[Karina] Don't try this at home, kids.
[Ted] Spoiler alert, there will be some sort
of avocados inside these.
-Oh. -You could put it
on your hair, on your face.
You can eat it.
[Ted] Seconds remaining here, chefs.
-Ten, nine... -I am plating with my intent. What?
[Allie] My food is like a piñata on the plate.
-We don't have time for that. -[Ted] Four...
-[Adam] The possibilities are endless. -[Ted] Three...
-[Daniela] There's nothing on the plate. -[Alex] No food.
-All four ingredients on the plate. -[Ted] Two...
-[Daniela speaking Spanish] -[Ted] One...
We can't eat it if you don't give it.
[Ted] Time's up.
[Allie] My food is like a piñata on the plate.
It's playful.
It's colorful.
It's bright.
I'm the chef de cuisine
of ATX Cocina
located in Austin, Texas.
My food is modern Mexican.
You don't wanna mess with my mole.
I like very large, bold flavors,
complex techniques.
Avocados are universal.
They're creamy, so you can use them as a fat substitute.
They can also be used in a sweet application
in the pastry side of things.
Heading into this competition,
I think I could win Chopped.
I'm just laser-focused.
[Adam] Going into an avocado battle.
Everyone back home that's rooting me on,
I gotta show them what I'm made of.
I'm the chef and owner of Perfect Strangers Boston
in Walpole, Massachusetts.
My style of cooking is a twist on modern classics.
Fun, charismatic, whimsical.
Time to make some pasta.
My culinary training comes from Johnson & Wales,
and I've been working in professional kitchens
for just over 20 years now.
When it comes to cooking, I try to get creative
and utilize the ingredients
to the fullest capacity.
All right. Sweet.
The other chefs need to watch out for me
because I'm fierce, I'm competitive,
and love pressure.
[laughs]
I am ready for this competition.
Growing up in the Dominican Republic,
I was very inspired by fresh flavors,
fresh ingredients.
I am the chef and owner
of Cocina Consuelo in New York.
Don't try this at home, kids.
My culinary style is Caribbean.
It's very fresh, very bold.
I came to Harlem when I was about 11 years old
and now I'm opening my restaurant
a block away from where I grew up.
I wanna win $10,000
because I need to put it
towards my brick and mortar.
I got this.
-♪♪ Hey! ♪ -[upbeat music playing]
[LJ] The art of hospitality is something
that was instilled in me from my parents.
I'm the chef and owner of two restaurants
in Lake Stevens, Washington.
My style of cooking is refined comfort food
using global influence.
Growing up, being queer, I didn't always fit in,
but the kitchen offered me a sense of community.
I wanna win this $10,000
for my team back home.
I hope these chefs show up
cooking the best food of their life,
but mine's still gonna be better.
-Hello, chefs. -Morning.
-[Allie] Hi. -[Adam] Hey, Ted.
You are here to cook your hearts out
and celebrate Persea americana.
That's the scientific name for avocado.
Every basket will feature the creamy,
dreamy green fruit,
and we want you to highlight it
on every plate.
Are you ready to show us
your avocado bravado?
-Let's go. -Oh, I'm ready.
Let's turn our attention
to the first basket.
Open them up.
Ooh, what the...
Whoa.
Oh, my goodness gracious.
[Ted] And you're looking at tropical avocado.
I love this kind.
What is this?
Some kind of doughnut,
which looks amazing.
[Ted] You also have avocado doughnuts.
[Karina] Why would somebody put this
in the appetizer basket?
[Ted] Grapefruit.
Smell great.
[Ted] And lump crab.
[Karina] I'm feeling confident.
Yeah, I could do something with this.
Twenty minutes for the appetizer round.
Ooh.
Clock starts now.
[upbeat music playing]
All right.
Come on.
[Karina] Panko breadcrumbs, guys?
[Allie] It's in my arm.
I can share on my station.
[Ted] Alex, Marc, joining you on the panel
is special guest judge,
acclaimed modern Mexican chef,
Daniela Soto-Innes.
-Welcome. -Gracias.
Hola, chicos.
[LJ] Right behind, behind.
[Ted] There is nothing like an avocado.
It's such a substantial,
nourishing, fatty fruit.
I also think a lot of people, they gravitate
towards an avocado because it's healthy, right?
What is it we love so much about this fruit?
-Everything. -[laughter]
You can put it on your hair,
on your face.
You can eat it.
It's so creamy.
You can eat it hot, cold.
[LJ] Karina, pankos on my station for us.
Panko breadcrumbs?
