[Ted] You never know what you'll find in the Chopped baskets.
-What is that? -We've got a friggin' cheeseburger.
[Elaina] Don't trust what you see.
Deceitful? Yes.
Entertaining?
Wildly.
Three out of the four ingredients in that basket
are disguised as something completely different.
[crying]
Nothing is what it seems.
Well, I discovered that it's actually cake.
[Ben] I don't know what to expect from this show anymore.
[Ted] There is nothing on Cody's plates.
-[man] Oh, yeah, baby. -[woman] This is panic, right now.
[Ted] The baskets may have deceived you,
but the cloche never lies.
[Charlotte] I am like a cobra.
I am silent and calm,
but then I'll strike when you least expect it.
I am the chef and owner of Charlotte Shores Personal Chef Services.
My style of cooking is unique
and indecisive, as my personality. [chuckles]
I focus a lot on Mediterranean flavors.
I like light. I like acidic.
I also incorporate a lot of French technique.
But I do have the opportunity to experiment and try different things a lot.
I'm very competitive. I grew up in a family with six children,
and so I felt like being able to speak, being able to do anything,
I always had to compete.
And that reflected in how I chose to live my life.
Whether it was through pageantry or athletics,
I always found a way to be competitive.
And so, I wanna win.
[Cody] Um, right.
♪♪ Oh, yeah ♪
I am loud and talkative.
I want to know what you're doing, how you're feeling.
And I'm also probably gonna try and get in your head.
I am a culinary consultant, content creator,
and I'm from Healdsburg, California.
Nothing like a little bit of knife skills to make it amazing.
My style of cooking is California. It's very eclectic.
I grew up doing Mediterranean food,
but now it's kind of branched out all over.
The more difficult, the more pressure,
the more I'm in the center of the storm.
Anything that's high stress, that's where I feel the most comfortable.
[producer speaking]
[Elaina] No, I'm not mean at all.
Ooh, that was a lie.
[chuckling] That was a lie.
Um...
I'm a line cook in Greenville, South Carolina.
My style of cooking is Southern Lowcountry,
with Italian inspiration, West African, Caribbean.
I am always playing around,
but when it's time to get down to it, I don't play.
I will smile in your face, but don't take it for weakness.
In the kitchen, I'm very precise and focused on the mission.
I'm a baker, chef, and based out of New York City.
My style of cooking is Middle Eastern.
Direct, straightforward.
I grew up in Italy, and then I moved to Israel.
Traveled around the world and developed my palate.
I'm here to prove that I'm capable
to compete in an American show,
speaking English in the camera,
and beating up some professional chefs.
Yes! Yes!
[Tim] Hello, everybody.
-[Elaina] Hey, hey. -Hi, lovers.
-How you doing? -[exclaims excitedly]
[Ted] Hi, y'all. Welcome.
Chefs, you never know what you'll find in the Chopped baskets,
and that is especially true for your competition.
[laughing maniacally]
[Ted] Check out your ingredients.
Or what you think your ingredients are.
Open 'em up.
What?
-Okay. -[Elaina] Oh, my God.
We've got a friggin' cheeseburger.
And you've got a cheeseburger.
I immediately smell the cheeseburger,
and realize it's fondant on the outside.
Oh, my God, it's a candy thing.
[Charlotte] Oh, this is cake.
[Ted] Ice cream.
Okay, ice cream looks familiar.
By the shape, at least.
[Elaina] Y'all play too much.
This ice cream is really mashed potatoes.
What the hell am I gonna do with that?
-[Ted] Chicken tenders. -[in fake French accent] A chicken.
[Ted] And onion rings.
-Mmm. -Okay.
[Cody in normal voice] I'm not sure,
but these look like, literally, frozen onion rings.
[Ted] Twenty minutes to figure out what you've really got
and to make great appetizers.
Clock starts now.
-All right, chefs. -[judges cheering, applauding]
-[Jeff] Whoo-hoo! -[Tiffani] That's great!
[Cody] Let's do this!
-Ahhh! -And, uh...
Tiffani, two special guests joining you.
Award-winning executive pastry chef, Stephanie Boswell.
-[Tiffani] Yay! -[Ted] And Chopped champion,
-Joe Sasto. -[Tiffani] Yay!
[Ted] Judges, this is wild.
- Three out of the four-- - [exclaims]
[Ted] ...ingredients in that basket
are disguised as something completely different.
Deceitful? Yes. Entertaining? Wildly.
[chuckles]
[Elaina] They shocked me with this basket.
My anxiety is through the roof.
[gasps] Ooh!
But I am always the winner and I will always take all.
Elaina, what's the plan?
-I am making some tacos. -[Ted] Okay.
Everybody loves tacos.
[Tiffani] Burger ice cream onion ring chicken tacos?
-Correct. -Love it.
[Elaina] I'm making a chicken and cheeseburger cake taco filling.
[Ted] Your mind just keeps looking at
what really does look like a cheeseburger.
-It's not. -[Tiffani] Right. It's not a burger. It's cake.
Like, you just have to think of it as cake.
[Stephanie] Yeah, if it was a real burger,
you'd have so many different ingredients to choose from and play with.
