I think we're all ready to be dazzled.
[Andrew] There's no room for mistakes.
[Bre chuckles] I'm ready to take it all.
[Giuseppe] Don't underestimate a pop-up chef.
My heart feels like it's working over-time watching this.
[Tess] Are you kidding me?
I'm loud and my food is even louder.
Yeah!
[GZ] That 30 minutes is not your friend.
Oh!
We've never seen one like this.
I think we just lost a chef.
[Ted] This has been unprecedented.
[Bre] This is my worst nightmare.
Oh, no.
You need to probably go to the hospital.
[clock ticks]
[Andrew] When you're working at the highest level
and multi Michelin-star restaurants,
there's no room for mistakes.
You have to serve world-class food every single time.
I'm a sous chef in New York City.
I've worked at one Michelin star Cafe Boulud,
two star restaurant, Daniel
and now, as a sous chef at two star, Momofuku Ko.
That will work.
Being in French fine dining
teaches you an unrelenting standard,
a willingness to push yourself.
I'm gonna run circles around these other chefs.
I like to have fun in the kitchen.
That's it.
I'm from Los Angeles, California
and I'm a private chef and caterer.
I love to cook Southern food with a little
LA, Mexican street-food fling to it.
Gotta throw a little Spanish flare in everything I do.
I've cooked for an array of people from Grammy-winning artists
to celebrities.
You name it, they've eaten my food and loved it.
The competition better watch out
'cause this LA girl is coming to sweep.
[Giuseppe] I'm a sous chef at Kreation Event Services
in Tarzana, California.
I travel across the world and I run monthly pop-ups with an ever changing menu
based on my travels.
So, it's something different, something unique.
Mmm, that smells good.
The other chefs I'm gonna be facing are restaurant chefs
and I'm here to prove to myself that I belong here.
Don't underestimate a pop-up chef.
I'm here to win.
[Tess] I'm tiny, but I'm loud.
I do tend to talk to myself a lot.
And my food is even louder.
I work at Santa Fe... as a sous chef.
And I live in Brooklyn, New York.
I'm just concentrating on,
like, "Okay, let's not cut myself." [chuckles]
I was born in Seoul, Korea.
My style of cooking is Korean food
that is comforting, spicy, lots of flavor.
I really like squishing things.
My parents owned a cafeteria all my life.
I lived in commercial kitchens
since I was very young.
Sometimes, your calling is just your calling
and here I am.
Hello, chefs!
-Hey, how you doing, Ted? -Hello.
It feels so surreal.
I've literally been watching since season one.
[chuckling] It's exciting.
There are three rounds.
Mandatory mystery ingredients for each course.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
If your dish doesn't cut it,
you'll be chopped.
Not today.
First thing's first,
please acquaint yourself with whatever is in these.
Open up your appetizer baskets.
Whoa!
[Ted] And here we go. It's fruity cereal crisps.
That's a bummer.
I'm racking my brain about what I'm possibly gonna do to cover up
the just absurdly sweet nature of this thing.
[Ted] Rock shrimp.
Rock shrimp, okay. I like this.
[Ted] Enoki mushrooms.
Beautiful.
I love enoki mushrooms.
They're really good. Nice, earthy flavor.
[Ted] And birria ramen.
With, like... like pork?
-[Ted] 20 minutes. -Let's go.
...goes with this.
Time starts now.
[all exclaiming]
Behind, behind.
Judges, lots of sweet and salty and weird and wonderful
in this basket to de-tangle.
Where to begin?
You know, the beauty of this basket really is that shrimp is so lovely.
If you soft sear and just let it sit in the pan,
take the pan off, it will cook itself.
[Tiffani] I can see it in, like, fritters, something like tempura.
So lovely.
I would do like a birria aioli
and just dip that in.
Hey. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I need the soy sauce.
Birria ramen is made from a consomme of beef
that's typically used to make barbacoa.
So, the broth is the base
and then, they put noodles.
But it really has all those Mexican flavors
of the braised beef.
Super-delicious.
Chef Andrew, what are you working on?
I'm working on an anchovy aioli
for a shrimp toast.
-[Tiffani] Shrimp toast. -Good thought, great idea.
Ah-la-la.
Shrimp toast is typically made with a paste or a mousse
made from shrimp and egg whites.
I get anchovies and the soft-boiled egg
from the ramen into the food processor.
I start emulsifying in some canola oil,
season with a little rice wine vinegar and some soy.
After I get a sear on my shrimp
and get it into the food processor,
I add the cereal crisps for texture
and hopefully, a little bit of sweetness.
Ungodly sweet.
My personal cooking style is definitely rooted in French technique.
You would be hard-pressed to find somebody who's studied in better restaurants.
And who approaches their craft with as much intensity
and drive as I do.
