[Ted] There will be three rounds.
The journey begins with these.
-[laughs] -[Ted] Clock starts now.
[Jada] I'm feeling very intimidated.
She doesn't seem like she is in a good place.
-How you doing, chef? -Not awesome.
I have so much to prove.
I love what she's doing. She's making like medallions.
-It's good. -[Nilou] One of you
is getting the big W.
-[Ted] Three... -[Bernard] I could do that.
-[Ted] Two... -[Bernard] How's your polenta coming along?
-[Ted] One. Time's up. -[Jada] It's a challenge.
It was stunning to look at.
It's incredibly flavorful.
[Nilou] Really perfection.
Whose dish is on the chopping block?
♪ I just love it roasted ♪
In my past life, I was a opera singer
and now I am a chef.
[yells]
I am the Culinary Creative Director
of the Elderslie Farm in Wichita, Kansas.
My style of cooking leans a lot
towards Northern Italian cuisine.
I use a lot of bold flavors.
♪ The smells, the sounds ♪
I'm done.
I'm fairly neurotic, but I'm the chef to beat
because my food is just a little bit
better than yours.
[Bernard] What sets me apart from the rest
of the competition is my drive to win.
My name is Bernard Bennett.
I'm the chef/owner of Okan
in Bluffton, South Carolina.
The restaurant is highlighting
bold, unique flavors from West African
and Caribbean cuisine.
I want you to have an emotion when you taste my food.
I want you to love it
so that you're taken
on a trip with every bite.
[Jada] I've been working in professional kitchens
since I was 16 years old.
My style of cooking has no boundaries.
I work at a Japanese restaurant in Tampa, Florida.
Also pulling from my own heritage,
which is Cuban and African-American.
In this industry, it's easy
for people like me to be overlooked.
I may be young,
but I'm a very fierce competitor.
I'm gonna go shave on top.
Right now, my number one thing on my list is winning Chopped.
[Lei] I'm competing for Chopped
because I need to set an example for my kids,
don't be scared and just go for it.
I'm the chef de cuisine of The Fulton in New York City.
I went to the French Culinary Institute,
but my style of cooking is New American
with Asian flare to it.
Use a lot of Thai chili.
You know, a little bit of heat goes a long way.
There's no one skilled as me.
Let's face the fact, I'm gonna win.
-Well, look who's here. -Hello. Hello.
-Hi. -[Ted] Hello, chefs. How are you?
So please tell us why you're here.
-I'm here to kick some butt. -Here for my kids.
Prove to myself that I can.
I'm here to take home the W.
Right on. Well, let's get to it.
There will be three rounds,
appetizer, entree, and dessert.
Mandatory mystery ingredients for each course.
If your dish doesn't cut it, you will be chopped.
I don't think so.
The journey begins with these.
[tense music playing]
Please open your appetizer baskets.
-Ooh. -[laughs]
[Ted] Can you successfully
-combine... -[in sing-song voice] Pastries.
[Ted] ...stuffed croissant rolls...
[Lei] All right. Okay.
Stuffed croissant roll, that's been, kind of, famous.
Everybody's been walking around New York City with it.
Layered in pistachio cream
and topped off with fresh pistachio.
[Ted] Garlic chives.
-Sparkling tea. -Sparkling tea.
-[Ted] Dandelion sparkling tea. -Looking crazy.
Dandelions can be pretty bitter, very earthy.
-Nice. -[Ted] And razor clams.
[Katharine] I live in Kansas,
razor clams is not something I do a lot of.
Twenty minutes. That's all you get.
-Clock starts now. -[Geoffrey] All right. Let's go.
-Let's go, chefs! -[Nilou] Go! Let's go!
[tense music playing]
Geoffrey, you were joined
by two of our favorite Chopped guest judges,
food journalist, Nilou Motamed, and Chef Cliff Crooks.
-Welcome back to you both. -[Geoffrey] Welcome back.
-Pleasure to be here as always. -Thank you for having us.
So happy to be back.
[Ted] Judges, razor clams are not the easiest ingredient.
What is the best way to cook them?
[Geoffrey] You can slice them very thin.
You can just blow on them and they'll be cooked.
I mean it's very... It's very fast.
[Nilou] The flavor profile is almost like a scallop
-in its sweetness. -[Geoffrey] Yeah, it is.
-And it's so... Yeah. -Scallop meets a calamari.
You can poach it for one minute.
Chill it. It's still technically raw.
-Chef Jada. -[Jada] Oh, hi. How are you?
-How are you? -[Cliff] What are you making? I'm great.
-How are you? -[Jada] I'm great.
I'm excited about these razor clams.
