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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 this
00:39ever 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
01:24not a lot left it's down to the four of us if I had to say who is my strongest
01:30competition it would be
01:31Buddha he knows how to play the game so stark in here I guess despite being rusty I still made
01:37it to
01:38the final four it feels reaffirming that I can like riding a bike I guess wow I know this is
01:44wild
01:44I'm a runner this competition is definitely more of a marathon than a sprint I've fallen
01:50into a bit of a rhythm here after a few stumbles early on now that we're close to the finale
01:55I feel like I'm kind of in that runner's high
02:07huh how's that helping us that's a lot of cinnamon breakfast lunch and dinner I didn't think we're
02:12doing a breakfast challenge you know I've had a great couple of weeks and then I bumbled it last
02:16week and just like sports you know you're gonna have an off day and I flew way too close to
02:21the sun
02:22gonna want to be what could it be
02:36welcome to the semi-finals of America's culinary cup give yourselves a hand by the end of today
02:44only three of you will be left and advance to the finals there you'll fight one last time for
02:51America's culinary cup and one million dollars brought to you by our official cleanup partner
02:58Don power wash chefs you've conquered every culinary commandment we've thrown at you
03:03but today we go to the heart of your craft today's commandment is mastering the art of taste
03:16the art of taste there's no greater weapon in a chef's arsenal than their own palate
03:21today you'll be tested on the five taste profiles sweet sour salty bitter and umami mastering the five
03:31basic tastes is essential to creating food that's balanced satisfying and memorable knowing how to use
03:39them to layer dishes is an essential skill today we will test your ability to use these five tastes
03:45to create memorable and delicious dishes taste is by far the number one commandment for probably most
03:52chefs out there i'm excited i think that is one of the strengths that i have for today's commandment you
03:58each have to create two dishes one must be hot and one dish must be cold both dishes have to
04:04showcase
04:05one of the flavor profiles and of course your dishes still have to be balanced however you won't be
04:12deciding your flavor profile it will be determined at random by the board everybody would love to have
04:19umami umami is like the easiest one to do all the good has umami i might be the only person
04:27who likes bitter
04:32so sweet is chris sour is kara salty is matt and bitter is buddha and no one got umami
04:42i got bitter not really my choice of the five flavor profiles but if i make it through to the
04:48end
04:48i won't be bitter about that chefs you'll have 75 minutes to create your two dishes
04:56however since chris won the last commandment you earned an extra 30 minutes for your cook wow wow
05:05feel pretty sweet uh yeah now i do now i really do oh but here's the catch oh boy in
05:12order to get
05:13those 30 minutes you'll have to take it from your competitors oh wow you can take 30 minutes from one
05:21chef or 15 minutes from two chefs it's up to you playing the strategy right could be the difference
05:28between winning a million dollars or just going home feeling a little salty oh boy i don't know if
05:34i like that if i was chris i would take 30 minutes away from that because it's the biggest threat
05:39i'm
05:39pregnant i've never won once though just saying regardless of her saying anything the woman's in
05:48her second trimester running around and making food i'm not going to steal time away from her
05:51my mom would slap me upside the head i'll give both of these gentlemen 15. matt and buddha have some
05:57of
05:58the best chances of winning just like sorry boys someone's got to go home and i don't want it to
06:01be me
06:02the baby thanks you that means that matt and buddha will each have one hour and kara you'll have your
06:09full 75 minutes and chris that means you'll have one hour and 45 minutes please take your stations
06:18it's a big advantage time but for chris it might be his own achilles heel makes him think too much
06:24but
06:25it is in general the best advantage chris your time starts now good luck
06:32i hope that the extra time does not trip up chris because last week's pappardelle one of the best
06:40dishes he made he made when he didn't have that much time he does have a tendency to uh to
06:45add rather
06:45than subtract we shall see i did just come off of a perfect score which is a massive win but
06:49there's
06:50more pressure on me because i have extra time so i just start hustling i walk in the pantry and
06:55just
06:55see the cod and i love cod and that naturally speaks to me i love sweet applications with cod so
07:00i'm
07:00like okay let's use that as the driving point for the hot dish then i'm looking at cold and i'm