I feel confident that I possess
all the technical skills needed to win this competition.
Okay. Just gotta... Just trying to take a look at it.
Oh, it's already peeled. Yeah! Okay.
I was born in Seoul, Korea,
so all the food that I learnt to make
has been Korean.
Rock shrimp, I think, would lend itself really beautifully
to make korokke,
which is Korean-style croquettes.
I am making rock shrimp fritters
with braised enoki mushrooms and a miso gravy.
I'm thinking that I can use the noodles
as well as some of the meat from the birria ramen.
And I'm gonna be using my fruity cereal crisps
as a part of the breading.
-They have this fruity cereal crisps... -[GZ] Yeah.
which is artificially flavored,
artificially colored.
Maybe, vinegar would be a great way to just get rid of it.
Make a salad dressing.
Oh, wow.
These fruit crisps...
My plan is to put on my shrimp and fry it.
I am doing a fried shrimp...
Behind, Chef.
With a cilantro and ginger glaze.
I grab a blender and I'm throwing in some soy sauce,
some mirin, cilantro as well.
Some ginger.
I am competing for my wife, Taylor
and my baby that is not yet born.
My wife and I have been doing the adoption process for about a year.
We just got matched recently
and so, that money will be going towards bringing baby-B home.
[GZ] What's Chef Bre doing?
Chef Bre, what are you making in that food processor?
[Bre chuckles]
Hopefully, something delicious, Chef.
I got the shrimp in there,
some of that fruity, sweet stuff.
I may be smiling, but it's all just a facade.
I'm a very fierce competitor.
I'm making a rock shrimp fritter
with a miso, enoki ramen sauce.
My grandmother instilled a love and passion for Southern food in me.
The inspiration for this dish
kinda comes from the Southern tradition of it.
If you don't know what to do with it...
Behind.
Throw it in the fryer.
Having watched Chopped over the years,
I know just how important it is to lay claim to those baskets in the fryer.
So, Bre is frying those dumplings.
I'm worried about a fryer jam-up
because I feel like everybody is gonna do a fritter or a something
or something crispy with the shrimp.
But there's only one fryer.
[Bre chuckles]
Less than ten minutes left, chefs! Let's go!
Giuseppe hasn't even opened the package of rock shrimp yet.
[Giuseppe] I'm spending so much time on this glaze
that I lose track of time.
I finally open up my rock shrimp
and about to batter it.
And I look back and I see Chef Bre at the fryers.
You're using both sides of that fryer?
Listen, y'all didn't come over here,
I'm taking full advantage, Chef.
Awesome. Sounds good.
I have to figure out some other way for my shrimp right now.
So, I'm thinking I'm just gonna do a saute on it.
As my shrimp is sauteing,
I'm gonna start working on my enoki salad.
I slice some celery, some cilantro, mushroom
and added in some mirin and some salt.
I noticed I hadn't used the birria ramen.
I'm gonna just throw it into my glaze and see what happens.
How are you doing over there, Andrew?
Doing well. Just trying to get a stock reducing.
I'm straining the broth off of my birria ramen.
My goal is to braise the enoki mushrooms in the ramen broth.
And add some diced portobello mushrooms
just to round out with some earthiness and some more hardiness.
[Tess] I start coating my fritters with the breading.
And then, I'm realizing
I have six minutes left.
I need these in the fryer.
Um... The fryer.
Can I share the fryer space with you?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Definitely did not want to share it with her,
-but I will play nice for now. -Thank you.
Thanks so much.
Five minutes to get it done, chefs!
[Tess] I realize I need to start plating.
I'm gonna chop up some scallions.
Ah... I really cut myself.
I super-cut myself.
I realize immediately...
it's really bad.
-[Amanda] Tess has cut herself. -[Tiffani] Oh, my God!
She said, "I super-cut myself."
This is such a bad time to get a cut.
Come on, let's go, Tess! You can finish. You can finish.
Ah, it just needs to, like, be bandaged up real tight.
Like, super, super-tight.
The bleeding does not stop.
I think we just lost a chef.
I honestly think we just lost a chef.
[clock ticks]
You got it, Tess!
[Tess] I can't believe I did that.
-[Amanda] Tess has cut herself. -[Tiffani] Oh, my God!
There's no way she's finishing.
Wrap it up. Come back.
Make it happen.
I honestly think we just lost a chef.
I think I'm losing.
The medic is trying to help me.
She's trying to stop the bleeding.
The bleeding does not stop.
I don't think it's gonna... It's not gonna hold together.
[Amanda] She wasn't even ready to plate her dish
and she is still getting bandaged by the medic right now.
Yeah, I'm just done. [chuckles softly]
I'm done. There's no way I can continue.
And nothing on the plate. No plates.
It's really hard to see. It breaks our hearts.
[Bre] You got this, Tess. Get something on the plate.
