And now, as the first course for this elegant meal...
We are almost to the summit.
These are the last chefs in our Julia Child tournament.
None of these people wants to settle for second place.
[Dan] Little mistake right now can definitely send you home.
There is no way that that can cook in time.
[Javauneeka] This is my time to shine.
I'm more confident than ever before,
and I'm ready to win it all.
I think they're terribly difficult to do.
[Dan] I'm definitely feeling the heat,
but I have years of experience.
That's very good.
My strong French technique is gonna take me to the top.
[Mike] I know more about Julia and French food than anyone here.
Nothing gets in my way.
[Andrew] To be a Chopped Grand Champion...
Watch your back, baby.
...I'll do whatever it takes.
-Whoo! -Love that.
[Ted] At stake, a dream trip to France.
That is crazy.
[Alex] Don't forget all four ingredients.
-Boom. -[Alex] Plus Julia Child...
-I'm not sure. -...plus 500 years of French history.
Can't forget the butter.
The butter carries the flavors.
I'm gonna tell you right now, son, delicious.
Bon appetit.
Welcome back, champions.
-[Mike] Hey, Ted. -Hey, Ted.
You beautifully celebrated Julia Child in your first competitions.
And we are beyond overjoyed to have you back
-for this finale fight. -Whoo!
Nice to be back.
You are playing for a $25,000 dream trip to France.
You will follow in Julia Child's footsteps
in Paris and Provence.
And attend a workshop at her prestigious alma mater Le Cordon Bleu.
Who's packing their bags?
I'm going. That's mine.
[Javauneeka] I got my passports ready.
-[Mike] Mine. -I'm ready to go.
Just as before, each basket will include items
inspired by recipes featured in Julia's
defining TV show, The French Chef.
And we want you to turn those ingredients into something unique.
I'm ready.
We're gonna kick off the first round of this epic finale
by riffing on a recipe that Julia Child herself called very French.
-Oui. -[Ted] Let's see it.
And we're now going to do something that is very French indeed.
And that's gonna be les escargots a la bourguignon.
-Yes. -[Dan] Oh, yeah.
[Julia] We just have to make a snail drowned in hot garlic butter.
-Yeah. -That's really the reason you eat snails,
because the butter is so good.
Appetizer baskets are here.
Let's do it.
[Ted] Open 'em up.
Ooh, we got spicy.
-Oh, my God. -All right.
[Ted] And you are staring down...
[Ted and Andrew] Black garlic molasses.
Black garlic. That's a substitute for garlic.
Oh.
[Ted] Scotch bonnet peppers.
Oh, my God. I'm not a hot guy.
This looks like some sort of pate.
[Ted] Country pate.
And at least we got snails.
-Some snails. -[Ted] And what do you know?
Wild Burgundy snails.
We got it all. Homerun.
You have 20 minutes to start your meals off right.
Clock starts now.
-Right behind, right behind. -Behind, behind, behind.
-Let's go, Chefs. Good stuff. -All right, you guys.
Come on, guys. Let's do this.
Alex, Scott, you are joined again
by iconic special guest judge Susan Feniger.
Welcome back, Susan.
Thank you. It's fantastic to be here,
especially with these two.
-[Scott] Oh, get out of here. -Yeah.
-[Scott] Knock it off. -Perfect.
Seeing Susan Finegar as one of the judges, I'm elated.
She's one of my culinary heroes.
Julia Child was an overachiever, if ever there was one.
Do these competitors have that kind of never-give-up energy?
Yes. And all very different people.
[Scott] Every single one of these chefs, I've been here for.
I've watched them cook every single round.
They all deserve to be here.
These guys are focused and calm but driven.
It's exciting.
Down the line, Mike. Watch your back, baby.
I'm on it.
[Dan] I'm super pumped to get back in the Chopped kitchen
and compete against other Chopped champions.
This is definitely my day.
To really embrace the Julia Child theme of this recipe,
I really want to showcase the escargot.
For my dish, I'm making red wine glaze escargot
with frisee dressed in a black molasses pate vinaigrette.
[Alex] Here's the curious thing about the snails.
They're, sort of, sea foody, shell fishy,
-but they're from land. -[Susan] Yeah.
So there's this super earthy note,
and, I mean, that's what I associate with Burgundy.
The snails, or escargot, as we say in French,
bourguignon, the recipe,
is parsley, garlic.
The black garlic molasses nods to the garlic in the most Chopped, twisted way.
Well, it's not awful.
Chef Javauneeka, what are you making, Chef?
I'm making the classic way to do escargot,
with butter, garlic.
I'm just putting everything together.
Right behind.
I'm making a black garlic escargot
with pate toast.
This competition, the stakes are very high.
