Thirty seconds left.
Chopped is like chaos on fire.
What in the world is Jassi doing right now?
I have no idea.
[Ted] There are three rounds.
I feel that adrenaline already.
-[Ted] Baskets will set the tune. -[laughing]
-What is that? -This is chaos.
Come on.
-Are you scaring me? -Ah!
-So just need... -[Ted] If your dish doesn't cut it...
Don't mess around. Find the penne.
[woman] I can't watch this.
[Ted] ...you will be chopped.
♪ Your time's up ♪
[Jassi] What we all are doing, I do little better.
That's what will kill it, right?
I am the executive chef and managing partner
at Amrina The Woodlands in the Woodlands, Texas.
I believe in tasty food.
With sugar, cumin and the house blend of chat masala,
when it grills it caramelizes the octopus.
My style of cooking is all the traditional recipes back from India
and then giving my eclectic touch to it.
So we do ostrich, we do octopus,
whatver is not being done in the other restuarants.
I'm here to show how Indian cuisine can be sexy
and take it next level.
Making a Japanese pancake.
[giggles]
[laughs]
I'm the head chef at The Green Market
in Nantucket, Massachusetts.
I have no formal culinary training.
I started as a dish washer in a supper club in Wisconsin
and then I went to Chicago.
Like, I jumped from supper club
to Michelin Star.
I'm obsessed with food
but I come from Russian American heritage
so it's all of the things.
It's American.
That's a good one.
She's alive.
I play to win and I'm all in.
This is gonna be a really great textural element for the duck.
My competitiveness constantly is driving me to do better.
I can execute.
I am the chef-owner of Dish Restaurant in Lincoln, Nebraska.
I started cooking when I was 21.
I kind of worked through the industry,
now I own my own restaurant at 34.
-It's so good. -And I'm the first Lincoln chef
to be nominated for James Beard award.
I've been trying to change the culinary scene.
Really trying to push the envelope with food
and, like, make people think outside the box.
Creativity is what drives me
and I'm just here to win.
[Morgan] This is the fun part.
This is where I get my workout in.
I'm from Silver Spring, Maryland
and I'm a celebrity private chef.
I've travelled the world
I have different experiences
that have made my style very versatile
Modern, Italian and Southeast Asian profiles
with a blend of American soul.
I cook for athletes,
musicians, comedians.
Got into cooking at a young age
following my grandmother and my great grandmother.
They both were amazing cooks
and always inspired me to follow that dream.
I'm very competitive.
I... I want the hair to fool you.
I want you to think that
I'm the slouch in the corner, but...
I'm the guy you gotta worry about the most.
It would mean the world to me to bring it home.
[Chris] Hello, hello.
-[all] Hello. -[Maneet] Hey, chefs. How are you doing?
[Jassi] How's it going?
Welcome, welcome.
Welcome.
Hello, chefs.
-Hi. -[all] Hi.
[Ted] Thank you for joining us.
Are you ready?
Absolutely.
Let's see your... ingredients.
Brick French toast.
-[woman laughing] -Oh, Mamma mia!
-[laughs] -Brick French toast.
Uh, that's a thing?
[Ted] You also have watermelon radishes.
Watermenlon radishes.
[Ted] Smoked peanut butter.
Ooh.
[Morgan] Smoked peanut butter.
-[Ted] And canned sardines. -And it's sardines.
[Emilie] Sardines.
Okay.
I feel great actually. And not great either.
-[laughing] -[Jassi] But, uh...
-I almost wish I was cooking. -[Jassi chuckles]
Come on up. I'll sit down. [laughs]
-Almost. -[Emilie chuckles]
20 minutes to make sense of it.
-Clock starts now. It's going down. Here we go. -[Maneet] ...Go chefs.
-[all clapping] -[Maneet] Come on!
Maneet, Chris, you're joined by a special guest judge.
Our friend and acclaimed private chef Eric Adjepong.
-What's going on? -[Maneet] Ta da!
-Hello, hello. How's it going guys? -[Maneet] Welcome, welcome.
Always... always a pleasure to be back in the kitchen.
How's it going?
-Fantastic. -Yes.
[Chris] Smoked peanut butter.
[Maneet] Smoked peanut butter.
-Oh yes. -[Chris] Peanut butter's my favorite thing
in the whole world. Smoked peanut butter just takes it
to another level altogether.
It's smoky but it's also spicy.
It's got New Mexican Hatch chiles mixed it.
I love it.
I'm really excited about this...
I taste the smoked peanut butter
and it's surprisingly spicy.
And I just thought of peanut sauce
with green beans
That makes sense to me.
I'm making chilled green bean salad
with smoky peanut butter and sardine sauce.
Canned sardines. But it needs just a little.
For my sauce, I'm mixing the smoky peanut butter
and sardines with tahini,
peppers and rice oil vinegar.
With the brick French toast, I decided I'm gonna make croutons.
Emilie is deep frying her French toast,
which I'm not really super-psyched about.
I think that brioche could get really oily.
Yes.
