[Scott] This competition is gonna be legendary.
[Ted] Four iconic Chopped judges
have, each, handpicked four all-star champions,
in a battle of the best.
[Maneet] I am staking my reputation on these incredible chefs.
[Chris] To become a legendary chef here.
you have to be so bold and so driven.
Pressure makes diamonds,
and in the Chopped kitchen, pressure makes legends.
♪♪ And the legend goes on ♪
[Scott] You gotta pursue greatness non-stop.
[woman] They have to push the boundaries. They have to be ambitious.
-Ooh. -[Alex] Irreverent, unflappable.
-Unbasket-able. -See this?
[Ted] The champs who win the preliminary rounds,
will return to cook in the tournament's finale
with the judges as their sous-chefs.
I can't wait to boss him around.
It's kind of naughty.
[woman] They need to come in guns blazing.
Make me proud!
Now that's some boom, boom right there, girl.
That's the legendary move, like, that's it.
[man] Everyone is a champion. But there is only one legend.
Good enough isn't good enough.
Many champions will fall, but one legend will rise.
♪♪ And the legend goes on ♪
[Alex] I've seen hundreds of chefs come and go,
and only a few left a lasting impression.
These four champs certainly won me over,
and I'm thrilled they accepted my invitation
to compete in the Chopped Legends Tournament.
First, here's Chef Hosea Rosenberg,
from our All-American Showdown.
[Hosea] I won Best of The West.
Thank you so much.
I made it to the dessert round of the grand finale.
You are the only one of this pack
that has been chopped before.
But I think that works to your advantage.
-To know the high and the low-- -Mmm-hmm.
...that's an equalizer.
His lethal, very thoughtful approach to cooking
really impressed me.
[Hosea] For me, it's really analyzing things,
and if I can make the smartest decisions,
then I'll take home the title.
[Alex] Next, I've selected Chef Annisha Garcia.
She is the Grand Champion of our Playing with Fire Tournament.
She's never been chopped,
and I don't think she wants to start here.
She's an undefeated powerhouse.
I feel like everybody's
-got their eye on you a little bit. -[chuckles]
Behind, behind, behind, behind, behind.
I have taken down champions, I have taken down grand champions.
This time, I will be a legend.
[Alex] And next is Chef Javauneeka Jacobs,
the Grand Champion of our Julia Child Tournament.
She has a keen understanding of flavor
that's well beyond her years.
You made a Mexican dish
in a Julia Child Tournament about French cooking.
If Julia had been there,
all she would have been missing was a little glass of mezcal.
She has a dynamic palate and a hunger for excellence.
[Javauneeka] The level of competition this time around
is very high.
There's no room at all for any mistakes.
[Alex] And then, there's Chef Antonello Zito.
Ciao! [chuckling] I knew it.
You know, I want the Grand Champion of our Battle Italiano
back at that stove.
[Antonello] I won the battle,
and then, I won the Grand Tournament.
He blow in here like an Italian superstar.
I was born legend.
No, I'm joking.
I mean, dressed like this, really?
[Alex] You have panache. You have so much respect
of honoring generations of tradition,
where you come, your heritage.
That's why I picked you.
[Antonello] Being a legend of the best cooking show of the all time...
Come on. I mean, it would be a dream for me.
[Alex] Okay. That's my four.
I wouldn't bet against any of them.
Let's see who takes it.
-Hey, Ted. -[Ted] Hello, chefs. How are you all?
[man] How are you guys?
[Ted] What a group of barracudas you have selected, Alex.
-Oh, yeah. -[Ted] Really talented people.
And all of those characters came vividly back to me.
Yeah, and good people.
Hello, returning champions.
-Hello, Ted. -Hi, Ted.
You are back in the Chopped kitchen
because judge Alex Guarnaschelli believes
you are some of the greatest Chopped competitors ever.
-Wow. -That's so cool.
That's a lot of pressure.
The last chef standing here will advance to our tournament's finale,
and get Alex as a sous chef.
-Whoa! -[all exclaiming]
Is she gonna dance with me?
I want pure ego on the plate
and a little vinegar.
-[Hosea chuckles] -[laughing]
The finale winner will score $25,000 for a special cause,
and $25,000 to keep.
Also, the rarefied title of Chopped Legend.
-Are you ready to do this? -Yeah.
I'm ready to dance.