07:06like
07:06all right we're already doing fish why not do two different fish dishes which is a little bit of a
07:09risk but i'm like you know what i'm just going for it chris is having a nice little delicate stroll
07:14into the pantry it's like he's shopping for his kid out yeah do i need milk god that must be
07:22nice to
07:22have an extra 45 minutes then me and matt to just take your time and get everything out but hey
07:28i should
07:28have won the last challenge i saw a little bit of a different chris today after winning last
07:34week i think it gave him a little swagger yeah like he kind of ran away with it last week
07:38yeah
07:38he had been at the bottom and his fellow competitors also voted him to be the one most
07:44likely to lose this competition that's right i think he's found a little bit of confidence
07:48i'm just gonna portion some fish just to get it out of the way are you doing tuna for both
07:52dishes
07:53just one black cod with one tuna the other last thing i want to do is have extra time and
07:57not take
07:57full advantage of it so i'm trying to focus on just getting myself set up so i can just focus
08:01on
08:02flavor execution and beautiful plating best chance of success is when you know you're cooking food that
08:06you're in love with i absolutely love roasted cabbage it's one of my favorite things to eat on
08:10the planet cabbage has a little natural sweetness when roasted nicely i have the time to roast them in the
08:15pizza oven bring out some of the natural sweetness as well cara your time starts now
08:21i'm feeling like it's tight for time this challenge so my strategy is to work on the
08:26things that take the longest first and then progressively move through what i can push towards
08:30the end my hot dish is a kung pao cauliflower which is a classic sechuan style stir fry made
08:37with cauliflower instead of chicken sour is one of my favorite tastes i love a lot of acidity in
08:44everything i cook but cara loves to cook like from her chinese heritage and there's all sorts of
08:49incredible chinese dishes that really feature very very sour tastes which i love
09:02i'm starting on cauliflower threats and i'm going to cry back in some kimchi juice
09:06they're going to get deep fried for gongbaoji i just want some acid pumped into them because
09:10you know the whole sour challenge i'm adding kimchi juice in which is not standard but i want to reinforce
09:16the sour to make sure that we have another layer of acid in the dish so it's already almost been
09:21an
09:22hour yeah you've been 45 minutes already she's i don't remember that ever feeling that fast
09:28i'm not happy with just the one hour losing that 15 minutes it hurts it's a lot to ask for
09:35in one hour
09:35yeah bitter in one hour 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 fast to plate specifically seafood scallops are going to be for my hot for my hot dish i am
10:31going
10:31to be making a seared scallop almondine with salt roasted and baked leeks and lots of briny salted capers
10:40we're at the semi-finals now and one of these four chefs will not make it to the finals the
10:46chefs
10:46are in a tough spot right now my flavor profile is bitter i probably got the most difficult category
10:53to go into the semi-final with i'm bitter about losing out on time plus chris just took 15 minutes
10:59away from me yeah things aren't looking up for my bitter hot dish i'm doing lamb with some bitter leaves
11:05i want to go more for like a sunday roast vibes beautiful bitter leaf salad with roasted lamb buddha
11:11has bitter that's a harder category because you don't want it to be over bitter i love bitter coffee
11:18arugula salad grapefruit michael yeah we all know like wiley is a bitter pill to swallow but as wiley said
11:27there's all sorts of opportunities when it comes to bitter foods
11:35i'm toasting some coriander seeds and i'm going to 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
12:02going to hit or it's going to it's going to sink me i'm making a kung pao sauce for the
12:09kung pao
12:09cauliflower there's an acidic product in every component in the sauce except for sugar because
12:14you need some balance there cashew butter is going to add a lot of fat to cut through the acid
12:19so that combination allows you to balance the acid but make it the star of the show
12:29what do you think the pitfalls are for matt's dishes salty is the one where i think you have to
12:34push it to the limit but you have to realize where that limit is give us all those really strong
12:41salty
12:41flavors but balance them for my cold dish i'm using naturally salted ingredients sea urchin caviar
12:49sea beans so i'm going to take toasted brioche kind of do it uni toast this is going to be
12:57a little
12:57bit of this church cheeto avocado puree that i'm going to use with the uni and the caviar the salty
13:02element doesn't really bother me it really comes down to time chris and kara both have additional time