[Ted] This brick French toast
is a huge slab of brioche
that's soaked in custard.
-Sign me up. -[Chris] Unlike traditional French toast,
it's not a super eggy,
sweet, sweet, batter, right?
I think there's an opportunity
to potentially here to make a crostini with those.
[Morgan] This basket is difficult
because you have a lot of flavors
competing with each other.
But because this French toast is already cooked
I think I'm gonna make a panzanella.
That's what I'm making, a French toast inspired panzanella
with picked watermelon radish
and a smoked peanut butter sardine dressing.
The sauce looks great in peanut butter.
The beauty of canned sardines is umami factor.
There's so much of it.
You can fry them. You can marinate them. You can grill them.
[Maneet] It can be used as a foundation for sauces.
Chefs, 15 minutes left.
Heard, chef.
Behind y'all.
Heard. Heard.
[Rachel] I love watermelon radishes.
I cook with them often.
They're all over my menu.
This is the kind of, I do...
I was hoping to see in this basket.
Straight up, that's what I'm making a critus-braised watermelon radish
with arugula
and a smoked peanut butter sardine paste
with French toast croutons.
I wanna braise this watermelon radish
that makes it not so spicy
but it still maintains that earthiness
and that bitterness.
On February, 2022, I was nominated for Best Chef, Midwest
for, um, the James Beard foundation.
Very, very excited to receive that nomination.
I am self taught.
I'm very, very proud of what I have been able to accomplish
in my career so far.
[Emilie] Okay, behind. Coming up.
[Jassi] I'm from India
and I come from a business family.
But I'm the only one who's in the service industry
from my family.
I want to make Indian cuisine sexy.
I want Indian cuisine to be married
with so many ingredients and elements
and it has to be shiny.
Jassi put four poblano peppers in his boiling water.
What do you think he's doing that?
[Jassi] I'm trying to make some nice, Indian, street food
with some sardines and mushrooms.
Be stuffing that in a poblano pepper
and it will be a mirchi vada.
[Maneet] Oh!
What he is making
is a take on a traditional stuffed pepper.
-If he can pull that off I will be so impressed. -Let's see, yeah.
Okay. Mamma mia!
-Mmm. -With the smoky peanut butter,
what I will do, I'll make a cheese fondue.
I wanna win for my parents.
They believed in me and pushed me for my career
and I want to prove them
that you believe the right person
and, you know, I am there.
Chefs, ten minutes to get this done.
Coming down.
[Maneet] Chef Morgan, what are you making?
I'm making a panzanella salad.
The first sauce is gonna be my bread.
[Chris] You know, words mean things to you, right?
-And so, if he's referencing panzanella -[Eric] Yes.
...just because he's got diced cubes of bread,
like, that's not gonna do it.
-For sure, yup. -[Chris] Right? The panzanella has
the promise to,
-you know, olive oil soaked bread -[Eric] Olives. Tomatoes.
-...and vinegar and onions. -Yes. Yes.
[Chris] I'm hoping he gives us that.
Coming down behind.
[Rachel] I decided to make a paste
with the peanut butter and sardines
'cause I thought that that would be a nice play
on, kind of a condiment.
It'll get there.
Five minutes on the clock.
[Chris] Clock clicking, clock clicking. Let's do this.
Not a lot of time left.
So time is flying like hell.
Like, I... I just...
Whenever I look at the clock, it's like,
always five minutes down,
so I need to push myself really hard to finish this dish.
What in the world is Jassi doing right now?
-I don't understand what he's doing. -I have no idea.
-He's pouring the sauce over... -What?
And then is that gonna go in the oven?
Jassi, what're you doing with those peppers?
I'm stuffing them.
I need to put this pepper vada
to bake with the cheese fondue and the panko crumbs.
Three and a half minutes left.
Jassi has just started stuffing his poblanos.
-I don't know if he'll be able to finish it. -What is he gonna do?
-Uh, there's three minutes? -I have no idea.
[Jassi] If this pepper doesn't come out well, I don't wanna go home.
I need to make sure
that I bake it right
and present it right.
-This is chaos. -Chaos, yeah.
Oh, my.
I need to put this pepper vada
to bake with the cheese fondue and the pank crumbs.
I need to make sure
that I bake it right.
I don't wanna go home.
[Jassi] Behind.
Chefs, you guys need to hustle.
Come on, Jassi.
[Emilie] I don't wanna do too much with the watermelon radish
because I think it's a really great product
just on it's own.
Two minutes forty seconds.
- Gotta start plating. - [Eric] Come on, chefs.
-Let's go, chefs. Come on. -Listen. Come on.
[Chris] This is plating time.
Behind, sorry. Behind.
The energy is up. Holy cow.
We're cranking it. [laughs]
It's pretty chaotic.
It's me again. Behind ya.
[Morgan] I know I don't wanna serve these radishes raw,
so I pickle them,
so I still have some crunch.
-[Eric] Let's go, chefs. -[Maneet] Come on, chefs.
[Jassi] I am coming through, guys.