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
[Alex] Now, this tropical avocado
is a large variety.
More water, more fiber,
maybe a little lighter on flavor.
[Marc] I wouldn't say that
the tropical avocado is one
that I would just cut and fan on the plate
because it's just not as interesting.
I would maybe make a sauce with it.
[Alex] Couldn't you do a little aguachile
or a little ceviche?
Just put everything together.
I love avocados because it's the first fruit
that I grew up eating
because I'm very inspired
by fresh flavors, fresh ingredients.
And, Karina, with your avocado earrings,
avocado socks,
I imagine you have a plan.
I'm gonna be making an aguachile.
[Ted] That's fun.
[Karina] The inspiration behind this dish is my daughter.
She's a year and eight months,
and she's the reason why I'm here.
I'm going to make crab aguachile
with tostada on top
and a little bit of avocado doughnut crumble.
I was going to go aguachile too...
-Oh, I need to-- -[LJ] but now I'm glad I didn't.
[Karina] The key to a good aguachile
is definitely tons of heat,
tons of acid,
so I'm grabbing lime,
jalapeños, cilantro.
All right. Let's get into this.
Looking at this basket as a whole,
I'm feeling good.
Avocado, grapefruit, crab,
those go together.
I'm going to make an avocado
and lump crab nacho
with wonton chips,
chipotle crema, and avocado puree.
I'm gonna make a crumb out of the avocado doughnut
just to give a little bit of texture.
Make a little crumb out of this.
I'm using three of the basket ingredients
in my lump crab mixture,
some chopped avocado,
mayo, jalapeño,
grapefruit juice, and dill.
I didn't know that I was going to be a chef.
I wanted to be a writer. But the second I had, like,
my first job on a line, it was pretty amazing.
And now, I have this whole team of people
that help me create my dream every day,
so I just think it'd be really great
to bring back a trophy for them.
[Adam] To win this avocado competition would mean everything.
Working as a private chef, I'm alone a lot,
and it would be validation for me
that I've still got creativity,
willingness to move in the kitchen,
and to work under time constraints.
Adam, what are you up to?
Working on some type of a coconut avocado soup
with these beautiful doughnuts here
and a little crab grapefruit salad.
[Alex] I'm a little bit concerned
about putting actually coconut
because there's this avocado filling,
it just seems like a fat overload.
[Adam] Bye-bye.
If you need the mustard,
I've got you, okay?
Chef Daniela has done amazing things
for Mexican cuisine.
I mean, she's a James Beard Award winner,
and she's, like, one of the reigning masa queens.
So I wanna show her what I can do.
Allie, what are you making?
I'm working on a crab salad
to go on top of a huarache.
Huarache is going to be
a masa flatbread-esque.
So huaraches are normally long
and the name of huarache comes
from like a flip-flop.
Normally, the shape is an oval.
[LJ] Time check.
Chef, less than 15 minutes on the clock.
At this point, I don't really have a plan for the doughnut,
so I shift my focus
to really working with that avocado.
Charring an avocado is going to give you
a super deep flavor.
[Karina] I'm going to use the grapefruit juice
to dress my lump crab.
I am adding chives, apple, and lemon juice
because I wanna add a little more texture
and freshness to the dish.
[LJ] These are nice grapefruit, juicy.
[Alex] Nice pink grapefruit,
great floral zest, great flesh.
[Marc] It's not like lemon juice, right?
Grapefruit can really overpower things sometimes.
So you've got to be careful.
Use it judiciously.
A little bit of chipotle
for some smoke,
but not too much.
I'm going to use my grapefruit
to make a chipotle crema.
It'll add some nice smokiness
and some sweetness.
I'm also making a avocado puree
using the tropical avocado
and the avocado filling from the doughnut.
[Adam] So to garnish my soup, I'm gonna be making
a lump crab and citrus salad.
Yeah, I think the bitterness of the grapefruit
will really lend itself to the avocado
being so rich and so fatty.
[Alex] What would you do with the doughnut?
[Marc] My only concern with this doughnut
is the level of sweetness going on.
So you've got the avocado cream,
and I think there's a little bits of avocado in there.
So I feel like maybe you don't use the doughnut.
Maybe you just use the cream
and then bring some savoriness to it.
[Adam] I'm realizing that my dish
is lacking a little bit of texture,
so I wanna add some
by making a crouton with the doughnut.
So I'm gonna take the base of the doughnut
and bake that in the oven.
My hand should stop shaking.
This will be a little easier, you know?
[Allie] I'm making a crab and citrus ensalada
with the grapefruit and the avocado.