I know that going in such a straightforward direction is a huge risk
so I just need to make sure that every element is executed perfectly.
Seeing Julia on the TV, she was a force of nature.
You can chop it yourself. You just go wham!
I was immediately sucked in, and I feel in love with her,
and I fell in love with cooking.
The biggest lesson I took from Julia is no matter what you do
work hard and keep going.
This tournament seems like such a tall mountain to climb.
And we are here, people. We are almost to the summit.
It will be interesting to see, with the ingredients that they have here,
how they're able to translate that
into being Julia inspired.
[Mike] When I think of a classic bourguignon,
escargot is usually encased in its own shells,
so I wanna do something to carry that tradition on.
Chef Mike, what are you making, Chef?
I'm gonna try to do a bourguignon escargot ravioli
using some wonton skins.
-Wow. -I think it's a pretty good idea.
It's a little bit creative.
And it's a nice vehicle to get all those flavors into.
[Alex] Don't you think a little ravioli
with the snails, and a little garlic and parsley inside
-would be so good? -Yeah, for sure.
-With that burst of garlic. -[Susan] Yeah.
Behind, Chef.
Heading into the finale, I'm feeling really good.
I'm prepared mentally,
and I'm going to do great today.
Do I want fat? Or do I want pork?
To accompany my ravioli, I'm gonna make a butter sauce
by sauteing some of the chopped up pate.
My pate is better.
I'm hoping the molasses is gonna balance out
some of the heat from the Scotch bonnets.
The Scotch bonnets, well, that's just
the Chopped basket team saying, "You know what?
Let's throw something in the mix."
They are making their presence known.
[Susan] Scotch bonnet are one of the hottest.
[Andrew] The Scotch bonnet pepper has incredible citrus flavor.
If you pickle it in a sweet pickling liquid,
it usually brings out that citrus
and combats the heat.
Come on, molasses.
Chef Andrew, what are you making?
Chef, I'm gonna do a play on a savory French toast,
featuring escargot on top.
Pickling some habaneros with the black garlic molasses.
Also have the black garlic molasses going in the, uh...
-The custard for the French toast. -Smart.
-[Andrew] Savory and sour. -Really smart. Yes.
Smart approach.
Love this.
There's a lot on the line today, the trip to France,
but more importantly, the bragging rights to be a Chopped Grand Champion.
2016, my alcoholism rendered me homeless.
That was the bottom of the bottom.
The restaurant business, that was my safe haven at night.
Butter.
Can't forget the butter. I think my Julia needs more butter.
[Ted] All right, Chefs, you are coming up on ten minutes left here.
-[Javauneeka] Do you have the bread? -[Dan] Yeah. I can share.
-Here you go. -Thank you.
Got you.
[Javauneeka] While my snails get baking, I get started on my toast.
[Susan] I have many memories of country pate.
Typically, pate is very high end.
The country pate is, sort of, used from scraps of pork.
Very rough grind.
I love country pate.
[Scott] Chef Dan, he has that pate in a bean moriyo
underneath hot water.
And it looks like he's trying to melt it a little bit
-and get some of that fat out. -[Alex] Hmm-hmm.
[Dan] You have that beautiful, luscious pork fat that surrounds the pate.
And it just seems like an obvious direction to make country pate fat croutons.
The opportunity to win an all-expenses paid trip to the French landscape
from Paris to Provence is an experience of a lifetime.
I couldn't think of a better trip than walking in Julia's footsteps.
Behind. Coming down, Chefs.
[Andrew] I wanna get beautiful caramelization
on the outside of the French toast.
I like it, I like it, I like it.
I'm gonna use the Burgundy snails,
garlic, country pate and the black garlic molasses to make my sauce.
The prize for this competition would be priceless for me.
This is what I need in my career right now, to grow my palette.
Love that black garlic flavor.
What's our time?
[Ted] All right, Chefs, five minutes, five minutes.
-Five minutes to get it done. -Behind, behind.
Look at Mike and these wonton ravioli.
So exciting!
[Mike] These raviolis are the main part of my appetizer
so I need them to be perfect.
Come on. Damn it.
This is the only place I'm utilizing the snails
so I gotta make sure they hold together
so my filling does fall out while we're boiling them.
Otherwise, they're not gonna taste like anything
but boiled snails and wet noodles.
I am in big trouble.
At this point in the finale,
I'm a little more than worried about my ravioli.
Try and boil, you mothers.
I'm feeling pretty nervous.
-Down, down, down. -Right behind, right behind.
Cool. Let's get to work.
Try and boil, you mothers.
These raviolis are the main part of my appetizer
so I need them to be perfect.
[Scott] So you see Chef Mike making those ravioli.
Taking them out of the pasta water right now.