Razor clams are one of those things
that you don't want to take away
from the sweet, delicate flavor
that it naturally has.
What are we making?
Ceviche. Razor clam ceviche today.
I'm gonna poach these razor clams for just a few minutes.
For my ceviche pickling liquid,
I'm combining jalapenos, green garlic chives,
and dandelion green tea.
[Cliff] Dandelion sparkling tea, I personally enjoy
that bitter nature of the dandelion root.
It is actually quite acerbic. It's quite strong.
[Geoffrey] Ceviche is a great idea. But in this case,
you get a little like garlic chive puree...
-sort of like combine it all too... -That's nice. Yeah.
...like sort of wrap that razor clam.
It's beautiful fragrant mouth-feel of like a little...
Almost like a pesto, but not quite.
Like a leche de tigre would be great with this too.
[Geoffrey] Yes.
[Lei] There's so many ways to serve razor clams.
It's really important to make sure you have even cuts.
And the best way to do it is just to keep it simple.
[Cliff] How you doing, chef? What are you making?
[Lei] I wanna do a razor clam crudo
with a green apple and pistachio vinegarette
with dandelion tea.
Ugh, who drinks that?
And that's my base for my crudo.
I'm using the pistachio
for my stuffed crouton roll.
Pistachio and apple works pretty well together.
[Geoffrey] He's smart doing
a raw preparation, a raw version.
Very few ingredients,
you can actually serve raw and get away with it.
I have a Jamaican curry snapper
on my food truck
and so I'm making razor clam curry
with pancetta and mushrooms.
My plan is to take garlic chives
and the stuffed croissant,
blend them together
and make a herb thickener.
[Geoffrey] I see mushrooms. I don't get that.
Just wanna deep focus on what's in the basket
and to make those elements excel.
[Bernard] And I grab some cumin and curry powder
and then I grab coconut milk
and I can see it coming together.
[Katharine] At the farm, we have a cafe and fine dining restaurant.
We make local... Locally sourced seasonal ingredients,
um, a lot of veggie-centric stuff.
I make a lot of tarts at home.
I like infusing different doughs
with different flavors.
So I use the pistachio croissant
as additional flour in the tart dough.
Chef Katharine, what are you making?
I'm making a tart
with a little bit of sesame
and pistachio in the tart crust.
I'm going to make a little bit of a dandelion tea
and mirin glaze for the razor clams.
No one has ever made a pie tart in 20 minutes.
You need to do something clean and simple in this first round.
[Geoffrey] Unless you make it and it works
-and then you're a genius. -[Ted] Yes.
[Katharine] I have to get in the oven
to be able to cook it in time.
Less than 15 minutes on that clock already.
[Jada] When people eat ceviche, they have a toast point
or a piece of really crusty crostini bread,
so that's how I'm gonna treat this pistachio pastry.
Cutting these into perfect toast points, squares.
[Geoffrey] I don't like what I see Jada's doing.
I don't know where that goes.
[Nilou] I think she's got it on the grill pan,
but I worry that it's gonna burn.
[Cliff] That's a lot of sugar in there.
[Geoffrey] And butter. Careful.
I'm gonna use the stuffed croissant
to make croutons to add texture to my dish.
I'm looking at my crouton.
Some part is burnt, some are good.
I'm gonna scrape out the burnt pieces.
[Bernard] Using the dandelion tea
and more garlic chives.
I'm gonna make a citrus salad to go on top of the curry.
[Katharine] I'm excited about making a nice tidy slaw
that can go alongside with those razor clams
with a little radicchio, apple,
some of the dandelion tea.
There are no local razor clams in Kansas.
That sucks for you. We get them all the time over here.
[Katharine] Razor clams are not familiar to me.
Katharine, she's trying to get her razor clams out,
ripping them out instead of using her knife.
And there's only seven minutes left.
[Geoffrey] The key here in the first course
is to just to get to the second course.
[Katharine] I have to deal with these clams. Do I poach?
Do I, you know, do the ceviche thing?
I'm just gonna go with it.
Maybe it'll be fine.
[clock ticking]
[upbeat music playing]
[Nilou] Five minutes left.
Katharine is trying to get her razor clams out,
ripping them out instead of using her knife.
And there's only minutes left.
[Katharine] It's not going well.
Being from Kansas,
razor clams are not familiar to me.
So I chopped them real quickly.
And then start tossing them in my mirin vinegarette
with the dandelion.
Try to make sure that they touch acid
so that I'm not serving them
completely raw to the judges.
[Lei] Growing up, we ate Chinese food.
But my dad started watching Chopped
and started getting really creative.