Tess cutting herself is rattling me a little bit,
but no matter how much I may feel bad for her,
I have got to focus on me and my dish.
[Ted] 30 seconds!
Stay focused.
[Tiffani] Less than 30.
Get the food on the plate, guys.
Beat the clock, chefs! Get it done.
[Giuseppe] I lose track of time.
I noticed I haven't used these fruit crisps,
so I'm just throwing on the crisps for garnish.
[Ted] Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six...
[Tiffani and Ted] Five, four,
three, two, one.
-[Tiffani] Hands up! -[Ted] Time's up!
[Amanda] Chef Tess was struggling anyway,
but I thought she was gonna get it together in the end.
Oh, not good.
Chefs, you have arrived at the Chopping Block.
For your first basket, you had fruity cereal crisps.
Rock shrimp.
Enoki mushrooms and birria ramen.
Chef Tess.
Nothing made it to the plate 'cause you cut yourself so badly.
Our only concern is for your safety.
You need to probably go to the hospital.
-[Tess] Yeah. -You need some stitches.
-Yeah! -Yeah.
Please go take care of yourself.
Thank you, Chef Tess. Be well.
I will. Thank you, everybody so much.
Best of luck. Go get better.
An accident is an accident.
It happens and I...
you know, I can't let that speak of me as a chef.
But, yeah, I'm very disappointed.
[Amanda] Obviously, Tess cannot continue the competition,
so none of you will be going home in this round.
But we are gonna taste your food.
Because that all goes into our judgement for who the winner will be at the end.
Chef Andrew, tell us about your dish.
In front of you, you have shrimp toast
with braised mushrooms and aromatic herbs.
Coming from French fine-dining,
I wanted to do something that highlighted
something technical.
Can you tell us where you work?
Currently, I'm a sous chef at Momofuku Ko.
Previously, I was a sous chef at restaurant Daniel.
And a line cook at Cafe Boulud.
Well, that's an incredible pedigree.
Flavors... You know how to cook.
The toast is crispy. Buttered. It's salted.
Everything is seasoned as the way it should be.
And that's a mark of someone who has done it so long.
I mean, I like the idea of shrimp toast.
Here's my problem.
It's a tremendous flaw not to cook that shrimp paste.
Under the broiler or, like, have it heated.
Yeah, it's true. It's undercooked.
But the bread and the butter is amazing
and the crunch on that is really good.
And I love the mushrooms with the ramen broth.
Like that all really works.
And I think you just had a missed opportunity in execution.
The fruity cereal crisp, I think, in the mousse,
I can see the little flakes of them.
And I think you dosed it judiciously.
There's like enough sweetness in there where it mashes up with the shrimp.
I think there's so many good mile-markers in this dish
that let us know that you know what you are doing.
So, take a breath, have some fun while you're here.
Yes, Chef.
Chef Bre, what have you made?
So, judges, for you today, I have a rock shrimp fritter
and a miso, enoki mushroom, ramen sauce.
Took a little inspiration from my grandma, our Southern roots.
When all else fails, throw it in the fryer.
My grandma is the woman who got me in the kitchen.
-How old is she? -85.
-Wow! -Wow!
Listen, that woman is my heart and soul.
She has been a cancer survivor.
She is still here.
Kicking, smile on her face everyday.
I actually think the fritters are a really good idea.
Right? It has, like, a dim sum vibe that I'm into.
Thank you, Chef.
Yeah. Really good flavors here.
I can see that you do season as you go.
I taste the ginger and I want more instantly.
I think that this could have used maybe an aioli or avocado puree.
Something, just so that it softens the blow of what this is.
And great idea. But it was incomplete.
I love the ginger. That's a really nice addition.
I think I would have liked to have seen the enoki mushroom.
I know it was in there.
But I think it would have been better distributed more evenly.
That would have given us some good texture and something else,
another element on this plate.
Thank you, judges. Appreciate it.
Next up, Chef Giuseppe.
Today, you guys will be eating a buttered shrimp
with a ginger and cilantro glaze.
As well as a celery and cilantro,
enoki salad on top.
Chef, did you have a plan A and this became a plan B?
I was planning on frying the shrimp.
And when I looked back, Chef Bre was at the fryers,
so my second thought was, "I'm just gonna butter it up."
And it was small enough to cook in the amount of time I needed it to.
So, PSA, in the Chopped kitchen or anywhere,
you make your own fryer with a pot of oil.
I think that, obviously,
this dish is missing components,
enough to make it a composed appetizer.
I think, using the fruity crisps cereal
just as a crouton isn't enough.
To me, this dish feels like a garnish.
It doesn't feel like a composed dish.
But then, I think the shrimp is cooked really nicely
and the flavors in here are good.
So, it tells me you understand flavor.