-Good luck, everyone. -Good luck.
-Good luck to you. -Good luck, legends to be.
[Ted] Please open your baskets.
-Oh, my! Okay. -Oh-oh.
-That's a whole fish. -A whole fish.
[Ted] Alex has curated a basket of hiramasa.
Fish.
-Look at this. -That fish is whole. It has to be butchered.
I know what this is.
-[Ted] Jumbo Asparagus. -Asparagus.
Asparagus is aggressive.
[Ted] Paris-Brest.
[Hosea] Now, we've got a twist. This is a dessert.
-[Ted] And pork pate. -Okay.
[Antonello] Pork pate. Mmm.
It's an interesting basket.
Can we ask ten more minutes, please?
There's no negotiations here, my friend.
Sorry, I'm just speaking for them.
[Ted] Twenty minutes, and time starts now.
Judges, whatever happens in this tournament,
blame Alex.
-I love it. -Yes. Yes.
-What else to do? -When in doubt, blame Alex.
You couldn't think about a harder basket?
I just feel it's so nice to challenge the next generation
and see what they do.
- There is a lot of cleaning and butchering that-- -[man] Yeah.
- Totally. -[Alex] The asparagus, the fish, that pate.
And then, you have this really ready-made pastry.
-[Marcus] Yeah. -That's what I kind of love.
-Like, all the way from raw, pure, whole. -[man] Yeah.
-To ready-made. Right. -To completely over baked.
-I love it. -[man chuckles]
How you doing, chef?
I'm doing okay. How you doing?
I'm... I'm doing.
The first round is like riding a bike
in the middle of San Francisco,
being drunk.
You can either make it all the way down and be a legend,
or you can be like, "Oh, I crashed."
I'm like, "I'm doing ceviche."
I'm making ceviche de carreta.
This is basically a ceviche
you will get in the street in Mexico.
[Alex] So, this is like an amberjack yellowtail.
It's not oily, it's pretty light, but it's sticky.
It's got, like, a substantial texture.
[Marcus] With such a beautiful fish,
-don't chop it up like it's some, like... No -[man] Right.
[Marcus] I wanna taste it.
-[man] I wanna taste it. -It's a beautiful fish.
-[man] Mmm-hmm. -I agree.
[Hosea] I wanna just serve the belly,
which is the fattiest, unctuous part of the fish.
I'm making seared hiramasa belly
with shaved asparagus salad.
Everything's mostly gonna be raw.
I want the hiramasa to be rare, but kissed on the heat.
To be a legend,
you have to compete at the highest level.
I am trying to show Alex technique,
to really let them know that I've arrived.
[Javauneeka] I'm definitely feeling the pressure.
I'm gonna make it taste very good.
[man] Chef Javauneeka has probably the most
stoic demeanor I've seen of all four chefs, right now.
Not a lot of wasted movements.
[Javauneeka] I'm making hiramasa ceviche.
I add lime juice, and shallots, and tomatoes.
I'm using the pork pate to give it a richer flavor.
Usually, you could add a little bit of sugar,
but I'm just gonna use the mousse
from the Paris-Brest to sweeten it up.
The Paris-Brest cake choux pastry
- or cream puff dome-- -[Marcus] Mmm-hmm.
[Alex] Hazelnut cream with toasted almonds on top.
[Marcus] With the pate, you can actually saute that off.
-Almost treat it like a chorizo. -[man] Sure.
And then, add in the asparagus there.
I know that my traditional cuisine
is, uh, absolutely outstanding.
For my appetizer, I'm making a spring scaloppine
with flour, olive oil, and white wine,
and a nice asparagus pesto.
I need some kind of fat,
so I'm gonna saute the asparagus
with this pork pate, and then, I'm gonna use the almonds
to make my sweetness in the pesto.
Me and Alex, we all kind of share a love
for Italian traditional cuisine.
Me and they, we are gonna cook to win the title of Legend.
-Nine minutes on the clock, chefs. -[Hosea] Heard that.
To go with the fish,
I'm making a light, bright, shaved, raw asparagus salad.
[Alex] I like Hosea's approach.
I do 'cause he's shaved the asparagus the long way, raw.
He's reconfigured in a way for it all to fit together.
[Hosea] I wanna make an almond vinaigrette.
It's like trout amandine.
I realize it needs some sweetness,
and that's when it dawns on me that I can use the filling of the Paris-Brest.