Preparing my garlic chives and just toss them
with a little salt and olive oil.
[Geoffrey] Love what Lei's doing with the garlic chives.
He's grilling and charring them.
Bring a lot of flavor out.
[Bernard] The last thing I need to do for my curry
is add in my razor clams.
The earthy mushroom, the fats pancetta,
and the sweet razor clam
are all going to dance together.
The ceviche definitely has right amount of heat,
right amount of acidity.
Stuffed croissant roll has got pistachio
so I incorporate them into my ceviche
and adding some texture.
I'm a little worried turning these over,
seeing that all those sugars really caramelized.
I'm hoping that it isn't too caramelized,
but at the end of the day, I did actually want some char.
[Ted] One minute left on the clock, chefs.
[Katharine] Oh, dear.
The tart is clearly not done.
We're just gonna do a pan sear on these individual rounds.
The rounds start falling apart.
The clock is ticking.
My tart crust is now a crumble.
-Oh, my gosh. -This is gonna be something.
Katharine, she has used that pistachio
in the tart dough.
That 20-minute round always flies by, chefs.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one.
-[Jada] Finish. -[Ted] Time's up.
-[applauses] -Whoo!
[tense music playing]
[Katharine] I have a tart crust turned crumble.
You know, you think through everything
after the fact and here we are.
[Lei] My crudo.
It's well balanced, it's fresh, it's vibrant.
I got all the components on.
I don't think there was anything hard about this.
Chefs, we've just tested your culinary wits
with an appetizer basket of stuffed croissant rolls,
garlic chives, dandelion sparkling tea,
and razor clams.
Chef Bernard, we'll start with you.
What have you made for us?
I've made a razor clam curry
with citrus salad on top,
made with the dandelion tea and garlic chives.
[Ted] So, what sparked your love for cooking?
[Bernard] My mom. My mom taught me everything
and then she became bedridden
and I had to cook for the family.
And so once I started cooking,
it was... It was no looking back.
She passed in 2004
and so I dedicate this whole day to honor her.
Your curry is really like a master class in curry.
Incredible flavor.
It is really soulful and hearty.
I love curry. It's actually like a...
wearing a mink, a mink coat.
-Or a corduroy suit. -Or a corduroy suit.
[laughter]
Whatever you put over it, it feels great
and that's why a curry's so smart.
Put rice in it, potatoes is great.
[Cliff] The clams in my bowl are cooked very, very well.
Unfortunately, they're still left whole,
so eating especially out of this vessel,
it's not... It's not working.
And, you know, while the clams are good,
you see those things a little, like,
-it's like a bad toenail. -Got you.
Next up, Chef Lei.
This is an Asian inspired
razor clam ceviche.
Grilled garlic chives,
and then just topped off croutons.
What got you started in the kitchen?
My dad.
You know, when we first moved to America,
he worked in the restaurant.
He finally worked his way up to a sous chef
and I was so proud of him and I always wanted to be a chef.
I like the cooking of the razor clams
and for the most part, the cuts in the razor clam
are even, on a bias.
And the crouton is a great idea,
but like half of mine are burnt.
The actual broth here is good.
But I'm looking for chili.
I was looking for a Thai chili.
If you put crushed red pepper
-in the base of this... -Yeah.
...it would've given that heat to it.
-[Lei] Yes. -It's a good dish
that could be really freaking great.
There's something about the way that you wilted
those garlic chives that actually takes away from them,
even though they do need some mellowing.
There was a bite that I got of razor clam
and apple and it was really perfection.
Your knife cuts are worth applauding.
-Great job on that. -Thank you.
Next up, Chef Jada.
I've made a razor clam ceviche,
lightly poached, and then tossed in lime juice,
a little bit of that tea, chopped garlic chives,
and then a little olive oil to finish.
How long have you been a chef?
I started cooking at a French fine dining restaurant
as soon as I could get a job at 16.
-Fantastic. -This dish is a beautiful
presentation of razor clam.
Razor clam was well poached.
I think your garlic chives are well represented
as is your sparkling dandelion tea.
I just think mesclun greens diminish
the level of your cooking.
They get soggy.
They're just kind of like a tough product.
[Cliff] The amount of brightness is fantastic.
The clams are cooked well,
but they're not cooked perfectly.
A little bit over.
-Thank you. -[Geoffrey] It's a pretty dish
with the exception of the sombrero.
-I don't think it belongs with ceviche. -[Jada] Okay.
[Geoffrey] And it sort of like spoils the party.
-Okay. Thank you. -[Geoffrey] But good flavors.
Chef, if you go all the way in this competition,
you get a prize of 10K.