[Mike] Some of the snails fell out of my ravioli,
but it's a very good representation of escargot.
All right, it's good. Mostly.
Three minutes, Chefs. Three minutes.
Is that three whole minutes or three Chopped minutes?
So, I wanna do one more component to the dish
that's really gonna put it over the top.
[Scott] Mike is turning mushrooms. Look at that.
-[Alex] Don't even with me, Mike. -Oh, my God.
-That is crazy. -Mike, where have you been my whole life?
Straight 1985 right there. Who does that anymore?
[Mike] This is '70s, buddy.
-Yes, yes. -[Mike] I was doing this before you were born.
-[Andrew] Tweezer. -Is he single?
So fun.
He's not.
[Susan] This is a total flashback to the '70s.
[Julia] The mushroom cuts itself against the knife.
It's not the action of the knife that's cutting the mushroom.
And this is just to rather be really fancy and decorate.
Get those mushrooms done!
I'm dying to see those!
But there's only a minute left.
[Scott] Oh, my God. It's going so fast, Chefs.
I'm gonna use the Scotch bonnets as a garnish for my escargot
just to give it a nice pop of chili.
-[Alex] Let's go, Dan. -[Scott] Get it on the plate.
Let's go, let's go. Get it on the plate.
[Dan] I wanted to represent parsley in this dish
so I fry some and garnish on top.
-[Susan] Get plating, get plating. -[Scott] Get it done, Chefs.
-Let's go, Chef. -[Alex] Let's go, let's go.
-Finish it off. -Twenty seconds, twenty seconds.
Get it done.
-[Alex] I can't look. -[Ted] All right, Chefs, these appetizers
must be all done in...
-[Scott] Get it done, Javauneeka. It's beautiful. -...ten, nine, eight...
-[Scott] Chef Dan, let's go. Get it on the plate. -...seven, six, five,
-four, three... -[Alex] Go, go, go. Go, go, go.
-...two... -[Alex] Go!
-...one. -[Scott] Come on, come on, come on.
-[Ted] Time's up. -[Susan] All right, you guys.
Whoo-hoo!
Whoo!
That went well.
I felt really good about my appetizer round.
The cream rises to the top.
And hopefully, today I'm the cream.
Chefs, in round one of our Julia Child's Kitchen finale,
you found black garlic molasses,
Scotch bonnet peppers, country pate
and wild Burgundy snails.
Ingredients inspired by Julia Child's recipe for escargot.
Chef Mike, what do we have?
Chef judges, today I presented
a ravioli of escargot bourguignon
with a sauce of chilis, black garlic molasses,
tomato and a little bit of the pork.
[Susan] Delicious.
The flavors are great.
Definitely not too spicy.
But I'm not sure that it brings me to escargot.
I maybe would have pushed more garlic in there.
I think you went a little heavy handed on the pate.
But this is a delicious sauce.
Your usage of the Scotch bonnet.
Really nice balance of sweetness and acidity.
I love the turned mushroom. Love it.
You're trying to go old school and show off a little bit.
Okay, I'm obsessed with the mushroom, please.
As far as I'm concerned, you won and everybody can go home.
But I do have this to say.
The time you took to turn those mushrooms,
you might have done yourself a better service
by hacking up a little garlic and parsley
and mixing that over that snail.
Understood.
Thank you, judges.
Next up, Chef Andrew.
Chefs, my play is a savory black garlic and escargot French toast
topped with pickle, Scotch bonnets.
Julia, she always seemed so fun to me as a kid.
So, I think this was a fun play.
I think she would enjoy it.
Yeah, Chef, I like the usage of the Scotch bonnet pepper.
It adds a lot of depth to this dish overall.
[Susan] Pickled Scotch bonnet is perfect.
It really balances the heat.
I do think more garlic and parsley
would have been more in Julia's style.
The choices were really smart.
But it's a little big.
There's no way you can get those flavors of the French toast
to soak all the way in.
And when you cut into it and you get deeper,
you get just the bread.
Alex is right. We're searching for those flavors.
The black garlic molasses, I can't necessarily identify either
because it's not to be found in that sauce.
-But beautiful presentation. -Thank you, Chef.
I think there's a lot of beauty here.
Next up, Chef Javauneeka.
I have a black garlic pate escargot.
I put some roasted garlic in there
so I could get in some of that flavor.
Chef, this is delicious.
This is the deep, beautiful garlic flavors,
the butter and the parmesan cheese
and the brightness from the herbs.
When I go to a French bistro and I order escargot,
this is the expectation.
[Susan] The bread is really perfect
because it's crispy and delicious
-and the flavor's great. -[Alex] Yeah.
And I love how you incorporated
the black garlic into this, too.
