[man 1] I'm here to honor Tuscan cuisine.
[man 2] I've forgotten more about Italian cuisine
than a lot of people probably have learned.
[woman 1] I am the queen of Emilia-Romagna.
[man 3] This competition is very personal to me.
Which region will reign supreme?
We are putting the nation's
best Italian chefs to the test.
Mamma mia. Perfecto.
The grand champion is gonna walk away with $25,000.
Bring it, baby, bring it.
[Alex] It's not gonna be enough
to just cook the best in the room.
It's not just what we cook...
-...basta. -...it's who we are.
Can these chefs bring the brilliance?
They're gonna think that I'm crazy.
My apology!
There are so many different ways
you can really mess it up.
You realize that those flavors
have nothing to do with each other.
-Yeah. -Yeah. Okay.
[speaking foreign language] [bleep]
I don't know what that means.
Yes! Baby, come to me.
I think this basket bullied you.
[Alex] You've got 30 seconds!
-You're making a vinaigrette? -Keep it together.
[man 4] I think this is really where the magic of Italy
meets the harsh reality of Chopped.
[Ted] This is Chopped, Battle Italiano.
[man 1] There is a beautiful soul to Tuscan cuisine
that doesn't exist anywhere else in the world.
[woman 1] It's the heart of Italy.
It's so rich and full of tradition.
[man 2] We just walk down the markets,
it's lined with vegetables, zucchini, eggplant...
[woman 2] I just felt this connection to Tuscany.
I felt like this overwhelming wave of emotion.
Tuscany brought so much light.
[Robbie] Despite not being Italian born,
you can make the best Italian food on the planet.
Tuscan cuisine really taught me
that it's more important to cook with love
than to go through the motions.
I'm the type of chef to not just make food
but to express myself through food,
and to coax it into a simple symphony of flavor.
My competitive nature
comes from my hatred of losing.
That fire to keep from losing is what keeps me in the game.
[Julia] I've been told I was intimidating
in pretty much every area of my life.
My style of cooking is really rooted in my Italian heritage.
My mom's parents are from Naples,
and I often grew up making Sunday sauce.
I went to Toscana Saporita, a magical culinary school in the Tuscan countryside.
Takes me right back to making [indistinct] in Tuscany.
I got to go truffle hunting and learned pizza making
in an old, 100 years old pizza oven.
Honestly, it's somewhere
that I hold in such high reverence.
Perfect.
Everything about Tuscan cooking is,
is food that's really cooked with passion and love.
And it's really what made me wanna become a chef.
I'm gonna win because I have the heart behind my food.
[Dwight] This is my chance to show the world
this guy from New York City
can cook the best Tuscan food
that the judges will ever taste.
I have spent the last decade perfecting the Italian food
and staying true to the Tuscan region.
I just love the fact that
they take great care of their ingredients
and there's this aspect of the food being as fresh as possible.
There is no one who is as skilled
and cool and calm under pressure than me.
Chopped separates the good from the great.
When lights come on, I'll show you what I got.
[Leigh] Italian food is my career, it's my whole life.
I moved my life to Florence a little over two years,
and my one sole focus
was to learn any and everything that you can
about Italian food.
A little of this, a little of that
and here we are18 years later and I have a restaurant
on one of the busiest streets in Dallas,
Via Triozzi.
We're a pasta house.
Very rustic, traditional to our core.
I want to continue the legacy and traditions
that I learned from Italy and my grandma.
I mean, if we're not authentic and traditional,
then what are we?
[speaking foreign language]
I have the passion and heart to bring home this win.
And when you want it bad enough,
not much will get in your way.
-Ciao, chefs. -[all] Ciao.
-Buongiorno. -Welcome to our Battle Italiano.
The preliminary battles of this tournament,
focus on four specific Italian regions.
Four winners representing those regions
face off in the finale.
One chef will win $25,000
and the title of Chopped Grand Champion.
-Born for it. -I'm on his mind, Ted.
Tuscan cuisine is incredibly fresh,
local, seasonal and simple.
Are you ready to show us
all that Tuscan food has to offer?
-Can't wait. -Let's go.
Time to find out what's in this first basket.
Go for it.
Oh, wow!
[Ted] And you've got cockscombs.
[Robbie] Cockscomb is not my everyday repertoire,
but it looks like a part of the chicken.
But I'm just not sure which part.
[Ted] Heirloom tomatoes.
[Julia] Heirloom tomatoes? Hell, yeah. Let's go.
-[Ted] Wild boar... -Wild boar.
And cannellini beans.
-[Leigh] So Tuscan. -Feeling the Tuscan vibes.