Is there any thoughts on what you might do with it?
[Jada] I've always wanted to relocate to New York City
or to DC, and just broaden my horizons.
[Ted] Chef Jada, thank you. Finally, Chef Katharine.
You have before you a deconstructed pistachio
and sesame tartlet with a little slaw
of green apple radicchio and the razor clams.
[Geoffrey] You have a good idea.
Apples, good idea. Radicchio, good idea.
So you have sweet, bitter, you have garlic chive.
And I like the cooking of the razor clam.
I like the fact that you used a bright amount of acid.
It's kind of nice because it...
It's a little bit of a refresher
for your... for your palate.
I think your garlic chives are well represented.
Great job on that.
It is a very good effort.
Watch your timing.
That's how you're gonna make it to the end.
-Absolutely. -No one has ever made
a pie tart in 20 minutes ever.
I applaud you for trying to make a tart.
Are there any ingredients from the basket
in this raw dough here?
Yes, it has, um, the pistachio croissant.
-[Geoffrey] Okay. -Um, and then a little bit
of the dandelion tea is in there.
Okay. There are no free passes in this game.
First elimination is coming up.
[Katharine] I would love to cook another round.
I learned a lot.
I have to stay in my wheelhouse
if I'm making an appetizer in 20 minutes.
[Bernard] I want to get onto the next round
and I wanna prove my mistakes were just flukes.
[intense music playing]
[clock ticking]
[Ted] One chef's appetizer didn't make the cut.
Whose dish is on the chopping block?
[suspenseful music playing]
[Ted] Chef Katharine, you've been chopped.
-Judges? -Thank you.
Chef Katharine, you took a risk that didn't pay off.
You used that stuffed croissant
and tried to create a pie crust in 20 minutes.
And so we had to chop you.
Thank you so much for the opportunity.
I really appreciate it. Thank you.
It's really important to stretch yourself far enough.
Ultimately, it makes us good at what we do
if we're willing to deal with it in a gracious way.
[Ted] Chef Bernard, Chef Lei,
Chef Jada, Chopped is exhausting.
Are you reset and refocused for round two?
-Yeah, let's do this. -Oh, yeah, right away.
Let's go. Come on. Piece of cake.
Hmm. Excellent.
Fresh set of ingredients.
Please open your entree baskets.
-What? -[Ted] A taco salad.
[Lei] Taco salad.
It's great during a football game,
but I don't know about this.
[Ted] Caperberries.
Denver steaks.
[Ted] Denver steaks.
[Bernard] A Denver steak is similar to a rib eye.
If treated correctly, it...
it'll melt in your mouth.
Rice pudding?
[Ted] And rice pudding.
Thirty minutes to hammer out main dishes.
Time starts now.
Judges, rice pudding, yay or nay?
Yay. Absolute yay.
I love rice pudding.
It's everything about my childhood.
My mother let me get it every single time
and I would one by one completely demolish
six rice pudding.
Let's look at our context here.
This is rice pudding in an entree basket.
I'm hoping maybe like a cream spinach
using some of the custard.
[Geoffrey] It's a terrific opportunity
to really showcase the steak.
I think polenta is going down now on Jada's station,
but I would make a green peppercorn sauce
and put that rice pudding in like cream.
-That's... That is a... -Mmm-hmm.
-That's genius. -Bernard, what are we eating?
[Bernard] I'm thinking about taking this rice pudding
and turning it into a risotto.
Wow. What are you gonna do with the steak?
You gonna make that into veal?
-I could do that. -You can?
If Bernard got the risotto started right away,
he stands a chance.
Compared to round one, I'm feeling less pressure.
Typical cook time for risotto is 18 minutes.
I'm very happy with the plan that I have.
I'm making grilled Denver steak,
caperberry risotto,
and then I'm adding in chicken stock.
[Nilou] Don't forget about the taco salad.
It's a meal in and of itself.
You've got ground beef, you've got tomatoes,
tortillas in there, cheddar cheese, black olives.
You can really just pick and choose what you want out of it.
-Of course, use what you want. -[Nilou] Correct.
I would just extract the olives.
That's all I'm thinking about is just get
the olives out and get rid of the rest.
-[Geoffrey] Yup. -[Nilou] Use the caperberries
and the olives and then make a sauce out of that,
like almost like a gremolata kind of vibe.
[Jada] I see many different
cheese components on this taco salad.
That's gonna be really easy to transform
into something really cheesy.
For my entree, I'm making a seared Denver steak
with cheesy polenta, taking the cheddar cheese
as well as that rice pudding and blitzing it in the blender,
this like really cheesy cream.