[Rachel] I kinda scrambled on the French toast
and decided just to make croutons
for kind of a salad element.
[Chris] Rachel's French toast cubes
seems to be burnt.
All four ingredients.
[Chris] Make it nice.
[Jassi] Watermelon radish has a crispy texture
and you make it shine by pickling it.
If it's not on the plate,
we can't taste it.
-And you are down to one minute. -[Eric] Come on, chefs.
Thirty seconds left. Come on, chefs.
Focus to the end, chefs.
Ten, nine...
eight, seven...
six...
five, four...
three, two, one. Time's up.
-[man]... -[all cheering and clapping]
-You got this. -You live. You live.
[laughing]
Cool.
-[Jassi] All right. -Wow. That's impressive.
Oh my God, you cannot imagine what I feel right now.
You will see me cooking the appetizers
after that the main course
and the desserts as well.
I'm here to win.
[Morgan] I'm definitely confident that this dish
can get me to the next round
because I feel like I did transform each ingredient.
I'm definitely inside of the entree round.
[Ted] Chefs, you have arrived at the chopping block.
In the first round, your ingredients were
brick French toast,
watermelon radishes,
smoked peanut butter,
and canned sardines.
First up, Chef Morgan.
I've prepared for you
a French toast inspired panzanella
with fish sauce pickled watermelon radish
and a herb salad
in a peanutbutter and sardine dressing.
[Eric] Chef Morgan, I really enjoyed
the way you treated the watermelon radish.
I think this is probably the most successful part of the dish.
[Maneet] It's got that tartness,
almost that pickling quality to it
while it still has the crunch
which works very well.
The presentation is beauitful.
I like the choice of the plate,
especially with the watermelon radish,
that stands out.
I love what you did with the sardines
and the smoked peanut butter.
I feel like it gives it a really nice base
might offset some of the sweetness
of these brick French toast croutons.
[Eric] Delicious.
Thank you, chef.
The panzanella part of the salad
is not very successful.
You friend a really porous bread like a brioche.
Okay, so this is oil.
So when I am biting into it,
the beautiful flavors that you created
got lost because I only taste oil.
Thank you, Chef Morgan. Next up, Chef Rachel.
I braised the watermelon radish.
Did a little arugula salad
and then a paste out of the sardines
and the smoked peanut butter and a french toast crouton.
Is this something you've done with watermelon radish before?
I've never done a watermelon radish.
-I've done it with daikon -[Chris] Mmm-hmm.
[Rachel] ...and I really, really like that it mellows out
the biteyness of the radish
but still get that really radishy flavor.
[Maneet] So where do you work?
[Rachel] I am the chef-owner of Dish Restaurant in Lincoln, Nebraska.
I was, uh, recently nominated for James Beard award.
I'm the first fe...
First chef in Lincoln, Nebraska
to be nominated for that.
-[Maneet] Congratulations. -[Rachel] Thank you very much.
[Chris] I don't know what I'm eating here.
But I like it.
I love this smoked peanut butter.
It turned out nice.
[Eric] Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with Chef Chris.
Peanut situation here is... It's really tasty.
[Chris] It's addictive and I keep going back
and having more and more bites of it.
But I don't really know
that everything's going together.
I don't know how I feel about this radish.
It's beautiful to look at.
But it's a little bit sour for me
and it's a little bit tough.
Okay.
With the watermelon radish, I would have probably just sliced it
a little bit thinner and have, like, a much easier bite.
[Chris] You showed off some skill for sure.
But I'm not sure that you solved the puzzle
of taking four disparate basket ingredients
and making them, kind of, all into one cohesive dish.
-Understood. -So I think that the components are great.
You take this brioche,
cut it into small crostini pieces.
Put this paste on it.
-A small amount of this. -[Chris] Peanut.
-Right there, yeah. Mmm. -[Maneet] And, uh, the arugula.
Same components. It's how you present it to us.
Understood.
[Ted] Thank you, Chef Rachel.
Next up, Chef Jassi.
I have, uh, given a twist to a mirchi vada.
So it's a poblano pepper which is stuffed
with portobello mushroom and sardines.
And, uh, on the base
is a sweet note of the French toast
which is there and a pickled radish.
So I gave the street food touch to it
but in an eclectic way.
[Maneet] Jassi, to have seen this basket
and gone in the direction of mirchi vada,
that blows my mind.
The flavors that you've created are amazing.
You get that funkiness of the sardine
and that going along with a mushroom,
great combination.
The small touches makes a different, right?
Because it's all about layering
the different flavors.
But the one thing about the mirchi vada
is that the peppers used for it
are smaller peppers.
[Eric] Portion wise, it's a little too big
for an appetizer for me.
But I love the stuffing. Really, really delicious.
I love the use of mushrooms.
I just wish that bread,
the brioche was incorporated inside a little bit better.
That would have been such a really beautiful way to add
not only texture,
'cause I think that's what missing inside
of the other pepper,
but that beautiful, kind of buttery note
that the brioche is so inherently known for.
