-[Ted] Clock starts now. -We're ready to feed the people.
-Go for it. -What am I going to do with these?
-You got this. -Woop, woop.
-All right, guys. -[overlapping chatter]
-Go, go, go. -Yes, sir.
[Ted] Get ready for another sizzling battle in the Chopped kitchen.
Go, baby. Go, baby. Go.
-[Ted] Four competitors. -Oh, my gosh.
One chance to win the $10,000 prize.
-All four basket ingredients. -I'm trying.
[Ted] Who will be victorious, and who will be chopped?
They like, you talk all that stuff.
In Detroit, you better come back with that win.
[hip-hop music playing]
Let's go, Tay. Move, baby.
Move, baby.
I'm a private chef in Detroit, Michigan.
I'm coming in with big, bold flavors.
I'm coming in with creativity.
I always say, I'm going to give you the "Mm-mm" factor.
Take that first bite, get your first "Mm,"
and then you're going to hit another "Mm."
So you go "Mm, mm," when you eat my food.
My older brother and my younger brother
are my biggest critics, but they're also my biggest fans.
If I come back to Detroit without this win, my brothers
ain't gonna let me hear the end of it.
So I plan on coming home with a win.
[hip-hop music playing]
♪ Feel it in your veins ♪
I'm an executive pastry chef in Marlboro, New Jersey.
My style of cooking is local, seasonal,
and basically anything you can get at a farmer's market.
Brussels are going to be next.
I went to culinary school at the Culinary Education Center
in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
From there, I worked at a Japanese restaurant,
a French restaurant.
I worked as a pastry assistant at a David Burke restaurant.
I am here to prove that I'm New Jersey's best.
[Rain] We did just get top 50 best new restaurants
in the country in Eater.
So that's like a cool thing I could say.
I am the chef de cuisine at Morchella Restaurant in Portland, Oregon.
I like to take boring vegetables
and make them really sexy.
I do a lot of braising, smoking, curing.
Hell, yeah.
I rely on a lot of farms and forage foods,
and I'm so used to working with odd
ingredients that I'm feeling really good
and really confident, for sure.
How do you make holy water?
You boil the hell out of it.
[laughs]
I'm a chef operations manager at Resident based in New York City.
I bring a lot to the table.
My experience in Michelin rated kitchens
and my attitude to perfect things is going to really
put me ahead of everybody else.
Holy smokes.
I really love Mexican
and Latin American ingredients,
my wife being from Mexico City.
She's also a chef and someone that I really admire as
a colleague, and my partner.
It doesn't get better than that.
People are gonna see what I really have
in the competition today. See you on the streets.
Hello, chefs.
-How's it going, Ted? -Hey, Ted.
[Ted] I hope you are ready and focused,
because there are three rounds.
If your dish doesn't cut it, you will be chopped.
-Won't be me. -There ain't nothing to it but to do it.
The real fun happens once you get your hands on these.
-Go for it. -[all chuckling]
-Okay. -And you'll have 20 minutes to make appetizers
with deep fried ice cream bars.
-[Arielle] Okay. -Squash.
-Delicata squash. -Okay.
I love delicata.
Crab miso.
I don't know how I feel about that.
What is this?
[Ted] Slipper lobsters.
-Okay. Okay. -[Davante] About to make it shake.
About to make it happen.
[Ted] 20 minutes to strut your stuff.
Clock starts now.
-All right, guys. -Go!
-Here we go. -Rock and roll.
You've got this. You've got this.
Oh, my gosh.
What am I going to do with these?
Geoffrey, Marc, you are joined by a very special guest judge,
a native of Ethiopia.
She has cooked all over the world, Chef Fariyal Abdullahi.
-Welcome back, chefs. -So great to be here again.
-So, chef, in all your travels, have you seen this -Yes.
particular lobster?
Yes, it's from Australia.
And be very careful how you cook them,
or else they'll get puffed.
The main lobsters are cold water lobsters.
-These are warm water lobsters. -Right. Right.
[Geoffrey] They don't have the sweetness of a cold water lobster.
[Marc] They also don't have the pinchers,
so all the meat is in the tail.
I'm going to get these lobsters cooking.
I don't know what kind of lobsters these are.
They look so ugly.
But I'm going to treat this slipper lobster
kind of like a regular lobster.
All right.
At my restaurant, we make crostini's.
We typically put some sort of fish or shellfish on it.
Some olive oil.
So I figure I can make an awesome lobster crostini.
Don't mess with the Jersey girl. I've come to win.
I'm going to get my squash started.
You talking to yourself is very soothing.
[all laughing]
[Marc] The Delicata's are nice.
Beautiful squash. You can eat the skin, the whole thing.
-I love the squash, right? -I hope they leave the skin on.