So with lump crab being super sweet on its own,
I'm gonna use the bitterness
from the grapefruit and the frisee
to really balance everything out.
Avocados are a huge staple.
I work with avocados every single day.
We go through about 45 cases
of avocados a week.
Chefs, less than four minutes to go here.
[dramatic music playing]
Oh, my God.
I go to check on the huarache and I realize
that I am not going to have enough time
for both sides to cook.
And I start to panic.
I can't plate raw masa.
We don't have time for that.
[Karina] Behind you.
[Allie] It's getting a little close, I'm not going to lie.
Making this huarache
in 20 minutes is risky,
but I feel it's worth it.
We don't have time for that.
Down line, behind.
[Marc] It looks like Allie was doing a masa.
She was cooking it in a pan,
but now she's throwing it in the fryer.
-I think there's a little pivoting going on right now. -[Daniela] Yes.
[Ted] Well, it's very difficult to make
any kind of dough and bake it
within this time frame.
-It's crazy. -Right.
Down line, behind you.
[Karina] The plan with this aguachile
is to put it on the plate on the bottom
and then put the crab salad on top,
but I'm running out of time.
If you're not plating, you should be.
Oui, Chef.
Time goes a little quicker than it does at home.
Once I get my wonton chip,
it's time to plate.
Plate the lump crab salad
over my wonton chips.
And then get my toasted avocado doughnut.
You got two and a half. You gotta start plating.
Down line, behind.
[Adam] I tasted my soup, but it's hard to gauge
how much they're looking for, what they're looking for.
I hope they can see it for what it is.
Salt.
Karina has nothing on the plate.
No food. One minute.
-You got one minute. -[Marc] One minute, chefs.
Oh, the pressure.
[Ted] One minute on the clock, chefs.
Gotta put it on the plate regardless.
[Karina] One minute. One minute heard.
She's making me nervous.
I don't know if I like this plate.
[Allie] At this point, I'm running out of time
and I still need to use this doughnut.
All four ingredients on the plate.
Thirty seconds. Let's go.
[Allie] So I decided to use the filling
as the base on my huarache.
[Daniela] Come on, come on, come on.
[in Spanish]
[Karina] Wow, this is so much harder.
Seconds remaining here, chefs.
-Ten, nine... -I am plating with my intent. What?
...eight, seven, six,
-five... -[Allie] Oh, my God.
...four, three, two, one.
Time's up. Please step back.
[applauding]
The last couple of seconds, they just flew by.
I think what I put forward was the best I could do.
And I try to stick to what I know,
so that's it.
[Allie] Daniela's like the queen of masa.
And if I didn't at least try
to put some masa in front of her first round,
I wouldn't have been happy with myself.
[dramatic music playing]
[Ted] Chefs, you have arrived at the chopping block.
Your appetizer basket contained tropical avocado,
avocado doughnuts,
grapefruit, and lump crab.
Chef Karina, please tell us what you've made.
I made a crab aguachile
and I made a crumble using the doughnut
and the zest of the grapefruit.
What is it that you love about avocado?
The first ten years I lived in the Dominican Republic,
I grew up with tons
of different avocado plants in my backyard.
I'm very keen to like them.
Where is the avocado
-in your dish? -The avocado's in the sauce.
So your dish ends up being not something
that feels balanced or enough
-about that avocado. -Okay.
But the less you do with the lump crab,
if you're not making a crab cake, the better.
So I like that you did next to nothing to that.
I know that from tasting this
that you know how to make an aguachile.
It would be nice to have some kind of vehicle
or either a tostada
or something that we can grab
and it's nice and crunchy.
But I think the use of the doughnut
is really smart.
The flavor is there.
Being an avocado round, I have to agree.
You know, there's definitely a little deficit
in the avocado here on this plate,
and the presentation isn't just about
what it looks like.
You really mess up a dish
by putting the presentation wrong.
[no audio]
Next up, Chef LJ.
For you, I have a avocado
and lump crab nacho, avocado puree.
And the grapefruit juice
is used in chipotle crema.
[Alex] I mean, I liked it.
I thought the use of the grapefruit
with the chipotle was really smart.
-Thank you. -[Alex] An interesting way
to not have it takeover.
The use of the crab
and the grapefruit was fantastic,
and this is playful and fun.
I appreciate that, chef.
Why did you use wonton skins?
I like the lightness of the wontons, so...
[Marc] But my wontons are just kind of greasy,
and I feel like a tortilla
would've held up much better here.
And also, it's an avocado basket,
like, let's let the avocado be represented.
