[Ruthie Kallai] There is only room for one chef in this galley.
Oh, ship! It's going down.
[Scott Conant] So we're yachting today?
It's intense. There's really no room for mistakes.
[Abigail Caddy] I have one chance to do this, so let's just go for it.
We got Superwoman over here. I love this.
[Ruthie] You can get a curveball at any time.
Wasting way too much time. Punch it out and move on.
That's not good.
This is where I get real anxious.
[Kelston Moore] Stop. Think.
This is gonna make or break you.
-Hi. [laughs] -Hi. Hello.
So we're yachting today?
[Eric Adjepong and Nilou Motamed] We are yachting.
[Nilou] I feel like we have our white pants on.
-All four of the chefs today, work on yachts. -[Eric] Yes.
They literally spend their days and nights cooking on a boat.
What do you think about that? Would you do that?
-I... I would 100% do that. -Yeah?
Yeah. Life at sea is the life for me.
[laughs]
[Mathew Shea] I'm Mathew Shea. I'm a yacht chef based in Boston, Massachusetts.
Mm, that's naughty.
A yacht chef entails cooking at a high level
for a wealthy clientele on a private boat.
The food is based on what the client like and dislikes.
Anything from Michelin-star food to hot dogs and hamburgers.
It's intense. It's long workdays.
You're your own dishwasher,
your own prep cook,
your own pastry chef.
Extreme cooking in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
I'm the chef to beat in this competition
because working for billionaires,
there's really no room for mistakes or excuses.
I'm gonna set sail on a win.
[Abigail] When you taste my food you can always expect it to pack a punch
and a whole lot of heart.
All right, cool.
I'm Abigail Caddy. I'm the chef and owner of Curated Caddy
based out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
We specialize in high-end yacht cuisine.
The hardest thing about being a yacht chef,
is definitely being away from people who you love.
But it's really important to me that my kids see me succeeding.
I am here to prove that I can have it all.
That I can be an awesome yacht chef,
I can be an awesome mom.
Hope you chefs have your life vests on
'cause I'm going to chuck you overboard.
[Kelston] I'm a yacht chef based out of San Diego, California.
My influence is from my country, Barbados.
I grew up, you know, cooking. Watching my dad, my grandma.
After you eat my food you'll be left with texture, layers,
bold flavors, pretty much my life story.
It's the type of service that you get on the yacht.
I was a culinary specialist in the Navy.
The camaraderie of being a cook on the aircraft carrier,
which is like, the best thing ever.
I'm already the best chef at sea,
and I'm just here to prove that I'm the best chef on land.
[Ruthie] There is only room for one chef in this galley.
I'm a yacht chef based out of Miami, Florida.
Shall we?
I love to make healthy, vibrant, colorful food.
I cook everything from Mediterranean to Asian
and Latin and Thai dishes.
After college, I booked a one-way ticket to Florida
to work on a yacht.
I just really like the idea of being able to travel
and meet new people.
Cooking on board you can get a curveball at any time.
Just like in the Chopped kitchen.
I am going to set sail on a win.
Chefs, since you all cook on yachts,
I imagine you are all used to meeting the high standards of demanding clientele.
But can you transform the seafood surprises you find in the baskets
into a $10,000 meal?
-[Kelston] Too easy. -We do it all the time on boats.
Try my best.
All right, let's check out your appetizer ingredients.
Please open these first baskets.
-Ooh. -Wow.
[Ted] Beautiful tuna loins.
Really nice piece of tuna.
-[laughs] -[Ted] You've also got saffron.
Saffron. Interesting.
-[Ted] Romanesco cauliflower-- -Nice.
[Ted] ...and blue sea cotton candy.
Cotton candy?
All right.
I have never been asked for cotton candy on a boat in my life.
-Interesting. -[Ted] Twenty minutes to hammer out
amazing starter plates.
-Hmm. -Clock starts now.
-[Nilou] Whoo! Let's go! -[Eric] All right. Let's go get 'em.
Let's go. Let's go. Whoo!
[Ted] Scott, you are joined by two very special guests.
Celebrated food journalist, Nilou Motamed
and acclaimed chef, Eric Adjepong.
You three look like you should be hobnobbing with the yacht set right now.
-[Nilou] I'm feeling it. -[Eric] So great to be here.
In terms of tuna loin, I mean, a perfect fish to grill.
A perfect fish to serve as a crudo.
[Scott] I don't think I would cook that at all.
If you would cook it, a very light kiss on a grill.
-Barely, just like a "Mwah." -You still want it to be very premium.
Whoo-hoo.
Getting to compete as a yacht chef,
I have one chance to do this, so let's just go for it.
All righty.
With this tuna, it's not something you want to cook at all.
It's just a really beautiful fish.
You wanna really lightly sear it or you kind of wanna
to serve it raw.
Well, it looks like Abigail is encrusting her tuna loin with pistachios.