Yes, me too.
[Connor] So I've cooked Delicata squash in,
you know, several other restaurants.
It's a very seasonal ingredient.
So for my appetizer, I'm going to make
a tempura Delicata squash with pickled Delicata squash,
Chipotle ice cream sauce, and a crab piece
of poached slipper lobster.
[Marc] You know, manipulating this Delicata squash,
which we're seeing on Connor's station, is taking him quite some time.
[Geoffrey] Oh, he's slicing it thinly.
I think that's a good idea.
[Connor] I see the masa. I think it's a great use for,
you know, my love of Mexico City.
My wife is from there.
So I decided I'm going to make my tempura batter with it.
All right, chefs, you're ticking down to 15 minutes here.
-Oh, that's not much time. -15 minutes.
[Marc] So this crab miso, I'm very excited about it.
Get a lot of umami out of it.
It's basically the inside of the crab.
[Geoffrey] There's no miso, per se, in it.
-No. -Which is soybeans.
-Right. -But it looks like it. I think that's
a great ingredient.
It's like a Worcestershire sauce or anchovy paste.
There's something deep and dense about it.
Here we go, here we go.
I see the crab miso, I kind of automatically know
what direction I want to go into.
Asian soup broth.
Behind, behind, behind, coming down.
I make these ramen broth bowls often in Detroit.
It gets pretty cold, so we like something warm.
We like something hearty.
And it's something that's super versatile,
and you can add whatever components you want to it.
We gucci, we gucci.
Seeing the ice cream doesn't really throw me off.
I figure I'm just going to use it just like cream.
We good. We good money.
Come here, guys.
I am so happy to see delicata squash.
You could go really sweet with it.
You can stay really savory.
And it makes a nice little boat if you want
to stuff it with stuff.
Hey, Rain, what are you making?
I'm making, like, a little lobster salad stuffed delicata
-with, like, a little coconut milk, something or other. -[Geoffrey] Oh.
-Oh, that's a great idea. -Yeah.
You feeling good?
Yeah, I feel good. I feel good.
-Great idea. -[Fariyal] For an appetite.
Mayonnaise, cream, tarragon.
It's going to make it all taste much better.
You're actually just putting an order in of what you'd like?
-You want tarragon? -I asked for some champagne.
You want tarragon in your lobster salad?
-They're chilling my champagne down. -I didn't know we had
that option.
All right.
With my culinary background, being a seasonal chef,
I know that apples and squash go really well together.
They have their peak seasons around the same time,
so I'll just spoon them onto the crostini's.
Behind, behind.
But the curveball of this basket
is definitely the ice cream.
I'm going to just use the vanilla part.
Hiding it in a cheese that could be a spread on
the base of my crostini is a really smart move.
I'm trying to brighten up and kind of mask that sweetness.
A little bit mascarpone.
[whistling]
I got to work with this fried ice cream bar,
and the first thing that comes to mind is Chipotle is trying
to make a cream sauce with this.
The sweetness and the spiciness just balance each other out.
All right, chefs, got 10 minutes on that clock now.
[Davante] Yes, sir.
Being from Michigan, we work with a lot of squash.
I just personally haven't worked with this one,
but I think I'll be okay.
By the way, Davante's got a beautiful little medley.
He's got some peppers.
He's got his delicata squash that's cooked.
[Davante] For my lobster, I don't want to over-manipulate it,
so my plan is just to saute it real lightly with some butter,
season it real simple with some salt and pepper.
So I'm tasting my lobster salad, and it is on point.
I'm just waiting for that delicata to come out of the oven.
Waiting on squash.
Come on, baby.
Time is running out, and I'm checking on my delicata,
and it is absolutely raw in the oven.
Doing good.
20 minutes is not a lot of time to roast a squash.
I really hope this pays out for me.
I'm getting a little nervous.
Straighten on that.
Squash.
I checked my squash in the oven, and it is still raw.
So I add a little bit of my poaching liquid to it
in hopes that it'll steam the rest of the way through.
[Marc] Connor's still messing around with his lobster.
He's got four and a half minutes to cook that lobster.
-Okay, that's okay. -I will.
-Better get it going quick. -Yes.
[Arielle] So I am making a miso butter for my lobster to
marry those flavors of the lobster and the crab.
Lobster in.
I taste the lobster in the crab miso butter.
And overall, I'm really happy with the way the flavors came together.
-Is that butter? -Crab miso lobster butter.
-I love that idea. -That sounds nice.
[Connor] I put my lobster tails over the water.
I get them into an ice bath,
let them chill out for a little bit.
Is Connor's lobster cooked or not?
[Connor] And I make a crab miso butter just to finish the lobster.