You know, one little bite and it's gone.
Chef, I think I got your avocado.
-Oh, you did? -[Daniela] Yes.
I think I got the deal... The deal.
It's a little bit confusing.
But I love the idea of crab nachos.
The flavor of the crab is really delicious.
Thank you.
Next up, Chef Adam.
For you today, I've prepared
an avocado coconut soup
with a lump crab and citrus salad.
[Daniela] I think you would have been more successful
doing cold gazpacho
without the chicken stock.
When you cook the avocado
and coconut with chicken,
it makes the soup very, very fatty.
But I think the use of your doughnuts,
it's a great idea,
just a little less fatty
would have been amazing.
Heard that.
I do agree, if it had been a cold soup,
it might have worked a little bit better.
-[Adam] Heard that. -Because the heating up
of the grapefruit sort of changes
the flavor of it a little bit.
And when I get a bite of it,
I really sort of wish the grapefruit
wasn't there for me.
[Alex] I like the crab.
I like the taste of what you did.
What you did with the avocado, you embraced it.
But I think you'd have gotten
like a shallower soup bowl
and you just ladled the bottom
with, like, so much less,
-a third of this. -Yeah.
You gave us a lot of food, my friend.
Thank you. Thank you, chefs.
Finally, Chef Allie.
Please tell us about your dish.
So for you, I have a charred avocado huarache
with a crab and citrus ensalada.
The huarache is going to be a masa flatbread,
best way to explain it.
I like the composition of what you've done on top.
I mean, I think the grapefruit segments
are there purposefully and are refreshing.
I love the amount of heat that you put in here.
I like the crab, you didn't do much to it.
I'm not sure about the masa on the bottom.
I think you were very brave
of doing a masa dish in 20 minutes.
Based on that, you did wonderful.
But you have to make sure that your huarache
pops a little bit before you fry it.
Otherwise, you end up
with raw masa inside.
[sighs] Got it.
[Alex] I love that you seared the avocado.
I think that tropical avocado
needed some manipulating,
and I think our impulse is to do nothing.
I like the way you put this together.
The choice of frisee actually connects
the grapefruit and the avocado
with those bitter greens.
-Thank you. -[Ted] All right.
Now, only three of you can move on
to the entree round. Thank you, chefs.
[LJ] You know, overall,
I got some really good feedback.
But honestly, I think any of us
could be on the chopping block.
Each judge have a dish
that they didn't really like,
so, yeah, anyone's game.
[Karina] Based on the judges' critiques,
I think it could go either way.
I'm just trying to stay positive
and kind of think of what I'm gonna do
in the next basket.
[dramatic music playing]
One chef's avocado appetizer missed the mark.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
[tense music playing]
Chef Karina, you've been chopped. Judges?
Karina, your plating left something to be desired,
I think, throwing it all on there at the last second.
We felt that the avocado
really wasn't that well-represented,
and so we had to chop you.
Thank you so much. Good luck, guys.
Yes. I do agree with the judges.
I think you have to make a well-composed dish,
and I failed to do that today.
[Alex] You all have this great advantage
of actually knowing one ingredient
that's gonna be in the basket.
That never happens here in the Chopped kitchen,
and so you almost have to be more judicious
with the pantry.
Chef Allie, Chef Adam, Chef LJ.
There will be some sort of avocados inside these.
Open them up.
[laughs] Oh!
[Ted] Okay. It's onigirazu,
also known as sushi sandwiches.
The sushi is pretty intense.
Yeah. Hass.
[Ted] And, of course, Hass avocados.
Nice.
[Ted] You also have pork secreto...
-Wow. -[Ted] and rainbow carrots.
Thirty minutes to make main dishes.
Clock starts now.
[Daniela] All right.
[LJ] Going freezer.
[Alex] These Hass avocados, which are 80%
of the avocados grown worldwide,
this is our classic, traditional avocado
that we know and love.
-[Marc] Mmm-hmm. -[Alex] Right?
My concern, or the challenge
I see in this basket, is there's a lot of fat,
you know, the pork, the avocado?
The secreto, it sits on top.
We have the pork belly. It's high in fat.
-I would get the grill pan on. -[Alex] Mmm-hmm.
[Marc] I would want a nice,
beautiful char on that meat.
[Adam] Right behind, chef.
Pork secreto, awesome piece of meat.
So heading into the second round,
I wanna keep it simple.
So I'm gonna be making a pork secreto tostada
with roasted rainbow carrots
and Hass avocado mousse.
I'm planning on using the rice part
from the onigirazu.
Right behind, chef.