[Javauneeka] With the asparagus, I'm chopping it up
and I'm putting it in butter to really take out some of the bitterness,
and to cut through the fattiness of the fish.
Ceviche typically has, like, a tostada
in order for you to dip it in.
So, I grab corn tortillas.
Hey, who got the tortillas?
[Javauneeka] Oh, I have tortillas.
Give me back the tortillas.
-Can you share? -[Javauneeka] Yes.
-[Annisha] Thank you. -[Javauneeka] Of course.
She must be going on the same route that I'm going.
So, I'm just gonna ride this bike now.
Chef, I'm gonna have to take some of your cilantro, too.
Thank you.
We'll see which ceviche is a legend now.
Javauneeka and I, we did basically the same dish.
I know because she picked up the same ingredients as me.
We're, like, defining who's gonna be a Chopped legend,
and stand out from other chefs.
Let me know when your tortillas are done.
I'm gonna go in after you.
Technically, I have more experience doing this because I know the flavor.
[Alex] Annisha is taking the pate
and mashing it up with olive oil,
and trying to turn it into a little bit of
-a rich aioli component. -[man] Ooh, ooh.
What do you think about the raw asparagus and ceviche?
[Alex] You know what? I'm gonna reserve judgment.
This is what made these chefs stand out to me
is that I would look at what they were doing and say,
"Please don't do that."
And then, I would eat it and say, "I wish I could do that."
[Annisha] Chef, you're in.
[Javauneeka] Thank you.
[Antonello] Looking at my competitor's dishes,
it seems that they make the same thing.
If this is a legend, uh,
you need, actually, to do something different.
I actually wanted to cook the fish.
I glazed it with the white wine
and tried to cook it as a scaloppine.
But I feel crazy, because the fish is not cooking.
I need to do a... [indistinct]
So, I take the fish out and I cut the fish like a tartare.
-[man] Chef Antonello, how are you, chef? -Not really well.
You think you're gonna make it?
[Antonello] I don't know. Let's try.
You need to have a good problem-solving, you know, to become a legend.
Chefs, you've got four minutes and 20.
Let's go, chefs.
[Hosea] The clock is winding down
and I still have to use this pate.
The pate, I'm still working on.
I decide to brown it and crisp it,
and use it as a warm, seasoned crouton on my dish.
-Chef Javauneeka. -Yeah.
We have less than three minutes left. How you doing?
I'm gonna try to make a salsa.
-Right now? -[Javauneeka] I am.
I know I don't have a lot of time left,
but I need to make sure that my dish stands out from Annisha's.
-Let's do this! -Chefs.
-One minute left. -Get your food
-on your plates. -[Marcus] Let's go!
Chef, you have one lemon. Can I take it?
-[Hosea] Yeah, take it. Take it. -[Annisha] Okay.
[Hosea] Why are my hands still shaking?
Ted, do something.
-Ted, it's your fault, now. -It is... No, it's your fault.
Chefs, you really gotta have plates.
-Push guys! -[Ted] This appetizer round
is dangerously short, chefs.
Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six,
five, four,
-three-- -[man] Wow.
-[Ted] ...two-- -[Alex] Wow.
[Ted] One. Time's up.
All right.
That looks really great.
[Hosea] Thank you.
-[Javauneeka speaking] -[Annisha] Yeah.
[Annisha] I know, right?
I'm excited, and I'm nervous.
I wanna see what they said about
me and her doing a very similar dish.
[Alex] This is serious business.
It has been so exciting for me to mentor
the best chef for this job,
by way of the food
and curating the baskets themselves.
Chefs, with the sky-high standards of Chef Alex Guarnaschelli,
you raced to make appetizers
with hiramasa, jumbo asparagus,
Paris-Brest, and pork pate.
Chef Hosea, welcome back.
I have for you, uh, seared hiramasa belly.
There is a salad of shaved asparagus,
fennel, radicchio, a tiny bit of jalapeno.
And I made a vinaigrette out of the Paris-Brest
and little hot pate croutons to go along with it.
I must say, the fish, the belly, the way you cooked it
-is so smart-- -Thank you.
[Alex] ...because it's got the raw feeling,
but it's been softened, and I really like the way
the bitterness of the greens made room for the hazelnut cream
from that Paris-Brest cake.