Well, the shrimp, they're cooked but they're so salty.
They are impenetrably salty.
Take a deep breath. Cook simple
and make the protein or what the main dish is really, really stand out.
This has been an unprecedented appetizer round
in the Chopped kitchen.
Your fellow chef is at the hospital
getting her thumb stitched up.
As we know, she was not able to finish her dish.
And the three of you will move on.
I think everybody had mistakes in that round.
If Tess hadn't gone home,
some of you would be on the chopping block right now.
We've never had this happen to this level before,
but it's really important for the three of you to kinda shake it off.
The meal must go on.
Let's get back to the stoves.
[Andrew] I felt like
the other two of my competitors caught a pretty major break.
I think, Giuseppe in particular,
he was pretty fortunate
that Tess was unable to continue.
I think that they all dodged a bullet.
Completely.
[clock ticks]
[Ted] Chef Bre, Chef Andrew, Chef Giuseppe,
clearly, anything can happen in the Chopped kitchen.
[Bre] Round one was not perfect.
The judges told us to put more of our personality on the plate
and that is exactly what I'm gonna serve up.
Better to show the judges what you got.
-Yes, sir. -It's now or never.
[Ted] Open it up.
-Ooh! -[Ted] You got elk tenderloin.
Elk tender... Oh, wow.
-[Ted] Turkish delight. -Okay.
[Bre chuckles] All right.
Turkish delights are a sweet Turkish treat.
They are kinda gelatinous in nature and rolled in corn starch.
-[Ted] Broccoli rabe. -Ooh, okay.
[Ted] And green bean ice pops.
I have no words.
-[Ted] 30 minutes. -Yeah. That's doable.
Clock starts now.
[judges] Go, chefs!
-[Tiffani] Redemption time. -[all exclaiming]
Behind, Chef. Behind.
Behind, Chef.
I think, we're all ready to be dazzled.
After the last round,
this is redemption entree round.
[GZ] None of them brought it the first round.
-[Amanda] No. -[GZ] Kinda shocking.
-[Amanda] Yeah. -They got a pass which no one gets.
[Amanda] I think this is a fresh, clean start in this round.
They get a beautiful basket of ingredients.
And now, they can really show us
how they cook, what they cook,
you know, and where they come from.
Ooh.
I'm staying true to my roots.
Keeping it Southern.
Okay.
I'm making seared elk tenderloin
with pot-likker braised broccoli rabe
and a tomato Turkish delight jam.
All right.
I'm making polenta because I grew up eating shrimp and grits all the time.
I know polenta is a bit risky in this kitchen,
but as a student of Chopped University,
I think this would definitely give me an A.
I have not had a green bean ice pop
and I wish it was not in my mouth right now.
I'm using my green bean ice pops in the polenta
because the creaminess of the ice pop will help
bring some richness to my dish.
Hope they like it.
Are the bean pops not too terribly sweet?
It's starchy.
-[Tiffani] Mmm-hmm. -It's like red bean ice cream, almost.
I also think this broccoli rabe lends itself nicely
to these green bean ice pops.
-Wow. -They are a little bit creamy.
And it's mung bean, so it's got this grassy kind of quality to it.
And it will give it just enough, like, creaminess
to really bring out the spice of the broccoli rabe.
Yeah. I mean, broccoli rabe isn't a cruciferous... like broccoli.
-It's very bitter. -[Tiffani] Yeah.
[GZ] I love what Andrew did. First thing he did,
boat load of salt in the boiling water.
It's the only way to get some of that bitterness out.
I know that I need to get this broccoli rabe blanched.
So, I drop the entire bundle in salted water.
For my entree, I'm making roasted elk Israeli couscous
with broccoli rabe pesto.
For people who haven't had the chance to taste elk tenderloin,
could you compare it to, like, say beef?
I think it's more like a venison.
It's extremely lean.
You overcook it, it's gonna be really irony.
So, I think it needs to be rare to medium-rare.
[Andrew] Elk tenderloin is something
I'm super-comfortable cooking.
I get that down into a ripping-hot saute pan.
At which point, I hit the pan with some aromatics.
Rosemary, garlic, thyme.
Big knob of tempered butter.
And I begin to baste.
I'm excited to see Andrew's plate.
He comes from such a pedigree of amazing chefs.
And he's really here to show off and to challenge himself.
[Andrew] Technical proficiency is a huge part of what I value.
This is what's gonna set me apart in this round.
I'm thinking, I'm gonna do a 16-spice rub with the sauce right here.
In round two, I'm feeling more confident in what I can do.
My thoughts are straight
and I'm ready to execute my plan.
I haven't worked with elk before.
but I'm thinking I'm gonna treat it like a pork tenderloin.
I put some cinnamon, some garlic powder, some onion powder
and chili powder.