[Ted] You'll have just 20 minutes for the appetizer round.
The clock starts now.
-Get set, go! Come on! -Let's go!
[Gabe] Come on! Andiamo!
Champagne.
Judges, a tasty tour of Italy in five parts.
It's been so thrilling, discovering how different
and special the regions are.
It's so fun. They really showcase
the differences between each regions.
You start to see the specialties.
Whoo!
Scott, you are joined by two special guest judges,
chef and restaurateur, Tiffany Derry
and Italian Cuisine authority and the host of Ciao House
on Food Network, chef Gabe Bertaccini.
[Gabe] This is very exciting for me, guys.
I grew up in Florence, in Toscana.
So we're always called mangiatori di fagioli.
Bean eaters because beans, especially cannellini beans,
we use them in so many ways.
Also the one in the can,
it's cool because you can use the liquid as well.
Let's talk about cockscomb.
[Scott] I used to do a ragout out of it.
That product itself is just so full of cartilage
and just really deep, beautiful flavor.
Yep.
The cockscombs are throwing me for a loop, for sure.
Never have I ever cooked with them.
But you can turn really anything into a meatball.
Chef Leigh, what are you making there?
I am doing a cinghiale and rooster comb meatball
with a cannellini bean puree
and topped with a sauteed tomato concoction.
Chef Leigh, I have been hunting wild boar in Tuscany
since I was 12 with my grandpa.
No pressure, just so you know, No pressure.
-Okay. -All right?
[Leigh] So I'm making my meatballs
by combining the ground wild boar,
with diced cockscomb, garlic, chopped parsley
and grated pecorino romano.
[Gabe] You know, I am concerned.
I mean, it's a very lean meat, you know?
-Where's the fat? -What are you gonna put in it?
Where is the fat?
[Robbie] I'm anxious to see what cut is in there.
Robbie, what's going on?
So I am going to do a little bit of seared wild boar medallions,
a warm cannellini bean salad with some crispy cockscomb
and a little bit of tomato in balsamic.
All right, Chef.
I want to do a balsamic sear on this wild boar
and a little bit of seasoning.
Simple flavors to represent Tuscan cuisine.
I add sugar to the heirloom tomatoes
to bring out the natural sweetness in the tomatoes.
But I also add balsamic vinegar
because I want a balance of the two.
-Chef Dwight. -Buongiorno.
What's, what's going on in your kitchen?
I'm gonna do, like, a beautiful seared boar
with a warm bean salad
and a fresh tomato vinaigrette.
-[Tiffany] All right. -Beautiful. I like that.
[Dwight] Tuscan food is humble food, and it's never too complicated.
And I'm staying true to Tuscany
in this round by keeping it simple.
I rinse off the cannellini beans,
and then add in my cockscomb in there
and kind of warmed it all together.
I feel like he needs a lot more garlic
and tomato and things like that.
You could really kind of double down on that deep, beautiful flavor.
I agree.
[Leigh] We need some music down here.
[Julia] I know, right?
I've been lucky enough to cook and eat in Tuscany.
My time there introduced me
to the heart of Tuscan cooking,
and that's something I really can deliver.
Julia, what's going on there?
Oh, yeah, I'm doing
a seared boar, um, over fresh tomato.
I'm kind of doing a little nod to ...candy,
so, beans, with the cockscomb
marinated with some capers and olives.
-That sounds good. -Thank you.
[Gabe] Love the flavors.
...candy which is, essentially, taking pork
and oil packing it,
and it's often served over beans.
So with the cockscomb,
I think, "Oh, okay, that can kind of stand in
as the pork in this element."
Chefs, less than 15 minutes left here.
[Leigh] I'm making a cannellini bean puree
out of olive oil
and a little bit of crushed red pepper as well,
to give a little bit of heat.
The heirloom tomatoes, they shine how they are.
Put them in the pan,
olive oil, garlic and let them do their thing.
How you guys doing down there?
[Julia] Doing good. How are you?
I taste the marinade white bean mixture,
and I'm like, "Hell, yeah, that tastes delicious."
And then I add the cockscombs.
[Robbie] My plan with the cockscomb is to see
if I can get it crispy in the fryer,
and then I want to add it
as a crispy component to my bean saute.
[sizzling and popping]
-Hold on. -That's true.
-Ted-- -Look at that.
Oh, holy smoke.
Everybody step back.
That may not be the best idea.
[dramatic music playing]
Chef Robbie frying those cockscombs,
they're bursting and popping.
These are boiled. I think there's a lot of residual liquid and fat
underneath that skin on the exterior.