And I wanna deep fry that
to get a really good crust on the outside
for the base of the dish.
[LJ] On the first round, Marc told me
there wasn't enough avocado on my plate.
So round two...
This is how I look when I go to Costco.
...my goal is to give them avocado.
I'm going to make a seared pork secreto
with glazed rainbow carrots
and an avocado romesco.
I'm gonna use the nori from the onigirazu
to make the rub for my pork.
Nori has a nice saltiness to it,
nice umami to it.
And I grab coriander, cumin, fennel,
and smoked paprika
to incorporate into the rub.
[Alex] So that's a spicy tuna rice
and avocado sushi sandwich with nori.
You could make a rice ball here.
[Daniela] You could also do a stuffed avocado
with the pork, and then use the rice to be crispy.
[Allie] When I decided I wanted to be a chef,
I moved to a lot of cities
that were going to give me the best opportunities.
I started out working with Korean cuisines,
making my way eventually to Mexican cuisine.
I'm making a seared pork secreto over arroz verde
and a rainbow carrot gochujang puree.
-Right behind, chef. -Mmm-hmm.
[Allie] I use the rice in the onigirazu
to make my base of the arroz verde,
and add in jalapenos, onions,
and the avocado just as it is to give you some nice full fat.
Chefs, less than 15 minutes on the clock.
[tense music playing]
[Adam] So I wanna use the carrots with some cabbage
and some mushrooms just to kind of really
give this pork dish a nice base on the bottom.
My wife and I tried for years to have kids
to grow our family,
but ultimately, we were unsuccessful.
But we grew stronger from it.
I would love to win for my wife,
she's my biggest supporter.
She believes in me when I don't,
and I just wanna show her
that I still got it.
Going behind.
Between my two restaurants,
I have a team of about 50 people.
My team means so much to me because
I've always had an entrepreneurial spirit.
With $10,000, I have this plan
to take me and my team to Jalisco, Mexico,
eat some avocados, drink some tequila, and celebrate.
I'm gonna make an avocado romesco with cherry vinegar.
Jalapeno...
cilantro, garlic.
I wanna add toasted almonds because it's a great way
to bring out the nuttiness of the Hass avocado.
[blender whirring]
Allie, how are you feeling down there?
[Allie] Uh, just kind of going with the flow right now.
I start to reduce my gochujang miso puree
over heat to really intensify those flavors.
After I blanch the carrots,
I get them into my puree to glaze them.
Chefs, less than four minutes to go here.
[Adam] I love Hass avocados for their creaminess,
for their fatty nature.
I wanna keep it simple.
I take some of the filling from the onigirazu,
the cucumber and avocado, and I add Hass avocados
and blend that up to a nice,
frothy, foamy avocado mousse.
[LJ] Come on.
[Marc] I'm seeing LJ's...
Like that grill pan was not hot enough.
That one thing about this meat is you really
wanna get the new caramelization on it.
[LJ] When I cut into the pork secreto,
I see that it's pretty rare.
In a last-ditch effort, I put it back on the pan
just to try to give a little more time
for that pork to come up to temperature.
We're coming down to one minute, literally.
You gotta get it on the plate.
[LJ] I'm using tequila,
lime juice, and agave
to glaze my rainbow carrots,
and I know it's gonna be delicious.
Behind. Down line.
Time is running out, I am panicking.
My pork, I have temperatures all over,
and so I take the best pieces that I can
and get them on the plate.
-[Marc] Twenty seconds! -[Alex] Give it to us!
-Twenty seconds, come on. -[Alex] We can't eat it
if you don't give it.
-Heard. -Oh, crap.
Oh, come on now.
Power through to the end, chefs.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one.
-Time's up. -[Adam] Oh.
[applause]
[LJ] Biggest thing I'm worried about
is the cook temp on my protein.
I'm just... I could've cooked my meat
a little more, but I'm...
I feel good about the flavors.
[Allie] Did not get to give my pork
as much love as it deserves.
I am worried about my pork temperature
just a little bit.
It's just not up to my standard.
[tense music playing]
[Ted] Chefs, we challenged you to make
excellent main dishes using onigirazu,
Hass avocados, pork secreto,
and rainbow carrots.
Starting with you, Chef Allie,
please tell us about your dish.
I have a seared pork secreto
over an arroz verde
and a rainbow carrot gochujang puree.
Tell us about the rice mix with the spice in it.
[laughs] I used the rice out of the onigirazu
and a little bit of the tuna.
-Spicy. -It is spicy.
[Daniela] The puree works so well
with the carrots.