This is just cake.
[Tiffani] The ice cream cone is an ice cream cone.
The vanilla-looking gorgeous ice cream that does seem to be melting,
it is mashed potatoes.
I think the best way to approach sweet ingredients
is to balance it out with acid or heat.
-You can make a glaze. -[Tiffani] Love that.
You can make a sauce, bring in vinegar, bring in the chili.
[Cody] I think I have a pretty untraditional approach to cooking.
I don't feel like I have a culinary style.
I just feel like I have this little attack squad
of culinary villains
that are just so good at just being like,
"Doesn't matter what it is or where it comes from, we'll figure it out."
Panko's on my station, just in case anyone cares.
[in sing-song voice] Heard.
[Tiffani] Just watching Cody,
I'm seeing two savory ingredients,
chicken tenders, mashed potatoes,
going into the food processor, together.
[Cody] For my appetizer. I am making a potato and chicken croquette,
served with an herb salad
that's tossed with a onion ring gastrique,
with a pickled gummy nuoc cham.
So, he's making, like, a forcemeat, essentially?
-[Joe] Yeah. -[Tiffani] Cody's making a croquette.
-[Stephanie] Okay. -He's using the mashed potatoes very smartly,
and whipping that with the chicken,
seasoning that, and then, he's gonna bread that
and probably fry it into croquette deliciousness.
[Cody] The potato mixed with the chicken,
it's just gonna make a super solid texture to make this nugget...
[kisses]
[Joe] One of my favorite,
I guess you can call it a trend right now,
is savory food that's actually sweet.
-So, the onion rings? Not actually onion rings. -Hmm.
-[Tiffani] You don't say, sir. -[Joe] Nope.
-[Tiffani] Huh! -[Joe] They are a red licorice,
coated in Graham cracker crumbs.
None of the elements of an onion ring.
-No onion flavor. -[laughing]
[Charlotte] Being a personal chef
really gives me an edge in this competition.
I'm cooking different things all of the time,
and chicken tenders are something that I work with a lot.
And I immediately think chicken piccata.
Chicken piccata is an Italian dish. It's lightly breaded,
and it's got a lemon caper sauce that goes over it.
[Tiffani] Chef Charlotte, how's the burger boogie?
[Charlotte] So, what we're gonna do with it
is use the cake part as a breading for my chicken.
My kids love chicken tenders.
I have three deliciously beautiful children,
and they are the light of my life.
I wanna show my kids that I can be put into this position
and excel and shine with it.
Chefs, you're down to 13 minutes here.
I think I will turn the chicken tender into schnitzel.
Very common food in Israel.
So, for my appetizer,
I'm making mashed potato stuffed schnitzel
with matbucha sauce and tahini.
I'm looking at the onion rings,
and I don't really know what to do with the licorice inside.
But I know that the crust of it,
I will crumble together with the cone of the ice cream,
into the breading for the schnitzel.
So it looks like Ben... He used the crumbs as his breading.
And I see he has his cake ground up there.
Chefs, ten minutes remain. Halfway in.
[Tiffani] Truly hoping that they realize
that the chicken tenders are actually chicken tenders.
I'm hoping that they don't taste the raw chicken.
[in normal voice] What have I gotten myself into?
[Stephanie] I love the idea of obviously using the chicken and then a sweet sauce.
Like, I don't think I would use that burger
for anything other than the fondant,
because it's basically just sugar.
So, using that fondant to create, like,
-a barbecue sauce or a mole of some kind. -[Tiffani] Same.
[Ben] I should have chosen a bigger pan.
[Elaina] I'm going to use the mashed potato and the onion rings
to make an ice cream chipotle crema,
because I need the richness and the thickness of the mashed potatoes
to combat the heat.
[Cody] I grab an onion ring.
I'm like... [snaps fingers] "That might be gastrique territory right there."
And I think, just a little bit of freshness
is where we're gonna bring this up.
It's going, it's going.
My mind was kind of going chicken piccata route.
And so, I decide, "Okay, well, let's do a play on that
"with a creamy potato sauce."
Some of the sweetness from the licorice will help cut through.
Still include the capers and the lemon,
and have a really nice, beautiful sauce on the plate.
[Ben] So, matbucha, it's a very common sauce in Israel.
Hot tomato sauce, slowly cooked
to get all the sweetness and deep flavors of tomatoes and peppers.
Never thought I'm gonna cook with licorice.
I'm looking at the cheeseburger
and I'm seeing the layer of the tomato.
And I'm just thinking to myself, "Tomato with tomato."
Even though it's not a tomato, it will make sense in the tomato sauce.
Uh-oh.
I'm going to check my schnitzel and...
-[grunts] -[sizzling]
[Ben] ...
Well, it looks like Ben has burnt his chicken.
Put sugar in an exterior coating of something,
-sugar burns immediately. -[Tiffani] Yeah.
[Ben] It doesn't look good.
The schnitzel holding three ingredients from the basket,
and they'd better work.
[Charlotte speaks indistinctly]
Four minutes to go, chefs.
[Ben] I feel very stressed at that point.
[Ted] Does Ben have any leftover chicken
and does he have time to cook it?