[Nilou] I like the idea of pistachio.
I'm concerned the texture might be a little off-putting on a crust.
Chef Abigail, what are you making?
I'm working on a pistachio-crusted tuna.
I'm doing some saffron and citrus romanesco.
Then I'm gonna do a little wasabi vinaigrette radicchio salad.
Blue sea cotton candy. I know it's sweet.
The best thing I can think to do, is to use it to sweeten up the vinaigrette.
Working on yachts, we have access
to some of the most amazing ingredients
because our budget is almost limitless for the most part.
You get to play around a lot. [laughs]
[Eric] When it comes to working on a yacht,
it's a high paying guest that you have on your boat.
And they want the best. So these chefs are always being demanded to,
you know, get the best food out there.
I think they're pretty well-trained to work in this environment.
[Scott] Great ingredients, right?
-This is a fantastic basket. -[Nilou] This is a dream basket.
Romanesco cauliflower.
-Cauliflower and broccoli had a baby, right? -Yes. Yeah.
Saffron. Do you know it's the most expensive ingredient in the world?
-I know that. Yeah. -[Eric] Wow.
So 150,000 flowers for one kilo of saffron.
And then the cotton candy. That's where things get a little interesting.
I've been working on yachts for over 15 years.
When a client asks for something, I always have to deliver.
I have spent a lot of time travelling Mexico
and I'm inspired by Mexican cooking.
Mathew is off to the fryer with some tortillas.
Looks like he may have a clear plan.
Chef Mathew, what are you making Chef?
I'm making a tostada.
-Oh, nice. Good idea. -Oh, that's a nice idea.
[Mathew] So I take the romanesco and I pickle it
in rice wine vinegar with a little sugar and salt.
To make my pico, I take my pickled romanesco
and I mix it with tomatoes, cilantro and jalapeno.
Normally, I would add red onions in my pico,
but I know Scott doesn't like that so I'm not doing it.
[Ruthie] As a yacht chef, we get preference sheets
that show what people like or dislike,
but there's still quite a bit of freedom to put your spin
and flair on things.
So there is a lot of creativity that comes into it.
I am making ahi tuna and romanesco cauliflower poke
with cotton candy and saffron miso sauce
and crispy wonton.
Once my tuna is diced,
I'm marinating it with soy sauce, rice wine vinegar.
Pour it with this.
I think that the saffron has a bit of musty flavor that I don't really love.
And I think mixing it with oil and miso paste
combined with the sweetness of the cotton candy can hide that.
Let's see.
After I got out of the Navy, I decided to go to culinary school
to perfect my craft.
What I love about being a yacht chef is using high-end ingredients.
Taking things that people normally don't eat
and showcasing it in a different way.
Kelston, what are you building?
I am making a tuna cake,
somewhat similar to, like a crab cake.
Keeping it nice and simple. Adding some rice noodles in there to hold it together.
I'm gonna make a saffron cream sauce.
I'm using the rice noodles as a binding agent.
To make my crab cakes, I dice shallots, peppers,
and I'm using the romanesco cauliflower in my cakes to add crunch.
All right, dude.
Right, chefs, just under 10 minutes to go.
[Abigail] Saffron's really earthy.
Oftentimes, it's paired with orange and citrus,
and things like that that balance that earthiness.
Behind.
In a galley, I'm by myself a lot,
unless somebody wants to stack.
It's definitely different right now.
I've got three chefs I have to run behind,
and remember to notify them while we are cutting and boiling and sizzling.
You guys think we are quieter because we are usually working alone?
-Yes, definitely. -[Abigail laughs]
We have no friends in the kitchen like other chefs.
I have never come across cotton candy on the yachts usually.
But I think I can use it as a sugar replacement.
To make my crema I combine saffron and cotton candy
with some Mexican crema.
My partner and I are expecting our first child this year.
If I win this competition, I will use the money
towards some of the expenses of having a new baby in the house.
[Ruthie] Romanesco cauliflower has a crunchy and fresh taste.
And I knew it would make a great crunch inside of my poke.
I'm working on creating a private chef business in Miami,
where we can cater to any type of events
that you have in South Florida.
I will take any prize money that I get and use it to invest in my business.
I'm coming to win this.
Chefs, five minutes left. Five minutes on the clock.
Heard.
I'm gonna form my cakes and bread them with panko.
Oh, dammit.
As I'm assembling the tuna cakes,
I realize that I forgot to add the rice noodles which was my binding agent.
That's not good.
Looks like Kelston's not too happy about
how his tuna cakes are coming together.
I'm worried that Kelston's tuna cakes are gonna fall apart
-when he starts cooking them. -[Eric] Yeah.
[Nilou] That's not gonna stay together.
It's not gonna work out.
You need some sort of binder, right?
Eggs, some sort of fat to kind of keep everything together.
[Kelston] Stop. Think.
I look up at the clock, I'm definitely starting to panic.