I love the mushroom stuffing that you made but I got very little of it.
There is basically nothing inside.
I was able to get, like, one good forkful.
This strikes me as someone
who has a lot of ambition, a lot of skill
and has this great idea
but then tries to squeeze it into the box of 20 minutes.
If you move on, you've gotta make sure
that you can make something in 30 minutes
that really comes together.
Chef Jassi, thank you.
Finally, Chef Emilie.
It is a green bean spicy peanut butter sardine salad
with watermelon radishes and French toast croutons.
[Maneet] Flavor wise this actually works.
You've got the instinct to create some really good flavors.
-Thank you. -I can get the sardines.
I can get the peanut butter
and that dressing really, really works.
I like the way the watermelon radish has been cut.
But the same thing happened to your croutons,
what happened to Morgan's croutons,
it drank oil.
[Eric] With that said,
you actually had, some, really, like,
tasty components.
The sauce with smoking the butter and the sardines,
is actually really delicious.
[Chris] I like the dressing that you made.
You really, really balanced the heat
that's in that smoked peanut butter.
This dish is a little bit confusing
but there's some good work here.
[Ted] Chef Emilie, thank you.
Okay, great effort from all of you.
Still, one chef has to leave us first.
[Morgan] If I can go back and change my dish,
I definitely would have reduced the oiliness
of the French toast.
But not only myself
but other competitors definitely struggled with this basket.
[Emilie] My heart's racing.
Oh my God, the first chop.
My thoughts are,
"Please. Please. I wanna stay."
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
So, who's dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Morgan, you've been chopped.
Judges.
[Eric] Chef Morgan, you served us
a really delicious...
with that smoked peanut butter,
but unfortunately, it was just overpowered
by that oil that the brioche soaked up.
And so, we had to chop you.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
[Rachel] Good luck, buddy.
[both chuckling]
-[Morgan] Thank you, judges. -[Eric] Take care.
[Morgan] I'm feeling good.
I was up against some fierce competitors
and I definitely am gonna keep
broadening my skills as a chef
and just keep learning and growing.
Chef Rachel.
Chef Jassi.
Chef Emilie. You have made it to round two.
-Feeling proud? -Yeah.
-[Jassi] Yes. -Absolutely.
Okay, well, pat yourselves on the back, quickly,
because there are entree baskets to tackle.
Open 'em up.
A potato chip omelet.
-[Emilie] An omelet with chips? -Oh.
Okay.
It's not really an omelet.
It's what... I don't really know what this is.
-Pea, guys. -[Ted] Pea greens.
Excuse me?
[laughing]
[Ted] Korean style short ribs.
[Emilie] Oh, I'm freaked out again.
What is...
And cherry cola.
-Okay, great. -Cherry cola?
[Emilie] Oh, wowser.
Am I in a movie theatre or what?
This is good.
[Ted] 30 minutes to solve this culinary puzzle.
Clock starts now.
-[Eric] Go, chefs. Here we go. -[Maneet] Go, go, go, go. Go chefs.
-[Emilie] Sorry, behind ya, behind ya, behind ya. -[Maneet] Come on.
-[Ted] Judges. -[Chris] Is that omelet?
-[Maneet] Probably. -I think that potato chip omelet
is a problem. It is basically a thick omelet.
It has potatoes in it
and it's topped with potato chips.
It's already a pre-made product.
So incorporating that cohesively in a dish,
that's always a problem.
And I do think that Rachel
does get a little bit of that intimidation factor.
She is a James Beard nominated chef.
-What're you going for? -[Maneet] And with Emilie and Jassi,
I'm sure that they might think her
-to be their strongest competitor. -Mmm-hmm.
[Rachel] Super stoked to go into the entree round.
It's what I do is create dishes,
so, let's go.
Like, thinly sliced potatoes in the omelet
and the... chips on top.
So I decide to pair that with some sweet potatoes
and make a hash.
Chef Rachel.
-Yup. -What're you up to? What're you working on?
I'm gonna do, like, a Korean barbeque short rib.
A quick saute on those pea greens
with some mirin and soy.
Coming down.
Sure.
Cherry cola. A lot of times
it's for braising or for making a sauce.
I decided to make a Korean barbeque sauce.
So I'm gonna use mirin,
sriracha, gochujang, ketchup
and I'm gonna make a reduction out of the cherry cola.
This is gonna glaze my Korean short ribs later on it.
[Maneet] The Korean style...
is the classic meat that you find
in Korean barbeques.
[Emilie] Do we have bones in these?
[Rachel] We do.
It does have bones in it.
-[Eric] Mmm-hmm. -It's really thin.
-It... It almost looks like thick cut bacon. -Yes.
[Maneet] It's also got this lovely amount of marbling in it,
which makes it so easy to cook fast.
[Emilie] So I see the bone and short ribs
and I think immediately of pork chop sandwich
that's famous on the south side of Chicago
served with the bone in on the bread,
you just avoid the bone.
I'm making Korean short rib tacos.
With the potato chip omelet I'm gonna make a mayonnaise.