[Davante] I knew I needed a vehicle to serve my miso broth,
so I take some rice noodles and drop them in my boiling water.
[Rain] My plan of attack with the miso
is marry that with the ice cream
into some sort of, like, sweet, savory,
umami-rich sauce.
It's, like, the weirdest sauce I think I've ever made in my life.
Guys, a minute and a half left.
We need all four ingredients on the plate.
Getting ready to feed the people.
Tempura batter always gets a little sticky.
Oh, cool, cool, cool. Let's go.
[Fariyal] You got this, chefs. Come on, come on.
[Marc] Come on. Everything's on the plate.
-Let's go. -[Ted] Let's go.
All the ingredients have to be on the plate.
You got this.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
[Ted] All right, focus, chefs, and get it done.
-Ten, nine, eight, seven, six. -Guys, Davante's putting noodles
right on top of everything. He has not dressed those noodles with anything.
...five, four, three, two, one.
-Time's up. -God.
Nice job.
-Wow. -Whew.
[Rain] I'm a little worried about the cook on the squash.
It's like, you know, it's anybody's game at this point.
I have no idea.
[Connor] I'm a little bit worried about the slipper lobster.
I was missing a little bit of the meat,
and I hope that the judges don't see it as too little.
But, you know, I feel confident about my dish.
Ain't nothing to it but to do it.
[Ted] Chefs, you have arrived at the chopping block.
That very fast 20-minute round
had you working with deep-fried ice cream bars,
delicata squash,
crab miso, and slipper lobsters.
Chef Davante, please tell us what you've made.
You have a coconut curry miso broth
with some sauteed squash topped with rice noodles
and some lobster meat.
So appetizer round. This is delicious.
I really like your cook of the lobster.
It's still succulent, sweet, and juicy.
And instead of the coconut milk, you used the ice cream.
-I love it. -Thank you, Chef.
-Yeah. -It would have helped if this sauce had actually been tossed
in the noodles, because they're just dry
sitting on the top.
But that being said, I think that you chose
-a really good direction to go. -Thank you, Chef.
I keep going back to the thing that I like the most,
which is the squash and the lobster,
which I think is really a good combo.
The lobster's cooked perfectly, and you did make
that crab miso really got some umami in this dish.
-Well done. -Thank you.
-Thank you, Chef Davante. -Next, Chef Arielle.
All right, judges, for you, I have
lobster crostini with a vanilla mascarpone spread,
roasted squash and apples, and slipper lobster
cooked in crab miso.
[Geoffrey] First of all, I love crostini.
Crostini can be a great vehicle.
I really enjoy the mascarpone
and the toast really crunching.
And I think a little issues here, like there's not enough
squash on this for me.
And the lobster is a little overcooked.
-It's a little mealy. -Mm-hmm.
There are good flavors there, but like the lobster is a little overcooked.
So the mascarpone is where you put the vanilla.
So right off the bat, it's going to eat very sweet.
So brightening it up would have been really important.
[Marc] I have to say, I was surprised.
I didn't know I was going to like the flavors
that you came up with. So you made a miso butter
-and then tossed the lobster in that. -Yes.
You do get the miso sort of flavor on the lobster,
which I like a lot.
But I do feel the delicata squash and the apple
and the lobster actually really work kind of nicely together.
Thank you.
[Ted] Thank you, Chef Arielle.
Next up, Chef Rain, please tell us about your dish.
So in front of you, I have a little
slipper lobster salad stuffed into
a roasted delicata squash and then
an ice cream coconut miso.
[Geoffrey] This combination of the crab miso,
it's really perfect for the lobster.
It's a great bite of food. And this sauce,
although it doesn't look great, is really delicious.
Thank you.
The only problem with this dish is this is raw.
Yep, yep.
[Fariyal] The crab miso, it does get lost in the sauce.
But the flavor in your lobster was your saving grace.
This is absolutely delicious.
I agree with them. This sauce, to me, is delicious.
-You did a great job. -Thank you.
-Thank you, Chef Rain. -Finally, Chef Connor.
So this is a tempura fried delicata squash
with pickled delicata squash as well.
A braised miso slipper lobster with a chipotle
and ice cream sauce.
[Marc] That's an interesting dish. I think you did a lot of work.
These came out really nicely.
I think they're lacking a little bit of seasoning.
Did you put any salt in that batter?
I totally skipped that, and I completely forgot.
[Fariyal] Yeah, it's not seasoned.
But your tempura batter's perfect.
And then the lobster, I saw you doing it
at the very last second.
I was worried, but it was just enough time
-to get the cook that you want. -Appreciate it.
I think that you actually have really good techniques.
And I like the tempura.
Unfortunately, that sauce just wipes out
anything that's on your palate.
It's just so corrupting to the mouth.