I need to come up with a plan B. ASAP.
Come on.
[Kelston] Oh, dammit.
I forgot to add the binder to my tuna cakes.
If I don't figure out how to fix this
my tuna cakes are completely gonna fall apart.
I got it worked out. So we will just do this.
Mixing this.
It looks like Kelston has given up on the cake idea altogether.
[Nilou] Oh, boy.
[Kelston] I know that my tuna cakes won't stick together as I fry them.
So I change gears and decide to saute everything.
Oh, sh...
To go with my dish, I'm making a cotton candy saffron cream sauce.
It's going. It's going.
Being a culinary specialist in the Navy has really taught me
structure, discipline.
But cooking in this kitchen is very intense.
-Two minutes, chefs! -[Eric] Let's go, guys.
[exhales]
For my salad I'm taking some orange segments,
but my hands are shaking a lot.
It's really hard because I can't work at the pace I want.
It's scary. [laughs]
My hands are shaking so bad.
[Ruthie] I'm adding sesame seeds to the poke
for a little bit crunch and color.
Let's go. Let's get it on the plate.
-[Eric] Let's go, chefs. Let's go. -Come on, come on.
[Ruthie] I'm feeling a lot of pressure with the time
to finish everything.
On a yacht I'm always having to pick up my feet,
so I know I can win this.
[Mathew] This is a really high quality tuna
and I want to preserve its integrity, so I'm keep it raw.
One minute remains, chefs. Gotta plate it up.
-[Scott] Kelston is still cooking his tuna. -Oh, no.
-Please stop cooking the tuna. -He's still cooking it.
-Yeah. -All four ingredients on to those plates, chefs.
Ten, nine,
eight, seven,
six, five,
four, three,
two, one.
-Time's up. -[judges cheering]
-Good job, babe. -Yours too.
[Kelston] It was a different experience.
Like, being able to having to change my dish in the middle
because it didn't work out the way I wanted it to.
But I actually feel really good.
This kitchen is not moving, so it's better than cooking on a yacht
as far as I'm concerned.
I'm happy with how my appetizer came out.
Chefs, you've arrived at the chopping block.
For round one, you got a basket of tuna loin,
saffron, romanesco cauliflower and blue sea cotton candy.
Chef Mathew, what have you made?
Today I made for you, uh, an ahi tuna tostada with a pickled romanesco pico.
And a crema with the saffron and blue sea cotton candy.
Chef Mathew, I think it's visually arresting.
This is exactly what I want to eat as I was bobbing around
in some beautiful, as your water somewhere
holding a margarita in hand.
I think the flavors are really good.
Where is the cotton candy inside this?
-It's in the crema. Yes. -[Scott] In the crema?
So there is a little bit of residual sweetness from that.
I do like the saffron flavor that you developed.
The cauliflower I think is a really nice pickle on it.
It's actually delicious. The color's beautiful. But it needs love.
I wish that there was a little bit more flavor added to it,
salt, like basic seasoning.
[Nilou] I'd have to agree with Eric.
I'm also curious about the use of the crema at the bottom.
It made my, uh, tostada soggy.
How did you start cooking on yachts?
Um, I worked as assistant cook on a Greenpeace ship
and during that trip I saw that there was a yachting industry.
I've been a chef on yachts for 15 years.
I love the opportunity to travel
and explore the cultures and cuisines as we go.
With the clientele we have, sky is the limit with ingredients.
Chef Mathew, thank you.
Next up, Chef Kelston, what have you made?
So today I made a tuna and romanesco stir fry
with a cotton candy saffron cream sauce.
How did you find that round, Chef?
I had to pivot. My original idea didn't--
wasn't gonna work out the way I wanted to because I missed a step.
So I had to, you know, think about something really quick and easy
that I can do with what I had already finished.
That pivot was a real challenge
because you're tossing it together with the noodles, it just continued to cook
and it's really overcooked.
But this tastes really good.
Usage of the romanesco in here,
you know, it adds a nice textural contrast.
There's something that the alchemy of the dill and the caramelized shallots
that is a really warming and it's... it's like a very cozy dish.
You know, not the dish you originally anticipated making,
but it actually has a compelling cravability to it.
Chef Kelston, $10,000. What are you doing with it?
I'm gonna take my son to Barbados to meet, you know, the other side of the family
-that he hasn't met before. -Yeah.
And then also, you know, further fund my non-profit, Bad Boyz of Culinary.
-So-- -What... what is Bad Boyz of Culinary?
Bad Boyz of Culinary is a non-profit I started a few years ago
with one of my bu-- uh, colleagues in San Diego.
It's to highlight African-American chefs
and create awareness through mentorships, events, scholarship and programs.
I'm always down to lift a helping hand to help someone else.
Chef Kelston, thank you.
Next up, Chef Abigail.
I have a pistachio-crusted ahi tuna and that is done with a radicchio citrus salad
and charred romanesco with saffron.