[Cliff] Chef Jada, how's your polenta coming along?
[Jada] It's a challenge trying to get it to that right consistency.
I like to absorb a lot of the cream.
Polenta and rice are things that can go
really easily badly.
They definitely can.
[Lei] I automatically know I'm gonna go
in this curry direction because something familiar.
I'm always making it at home
and my kids ask for it, my wife asks for it.
Lei, what do you have for us for an entree?
[Lei] I got some grilled steak with some curry sauce,
some lemongrass rice.
I start my rice on the stove top,
bring it to a boil, cover it with a lid
and then put it in the oven.
Nobody wants burnt rice.
The most important thing with Denver steak
is you don't wanna overcook it
and you wanna cut it against the grain.
And I'm gonna grill it just to add
that nice char flavor to it.
Less than 20 minutes to go, chefs.
[Bernard] With my Denver steaks,
a hard grill mark on them is essential.
Encapsulates the outside
and the inside will remain juicy.
Green seasoning is used all over the Caribbean.
It's similar to salsa verde
or, uh, chimichurri.
I'm gonna use the caperberries
in my green seasoning.
[Geoffrey] I love these caperberries,
like a mini pickled watermelon.
It's just so good.
It's like a little sour vinaigrette
-with your martini. -[Nilou] Yeah.
And they really wake up a dish.
[Geoffrey] I love what Jada's doing.
She's making like medallions.
It's good because she can sear them
on all four or five sides, get a lot of flavor.
[Jada] I take apart my garlic from the bowl and crush it.
I also add some rosemary so it gets nice and crispy,
and you also get that herbaceous note
within the steak.
[Bernard] I'm gonna use the olives and tomato
from my taco salad in the risotto.
The caperberries, I slice them in half
and toss those in.
How's your risotto coming along?
[Bernard] It's coming pretty good.
[Cliff] What part of the rice pudding
have you used in the risotto itself?
All of the rice pudding.
[Cliff] All of it. So now you're scaring me.
When you make risotto and you call it risotto,
it better be risotto.
Making it with cooked rice is not risotto.
[Nilou] What can happen in this kitchen
is the chefs feel like
they have to use every element
of a basket ingredient.
-And they do not. -[Ted] No.
-Do not. -They should not do that.
Chef Lei, how's your dish coming along?
[Lei] So great.
I'm here. I'm hanging out with you guys.
I'm cooking with my friends.
I decided to use every part of this taco salad
in my curry
because I think it's gonna come out amazing.
I'm adding the rice pudding to kind of create starchiness
and bring out some sweetness to it.
I add the caperberries last
because when you cook them, it loses its flavor.
Five minutes to go, chefs.
[Jada] I really love the flavor of caperberries,
so I cut them into slices and throw them in the fryer.
And I go to cut open one of my steaks,
they are definitely a little undercooked.
So last minute I grabbed a skillet,
turned it on as high as it can possibly go
and throw my steaks in there.
It will come up to temp while I plate everything else.
Chef Jada is unhappy
with the way her steaks are cooked.
She doesn't seem like she is in a good place.
[Ted] Guys, you got to plate.
-Less than a minute. -Come on.
Here we go, chefs. Come on.
Chef Bernard, you can do it.
All right, chefs, get it together
in ten, nine,
eight, seven, six,
five, four, three,
-two, one. -[Nilou] Come on.
-Time's up. -[Nilou] Okay, chefs.
[applause]
[Jada] My steaks were a little under,
so I put them in the pan
to help them cook a little bit longer.
There might be some technical errors,
but overall I'm really happy about what I put up.
I'm most worried about my steaks.
Felt like there wasn't enough time,
or I could've dropped them on earlier.
[tense music playing]
[clock ticking]
Chefs, you opened up the entree basket
and unpacked a taco salad,
caperberries,
Denver steaks
and rice pudding.
Chef Jada, please tell us about your main course.
I prepared, um, a seared Denver steak.
On the bottom we have a creamy,
cheesy cheddar polenta
that's gonna be accompanied with a veal demi sauce
that's got fried caperberries in there.
[Ted] Chef, what would it mean to you
to win this competition?
[Jada] Sometimes people underestimate me
because of my age, my size, what have you,
so this would kind of help
to prove and reinforce along with everything else
that I've done that, uh, I can definitely do this.
Chef Jada, this is a very beautifully presented dish.
I love how many elements of the taco salad
you used in it.
The way you used the rice pudding
was very smart.
The highlight for me is the way
you treated the caperberries.
The fact that you fried them,
it gives you these great pops of acid.
I would've wanted even more of them,
-but I'm kind of... -Right.