Three minutes? Mmm.
It doesn't look as I expected it to be, but...
You're getting some salt here.
...I'm going with what I have.
I don't have more time to make new ones.
So, fingers crossed.
[Elaina] I grab tortilla cheese, lime zest,
and I get the candied pickles,
to make a candied pickle topping
for my Mexican street taco.
[Ted] Elaina is plating her food so rapidly. It's crazy.
All right.
Under two minutes to go.
-[screams] -But you can do this. You can do it.
[Cody] I see that the pickles are candy.
So, I'm using the pickles to make a nuoc cham.
I'm thinking that this could be the dipping sauce to my nuggets
that are just gonna give that last little acidic pop.
There is nothing on Cody's plates,
with a minute 20 on the clock.
Cody, get some food on the plate, please.
[Charlotte] I am hoping that these mashed potatoes will help achieve
a really silky smooth sauce that will go on the plate.
[Ted] Charlotte's tasting a sauce
that needs to be on that plate in seconds.
[Charlotte] And it's the consistency of milk.
As I'm looking at the sauce and the clock,
I'm realizing I'm not gonna have a chance to puree it.
And I am just a little bit heart-broken.
Behind, chef. Behind.
-[Ted] We will find out. -[Tiffani] It's panic, right now.
It's been a while since I've heard this level of borderline panic.
Whoo!
[Ben] So, I have the schnitzel,
and I have the hot tomato sauce.
I need something to balance it.
And what better than a creamy tahini?
Tahini is basically a sesame paste.
Oh, yeah, baby.
Cody? How you doing? What are you doing?
-[Joe] Start plating. -[Stephanie] Put it on a plate.
-[Joe] Start plating on. -[Ted] There we go. All right.
Thirty seconds, folks.
Time for the zen.
-[Ted] Get it done, chefs. Twenty seconds. -[Tiffani] Here we go, guys.
-Everything on the plate. -[Joe] Here we go, here we go.
-Here we go! -Come on, come on, come on.
-[Ted] Final seconds. -[judges clamoring]
[Joe] Let's go.
[Ted] Nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two--
-[Tiffani] And it's... Oh! -[Ted] ...one.
-[judges whooping] -Whoo!
-[Elaina grunts] -[Charlotte] Oh, my gosh, that was intense.
Doesn't matter how much you practice.
Being in the actual kitchen completely changes everything.
But I got things on the plate.
[Ben] I'm feeling great.
I'm pretty sure that it's delicious,
but about presentation,
I looked on the other competitors,
and I'm like... I feel the tension.
Woof!
Chefs, you have arrived at the chopping block.
In that first basket, you got a cheeseburger that was really a cake,
mashed potatoes that looked like ice cream,
licorice, disguised as onion rings,
plus actual chicken tenders.
Chef Cody, we're starting with you.
Today, I made for you a potato and chicken croquette.
I used the licorice to make a gastrique,
and a nuoc cham that was made with the gummy pickle from the burger.
That 20 minutes with those ingredients, that's a challenge.
-You guys really got me on that today. -[chuckling]
[Joe] Chef Cody, I think the way that you approached
onion ring that was actually a licorice,
and turning that into a gastrique
by taking the sugar of the fondant,
and turning that into a nuoc cham sauce...
That was a great way to transform those.
And your approach to the chicken tenders...
The coating on it is nice. It's crispy.
I do think that the nugget itself is a little bit dense.
But I think this is super successful.
I would never eat this in a restaurant and go,
"There's a cheeseburger cake in this."
-[Cody laughing] -"I'm getting onion ring licorice."
It's all completely disguised in the most beautiful way.
[Tiffani] Chef Cody, the use of the nuoc cham
is, I think, really smart. But with nuoc cham,
we need a lot of heat to kind of lift that sweetness.
I want more heat here.
Next up, Chef Elaina.
-What's up, what's up. -[Ted] Please tell us about your dish.
I made a chicken taco with ice cream crema,
and a candied pickle topping.
[Tiffani] Elaina, I think a taco is a really, really smart way to approach this.
Use of the potatoes with the crema and then the licorice,
it really works nicely.
It is kind of just, like, interesting,
sophisticated, almost fennel note.
And using the potatoes as the binder for the crema?
Very, very smart.
I think you needed a little bit more cream.
It reads a little dry, but the flavors are great.
Yeah, I think all in all, you did a brilliant job with what you had.
And I love your choice of using all of that spice
to really kind of mask
the sweetness of all the ingredients you had.
[Jeff] It's delicious. Attacking it with all of those spices,
all of that heat really balances out.
-[Ted] Chef Elaina, thank you. -Thank you.
Next up, Chef Ben.
Was the most surprising basket I could imagine.
Yeah, the burger was the biggest challenge for me.
I actually was completely fooled.
But I think I did okay.
I made a mashed potato stuffed schnitzel with matbucha,
which is a hot tomato sauce, and tahini.
[Tiffani] What is the matbucha sauce?
It's a Moroccan hot tomato sauce with garlic and chilies.
I use the candied tomatoes from the burger,
giving a sweetness that will come out
after long cooking of the sauce.