[Robbie] I might have went the wrong direction,
but I taste it, and I realize that it is getting
a little bit crispy, like I like it.
So I'm gonna chop it up
and incorporate it in my saute.
Chef Robbie, how you looking?
Looking cute. Feeling cute?
[Ted] Two minutes, Chefs.
[Dwight] I'm going to use my heirloom tomatoes to make a vinaigrette.
I want chunks of tomato
and add olive oil and champagne vinegar.
I decided to use radicchio
and endives as a base of my salad
to highlight Tuscany.
It's time to slice my wild boar.
-Ooh, Dwight's boar looks cooked! -Really hammered that boar.
-Yeah. -[Dwight] It's a little bit overcooked
and I'm someone who takes
a lot of pride in nailing temperatures.
But this one got away from me.
[Ted] One minute to get it done, chefs.
[Julia] With my heirloom tomatoes,
I'm gonna keep it really simple.
I'm just gonna salt them
and season 'em with oil and lemon.
30 seconds, Chefs.
-All four Ingredients. -Come on, chefs.
-Let's go, chefs. Let's go. -Y'all got it.
Chefs, gotta finish those plates up right now.
Ten, nine, eight, seven...
-Come on, guys. -...six, five, four, three, two, one.
Yeah, put some extra virgin olive oil.
-[Ted] Time's up! -[Tiffany] All right.
Good job.
-[speaking Italian] -[all applauding]
My God.
[Robbie] I feel fantastic.
I like the cook on my meat.
I would serve this plate in my restaurant.
[Dwight] The wild boar, I think I seared it a little too much
but the flavors are there.
So let's see what the judges think.
[dramatic music playing]
For this Battle Italiano appetizer round,
we've given you cockscombs, heirloom tomatoes,
wild boar and cannellini beans.
Chef Leigh, please tell us about your dish.
I lived in Tuscany for a little over two years,
and when I saw those, those ingredients in the basket,
I definitely got a little excited.
Today you have a polpette cinghiale,
pureed cannellini beans,
then the wild boar rooster comb meatball.
Um, I like this dish.
The fact that you ground the wild boar
and the cockscomb, I think it's such a smart move.
But it needs fat.
You have to think about, you know, pancetta to,
kind of, bring up the fat
that wild boar just doesn't have, right?
Cannellini beans, a puree, beautiful way to go.
Great use of the baskets
-and they think this is a great intro to who you are. -Thank you, chef.
-Thank you. -I love the red,
I love the browning of the meatballs,
I love the white, I love the green.
Like, this just looks right.
Really love the beans in particular.
I love the texture that you created.
Perfect consistency.
It's a really nice, composed dish. Good job.
Thank you.
Well, Chef, you lived in Tuscany for two years.
How did you pull that off?
Well, long story short.
I was working a job I didn't like.
So in 2015, I, I moved my life to Florence.
Enrolled in culinary school in Tuscany,
took every culinary course they offered.
Thank you, Chef Leigh.
-Next up, is chef Dwight. -I made for you
a Tuscan heirloom cannellini bean salad with cockscomb
with seared boar, and a tomato vinaigrette.
Okay. The wild boar is seasoned delicious.
I'm loving the flavor.
It's just over cooked.
Okay.
I agree. The wild boar is overcooked.
It's seasoned great.
I think to be honest, Chef, the best thing about this dish
is the tomato vinaigrette.
Because it need the acidity
and that, you know, brightness into the dish.
[Scott] Chef, I like the radicchio, I like the endive.
I think it's great, but it's really not integrated
as part of this dish
and that usage of the cockscomb with the beans,
just not developed.
Make like a chicharron on top.
You wanna showcase these ingredients.
You wanna lean into them a little bit more.
Thank you, Chef.
Thank you, Chef Dwight.
Next up, Chef Julia.
I have a marinated white bean and cockscomb
over heirloom tomato with seared boar.
Chef Julia, what you did
when you got there with the cannellini bean?
I call it a ragout, if you will.
-Yeah. -Works very well.
-One can have a bowl of just that. -[chuckles]
I mean, I love the simplicity here.
I think these tomatoes are great.
It's tomatoes and the beans, it's like money.
But those cockscombs, they seem to be just a little
bit boiled and kind of tossed with those, with those beans.
Um, I think you could've developed
the flavor on that a little bit.
Thank you for the feedback. That's excellent.
-Cheers. -I like how you handle the cannellini beans.
I like the vinaigrette here,
but I'm missing some crunch here.
It all starts to feel the same.
What inspired you to take this direction, Chef?