So I take a hefty chunk of that omelet
and add some cherry cola, cilantro, mayonnaise
and lime juice.
[Eric] So right now looks like Chef Emilie
is putting the potato omelet
and the cherry cola in her blender.
I'm not sure what direction this is, uh, speaking.
-You turn it into an aioli very quickly. -Sure.
[Emilie] In cherry cola, that's barbecue sauce right there.
To start my short rib I throw Cherry Cola
some gochujang and get that on the grill.
-[Eric] Chef Emily. -Yeah.
[Eric] How are you? What are you up to?
I'm grilling these sturdy ribs with the bone in.
Have you ever had a Chicago southside pork chop sandwich?
-Bones are staying in. -Okay.
If that's wrong, take it up with the south side.
She said, "If you don't like it,
-take it up with the south side. -Literally.
There's too many things in our way.
My style is like, like MacGyver crazy.
Oh, my God. I just kind of see the world differently.
And I think that winning Chopped would just be mind-blowing.
It's like winning an Oscar, at this point. It's a culinary Oscar.
Behind coming up.
All four chefs in the first round struggled to give us a cohesive dish.
And so here we are really looking for a cohesive dish,
where all four basket ingredients speak to each other.
[Jassi] Coming to the round two, I really take the feedback from the judges,
and I don't want to go wrong again.
So I'm hoping to showcase my techniques and a composed dish.
I'm making grilled short rib,
with wilted pea greens and a cola-coconut sauce,
with a potato chips omelet mousse.
This technique, I do really frequently.
Chef Jassi, you have a lot going on in your station, what's...
I'm making a mousse out of egg.
-Mousse out of the egg? Okay. -Egg mousse...
[Maneet] I think it's a great idea.
[Jassi] So for using the ingredient Cherry Cola
I will actually make a Cherry Cola coconut sauce.
-Behind, do you have butter? Can I use it? Thank you. -There you go.
[Rachel] These ribs are really thin, I took the bones off
so, they're not gonna take much time to cook,
I get them on the grill pan with about 10 minutes left.
Chef's 10 minutes to get this done.
[Jassi] Mama Mila, let's roll this.
-[Chris] Chef Emily, you're making tacos, it looks like. -Yeah.
-Yeah. Yes. -Bo... Bone-in tacos.
I just... I just don't understand how you serve tacos with bone.
I love pea greens 'cause they have such great flavor,
they're a little bit bitter, they're... they're gonna add a lot of balance
and flavor for a while.
Pea greens, I blanch them really quick
and then just actually top my tacos with them.
Two minutes to go, chefs.
[Jassi] So, I'm gonna make the wilted green peas and the Brussels sprout salad.
I like that Jassi is sauteing the pea greens along with some mustard seeds.
I think that's a great idea.
Come on, all four ingredients.
You gotta flip the shorts and I don't see any caramelization and
I am freaking out.
I know I need to get started plating and I just need to toast them.
And one minute to go chefs. One minute to go.
Whoa! Flying meat.
[Emily] As far as winding down, I am thinking,
I should take the bones out of these because
this might not go over well with the judges.
-Now, Emily's removing the bones. -Yes.
-[Chris] Yep. -[Emily] This is so insane.
Chef Emily, are we not being served the Chicago style taco anymore?
[Emily] I don't think you are. Because I... I can kind of see how .the future
and it's gonna be like, "Well, we didn't like, you did that..." So,
Wait, whose voice is that?
[laughs] Uh.
This is such a mess. Oh, my God. I'm down.
[Maneet] Presentation matters!
[Emily] This is stupid, odd.
-Last 30 seconds make them count. -Come on.
-[Chris] Only two of you can move on. -[Maneet] Let's go.
I have to make this look better.
Finishing touches, chefs. That's all there's time for here.
-A total mess. -Ten, nine, eight, seven
six, five, four, three two, one.
-Times up. -Ah.
[cheering]
[applauding]
That was insane. It looks ugly. I'm worried about it looking bad.
Chopped is like chaos on fire.
-Horrible. -Good job guys, good job...
[Rachel] I feel a little flustered, a little flustered after that one.
This time, it... it crunched on me this time.
I feel like I had a lot of time in the appetizer round,
but this round was a lot harder for me.
Chefs, your mystery ingredients for the entree round,
a potato chip omelet,
pea greens, Korean style short ribs and Cherry Cola.
Chef Jassi, please tell us about your dish.
It's a grilled short rib with a wilted Brussels sprouts and
beef tenderloins with a liquid egg mousse.
I have, uh, cola and coconut sauce.
[Ted] What brought you to the States chef?
I worked 10 years in India, and I wanted to explore more, I wanted to learn more,
what the ingredients I don't get there, the techniques I don't get there and
and I wanted to upscale my own talent and I'm hungry for more.
-May I? -Yeah, please.
It's delicious. Really, really delicious.
I get the sweetness from the coconut.
I love the way you treated the pea greens,
they're cooked, it still has bite to it
the mustard, uh seeds that you added was a brilliant touch.