13:08and their dishes are probably going to be more elaborate because of that time advantage i need
13:15to 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 going to have
13:28sort of thai influence into that i'm adding some bitter melon bitter melon is the epitome of bitter
13:37pepper it literally numbs your tongue if you don't pickle it or make it sweet and sour it's going
13:42to hurt your palate it's a lot of risk using it but i'm a risk taker perfect oh yeah i'm
13:51making a glaze
13:52for my cabbage this is going to bring out the sweetness in my hot dish
13:59for my sour cold dish i'm making a crudo this is sort of an east me sweats kind of dish
14:05in the sense
14:06that it's got lots of asian undertones with a few dollops of cream and fat and dill that was more
14:12typical in the in europe it's got at least four different types of citrus going into it ponzu is
14:18also acidic sour cream and creme fraiche are also naturally sour so you're going to get lots of
14:23variations of the version of sour and different flavor profiles chris you have five minutes left
14:31i want to prove that i'm supposed to be in the finals the extra time i had has given me
14:36a lot
14:36more time to really take my time but also it's scary that i could have an advantage and still be
14:42going 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
14:57you have seared black cod tahina arra just spicy tahini sauce and then like a sweet glazed cabbage
15:04it is delicious okay there's no doubt about that it's super delicious that cabbage is the star of
15:10your plate okay i wonder why you chose to put the sweetest element on the cabbage which is not really
15:17like
15:17the center of this dish taking it you think i should have done it on the fish or not even
15:22served us
15:22the fish you didn't need it okay i think you could have gotten away with just putting this tahina in
15:28the bottom dropping the cabbage on top of it with the sauce and that would have been a real mic
15:33drop
15:34understood thank you chef let's talk about your cold dish my cold dish is a tuna crudo this is a
15:40play
15:40on a iranian dish called kali korma which uh korma and there's a word in farsi for dates so it's
15:46a
15:46sauce of caramelized red onion garlic dates to be poured over top i mean i've never had sliced raw tuna
15:55bathed in this kind of sauce but i have to say i really like it thank you with your cold
16:01dish you
16:01really hit the nail on the head so congratulations i like this tuna dish a lot chris i like the
16:06fact
16:06there's a little floral element that you put into the sauce so that was really quite nice in some
16:11way this sauce reminded me of french dressing i definitely get the sweetness in both your dishes
16:17i'm just trying to wrap my head around making fish when you could have taken an easier path
16:23well hopefully that doesn't take me down i cooked really well last week i got a perfect score thank you
16:30thank you very much and now all i can think of right now is is that first dish gonna send
16:35me home
16:35why why did he put the fish on
16:46two minutes left cara with two minutes left the last thing i have to do is tossing the cauliflower in
16:54that sort of glaze
16:57are those pans on her stove they're two walks they're walks yes maybe she'll be walking into the finals
17:06oh
17:07plating these two dishes i'm feeling the pressure being in the final four anything could send
17:12anyone home at this point i'm also nervous i made it too spicy because i'm always worried i make
17:16everything too spicy nothing like a fiery dish to go out on a million dollars is a lot of money
17:23i want to win it's not worth putting up something okay versus putting up something great
17:28Here we go.
17:29Your time is up, Kara.
17:34Hi, Kara.
17:36Hello.
17:36Beautiful.
17:39What is your taste profile?
17:41I'm sour.
17:42You're sour.
17:44And tell us about your hot dish.
17:46It's a hot and sour gong bao cauliflower.
17:49It's a classic dish from Sichuan.
17:51There's some cashew butter on the bottom, some pickled chilies.
17:54I know this dish well.
17:56This is a particularly good version of it.
17:59I think you got a lot of tart and sour notes,
18:01and they're very well layered.
18:03I think you did an excellent job,
18:05and I have no notes on your cauliflower dish.
18:08I love the spice level that exists in this dish.
18:11The sour element definitely comes through.
18:14And then the cashew butter itself,
18:16just kind of the perfect foil
18:18for all of that acidity and all of that spice.
18:21I feel it's got a lot of umami.
18:24I would actually like to see it a little bit more sour.
18:30And tell us about your cold dish.
18:32So it's a scallop crudo.
18:34There's a creme fraiche sour cream and koshu
18:37with some citrus juice as the base.
18:40Oh, I definitely get the sour.
18:41I enjoyed this dish as well.
18:43I especially like the white soy that you put in the creme fraiche.
18:46I love that, like, savory kind of base note that it gave to the dish.
18:49I love how it's got multiple forms of sour on it.