...a little bit of a pickle junkie.
Yeah, me too.
When making polenta, you wanna rein it in.
Okay.
[Cliff] Without doing that,
you're gonna get large clumps...
-Okay. -[Cliff] ...like this
-throughout the entire dish. -Okay.
[Cliff] The Denver steak is seasoned very, very well.
-[Jada] Thank you. -It is a little bit under.
Okay.
[Geoffrey] Yeah, it's a little under, it's a rare.
It doesn't bother me because it...
It's a very toothsome steak and so I enjoy it.
-Got it. -About the polenta,
given what you put in there, it actually is good.
All in all, some very good cooking here.
[Jada] Thank you. I appreciate it.
-You're welcome. -Next, Chef Lei.
It's a Thai curry inspired grilled beef.
[Ted] Any thoughts on what you would do
with the $10,000 if and when you won it?
Take my wife on our honeymoon, that I've been promising.
Ah.
How did you use the taco salad?
The taco salad was in the curry.
-The whole thing? So you're... -[Lei] The whole thing.
...including the lettuce, all of it?
-[Lei] Everything. -[Cliff scoffs]
[Nilou] Man...
Throwing an entire taco salad...
-Yeah. -...into a... Into a curry
could be considered a cop out,
but I think it was really the best move
you could have possibly made.
Where's the rice pudding?
The rice pudding is in the curry.
It's part of the thickener.
Okay.
[Lei] And that helps like add a little sweetness to it.
[Cliff] It's incredibly flavorful.
The beef is slightly overcooked,
but saved by this curry.
Yeah.
The notes of the caperberry in there,
so I'm really pleased about that.
-Good job, man. Really... -Thank you.
...really good job.
Chef Lei, this is absolutely delicious.
Thank you.
[Nilou] A surprisingly phenomenal dish
considering what you were working with.
Yeah. Thank you.
For once, it's a cooked rice that's properly
and plus it's really nicely flavored with lemongrass.
It is bold to cook two ingredients
that are not in the basket really well.
-Really good cooking. -Thank you.
Finally, Chef Bernard.
I did for you a grilled Denver steak
with a caperberry risotto.
[Geoffrey] Bernard, let's talk.
You know how to cook steak? Check.
You know how to season? Check. Perfectly.
I love that sauce.
There's so much garlic in it.
And I love the idea of doing a risotto,
but it has to be cooked through.
And this is a bit too raw.
[Cliff] This half of the plate is stellar.
It's stellar. The risotto's the problem, man.
It's unfortunately undercooked.
[Nilou] I love the fact that you used
the caperberries in the sauce that you made.
It feels like the escargot butter,
you know, with all that intensity of flavor.
Sauce is bangin'. It really is.
Using the tomatoes and the olives
is the wisest move based on the dish
that you chose to make.
Okay. Please give the judges a moment
to work out who has to go home before dessert.
[Lei] I'm a little worried
'cause the steak wasn't well rested,
but I'm glad they enjoyed the curry.
So, scary.
[Bernard] The steak was outstanding.
The cook on it was great. The sauce over it was great.
I just didn't execute the risotto.
[tense music playing]
[clock ticking]
[Ted] One chef's entree has ended up here.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
[tense music playing]
Chef Bernard, you've been chopped.
Judges?
Chef Bernard, the level of seasoning in the sauce,
the level of seasoning in the Denver steak itself
were spectacular.
The other half of the plate, the risotto,
was unfortunately not as successful.
The risotto was very, very much undercooked.
And unfortunately, we had to chop you.
Thank you so much and thank you for, uh,
-this opportunity. -Thank you.
Thank you for being with us, chef.
[Bernard] Making it to this competition
is a dream come true.
Not a lot of chefs get this opportunity
and I'm more than proud to work
with these amazing chefs.
Chef Jada, Chef Lei, two chefs left to duke it out.
Heading into this final round, what's your strategy?
Using my pastry experience to take home the win.
Trusting my instinct
and I'm gonna bring home that W.
Will your approach work
with whatever is in this final basket?
Let's see your dessert ingredients.
-[laughs] -Breakfast sandwiches?
[Ted] What will you make
with frozen breakfast sandwiches?
These look like beautiful oranges.
[Ted] Satsuma.
All right. We've got buttermilk.
[Ted] Buttermilk.
And a pretzel pizza.
Comes with a handle as well.
This candied mound,
it looks like one huge cake.
I am definitely confused about this.
Thirty minutes to take those ingredients and run with 'em.
Time starts now.
-[cheering] -[applause]
[Nilou] Let's go.
This is a hard basket.