I think the presentation is really beautiful.
This vinaigrette is just absolutely insane. Really delicious.
Chef, I gotta tell you that wasabi vinaigrette is bananas.
It's spectacular.
I, I want more of that.
And the texture of the tuna and the citrus
and the bitterness of, uh, the radicchio works really well.
[Nilou] The cook on your tuna is beautiful.
If I was gonna be super picky, if you're going to supreme an orange,
you need to supreme the orange and not leave a lot of the, the bit.
Finally, Chef Ruthie.
Today I've made for you an ahi tuna and romanesco cauliflower poke
with a saffron and cotton candy miso sauce and crispy wonton.
[Eric] Chef Ruthie, you treated the, uh, the tuna really well.
I think it was seasoned beautifully.
The textures from the, not only the pickled romanesco,
but the sesame seeds adds a nice crunch.
The revelation of this dish is the romanesco.
I feel like the texture that it's adding to every bite
of your poke is, is kind of my favorite thing.
The only issue I have is how much the sauce overwhelms the poke.
-Okay. -[Nilou] I feel like, um, the balance is off.
I would say the cuts on the tuna themselves are wildly inconsistent.
I think you could have taken a moment to really kind of butcher that
a little bit better, be a little bit more thoughtful
about that approach.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you, chefs.
The judges said that, you know, the tuna was overcooked.
But I'm still confident in what I did.
I like to take risks sometimes.
[Mathew] I'm a little nervous.
The judges said that it was a little under seasoned.
Could've used a little more developing of flavors,
but it's really anyone's game.
So, who's dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Kelston, you've been Chopped. Judges?
Chef Kelston, it's clear that you know how to cook, man.
The flavors were there. Unfortunately, though, the tuna was overcooked.
And so we have to chop you.
Thank you. Thank you, judges.
I appreciate the opportunity.
I tried my best and you know, learned how the see that
things may not always go your way.
But at the end of the day, you just gotta keep going.
Chef Mathew, Chef Ruthie, Chef Abigail. Second basket is ready.
Open it up!
-Oh. -And your entree round ingredients.
-Chicharrones-- -Oh, pork rinds.
Chicharrones. Wow, it's not as easy as the first basket.
-[Abigail] I'm not really sure what the green is entirely. -[Ted] ...sea fennel--
I'm not sure what it is. It looks like a fake plant.
[Ted] ...mackerel--
I hate mackerel. 'Cause it's so oily and bony and small.
[Ted] ...and caviar.
The caviar will be nice.
Yes! Caviar! This is a gift.
[Ted] Thirty minutes.
Feeling okay.
Clock starts now.
-Whoo! -[Scott] Here we go, chefs.
Come on.
I'm not the most excited to see this mackerel.
When we're on charter,
more often than not people use it as bait to maybe catch a better fish.
I decided to use the chicharrones as a coating on my mackerel
because fried fish is delicious.
And I knew it would be a great way to use the chicharrones.
I'm making a chicharrone-crusted mackerel
with roasted asparagus and sea fennel and parsley couscous.
First thing I needed to do is flay the mackerel.
I got a cut.
And I cut my finger the second I picked up my knife.
-Oh, my God. Chef Ruthie cut herself on the mackerel-- -[Scott gasps]
...before she-- I think she even started butchering it.
She's on the sidelines before she can get better dressed.
[Ruthie] I've lost minutes at this point and I really need to get
to flaying this mackerel.
[Scott] Mackerel has a tremendous amount of oil.
It's a very assertive, fishy, uh, flavor profile.
I love mackerel raw. I love it sashimi-style.
Unfortunately, though, there's pin bones.
It's not something that anybody wants to eat.
They're very small in the mackerel, those pin bones.
You have to be very cautious.
[Mathew] I don't work with mackerel very often.
So I want to get into this fish and figure out the best way to treat it.
The pieces I ended up cutting were small.
So I decided to turn them into a fish cake.
I'm making a chicharrone-crusted mackerel cake
with caviar cream,
salsa verde and sea fennel salad.
In the appetizer round, I went with Mexican.
So I wanna continue on with that theme.
I'm using the chicharrones as a crust for my cakes
because I like the idea of the crunch of the chicharrones.
To make my salsa verde, I roast off some tomatillos,
char some onion, jalapeno, and I blend them all together.
In this round, I'm going to deliver the big flavors
the judges want.
Mackerel. [scoffs]
Mackerel has a lot of little pin bones,
so I'm trying to avoid getting close to those.
I'm making pan-seared mackerel with garlic mashed potatoes
and sea fennel salad
with a chicharron and caper gremolata.
I have three amazing step-kids.
I have my husband, Gavin.
He's absolutely amazing.
But having a family and yachting is extremely hard
because you're missing things like Christmas and birthdays.
I'm here to prove that it's possible to be a mom,
be a chef, have a balance.