-Okay. -And then the pickle squash, that's a no.
You shouldn't have a pickle squash ever.
But these as a side dish, I would put these on my menu because it's great.
-We can work something out at the end. -[all laughing]
Chef Connor, thank you.
Who will be the first chef chopped?
We're about to find out.
[Connor] After the judging, a little shaken from my confidence.
You know, I made some silly mistakes.
You know, that could cost me, so.
[Arielle] Overall, the dish read a little bit sweet.
The judges also said my lobster was
a tiny bit overcooked.
[exhales] I don't know if I'm going to get chopped or not.
Whose dish is on the chopping block.
Chef Connor, you've been chopped.
Judges?
[Marc] Connor, you're obviously a talented chef.
Unfortunately, I think that you made a couple of mistakes.
You pickled the squash,
and the sauce you made was just way too powerful.
It was too spicy.
So we had to chop you.
-Thank you for your time. -[Ted] Thank you, Chef.
Thank you, guys.
You know, a little defeated,
but it's a very difficult environment to work in.
Hopefully, if there's a next time,
I can learn from my mistakes.
Chef Rain, Chef Arielle, Chef Davante,
what is in these baskets?
Let's find out.
Open them up.
-Your entrees must include... -And what is this?
[Ted] Chicken pot pie bites.
All right. Well, let's see.
-[Ted] Rainbow carrots. -[Rain] I love carrots.
-Oh, boy. -[Ted] Ostrich necks.
-[Arielle] Ostrich necks. -[Davante] You got to be kidding me.
-[sighs] -I had to just put my head down and shake my head.
-[Ted] And curry ketchup. -Curry ketchup?
Oh, yes.
[Ted] 30 minutes to make main dishes.
Clock starts now.
-All right, guys. -[Fariyal] Go home.
-What are we going to do? -They're going to have to really stick
their neck out on this one, aren't they?
-Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. -Oh.
-Okay. -There you go.
[Ted] Judges, curry ketchup is an intriguing basket ingredient.
Who has tried it?
It's exactly as the name indicates.
It tastes exactly like ketchup and curry.
It's also very sweet.
The curry and ketchup is one thing, but I think
that that ostrich neck is the very big challenge.
There's a lot of bones. It's basically a lot of vertebrae.
It's a lot of work.
So ostrich neck, very similar to oxtail.
But also, this needs a low and slow cooking process.
They don't have three hours to cook this.
So I would suggest grinding it.
They make nothing but neck bones.
Scooch behind, behind.
Oh, my gosh.
I am feeling super confident heading into round two.
The only thing holding me back is this ostrich neck.
For my entree, I am making ostrich neck polenta
with a rainbow carrot succotash
and a rainbow carrot top chimichurri.
[Geoffrey] Arielle has polenta, which is great,
but it's not a basket ingredient.
[Marc] It's really hard to make in 30 minutes.
[Fariyal] Yeah, that's the most concerning thing for me.
[Marc] Yeah.
[Davante] Understanding Southern cooking,
I know that these ostrich necks are going
to very much treat similar to a turkey neck or an oxtail.
So I'll get them in the skillet on really high heat
and hopefully get a really good sear on them.
Seeing all the ingredients in the basket, I know
I want to go in the direction of a stew.
So I'll start off with some basic mirepoix,
my onion, my carrot, my celery.
Start getting those sweated down.
My entree, I'm making a Southern-style ostrich neck stew.
I know I'm going to get these ostrich necks searing,
and I need to get the base of my stew sweating down.
My stew needs some binders, so I use those pot pie bites.
The bread and the bechamel inside will act as a roux
and it'll tighten my stew right up.
[Geoffrey] Chicken pot pie bites.
-They really do taste like chicken pot pie. -They do.
There's a bechamel in there, so it's creamy, right?
Yeah.
[Marc] But watching Davante, he's basically put
almost all the basket ingredients in one pot.
[Davante] Come on, baby. Stew, stew, stew.
Is anyone excited about the ostrich neck?
[Rain] I'm stoked, yeah. No, this is fun.
I've never worked with ostrich before.
Then it wouldn't be Chopped, then would it?
-Behind. -Yep, yep.
I'm feeling generally good about this basket.
I am nervous about the time limit on the ostrich necks.
So after my ostrich necks are nice and seared
and toasty, I'm gonna get it in the oven to braise.
I'm making lentils in a curry ketchup demi
with roasted rainbow carrots with a carrot top
and chicken pot pie emulsion.
To make my demi for the lentils,
I add veal demi-glace to a pan with a little bit more stock,
some curry ketchup, and I'm going to add
some whole grain mustard to it as well.
That looks pretty nice.
All right, chefs, 20 minutes to go here.
Heard that, 20.