[man] The radicchio, the fennel,
just accentuate the asparagus in all the right ways.
-I don't get heat, though. -Okay.
It's not easy to slice a warm fish.
The amount of knife skills that you showed here...
This is the moment to watch. This is about legends.
This is a great beginning. Very well done.
Chef, what would it mean to you
to win the Chopped Legend title?
I'm doing this for my daughter.
Uh, she has an extremely rare disease.
And so, our charity, Sophie's Neighborhood,
we're the only group in the world
raising money for this particular rare disease.
-Cool, chef. -[man] Thank you, chef.
-That's so pretty. -Thank you.
Chef Annisha.
I present a, uh, ceviche de carreta.
So, I made a mayo with the pate,
added a little bit of the Paris-Brest,
and then on top, I just put the asparagus
with some of the almonds of the Paris-Brest.
This is such a fun and playful dish.
I really love the inclusion of the pate and the Paris-Brest.
It's seasoned really well. My issue is
if you wanna have that legendary status, especially in this tournament,
the plating needs to be, like, spot on.
-Okay. -It's not your best work.
And I don't think you think so either.
-No. -But everything is dosed,
and balanced, and seasoned perfectly,
which I think is fantastic.
But I think the asparagus sticks out a little bit, like, "Hey, girl."
It's the one thing that doesn't quite feel human.
-Yeah. -It's such a deeply soulful human plate of food.
-Perfect. -[Marcus] I love the ceviche
with the tostada.
Took me to the west coast of Mexico.
Yeah, exactly. You get it.
Thank you, Chef Annisha. Next up, Chef Javauneeka.
So, you have a hiramasa ceviche.
It has a little bit of tomato, some jalapeno,
some seared asparagus in butter
to cut through the richness and the acidity.
I really like this dish. You know, you made a vinaigrette in 45 seconds.
-Yes. yeah! -That was wild.
So, if you can do that...
-[Eric] Yeah, that was crazy. -[Alex] It picks up
the cream from the Paris-Brest
and it makes the asparagus disappear in the best way.
I'm happy with this dish.
It's an appetizer plate. Check.
It's seasoned well. Check.
-But you gotta push beyond good. -I'm not loving it.
It's good, but it doesn't move me.
The way you did that vinaigrette in the end,
there was an excitement about that.
That I... I was like, "Wow, she's really smart.
"She got it."
And then, you just put a little bit of that on the plate.
I want more of it.
You're up against really talented people,
-so go get it. -[Eric] For sure.
Finally, Chef Antonello.
Is, uh, a spring scaloppine tartare.
And I actually cooked the fish
like it was a scaloppine with, uh, white wine.
This is my favorite treatment of this practice.
The sauce has a lot of flavor.
There's a lot of goodness there.
Part of legend, iconic, is it makes you feel something.
This food, it tastes good, but it also makes you feel something.
-Well done. -Thank you, chef.
I mean, I know your cooking.
It's rustic in a way that pulls everything together.
I mean, to my mind, that's really legendary cooking.
-Thank you, chef. -[Eric] I agree.
But the fish, I wouldn't call it a tartar
-because it is slightly cooked-- -Yes.
If you didn't lead me in that direction,
I would have just enjoyed it, you know, as is.
Sorry, I try my best to be myself.
This was the advice that Alex gave to me.
[all laughing]
I made a few mistakes on my dish,
but I'm gonna show her that she can trust me enough
to go there and win this Legend battle.
[Javauneeka] For a competition like this, the stakes are so high.
Maybe I could be on the chopping block
because the other contestants made the judges feel something.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Antonello, you've been chopped.
Judges?
Antonello, we love the way you cook,
but we felt the fish wasn't quite
either a tartar or cooked.
And so, we had to chop you.
Thank you, Chef.
Ciao, grazie mille.
I really cared a lot about the legends.
I wanted the title, but most of all,
I wanted one more round
to show them what I was capable to do.
The losing made me feel really, really sad.
Now, you see how high the standard is,
and that's gonna only become more pronounced
as we reach legend status.
Find the center of the plate inside that basket,
and don't lose sight of it.
Got it.
[Alex] The pantry is secondary.
Make what's inside the star, and you can win a lot of money.
Open it up.
Oh, wow.
-Oh! -My God.
-[Hosea chuckles] -Some New York style pizza.
[in accent] So New York, a little slice of pizza pie. I like it.