I had the opportunity to go to Tuscany
when my dad died super suddenly.
He always told me to pursue my passions.
I went to cook there.
I think that the cool thing about Tuscany
is it reminds me a lot of spending summers
at my grandfather's farm,
and my grandmother would just say,
"Go down to the garden and pick what's ready."
And that would be what we made for dinner.
[Ted] Very nice.
Thank you, Chef Julia. Finally, Chef Robbie.
So in front of you,
you have a balsamic seared wild boar
saute of fried cockscombs and cannellini beans.
I love how you treated the beans.
You know, you really let the whole flavor develop.
I like how you integrated the cockscomb with the beans.
It makes me feel like
I'm right at a lunch in Tuscany.
-Great job. -That's an awesome compliment.
Thank you.
You were the only one that
added a little bit of crunch on your cockscomb,
which we saw the explosion happening.
-[all laughing] -Terrifying, but happy you got it out of there.
And you know, the way that you, sort of, almost
wilted the skin of the cannellini beans,
created again, another contrast as we're eating it.
But but the wild boar, it's not seasoned properly.
It needs more salt.
[Scott] I like the cook on the wild boar.
I feel like it does need to be seasoned a little bit more.
But yeah. Good-- Really good flavor development.
-Thank you very much. Appreciate the feedback. -Good job.
-Chef Robbie, thank you. -You're welcome.
Bravo to all of you.
But as you know, we must say arrivederci to one chef.
Thank you.
[Robbie] The judge's critique about my wild board being not salted enough
does give me a little bit of pause.
Anything like that could lose you $25,000.
[Leigh] It needed fat.
So, kicking myself about that one,
but there's always, hopefully, time to come back from it.
[dramatic music playing]
Who's dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Dwight, you've been chopped.
Judges.
[Gabe] Chef Dwight,
unfortunately, your wild boar was way overcooked,
and the cannellini beans together with the cockscomb
really failed to make this a one dish.
So, because of that, you have been chopped.
Understood. Thank you.
Although I'm not moving forward,
I think that this will just catapult me
to, to just work even harder.
This is definitely not a loss for me.
This is just growth.
Chef Leigh, Chef Julia, Chef Robbie,
second baskets awaits.
Please open 'em up.
[speaking indistinctly]
Love it.
Holy moly!
[Ted] You've got porterhouse steaks.
Oh, boy.
That's got some weight to it right there.
[Ted] You also have chicken liver crostini.
-[Leigh] So Tuscan. -[Ted] Tuscan Kale.
[Julia] Always love the kale.
And Negroni gelatin shots.
[Robbie] I mean, can we do one of these shots? It's like...
Could use a drink after all this, right?
It's a good mix, that's for sure.
Very Tuscan.
[Ted] Thirty minutes on the countdown clock.
Time starts now.
-[all cheering] -Come on!
Let's bring Tuscany home here.
Judges, many notable Tuscans
have gone down in the history.
Michelangelo, Dante, Galileo...
Can these chefs bring the brilliance?
[Gabe] This is a basket of celebration of Toscana.
That's steak,
which, by the way, in Tuscany, comes from chianina cows.
Those big white cows.
Very priced.
I mean, the way we usually prep it,
it's very simply grilling it.
I think all the ingredients here
really need to be centered
around the beautiful porterhouse.
[Julia] Oh, those are nice.
The Bistecca alla Fiorentina
is the traditional steak of Florence
and the chicken liver in Tuscany is everywhere.
And I decided to use the chicken liver crostini
as a crust on the outside of the filet.
-[Tiffany] Chicken liver crostini. -Chicken liver crostini.
I mean, this is a crostino Toscano.
It's a staple in every trattoria in Firenze.
It has this beautiful umami flavor.
[Tiffany] One of the reasons I like the idea of using that chicken liver,
you get that, like, fatty, and that richness
that can also feel like an aged steak.
And if you would have put out the olive right over it...
-Oh, my God, Tiffany. I'm loving this. -Yum.
-That's like, a great idea. -Sounds so good.
I see these chicken liver mousse crostinis
and I know exactly what I'm gonna do.
All right, Chef. Robbie, see you're doing a little light work over there.
Oh, yeah. So I got compound butter with our chicken liver mousse.
Gonna do a little Tuscan kale and crouton panzanella
with a little bit of vinaigrette from the Negroni.
Okay.
So I'm making a pan roasted filet in the Fiorentina style.
Fiorentina style is with fresh herbs,
like, rosemary, sage, thyme...
I got some feedback
about seasoning in the last round,
so wanna make sure
that this is seasoned all the way around.