18:54I love the raw scallop.
18:55I love the fact that there's these tiny little crunchy bits of poppy seed on it.
18:59I think this dish is fantastic.
19:02All right.
19:02I have a few things to say.
19:05I'm not a fan of raw scallops.
19:08And I thought that the scallops were drowning in the sauce.
19:12But the flavors combined of all your sauces was really sour.
19:17And that's what the assignment was.
19:19Thank you, Cara.
19:21I feel proud of what I made.
19:23Whether the judge is like it or not is out of my control at this point.
19:26The cauliflower dish, I mean, it seems to be two against one.
19:29I just think she didn't need so much of the sauce.
19:31Cara's cauliflower dish was sour yet balanced.
19:34And Cara's scallop dish was sour and unbalanced.
19:37Let's score Cara's dish.
19:42How'd it go?
19:43You never know.
19:45I mean, I had a lot more time than everybody.
19:47And I should have just done vegetarian.
19:49Nothing ever turns out exactly the way I want.
19:51Even though I had extra time today, you get an idea in your head.
19:55And it's hard to self-edit.
19:57It felt like I would be playing it too safe and not trying hard enough.
20:00And, you know, we'll see.
20:01I just hope it doesn't send me home.
20:03I love washing with Don Power Wash.
20:05Stuff works magic.
20:06Magic.
20:08Matt and Buddha, you have 10 minutes left.
20:16We're off to the races.
20:20They want a cold dish.
20:21I'm going to give them a cold dish.
20:22Believe it or not, the only times I've actually used liquid nitrogen is when I've been on television.
20:29If you use this ingredient properly, it saves you so much time.
20:32And what I don't have is time.
20:36I just put lemongrass, cilantro, scallions, a little bit of garlic, bird's eye chili, and I chopped it into a
20:43powder.
20:44I did that in 20 seconds because of liquid nitrogen.
20:47So I'll just show you five minutes.
20:49Matt 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.
20:57My goal was never to run somebody else's restaurant, and so winning a million dollars in this competition is finally
21:04going to get me across the finish line of completing the restaurant that I've always dreamt of opening.
21:10Now that we're closer to the finale, I am closer to a million-dollar win.
21:15Five, four, three, two, one.
21:20Time's up, everybody. Hands up.
21:27Will the judges deduct points for the simplicity of my toast?
21:32Oh, boy.
21:32Hello, chef.
21:33I'm not sure, but hopefully the balance of those flavors, they can understand where my approach is.
21:39Matt, what was your flavor profile?
21:41Uh, salty.
21:42What is your hot dish?
21:43So the hot dish is pan-roasted scallops with kind of like an almondine, if you will.
21:49Toasted capers, brown butter, salted and roasted grapes, and then salt-baked leeks.
21:54Your hot dish was salty in all the right ways.
21:57You made this crunchy and bright, very well-balanced almondine.
22:02The only thing I wish is that, you know, I've come to love your sauces over the course of this
22:05competition,
22:06and I would have loved a little bit more almondine pan juices.
22:10Yeah.
22:10I think your leeks are the star of this plate.
22:14I love how salty they were, but you did need that touch of sweetness from the grape to break up
22:21all the saltiness in this dish,
22:23which really was right on the verge.
22:25But I mean, all in all, great dish.
22:28Please describe your cold dish.
22:29That's our uni toast.
22:31For salty, I really wanted to use ingredients that were already salted.
22:35Roasted shishito and avocado puree, salted yuzu kosho, and then some salted sea beans glazed over top of the uni
22:41with some caviar.
22:43Is there anything we should know about the toast, or is it just toast?
22:45I mean...
22:46You didn't make the bread.
22:48Well, you had it a whole hour, man.
22:49If I was able to do that in an hour, I mean, give me the check now.
22:53I really like this dish, and I thought it was very smart of you to just highlight three ingredients which
22:57were naturally salty.
22:59The only thing I would say is maybe I would have also put a couple drops of lime juice over
23:03the top of the whole thing,
23:04just to set off, like, the natural salinity in those ingredients.
23:08I really like your cold dish.
23:09And I think you have a nice amount of salinity, so it didn't feel like you tried to over-salt
23:15something.
23:15And a taste of the ocean, which is beautiful.
23:18I think I would have loved to have maybe had it smaller and more of that delicious green puree, but
23:23very clever.