This sauce is fantastic.
It's sweet, it's spicy.
It's got a beautiful color to it. And the texture is amazing.
Using the burger tomato into the tomato sauce.
So clever.
The heat in there really plows through the sweetness.
And then, the tahini with it. It's so lovely.
I really would like put this on anything and eat it.
And when I say anything, I mean anything that's cooked.
Your chicken schnitzel is a bit on the raw side.
-[exclaims] -My chicken itself is unevenly cooked.
There are some pieces in there that are done,
and stuffing it with mashed potatoes,
I thought, was really smart,
'cause it was the most moist chicken that I've had so far.
Thank you, Chef Ben. Finally, Chef Charlotte.
Today I prepared for you a pan seared chicken tender,
with a potato and graham cracker sauce
on top of a radicchio frisee salad.
In the sauce, we have the potatoes,
the graham cracker crust, and a little bit of licorice.
The capers, the caper liquid.
I tried to go a little bit Italian.
The dish was kind of based on chicken piccata.
Chef Charlotte. Visually, I think it's fun and inviting.
The chicken was cooked perfectly.
-Thank you. -By using that cheeseburger cake as your coating.
But also, pulling in panko breadcrumbs, I think, was very smart.
-Thank you. -[Stephanie] I mean, it's beautiful.
I will say. I don't think your sauce was as successful.
The texture is kind of funny. The look of it is kind of funny.
The little chunks of red licorice in there.
It's very garlicky, and it's very caper forward.
-And it's just a weird juxtaposition. -Okay.
I think using the potato... And it's really smart.
Gives you, like, a natural thickness.
-Just genius. -Thank you, Chef.
[Ted] Chef Charlotte, thank you.
Kudos to all of you for rolling with the punches
in an extra challenging first round.
Who's coming back for the second?
We'll find out soon. Thank you, chefs.
I feel like I could potentially be chopped.
You know, the judges weren't happy with the sauce that I made.
But what they did love was my chicken.
So, hopefully that's enough to take me to the next round.
[Ben] I think I'm gonna get chopped. Not because of the flavors.
I'm very proud of what I served.
But, I mean, raw chicken. [sighs]
How can you continue with raw chicken?
It's time to see what's under here.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Charlotte. You've been chopped. Judges?
[Joe] Chef Charlotte, the onion ring, the licorice candy,
as well as those mashed potatoes
led to a very difficult to eat sauce.
And so, we had to chop you.
Thank you, chefs. Bye, guys.
Bye. Oh, my God.
[Charlotte] It's kind of hard to swallow
that undercooked chicken was better than my sauce.
But I am proud of what I did.
[Ted] Chef Ben, Chef Elaina, Chef Cody.
Are you ready for some second round hijinks?
-No. -Mmm-mmm.
-No. -No.
Ready to party.
-[Ted] All right. -I'm with you. I'll join you there.
Open 'em up.
-Ooh! -[Ted] And you need to figure out
what's really in this basket,
-but appears to be-- -You guys.
[Ted] ...shrimp cocktail.
What are you?
This looks weird.
[Ted] Pigs in a blanket.
I'm looking at the pigs and it's a carrot.
[Ted] Sunny side up eggs.
What is that?
Not what I'm expecting, that's for sure.
Obviously, it's not the sunny side up,,
but I'm already recognizing the candied apricots on top.
And skate wings.
Skate wing. That is beautiful.
Raw fish.
I know what to do with you.
[Ted] Thirty minutes to sort it out
and make amazing main dishes.
Clock starts now.
-All right, chefs, let's go. -[Joe] Go, chefs!
[Ted] Judges, I have good news, which is
the skate wing is a skate wing.
The rest of the basket? Who knows?
Question for you is
do you think this second deceptive basket
is gonna push these chefs over the brink?
I've got nothing but optimism and positivity for them.
-[Ted] Really? -Hmm.
-[Ted] Okay. -[Tiffani] I'd like to stay off the brink
and closer to the edge of glory.
If that's at all possible in this round.
-[Ted chuckles] -[Joe] I would like to skate,
-right on the edge. -[Tiffani exclaims]
[Cody] This basket's even better than the last one.
We have a lot of stuff to work with. Carrot.
The sweetness. I think I'm good.
For my entree, I am making
classically fried skate with a orange cognac
and weird shrimp ice cream sauce.
Finish with a sunny side apricot gremolata.
So, I pull out the carrots from the pigs in the blanket,
and I wanna start forming like a base sauce.
Cody, what are you thinking with this mystery basket?
[Cody] Uh, this is so much fun.
The only big question mark is this little shrimp.
But I'm gonna do a nice little puree
with the carrots and the shrimp.
And I think the sweetness are gonna go really well with that.
[Stephanie] The shrimp cocktail, this is,
essentially, just a yuzu ice cream coated in white chocolate,
and then it's hand painted to look like shrimp.
A sweet, citrusy, yuzu component
would pair really well with the skate wing.
We also have sunny side up eggs,
which are neither eggs nor particularly sunny side up.
They are canned apricots
just sitting on a swoosh of yogurt.
I love yogurt and fish together.