[Alex] It's also the psychology of your presentation,
with the shells and the dish.
This feels French.
Finally, Chef Dan.
I made a red wine glazed escargot
dressed in frisee and a pate vinaigrette and some toast points.
Having to step out of the kitchen, just as an owner,
I really want to continue to make sure my heart is in the right place
while I'm cooking.
It started as a passion,
and I really wanna make sure it continues to be so.
The snails really took on the red wine sauce that you cooked it in.
The earthiness of the snails
brings up the flavors
that I remember when I was working in the south of France.
I mean, this is so French that I'm gonna start your grade from a very high number.
And having lived there, I can tell you that the red wine
you've used with the snail just speaks to Burgundy.
So, I love that.
The bad news is it takes me away from the garlic, parsley,
that is the spirit of what we're doing specifically here.
But I do love the usage of the black garlic molasses in that vinaigrette.
That duality of the vinaigrette
as well as the red wine braised snails
really creates an interesting juxtaposition of flavors.
[Mike] Kind of a nerve wracking round there.
I think it was obvious that Javauneeka had the best-received dish.
I'm not sure they understood Andrew's interpretation.
[Andrew] Based on the judges' critique,
Mike is definitely on the chopping block
just because he strayed away from the dish
that Julia was featuring.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Andrew, you've been chopped.
Judges.
Andrew, you are clearly very talented.
Your wild Burgundy snails just didn't have enough flavor.
It needed garlic and parsley and butter.
And also we didn't get all that black garlic molasses.
And so we had to chop you.
It's been awesome. At my end, it's been a pleasure.
Thank you, guys. Good luck, guys.
My favorite part of the experience
was just showcasing how Julia inspired my life.
It'll be something I definitely cherish the rest of my life.
[Ted] One step closer.
Keep bringing it, Chefs.
Please keep bringing it.
Chef Mike, Chef Javauneeka, Chef Dan,
I'm sure you're curious about the inspiration for this finale entree basket.
Tenderloin, if you're gonna cook it for this recipe beef Wellington,
I suggest that you marinate it
in a wine marinade.
-"Marin-ahde." -"Marin-ahde."
[Julia] The filet of beef Wellington
is surrounded with mushrooms, which are sauteed
in butter and shallots.
You'll be cooking up an ode to that classic beef Wellington
with whatever is in these baskets.
Open 'em up.
I got vegan scallops.
[Ted] Vegan scallops.
Made from mushroom.
Not quite sure what this is.
Okay, we got celtuce.
[Ted] Celtuce.
This is interesting right here.
Oh, we got venison.
-[Ted] Venison tenderloin. -[Javauneeka] Great.
At least we have some real tenderloin.
-[Ted] And crescent dough. -Crescent dough.
-Okay. -Very nice.
Kind of like a puff pastry.
Yahoo.
-Thirty minutes. -Okay.
Time starts now.
-Let's go, Chefs. Come on. -All right, you guys.
-Behind. -[Scott] Second to last round.
This is it. This is it, Chefs.
Right behind, right behind.
[Scott] Some things that are really necessary for this Wellington,
some type of a duxelles.
Duxelles is chopped up mushroom really, really fine.
They've got venison, and they've got crescent dough.
Those are two very big curveballs.
[Scott] Well, I will tell you what these chefs should not be doing
is trying to wrap this venison and bake it
and try to get that Wellington look or feel in any way, shape or form.
There is no way that that can cook in time.
-Exactly. -It's not gonna happen.
-The sauce is really important, too, to me. -[Scott stuttering]
-It's got to be. -[Scott] I agree.
[Susan] Whether it's port or red wine or Madeira.
[Javauneeka] I'm feeling really prepared.
I'm excited that I made it this far.
I'm just gonna put my best foot forward and make Julia proud.
So, I'm making seared venison
with a port wine reduction and a duxelles cream sauce.
I'm pairing the vegan scallops
with fresh mushrooms from the pantry
just to add different mushroom flavors and different textures.
I'm using the leaves from the celtuce.
And then I push it to the back
to really let those flavors reduce and develop.
Behind. Down, down, down, down.
The energy has definitely gone up a notch.
I'm definitely feeling the heat here.
Juniper, coriander.
Beef Wellington is a super sexy dish.
I'm making juniper and coriander crusted venison tenderloin
with Madeira mushrooms and a pork demi-glace.
I already know I'm gonna put a spice crust on the venison
so I use the same spice flavors
on top of my crescent dough.
[Scott] So, all three of these remaining Chopped champions
are competing now for this all expense paid trip to France.
Chef Dan, his knowledge and depth of classic French cooking.
He shows it in every dish that he cooks.
Chef Javauneeka, she has this sticktoitiveness
that I really love and appreciate.