23:24Thank you, Matt.
23:25Nice job.
23:26Thank you. Appreciate it.
23:28Question?
23:29Yep.
23:30If food, it crushes it, I'm going home.
23:32Let's score Matt.
23:33I think all in all, given an hour, it was an impressive amount of work.
23:37Very impressive.
23:38Impressive.
23:44Oh, wow.
23:45Hi, Buddha.
23:46Hello.
23:46What is your taste profile?
23:48Taste profile is bitter.
23:49Tell us about your hot dish.
23:50So my hot dish is a lamb saddle.
23:52It's been roasted in a little bit of Reza Arnoot with a braised undive that's been cooked in date molasses,
23:57served with a light salad of Casso Franco with goat's curd, hazelnuts, and honey.
24:02I like that you used some bitter greens, but unfortunately, I had two pieces of bone on my plate.
24:08I think I would have liked to have had it be just a little bit more bitter.
24:11Okay.
24:12I like the lamb, Buddha.
24:14I think I probably got better cuts than what you got, Wiley.
24:16I love braised undive, and I thought what you gave us was a really good example of a properly prepared
24:22braised undive.
24:22I did get the bitter, not only in those beautiful leaves, but I got it also in the hazelnut.
24:29I just wish my lamb was treated a little bit better.
24:33Tell us about your cold dish, Buddha.
24:35Okay.
24:36So it's hamachi with a dressing made from pomelo and pickled bitter melon with avocado.
24:41You certainly found the bitterness in all of these ingredients.
24:44There's no doubt about that.
24:46My only comment about this is that I think all of it kind of overwhelms that poor yellowtail.
24:52You really nailed the bitter, Buddha, but I have to agree with Michael.
24:55I think the fish is completely lost.
24:58It's drowning in everything that's put on top of it.
25:01I might be the biggest fan of bitter at the table, and I love what's going on here in terms
25:06of the different textures and the bitterness.
25:09I like bitter melon.
25:10I've never had bitter melon like this.
25:11And you clearly, in a mere hour, came up with a dish that you put a lot of thought into.
25:17All right.
25:18Thank you, Buddha.
25:18Thank you, Buddha.
25:20I can't confidently say that they liked it that much.
25:23It is what it is.
25:24That's how everyone feels.
25:25Let's score Buddha.
25:28What can you do in an hour, right?
25:30It's like...
25:31It's tight.
25:32I did what I could.
25:33Yeah.
25:34It just really depends on how the judges score everything.
25:36I 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.
25:56The two chefs with the top scores will automatically advance, while the bottom two will go head-to-head
26:02in a sudden-death cook-off for the final spot.
26:06We thought whoever had the lowest-scoring dish was going to go home, but I guess we were wrong.
26:10Now there's a sudden death.
26:11I was a long cook, and to have to jump back in there and go head-to-head would not
26:16be fun.
26:16Shall we see who's in first?
26:26Matt, in first place with 105 points out of a possible 120 to lock in your spot in the finals.
26:37Congratulations.
26:39That's amazing.
26:41After last week, I thought I was going home.
26:44To know that, like, I am now in the finals, I can, like, kind of breathe and sleep easy tonight.
26:49I'm one step closer to a million dollars.
26:51That means Kara, Buda, and Chris.
26:54One of you will join Matt in the final three and will be one step closer to winning one million
27:01dollars.
27:02Let's see the scores.
27:11Kara, second place.
27:13Congratulations.
27:14You will be joining Matt in the finals.
27:18It's a moment of relief.
27:19It's a moment of happiness.
27:20It's a moment of joy.
27:21I've made it to the finale.
27:23I don't have to cook again.
27:24Like, all things are good.
27:27It always sucks being in the bottom.
27:28At least it wasn't the bottom score goes home because I'd definitely be going home.
27:33Chris and Buda, you have the lowest scores, so you'll be cooking in the head-to-head cook-off.
27:39How are you feeling about it?
27:41I mean, I'm disappointed given the advantage I had, but it came to cook, so what's one more time after
27:48this gauntlet, you know?
27:49Buda?
27:50To have one more shot and to go head-to-head, I mean, that's fair for me.
27:54Well, Buda and Chris, it's do or die, and it's your last chance to earn a spot in the finals
28:01of America's Culinary Cup.