It mellows the spiciness of the rice.
The rice with avocado is such a great idea.
The cooking of the meat was really your downfall here
because I've got two of the end pieces
that are literally just fat.
But the rest of it, brilliant.
Carrots and avocado are not like...
You know, they're not a match made in heaven to me.
And I think you did a brilliant job
in putting these two things together.
Thank you.
The jalapeno is so wonderful
with the avocado
and with the carrot
that it ends up connecting,
it brings the rice into the conversation,
and you end up with... It's almost like a rice bowl.
It's delicious.
Thank you.
Next up, Chef Adam.
Please tell us about your main course.
All right. Today, we've got a pork secreto tostada
with roasted rainbow carrots and avocado mousse.
What is it about avocados that you like so much?
Super versatile.
We use a lot of avocado
when we're creating menus for clients.
You lean on this meat and it's perfectly cooked.
It's so tasty.
And we asked you why you like avocados
and you said how versatile they are,
but you made a puree.
Like, that's, like, one thing. I don't... What...
Did you have any other ideas to do something else?
About a zillion ideas, I just couldn't harness it.
[Daniela] I like the color of the avocado puree
and how fluffy it is.
-It is fluffy. -It is nice and fluffy.
But I think it was under-seasoned.
[Alex] I like the carrots a lot.
I think the mushrooms and the cabbage,
they detract from what you needed to cook with here.
I think the rice cake is pretty heavy,
and it's just hard to know
how to collect all this and eat it.
Thank you, chef.
Finally, Chef LJ.
Please tell us about your entree.
For you, I made a seared pork secreto,
tequila-glazed rainbow baby carrots,
and an avocado romesco.
[Daniela] The tequila carrots,
I really love the color and I like the taste.
Almond is a big profile of flavor,
so it's really fun to see that you actually
used the almonds for the puree.
I saw that you went back and forward with the pork,
so I think that's what made mine a little bit dry.
I think the cooking of the pork is a problem here
because I have one piece on the end that was great,
but a part of mine is very rare.
Have you ever made a avocado romesco before?
No, sir.
[Marc] It's giving it more backbone
and it's working with the flavors of the pork,
which is very tasty.
Deglazing an entire flaming grilled pan
with tequila and agave is an interesting choice to make.
But the pork is a problem, you know,
the way that got seemingly the least amount of attention
but you seem to last minute slice
some of avocado and put it on there.
I wish you would've given that 45 seconds to the pork
because you already had the avocado "represented".
You've gotta remember the part of Chopped that's a game, right?
Yes. That makes a lot of sense.
I feel really confident about my flavors.
I don't feel confident about my pork temperature.
That was a major oversight.
[Adam] That was super intense.
I think the pork might be the saving grace
to get me to the next round.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
[intense music playing]
[Ted] Chef Adam, you've been chopped.
Judges?
[Daniela] Chef Adam,
the carrot was deliciously cooked,
but it was buried under the pantry
and the avocado was under-seasoned.
And so we have to chop you.
[Adam] Thanks.
-Thank you, guys. Good luck. -[Ted] Thank you, Chef.
[Adam] Appreciate it. Thanks, Chefs.
I think the ingredients
threw me for a little bit of a loop
and I wasn't able to bring it all together
in one harmonious dish.
Chef LJ, Chef Allie, ready to give up,
back down, walk away?
Quitting is not in my nature.
Backing down, that's an avoca-don't.
Yeah, I didn't think so.
Final basket.
[dramatic music playing]
Get in there.
-[Allie] Okay. -All right.
[Ted] And we see more avocados.
A Monroe avocado in this case.
Oh, now we get a drink. All right.
[Ted] We also have an avocado mojito.
Alcohol is always a good thing to use in pastry.
Ooh, some fresh raspberries.
I'm happy with that.
[Ted] Raspberries.
Ahhh!
[Ted] And Liège waffles.
You know, I feel good about it.
This will be fun.
Thirty minutes back on the clock.
Dessert round starts now.
[Marc] All right. Huh?
-A little avocado dessert? -[Alex] All right.
[LJ] Whipped cream.
Judges, on a scale from no way to bring it on,
how do you feel about avocado in your desert?
-Bring it on. -Bring it on.
Hey, buddy.
-[LJ] Behind. -Let's see what you do.
[Alex] Well, a Monroe avocado, so big.
Really watery.
Really mild in flavor.
In Mexico City, we have these gaznates
with avocado moles with powdered sugar
and it's kind of like an avocado cannoli
that has white chocolate on top.
