- 4 hours ago
Americas Culinary Cup S01E10
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:02I'm Padma Lakshmi and we've scoured the nation to bring together the most elite chefs and the
00:09most renowned judges into the ultimate culinary battleground this is a test of our 10 culinary
00:16Commandments master them and you win 1 million dollars brought to you by our official cleanup
00:23partners Don Powerwash last time on America's Culinary Cup our culinary commandment is world
00:34cuisine I feel let down this is a very bad lemon rice I could be going hard I haven't felt
00:39like
00:39this ever I feel like I have something to prove I was voted least likely to win the competition
00:46congratulations Chris Wow the first chef to earn a perfect score on a dish thank you
00:53Katie you served your final dish thank you this is the final four it's do or die for all of
00:59us
00:59you are most likely to win now there's no room to hide and I'm ready to win a million dollars
01:05I think some people are more nervous than others the expectations set may the best chef win
01:21oh that's the wrong floor not a lot left it's down to the four of us if I had to
01:28say who is my
01:29strongest competition it would be Buddha he knows how to play the game so stark in here I guess despite
01:36being rusty I still made it to the final four it feels reaffirming that I can like riding a bike
01:41I
01:41guess wow I know this is wild I'm a runner this competition is definitely more of a marathon than a
01:49sprint I've fallen into a bit of a rhythm here after a few stumbles early on now that we're close
01:54to the
01:55finale I feel like I'm kind of in that runner's high huh how's that helping us that's a lot of
02:09cinnamon breakfast lunch and dinner I don't think we're doing a breakfast challenge you know I've had
02:14a great couple of weeks and then I fumbled it last week and just like sports you know you're gonna
02:19have
02:19an off day and I flew way too close to the Sun than I want to be what could it
02:23be welcome to the
02:37semi-finals of America's culinary cup give yourself a hand by the end of today only three of you will
02:46be
02:46left and advance to the finals there you'll fight one last time for America's culinary cup and one
02:54million dollars brought to you by our official cleanup partner Don power wash chefs you've conquered every
03:01culinary commandment we've thrown at you but today we go to the heart of your craft today's commandment is
03:11mastering the art of taste there's no greater weapon in a chef's arsenal than their own palate today you'll
03:22be tested on the five taste profiles sweet sour salty bitter and umami mastering the five basic tastes is
03:32essential to creating food that's balanced satisfying and memorable knowing how to use them to layer dishes
03:40is an essential skill today we will test your ability to use these five tastes to create memorable and
03:47delicious dishes tastes is by far the number one commandment for probably most chefs out there I'm
03:53excited I think that is one of the strengths that I have for today's commandment you each have to create
03:59two dishes one must be hot and one dish must be cold both dishes have to showcase one of the
04:06flavor
04:06profiles and of course your dishes still have to be balanced however you won't be deciding your flavor
04:13profile it will be determined at random by the board everybody would love to have umami umami is
04:21like the easiest one to do all the good has umami I might be the only person who likes bitter
04:32so sweet is Chris sour is Kara salty is Matt and bitter is Buddha and no one got umami I
04:43got bitter
04:43not really my choice of the five flavor profiles but if I make it through to the end I won't
04:49be bitter about
04:49that chefs you'll have 75 minutes to create your two dishes however since Chris won the last commandment
04:59you earned an extra 30 minutes for your cook wow wow feel free sweet yeah now I do now I
05:09really do oh but
05:10here's the catch oh boy in order to get those 30 minutes you'll have to take it from your competitors
05:17oh
05:18oh wow you can take 30 minutes from one chef or 15 minutes from two chefs it's up to you
05:25playing
05:26the strategy right could be the difference between winning a million dollars or just going home
05:32feeling a little salty oh boy I don't know if I like that if I was Chris I would take
05:3630 minutes
05:37away from that because it's the biggest threat I'm pregnant I've never won once though just saying
05:45regardless of her saying anything the woman's in her second trimester running around and making
05:49food I'm not going to steal time away from her my mom would slap me upside the head I'll give
05:53both of