Put a really strong spice mix
on that fish, like a Middle Eastern spice mix
with some apricot yogurt.
I'm not mad at that. I'm actually okay with that.
Mmm.
So I quickly learned
that the shrimp on the shrimp cocktail is yuzu ice cream.
So my mind immediately goes to Asia.
I'm making a red curry and coconut skate stew
over rice noodles and pigs in a blanket
sesame crumble on top.
I'm adding the carrots from the pigs in the blanket,
the full fat Greek yogurt and then my not so shrimp
to bring in the acidity.
[Tiffani] I think Elaina has a really strong plan.
-Come on, baby. -She's put all of her eggs
literally eggs, pigs and shrimp
to the base of this Asian style curry.
[Ben] Growing up in Israel, I used to eat a lot of fish.
We are like on the Mediterranean,
so fresh fish is always available.
It's the first time I'm working with skate wings,
but I'm pretty confident in my fish game.
For my main dish, I'm making a skate wing stew
over couscous. with light tzatziki.
Ben is making a vegetable
kind of looks like mirepoix situation.
A little bit of thyme smells great.
[Ben] I am adding the fish.
Let them wok on high heat,
and then I'm taking the shrimps
and I'm squeezing all the juice out.
That's my acidic factor for the dish.
Bone and the skin has been removed from this skate.
So it is a filet. It is very delicate.
It's nutty and it's sweet.
It likes to be sauteed lightly and butter with a tiny bit of flour.
Skate when you start overcooking it, it breaks apart
and just like, it gets like mushy, weird.
Chef's just under 20 min here.
[Cody] Skate one of my favorite fish to work with.
This is awesome. Super lean.
I want to cook this whole make it crispy.
Can't overcook it, though.
[Elaina] At this point, I diced my skate wing.
I need it to cook fast, and I want every bite
of noodle and broth to have the skate.
[Ben] Behind you.
[Tiffani] Uh, Elaina has the rice noodles
that she's had in her whaling water.
Come on, baby.
-[Joe] Been there a long time. -[Tiffani] Long time.
-[Joe] Don't take long to cook noodles. -[Stephanie] No.
Ten minutes to go, chefs.
-[indistinct shouting] -[Elaina sighing impatiently]
I just started cooking.
[Tiffani] Ben looks like he's working on a really fresh sauce.
He's got cucumbers, lemon juice.
He's got his yogurt in there.
[Ben] I'm using the Greek yogurt from the sunny side egg
to make a light tzatziki.
That makes a lot of sense.
-Really happy to see it. -[Joe] Yeah.
[Ben] Everybody needs to know how to make couscous.
I'm taking a small pot cold,
I'm filling it up with couscous, salt and olive oil.
Then I'm taking boiling water
and I'm adding it covering one inch
above the couscous.
Yeah.
All right chefs, five minutes left on the clock.
[blender whirring]
[Cody] Apricot gremolata. So here we have
the opportunity for acidity and texture.
And the puff pastry from the pigs in the blanket.
I think this is actually the perfect bread component,
So I'm gonna get these in the pan.
You get crispy from the fish,
you got velvety from the sauce,
and now you have texture from this gremolata.
[Tiffani] Let's go, guys.
-[Ted] Yeah. -Minute 30 left.
[Elaina] I'm going to use the puff pastry.
To make my pigs in a blanket sesame crumble.
Once my crumble is ground,
I'm looking at it, and I feel like I've taken it a bit far.
[exclaims crying]
There's not enough time on the clock,
so I just have to roll with it and hope for the best.
Do the hustle.
-Four components on the plate. Let's go. -[Joe] Get it on the plate.
Get it on the plate.
Make sure you're tasting, chef's
Acid adjust, salt adjust.
[Ted] All right, you are running out of time here, chefs.
Get it done.
Ten, nine, eight,
-seven, six... -[Elaina] Come baby.
-[Joe] Oh! -[Tiffani] Finish, finish, finish.
-Come on. -[Ted] Come on.
Four, three,
-two, one. -[Tiffani] There you go.
[all cheering]
[clapping]
I got an olive oil drip here on my front head.
I'm sweaty.
-[Elaina sighing in exhaustion] -That's beautiful.
-Hell yes! -[Ben] Thank you so much.
-Oh! -Hell, yes.
[Ben] Oh, yeah.
[Cody] Oh, my God! I'm sweating.
That was insane.
These baskets, they're super challenging,
which I wanted.
But I didn't know they were gonna be this challenging for sure.
[Elaina] I know everything is tasty.
I've built my flavors up,
but I'm worried about the plating,
The cleanliness,
presentation.
Chef Ben, Chef Elaina, Chef Cody.
For the entree round you've got ice cream treats
that looked like a shrimp cocktail,
carrots and puff pastry
disguised as pigs in a blanket.
Sunny side up eggs that were really yogurt and apricots
and totally real skate wings.
Chef Ben, what do we have?
We have a skate stew
on couscous with light tzatziki.
They call it light tzatziki because it's not heavy on the sauce.
It's more like... coating it.
Chef Ben, I think it was incredibly creative
the way that you transformed each of these basket ingredients.