Negroni gelatin shots, Campari, gin and vermouth.
-[Gabe] Hmm-hmm. -A little bit of gelatin inside there.
-[Gabe] Yep. -It's kind of, like, a sophisticated cocktail
-meets frat boy. -Frat boy.
That Kale is a little assertive.
It needs to be broken down.
[Tiffany] Mm-hmm. I mean, you have wilted it down just a little bit
and you had little jell-o like little pieces in there.
Maybe you add some orange and fennel or something else
so that you play with the flavors
that you're already gonna get.
[Scott] It's a great idea.
At the pizza place I worked at,
it used to be kale jail when you were stuck
just cleaning the pieces of kale.
I'm gonna use my Negroni gelatin shot to marinate my Tuscan kale
adding orange peel and pistachios.
Chef Julia, what do you have working over there?
[Julia] Cooking awesome fillets,
kale massaged with a little bit of gummy vinaigrette.
I'm making a juniper crusted steak
with kale salad.
Once my Tuscan kale is prepped,
I start massaging it with olive oil,
salt and lemon because I know that
it needs to break down a little bit.
14 minutes on the clock, chefs.
We had the similar idea on this kale, Julia.
[Julia] Oh, did we?
[Leigh] Negroni is an Italian digestive,
but has a very bitter taste.
Also, Kale has a bitterness to it as well.
If I add the vinegar
to reduce down the Negroni shot,
I feel like they'll counter each other.
And then I'm taking some of the fat
...the filets
and rendering it in a saute pan
so I can use the beef fat... and saute my kale.
[Robbie] Panzanella is a Tuscan bread salad.
So I'm gonna be using the actual crostini for my panzanella.
I'm mixing that with the chopped Tuscan kale.
And then I'm making the Negroni vinaigrette.
So I take the Negroni shots,
have a little bit of sauteed shallots.
All right, chefs, nine minutes to go.
-Julia, how you doing? -I'm doing all right.
I'm gonna use the chicken liver crostini
to make a crouton for my kale salad.
And I'm going to add some sage
and, kind of, toast it on both sides.
And I'm gonna use the grill pan
to get a nice sear on the steak.
I love juniper because I feel like it adds
a, sort of, complex freshness.
And I feel like it would be really good as a crust on a steak.
[Tiffany] Julia has this flat top grill going.
She has, essentially, almost no fat on the pan,
and Leigh's pan back there looks really hot.
I see Leigh, and it looks like she's in trouble.
It smells burnt, and there's smoke in the air.
Whatever she put on the filet, she's burnt it.
I realize that the chicken liver breadcrumb mixture
has, has taken on a nice char,
and I start to panic a little bit.
[Ted] One minute left on the clock.
-All right, guys, come on. -[Scott] Whoo-hoo.
-[Tiffany] Last minute. -[Gabe] Last-minute touches.
[Leigh] But there's no time at this point.
So I'm fully committed on the filet.
This round seems to be shaking people a little bit.
What we're seeing here is the Tuscan dream meet the Chopped kitchen.
Last ten seconds to work, chefs.
Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five,
-four, three... -Come on, guys.
...two, one.
-Time's up. -[Scott] Good job, chefs.
-[Gabe] Wow. -Y'all stretched me at the denims.
[Scott] I know, I know. This was a stressful round.
[Robbie] I wish I had a few more seconds.
But I tried to honor the steak as much as I could.
There's tons of pressure, but I live with pressure.
I'm... I'm nervous.
I'm just hoping, uh, they like a little pink on the inside.
Chefs, time to tuck into the entrees you've made with porterhouse steaks,
chicken liver crostini, Tuscan kale,
and Negroni gelatin shots.
Chef Robbie, let's start with you.
So I have the seared filet with a little bit rosemary,
thyme and sea salt on the outside.
The crostini made of panzanella with kale.
And a Negroni vinaigrette.
The chicken liver mousse itself
made a compound butter to dress your steaks.
Chef, the cook on your filet is really, really nice, really beautiful.
And I really I love that, um, chicken liver compound butter.
[Tiffany] Great idea.
Again, the steak is great.
But using the chicken liver crostini bread is a miss altogether.
You didn't toast it enough.
You kept adding in more,
it looked like the vinaigrette,
and it just became very, very soggy.
Chef Robbie, if it's a panzanella salad, let it be a panzanella salad.
It's usually done with stale bread.
And they dry out, make some nice croutons,
and then you make a panzanella salad.
Are we finding Tuscany on the plate?
It's a wilted Tuscany.
-But the inspiration is there. -Thank you.
If you win this thing, what would you do with 25K?