[Alex] I like that idea of the cannoli
with the avocado but I would go condensed milk,
mojito avocado blender and literally carry the blender
right over to the ice cream machine and just pour it in.
-Microplane? -[LJ] I got one.
I'll need it but you can use it for the minute.
[Allie] Going into the dessert round,
I really have a boost of confidence.
At my restaurant, I do all of the pastry and dessert.
I'm making an avocado sherbet sandwich
with a mojito-raspberry coulis,
white chocolate and lime.
Monroe avocados, they're fibrous,
so I decide to add sweetened condensed milk,
heavy cream, and orange liqueur
to really help give it that extra bite.
These waffles are dense.
I just want bragging rights
of taking the Chopped win
to go back and tell my guys
we're in Lake Stevens, Washington
which doesn't get a lot of press.
So being one chef away from winning feels great.
LJ, what are you making?
I think an avocado pudding.
I like a pudding.
[LJ] I'm making an avocado pudding
with raspberry jam
and a Liège waffle crumble.
A little bit of cinnamon.
I'm adding cinnamon, brown sugar, flour, and butter.
[Marc] I got to say, the idea of making a crumble
or a crust with these waffles I think is a great idea.
Dry them out and buzz them up, put a little butter in it,
you can make a nice crust.
[Daniela] That sounds amazing.
What LJ is doing is making me think
of a no-bake cheesecake with a graham cracker crust.
[Daniela] We have that in Mexico.
It's called Carlota.
-It's like a very-- -[Alex] You just have great
-names for everything. -[Daniela] Yeah, yeah,
Carlota.
[LJ] I'm adding egg yolks, cinnamon, sugar,
and corn starch to my pudding base to thicken it.
LJ, was that flour you put in there?
No, sir. It was corn starch.
[Marc] Corn starch.
How is it gonna have time to cool off?
It's not gonna set.
[Alex] My bigger issue is a half a cup of corn starch,
I think you're gonna see that turn around
and turn into a pot of glue
in two seconds flat.
Chefs, less than 15 minutes on the clock.
[Alex] Now, the fresh raspberries.
This is such a juicy succulent ingredient
and that would make a lovely sauce.
[Allie] I taste the avocado mojito
and immediately get smacked in the face with rum.
Be my friend.
[Alex] Allie has some of mojito
in with her raspberries.
[Allie] I hope that cooking out
a lot of that rum is gonna really give
the raspberry some balance.
Liège waffle.
I don't know what this is.
As I'm cutting into this waffle,
I'm noticing it's firm
and dense and falling apart.
It is not the fluffy Belgian waffle
that we all know and love. Thank you.
I need to figure out how I'm going to make nice ends
for an ice cream sandwich.
I bake them on a tray with some butter
and brown sugar.
[LJ] I combine my fresh raspberries
and my avocado mojito
and get it on the stove to start cooking.
I then decide to add some raspberry jam
just to give it a little bit thicker consistency.
The clock's winding down and at this point,
I feel good about a lot of my components.
But then I realize my pudding is getting too thick.
Chefs, less than four minutes to go here.
[Marc] I'm a little worried about this pudding.
-[Alex] See, look, corn starch did its job. -[Marc] Yup.
[LJ] This pudding is the basis of my dessert
and it has the avocado in it.
I really need to get it right.
So when I get my pudding cooking,
it looks good until it starts to get over the heat
and I realize it's thickening way too quickly.
I've got to fix this.
Is there another basket strainer?
Yeah, over on the wall.
I would have a giant skillet ready
that's more surface area
so you can work it a lot and manage it more.
[LJ] All right.
And I'm just letting it go for as long as possible
until it's time to plate.
I don't really have an alternative
solution at this point.
[Allie] My waffles are too hot, so I throw them
into the blast chiller to try
to cool them down in time for plating.
Having made it this far and being this close
to the end, I want...
I want it more than ever.
Behind.
Being a girl in the industry,
you know, it's tough.
They don't take you seriously in the beginning.
You have to work that much harder.
Behind.
But finding the time to travel,
it is super important.
If I won, I think I would be taking
my mom on a girls' trip,
probably to Oaxaca.
She's been asking. [chuckles]
-[whispering] Please, please, please, please. -[tense music playing]
I check on my waffles in the freezer
and they are still too hot.
I don't want them to melt my sherbet,
but I have to get started plating,
so I'm gonna have to make
this dish deconstructed.
-[Marc] Oh, my God. -[Alex] Do something.
Let's go.
[Alex] Please.
Where is she going? Where is she going?
I don't know.
Final seconds of the final round, chefs.