She's fantastic at creating flavors.
And then there's Chef Mike, who's just the wise man of this bunch.
He's been cooking for a very, very long time.
Watching Julia Child when he was a kid.
And he really has a tremendous amount of respect for the craft.
[Mike] So, to me, the most important components of a Wellington
are going to be the pastry crust
and, of course, the meat being cooked properly.
Venison's in.
So, I'm making a seared venison tenderloin
with a spinach and mushroom duxelles,
sauteed celtuce and a wine reduction sauce.
On the bounce. Got it in, though.
It's important for me to win this competition
because I really care about our industry,
and I want to show that I still belong in the middle of it.
Julia worked well into her late '80s.
Why should I stop now?
Chefs, less than 20 minutes on the clock.
That venison, you cannot have that more than medium rare.
It's such an incredibly dry piece of meat.
It becomes very leathery.
[Javauneeka] So, I never cooked with venison before
so I'm taking the classic beef Wellington approach on it.
Give it a sear and then pop in the oven.
[Susan] I love the way Javauneeka seasoned the venison.
I see Dan's got oyster mushrooms here.
It looks like he's gonna mix the vegan scallop
that's got a lot of mushroom flavor with those oyster mushrooms.
I'm using the vegan scallops
to make my mushroom duxelles
because it's classic beef Wellington.
[Ted] All right, Chefs, you've got ten minutes to get it done here.
[Mike] I'm using the crescent dough to roll it around my duxelles.
Is that fryer working?
Fryer is working.
-Coming down, Chefs. Right behind. -[Javauneeka] Right behind.
Right behind.
Mike, what's inside that Crescent dough?
[Mike] It's my duxelle.
[Scott] There's no way that that's cooked
in that short amount of a time in the fryer.
-[Javauneeka] Whoo. -[Dan] Sorry, sorry.
[Javauneeka] You're fine.
[Mike] Behind, Chefs, behind.
To go with my dish,
I'm going to try to make a bit of a reduction sauce.
This will go with Sherry, cause Sherry goes better with mushrooms.
I'm hoping this adds a little bit of moisture to the venison,
and tie everything together.
[Scott] I'll tell you what, I really like
what Javauneeka is doing right now.
She has this deep beef gloss.
I love the duality of sauce work,
-like, I love... -[Susan] Yeah.
-... the two different sauces. -Me too.
[Scott] Each one, kind of, accent in the other.
[Ted] All right, Chefs, five minutes.
[Javauneeka] At this point, I don't know what to do with my Crescent dough.
I have no idea what to do with this.
I'm feeling the pressure of the clock.
I just hop the whole thing into the oven.
I'm hoping I can get this to crisp up in ten.
[Ted] Two minutes to go, Chefs.
[Mike] I peel my celtuce,
split it the long way and cut it into semi-circles.
I add a handful of pine nuts, 'cause I'm thinking about
classic French green beans almondine.
People say celtuce is somewhat similar to asparagus.
[Susan] Yeah.
If they take the root and they just make it into a salad,
-I would love that. -Yeah.
[Ted] One minute, Chefs.
[Alex] Don't forget all four ingredients,
plus Julia Child's,
plus Beef Wellington,
plus 500 years of French history, let's go.
All right, do I have all the basket ingredients? Venison, yes.
-[Ted] Let's go, Chefs, let go. -[Alex] Let's go, let's go.
We got this. In the bag,
-let's go. -[Ted] Make those entrees shine, Chefs.
Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five,
four, three, two, one.
Time's up.
-[Susan] Wow. -Boom.
-[Javauneeka] That looks very pretty. -[exhales deeply]
Crush 'em.
[Dan] That was really stressful.
Always get in my head during these things,
so I'm, I'm just trying to just focus,
and not, uh, not freak out, you know.
Chefs, we challenged you to make Julia Child-inspired entrees,
with vegan scallops,
celtuce, venison tenderloin, and Crescent dough,
inspired by Julia's recipe for Beef Wellington.
-Chef Dan. -Uh, we have a, uh,
coriander and juniper-crusted venison tenderloin,
with, um, madeira-creamed mushrooms.
On top, we have a little croissant dough
and a little salad.
I tried to, uh, encompass all the flavor profiles of the Wellington.
It's almost, like, deconstructed in a way.
[Scott] Chef,
you're a hell of a cook.
-Thank you. -[Scott] The flavors here are fantastic.
I love the usage of juniper on the venison itself,
I love this pine-y qualities.
You have these two sauces here, that kind, of,
compete with one another in the best ways.
But your venison is a little bit over.
My venison is definitely overcooked.
The madeira and the red wine, for me they're not cooked out enough,
so I'm getting raw alcohol.
The cream sauce, the vegan scallops, the mushrooms is great.