[exhales]
I love rainbow carrots. They're very versatile.
They also have, like, a very subtly sweet taste to them,
so I'm really happy.
I add the chicken pot pie to my succotash because
I knew I wanted to use the puff pastry part.
15 minutes on the clock, chefs.
[Davante] So I grab a shallow pan, and I want to get
my rice going right away.
To be able to represent Detroit in a competition
of this magnitude is huge.
The Detroit restaurant scene and the food scene is rising quickly.
So being able to represent for them
is definitely important to me.
Let this stew go as long as I possibly can.
I checked one of the ostrich necks inside the stew,
and those big ostrich necks just didn't cook the way I wanted them to.
Meat on the neck is still raw.
Hopefully, it'll finish the rest of the way.
Come on.
All right, all right.
Rainbow carrots. I love rainbow carrots.
We have served them at the restaurant for a really long time.
I'm going to roast them, and I'm going to compress them.
That looks pretty cool.
By compressing the carrots, I get the same effect
as a pickle without sacrificing any of
the texture of raw carrot.
All right, chefs, only 10 minutes left on the clock.
[Arielle] These rainbow carrots are so beautiful,
I want to use every part of them.
So I'm using the carrot tops to make a chimichurri.
I know that this dish is going to be very, very rich,
and I'm going to need some acidity to cut into it.
But I look into my braising pot with my ostrich necks.
There's not a lot of edible meat on there.
It's a lot of tendons, a lot of chewy, tough parts.
I take a bite, and it is chewy.
And I am very, very nervous about this.
That's chewy.
[Ted] I think all three of these chefs
have fallen head first into the trap of this basket,
not understanding how tough that meat is.
-Yep. -All right, chefs, the clock's coming down to
five minutes here.
[Davante] I know the clock is ticking,
and I'm so over these ostrich necks, I could just cry.
It's going to work today.
Two minutes, guys. Get a hustle.
[Rain] Next, I'm going to do an emulsion with some walnuts,
those chicken pot pie bites.
And the carrot top.
Yeah, there we go.
At this point, I'm feeling really good about
every component except for the ostrich necks.
Those are freaking me out.
-Uh-oh, uh-oh. -All four basket ingredients, chefs.
All four.
[Marc] There's a minute and a half left.
We're all gonna get everything on the plate, all four ingredients.
-Let's go. -[Fariyal] Are we plating?
Hope and pray.
[Arielle] Here we go.
One minute to go, chefs.
One minute.
[Rain] I take my braised ostrich out of my saute pan,
and it is not working with me.
It is so tough.
I don't think Rain is going to get the ostrich neck.
Finish up those entrees, chefs.
Rain, you got to get the ostrich on the plate.
-I'm trying. -Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five, four...
-I can't watch this. -This ain't happening.
-Oh, no. -...three, two, one.
-Time's up. -Oh. Oh.
Oh, Rain.
[Ted] Well, the ostrich won this one.
[Marc] Mm-hmm.
It's the defeat of the necks.
[Rain] We all had our pitfalls here and there.
But I did miss an ingredient.
I might go home.
[Davante] I'm feeling anxious. I'm feeling confused.
I'm praying to the Chopped gods that my ostrich neck
is tender and the judges like it,
and it's going to get me through to the next round.
[sighs]
Chefs, in the second basket, you found chicken pot pie bites,
rainbow carrots, ostrich necks,
and curry ketchup.
Chef Arielle, please tell us about your main course.
All right, judges.
So I have ostrich neck polenta with rainbow carrot succotash
and a rainbow carrot top chimichurri.
How did you cook the ostrich neck?
So I braised it in chicken stock, and I added
the ostrich bones to try to get a little bit more flavor out of that.
It's really hard to chew.
It's like leather. I would not want to put that on a plate
if I was in a restaurant serving it to somebody.
It's tough.
We gave you a tough riddle in that basket.
[Geoffrey] Well, I like the carrot succotash.
It's very tasty. The polenta is very tasty.
And I like the chimichurri. It's a beautiful plate.
I think you were very intelligent with how you used
all of your basket ingredients.
Well, three out of four.
Using the ostrich neck bone in the chicken broth,
very cerebral. I love that you did that.
You used two of the ingredients in two ways.
The carrot tops, you used it in the chimichurri,
and you used it as a succotash.
And then even the chicken pot pie bites,
you used that in two ways as well.
-So I think this speaks to your skill level. -Yes.
Just the ostrich neck is where you got caught up,
but I understand.
-Thank you, Chef. -[Ted] Thank you, Chef Arielle.
-Chef Davante. -Absolutely.
So what you have in front of you, chefs,
is a southern-style ostrich neck and bean stew.
This ostrich neck is just definitely inedible here as well.
It's just chewy.