This, uh, short ribs this is how you do it. Marinated,
they have a beautiful char on the outside,
The smokiness with the gochujang and it's cooked perfectly.
The sweetness you get from the Cherry Cola that's great.
The ribs themselves are great and I love the texture.
um, this egg mousse
and I love the creativity of it. But it's lacking a bit in flavor.
I do think that if you had added a little bit of acid to it
-Yes. -you could've taken it to the next level.
Thank you, chef Jassi.
Chef Emily, what do we have?
A Korean short rib taco with potato chip omelet mayonnaise.
There's a lot of food, there's a lot of color,
-it does a look a little bit messy but... -That's why
-I had to grab those bones of it. -Yeah.
Let's actually start there. As far as technique and refinement are technique
you're finishing the plate, while you're prepping on it
it gives a sense as if like, this is unfinished.
I would have to say this though, that potato chip mayonnaise that you created
is the saving grace of this dish.
[Maneet] I do think that the idea of a taco is a fantastic idea.
The mousse that you did of making sure that you toasted the corn tortilla
it shows steps of being a learned chef.
From the few elements of amazingness that I'm tasting over here,
I think if you had more time and could have collected your thoughts
-this could've been a spectacular dish. -Thank you.
[Chris] The aioli that you made with the potato chip omelet
is really good. But you could've... you were right there
you could've thrown in the... and the pea greens
maybe grabbed a jalapeno, some cilantro, now you've got a sauce of verde
and now we've got a really great taco, because the cook on the steak actually
-is quite good. -Yeah.
-Chef Emily, thank you. -Thank you.
-Finally, chef Rachel. -Chefs I made a Korean barbecue short rib
with a sweet potato and egg omelet hash and sauteed pea greens.
[Maneet] Rachel, the has with the potato chip omelet
it's so delicious, because there is a caramelization
around the sweet potatoes and the omelet would actually make a lot of sense.
The sauce that you've created is amazing.
I love it, it's got that heat, sweet.
Unfortunately for me, I'ma have to disagree with chef Maneet here.
This barbecue sauce is way too sweet.
It's just a miss on a miss because the short ribs were treated really really poorly
It's not been cooked properly. There are parts which are almost
boiled in its own juices.
I... I agree with most things.
The barbecue sauce would have been good, if it had been given time to cook.
Like I can literally taste the raw ketchup in it.
I think it's clear that you've made a I'm just gonna...
Um, whoever moves on, you gotta make sure whatever you're setting out to make
you can make it in 30 minutes, so you cook in front of us.
a fully realized vision.
-[Chris] Chef Rachel, thank you. -[Rachel] Thank you.
All right, we'll have news for you soon. Thank you chefs.
[Rachel] I think Jassi did really really great, so he's definitely moving forward.
I think it's definitely a toss up between Emily and I
but I think the flavors that I put forward are little bit better.
I have not been able to show exactly all I can do yet.
So, get me to desserts. Please.
Oh, gosh. Please. Not me, not yet. Not me not yet.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
-Chef Emily, you've been chopped. -I am.
-[Ted] So just... -Oh, Emily, Emily, Emily.
You know that aioli that you made with the potato chip
on it and the Cherry Cola was crazy delicious
and the short itself was good.
But the entire dish didn't come together and quite frankly was a hot mess.
-Thanks. -And so, we had to chop you.
Thank you, it's an absolute honor. Thank you.
Oh my gosh, I knew it. I knew it was coming.
The plate was too messy and weird
I can't wait to watch the show and see who wins...
-Thank you. -Thank you.
[Emily] It was amazing to be a part of.
Chef Rachel, chef Jassi, the party here ends soon for somebody.
Who's going down?
Not me, Ted. I got the drive to win.
I'm not going down, I'm here to finish the journey.
Dessert baskets.
Get into 'em.
[Ted] Well, well, well...
-What is it? -[Ted] A giant fortune cookie.
-I don't know what this is. -[Jassi] Giant fortune cookie.
[Ted] You're also working with gooseberries.
-Gooseberries. -Good gooseberries.
[Ted] Blue hubbard squash...
and camel milk.
-Camel milk? -[Rachel] Camel milk.
This is hard.
[Ted] Your third and final 30 minute round, begins now.
Yay, go chefs.
[Eric] Wohoo!
Judges, there's a lot to unpack in this basket. What would you tackle first?
I would go ahead and tackle the blue hubbard squash
because it is hard.
If you look at it, it has a tinge of...
flavor, it does have the little bit of the sweet sweet potato.
with butternut squash flavor.
Microwave, she's putting it in the microwave.
-That's brilliant. -I love that.
Really really smart move, and it's saved and it's saved her a bunch of time
I love, love that move.
Jasprit, how you doing?
I'm doing good, uh I'm candying some squash
and then I have camel milk rabri going on, in which
I'm putting the, uh, fortune cookie.
So, it will be a fortune cookie... rabri.
-Jassi is making a rabri. A rabri is produced sweet... -Rabadi?