[Ted] You have a slice of pizza.
[Alex] You got a New York slice in there.
Show some respect.
-[Marcus] Yeah. -Ooh.
-Parsnips. -[Javauneeka] Which I love.
What is this?
-[Ted] Trimmed deckle meat. -[in normal voice] Deckle. Now that's nice.
Thank you, Alex.
[Ted] And Italian maraschino cherries.
This is nice.
This is the trick.
This is a good basket.
This is all the stuff that I would eat at my counter,
coming home from the restaurant.
This basket is a Gemini mood swing.
[Ted] Thirty minutes to make memorable main courses.
-Clock starts now. -[Eric] Let's go, chefs. Come on, now.
Behind, behind.
[Ted] Judges, what are you looking for
when you expect a legendary entree?
[Eric] I'm looking for chefs right now
to definitely level up.
So, hopefully they've taken in what we've said.
I actually think your advice was really, really good.
Don't even look at the pantry for a moment.
Find the best dish you can do in the basket.
[Alex] Yeah.
[Alex] I love the heartiness of the deckle.
- Wonderful, beefy flavor. -[Marcus] Yeah.
-I have delivered it to them trimmed, on purpose-- -[Marcus] Yeah.
-...because I wanna see where they find richness. -[Eric] Yeah.
This basket is definitely a hidden message of
"Failure lies in simplicity."
Annisha, what's going on there?
[Annisha] I'm making a sope.
-Oh, nice. -[Eric] A sope!
[Annisha] Cooking the beef right now, with the parsnip.
The base is, uh, corn dough
that first goes in the flattop and then you fry it.
So, you have the crispy texture from outside,
and the inside you have soft and nice.
Annisha, she definitely cooks the same food as me.
Typically, I go straightforward Mexican,
but I'm going in a more classic French direction.
I'm incorporating the cherries into an adobo,
and I rub that on my deckle.
-Javauneeka, what do we got? -[Javauneeka] All right, so,
I made a cherry adobo,
-and I'm doing some brown butter parsnips. -Nice.
[Alex] An adobo sauce like that,
built on basket ingredients, versus tradition...
Only a young, irreverent chef like Javauneeka would do something like that.
-I'm all about it. -[Marcus] Yeah.
[Hosea] A legend is, like, timeless.
It's someone that will live on forever,
because you've done something that no one else can do.
So, with the deckle, I wanna grill it.
I really want a hard char on the outside,
but leave it like medium rare.
Chef Hosea, what are we doing?
Uh, we're working on getting the beef seared off.
I'm gonna make a glaze for it. I'm gonna do a puree with the parsnips.
[Marcus] Hosea quickly getting those grill pans on.
-So, when he grills... You hear that char? -[Eric] Mmm-hmm. Yeah.
[Marcus] He's gonna get really good grill marks.
What he's doing there with the meat is legendary, honestly.
Hosea is a very strong competitor.
He's probably the strongest competitor
that I have ever been on Chopped kitchen.
20 minutes on the clock, chefs.
Whoa! Hi, baby.
I think right now we're seeing all three chefs
kind of take heed to the advice that Chef Alex has giving them.
Be you. Put your POV on the plate.
We're seeing a little bit of a French class right now with Chef Hosea.
We're seeing a little bit of Chef Annisha's kind of background in Mexican food.
We're seeing a little bit of almost like a barbecue-esque
kind of feel from Chef Javauneeka.
[Alex] She's got a red wine reduction. She's got some cherries.
-[Marcus] Huh. -She's roasted the parsnips. They look delicious.
-She's taking Parmesan cheese... -[Eric] Mmm-hmm.
-...and the cheese from the pizza... -[Eric] Mmm-hmm.
-...and doing a crust to put on the roasted parsnips. -[Marcus] Okay.
-The parsnip is really tricky, right? -[Eric] Yes.
[Alex] They taste like sweet potato. They taste like hazelnuts.
They taste like the earth.
A parsnip is so underrated, Ted,
-and I'm sick of it. It's a legend. -[Marcus] Yes. [chuckles]
And also parsnip does not forgive.
-Who also does not forgive? -Neither does a legend. I don't.
[laughs] That's why it's in the basket.
[exclaims]
-I am a parsnip, Ted. -[Ted] That's what it is.
-Nine minutes on the clock, chefs. -Heard that.