The way that you used that sunny side up
egg yogurt and turn it into a light
version of tzatziki,
that cuts through this rich stew that you created
pulling out the carrots from the pigs in a blanket
and transformed them as a sofrito.
I think acted as a great base,
and added really nice sweetness to this stew.
I think you and I, however,
have a different definition of the word stew,
perhaps where I like something brothy,
and this is almost more like a saute.
It just feels sort of like everything put into
a stockpot and boiled.
Everything's just sort of melding together.
But I mean, my favorite thing
on this entire dish is actually the tzatziki.
I think it's beautiful. It's bright.
The couscous, is as light and fluffy and ethereal as couscous can be.
This is so delicious.
Introducing us and showing us how you like to eat.
I love that, I love it when people don't hide themselves
when they come here and cook.
We get to see who they are
and how they see the world and how they see food.
That's the beauty of all of us.
Chef Ben, thank you.
-Thank you, Judges. -Next up, Chef Elaina,
You have a red curry and coconut skate stew.
Over rice noodles and a pigs in the blanket
sesame crumble on top.
Okay. What inspired you to take this direction, Chef?
I pretty much highlighted what I plan on doing with the money when I win.
Taking it and traveling. My first stop is going to be backpacking across Asia.
Any country specifically in Asia?
I definitely want to go to Japan.
Thailand, Uh, Taiwan.
I'll just covered the entire. I just wanna go.
First and foremost. I love the flavor of that.
You get that Thai curry spice
and the acidity is beautiful,
and the herbal notes are fantastic.
The depth that you created with the curry spice,
I think it's absolutely delicious.
I think it's a smart route to go
to incorporate the shrimp cocktail.
That really sweet yuzu flavor,
getting the pigs in the blanket in there
and creating that nutty sesame crumble on top
works really well.
I do, however, think the Skate wing did trip you up a little bit.
[Tiffani] The skate is super small,
and it could be anything at this point.
I mean, it's just kind of like unidentifiable meat,
which is sad because skate is such a beautiful piece of fish.
But your love for these flavors
is really clear in this curry.
Chef Elaina, thank you.
Finally, Chef Cody.
We have fried skate with cognac
and carrot sauce, topped off with apricot gremolata.
[Joe] Chef Cody.
This was a great rendition
of those basket ingredients that we gave you.
You have those pigs in a blanket
that you turn into this beautiful,
crispy, crunchy gremolata topping.
And then using the apricots in there
just give you this beautiful, bright, sweet and sour note.
The gremolata with the apricot is a really nice touch, and--
[Stephanie] I like the sauce.
I think the sauce not only is beautiful, but it tastes amazing.
Really nice job.
[Tiffani] This is how skate should look.
It's a little rare on the inside,
closer to where the bone would be.
But skate under better than skate over.
Chef Cody, thank you.
Yes, I am in the risk of like being chopped.
Cody did an outstanding dish.
I think he's going directly to the finals,
and now it's between me and Elaina.
Honestly, I don't feel like I am going to the next round
because of the plating,
and because I like the dramatics.
[Ted] One more round,
but there's only room in it for two chefs.
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
[dramatic music playing]
Chef Ben, you've been chopped.
Judges?
Chef Ben, while we loved
the home cooked quality of your dish,
we felt that adding all of your
basket ingredients together
just muddied the flavor.
And the star of the show, which should have been
the skate wing, was completely lost.
And so we had to chop you.
Thank you.
Thank you guys.
-Good luck. -Thanks, man.
-[Ted] Thank you, Chef. -[Ben] Thank you all.
[Ben] Obviously a little bit disappointed,
but I'm so grateful for the experience
to be on Chopped in America.
It's amazing. It's a dream comes true.
[Elaina] Moving forward to this desert round,
I'm feeling pretty confident that I would beat Chef Cody
because the judges have been impressed
with my dishes flavor wise.
So my strategy is just execute, execute, execute.
[Cody] I think Elaina is a serious competitor.
This is gonna be a lot of fun.
But I do have some years on her
and a bit of experience, so I'm gonna win 'cause why would I not.
Chef Cody, Chef Elaina.
Watching you deal with bogus basket ingredients
is pretty fun from the sidelines.
But what do you think of this added level of difficulty?
It's just making my food better.
Piece of cake.
Okay,
And check him out.
-[gasps] -[Cody] Hmm.
[Ted] On the surface, it looks like you've got red wine.
-Is it chocolate? This is chocolate. -[gasps]
-[Ted] Smoked ham. -That's a watermelon.
[Elaina] How cute. [chuckles]
It's hot, too.
[Ted] Popcorn.
This is icing of some sort.
I feel like ice cream is down in here
[Ted] And shaved ice.
That looks festive.
Oh! [exhales]
[Ted] Thirty min to rock out sweet treats.
Clock starts now.
-[whooping] -Let's go, guys.
-[whoops] -[Tiffani] Last round, make it count.
Sorry, audio.
I'm not sure the chefs would know what to do
with regular ingredients if we gave them them
-at this point. -[judges laughing]
[Tiffani] And they would be poking at it and trying to figure it out.
[gasps]
[Tiffani] Our ham...
It's basically watermelon.