I love that.
I love that you made the decision
to do a deconstructed Wellington.
You tied in the seasoning on the dough,
as well as the venison itself,
so, really, well done.
[Ted] Thank you, Chef Dan. Next, Chef Mike.
Chefs, today I prepared for you a seared venison loin,
with an Wellington of the mushrooms,
a bed of the same duxelle and a sauce, reduction of Sherry.
I went, kind of, a classic route,
I wanted to serve a dish wrapped in pastry.
Obviously, the tenderloin was gonna be too big,
and too time-consuming to do a classic one.
So I had made the duxelle, I wrapped it,
and I thought to fry it would be the best bet.
My venison is very nicely cooked.
I like the Wellington of the duxelle,
and I love the celtuce and the pine nuts.
The venison is so lacking in fat,
that I actually welcome the richness in another form.
So that was a really brilliant choice from the pantry.
[Scott] I like your celtuce a lot,
but that reduction is a little assertive.
It's too reduced and I think you probably did that
in order to try to cook off the Sherry,
and then because of that, it becomes salty.
But the venison is perfectly cooked and delicious.
The duxelle favoring's great.
And you used the celtuce more than anybody,
and I think that's really wonderful,
-'cause to me, I think it's very smart. -Thanks.
Chef Mike, thank you.
Finally, Chef Javauneeka.
So I took on a modern approach to Beef Wellington
I did a cream sauce duxelle,
with a Port wine reduction.
Crescent crumbles on the top,
and a seared venison.
[Scott] This is great.
I really love it,
I can have a bowl of that sauce with the mushrooms,
and just be the happiest guy ever.
The sauce is so good,
and the braised celtuce tops in there, really good.
And it is literally perfectly seasoned.
But the venison is overcooked.
My venison was a bit overcooked, too.
But I like the way that you brought all the elements in.
And I love, like, the croutons,
because it does give this, like, wonderful little crunch.
The Crescent dough,
those little flex that you have sprinkled on top.
The flavors are so incredibly concentrated,
and they're crunch and saucy simultaneously.
It's as delicious as I hope that I'm making it sound.
It's craveable,
truly craveable.
-Thank you. -Chef Javauneeka, thank you.
We started this tournament with 16 chefs,
we're down to three, soon to be just two.
So who's dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Mike, you've been chopped.
Judges.
Mike, your venison was perfectly cooked.
Unfortunately, the over reduction of the sauce
made that sauce overly acidic and so,
we had to chop you.
Well, thank you.
-Chefs, good luck, you guys are incredible. -Thank you.
Likewise, Chef.
Yeah, I am feeling a little emotional,
it's hard to hear your shortcomings.
It's a hallway to hell.
I really would've loved to win this trip,
and bring my wife, Sherry, to Paris.
[Scott] You've got those dessert recipes, Chefs?
You guys really gotta bring it this round.
If you fail at dessert,
there's a good chance you're not gonna win this thing.
This is it.
[Dan] Javauneeka is a fierce competitor,
and I know I need to give it my all to bring home the win.
[Javauneeka] I feel like Dan and I are neck and neck at this point.
I have no room for any mistakes in my dessert.
Chef Javauneeka, Chef Dan,
who has what it takes to be the Grand Champion of this epic tournament?
I do. Julia Child was fearless and so am I.
I've come this far, I have what it takes to win.
Here is that unmistakable voice one final time.
[Julia] In French it's called Bombe Glacee,
or a bombe apparatus. I call it a mousse mix.
[Javauneeka] I'm gonna make a bombe.
[Dan] I've not made a bombe before.
Yeah, I've never tried to make a bombe before.
[Ted] I'm sure you two can make something
as tantalizing as a Bombe Glacee
with whatever you get in these finale dessert baskets.
Check 'em out.
[scoffs]
[Ted] And here's the combination.
-Dragon fruit. -[Ted] Dragon fruit.
[Dan] Dragon fruit.
[Javauneeka and Ted] Hazelnut spread.
We got a whole chocolate fondue.
[Ted] Chocolate fondue.
That's a little crazy.
Ice-cream spheres.
-Ice-cream. -[Ted] And tiny ice-cream spheres.
This is a crazy basket.
The title of Chopped Grand Champion,
and that once in a lifetime France trip are on the line.
No pressure.
I think I can pull it off.
-Thirty minutes. -All right, Chopped, here we go.
Starts now.
-[Scott] Let's go, Chefs. -[Susan] All right, you guys.
Judges, these are the last two chefs in our Julia Child tournament.
[Scott] Sixteen chefs started here, we're down to these two.
Whomever is gonna win this competition
has to continue fighting cooking breakthrough
by utilizing these basket ingredients really well.