05:54these gentlemen 15. Matt and Buddha have some of the best chances of winning just like sorry boys
05:59someone's got to go home and I don't want it to be me the baby thanks you that means that
06:04Matt and
06:05Buddha will each have one hour and Kara you'll have your full 75 minutes and Chris that means you'll
06:13have one hour and 45 minutes please take your stations it's a big advantage time but for Chris it might
06:22be
06:22his own Achilles heel makes him think too much but it is in general the best advantage Chris your time
06:29starts now good luck I hope that the extra time does not trip up Chris because last week's
06:38pappardelle one of the best dishes he made he made when he didn't have that much time he does have
06:43a
06:43tendency to to add rather than subtract we shall see I did just come off of a perfect score which
06:48is a
06:49massive win but there's more pressure on me because I have extra time so I just start hustling I walk
06:54in
06:55the pantry and just see the cod and I love cod and that naturally speaks to me I love sweet
06:59applications with cod so I'm like okay let's use that as the driving point for the hot dish then
07:04I'm looking at cold and I'm like all right we're already doing fish why not do two different fish
07:08dishes which is a little bit of a risk but I'm like you know what I'm just going for it
07:11Chris is
07:12having a nice little delicate stroll into the pantry it's like he's shopping for his kid out yeah do I
07:20need milk god that must be nice to have an extra 45 minutes then me and Matt to just take
07:25your time
07:26and get everything out but hey I should have won the last challenge I saw a little bit of a
07:32different
07:32Chris today after winning last week yeah like he kind of ran away with it last week yeah he had
07:39been
07:39at the bottom and his fellow competitors also voted him to be the one most likely to lose this
07:45competition that's right I think he's found a little bit of confidence I'm just gonna portion some fish
07:50just to get out of the way are you doing tuna for both dishes this one black cod with one
07:54tuna the
07:55other last thing I want to do is have extra time and not take full advantage of it so I'm
07:59trying to
07:59focus on just getting myself set up so I can just focus on flavor execution and beautiful plating best
08:04chance of success is when you know you're cooking food that you're in love with I absolutely love
08:08roasted cabbage it's one of my favorite things to eat on the planet cabbage has a little natural
08:12sweetness when roasted nicely I have the time to roast them in the pizza oven bring out some of the
08:17natural
08:17sweetness as well Kara your time starts now I'm feeling like it's tight for time this challenge
08:24so my strategy was to work on the things that take the longest first and then progressively move
08:29through what I can push towards the end my hot dish is a Kung Pao cauliflower which is a classic
08:35Sichuan style stir-fry made with cauliflower instead of chicken sour is one of my favorite tastes I love a
08:43lot
08:43of acidity in everything I cook when Kara loves to cook like from her Chinese heritage and there's
08:48all sorts of incredible Chinese dishes that really feature very very sour tastes which I love
09:02I'm starting on cauliflower threats and I'm gonna cry back in some kimchi juice they're gonna get deep
09:07fried for a Gong Bao Ji just want some acid pumped into them because you know the whole sour challenge
09:12I'm adding kimchi juice in which is not standard but I want to reinforce the sour to make sure that
09:17we
09:18have another layer of acid in the dish so it's already almost been an hour yeah you've been 45
09:24minutes already she's I don't remember that ever feeling that fast I'm not happy with just the one hour
09:31losing that 15 minutes it hurts it's a lot to ask for in one hour yeah better in one hour
09:37long there's no room there's no room for error this could be it I could be going home
09:51Chris decided to take 15 minutes from both Buddha and I so we only have one hour to cook Matt
09:57and Buddha
09:57your time starts now it's already hard enough to put up one quality dish in one hour but to do
10:08two
10:08dishes one hot one cold that is where it gets really difficult in this competition you have to be quick
10:15and you have to take all your experience and trust your guide I get salty and I need something simple
10:25and
10:25fast to plate specifically seafood scallops are gonna be for my heart for my hot dish I am going
10:31to be making a seared scallop almondine with salt roasted and baked leeks and lots of brownie salted capers
10:40we're at the semi-finals now and one of these four chefs will not make it to the final the