28:03And for one of you, this will be your last and final challenge.
28:10In your head-to-head cook-off, you need to use two taste profiles and feature them on one dish.
28:18One of your tastes will be umami, the taste profile that no one had,
28:22and the other will be your choice.
28:25And of course, the dish must be perfectly executed and perfectly balanced.
28:30So choose wisely because there's only one spot remaining.
28:34All right, chefs, take your stations.
28:37Good luck to both of you.
28:38I'm not happy that I have to go head-to-head with Buda.
28:41He intimidates me.
28:43He's insanely technical.
28:44His food's beautiful.
28:45So is he the number one person I want to go against?
28:48Absolutely not.
28:48But hopefully I give him hell.
28:5075 minutes, two taste profiles, one dish.
28:55Your time starts now.
29:02This would be quite the battle.
29:04Yeah, 100%.
29:05I still can't believe I'm here.
29:08Don't underestimate yourself.
29:11I'm very thankful for one last show.
29:13I have another chance to get into the finale.
29:15This is the most important dish that I cooked in the whole competition
29:17because it really determines whether or not I can cook for that million dollars.
29:22How would you describe umami?
29:24To me, it's defined as mouth-filling deliciousness.
29:27It's more than just a taste.
29:28It's also a feeling.
29:29It's that center bite on the cheeseburger.
29:31You can't stop.
29:32You want to go right back.
29:33And it makes your mouth water.
29:35Once you've eaten a bite of something that's packed with umami,
29:38you just want to take another one.
29:40To me, it's really that savoriness,
29:42that richness of flavor that is more satisfying to the palate.
29:46I'm doing simple, delicious today.
29:49And I hope it pays off.
29:50All I got to do is cook a good dish.
29:52And if I go home because Buddha beats me,
29:54at least I know I went out with a dish I can be proud of.
29:57So I'm going all in on this one.
30:00Chris, what's your other flavor profile?
30:01Uh, sweet.
30:02Sweet?
30:03Yeah.
30:03I'm doing scallops, XO, brown butter, celery, root puree,
30:07and then, like, sweet-glazed piopini mushrooms,
30:10other umami bangers folded into all that.
30:13The sweetness plays off of umami really well.
30:16Chef, are you breaking out the liquid nitrogen?
30:17I might just do it just for giggles.
30:20My first head-to-head delimination,
30:22Chris has danced on the bottom a lot.
30:24Sometimes he gets in his own head.
30:26I guess he puts a lot of things on the plate.
30:28But I know he's a strong competitor.
30:30I just need to do the things that I've been doing since day one.
30:32Out-cook them.
30:33I'm just toasting my seaweed.
30:34Umami is always paired with salt.
30:36So I'm going to be doing umami and salty.
30:40Pudu, are you going to cook the fish after?
30:42It's going to be several.
30:43My taste profile is going to be salty and umami.
30:46I'm going to do a kombu cured hamachi with cauliflower cream
30:50and a champagne sauce with caviar.
30:53Kombu is the king of umami.
30:56It's literally what MSG comes from.
30:58Yeah, it's very smart.
31:00It's got a clear-cut definition of umami as you get.
31:02We've got 45 minutes.
31:08Their dishes are surprisingly not that far away from each other.
31:10No.
31:11We're doing different highlights.
31:12Fish, white puree, umami.
31:15One sweet one's going to be salty.
31:21It is kind of eerily similar.
31:25I'm taking less risks on this one.
31:27I've never been in a situation in my life where I'm cooking and I have to self-edit as much
31:30as I do here.
31:32I keep getting the same comment about putting too much of everything on the plate.
31:36And it's hard to self-edit.
31:38But with a million dollars on the line, I'm going to try to tighten up and just focus on three
31:42components.
31:43Beautiful puree, well-executed scallops, and roasted mushrooms.
31:47If I go home on this, then so be it.
31:50But I don't want to go home today.
31:53Smells good.
31:55Now that my fish is in the fridge, I'm going to work the base of my sauce.
31:59It's possibly my last challenge.
32:00I'm definitely going to be going out with a bag.
32:03Shots fired, Chris.
32:04I want to pull out the Prosecco, the caviar, the gold leaf to make this beautiful sauce.
32:11Last time I competed, I didn't have two beautiful daughters, but now I do.
32:15And all I can do is think about them.