So, I have a little girl on the way.
-Wow. Congratulations. -[Robbie] Thank you very much.
-Thank you. -[Gabe] Congrats.
So that will start a little fund for her
for whenever she decides her career.
And if she chooses to be a chef,
she could travel to Tuscany.
[chuckles] Sweet.
Chef Robbie, thank you.
Next we go to Chef Julia.
[Julia] We have a kale salad with a juniper-crusted steak.
You have some use for a $25,000 prize at the end of this rainbow?
I recently bought my first home,
um, so I... It needs a lot of work.
And I'd love to build out my dream kitchen.
Chef, you've got really good flavors here.
The orange peel on the kale is a fun touch.
I really like the pistachio as well.
You allowed the simplicity of those flavors
to, kind of, elevate themselves, right?
And I think that's really, ultimately,
-what Italian food is all about. -Absolutely.
There were a couple misses in the steak cooking process.
You didn't have any fat at all, really, in there
because you were grilling it, right?
You really want to get that crust as we've talked about.
But then you put all of your fresh herbs
and your butter, and you put it on the top.
And it sat for a little while.
That can really mess up your complete steak, right?
What I will say, though, is the kale salad is delicious.
-Thank you so much. That's really helpful. -[Gabe] Yeah.
I like what you did with the kale.
But if you're using the croutons, the bread, uh, just that.
Just make sure you scrape it
and cut it a little more precisely.
Thank you, Chef Julia. Finally, Chef Leigh.
Chefs, you have a chicken liver crostini crusted filet
and a wilted kale that I added a white wine and Negroni vinaigrette to.
Chef Leigh, surprised.
I'm surprised to see a steak that is actually nicely cooked.
Nice rendering of the fat.
But your pan was burnt.
And it becomes very smoky, very heavy.
I taste so many delicious flavors
with the kale that's on there.
I like the vinegar that you have going on with the kale.
Thank you, Chef.
Chef, where's the Negroni gelatin shot?
In the vinaigrette. I tossed it into the kale.
You have a seed of an idea in here
that's probably really good.
Your stake, somehow this middle cut is nice.
It's quite nice.
Okay. Thank you, chefs.
From their feedback, I'm most nervous about the cook on the steak.
And how they were saying it was charred and all that.
[Robbie] I don't feel great right now.
If I move forward, I'm going to cook with all heart.
And I know it won't fail me.
[dramatic music playing]
Whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Leigh, you've been chopped. Judges.
Chef Leigh, unfortunately, we felt like
the porterhouse steak wasn't cooked correctly.
The chicken liver crostini,
it had a char that we didn't find very delicious.
And so we had to chop you.
Thank you.
I wasn't proud of that dish.
But Tuscany has such a special place in my heart.
And there's always something to learn.
And I feel like that's something really huge to take away from this.
Chef Robbie, Chef Julia, last basket of ingredients.
Let's see what's in there.
And you're looking at rose petal jam.
Rose petal jam, this girl loves flowers.
[Ted] Dried strawberries.
[Julia] I've never worked with dried strawberries.
I'm kind of interested.
Lardo di Colonnata.
How did I know?
[Ted] And an Italian cookie tray.
All right, this smells like
visiting my family in New York.
I think there's a lot to play with there.
Super Tuscan to me.
[Ted] Final half hour of this Tuscan battle.
[Julia] Yeah, let's go.
Buck starts now.
-Let's go! Let's go, Chefs! Come on! -Come on, Chefs, bring it.
Bring it.
Judges, fruit, fat, sugar.
This basket has them all, and it sounds promising.
What could go wrong?
There's a lot of directions that this can go in
that could go in a bad direction, right?
Those dried strawberries,
they have a gummy texture to them.
So I think that could really trip somebody up.
[Tiffany] Even the rose petal jam.
[Scott] Well, that rose petal jam can be so assertive.
[Tiffany] Mm-hm.
[Gabe] But also the lardo, I mean, like, it's all fat
from the pig, of course.
Uh, we use it in Tuscany, uh, in many different ways.
I mean, clearly, you can use it for cooking, for baking a lot of times.
What would you do?
I would do probably a rose petal gelato
with the lard, I would melt it,
and then mix the cookies and do, like, a crumble of sort.
Behind you.
So my mind is going to desserts that I love from being a kid.
I'm inspired by my Aunt Jo's strawberry pretzel salad.
Chef Robbie, how are you gonna earn your spot in this finale?
[Robbie] I'm going to follow my heart
and cook something near and dear to me.
It's a play on strawberry pretzel salad.
What I'm making is called a Sweet Child of Mine.