10:46chefs
10:46are in a tough spot right now my flavor profile is bitter I probably got the most difficult category to
10:53go into the semi-final with I'm bitter about losing out on time plus Chris just took 15 minutes away
10:59from me yeah things aren't looking up for my bitter hot dish I'm doing lamb with some bitter leaves I
11:05want to go more for like a Sunday roast vibes beautiful bitter leaf salad with roasted lamb Buddha has
11:11bitter that's a harder category because you don't want it to be over bitter I love bitter coffee arugula salad
11:20grapefruit Michael yeah we all know like Wiley is a bitter pill to swallow but as Wiley said there's
11:27all sorts of opportunities when it comes to bitter foods
11:35I'm toasting some coriander seeds and I'm gonna make my tahini with date sauce which adds a little
11:41bit of sweetness traditionally this is a base for a crudo for a tuna so that'll be my cold dish
11:46I feel great about the extra time I have but it's also you know I just want to make sure
11:50I execute
11:51last thing I want to do is have extra time and then not take full advantage of it my cold
11:55dish is a
11:56bigger risk I've never done this preparation of sauce alongside raw seafood before this is either gonna hit
12:02or it's gonna it's gonna sink me I'm making a kong pao sauce for the kong pao cauliflower there's an
12:11acidic product and every component in the sauce except for sugar because you need some balance
12:15there cashew butter is gonna add a lot of fat to cut through the acid so that combination allows you
12:22to balance the acid but make it the star of the show what do you think the pitfalls are for
12:31Matt's dishes
12:32salty is the one where I think you have to push it to the limit but you have to realize
12:37where that limit
12:38is give us all those really strong salty flavors but balance them for my cold dish I'm using naturally
12:47salted ingredients sea urchin caviar sea beans so I'm going to take toasted brioche kind of do a uni toast
12:56this is gonna be a little bit of this church cheetah avocado puree that I'm gonna use with the uni
13:00and
13:00the caviar the salty element doesn't really bother me it really comes down to time Chris and Kara both
13:07have additional time and their dishes are probably going to be more elaborate because of that time
13:13advantage I need to make sure that these two dishes look like I had an hour and 45 minutes
13:21I'm slicing my hamachi for my cold dish I'll be making a hamachi crudo which is gonna have sort of
13:29tie influence into that I'm adding some bitter melon bitter melon is the epitome of bitter it literally
13:38numbs your tongue if you don't pickle it or make it sweet and sour it's gonna hurt your palate it's
13:43a
13:43lot of risk using it but I'm a risk-taker perfect oh yeah I'm making a glaze for my cabbage
13:53this is
13:54gonna bring out the sweetness in my hot dish my sour cold dish I'm making a crudo this is sort
14:04of an
14:04east me sweats kind of dish in the sense that it's got lots of Asian undertones with a few dollops
14:09of
14:10cream and fat and dill that was more typical in the in Europe it's got at least four different types
14:16of citrus going into it ponzu is also acidic sour cream and creme fresche are also naturally sour so
14:21you're gonna get lots of variations of the version of sour and different flavor profiles Chris you
14:28have five minutes left I want to prove that I'm supposed to be in the finals the extra time I
14:35had
14:35has given me a lot more time to really take my time but also it's scary that I could have
14:41an
14:41advantage and still be going home three two one time's up Chris hands up let's eat Chris all right
14:52Chris what was your taste profile and tell us about your hot dish my taste profile was sweet you have
14:58seared black cod tahina arra just spicy tahini sauce and then like a sweet glazed cabbage it is delicious
15:05okay there's no doubt about that that's super delicious that cabbage is the star of your plate
15:10okay I wonder why you chose to put the sweetest element on the cabbage which is not really like
15:18the center of this dish taking it you think I should have done it on the fish or not even
15:22served us the
15:23fish you didn't need it okay I think you could have gotten away with just putting this tahina in the
15:28bottom dropping the cabbage on top of it with the sauce and that would have been a real mic drop
15:34understood
15:34thank you chef let's talk about your cold dish my cold dish is a tuna crudo this is a play
15:40on a
15:41Iranian dish called Kali a Korma which Korma and there's a word in Farsi for dates so it's a sauce
15:46of