How are you guys looking?
-It's gonna be weird. Good weird. -[Annisha] This is weird.
Good weird or bad weird, we don't know yet.
[Hosea] I can do a really smooth, buttery puree with the parsnips.
I'm here to take chances, so I just I chuck the whole pizza
into that pot of cream with the parsnips.
Headfirst into the deep end of the pool with this one.
He has put parsnips and cream in a pan
with an entire slice of pizza.
-Oh! Wow. -Ooh, that's not how you cook in France.
-[chuckles] -[Alex] No.
I worry about the crust of that pizza
not breaking down and changing the texture of Hosea's puree.
Making it grainy.
It tastes better than I expected it to taste.
Good weird. Good weird.
[Annisha] When I see the pizza, I'm gonna take off the cheese
and then blend it with the maraschino cherries to make like the crema with it.
I am feeling the pressure this round,
especially looking over and Annisha has this beautiful sope.
[Alex] I'm seeing a little inexperience
-with the Javauneeka with the deckle. -[Eric] Yeah.
Behind. Behind.
One minute left, chefs.
Oh!
Oh, no. What happened?
Yo, that slipped out of my hand.
Looks like he's all right. I though he might have lost his parsnips.
[Hosea] All right.
[Marcus] You got to get all four ingredients on the plate.
-[Eric] Let's go, Chefs. -[Marcus] Come on, guys.
[Hosea] As I'm slicing into the beef, it looks properly cooked.
I would've liked to have had a few more minutes to rest it, but so be it.
[Ted] Get it on the plate, chefs.
-[Eric] Come on, chefs, ten seconds. -[Ted] Ten, nine,
-eight, seven... -[Eric] Let's go, chefs. Come on.
-...six, five, four... -[Marcus] On the plate.
...three, two, one. Time's up.
[Marcus] Good job, guys.
[Annisha] Good job, chefs.
Your sope looks so good.
[Annisha chuckles] Thank you.
I seared my beef. I was really worried about overcooking it.
When I finally checked it, it was a little under, so I put it back in the oven.
That caused me, um, to run out of time.
Um, I got everything on the plate. It's just messy.
So we'll see what happens.
[Alex] I think of myself as a Chopped puppet master.
What makes a Chopped legend is somebody who's fearless,
tenacious, irreverent and has a great technique.
Chefs for the entree round,
you were given a slice of pizza, parsnips,
trimmed deckle meat and Italian maraschino cherries.
Chef Javauneeka.
So I've made a deckle with cherries and chipotle adobo,
a brown butter parsnip hash with some of the cheese from the pizza
and then a red wine reduction with the cherries as well.
-I love the parsnips because it's so glossy. -It's really pretty.
-[Alex] I love the cooking... -[Javauneeka] Thank you.
...and that's crucially important.
[Marcus] It's joyous to watch you cook.
Who knew that a day old pizza is exactly what these parsnip needed.
The shine on the sauce, it looks back to you like a mirror.
With today's challenge, just... icon, legend.
How many times have you cooked with this cut before?
Not very often. It's usually on open fire,
-so I've never really done it on a stovetop before. -Yeah.
'Cause the way you sliced it, it just wasn't the best version of your cooking.
What this, uh, dish really, really lacks, unfortunately,
is just the development of that deckle meat.
But I think the combination of the slice of pizza
and roasted parsnips are probably my favorite.
So I just want to commend you right there.
Thank you, Chef Javauneeka.
Next up, Chef Annisha.
So this is a beef sope.
And then on top I have a crema
that I made with the cheese of the pizza.
And then I made a slaw.
Um, I'm going to eat this whole thing.
-Okay. You can. -This is so good.
-I'm gonna eat all of it. -[Annisha] Okay.
-I blacked out. -Perfect.
You've got my vote on this dish,
but your beef is hammered, girl.
But I don't care.
I get some tart tomato notes from the pizza
and I get some fruity gum notes from the cherries.
You are really skilled.
The julienne with the parsnip is brilliant.
And the crispiness of the salad is brilliant.
If you imagine yourself being in the final,
you're not winning with this dish,
'cause of the way you treated the beef.
This is about legend, and it's not delicious enough.
My issue with this, Chef, is the, uh, deckle beef.
-I think you overcooked it. -[Annisha] Okay.
[Eric] But aside from that, I think this is just a delicious dish.