[Eric] Chefs, we're coming up on 15 minutes.
[Scott] So these chefs, it's fun to watch.
All of them are accustomed to working
in really confined spaces.
-[Matthew] Go ahead. -[Abigail] All right.
[Scott] Using a limited number of ingredients
to kind of accentuate the flavor profiles.
And let's say you dock somewhere
and you run into pork.
-You may find something very unique -[Eric] Yeah.
like these chicharrones.
It's a good cheat for when you need something crunchy
-or salty as, like, a big flavor booster. -[Eric] Mmm-hmm. Yeah.
You could use the chicharrones,
which are fried pork skin,
for some kind of a crust.
[Ruthie] Yacht chefs have to be very adaptable in the galley
because you can get a curve ball at any time,
whether it be the power or your water supply
or access to new ingredients.
You always have to be on your toes.
I have to say, on my yacht, we use mackerel as bait,
but we do have caviar.
You shouldn't do too much to caviar, should you?
Yeah, it's one of those ingredients that is
luxurious as is.
[Scott] You never want to cook it.
-You want it to maintain its integrity. -Yeah.
As a yacht chef, I'm very familiar with caviar.
To make my caviar cream,
I cook down some Mexican cream
a little bit, and then off the pot,
I stir in the caviar.
The sea fennel has a really briny, fresh flavor
and a nice crunch, so I want to keep it raw in this salad.
I combined some pickled red onion with orange,
cucumber, cilantro, mint, and poblano peppers.
Sea fennel is a low-lying bush
that grows in the Mediterranean,
and it gets so close to the water,
-it gets all that brininess. -Yeah.
It tastes like a cross between oregano and marjoram
and a little bit of parsley.
It's really a bright, great herb.
Five minutes to go on that clock.
[Abigail] I'm going to use the sea fennel to make a salad.
So I grab shallots, whole grain mustard,
vinegar, and honey, the sea fennel.
I'm hoping that the honey will, kind of, you know,
soften that salty blow in the sea fennel.
Caviar is often used like garnish,
but sometimes I do put it on top of, like, a sauce.
So I'm going to make, like, a loose
kind of, take on hollandaise
and fold my caviar into it.
Get your plates.
You're gotta start plating soon.
[Ted] Just under two minutes, chefs.
[Ruthie] I'm running out of time,
so I need to get this couscous on the plate.
I'm going to fold in parsley and sea fennel,
and I'm going to add in white wine vinegar,
lemon, and red pepper.
Chef Ruthie is using the sea fennel in her couscous.
[Ted] Some hot couscous
would be a nice place to put the sea fennel
or maybe a collection of herbs.
[Abigail] For my gremolata, I fry some capers,
and I throw them into
the spice grinder with my chicharrons.
-Right behind? -Yep.
[Abigail] And then I throw them on a pan,
and I toss them in the oven
just to, kind of, re-crunch them.
And one minute remains, chefs.
Gotta plate it up.
This is where I get real anxious.
[Ruthie] Time is winding down. My mackerel looks great.
I want to use the caviar just as a garnish on top
because I don't want to manipulate it too much.
[Ted] Less than a minute. Double-check
-your inventory, chefs. -Make sure everything's in there.
[Abigail] Ah!
I almost forgot about my gremolata.
I've got Ted standing over me while I'm quickly
crapping with my fingers in a hot pan.
And two seconds, how many seconds do I have?
[Ted] Ten, nine,
-eight, -[Nilou] Let's go, let's go!
-seven, -Let's go!
-[Eric] Get there. -six,
five, four,
three, two, one.
-All right. -Time's up.
[judges applaud]
[Eric] Wow.
[Matthew] I'm a little nervous.
I'm worried that I served more
of an appetizer than an entree.
This round was a little more challenging than round one.
[Ruthie] I feel pretty good after cutting myself.
I feel like I was able to put together
the best plate possible.
I have a huge mixture of nervous and excitement.
Chefs, in the entree basket, you got chicharrones,
sea fennel, mackerel, and caviar.
So what have you made for us, Chef Abigail?
I have prepared a pan-seared mackerel
over a garlic mashed potato with a sea fennel salad
and a caviar butter sauce
and a chicharron and caper gremolata.
When you're on a boat, what is it like to cook
-on something that's going like that? -[Abigail] Mobile. [laughs]
I had one experience where I was literally cooking
on an angle all day,
walking to the other side of my galley. [laughs]
It's different, but I wouldn't change any of it.
Chef Abigail, I really enjoy the flavors.
It's fun to eat.
I was a little intimidated by the sea fennel salad,
thinking that would be, like, way too intense for my palate,
probably just do a little bit less.
My issue with the plate is the mouthfeel.
It's an oil slick.
Uh, Chef Eric is right,
there's a lot of fat in this dish.
You sauteed the fish in quite a bit of oil.
Obviously, there's quite a bit
of oil on the dressed sea fennel,
but I really like the cook on the mackerel.