15:47caramelized red onion garlic dates to be poured over top I mean I've never had sliced raw tuna bathed in
15:56this kind of sauce but I have to say I really like it thank you with your cold dish you
16:01really hit the
16:02nail on the head so congratulations I like this tuna dish a lot Chris I like the fact there's a
16:07little floral element that you put in the sauce so that was really quite nice in some way this sauce
16:11reminded me of French dressing I definitely get the sweetness in both your dishes I'm just trying to
16:18wrap my head around making fish when you could have taken an easier path well hopefully that doesn't take me
16:25down I cooked really well last week I got a perfect score thank you thank you very much and now
16:32all I can
16:33think of right now is is that first dish gonna send me home why why did he put the fish
16:38on
16:47two minutes left Kara and with two minutes left the last thing I have to do is tossing the
16:53cauliflower in that sort of glaze are those pans on her stove they're two walks they're their walks yes
17:02maybe she'll be walking into the finals plating these two dishes I'm feeling the pressure being
17:10in the final four anything could send anyone home at this point I'm also nervous I made it too spicy
17:15because I'm always worried I make everything too spicy nothing like a fiery dish to go out on a million
17:22dollars is a lot of money I want to win it's not worth putting up something okay versus putting up
17:27something great here we go your time is up Kara hi Kara beautiful what is your taste profile I'm sour
17:41you're sour and tell us about your hot dish it's a hot and sour gong bao cauliflower it's a classic
17:50dish
17:50from Sichuan there's some cashew butter on the bottom some pickled chilies I know this dish well
17:56this is a particularly good version of it I think you got a lot of tart and sour notes and
18:02they're
18:02very well layered I think you did an excellent job and I have no notes on your cauliflower dish I
18:09love
18:09the spice level that exists in this dish the sour element definitely comes through and then the cashew
18:15butter itself just kind of the perfect foil for all of that acidity and all of that spice I feel
18:22it's got
18:23a lot of umami I would actually like to see it a little bit more sour and tell us about
18:31your cold
18:31dish so it's a scallop crudo there's a creme fresh sour cream and koshu with some citrus juice as the
18:39base
18:39oh I definitely get the sour I enjoyed this dish as well I especially like the white soy that you
18:45put in
18:45the creme fraiche I love that like savory kind of base note that it gave to the dish I love
18:50how it's
18:51got multiple forms of sour on it I love the raw scallop I love the fact that there's these tiny
18:57little
18:57crunchy bits of poppy seed on it I think this dish is fantastic all right I have a few things
19:03to say
19:05I'm not a fan of raw scallops and I thought that the scallops were drowning in the sauce but the
19:13flavors
19:14combined of all your sauces was really sour and that's what the assignment was thank you Kara thank
19:21you I feel proud of what I made whether the judges like it or not is out of my control
19:25at this point
19:26the cauliflower dish I mean it seems to be two against one I just think she didn't need so much
19:30of the sauce Kara's cauliflower dish was sour yet balanced and Kara's scallop dish was sour and
19:36unbalanced let's score Kara's dish how'd it go you never know I mean I had a lot more time than
19:47everybody and I should have just done vegetarian nothing ever turns out exactly that I want even
19:52though I had extra time today you get an idea in your head and it's hard to self-edit it
19:57felt like I
19:57would be playing it too safe and not trying hard enough and you know we'll see I just hope it
20:02doesn't send me home I love washing with Don power wash so far it's magic magic Matt and Buddha you
20:10have
20:1010 minutes left we're off to the races they want a cold dish I'm gonna give them a cold dish
20:22believe it
20:23or not the only times I've actually used liquid nitrogen is when I've been on television if you
20:29use this ingredient properly it saves you so much time and what I don't have is time I just put
20:37lemongrass cilantro scallions little bit of garlic bird's eye chili and I chopped it into a powder I did
20:45that in 20 seconds because of liquid nitrogen so I'll just shave five minutes Matt and Buddha three minutes left
20:53right now I know as I'm plating this that I'm one step closer to getting to the finale my goal
20:58was never to run somebody else's restaurant and so winning a million dollars in this competition is
21:03finally gonna get me across the finish line of completing the restaurant that I've always dreamt