I'm making seared elk tenderloin
with a broccoli rabe and a sweet potato puree.
I decide to make a sweet potato puree
because the elk may be kinda gamey.
And so, it needed some sweet to balance it out.
[GZ] Like, I love sweet potatoes,
but if you want sweet potatoes,
put 'em in the microwave
and in ten minutes, they'll be done
and you're not wasting your time.
[Giuseppe] I take out the Turkish delight.
It's really sweet, it's really delicious.
Oh, wow. That's really good.
I'm gonna use it for a bourbon glaze to go with my elk tenderloin.
Chefs, 20 minutes left to go here.
[Andrew] Turkish delights are heavily sugary.
But also have some nice fruity elements.
I wanna reduce those with beef stock.
I add a generous portion of mustard.
I wanna use broccoli rabe two ways.
Half goes to garnish,
the other half, I'm gonna make a quick pesto.
I decided to make a tomato and Turkish delight jelly.
Because the acidity of the tomatoes
will really tone down the sweetness of those Turkish delights.
It's time to finally get my elk in the pan.
I season it with some cumin,
cayenne, salt and pepper.
The judges told me I didn't bring the heat last round,
so I wanna bring a little cayenne to this
and show them I can bring it.
[Giuseppe] I flip my elk and put it into the oven.
The green bean ice pops,
I'm gonna use this in a cream sauce
with the broccoli rabe.
[Andrew] When I saw the green bean popsicle,
I wanted to approach that
with a little bit more emphasis on technique.
So, I thought I could make a green bean foam.
If Andrew was attempting to do things
that would come from a very disciplined French kitchen in the first round,
he is now making the Olympics out of it.
[Amanda chuckles]
[Bre] I'm making pot-likker braised broccoli rabe.
Pot likker is something I learned from my grandma,
but it's the braising liquid I'm gonna use to help cut
the bitterness of my broccoli rabe.
I grab pancetta. I need that nice fat content in there
to really get some flavor and depth to my pot likker.
I throw in some shallots...
Splish!
Onions, garlic, chicken stock and beef broth.
I'm excited about all the flavors that Bre is bringing.
She talks about learning from her grandmother.
Obviously, she is building flavor from the bottom-up.
Especially, with the way she's cooking the greens.
All right, less than ten minutes left, chefs.
Let's go!
[Bre] Heard.
-Whoo! -[Ted] Oh! Mazel tov!
Giuseppe... Giving himself kind of a steamed facial.
[Giuseppe] So, I start blending the sweet potatoes.
There's not enough liquid,
so I start adding the chicken broth to it.
So, how much time has Giuseppe spent
working on that non-basket ingredient,
sweet potatoes?
Not one basket ingredient in those sweet potatoes.
[Giuseppe] There is five minutes left on the clock.
Is that elk still in the oven?
My elk, it looks a little burnt.
I put it in my glaze and then, have it just sit there on low heat
to get those flavors.
[Amanda] Two minutes! You should be plating!
Wrapping it up here!
[Andrew] The clock is no joke.
I plate my glazed couscous on top of the pesto.
I drop my elk on the plate
and hope that it's had enough time to rest.
And I finish with sauce.
Make sure all four basket ingredients make the plate.
[Ted] Only seconds remain!
Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six,
-five... -Food on the plate!
[Ted] Four, three, two, one.
Time's up. You can step back.
[all applauding]
[Giuseppe] My elk is a little bit burnt.
But the presentation looked good.
Flavors are good.
And I'm just hoping the judges see it the same way.
[Andrew] I'm very proud to serve this dish to the judges.
I think they'll see my voice coming through,
my technical proficiency
and I think, first and foremost, it will be very tasty.
[clock ticks]
Chefs, your Chopped entree round basket brought you elk tenderloin.
Turkish delight.
Broccoli rabe.
And green bean ice pops.
Chef Bre, please tell us how you approached that basket.
Today, you have a seared elk
over a bed of green bean ice pop polenta.
Some broccoli rabe braised in a pot likker.
And I turned the Turkish delights into a jelly of sorts.
What inspired you to go in this direction?
[Bre] Grits are something I grew up eating.
Pot likker is something that's very traditionally Southern.
[in Southern accent] It's really like pot likker.
So, you wanna lick the pot clean when you're done with it.
Chef Bre, there you are.
-I'm here. -Welcome to the party.
Using the broccoli rabe as your greens
in a traditional, like, the traditional pot likker broth,
really, really smart.
Really love the greens and the polenta with the ice pop.
The Turkish delight, your thought process around it is great.
Little bit more tomato,
little bit more vinegar,
so that Turkish delight is not as sweet.
The elk is cooked really nicely.
Needs to be rare, medium-rare and it is.
I do think that the seasoning is a little aggressive on the outside.
I like the spice level.