Whipped mascarpone mousse, pignoli cookie crumble.
And then a rose and dried strawberry compote.
This cookie crumble is akin
to the pretzel in my aunt's pretzel salad.
And I'm choosing the pignoli
because it has the pine nut nut element.
And I'm gonna use that fat component in my crumble.
My grandmother, these are her favorite cookies.
I feel like she's wishing me luck from afar.
This brings me back to baking with my grandmother.
She taught me how to bake pies,
and she used to always use lard in her pie crust.
And she had a very specific ratio of lard and butter.
Grandmother when in doubt.
Probably needs butter.
Chef Julia, what are you making?
I'm going to bake off a crust,
um, using the biscotti and the lardo.
And then a rose petal and strawberry syrup.
And then I want to do mascarpone with the iSi Charger.
I'm making Italian cookies and cream
with mascarpone, rose petal and strawberry jam
and roasted pignoli cookies.
I'm really looking at just layering
a lot of flavors in my dessert.
Chefs, less than fifteen minutes left here.
[Tiffany] Love rose petal.
You know, it is very floral and very aromatic.
And just when it's cooked with sugar
and it's turned into this really syrupy jam.
[Robbie] I'm making the strawberry rose petal compote
by slicing down the dried strawberries.
I'm adding in some port wine,
I'm adding in a scoop of that rose jelly.
It's a little bit, kind of, not fresh.
So I'm gonna add fresh strawberries to it.
Mascarpone, it's traditionally the cheese that you see in tiramisu.
So I want to make sure that that's represented in this dessert.
I can see the drive in Julia in this round.
I think that we both really, really want this.
And I know that she's gonna fight till the last dang second.
[Ted] All right, chefs, ten more minutes.
[Julia] I'm going to use my rose petal jam
and the strawberries to make a compote.
They both have a really aggressive sweetness to it.
But I'm gonna grab some star anise and put that in there
because I feel like that bitter flavor
is going to add some more complexity.
I decide to make a whipped mascarpone.
Done this with buttermilk espuma.
I'm hoping it works the same way.
It's crucial for my dish because I'm worried about it being too sweet.
[canister hissing]
[Julia] It's just not pumping anything out.
Chef Julia here has taken straight mascarpone
and put it into that whipped cream canister.
It's never gonna flow through that thing.
She has to add some heavy cream
-or some something else. -Yeah.
Some liquid.
Five minutes to go, chefs.
Giving me flashbacks to the buttermilk espuma.
Always running out in the middle of service.
I'm starting to freak out.
I felt like I was in a good spot,
and now, I'm just really worried
that this might lose me the competition.
[canister hissing]
[Robbie] I hear Julia letting the air out of it, charging it again.
If you're doing it that much, something's going wrong.
Once you realize it doesn't work, you gotta--
You gotta adjust quickly, right?
[Julia] I think I got it.
Loving that she just brought out the mixer.
She's going to adjust and get that done.
I'm really regretting not just whipping it.
And honestly, time is running out.
I'm gonna just whip up the mascarpone.
I'm worried that at this point,
I've really got to kick into high gear to finish
and get something on the plate.
[Ted] One minute left on the clock.
Thank you.
Robbie has got to pipe that filling onto that crust.
[Robbie] It's gonna be down to the wire,
but I feel good about the way everything tastes.
Oh, he seems very calm. I'm freaking out.
-Let's go, chefs. Light a fire. -[Gabe] Come on!
[Ted] All right, Chefs, final seconds of the final round.
-Ooh! -[Ted] Ten, nine, eight,
-seven, six... -[Gabe] Robbie, you got it down.
...five, four, three, two...
-Come on, guys. -...one.
-[Tiffany] Okay! -[Ted] Time's up!
Good job, chefs. Good job.
[Julia] I really do feel good about the flavor,
but I wish I just had, like, a little bit more time to finesse it.
I'm just worried that it's ugly.
[Robbie] It's hot. I'm sweaty, I'm exhausted.
In the background, we've got the beautiful hills of Tuscany.
And then we have the basket and 30 minutes and chop.
My stress level is at a ten right now.
[dramatic music playing]
[Ted] Chef Julia and Chef Robbie,
you opened your dessert baskets
and found rose petal jam,
dried strawberries, lardo di Colonnata,
and an Italian cooking tray.
All right, Chef Julia, please tell us what you've made.
My, uh, dish is Italian cookies and cream.
Chef Julia, very good use of the cookies.
I mean, you used them as the bottom, so you get the crunch,
and then the bigger pieces on top.
This is just so good.
The mascarpone crema is so nice and light and sweet.