21:08of opening now that we're closer to the finale I am closer to a million dollar win five four three
21:18two
21:19one times up everybody hands up well the judges deduct points for the simplicity of my toast oh boy chef
21:33I'm not
21:34sure but hopefully the balance of those flavors they can understand where my approach is Matt what was
21:40your flavor profile uh salty what is your hot dish so the hot dish is pan roasted scallops with kind
21:47of
21:47like an almondine if you will toasted capers brown butter salted and roasted grapes and then salt baked
21:53leeks your hot dish was salty in all the right ways you made this crunchy and bright very well balanced
22:01almondine the only thing I wish is that you know I've come to love your sauces over the course of
22:05this
22:05competition and I would have loved a little bit more almondine yeah pan juices yeah I think your leeks
22:13are the star of this plate I love how salty they were but you did need that touch of sweetness
22:19from
22:20the grape to break up all the saltiness in this dish which really was right on the verge but I
22:25mean
22:25all in all great dish thank you please describe your cold dish that's our uni toast for salty I really
22:32wanted to use ingredients that were already salted roasted shishito and avocado puree salted yuzu kosho and
22:39then some salted sea beans glaze over top of the uni with some caviar is there anything we should know
22:44about the toast or is it just toast to me you didn't make the bread you had it home if
22:50I was able to do
22:50that in an hour I mean give me the check now I really like this dish and I thought it
22:54was very smart of you
22:55to just highlight three ingredients which were naturally salty the only thing I would say is
23:00maybe I would have also put a couple drops of lime juice over the top of the whole thing just
23:04to set
23:05off like the natural salinity absolutely those ingredients I really like your cold dish and I think
23:10you have a nice amount of salinity so it didn't feel like you tried to over salt something in a
23:16taste of the
23:16ocean which is beautiful I think I would have loved to have maybe had it smaller and more of
23:21that delicious green puree but very clever thank you Matt thank you nice job thank you appreciate it
23:29if Buddha crushes it I'm going home let's format I think all in all given an hour it was an
23:36impressive a lot of work an impressive amount of very impressive impressive
23:44oh wow hi Buddha hello what is your taste profile hey profile is bitter tell us about your hot dish
23:50so
23:50my hot dish is a lamb saddle it's been roasted a little bit of reza noon with a braised undive
23:56that's
23:56been cooked in date molasses served with a light salad of castelfranco with goat's curd hazelnuts and
24:02honey I like that you use some bitter greens but unfortunately I had two pieces of bone on my plate
24:07I think I would
24:08have liked to have had it be just a little bit more bitter okay I like the lamb Buddha I
24:14think I probably
24:14got better cuts than what you got Wiley I love braised endive and I thought what you gave us was
24:19a
24:19really good example of a properly prepared braised endive I did get the bitter not only in those
24:26beautiful leaves but I got it also in the hazelnut I just wish my lamb was treated a little bit
24:32better
24:33tell us about your cold dish Buddha okay so it's hamachi with a dressing made from pomelo and pickled
24:39bitter melon with avocado you certainly found the bitterness in all of these ingredients there's no
24:45doubt about that my only comment about this is that I think all of it kind of overwhelms that poor
24:50yellowtail you really nailed the bitter Buddha but I have to agree with Michael I think the fish is
24:57completely lost it's drowning and everything that's put on top of it I might be the biggest fan of bitter
25:03at the table and I love what's going on here in terms of the different textures and the bitterness I
25:09like
25:09bitter melon I've never had bitter melon like this and you clearly in a mere hour came up with a
25:14dish that
25:15you put a lot of thought into all right thank you Buddha I can't confidently say that they liked it
25:22that much it is what it is that's how everyone feels let's score Buddha what can you do in an
25:30hour
25:30right it's like it's tight I did what I could yeah it just really depends on how the judges score
25:36everything I hope it's enough to get me into the finale
25:46chefs your task was to take your assigned taste profiles and make two dishes one hot and one cold
25:53only three of you will move forward in the finals the two chefs with the top scores will automatically