I think using this neck as a flavoring in a broth
might have been the best way to go.
But I think the stew's flavorful.
You've built some flavors.
Can I detect that there's the curried ketchup in here?
I mean, that's probably some of the background base
with the tomato.
I like the flavor. The rice is good.
It could have cooked just a smidgen more, I think.
[Geoffrey] Yeah, the carrots are there. Everything is there.
And it's hearty, and you have great flavor.
You know, the stew is good.
It's just it's very tomato-forward.
[Fariyal] Everything gets lost in here.
I wouldn't have known any of that stuff is in there,
minus the ostrich neck, because I was having
a hard time chewing it.
Again, a very challenging ingredient.
[Geoffrey] But you got good flavors.
It's just that we are definitely having a lot
of problem with this ostrich neck.
-Yes, Chef. -[Ted] Chef Davante, thank you.
Chef Rain, what do we have?
We have some lentils cooked in a curry ketchup demi,
some roasted rainbow carrots on an emulsion made out
of the tops, and the pot pie bites.
There's also some compressed carrots
and a glaring lack of ostrich neck on the plate.
You've never cooked ostrich neck before?
-Surprisingly, no. -[all laughing]
[Marc] Look, I mean, obviously, you've left off
a basket ingredient.
We're a little disappointed with that.
-But beautiful plate. -Thank you.
[Fariyal] Very stunning to look at.
I almost didn't want to eat it. It was so pretty.
I think using the carrot tops, this is,
what else is in this green sauce?
-Pot pie bites. -'Cause I got to say, I really like that.
-Thank you. -And it goes really nicely with those carrots.
Unfortunately, obviously, the missing protein on the plate.
And your lentils are not quite cooked enough.
[Rain] Heard.
Even though the ostrich neck did not make it on the plate,
honestly, this eats beautifully as a vegetarian dish.
Everything else was executed, minus the lentils
that were slightly undercooked.
Everything else that you did put on the plate, delicious.
-Thank you. -When you taste it, even though it's undercooked,
it's so tasty. Great flavors.
Thank you.
So why are you doing this to yourself, Chef?
[Rain] Well, I mean, other than showing up for myself
and showing up for my city, I really wanted to represent
the trans community.
The stigma of the industry is, like, very macho and brash.
It can make it hard for, you know, people
that maybe are coming to terms with themselves,
or I just want to be here and be like, you can do it.
-Like, I'm here, you know? -[Ted] Thank you, Chef Rain.
We are moving toward the Chopped finish line.
Another chef has to go.
[Rain] Leaving a basket ingredient off,
I've seen people continue to the next round.
I've also seen them get chopped because of it.
I think it's kind of up in the air.
I'm feeling a lot of emotion, but Rain didn't get
ostrich neck on the plate.
So I feel like my chances are a little bit better
because of that.
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Rain, you've been chopped.
Judges?
Rain, first and foremost, I want to say thank you so much
for being here and having the courage to tell your story.
This is very important. Representation matters.
It's very clear that you know how to build flavors
in a short period of time. Everything was delicious.
So while we loved your rainbow carrots
and the carrot top emulsion, we obviously
could not overlook the missing ostrich neck
that never made it on the plate.
-Yeah. -And so we had to chop you.
Thank you for having me. It was great meeting you.
Oh, yeah, it's disappointing being chopped,
but at the end of the day, I did what I came to do.
I represented my community. I think that's important.
Chef Arielle, Chef Davante, let's see if this last set
of ingredients suits you.
Open your dessert baskets.
-All right. -Let's go.
-And it's a Neapolitan roll. -[Arielle] All right.
-Some pears. -[Ted] You also have pears.
-[Arielle] I'm excited about the pears. -[Ted] Potato chip clusters.
[Arielle] I love the potato chip clusters.
Chocolate and potato chips go really well.
So I already know that it's a winner.
[Ted] And salad cream.
[Davante] In Southern cuisine, they use salad cream
as a fat base all the time in desserts.
So I had no problem utilizing the ingredient.
[Ted] 30 minutes to make an awesome dessert.
Time starts now.
-Come on. -[Marc] Let's go.
[Fariyal] Let's go.
-Oh, yeah. -Woo-hoo. There we go.
-[Marc] Rock and roll. -[Fariyal] You got this.
[Davante] You got this, Arielle. You got this.
[Arielle] I'm good. Thank you, Chef.
So, judges, chocolate potato chip clusters
and salad cream in dessert.
-What's going on? -It seems like you're trying to blame us, Ted.
-It's not our fault. -I am, because it's not my fault.
They have to deal with it.
Those chocolate potato chip clusters, a little salty,
a little sweet, that's fine.
But the salad cream, it's going to be a stretch.