Rabri. It's rabri.
-It's a reduced Indian sweetened milk -Rabri...
-which is used a foundation for lot of desserts. -Nice.
[Jassi] Behind, coming through.
I am presenting this dish to one of the chef who is Indian.
So, if I go wrong, I think I'm done.
Coming through behind.
And then we have, of course this giant fortune cookie.
The fortune cookie, itself is made with you know, flour, sugar powder, egg white.
-One side is stuffed with white chocolate mousse, -Oh.
and the other side is stuffed with the dark chocolate mousse.
And then it's served with a variety of berries.
So, they've got a lot of options here.
They can use just berries which I would keep the same personally.
They can use the cookie which is been robbed with a little bit of chocolate...
Or they can just use the mousse that's stuffed inside
or one of the...
-You good? -[Rachel] I'm good.
Rachel, what are you making for us?
I'm gonna work on a custard with this camel milk.
That squash is in the microwave is it? What's the plan for that.
Just trying to soften it down
so I can scoop it down, cook it into the custard.
I'm making a squash and camel milk custard.
With a fortune cookie and pecan streusel
and candied in pickled gooseberries.
Chef Rachel's blue hubbard is out of the microwave now,
and see how easy it's for her to scoop all those in that out.
Then you've got this camel milk which is a bit polarizing.
Some people find it to be sweet, really nice and creamy.
-Others... it, uh salty reaction. -[Maneet] Yeah.
Camel milk is kind of funky, but it's definitely workable
and it's gonna go well with the squash.
I see the vanilla mousse in the fortune cookie, I decided to add that.
... sweetness element for my custard.
Behind, coming through behind.
[Maneet] Both the chefs have proven to be really competitive chefs today.
Jassi has moved from India, his parents have been very supportive of him becoming
-a chef. But not the entire society around him. -Yes
And he wants to get this win for them.
On the other hand Rachel comes from a small town where,
for the first time her restaurant, she got a James Beard nomination.
-[Chris] Massive. -And we know James Beard nominations do not come easy.
-So both of them are very hungry for this win. -[Eric] Yes.
[Jassi] When I tasted the gooseberries, it was little tart
so I take the chocolate and the vanilla pastry cream
from the fortune cookie and I mixed it with the gooseberry and crush it.
It actually gave me a sweetness to it.
Beautiful.
Chef Rachel, how's your dish coming along?
[Rachel] It's coming along, I just need to get these custards in the blast chiller.
The thing about a custard is that it needs,
to set out.
[Rachel] I have less than ten minutes left.
I get my ramekins into the blast chiller.
I'm really concerned that they're not gonna set in time.
[Maneet] So Rachel has the mousse from the fortune cookie.
The camel milk and the blue hubbard
-Coming behind. Coming behind. -If it doesn't work, that's three basket ingredients.
-That's a big risk to take. -[Chris] Big.
[Rachel] So I wanna make a streusel on the fortune cookie.
I wanna make a crunchy element for my dish.
[Maneet] Jassi is in the lead, he had a very strong entree round, right?
Now, this dessert round is make it or break it.
[Rachel] Grab my streusel out of the oven,
I'll get it in the blast chiller,
because I wanted it to be at least crumbly.
At this point, I'm standing next to the blast chiller,
waiting for two of my components
to finish and I'm bringing out.
[Maneet] If Rachel's custard fails
-that's it game over for her. -[Eric] That's it.
All right chefs, five minutes to get this done.
[Rachel] As I'm waiting for my custard to set,
I want to pickle the gooseberries
in cut brown sugar and champagne vinegar.
Gooseberries, they're sweet, they're tart, they're tangy.
It goes well with the blue hubbard squash.
[Jassi] I'm using the fruit from the giant fortune cookie
to make a frozen fruit compote.
Because the rabri, the squash and the tartness will really go well with it.
Less than two minutes to go, chefs.
Rachel, how do the gooseberries look?
[Rachel] I've got them in a pickle that's on that I'm kind of infusing right now
and I'm cooking a few down as well.
[Ted] Minute and a half left.
That's it?
One of you gets 10k.
One of you gets nothing.
[Ted] So Rachel is staring down the clock which only has a minute 10 left on it.
Waiting until the final seconds to get that custard out.
-You got this, Rachel... -Come on Rachel you got this!
-She's definitely not happy with it. -One minute to go.
She can't be, if she was... she would've been plating by now.
-Yeah. -We know that...
I think Rachel is hoping that her custard is set.
Forty five seconds, you gotta get going.
-[Ted] Come on chefs. -[Maneet] Come on chefs, let's go. Rachel you got this.
-[Maneet] Come on, Jassi. -Finishing now.
-[Ted] Twenty seconds. -[Maneet] Twenty seconds, not a lot of time.
[Ted] All four ingredients go in that plate.
Final seconds of the final round here.
Ten, nine, eight, seven,
-[Eric] Hurry, hurry... -[Ted] six, five, four
-[Chris] Hurry, hurry, hurry. -[Ted] two, one.