25:59advance while the bottom two will go head-to-head in a sudden-death cook-off for the final spot
26:06we
26:06thought whoever had the lowest scoring dish was going to go home but I guess we were wrong now
26:10there's a sudden death I was a long cook and to have to jump back in there and go head
26:15-to-head would
26:16not be fun shall we see who's in first
26:27Matt in first place with a hundred and five points out of a possible 120 to lock in your spot
26:36in
26:36the finals congratulations thank you it's amazing after last week I thought I was going home to know
26:44that like I am now in the finals I can like kind of breathe and sleep easy tonight I'm one
26:49step closer
26:50to a million dollars that means Kara Buddha and Chris one of you will join Matt in the final three
26:57and
26:58will be one step closer to winning one million dollars let's see the scores
27:11Kara second place congratulations you will be joining Matt in the finals it's a moment of relief it's a moment
27:20of happiness it's a moment of joy I've made it to the finale I don't have to cook again like
27:24all things are good
27:27it's always sucks being in the bottom yeah at least it wasn't the bottom score goes home because
27:31I'd definitely be going home Chris and Buddha you have the lowest scores so you'll be cooking in the
27:38head-to-head cook-off how are you feeling about it I mean I'm disappointed given the advantage I had
27:44but it came to cook so what's one more time after this gauntlet you know Buddha to have one more
27:51shot and
27:51to go head-to-head I mean that's fair for me well Buddha and Chris it's do or die and
27:56it's your last
27:57chance to earn a spot in the finals of America's culinary cup and for one of you this will be
28:07your
28:07last and final challenge in your head-to-head cook-off you need to use two taste profiles and feature
28:16them on
28:16one dish one of your tastes will be umami the taste profile that no one had and the other will
28:23be your
28:24choice and of course the dish must be perfectly executed and perfectly balanced so choose wisely
28:31because there's only one spot remaining all right chefs take your stations good luck to both of you
28:38I'm not happy that I have to go head-to-head with Buddha he intimidates me he's insanely technical his
28:44food's
28:44beautiful so is he the number one person I want to go against absolutely not but hopefully I give him
28:49hell 75 minutes to taste profiles one dish your time starts now
29:02this would be quite the battle yeah a hundred percent I still can't believe I'm here
29:09don't underestimate yourself I'm very thankful for one last show I have another chance to get into the
29:14finale this is the most important dish that I cooked in the whole competition because it really determines
29:19whether or not I can cook for that million dollars how would you describe umami to me it's defined as
29:25mouth-filling deliciousness it's more than just a taste it's also a feeling it's that center bite on
29:31the cheeseburger you can't stop you want to go right back and it makes your mouth water once you've eaten
29:36a
29:36bite of something that's packed with umami you just want to take another one to me it's really
29:41that savoriness that richness of flavor that is more satisfying to the palate I'm doing simple
29:48delicious today and hope it pays off all I got to do is cook a good dish and if I
29:53go home because
29:53Buddha beats me at least I know I went out with a dish I can be proud of so I'm
29:58going all in on this
29:59one Chris what's your other flavor profile uh sweet sweet yeah doing scallops XO brown
30:06butter celery root puree and then like sweet glazed piopini mushrooms other umami bangers folded into
30:12all that the sweetness plays off of umami really well chef are you breaking out the liquid nitrogen I
30:17might just do it just for giggles my first head-to-head elimination Chris has danced on the bottom a
30:24lot
30:24sometimes he gets in his own head I guess he puts a lot of things on the plate but I
30:28know he's a strong
30:29competitor I just need to do the things that I've been doing since day one I'll cook them I'm just
30:35gonna be paired with salt so I'm gonna be doing umami and salty are you gonna cook the fish after
30:42it's gonna be several my taste profile they're gonna be salty and umami I'm gonna do a kombu cured
30:48hamachi with cauliflower cream and a champagne sauce with caviar kombu is the king of umami it's literally
30:57what MSG comes from yeah it's very smart it's got a clear cut a definition of umami as you get
31:02you got 45 minutes their dishes are surprisingly not that far away from each other no for doing
31:11different highlights fish white puree umami one sweet one's gonna be salty
