
29:40And I hope it pays off.
29:42All I gotta do is cook a good dish.
29:43And if I go home, because Buddha beats me, at least I know I went out with a dish I
29:48can be proud of.
29:49So I'm going all in on this one.
29:51Chris, what's your other flavor profile?
29:53Uh, sweet.
29:54Sweet?
29:54Yeah.
29:55Doing scallops, XO, brown butter, celery root puree.
29:59And then, like, sweet-glazed pia-pini mushrooms, other umami bangers folded into all that.
30:04The sweetness plays off of umami really well.
30:07Chef, are you breaking out the liquid nitrogen?
30:09I might just do it just for giggles.
30:12My first head-to-head delimination, Chris has danced on the bottom a lot.
30:16Sometimes he gets in his own head.
30:17I guess he puts a lot of things on the plate.
30:19But I know he's a strong competitor.
30:21I just need to do the things that I've been doing since day one.
30:23I'll cook them.
30:24I'm just toasting my seaweed.
30:26Umami is always paired with salt.
30:28So I'm going to be doing umami and salty.
30:31Buddha, are you going to cook the fish after?
30:33It's going to be several.
30:34My taste profile is going to be salty and umami.
30:37I'm going to do a kombu cured hamachi with cauliflower cream and a champagne sauce with caviar.
30:44Kombu is the king of umami.
30:48It's literally what MSG comes from.
30:50Yeah, it's very smart.
30:51It's got as clear-cut a definition of umami as you get.
30:54We've got 45 minutes.
30:59The dishes are surprisingly not that far away from each other.
31:02No.
31:02We're doing different highlights.
31:04Fish, white puree, umami.
31:06One sweet, one's going to be salty.
31:13It is kind of eerily similar.
31:16I'm taking less risks on this one.
31:18I've never been in a situation in my life where I'm cooking and I have to self edit as much
31:22as I do here.
31:23I keep getting the same comment about putting too much of everything on the plate.
31:28And it's hard to self edit.
31:29But with a million dollars on the line, I'm going to try to tighten up and just focus on three
31:34components.
31:34Beautiful puree, well executed scallops, and roasted mushrooms.
31:39If I go home on this, then so be it.
31:42But I don't want to go home today.
31:45Smells good.
31:46Now that my fish is in the fridge, I need to work the base of my sauce.
31:50It's possibly my last challenge.
31:52I'm definitely going to be going out with a bag.
31:54Shots fired, Chris.
31:56I want to pull out the prosecco, the caviar, the gold leaf to make this beautiful sauce.
32:03Last time I competed, I didn't have two beautiful daughters, but now I do.
32:06And all I can do is think about them.
32:08I've been missing them a lot.
32:09And I'm doing this for my family, just so we can live more comfortably and I could spend more time
32:15with them.
32:21Ten minutes left.
32:23Chris, how you doing?
32:24Are you making a million dollar dish?
32:26That's up for debate, I guess, right?
32:28Going with flavors, I know I'm not trying to shoot the moon on this one.
32:31Going simple XO sauce all day.
32:34Just to bring it home.
32:35Hopefully it pays off.
32:37XO sauce is the umami bomb of the dish.
32:40It's made from dried shrimp, scallops, garlic, onion, chilies, often dried pork products.
32:46And then I'm adding fish sauce, lemon juice, some sweet soy as well, and a little bit of miso.
32:52And I'm going to use that to dress the scallops, really hammering home that sweet and umami combination.
32:58Just going to give this a face.
33:00I'm a hard man to beat when I'm motivated.
33:02I'm doing this for my mom.
33:03I'm doing this for my family.
33:05Um, and I have two little girls to look out for, so I'd like to do something nice for my
33:09wife and then pay for schooling without worry and give my daughters the opportunities I had growing up.
33:16That's what I wanted.
33:17Two minutes.
33:21Time is winding down.
33:23I'm going to zhuzh it up with a little bit of gold leaf.
33:26Why not?
33:27If it's my last time here, let's go out with a bag.
33:30So the plating is almost done.