And the chicharrones kind of spread throughout.
I think there was an opportunity
to create some kind of a salt, perhaps, with that.
I'm very impressed by the cook on your mackerel.
If I was gonna be sad about something,
I love a world in which we can have chicharron and caviar
-coexisting in one dish, -[laughs]
but I would want you to celebrate the caviar.
It feels like it's lost.
The sauce that you made kind of drowned it out.
Thoughts on what you might do with the prize
if you were to win?
My husband and I just started Curated Caddy,
our new business,
so that obviously takes some money into that.
We just got married this past summer,
so we're doing a second wedding in Australia,
so we can do it with his family.
We have kids. We want to plan for another one,
so there's a lot of ways to stretch it,
so my plan would be to just multiply it as best I can.
-Gambling. -[all laugh]
That's only in Atlantis. [laughs]
Next up, Chef Ruthie.
We have a chicharrones-crusted mackerel
with roasted asparagus and a sea fennel
and parsley couscous with caviar on top.
Chef, really good cook on the fish.
-[Ruthie] Thank you. -I like the texture that you created.
[Scott] I think that your couscous is slightly undercooked.
Yep.
And I think the usage of the sea fennel
isn't necessarily kind of front and center.
Okay.
I think the idea of chicharron as a crust for an oily fish
is kind of an impressive move.
-Like, that's, like, you really... -[laughs]
-you raise the stakes there. -[laughs]
And as Scott said, the cook on my fish is terrific.
-But I got pin bones. -Okay.
[Nilou] Caviar. I mean, it's always lovely to see it,
but I wonder if there was a butter sauce to incorporate it
so it felt like it was just a little bit more, um, touch.
The chicharron is my favorite thing.
Like, I'm putting that in my back pocket.
-That's really smart. -[chuckles]
The couscous salad, as amazing as I think the concept is,
kind of takes away from everything else
and the focus of the basket.
Okay.
Finally, Chef Matthew.
I made a chicharrones-crusted mackerel cake
with, uh, caviar cream,
a salsa verde,
and then a little salad with herbs and sea fennel.
This cake, kind of, reminds me of a cod fritter.
The texture is one that I've never had before,
but it's not, like, I'm not turned off by it,
like, I can go back in.
I just wish there was, like,
more substantialness to this dish.
It's more like an appetizer.
Chef Matthew, I feel like your sauce work is really good,
and the brightness that you got,
the acid, the little herb moment,
the crunchy veggies,
I think there's actually some great stuff here.
The unfortunate part is the mackerel.
The star of our basket is dense and overly salted.
I think that you have some really good
flavor profiles here.
I think that your usage of the pickle on the onions,
the supreme of the orange,
sea fennel all mixed together
in this little salad works really well,
and I think the chicharron crust is spectacular.
-Thank you. -Thank you, chefs.
[Ruthie] I don't feel like I made my strongest plate,
but I do feel like I'm going to make it to the next round.
[Matthews] It was challenging.
They didn't love the mackerel.
Cooking in this kitchen is more stressful
than cooking on a yacht.
We're being judged even harder
than we are by our demanding guests.
Whose dish is on the chopping block.
Chef Ruthie, you've been chopped.
-Judges? -[Nilou] Chef Ruthie,
your mackerel was beautifully cooked.
Unfortunately, we had some pin bones,
and your couscous salad was a little undercooked,
and so we had to chop you.
Thank you, chefs.
I honestly feel so good.
I was so honored to be here
and be working among the caliber of chefs
that we're with today.
[Ted] Chef Abigail, Chef Matthew,
just the two of you are left here.
Who's nervous?
I'm not, Ted. I have my sea legs.
Smooth sailing from here, Ted.
We'll see.
Let's find out what those mystery ingredients are.
Open 'em up!
[Abigail] I'm not sure what kind of butter that is.
[Ted] And you've got seaweed butter.
[laughs]
[Ted] A tropical fruit platter.
Tropical-ish fruit plate?
-Ooh. -[Ted] Oyster crackers.
This is Rhode Island style right here.
[Ted] And a Mai Tai.
[Matthew] Mai Tai?
[Abigail] I like Mai Tai.
I like putting booze in dessert.
Excited to see the result in 30 minutes.
Clock starts now. [claps]
[Ted] Let's go, chefs. Let's go.
-[Scott] Let's go! Let's go! -[Nilou] Let's go, let's go!
-Let's go, come on! -[judges applauding]
-Whoo! -[Eric] Let's go, chefs.
Well, judges, there is no fish in this basket, thankfully,
but there is one aquatic surprise,
Seaweed butter, what is that?
It is one of my favorite ingredients from France.
It's from the Brittany region,
So they take beautiful cultured butter,
paddle in seaweed locally from Brittany.
It gives you a tanginess.
It gives you almost like a dive in the ocean.