[Nilou] What do you do with those breakfast sandwiches?
Get rid of the turkey patty, goodbye.
And it's an English muffin, so it's a perfectly plain...
It's a great vehicle for whatever you want.
My kids love French toast.
So, I'm making
tiramisu-inspired French toast.
In classic tiramisu recipes,
there's always whipped mascarpone cheese in it.
And I'm gonna use the Satsuma
and buttermilk as the base of my French toast batter.
Those Satsuma, those seedless oranges are spectacular.
[Nilou] They come from California. They have no seed
and they are the sweetest of all the mandarins.
[Lei] I'm gonna use the English muffin
from the breakfast sandwich.
It's gonna absorb all the liquid.
I keep thinking about my kids.
They're always telling me I'm the best chef.
They're my drive to win this.
[Jada] I'm thinking about making a donut,
so I'm gonna use a pate a choux dough.
-She's making a pate a choux. -[Nilou] She is?
[Geoffrey] Pate a choux is the dough you use to make creampuffs.
That's very bold to make pate a choux.
[Jada] I'm gonna be making a Satsuma donut...
with the salty pretzel English muffin crumble.
And I pipe my donuts into little circles
so that way they can immediately go into the oven.
These are not gonna be your traditional baked donuts.
They're gonna cook halfway through in the oven,
and then I'm going to deep fry them to really get
that crispy, crunchy texture on the outside.
Chefs, 20 minutes to get this done.
[Geoffrey] These frozen breakfast sandwiches
are filled with cooked sausage patty.
-[Nilou] Yeah. -[Geoffrey] What do you do?
We're gonna get rid of the sausage patty.
Absolutely. Get rid of the patty.
Goodbye.
[Lei] Chopped is all about showcasing
these basket ingredients.
So, I'm making a caramel gastrique
with Satsuma juice, buttermilk,
and sausage from the breakfast patty,
because there's spices
in there that I wanna utilize.
[Jada] If I win the 10 grand,
I would love to move to a bigger city
where the food scene is booming.
There are no Michelin stars in Tampa,
so I would love to work
at a Michelin star restaurant
in New York or DC or Chicago.
[Nilou] Buttermilk is a milk that's been cultured.
So, instead of getting milky sweet taste of milk,
you end up getting a tangy taste.
It's easy to make. Just put milk and lemon juice together.
You can make it yourself.
[Jada] A donut needs a really good sauce,
something to help alleviate that really rich texture.
So, I'm gonna make a whipped cream with my buttermilk.
It's good.
This is insane. What is this? Who eats this?
[Nilou] So a pretzel pizza.
Imagine chocolate and pretzels
and white chocolate. That's what they're working with.
[Lei] I'm making whipped mascarpone with Satsuma juice.
I'm adding in the pretzel pizza
to add a little texture to it.
French toast isn't cooking the way I want it to.
It's not browning enough and it's just taking forever.
I am feeling a little worried about this French toast
knowing if I'm gonna make it or not.
I'm feeling really stressed.
Oh, my God, it's five minutes.
[Nilou] Chef Jada is taking a big risk
here with her pate a choux donuts.
Since you put them in the oven,
they're still not done.
There's a lot riding on this very moment.
Donuts, they were very pale.
Very, very pale.
I'm just hoping that these chefs are gonna figure out
a way to bring it all together and sing one song.
Yeah, without too much discord.
Yes. [exhales]
Chef Jada is taking a big risk here with her pate a choux donuts.
Since you put them in the oven, they're still not done.
These are not gonna be your traditional baked donuts.
I'm going to deep fry them to really get that crispy,
crunchy texture on the outside.
It's something really inviting
that you'd think of when you have a donut.
[Cliff] Definitely neck and neck race right now.
[Geoffrey] First course clearly went to Chef Jada.
The ceviche was I think, a bit better and more vibrant
than the execution that Chef Lei did.
But Chef Lei, I thought his main course
was definitely the star of that entree round.
So basically, we have a race.
[Nilou] Chef Jada has not touched her breakfast sandwich.
What's the plan here?
I'm gonna be using the English muffin
from the breakfast sandwich as well as the pretzels
from this pretzel cake to make a crumble.
I'm just gonna crisp up this bread and combine it
into my pretzel crumble.
One minute left on the clock, chefs.
[Lei] I'm adding berries and mints because these berries
are very bright and acidic.
And then mint is just a little freshness.
One of you is getting the big W and that 10K.
[Ted] All right, chefs.
Final seconds of the final round here.
-[Nilou] Here we go. -[Ted] Ten,
nine, eight,
-seven, six... -Come on, chefs.
...five,
four, three,
two, one,
time's up. Please step back.