33:31The last thing that I'm doing is pouring my sauce.
33:35The sauce tastes great, but I do feel like it is reading a little bit too salty umami.
33:42So I'm going to turn it down just a little bit.
33:44So I'm adding a couple more cubes of cold butter.
33:47Trying to get all the balancing right.
33:49I'm still adjusting the flavors.
33:50This is going to be really, really down to the wire.
33:53Cooking for my place to win a million dollars right now.
33:55I need to make sure that everything is perfect because everything runs on this dish.
34:00Still not happy with that sauce.
34:02I'm trying to make sure that I get all my plating perfect.
34:08Three, two, one.
34:10Time's up.
34:13It's going to be a long deliberation.
34:18We're all very proud of ourselves for making it this far,
34:21because this cooking competition, it's metal warfare.
34:26It would really suck to go home at this point.
34:29Good job, man.
34:30Final four.
34:31Final four.
34:33Chris, can you tell us what taste profile you picked to pair with umami?
34:38I chose sweet again.
34:39Look at me.
34:40So I have for you roasted scallops with XO, brown butter, miso, celery root puree.
34:45There's also some roasted piopinis glazed in a little bit of reduced pickling liquid.
34:50And I also pickled some celery root for a little crunch and texture.
34:53This is such a well-composed, focused dish.
34:57Scallops are cooked beautifully.
34:59The puree is luscious and creamy.
35:02I do think you hit the sweet element and the umami element beautifully.
35:08Scallops are well-prepared.
35:09I like the mushrooms on the side.
35:11Maybe a little sweet, but very impressed.
35:14Thank you, Chef.
35:15Yeah.
35:16Chris, what I like about your dish is that the scallop comes through very, very clearly.
35:19And, of course, you use the XO to great effect, and that gave you the umami in this dish.
35:24The celery root itself, the pickled bits, they have a little bit of a weird chew to them.
35:28But they do bring a lot to the dish, and they do deliver on flavor.
35:33Budo, tell us what you made and what profile you chose to pair with umami.
35:39So I did hamachi with caviar, cauliflower cream, and a white soy butter sauce.
35:43Some pickled turnips on there.
35:45It is salty and umami.
35:47Very pretty.
35:49This dish shows some of your best work.
35:52The kombujime technique that you used to bring more umami to the fish definitely paid off.
35:58The addition of the caviar kind of helped drive home both the umami and the salt.
36:02If I had one negative thing to say about it, this sauce is just pure umami.
36:08It's a real umami bomb.
36:09It comes off tasting almost a little cheesy because of the dairy that you put in there.
36:14I actually liked the cheesiness, but I think of cheese as being very rich in umami.
36:18The cauliflower was delicious.
36:20I think you could have given us a little bit more of that.
36:22But this is just fantastic stuff.
36:24Really good.
36:26Buda, I really loved your sauce.
36:29It was an umami bomb in the best way.
36:32But a couple of drops of lemon or something in the sauce would have given you a more uniform counterpoint
36:40to that umami.
36:42It's very hard to decide who had the better dish here.
36:50But ultimately, only one of you can go to the finals.
36:56While both dishes were extraordinary and delicious, there was one plate I felt demonstrated the two taste profiles a little
37:06bit better than the other.
37:09And that plate was Chris's.
37:15Wiley, who had the better dish?
37:22Chris.
37:25It was unanimous.
37:27Today it was Chris.
37:28Thank you very much.
37:31Sorry, bro.
37:31That was so good.
37:32Amazing getting in the way.
37:33To cook with you.
37:34Yeah, absolutely.
37:35Congratulations, Chris.
37:37Very much.
37:37Buda, I'm so sorry.
37:39You've served your final dish.
37:41Well, thank you so much for everything.
37:44Of course, I'm super bummed out.
37:46Like, I want to make it all the way to the finale at least.
37:50Good day, everyone.
37:51I almost wish you had just given me this.
37:54Because this was fantastic.
37:55Okay, I'll just take this away.
38:00Buda, congratulations.
38:01You are the winner.