The salad cream is marketed as a sandwich spread
-in the United Kingdom. -Right.
It's grapeseed oil. There's vinegar in there.
-[Marc] Some mustard. -Mustard, yeah.
[Geoffrey] It's a thinned out mayonnaise.
You could probably melt that with a cake
and some milk, and there you have a base for ice cream.
[Fariyal] Yeah.
I'm currently a pastry chef, so this is my round to take.
Salad cream basically tastes like what you would put
on a coleslaw.
It's very vinegary, very oily.
It just does not belong in a dessert.
All right.
So for my dessert, I'm making a buttermilk salad cream
ice cream with a potato chip and pear caramel.
-[hums] -My plan is to have this buttermilk
tamper down, like, the savory aspects
of the salad cream and kind of bring out
that tanginess that I want.
A little quicker, but don't curdle.
Please, please, please.
What kind of ice cream are you making?
It's going to be a buttermilk salad cream ice cream.
-Whoa. -Wow, that sounds really appetizing.
I hope it's going to be tangy delicious.
I wonder how Davante feels about being up against
a pastry chef.
Look, I think Davante's got a lot of experience.
He's been hustling.
He is not letting anything get in the way of him,
and I'm sure that he's got a lot of pastry experience.
-20 minutes on the clock, chefs. -Let's go, Tay.
Move, baby. Move, baby.
It's game time.
Once I see these ingredients, I know I'm going to go
in the direction of a boozy bread pudding.
For my dessert, I'm making a boozy pear
and cherry Neapolitan bread pudding
with a potato chip cluster salted caramel
and a potato chip cluster walnut crumb.
Okay.
I'm going to start by getting my custard for my bread pudding started.
I throw in some of that salad cream to add a little bit
more fat, as well as some sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
I know the Neapolitan cake is super sweet,
so I know I need some of the bread to cut it.
I know it's got to be a winner.
[Geoffrey] All right, Chef Davante, are you okay?
-You drinking already? -Yes, sir.
-Five o'clock somewhere, right? -What are you making?
I'm making a boozy bread pudding.
I'm about to hydrate my cherries
and my pears with some bourbon.
I know immediately my bread pudding is going to take a little time to cook,
so I've got to get it in the oven as fast as possible.
I love bread pudding. It just never works,
because you need enough time in the oven.
Go, baby, go.
Ohh.
So now that my ice cream is doing its thing,
I take my pears, and I start making a caramel.
Okay.
I love putting potato chips in dessert.
Saltiness will work really well with sweetness.
So I throw a generous amount of these potato chips
into my caramel.
Making it work.
[Marc] The chocolate potato chip clusters.
It's literally potato chips, and then they dip them
-in chocolate. -[Fariyal] Right.
[Davante] So while my bread pudding is finishing,
I'm going to make a chocolate potato chip cluster salted caramel.
And I'm going to use a little bit of
the salad cream as the cream base for my caramel.
I whisk it together, I taste it, money.
Ah, come on.
It's all dirty to me.
Seems to me that Davante was just checking his bread pudding,
and he's not very happy with how much time
is left on the clock.
I want to get a little bit more crust on the top.
But I know there's just simply not enough time.
[Fariyal] He's using three of the basket ingredients in the pudding.
So he has a lot riding in that oven right now.
-Yeah. -Come on, baby. Quit playing with me.
It's not going to cook if you keep opening it.
I know. I know. I know.
[Ted] All right, chefs, you're coming up
on the four-minute mark here.
[Marc] Guys, Davante's got three basket ingredients
-riding on that bread pudding in the oven. -[Fariyal] Yes.
Oh, you've been close.
-Let's go. -Okay.
[Geoffrey] Is Arielle taking her ice cream out of the hopper?
That is going to be butter.
All right. Please be done.
The ice cream definitely looks a little grainy.
[Geoffrey] It looks grainy.
It's Neapolitan cake. It's very pretty.
It's got little squares. They're just different flavors,
just like Neapolitan ice cream.
I know I have to incorporate this Neapolitan roll somehow,
so I figured folding it into my ice cream is my best bet.
All right, chefs, here's your two-minute warning.
That bread pudding finishes. I think it's a winner-winner chicken dinner.
I know the bread pudding with the caramel on top is gonna be pretty soft,
so I know I need to add some texture.
I make a crumble out of the potato chip clusters.
-Let's go, let's go, guys. -Let's get it all on the plate.
-All four ingredients. -[Davante] It's looking perfect.
It's looking absolutely perfect.
Let's go. Let's go. You got this.
[Ted] Here we go, chefs. Final seconds of the final round.
-Ten, nine, eight, seven, six... -You got this, chefs.
Come on, come on.
-...five, four... -Come on, everything's on the plate.
-Let's go. -...three, two, one.