I just think it's a little misplaced
because it's so heavy on the elk.
I think it could have been spread out amongst the other things.
But you got a lot of flavors in here.
Polenta was great.
I've had so much bad polenta, I cannot tell you,
as a chef, in the last 40 years.
It's just always under-seasoned.
It's like glue.
This is very good.
Next up, Chef Giuseppe.
Today, you guys will be having a seared elk
with a sweet potato puree.
And a broccoli rabe and green bean ice pop cream sauce.
Chef, your elk is really over-cooked.
And that glaze from that Turkish delight candy,
you know, on the outside, gave it a heavy-duty char.
The green sauce that you made is a really nice addition.
I mean, I can taste a lot of the flavors, for sure.
Thank you, Chef.
But you worked a long, long, long time on that sweet potato puree.
Any basket ingredients in the sweet potato puree?
Ah... No basket ingredients.
Sweet potato puree is good.
It is not half of the round and no basket ingredient-good.
So, you just have to think about,
how you're structuring your time.
'Cause that 30 minutes just is not your friend.
Chef, what would it mean to you to win Chopped?
My wife and I have been married for about seven years now.
And we've been trying to have a baby for a while,
so it would go towards our adoption.
We just got matched up about two weeks ago.
-Oh, my gosh. Congrats! -[chuckling] Yeah, thank you.
The money would be going towards just paying the expenses
to bring the baby home.
-Congratulations. -Congrats. That's so great.
Thank you, guys.
Thank you, Chef Giuseppe.
Finally, Chef Andrew.
Judges, in front of you, you have roasted elk tornado.
Broccoli rabe pesto.
Glazed Israeli couscous with pistachio
and a green bean foam.
I love the sauce that you made with the Turkish delight.
What else was in there?
Did you use pomegranate molasses?
No, ma'am. No, Chef. Sorry.
-[Amanda] That's okay. -That's the Texas in me.
[chuckling] That's okay.
I rendered the candy off of the Turkish delight.
I mean, it's really delicious
fruitiness to it that's welcome.
There's a Persian vibe to that.
There's... Which meets with this Israeli couscous
which bangs into Italy
and comes back around to France. [chuckles]
It's a lot of luggage.
-Yeah. -[all laughing]
This is a very good plate of food.
Elk is perfect.
Broccoli rabe is cooked perfect.
But nothing goes together.
Um, there's so many components on this plate.
This feels like a triathlon.
Like, check, check, check, you're checking boxes.
But I'm missing who you are.
Thank you, chefs.
[Bre] The judges' comments on my entree were great.
I'm very happy that they saw me on the dish.
And I think, I killed it.
[Andrew] I had a feeling that they would
comment on my food lacking soul.
If I make it to the third round,
that's my last opportunity to put my personality on the plate.
[clock ticks]
Whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Giuseppe, you've been chopped.
Judges.
[Tiffani] Chef Giuseppe, we loved having you here.
Unfortunately, your elk was really over-cooked.
And so, we had to chop you.
Thank you very much. Thank you for the opportunity to be here.
-Good luck with the baby. -Thank you.
Sucks. It sucks to be eliminated.
But I put my best foot forward
even if I had a bad day,
I'm gonna go back out and continue to be who I am.
[Ted] Chef Bre, Chef Andrew,
you have made it to the dessert round.
Are you surprised?
-Not at all. -I knew it would be the two of us.
None of the baskets have stumped you so far.
Let's see what's in this one.
Open it up!
[Bre laughs hysterically]
Hey, y'all are twisted.
And what sweet masterpieces will you make
with bologna?
Man, processed bologna.
[Ted] Oranges.
[Andrew] Orange.
-[Ted] Pistachio cream. -Twisted.
All right. That's doable.
Oh, my God.
-[Bre chuckles] -[Ted] Spanische windtorte.
Full cake?
[chuckles nervously]
[Ted] The final half hour starts...
Now.
-[all exclaiming] -[judges] Go, chefs!
-Make us some sweets. Sweeten it up. -Sugar, sugar, sugar.
Treats!
Judges, quite a basket we have here.
[judges laugh]
[Tiffani] Bologna is tough. It's like having a hot dog in the dessert round.
It's very hard to transform.
I think a fine julienne into the fryer.
Finish it with some cinnamon sugar
as a crispy element...
Maybe, we're okay.
[Amanda] Spanische Windtorte, it's whipped egg white
to make a meringue layers.
And then, there is whipped cream
and butter cream inside.
To have that in the basket,
it's almost like a wedding cake.
I think, Andrew just had a scent of $10,000.
He's running like crazy.
We're very clear about what we want these chefs to do in the second round.
Relax, shine through, make delicious food.
[Andrew] The judges asked me to be more personal
in the food that I cook.
And it's something that I'm actively working on.