Ten, nine, eight...
[Marc] All four ingredients on the plate.
[Ted] ...seven, six, five...
-[Alex] Let's go, let's go. -[Ted] ...four,
three, two, one.
Time's up.
[Marc] Okay.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
[Allie] Final dessert round,
I had one vision for it and...
time just kind of got away.
I'm worried about my waffle
but I'm hoping that the deconstruction
title works.
[LJ] I feel great about the final round.
I'm happy with how my dessert turned out.
I'm so close to this win, I can taste it.
Chef Allie and Chef LJ, you got one more basket
for one last homage to the glorious avocado.
Your ingredients, a Monroe avocado,
an avocado mojito, raspberries,
and Liège waffles.
Chef LJ, tell us all about it.
So for my final dish, I have made a Monroe
avocado warm pudding.
There's raspberry jam, a Liège waffle crumble.
As far as desserts go, I think
going the pudding route was probably a good idea.
You can feel a little bit of the corn starch in it.
Having it warm, I think it sort of shows
off its faults a little bit.
[Daniela] I agree.
You taste the corn starch a lot but I think it was
the amount that you used in order to make it faster.
That makes sense.
The crumble is amazing.
The crumble tastes really good.
[Marc] Yeah.
The crumble, it's a great idea.
You did succeed in making a pudding which is great,
and I think this really focused on that avocado.
But the whipped cream with the avocado mojito and mint,
you need something here where there's a little relief
because everything is so powerful.
Understood.
Finally, Chef Allie.
Please tell us about your dessert.
All right, folks. So you're going to have
a deconstructed avocado sherbet sandwich
with a mojito-raspberry coulis
with white chocolate and lime.
[Daniela] The avocado sherbet
goes really well with the raspberries.
It's really, really beautiful.
But I wish you could've made a cone.
Maybe you're not used to working with waffles.
[Marc] I have to agree with you. I think the waffle
just gets a little flimsy and clunky on the plate.
Thank you.
I think the ice cream and the coulis
with the raspberry are spectacular.
For me, the waffle is a fail.
[no audio]
Thank you, chefs.
-Thank you, guys. -Thank you.
Judges, of course, avocados were the through line
for those two meals.
What were the highlights?
I think it started off in the beginning,
Allie really made a nice appetizer
with charred avocado,
I think she made a little bit of a mistake
with the masa underneath
but really had the composition
on top of that was really delicious
with the crab and the grapefruit.
Mmm-hmm.
And I liked LJ's
lump crab nacho,
the wontons,
and then the dill were a little out of place.
It was a cool idea though.
You know, the pork secreto
in the main course, I was hoping was gonna be
cooked perfectly on all the dishes.
[Alex] Allie went right for like a hat trick
of little umami flavors there
and I think that that really worked but then stumbled
and really didn't cook her pork well.
[Daniela] Yes. Mine was fat
and not cut against the grain.
And then, LJ on her dish,
she undercooked her pork.
-[Daniela] She did. -[Marc] But the carrots,
I mean, they were good but there was just so much of it.
Yeah. And that was kind of wild, right,
deglazing with tequila and agave.
[Daniela] That was cool.
Well, where are you with the decision then?
We have one.
[LJ] The last round, I made some mistakes
on just technique, so, yeah, I don't...
I don't feel great about the execution of that dish.
[Allie] What's wearing me is in the first round,
I had raw masa.
So I really think it's gonna come down
to just maybe the utilization of the avocado.
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
[tense music playing]
Chef LJ, you've been chopped. Judges?
LJ, we really enjoyed your cooking
in this whole competition.
For your first course, we really liked that crab,
but the wontons you put with the dill
made the dish a little disjointed.
For your entree, we loved the carrots
with the agave and the tequila,
but you should've probably spent that time
more carefully cooking your pork.
And so we had to chop you.
I understand. This has been so much fun.
I appreciate all of you.
-Thank you. -Thank you very much, Chef.
[LJ] I think they made the right call.
Even though I didn't win the 10K, it was great.
But let's do it again. That was a lot of fun.
And that means, Chef Allie McMillan,
you are the Chopped champion.
You certainly proved your avocado bravado
and for that, $10,000 is your prize.
Congratulations.
-[Alex] All right. -[Ted] Nicely done.
-Woo-hoo! -Thank you.
It feels amazing to be a Chopped champion.
Absolutely amazing.
-Thank you. -Great. Great meeting you. Thank you.
[Allie] I'm working every single day,
constantly banging out food
and you forget to have fun with it.
So actually doing this is just wonderful.