32:16I've been missing them a lot.
32:18And I'm doing this for my family, just so we can live more comfortably and I can spend more time
32:24with them.
32:30Ten minutes left.
32:31Chris, how you doing?
32:32Are you making a million dollar dish?
32:35That's up for debate, I guess, right?
32:37Going with flavors, I know I'm not trying to shoot the moon on this one.
32:40Going simple, XO sauce all day, just to bring it home.
32:44Hopefully it pays off.
32:45XO sauce is the umami bomb of the dish.
32:48It's made from dried shrimp, scallops, garlic, onion, chilies, often dried pork product.
32:55And then I'm adding fish sauce, lemon juice, some sweet soy as well, and a little bit of miso.
33:01And I'm going to use that to dress the scallops, really hammering home that sweet and umami combination.
33:06Just going to give this a base.
33:08I'm a hard man to beat when I'm motivated.
33:11I'm doing this for my mom, I'm doing this for my family.
33:13And I have two little girls to look out for, so I'd like to do something nice for my wife
33:18and then pay for schooling without worry and give my daughters the opportunities I had growing up.
33:25That's what I wanted.
33:26Two minutes.
33:29Time is winding down.
33:32I'm going to zhuzh it up with a little bit of gold leaf.
33:34Why not?
33:35If it's my last time here, let's go out with a bag.
33:38So the plating is almost done.
33:40The last thing that I'm doing is pouring my sauce.
33:44The sauce tastes great, but I do feel like it is reading a little bit too salty umami.
33:50So I'm going to tone it down just a little bit.
33:52So I'm adding a couple more cubes of cold butter.
33:56Trying to get all the balancing right.
33:57I'm still adjusting the flavors.
33:59This is going to be really, really down to the wire.
34:01Cooking for my place to win a million dollars right now.
34:04I need to make sure that everything is perfect because everything runs on this dish.
34:08Still not happy with that sauce.
34:11I'm trying to make sure that I get all my plating perfect.
34:16Three, two, one.
34:19Time's up.
34:21It's going to be a long deliberation.
34:27We're all very proud of ourselves for making it this far because this cooking competition,
34:31it's metal warfare.
34:34It would really suck to go home at this point.
34:38Great job, man.
34:39Final four.
34:40Final four.
34:47Chris, can you tell us what taste profile you picked to pair with umami?
34:52I chose sweet again.
34:53Look at me.
34:54So I have for you roasted scallops with XO, brown butter, miso, celery root puree.
35:00There's also some roasted piopinis glazed in a little bit of reduced pickling liquid.
35:04And I also pickled some celery root for a little crunch and texture.
35:08This is such a well-composed, focused dish.
35:11Scallops are cooked beautifully.
35:13The puree is luscious and creamy.
35:16I do think you hit the sweet element and the umami element beautifully.
35:22Scallops are well prepared.
35:24I like the mushrooms on the side.
35:26Maybe a little sweet, but very impressed.
35:29Thank you, chef.
35:29Yeah.
35:30Chris, what I like about your dish is that the scallop comes through very, very clearly.
35:33And, of course, you use the XO to great effect, and that gave you the umami in this dish.
35:38The celery root itself, the pickled bits, they have a little bit of a weird chew to them.
35:42But they do bring a lot to the dish, and they do deliver on flavor.
35:48Budo, tell us what you made and what profile you chose to pair with umami.
35:53So I did hamachi with caviar, cauliflower cream, and a white soy butter sauce.
35:57Some pickled turnips on there.
35:59It is salty and umami.
36:01Very pretty.
36:03This dish shows some of your best work.
36:07The kombujime technique that you used to bring more umami to the fish definitely paid off.
36:12The addition of the caviar kind of helped drive home both the umami and the salt.
36:16If I had one negative thing to say about it, this sauce is just pure umami.
36:22It's a real umami bomb.
36:23It 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.
36:33The cauliflower was delicious.
36:34I think you could have given us a little bit more of that, but this is just fantastic stuff.
36:39Really good.
36:40Budo, I really loved your sauce.
36:44It was an umami bomb in the best way, but a couple of drops of lemon or something in the
36:50sauce
36:50would have given you a more uniform counterpoint to that umami.
36:57It'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
37:19taste profiles a little bit better than the other.
37:24And that plate was Chris's.