31:21it is kind of eerily similar I'm taking less risks on this one I've never been in a situation in
31:28my life
31:28where I'm cooking it I have to self-edit as much as I do here I keep getting the same
31:34comment about
31:34putting too much of everything on the plate and it's hard to self-edit but with a million dollars
31:39on the line I'm gonna try to tighten up and just focus on three components beautiful puree well
31:44executed scallops and roasted mushrooms if I go home on this then so be it but I don't want to
31:51go home
31:53today smells good now that my fish is in the fridge I'm gonna work the base of my sauce it's
31:59possibly my last challenge I'm definitely gonna be going out with a bag shots fired Chris I wanted
32:05to pull out the Prosecco the caviar the gold leaf to make this beautiful sauce last time I competed I
32:12didn't have two beautiful daughters but now I do and all I can do is think about them I've been
32:17missing
32:17them a lot and I'm doing this for my family just so we can live more comfortably and I could
32:23spend
32:24more time with them ten minutes left Chris how you doing are you making a million dollar dish that's up
32:36for debate I guess right going with flavors I know I'm not trying to shoot the moon on this one
32:40going
32:40one simple XO sauce all day just to bring it home hopefully it pays off XO sauce is the umami
32:47bomb of
32:48the dish it's made from dried shrimp scallops garlic onion chilies often dried pork product and then I'm
32:55adding fish sauce lemon juice some sweet soy as well and a little bit of miso and I'm gonna use
33:01that to
33:02dress the scallops really hammering home that sweet and umami combination just gonna give this a face I'm a
33:09hard man to beat what I'm motivated I'm doing this for my mom I'm doing this for my family and
33:14I have two
33:14little girls to look out for so I'd like to do something nice for my wife and then pay for
33:19schooling
33:19without worry and give my daughters the opportunities I had growing up that's what I wanted two minutes time
33:30is winding down I'm gonna just shoot up with a little bit of gold leaf why not if it's my
33:36last time here
33:37let's go out with a bag so the plating is almost done the last thing that I'm doing is pouring
33:42my sauce
33:44the sauce tastes great but I do feel like it is reading a little bit too salty umami so I'm
33:51gonna
33:51turn it down just a little bit so I'm adding a couple more cubes of cold butter trying to get
33:56all the
33:56balancing right I'm still adjusting the flavors this is gonna be really really down to the wire cooking for
34:02my place to win a million dollars right now I need to make sure that everything is perfect because
34:06everything runs on this dish still not happy with that sauce I'm trying to make sure that I get all
34:13my
34:13plating perfect three two one times up it's gonna be a long deliberation
34:27we're all very proud of ourselves for making it this far because this cooking competition it's
34:32metal warfare thank you thank you it would really suck to go home at this point
34:38great job man bottom four
34:47Chris can you tell us what taste profile you picked to pair with umami I chose sweet again
34:53look at me so I have for you roasted scallops with XO brown butter miso celery root puree there's also
35:00some roasted piopinis glazed in a little bit of reduced pickling liquid and I also pickled some
35:05celery root for a little crunch and texture this is such a well-composed focused dish scallops are
35:12cooked beautifully the puree is luscious and creamy I do think you hit the sweet element and the umami
35:19element beautifully scallops are well prepared I like the mushrooms on the side maybe a little sweet
35:27but very impressed thank you chef Chris what I like about your dish is that the scallop comes
35:32through very very clearly and of course you use the XO to great effect and that gave you the umami
35:38in this dish the celery root itself the pickled bits they have a little bit of a weird chew to
35:42them
35:42but they do bring a lot to the dish and they do deliver on flavor thank you
35:48budo tell us what you made and what profile you chose to pair with umami so I did hamachi with
35:54caviar
35:55cauliflower cream and a white soy butter sauce some pickled turnips on there it is salty and umami very pretty
36:02thank you this dish shows some of your best work the kombujime technique that you used to bring more
36:10umami to the fish definitely paid off the addition of the caviar kind of helped drive home both the
36:15umami and the salt if I had one negative thing to say about it this sauce is just pure umami
36:22it's a real