What I really love about both of them
is they both have taken the inspiration from Julia specifically.
-These two are incredible competitors, -[Scott] Yes.
and very skilled.
[Javauneeka] I have never been to France before,
so this once in a lifetime trip, it mean a lot to me.
[Scott] Chef Javauneeka, what are you making?
[Javauneeka] Uh, I'm making a cake.
-[Scott] Are you making a clafoutis? -[Javauneeka] Yeah.
I'm making a hazelnut and fruit clafoutis, with ice-cream sphere caramel.
-[Susan] That's interesting. -That's not a bad idea, right,
to be able to create that on the bottom.
Bombe Glacee, one of my absolute favorite French desserts.
The word "Bombe" means a dome shape.
I think we're just really expecting a dome-shaped dessert.
It can actually be some type of cake, something with a mousse.
"Glacee," in this case, means glazed.
So the implication is it's something layered that generally has a coating.
[Scott] That chocolate fondue has so many different elements.
There's so many fun things to play with.
[Javauneeka] I take strawberry and figs on my fondue platter,
then I pour my batter over the fruit.
I need about 17 minutes to bake this clafoutis.
[Ted] Twenty minutes to go, Chefs.
Let me know when you're done with flour, please.
I'm done. Here you go.
Thank you.
Bombe Glacee is a couple of 'em flavors of ice-cream, uh, some kind of mousse.
Sometimes it's a cake layer,
so I thought the cake was the best choice.
Chef Dan, what are you making, sir?
I'm definitely making a mess right now, Chef.
[laughs]
For my dessert, I'm making brown butter cake,
chocolate fondue and sphere ice-cream,
with a hazelnut spread caramel.
The pressure and energy of this final round, it feels really intense.
I feel like I've done Julia Child a justice in this competition
by showing my classic French technique all the way till the end.
I think she'd be pretty proud.
[Ted] Less than 15 minutes to go, Chefs.
The most challenging part of this are those tiny ice-cream spheres,
because they taste like an artificial fruity sorbet.
[Susan] Right.
[Alex] That what, what you see bubbling in the pan is her ice-cream spheres,
that she worked into a caramel...
-[Scott] Really? -...with sugar,
-and butter. -[Scott] Oh, wow.
[Ted] Chefs, nine minutes on the clock.
[Alex] Dan is making a chocolate ice-cream with the ice-cream spheres.
[Scott] That's a lot of acidity.
So Dan just threw a chocolate ice-cream into the ice-cream machine,
he's got a cake in the oven.
[Dan] Yeah, down, down, down.
[Scott] That cake looks really blonde to me.
[Dan] I'm nervous, I'm not confident about this at all.
If this cake isn't cooked properly, I know I'm going home.
[Alex] The entire competition
-hangs on whether this cake is done or not. -[Scott] Yeah.
The whole competition hangs in the balance right now.
-Do you have powdered sugar? -No.
If this cake isn't cooked properly, I know I'm going home.
The entire competition hangs on whether this cake is done or not.
All right, Chefs, five minutes.
I know I have some pieces that probably can be served,
but I just let it roll.
I've decided to use the hazelnut spread and ice-cream spheres,
to make a caramel.
I add a little bit of cream to finish.
[Javauneeka] To go with my clafoutis,
I'm making a mousse-inspired chocolate and hazelnut whipped cream.
[Alex] Javauneeka's just put sour cream
into the whipped cream, which I just love.
Javauneeka has folded that chocolate fondue into that,
and I'mma tell you right now, son,
-[Scott] That looks delicious. -...delicious.
[Alex] That looks delicious!
-Mmm, taste pretty good. -[Ted] Three minutes, Chefs.
[Dan] With the dragon fruit, I decided to chop 'em up raw
and use them as a garnish on my dish.
It's super juicy, I think it's like an Asian pear.
I think it's really succulent and those seeds have a wonderful texture.
-[Dan] Yeah. -Only a couple of minutes, you guys.
[Javauneeka] At this point, I pull my clafoutis out of the oven.
They're looking done, it's looking nice.
[Scott] Get all your product on your plate.
[Ted] And he has just pulled his cake out of the oven,
and I think he believes it's done enough.
This is the most important dish that these chefs have cooked.
[Dan] I'm realizing the cake might've needed another minute.
I'm hoping the edges are baked just enough to squeeze by here.
You can do anything to win this whole thing.
-[Ted] Forty seconds. -Forty seconds!
-[Scott] Let's go, Chefs. -[Alex] Let's go, let's go.
-[Ted] Fifteen seconds. -You got this, in the bag, let's go.
[Ted] Final seconds of the final round, Chefs.
[Scott] Get it done, get it done.
[Ted] Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five,
four, three, two, one.