[Scott] There's a lot of fun ways that you can go
using that seaweed butter for some kind of a streusel
with the oyster crackers.
[exhales] All right.
So, the seaweed butter, it has little bits of seaweed,
so I treat it, kind of, like an herb butter.
That's where you'll get your salt and your seaweed flavor.
So I just get it into a hot skillet,
and I'm going to use the dragon fruit and apples
from the tropical fruit platter to make crumble.
I'm making tropical seaweed crumble
with Greek yogurt whipped cream.
The oyster crackers could be a fun texture.
To make a crumble topping,
so I add them to my seaweed butter.
I'm feeling pumped heading into the dessert round.
I feel like I could have been
easily chopped in the entree round,
but I'm getting my sea legs in this competition,
and I'm ready to go all out.
In a dessert, fresh fruit is a gift.
Tropical fruit platter has kiwis, star fruit, mango.
So I'm thinking crepes
because, uh, it will be a good way to highlight
all the tropical fruit,
and I'm hoping the seaweed will add
a nice flavor to the batter.
I'm making tropical seaweed crepes
with fig Mai Tai reduction
and a dragon fruit whipped cream.
[blender whirring]
Next, I am reducing the Mai Tai
into a syrup with fresh figs.
I know my dessert needs some sort of crunch,
and as a Rhode Islander,
I'm very familiar with oyster crackers.
So I decided to use the oyster crackers
to make a granola
with cinnamon, brown sugar, pistachios,
and a little seaweed butter.
-[Ted] Less than 15 minutes left, chefs. -[Eric] Let's go, chefs.
Abigail, did you try the Mai Tai first?
No, but I know a Mai Tai very well. [laughs]
Taste it. Taste it.
All right, let's check it.
A Mai Tai's a rum-based cocktail
with some other flavors, too.
So you get some pineapple, you get some citrus,
so I immediately just start to reduce it into a pot.
I'm going to use the Mai Tai
and the mangoes from the fruit platter
to make a Mai Tai caramel.
My family's extremely proud of me.
My son told me that I've already won
because I'm the best cook,
and I don't need luck because I'm going to win,
but I just want to knock them dead
and really impress my kid.
I love having support of these amazing little people.
For my Greek yogurt whipped cream,
I'm mixing heavy cream, Greek yogurt,
vanilla extract, and pepper.
[mixer whirring]
Chefs, just under 10 minutes to go.
We got Superwoman over here with Abigail.
I love this.
[Nilou] You can tell she's a mom who works.
She's definitely, like, bouncing the baby with one arm
-while she's cooking. -[laughing]
[Matthew] To cook my crepes, I add a little melted seaweed butter
and a thin layer of the batter.
We have a half crepe on the pan
that he's waiting to crisp up.
[Eric] I like the idea, but he's spending
-so much time on it right now. -[Nilou] Mmm.
I need to move fast
to make sure I can get all these crepes
done in time.
[Eric] Wasting way too much time on this one component.
Punch it out and move on to the next task.
Chefs, you've got less than four minutes to wrap this up.
-[Eric] Let's go, Chefs. -[Nilou] Okay, let's go.
[Matthew] I know I need to move fast to get all these crepes done.
The crepe is the base of my whole dessert.
I need them to come out right.
So it looks like he's got two crepes completed.
[Eric] I would just think about this as smart as possible.
You don't have to make a huge portion.
-Cut them in half and then just fold it. -Cut them in half, yeah.
[Matthew] My crepes are looking a little too large and messy,
so I grabbed a ring mold and cut them into circles.
-[Ted] Chefs, three minutes left. -[Eric] Let's go, Chefs.
-Finish strong. -[Nilou] Three minutes left.
[Matthew] I'm filling my crepes with mango and kiwi
from the tropical fruit platter.
And then to top off my crepes,
I'm making a dragon fruit whipped cream.
I just love that pink color,
and it goes with the tropical theme.
[Ted] One minute to go, chefs.
Double check all your ingredients, chefs.
[Eric] Caramel is still piping hot,
and she's layering all over the whipped cream right now.
[Abigail] It's really weird to have all the judges staring at me.
I hear them occasionally saying things,
and I'm... Thank God I can listen above all that noise.
[laughs]
Final seconds of the final round, chefs.
Ten, nine,
eight, seven,
-six, five-- -This is gonna make or break you.
[Ted] Four, three, two, one.
-Time's up. -[all cheering]
[Nilou] Yes!
[applauding]
Wow.
[Abigail] I'm proud of the dish.
This is something that I would definitely be serving to my clients.
I think that I definitely have a really good chance
of winning today.
[Matthew] The pressure is high,
but I think this is a $10,000 dessert.
[Ted] Chef Abigail and Chef Matthew,
you opened the dessert basket
and found a tropical fruit platter,
oyster crackers,
a Mai Tai,
and seaweed butter.
Chef Abigail, what do we have?