36:23umami bomb it comes off tasting almost a little cheesy because of the dairy that you put in there
36:28I actually liked the cheesiness but I think of cheese as being very rich in umami the cauliflower
36:33was delicious I think you could have given us a little bit more of that but this is just fantastic
36:38stuff really good thank you Buddha I really loved your sauce it was an umami bomb in the best way
36:46but a couple of drops of lemon or something in the sauce would have given you a more uniform
36:53counterpoint to that umami it's very hard to decide who had the better dish here
37:04but ultimately only one of you can go to the finals
37:10while both dishes were extraordinary and delicious there was one plate I felt demonstrated the two taste
37:19profiles a little bit better than the other and that plate was Chris's Wiley who had the better dish
37:37Chris
37:40it was unanimous today it was Chris thank you very much sorry bro that's like good amazing getting
37:47good with you congratulations Chris thank you very much I'm so sorry you've served your final dish
37:55well thank you so much for everything of course I'm super bummed out like I'd want to make it all
38:01the
38:01way to the finale at least good day everyone I almost wish you had just given me this because this
38:09was
38:09fantastic okay I'll just take this away Buddha congratulations you are the winner talking about
38:17I haven't felt like this defeat ever but at the same time I'm accepting it this is the best dish
38:24I've seen
38:24from you in this competition because I'm a risk taker I'm always going to try and push myself further he's
38:31an overachiever Buddha you were one point away from a perfect score someone want to talk about where that one
38:38point went oh
38:42great stuff man thank you fantastic really good you're incredibly talented I love competitions
38:48I'll probably say hmm I dare say maybe this might be my last thank you
38:55you win some you lose some can't always win everything
39:05Chris congratulations thank you oh my gosh thank you what a journey you've had yeah I could cry right
39:11now I've been worried about specifically going against Matt and Buddha and to win against Buddha in a head
39:18head-to-head gives me a lot of confidence going into the finals cook from your heart trust your instincts
39:24and a million dollars could be yours
39:34congratulations thank you I am shocked to see Buddha go home another strong competitor is now off the table
39:41but also these other two chefs are performing really well and performing better than the one that you
39:48perceived as being the best onto the next one I guess still in it still in it voted most likely
39:54to
39:54leave and I'm still here I was voted least likely to win the competition and now I'm headed to the
39:59finals so I now have a 33 chance of winning a million dollars they said that he and I put
40:05up two stunning
40:06dishes yeah they were like it was splitting hairs I mean they sent him home because he needed a couple
40:10more
40:11drops of lemon juice literally that was it congratulations well done chefs it still feels
40:23surreal that I'm here that I've made it this far the validation of being able to compete at this level
40:27is huge and I'm here to play the game if you think this competition has been tough so far you
40:33ain't seen
40:34nothing yet I'd like to end by saying no pressure but we all know that would be a lie
40:42see you later come on boys oh boy I'd be worried if I were them I'd be worried
40:58congratulations I want to win and hopefully take the million dollars home they also made it sound
41:03like there's going to be a little twist yeah they did this is wild like my emotions are I'm like
41:08on
41:08tilt I've cried so many times and I don't cry like I'm not really I'm a crier kind of more
41:15than most men
41:15probably but I don't like I can tell you how many times I cried in the last year and you
41:19know it's not
41:19like um all right final three final three final three I mean it's unbelievable to still be here I just
41:30knew I needed to give it my best and uh I did that I'm just happy to be in the
41:34finale
41:39welcome to the finals of America's culinary cup you'll be serving us along with Eric repair
41:46Suzanne Gowen and Daniela Soto-Inaz no pressure
41:52wasn't expecting this nope I know I can really excel at this but the best chef win I've never
41:58done this before if this goes wrong I'm probably going home if I were Chris I'd be worried about
42:02that pressure cooker very worried I did not think it was going to be this close my heart's pounding
42:06out of my chest the winner of America's culinary cup and one million dollars is
42:21delicious
42:38so
42:42you
42:45you
42:46you
Comments