[Ted] Time's up. Please step back.
[Maneet cheering]
[Chris] Well done, chefs.
I really want to win this competition. Reason being I came so far,
I wanna finish this journey.
[Rachel] I'm worried the custard doesn't have the exact right consistency
that I was looking for.
It tastes really good, it's not quite set.
But I think this might be a ten thousand dollar dessert.
[Ted] Chef Rachel and chef Jassi. In your final round
you found a giant fortune cookie.
Gooseberries, blue hubbard squash and camel milk.
Chef Rachel, please tell us what you made?
I made a custard today out of the blue hubbard squash
and the camel milk on top is a streusel that I use the fortune cookie,
with a little bread and toasted pecan.
And then I did kind of a candy pickle on the gooseberries.
This is a blue hubbard squash custard, no doubt about it.
I get the flavor immediately, it's pronounced, it's sweet.
but it's not overly sweet, technically though it's just very lose.
Yeah, understood.
I think what you have created over here in terms of flavor is very learned.
It's very sophisticated, it's not overly sweet. Love the gooseberries in it.
That bite with the streusel and the gooseberry
that's a great, great bite.
But the problem is after one or two bites, you don't have any more streusel.
You don't have anymore gooseberries.
-Yep. -And you're left with this bowl of custard that
I actually do not like the texture at all.
Technically, this is not the best dessert but flavor-wise I think you hit so many
amazing marks. There's salty, there's sweet, there's tangy.
It's uh, it's a really strong dish.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, chef Rachel. Finally chef Jassi.
All right, so actually the ingredients took me to back home and I did
a fortune cookie rabri.
with candied squash and gooseberry.
I have no frame of reference to a dessert like this.
But this is actually really delicious.
I love it, thank you for introducing me to this.
I think it's a really beautiful consistency
Rabri or sweetened milk takes hours and hours to cook.
I don't know how you managed to do this, but this is absolutely delicious.
The rabri is spot on.
Smart utilization of the camel milk and the giant fortune cookie.
Thank you, chef.
But I don't think that the blue hubbard squash is as successful.
It just seems like it is a piece of squash
which has been cooked and placed right over here.
[Eric] I agree the squash in the middle kind of felt, basic.
I do think that there could have been a lot more to this.
I wish there was a lot more of the gooseberries.
Actually got a good amount of gooseberries, so I think it was just a portioning thing.
We all agree though that this piece of squash in the middle really
doesn't even need it.
I almost wished that you would maybe melon balled it
-and then roasted it. -Mmm-hmm.
-Yeah, good call. -So you add some gooseberries and some squash.
You know, you never really know which one you're going to get.
[Ted] Chef Jassi, thank you.
-[Jassi] Thank you. -[Ted] All right, judges need to work it out.
[Ted] Thank you, chefs.
-Thank you. -Thank you, chefs.
we saw an amazing amount of creativity from both of them.
In the first course, Jassi gave us a really creative dish.
He got some poblano, stuffed it with the sardines and portobello
I think it's a great combination.
But overall, the proportions where completely off.
-There wasn't enough filling in it. -I got almost no filling.
My... was practically empty.
Rachel decided to go ahead and
-[Maneet] braise the watermelon radish. -[Eric] Yeah.
[Maneet] I think it was cut too big.
But the sauce that she made with the sardines and the smoked peanut butter
-was delicious. -It was really good.
-In the entree round, Jassi came back really strong. -Did he?
Killed the entree.
[Chris] His short ribs were delicious.
Marinated, cooked perfectly.
And then Rachel made, uh, a barbecue sauce.
which was a great idea but it was too sweet.
[Maneet] The hash that Rachel made was interesting.
She got the caramelization, I love the sweetness of the sweet potato.
I think Jassi had a clear lead going into the dessert round.
But she made a really great dessert.
[Jassi] Winning means a lot to me. I'll be so proud tell my parents back home
and they'll be so proud.
I'm gonna be the Chopped champion. That's what I came for
and I told you, I will finish the journey and I will win.
[Rachel] Most challenging part of today was just being able to execute at a high level.
But, I want to win for validation for myself.
I would like to pat myself on the back and say,
"You know, your years of grinding have actually paid off."
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
[Ted] Chef Rachel.
You've been chopped. Judges.
Rachel, in the first course we thought the braise watermelon radishes
were cut too thick.
In the second round, the short rib was not cooked properly.
And the barbecue sauce was very, very sweet.
And for these reasons, we have to chop you.
Thank you so much, chefs.
-Rachel. -Congrats.
I think I got my own way today.
I think I got a little flustered in the kitchen.
Thank you so much. Thank you...
But I got to cook for some really amazing chefs that I really respect.
and that was amazing.
And that means chef Jassi Bindra, you are the Chopped champion.
-[Ted] Congratulations. -Thank you.
[cheering]
Thank you, thank you.
I'm a Chopped champion and it feels great.
Balle!
I can actually say, "Hey, mom and dad...
-[Maneet] Good job, -[Eric] Well done.
... I'm a top champion.