It's dehydrated with a little bit of hickory smoke
to make it look like it's smoked and glazed on the outside.
I'm really excited to see how that watermelon pairs
with that chocolate wine bottle, though,
because I think the smokiness from that and dark chocolate
just such a beautiful combination.
Round 3. This is where the competition gets crazy.
For my dessert, I'm making a watermelon and sake curd
with a shaved ice and thyme bread crumb
Finish with the mole spike chocolate sauce.
-Chef Cody. -[Cody] Yep.
Let's ham it up. What are you making over there?
[Cody] I'm gonna reduce the watermelon
and beat that into a citrus curd.
I think that the watermelon, when reduced,
is gonna add a really nice, acidic, sweet component to this curtain.
[Joe] This popcorn is canned frosting.
-[Stephanie] Yup. -[Joe] Piped into the shapes of popcorn.
Incredibly sweet.
Lots of stabilizers, emulsifiers, trans fats.
-[Stephanie] Yeah. -[Joe] The chefs are gonna be careful
about how much they use
-not to hit us over the head... -Right.
...with sugar on this desert.
That and it doesn't have the same properties
-as a traditional buttercream. -Right?
It's frosting, not buttercream.
[Elaina] So now that I know what all these ingredients are
my brain goes straight to rice pudding.
At the restaurant, I have a risotto dish. It's familiar.
So I'm making a red wine chocolate rice pudding
with smoked bourbon,
macerated apples
and a shaved ice cupcake crumble.
-Elaina! -[Elaina] Yo?
How we doing over there?
How are those snow cones treating you?
[Elaina] I'm feeling pretty good.
I got a chocolate rice pudding coming your way.
[all exclaiming] Oh!
We have seen people try to do rice the puddings.
They haven't often been able to pull it off.
-But she might know something we don't. -[Stephanie] Yeah.
-This could be the day. -[Stephanie] She might-- She might do.
So in this final around at this point.
If I don't get it, my ego will be crushed
because I've made it this far.
Cody and Elaina are two very different chefs.
I think Cody is swinging for the fences,
and I think Elaina is playing it a little bit safe.
Elaina tends to find one thing to do
that makes her feel like she's busy and she's focused.
She did it in the entree around with her curry.
She's now doing it in this round.
Twenty minutes to get it done, chefs.
[Cody] Heard. Back.
Heard, heard, heard.
[Cody] So I'm taking the cake from the shaved ice to make a crumble.
I think that adding this kind of texture
is gonna be so much fun, so.
I'm mixing that with graham cracker and a little bit of fresh thyme.
[Stephanie] Cody is making the crust of his pie with the cake
portion of the snow cone cupcakes.
Okay. I like that.
[Joe] Okay.
[Elaina] I'm bringing apples because I think apples
are a good liaison between the warmth and the bourbon.
The smokiness from the watermelon
and the richness with the chocolate
and I go to taste my rice,
and it's nowhere where I need it to be.
Yeah, I don't like that.
I am feeling anxious at this point.
All right, chefs, five minutes left on the clock.
Boil, boil, boil, boil, boil.
[Joe] Rice, you really either have to give it all your attention
or it's gonna be undercooked
-and the nail, and you're going home. -Right.
[Elaina] If this rice doesn't cook,
it could potentially cost me the competition.
[squeals softly]
Okay, chefs. Four minutes to go here.
What started out as a safety blanket
it has now becoming like a four alarm fire for her.
[Elaina] I'm stirring and stirring and stirring,
just hoping that I can take this rice all the way.
[mumbles]
I have to continue to add boiling water
to help speed up the cooking process
and just stir it continuously,
just like whip it.
[Cody] So for the popcorn and chocolate,
I'm making the sauce.
So I get that in the pan with a little bit of heavy cream,
and I just want to make like a super simple but fun spice blend.
[clicks tongue] Right into this sauce.
[Elaina] I'm using the shaved ice cupcake to make a crumble
because I need texture.
Less than a minute to go, chefs.
[Elaina] I'm excited at this point.
But I just need to make sure
that I do not take my eye off of his rice.
[Joe] Cody's layering his dessert.
He put his curd in the bowls.
Now he's bruleeing it.
So we're gonna get a nice, crispy, crunchy top.
-[Ted] Final seconds of the final round, chefs. -[Stephanie] Ten seconds--
[Joe] Let's go, Cody!
-[Ted] Ten, nine, eight... -[Joe] Chef Elaina, anything on the plate.
-[Ted] ...seven, six... -[Tiffani] All four ingredients, guys.
[Ted] ...five, four, three,
two, one. Times up.
Please step back.
[all applauding]
Wow!
What a day.
[Elaina] This round was definitely a lot more pressure.
[Cody] Elaina's amazing the way that she approaches food
the way that she's been approaching plating.
[Elaina] Cody is phenomenal.
He's very talented, very knowledgeable.
[Cody] She hustles. She makes good foods.
But I think I got this.
[Cody sighs]
-[Cody] To us. -Cheers.
I can taste the money. It feels amazing.
[dramatic music playing]
[Ted] Chef Cody and Chef Elaina.
In that final basket, we tricked you again with chocolate.