I've prepared for you a tropical seaweed crumble
with a Greek yogurt whipped cream,
and that has a Mai Tai and mango,
kind of, play on caramel.
This is a really tasty dessert.
I like the play of textures that you have going on here.
I like the fruit.
The Chantilly cream that you have here is delicious.
-[Abigail] Thank you. -I... I would eat that up all day.
Chef Abigail, the apple skins to me are really noticeable,
especially because the dragon fruit,
kind of, melts a little bit,
and then those very firm, Granny Smith apple skins
are so prominent.
But I love the caramel that you created, actually.
I agree, and I think that your usage
of the oyster cookies here is... is fantastic.
I can't necessarily discern the seaweed butter
in that topping,
but I trust you that it's there.
[Ted] Thank you, Chef Abigail.
Finally, Chef Matthew.
Yes, so that's a tropical seaweed crepe.
Inside it has mango and kiwi,
and then I have a dragon fruit whipped cream
and a crunch made with the oyster crackers,
some nuts, some cinnamon,
and a little bit of the seaweed butter as well.
And then I have a dragon fruit puree,
and I made a reduction sauce with the Mai Tai and fig.
Chef, I love the texture of that, uh,
granola that you have on the plate.
I think it's my favorite component.
-I mean, like, you put this in a box. -[Matthew laughs]
You sell it as granola. It's real, real good.
And the way that you macerated that fig and, um, the Mai Tai
is also really, really good.
I think the crepe batter
-needed a little bit more sugar in it. -[Matthew] Okay.
Did you put sugar inside of it?
-No, no. -[Scott] There's none.
So it needs that little bit of sweetness.
But I think it's a great dish.
I love the textures that you had.
Thank you.
Chef Matthew, this is very one-note,
and I think it's because of the lack of sugar
that you have in there.
But this crumble, it's... it's so delicious, man,
and just a really smart use of basket ingredient.
-Thank you. -[Ted] Okay.
Thank you, chefs.
-Thanks, judges. -Thank you.
Judges, did these two chefs
make plates that were memorable?
Well, I think some of the memorable
aspects of those dishes
were definitely in the appetizer round.
I really feel, like, that in a lot of ways
was Chef Matthew's strongest round.
-[Eric] It was, I agree. -I agree.
[Scott] I loved the tostada that he created,
the saffron crema,
the texture of the tuna was beautiful.
It was a great intro to his food.
[Nilou] But the use of the crema at the bottom
made my tostada soggy.
So with Chef Abigail,
she did the pistachio-crusted tuna,
-she did the radicchio salad, -[Eric] Mmm-hmm.
and she did a really good use
of that cotton candy with the wasabi.
I think in a lot of ways
that was one of my favorite components
throughout this entire competition,
that wasabi vinaigrette.
But her usage of the orange supremes were a little wonky.
There was a lot of that pit on the orange itself.
[Eric] Second round, I felt like Chef Abigail,
-there was a lot of oil on the mackerel, -[Nilou] Mmm.
there was a lot of oil with that butter sauce.
[Nilou] But as you guys remember,
Chef Abigail's fish was perfectly cooked,
and that was really a highlight for me
in the entree round.
Chef Matthew with his mackerel cake,
there was some great acid.
Where Chef Matthew fell short was,
it was dense,
it was unforgiving.
But I would say, the use of the chicharron,
-that's the breading, it's just getting genius. -[Nilou] Mmm.
-[Nilou] Very smart. -I really, really appreciate that.
Well, do you know what you're going to do?
-We do, Ted. -Okay, let's go.
[Matthew] I'm feeling pumped up, peaks and valleys,
nerves and anxiety,
highs and lows, all the emotions.
It feels great to be this close to winning.
[Abigail] I am unbelievably proud of myself for what I put forward.
Losing would probably crush me. [laughs]
Just because I want this so badly.
So, who's dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Matthew, you've been chopped.
Judges?
Chef Matthew, it has been an absolute pleasure
to have you here with us
throughout this entire competition.
Thank you. Thank you.
Uh, in your appetizer round,
we loved your tuna tostada.
Unfortunately, the crema made your tostada
a little bit soggy.
In your entree round, your mackerel cake was dense.
And then in your dessert round,
there was a lack of sugar overall.
And so, we had to chop you.
Thank you. It's been a pleasure to be here.
I'm really proud of the meal I put out today,
but Abigail just out-cooked me.
Congratulations, Abigail. You deserved it.
And that means, Chef Abigail Caddy,
you are the Chopped champion.
You sunk three other yacht chefs.
And after this $10K payday, the world is your oyster.
Congratulations.
-Thank you very much. -[judges cheering]
[Eric] Well done.
I'm a crier, by the way. It's a problem. [laughs]
Winning this today was a huge accomplishment for me.
It's really cool to be able to tell my kids.
And to win against other really amazing yacht chefs
means that I really am a really
strong, you know, asset to the yachting community.
So excited.