[Nilou] Okay.
Great job.
[Jada] I definitely took a risk by trying to make donuts
within 30 minutes, but I'm hoping that it pays off.
[Lei] It's a scary $10,000 dessert,
but I know the flavor is there.
[Ted] Chef Lei and Chef Jada,
your mission in the final round was to make dessert
with frozen breakfast sandwiches,
Satsuma,
buttermilk,
and a pretzel pizza.
Chef Lei. What'd you do?
This is something that I probably
would make for my kids.
Kind of a mock tiramisu French toast,
and a sausage patty gastrique go on top.
You made a sausage gastrique for dessert?
-Yes, for dessert. -[Ted] Okay.
Using that turkey sausage patty
from the breakfast sandwich was crazy smart.
I would not have gone down that road.
Topping it with the pretzel pizza
in order to get texture was also another really good idea.
The largest miss here
was the English muffin
from the breakfast sandwich
that just didn't soak in the custard long enough.
You have a lot of components, some of which are distracting me
from one of the basket ingredients, which is Satsuma.
-Okay. -[Geoffrey] I love the idea of a tiramisu.
One of my favorite desserts. And I do get Satsuma,
I wish I had more,
but very clever idea.
-Very clever idea. -Thank you.
Finally, Chef Jada.
I have a Satsuma donut,
buttermilk, Satsuma cream sauce on top.
We have a pretzel and English muffin crumble.
Chef Jada, you know, I did not think
you were going to be successful in making these donuts.
And then even when you went to the fryer,
I was like, "Oh, crap. I really hope these turn out."
So, I'm shocked and kudos.
Thank you.
[Cliff] Textually, they are incredibly light.
The one knock, if they could have fried a little bit longer,
meaning if you had more time, the clock does not allow for that.
-Right. -[Cliff] What's in the cream?
[Jada] Buttermilk, heavy cream, Satsuma zest.
That's really what's missing in this dish
-for me is more of that cream. -Okay.
That cream was half your basket ingredient.
So you want to celebrate it as much as you did.
The pate a choux...
The pate a choux I think is beautiful.
It is stunning to look at the way you piped it.
I'm not getting as much of the pretzel pizza
as I would like.
It's the first time I think in this kitchen
I've seen pate a choux work as successfully as this.
Just more is more, you know, the case with donuts, right?
Let's have more of this. But a really good dessert.
-[Jada] Thank you. -Well done.
[Ted] All right. The judges' biggest decision is eminent.
Please give them time to work it out.
Well, some great cooking from them both
and some errors as well.
Jada's dessert was among the best
I've ever had in the Chopped kitchen
and I think that Lei's entree
was among the best flavors
I've had in this kitchen as well.
I would agree with you. Those two were outstanding.
[Cliff] Lei had a dish that flavor-profile wise,
nailed it. Absolutely nailed it.
Jada's Denver steak
over that creamy, luscious polenta,
the cook on the beef was a little bit under,
the seasoning on the beef was great,
I think I had the only plate that was a little bit lumpy.
For the first course, on one hand, Chef Lei,
his knife skills are really great.
On the other hand, he put diced croissant
that were burnt on top.
Chef Jada, more acid flavor, more forward.
The cuts were better,
but then she took, like, half of this pastry
and just plopped it on top.
[Cliff] Jada's razor clams were slightly overcooked,
but I'll let it pass because the entirety of the dish was excellent.
But as good as Chef Jada's dish was,
I thought that Chef Lei was better.
[Ted] So, do we know which chef aced this competition?
[Lei] I brought a lot of myself,
poured out my heart to most of my dishes.
This isn't a facade.
This is just me and this is it.
I hear $10,000 covers like a few days of rent
in New York, so I think that would definitely help out
a lot and I'm really hoping that I take home the W.
[Ted] So, whose dish
is on the chopping block?
Chef Lei, you've been chopped.
-Judges? -[Geoffrey] Chef Lei,
the third dish is really the problem dish for us.
The English muffin that you soaked
needed more soaking.
It was dry and really, really unsoaked and undercooked.
And so, we had to chop you.
Thank you, judge.
Chopped, I've been watching
since I was a kid.
Getting up to round three,
you know, not being chopped first,
it was kind of nice to, like, make it to the final.
And that means, Chef Jada Vidal,
you are the Chopped Champion.
-Congratulations. Well done. -Thank you.
-[Geoffrey] Yeah. -Thank you so much.
Well done. How does that feel?
It feels amazing.
I won Chopped.
He was a tough competitor.
You know, it doesn't really matter how old you are.
Today, I cooked better than every chef in here.