[Fariyal] Last touches, last touches.
-Time's up. -[judges clapping]
You did it.
[Arielle] Davante's a really talented chef.
I'm sure his bread pudding is going to be delicious,
and I'm a little bit nervous.
[Davante] She's been killing it all day.
I feel like I'm competing with the best.
She made an ice cream today, so hopefully my bread pudding
will stand toe to toe.
Chef Arielle, Chef Davante, the judges are hoping
you've made amazing desserts from a Neapolitan roll,
pears, chocolate potato chip clusters, and salad cream.
Chef Arielle, what do we have?
For your dessert, I have a buttermilk and salad cream
ice cream with a potato chip and pear caramel.
I like the chocolate potato chip clusters
when they're mixed with everything else.
It's a real good flavor. The pear caramel is excellent.
What I don't get is the salad cream.
I don't necessarily know if I want to get it,
but this does need a little relief 'cause it's very sweet.
Understood, Chef.
Yeah, I think the best thing in here is the pear caramel.
And in the ice cream, the bite's very good.
But then when you just eat the ice cream on its own,
you can sort of detect that it's just a touch overturned.
And in the Neapolitan roll, you folded it into the ice cream.
I think there could have been a better use for it.
My issue is it feels like you gave me back the ingredients,
like the chocolate potato chip clusters.
Did you do anything with them?
[Arielle] Just threw them in the caramel and cooked them down a little.
I was probably expecting more, but it's delicious.
-[Ted] Chef Arielle, thank you. -Thank you.
Finally, Chef Davante, please tell us about your dessert.
So what you have in front of you, judges,
is a bourbon pear, walnut, and cherry bread pudding.
It's topped with a potato chip salted caramel.
And then there's a walnut and potato chip
cluster-like crumble just for some texture right over the top.
You know, this is good.
I'm very happy you put that sauce on top,
because it's a little dry.
Yeah, there needs to be a custard moment.
There's no custard moment here.
So I'm looking for that.
Agreed. I'm a huge fan of bread pudding.
So I was very happy to see this on my plate.
But when you're cooking with pears, you have
to make sure you peel the skin.
-Otherwise, it eats very rubbery. -Understood.
So that's my only thing. But I really enjoyed eating this.
-Thank you, Chef. -Okay.
You've got some tough baskets.
In a few minutes, we'll find out who has won.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
Judges, slipper lobsters? Ostrich necks?
Did you savor the novelty of these meals?
There was a lot of novelty, but a lot of mistakes today.
In the appetizer round, Davante really needed
-to toss those noodles in that broth. -Right.
[Fariyal] To me, it didn't eat as an appetizer.
-It was a big boy appetizer. -[Fariyal] I would have had it as a main.
He also got a lot of flavor out of that first course.
I thought his first course was his boldest course.
I thought personally that Arielle's weakest round
-was her first course. -I agree.
I mean, lobster toast with squash,
it was an odd combination.
[Marc] There was also very little delicata squash on it.
-Yeah. -I'm not sure why it was a basket ingredient.
I think that Davante, again, cooks with his heart.
His entree was big.
It was bold. It was hearty.
And if you're in a cold climate,
-you would eat that whole bowl. - [Fariyal] Exactly.
I thought Arielle, the great thing
that she did on her dish was the way that
the polenta was married to her carrot top chimichurri
that she made.
Ah, what a great bite.
I think both chefs, they didn't know how to cook the neck.
And then they tried to put everything else from
the pantry on the plate, and it just didn't work.
Baskets were difficult, but I think we've decided.
[Arielle] It was nerve-wracking having the judges judge my food.
But now, after getting through all these rounds, I mean,
my confidence is definitely feeling really good.
I hope I'm the winner today.
[Davante] I'm feeling good.
I don't think there's anything that Arielle did that's going
to stand in my way from winning the $10,000.
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Arielle, you've been chopped.
-Judges? -[Geoffrey] Arielle, it was a delight to
have you cook for us today.
Your first course, we loved the idea of
you doing crostini, but we felt
your slipper lobster was quite overcooked.
When it came to dessert, we couldn't taste
the salad cream.
And we really felt that the ice cream
is over churned just a bit too much.
And so we had to chop you.
Thank you very much.
So although I didn't take home the win,
I still feel like a winner.
I came in second place against some really talented chefs.
I am leaving this competition so proud of myself.
And that means, Chef Davante Burnley,
you are the Chopped champion.
$10,000 is the promised prize.
-Well done, sir. -[all clapping]
-[Fariyal] Congrats. -[Marc] Good job.
I feel like I won a championship game today.
Being a Chopped champion is so validating.
This win is going to mean the world to my family.
I can't wait to get back home to Detroit
and let them know I won today.