Going into the dessert round,
all I have to do is put myself up on the plate.
I know that I wanna make cornbread.
It's something that my mom used to make for my sister and I.
I'm making honey cornbread with pistachio cream
and a bologna brittle.
I typically make savory cornbread
as is tradition in the South.
But for this, I need to at least lean a little bit sweet.
So, I get some honey mixed in with my buttermilk.
And I fold in dried cherries and pistachios.
Put a little bit of sear on it and straight into the oven.
[Amanda] We can't have two chefs
that are anymore different.
Really, truly.
I mean, Chef Andrew is French-trained.
Working in kitchens in New York City under very hardcore chefs.
Chef Bre on the other hand,
she's doing pop-up dinners.
Personal chefing for celebrities in LA.
Bringing her grandmother's soul into this kitchen.
[Andrew] How do you feel, Bre?
Honestly, I'm feeling pretty decent.
All things considered, Chef.
Andrew is very technical, very sound
and kinda quiet.
I think he's been good competition,
but I'm feeling so confident about dessert.
I'm making orange-zested cream puffs
filled with a spanische windtorte orange mascarpone.
Pate a choux takes a lot of technique.
Pate a choux is also a huge risk
because you have got to get your measurements just right.
You know, I wanna show the judges that I like a challenge.
I'm ready to take it on.
15 minutes on the clock, chefs.
I think, bologna can kind of be candied,
like, you would do to bacon.
So, I feel like I can probably make a brittle with pistachio.
I'm definitely intense, fairly driven.
I've already demonstrated that I possess
all the technical skills needed to win this competition.
All I have to do is put myself on the plate
and be the last one standing.
Pistachio cream is really just nothing but pistachios and sugar.
That's a thick one.
I wanna use it in a ganache.
This spanische windtorte is filled with strawberries and cream.
I scoop out the filling,
add in orange zest as well as some mascarpone
to help dial down on that sweetness.
Having grown up around fried bologna sandwiches,
it only feels right to throw this bologna in the fryer.
I take my fried bologna bits
and I put them in the spice grinder
with some toasted cinnamon sticks
and toasted pistachio.
All right, chefs, you're just under the five minute mark.
And it looks as if Andrew's cornbread is done
and beautifully golden brown.
[Bre] I try not to open the oven the whole time my cream puffs were in there,
but as time is ticking down
I finally peek in...
[Bre grunts]
And I don't see what I wanna see.
My cream puffs are not baking right,
not getting any color.
So, Bre's checked on her cream puffs in the oven.
They were not were she wanted them to be.
And this is really the base of her dessert.
Can't even look at them.
This is my worst nightmare imagined.
I am going into panic mode.
Need something to plate.
My cream puffs are not baking right.
I'm thinking, how do I get a dish to even present to the judges?
Whatever I got, I got.
But if there's one thing my grandmother has taught me,
it's to never give up.
So, I have no choice but to pivot and pivot fast.
So, now, we're making churros.
Listen, I love that Chef Bre knows right now that she has to pivot,
so she's taking that dough and she's frying it.
Smart.
-We gotta go, go, go. Two minutes! -Plates! Plates!
Plate it up! Plate it up!
[Andrew] I get my cornbread and it's quite crispy on the bottom.
But I'm gonna submerge it in a sweet cream
and I glaze it with my orange reduction.
[Ted] 30 seconds.
Bre's taking her churros out of the fryer.
And they look a little blonde to me, like, not all the way there.
[Ted] All right, chefs, final seconds of the final round here.
Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five,
four, three, two,
one, time's up.
-[all applauding] -[GZ] Way to go. Way to go, chefs.
Fryer was not on my side. Oven wasn't on my side.
But I didn't let it defeat me.
I still tried to breath, I tried to maneuver,
I tried to think on my feet and be quick.
Story of my life.
[Andrew] I think I showed my personality
which is what the judges asked me to do.
It's a little bit less refined, little bit more soul.
Definitely tells a little bit more of a story.
So, I think I delivered.
[Ted] Chef Bre and Chef Andrew,
the judges are eager to taste the desserts you made with bologna.
Oranges.
Pistachio cream.
And a spanische windtorte.
Chef Bre, please tell us what you made.
Judges, before you, you have a orange churro
with pistachio cream ganache
with the dusting of the fried bologna,
toasted pistachios and cinnamon over the top.
This was not my original dessert, but this is where we landed.
[Amanda] Your pate a choux works fried.
It just needed longer in the fryer.
I love the cream, I think it tastes really good.
I love that little surprise of chocolate.
I love that you dusted the bologna over
and worked really hard to make that happen as well.
The windtorte with the strawberries is so delicious.
It's so good.
I love the orange in it. I love the freshness of the strawberries.
[GZ] It almost tastes like a strawberry shortcake.