That appeared to be a bottle of red wine
watermelon that looked like smoked ham.
Popcorn that turned out to be frosting.
And cups of shaved ice that were really cupcakes.
All right, Chef Cody, what do we have?
I have for you a watermelon sake curd
with a snow cone and thyme breadcrumb.
Finished with a mole chocolate confit fruit,
[Joe] Cody, I think it was incredibly creative,
transforming that popcorn frosting
and using it in a chocolate sauce.
By melting down that chocolate wine bottle
and turning it into a glaze for this curd.
And then using that a bright acid note
that you find a watermelon
and paring it down into a curd.
But the curd itself
is broken and overcooked.
I do, however, really like the texture of that crumb on top.
The brulee, fantastic idea.
I love the texture of your snow cone cupcake crumble
with the graham crackers. I think it's great.
I don't have any crumble.
On mine.
Okay.
-It's like a little tiny speck. -You got a little...
You got a little speck in the corner.
And you guys are talking about how great it is.
I think if you had time to refine this dish,
it would be fantastic.
But 30 minutes was just not enough time.
-Yeah. -Thank you, Chef Cody.
Finally, Chef Elaina, tell us about your dessert.
I have for you a merlot chocolate rice pudding.
With smoked bourbon, macerated apples,
and a shaved ice cupcake crumble.
[Tiffani] Chef Elaina, it has been so fun
watching you throughout this entire round.
Have you made rice pudding before?
First time.
I think you're just cooked there.
But it's-- So it's not super all Dante
But there's not enough liquid
and you see it, it's kind of seized up.
[dramatic music playing]
But the bourbon smoked watermelon apples.
These are really delicious.
The sugar in the smoked ham, watermelon,
just hit these apples in all the right ways.
The star of the show for this, for me, is the apples.
You need to put them in a jar.
You need to sell them in stores.
You know, I like the snow cone, cake crumble on top.
I think that's a fun texture,
But I do think we needed
definitely more chocolate in the rice pudding.
But using that popcorn to sweeten it
gives you this creamy mouth feel,
using chocolate and melting down that wine bottle
and incorporating it into a rice
It's that kind of cooking that you need
to take risks at this point in the game.
Thank you, Chef.
Appreciate you.
We appreciate both your good work
and your good humor about this crazy theme.
Thank you, chefs.
So, you know, appetizer around right out of the gate.
Cody came out swinging.
-We got some really cool chicken nuggies. -Yeah.
[Joe] He made this beautiful
-pickled gastrique nuoc chams situation... -[Stephanie] Yeah.
[Joe] ...with the red licorice, onion ring, candies...
[Stephanie] ...chicken nuggies.
I did think they were a little bit on the dense side.
For me if you're comparing chicken to chicken,
I thought that Chef Elaina's chicken
was much more succulent, tender, delicious.
I want that taco again?
[Tiffani] Using the ice cream that was mashed potatoes
as the base of the crema
was really smart, but it was dry.
Taco was dry.
Then we get to the entree around.
[Joe] The way that Chef Cody approached that skate,
approached all of the things
from the sunny side egg to the pigs in the blanket.
I mean, he not only transformed all those ingredients...
-Mmm-hmm. -...he plated it beautifully and it was delicious.
You could not have told me
that it was made with all of these trumploy
-ingredients. -Absolutely not.
-[Joe] Right. -Yeah.
Leaving the skate hole.
Mine was a little on the rare side,
but I would prefer it a little under to over.
Arguably Chef Elaina's curry was delicious.
She had her yuzu ice cream shrimp cocktail
that she put into a curry.
She had yogurt from her sunny side up, eggs in the curry as well.
And she really built those flavors.
She was not afraid of spice, but just for me
the skate got lost.
Well, how is this going to end, then?
[Tiffani] If we're talking about having a winner,
it may actually be as it seems.
All right, let's go.
[Cody] What's worrying me the most about the dessert round
is probably just everything they said.
But I feel like I was pretty locked
in the first two rounds.
So... [grunts softly] I'm hoping that carries.
[Elaina] Now that I'm so close to winning,
and I can literally smell the money.
It's all in baby.
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
[dramatic music playing]
[Ted] Chef Elaina. You've been chopped. Judges?
Chef Elaina, you had an incredible day,
and it was very, very close.
For us it came down to the use of the skate.
And it wasn't that it was not necessarily bad.
Chef Cody was able to just nail that skate.
And so we had to chop you.
Thank you so much, Chef.
You're a joy to have.
-[Elaina] Thank you. Thank you. -A joy. Please know that.
-I'm proud of you. -[Elaina] Congratulations.
-[all applauding] -[whooping]
[Elaina] Honestly, I'm feeling a little let down.
But I'm proud of me for coming this far
and conquering this.
And that means Chef Cody Candelario.
No more pranking you.
You scored $10,000.
Congratulations.
-[whooping triumphantly] -[all laughing]
-Nice job. -[Cody] Ugh!
I wish I had it. I'd throw it in the air right now.
[all laughing]
[Cody] What?
[screams] I'm so happy.
I feel vibrant and alive.
It's probably the happiest I've ever been.