Time's up.
Oh, my God.
Let me see yours.
Oh, wow.
[Dan] That dessert round was nuts.
The stress and the anxiety is through the roof right now.
Chefs, inside your finale dessert basket,
you found dragon fruit, hazelnut spread,
chocolate fondue and tiny ice-cream spheres.
A basket inspired by Julia Child's recipe for Bombe Glacee.
Chef Javauneeka.
I've made a fruit and hazelnut clafoutis,
with mousse-inspired whipped cream.
[Scott] This is really good.
I love the texture of this clafoutis,
I love the fruit strung throughout.
Clafoutis, it's very traditional with cherries.
So the raspberries actually make total sense.
I think the mousse, I could eat, really, a bowl of that.
It's so fluffy and light, but those spheres,
the caramel would be better without them.
When I think of a Bombe Glacee,
I'm not sure that this is what I think of,
but I respect the fact that it is a layered dessert.
What would it mean to you to win this tournament?
My whole career, I've been fighting to be seen, to be heard,
just to be the best at what I do.
And I feel l like that's really what Julia did,
and I just wanna make her proud.
[Ted] Chef Javauneeka, thank you.
Finally, Chef Dan.
What I've made for you is a chocolate fondue
and ice-cream sphere ice-cream,
but with a ice-cream sphere and hazelnut spread caramel,
and, uh, dragon fruit for the brown butter cake.
I put everything I had into this today.
Really put my whole heart out there.
I love the texture of that ice-cream.
It is, like, really on point.
-[Susan] Silky. -[Dan] Thank you.
The cake with the ice-cream,
giving us that sphere shape, gives us the sense of the Bombe Glacee.
[Alex] The cake for me taste a little underbaked,
but I like the dragon fruit.
And the caramel, I think is beautifully made. Beautifully.
With the trip of a lifetime and the title of Chopped Grand Champion at stake,
the judges must make a very difficult decision.
Thank you, Chefs.
Judges, how on earth do you make this decision?
Well, I think we have to break it down, round by round.
The appetizer round, that was a fun round with the wild burgundy snails.
[Alex] Javauneeka's toast, for me just does it.
-I'll just take the toast in a dark room. - [Scott] She could've given
-just that bread. - [Susan] Just the toast.
-Yeah, I agree. -[Scott] Just give us that bread.
It tasted like pork fat from the pate.
And in Julia Child's Escargot Bourguignon recipe, there is pork fat.
[Susan] The escargot themselves were gorgeous.
-[Scott] Yes. -[Alex] But I have to say,
Dan did some pretty spectacular cooking in the first round also.
[Scott] Loved that Chef Dan created two separate sauces.
He did that red wine braised with the snails themselves,
which was just so French.
The wine needed to be cooked out a little bit further,
but it was that deep beautiful reduction.
[Alex] I thought Javauneeka's entree,
her mushroom cream sauce with those vegan scallops
was literally perfect.
The biggest problem for me was she completely overcooked the venison.
-Oh. -[Scott] Yeah, it was a real problem,
-but Chef Dan gave us inconsistent venison. -[Alex] Yeah.
[Scott] But Chef Dan's main course was really, really well done.
Both of them embraced Julia and her inspiration
in all the food that they did.
So it just comes down to pure technique and what tasted better.
[Javauneeka] I do feel like I have a little bit of an edge.
I feel like I did everything I could to put my best foot forward.
[Dan] I feel like I showcased classic French cuisine,
maybe a little bit better than my competitor.
But win or lose, I feel like I'm a winner.
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Dan, you've been chopped. Judges.
[Alex] Dan, we loved your appetizer that you created,
but the red wine-glazed was overpowering.
For your entree, we would've appreciated more consistently cooked meat.
And so we had to chop you.
Yeah, thank you. It was an honor being here.
Definitely gonna walk here with my head high.
-It was great competing with you. -Yeah.
-Yeah, don't forget about the small people, huh. -Thank you.
-[Dan] Honor, honor being here. -My pleasure.
[Dan] It's been a really special experience.
I beat out 15 other chefs in a Julia Child competition.
I'm super happy with what I've accomplished.
-Thank you very much. -It was great to have you here.
-Thank you. -[Ted] You're welcome.
Thank you, thank you everyone.
And that means Javauneeka Jacobs,
you are the Chopped Grand Champion.
You are going on that $25,000 dream trip,
where you get to follow in Julia's footsteps.
Congratulations.
-Well done. -[Susan] Fabolous.
[Scott] Well done.
[Javauneeka] It feels amazing.
I'm overwhelmed with joy.
I'm going to France.
I'm gonna go home, I'm gonna pack my bags,
I'm gonna snatch up my husband and we're gonna go to France for the first time.