38:02What are we talking about?
38:03I haven't felt like this defeat ever.
38:05But at the same time, I'm accepting it.
38:08This is the best dish I've seen from you in this competition.
38:12Because I'm a risk taker.
38:14I'm always going to try and push myself further.
38:17He's an overachiever.
38:18Buda, you were one point away from a perfect score.
38:22Someone want to talk about it at 1.1?
38:24No.
38:28Great stuff, man.
38:30Fantastic.
38:31Really good.
38:31You're incredibly talented.
38:33I love competitions.
38:34I'll probably say...
38:35I dare say maybe this might be my last.
38:41You win some, you lose some.
38:43Can't always win everything.
38:51Congratulations.
38:53Oh my gosh.
38:54What a journey you've had.
38:56Yeah, I could cry right now.
38:58I've been worried about specifically going against Matt and Buda.
39:02And to win against Buda in a head-to-head gives me a lot of confidence going into the finals.
39:07Cook from your heart, trust your instincts, and a million dollars could be yours.
39:19Congratulations.
39:21Man, thank you.
39:22I am shocked to see Buda go home.
39:25Another strong competitor is now off the table.
39:27But also, these other two chefs are performing really well and performing better than the one that you perceived as
39:34being the best.
39:35On to the next one, I guess.
39:37You're still in it.
39:37I'm still in it.
39:39Voted most likely to leave and I'm still here.
39:41I was voted least likely to win the competition and now I'm headed to the finals.
39:45So, I now have a 33% chance of winning a million dollars.
39:50They said that he and I put up two stunning dishes.
39:52Yeah.
39:53Like it was splitting hairs.
39:54I mean, they sent him home because he needed a couple more drops of lemon juice.
39:58Literally.
39:58That was it.
40:05Congratulations.
40:06Well done, chefs.
40:07It still feels surreal that I'm here, that I've made it this far.
40:11The validation of being able to compete at this level is huge.
40:13And I'm here to play the game.
40:15If you think this competition has been tough so far, you ain't seen nothing yet.
40:20I'd like to end by saying no pressure.
40:24But we all know that would be a lie.
40:27See you later.
40:29Come on, boys.
40:32Ah, boy.
40:35I'd be worried if I were them.
40:36I'd be worried.
40:42Congratulations.
40:44I want to win and hopefully take the million dollars home.
40:47They also made it sound like there's going to be a little twist to it.
40:50Yeah, they did.
40:51This is wild.
40:52Like my emotions are, I'm like on tilt.
40:55I've cried so many times.
40:57And I don't cry.
40:58Like I'm not really, I'm a crier kind of more than most men probably.
41:01But I don't like, I can tell you how many times I cried in the last year.
41:04You know, it's not like, um...
41:09All right, final three.
41:11Final three.
41:11Final three.
41:13I mean, it's unbelievable to still be here.
41:15I just knew I needed to give it my best.
41:17And, uh, I did that.
41:18I'm just happy to be in the finale.
41:22Stay tuned for...
41:24Welcome to the finals of America's Culinary Cup.
41:27You'll be serving us along with Eric Repair, Suzanne Gowen, and Daniela Soto-Enaz.
41:34No pressure.
41:37Wasn't expecting this.
41:38Nope.
41:39I know I can really excel at this, but the best chef win.
41:42I've never done this before.
41:43If this goes wrong, I'm probably going home.
41:45If I were Chris, I'd be worried about that pressure cooker.
41:47Very worried.
41:48I did not think it was going to be this close.
41:50My heart's pounding out of my chest.
41:52The winner of America's Culinary Cup and one million dollars is...
42:03They started out as neighbors, then became family.
42:06I'm going to make a t-shirt that says, Calvin is my best friend.
42:09This Monday, their story comes to a close.
42:11I'm going to miss you, man.
42:12I love you, too.
42:13I did not say that.
42:14The neighborhood series finale.
42:16CBS Monday, 8, 7 central.
42:18Queen Ratifa hosts the American Music Awards.
42:21Live, CBS Memorial Day Monday.
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