37:30Wiley, who had the better dish?
37:37Chris.
37:40It was unanimous.
37:41Today, it was Chris.
37:42Thank you very much.
37:45Sorry, bro.
37:46It was so good.
37:46Amazing getting to know you.
37:47To cook with you.
37:48Yeah, absolutely.
37:49Congratulations, Chris.
37:51Buda, I'm so sorry you've served your final dish.
37:55Well, thank you so much for everything.
37:59Of course, I'm super bummed out.
38:00Like, I want to make it all the way to the finale, at least.
38:04G'day, everyone.
38:06I almost wish you had just given me this, because this was fantastic.
38:10Okay, I'll just take this away.
38:14Buddha, congratulations.
38:15You are the winner.
38:16What are we talking about?
38:17I haven't felt like this defeat ever, but at the same time, I'm accepting it.
38:22This is the best dish I've seen from you in this competition.
38:26Because I'm a risk taker.
38:28I'm always going to try and push myself further.
38:31He's an overachiever.
38:32Buddha, you were one point away from a perfect score.
38:36Someone want to talk about where that one point went?
38:38No.
38:42Great stuff, man.
38:44Fantastic.
38:45Really good.
38:46You're incredibly talented.
38:47I love competitions.
38:48I'd probably say, I dare say maybe this might be my last.
38:55You win some, you lose some.
38:57Can't always win everything.
39:05Chris, congratulations.
39:07Oh, my gosh.
39:08What a journey you've had.
39:10Yeah, I could cry right now.
39:12I've been worried about specifically going against Matt and Buddha.
39:16And to win against Buddha in a head-to-head gives me a lot of confidence going into the finals.
39:21Cook from your heart.
39:23Trust your instincts.
39:25And a million dollars could be yours.
39:31Oh, man.
39:37I'm shocked to see Buddha go home.
39:39Another strong competitor is now off the table.
39:42But also, these other two chefs are performing really well and performing better than the one that you perceived as
39:49being the best.
39:49On to the next one, I guess.
39:51Still in it.
39:52Still in it.
39:53Voted most likely to leave, and I'm still here.
39:56I was voted least likely to win the competition, and now I'm headed to the finals.
39:59So I now have a 33% chance of winning a million dollars.
40:04They said that he and I put up two stunning dishes.
40:07Yeah.
40:07They were like, it was splitting hairs.
40:08I mean, they sent him home because he needed a couple more drops of lemon juice.
40:12Literally, that was it.
40:19Congratulations.
40:20Well done, chefs.
40:22It still feels surreal that I'm here, that I've made it this far.
40:25The validation of being able to compete at this level is huge.
40:28And I'm here to play the game.
40:30If you think this competition has been tough so far, you ain't seen nothing yet.
40:35I'd like to end by saying no pressure.
40:38But we all know that would be a lie.
40:42See you later.
40:44Come on, boys.
40:47Oh, boy.
40:49I'd be worried if I were them.
40:51I'd be worried.
40:56Congratulations.
40:57Yeah, ditto.
40:58I want to win, and hopefully take the million dollars home.
41:02You also made it sound like there's going to be a little twist to it.
41:05Yeah, they did.
41:05This is wild.
41:06Like, my emotions are, I'm like on tilt.
41:09I've cried so many times, and I don't cry.
41:12Like, I'm not really, I'm a crier kind of more than most men probably, but I don't like,
41:16I can tell you how many times I've cried in the last year.
41:19You know, it's not like, um.
41:23All right, final three.
41:25Final three.
41:26Final three.
41:27I mean, it's unbelievable to still be here.
41:29I just knew I needed to give it my best, and I did that.
41:33I'm just happy to be in the finale.
41:39Welcome to the finals of America's Culinary Cup.
41:43You'll be serving us along with Eric Repair, Suzanne Gowen, and Daniela Xoto-Inaz.
41:49No pressure.
41:52Wasn't expecting this.
41:54Nope.
41:54I know I can really excel at this, but the best chef went.
41:57I've never done this before.
41:58If this goes wrong, I'm probably going home.
42:00If I were Chris, I'd be worried about that pressure cooker.
42:02Very worried.
42:03I did not think it was going to be this close.
42:05My heart's pounding out of my chest.
42:07The winner of America's Culinary Cup and $1 million is...
42:21Delicious.
42:30That's good.
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