I do wish that I would find a little more of the strawberries.
The strawberry and the rose petal.
-Otherwise, great job. -Thank you.
I really like the different textures you have going on.
I think it can be a little sweeter.
It reads a little savory to me.
Absolutely.
-The lardo is mixed with the cookie... -With the biscotti, yeah.
...on the bottom. Yeah, really nice touch.
Absolutely. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Chef Julia. Finally, Chef Robbie.
I'm calling this dish Sweet Child of Mine.
And it is based off of strawberry pretzel salad,
which my aunt affectionately makes
for every birthday for me.
Chef, I love that texture of that biscotti
on the bottom with the lardo.
I love this overly sweet compote that you have.
And I love that it's balanced out
with the freshness of the strawberries.
Not together, but separate.
It's working really well. Good job.
-Good job. -Thank you very much.
I'm really getting the rose petal.
Um, there's, like, almost like a little tingling happening on my tongue
from eating all of this together, which is really nice.
I do wish it had a little more crumble
so that I could enjoy all of this with that crumble.
Thank you.
Chef, my favorite thing about this dessert, it's the lardo.
That lardo really comes through afterwards.
I do think I would have loved to eat this almost as a parfait,
you know, like, in layers.
But you know, really, really good.
Thank you, Chef.
Thank you, chefs.
[dramatic music playing]
Judges, this tournament is all about recognizing Italy
as the birthplace of so much of the food we love to eat worldwide.
Did you sense a reverence for that history in those two chefs' plates?
Let's talk about the appetizers.
Chef Robbie created some really nice cannellini flavors.
That crisp up that he gave to the cannellini,
he added the cockscombs in it
that went so beautifully with the wild boar.
Uh, his wild boar itself, I just really feel like
-he didn't bring the seasoning on that. -Mm.
Uh, not in the way that Chef Julia did.
[Tiffany] Chef Julia really, kind of, hid the cockscomb.
-But my goodness, she made a delicious vinaigrette. -I agree.
And she kept it simple with the sliced tomatoes.
And, I mean, the plate did just taste good.
[Scott] But in that second round, I feel like Chef Julia,
the chicken liver crostini that she had
just, kind of, chopped up and tossed with that Tuscan kale,
it just wasn't enough.
[Gabe] Chef Robbie dish with the steak seasoned beautifully, right?
But then the pitfall was
if you tell me that it's panzanella salad,
then it better be a panzanella salad.
Otherwise you call it differently.
Is the decision closed then?
[dramatic music playing]
[Julia] I do feel like my love of Tuscany came through.
It would be a dream to move forward.
I feel like, um, I would really bring it for Tuscany.
Do I feel confident that I could be a Chopped champion?
I wouldn't say confident is the word.
I mean, Julia is a really talented chef.
I think it's neck and neck.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
[dramatic music playing]
Chef Julia, you've been chopped. Judges.
[Scott] Chef Julia, in your appetizer round,
it was a little bit of a problem, the lack of sear.
And that undercooked wild boar,
kind of, carried over into your main course
with the undercooked steak that you had on the plate.
And then finally in your your dessert round,
we just wanted more of that dessert.
And so we had to chop you.
-Thank you so much. -[Scott] It was really great having you, Chef.
Thank you all so much for the feedback and the experience.
Like, I can't thank you enough.
Thank you, Chef.
[Julia] As much as I love to win,
um, I'm just really grateful
that I was able to make it this far.
And, you know, Tuscany has my heart.
And it just felt like being able to live out a love letter, you know.
And that means Chef Robbie Jester,
you are the Chopped champion.
And you'll be back representing Tuscany
for the finale of our Battle Italiano,
where you'll face off against culinary virtuosos
from three other regions fighting for $25,000.
Are you looking forward to that?
-Hell, yeah! Let's go! -[judges laughing]
It feels pretty freaking amazing
to win Chopped, to make it to the final round.
To make a beautiful dessert and to have them love it
and to be moving on to the finale is fantastic.
It's coming down to this.
[Ted] It's the final round of the Battle Italiano tournament.
Which region will reign supreme?
[chef 1] This is my life's work.
These are the most important dishes that you've ever cooked.
[chef 2] One little mistake can send you home.
Just pick it. Let's go!
[Robbie] To go home now would just be heart wrenching.
[chef 3] I'm a little bit scared.
But, you know, you need always to face your fear.
[chef 1] This is the time to take risks.
-[sighs] -[man] That's a big mistake.
$25,000.
[chef 3] That is gonna be my gem on top of the plate.
That was one of the best plates of food I've eaten in this kitchen.