The real flaw is the pate a choux.
But what is on the plate, like everyone said, is very good.
Chef, if you were to win here,
you'd get a cash prize.
Any thoughts on what you might use it for?
I would use the money to give back to the community.
My grandma owned and operated a non-profit.
So, I've been growing up around community service my whole life.
I want to team up with some local markets,
in the city of LA.
and cook meals for people, provide grocery carts.
Inflation is hitting all of us,
so if I can give back
just a smidgen of what I've gotten from this world,
I would be happy with that.
And do a little something nice for yourself, too.
I might buy myself a little something.
-[Tiffani] There you go. -[Bre chuckles]
Finally, Chef Andrew.
Chefs, you have honey cornbread
with pistachio cream and bologna brittle.
This is my attempt at putting more of my history on the plate.
Um, when I was growing up in Texas,
we'd have cornbread with dinner couple of nights a week.
My mom would always make us second cast-iron pan,
and then, she would soak it in milk and cream,
cinnamon, sugar, vanilla.
So, this is my kind of ode to that dish.
It's the first bite of food
that makes me feel I kinda know you now.
Really, this is you. I can taste it.
I can taste the love you have for your mom.
And that the bologna is exceedingly interesting.
I mean, I think the way you cooked it in the caramel
really helped take the processed...
bologna taste out of it.
So, it's a really good dessert.
It's a little dry.
But it's very tasty, very well-conceived dessert.
Thank you, Chef.
I think with that orange cream, you could have just soaked...
Just dunk that cornbread in there.
So, if you gave it a dunk,
I think you would have had a little more of a...
just that moisture that was needed in the cornbread.
I think the dried cherry was clutch here.
-It goes so well with the candied bologna. -Thank you so much.
The cornbread needs more sugar on its own.
But when you have the windtorte
and the pistachio cream that are both very sweet on the side,
the lack of sugar in the cornbread sort of goes away.
Thank you.
Judges, those baskets were doozies.
Which one would you say was the toughest?
Well, the toughest round was the first.
[GZ] Bre's shrimp fritter,
I did taste the ginger,
I did taste some of the elements of the shrimp inside.
She just didn't... It wasn't finished.
It was incomplete.
You know, she had the shrimp fritters and sauce. That was it.
And then, Andrew attempted to make shrimp toast for us.
It was really kind of like a shrimp mousse.
I'm not sure it was cooked all the way through.
But I will say the mushrooms that Andrew cooked on top with the enokis
and a little bit of the beef from the birria
was so delicious.
Going into the entree round.
Chef Bre really came out with something that I thought was her style.
She made that beautiful elk
and the braised greens.
It was so delicious.
There is a place and time
and a completeness about Bre's entree
that I think I missed a little bit with Andrew.
Everything in Andrew's entree was seasoned nicely,
cooked properly.
I don't know that they were telling a story about who Andrew was
or why they should even be on the plate together.
But we really saw his technique come to life
because it married with soul, was in his dessert.
It's just like he woke up all of a sudden.
You know, Bre's pate a choux
did not work out the way she thought it was gonna work out.
I don't know if that was successful, but it was full of heart.
And she did not give up on herself.
You know, I think the question at hand is,
who really took those baskets
and made a meal that made sense?
[Andrew] I spent the last seven plus years honing the craft
and winning this would be validation of all the hours spent in the kitchen
sobbing while writing prep lists
early in the morning.
This is a big moment.
[Bre] Despite dessert not going the way I intended or planned,
I think I still stand a good chance.
If there is one thing my grandmother has taught me, it's to never give up.
Chef Bre, you've been chopped.
Judges.
[Amanda] Chef Bre, in the first round
your shrimp fritter felt incomplete.
In the dessert round,
you challenged yourself with a difficult task of making pate a choux.
All the flavors were there,
it just wasn't executed right.
And so, we had to chop you.
But just please keep doing what you're doing.
And the way you're doing it with your heart and your soul.
Oh, I'm never gonna stop.
I might get dirty, but I'm gonna keep going.
So, thank you so much.
Thank you.
[all applauding]
[Bre] With the win, with the loss, whatever,
I am proud of myself.
I'm glad that the judges saw my tenacity, my heart
more than anything.
And I hope that America sees it, too. [chuckles]
And that means, Chef Andrew Sargent,
you are the Chopped champion.
Congratulations. Well done.
-Thank you very much. -[judges applaud]
[Andrew] Thank you so much.
-[Tiffani] Nicely done. -[Amanda] You can have fun now.
-[all laughing] -I've been having fun, Chef.
-[Amanda] Good. -Thank you so much.
[Amanda] It's nice to see you smile. Totally.
[GZ] Way to go.
[Andrew] Winning feels amazing.
Truly, it's validation that I should be willing to step out of myself more.
Take risks.