Thank you, Chef. Appreciate it.
Thank you, Chef Annisha.
Finally, Chef Hosea.
So my dish is a grilled deckle of beef.
There's a cherry ginger garlic glaze, a pizza parsnip puree.
You're telling us you have pureed
a piece of New York City pizza into a parsnip puree?
Who doesn't like pizza?
You don't blend God's creatures, okay.
I'm not even mad.
All of France is on the phone.
France and... France and New York City, right?
When I think about new American food, this is what it is.
And I love the puree.
Parsnip and pizza, they're both in Ps,
-so they've probably always been together, right? -That's right.
-Very well done. Great dish. -Thank you, Chef. Thank you.
Yeah, you're breaking the rules, but that's the fun
that, uh, Chef Marcus was alluding to.
Like, it's... it's playful. It's unapologetic.
I think you treated all the basket ingredients really well.
The steak, I have no complaints there.
It's just the mushrooms, which... this is not the best pantry pull.
Got it. Thank you.
[Alex] This is so well-constructed.
And that kind of curated experience,
to me, that's one thing about being a legend, honestly.
Oh, my God, what about the judges said about my dish?
They like the way that I use ingredients.
But the meat was overcooked.
So it's a very gray area right now.
[Javauneeka] It's going to come down to me or Annisha on the chopping block,
and if I'd developed the meat flavors
and maybe cut them a little bit, uh, thinner,
it would have been a better dish.
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Javauneeka, you've been chopped. Judges.
You cooked far beyond your years.
But that's still leaves you with a deficit of experience.
It showed in the cook of your meat that it was uneven,
and so we had to chop you.
[softly] Okay. Thank you.
Most disappointing is just knowing I won't get that
opportunity to have Alex as my sous chef.
This is just the beginning for me, and I'm just gonna keep going.
One day I will be a legend.
[Hosea] It's a really important moment for me.
I want to redeem myself on dessert.
I want to be the Chopped legend,
but more than anything, I need this win
so I can raise a lot of money for my daughter, Sophie.
[Annisha] To be a legend, I have to beat out the best.
Going to the finale and Alex becoming my sous chef is such a dream.
You've been neck and neck all day,
and it really does come down to these two plates of food. Use your time wisely.
Cook your heart out.
Leave it on the floor.
Excellent. Dessert ingredients are in front of you.
Please open your round three basket.
-Okay. -Okay.
And I don't know what this is.
[Ted] And Alex has chosen for you a gooey butter cake.
I'm a native New Yorker, but I was actually born at Barnes Hospital in St Louis.
So that cake's very sentimental.
It smells really good.
-[Ted] Black mission figs. -I like figs.
Love them. That is good news.
[Ted] Macadamia nuts.
Overly rich, the fancy pants nut of the century.
Gruyere cheese... or no.
-[Ted] Gruyere cheese caramels. -Huh.
Gonna have to figure some things out here.
Me too.
Half an hour restored to the clock.
-Time starts now. -[Eric] Come on, chefs. Let's go.
[Ted] We're in a preliminary battle that will lead to a finale
where a lot of money is going to one person...
-That's right. -...and that person's charity.
You have to make the right decision.
How does it feel to have two great chefs going all out cooking for you?
-[exclaims] -Yeah, exactly.
[Ted chuckles] Yeah.
-[Hosea] Hey, Annisha. -Yes?
I think I'm going to be the legend in this one. I'm so sorry about that.
[Annisha] I would love to say that you're right, but you're not.
You know, this basket is one of my favorite flavors kind of on repeat.
Nutty, caramel-ey, creamy rich, with a fruit just to throw you off.
[Hosea] Last time I competed, I got a little too ambitious
and I wasn't able to complete everything.
So this would be a form of redemption for me.
-Chef Hosea. -[Hosea] Yes, sir?
What are you up to? What are you making?
[Hosea] Uh, right now I'm just doing like a creme anglaise.
I'm gonna put together some sort of a trifle type of
-stacked desert. -[Eric] Okay. All right.
[Hosea] I am making a gooey butter cake trifle
topped with bruleed figs and candied macadamia nuts.
-That cake is good. -[Alex] Cake is good.
Hey, Alex, you can eat that.
That's a champion stand.
Gooey butter cake, it's kind of like a hybrid
-between like a a nut bar and a cake and a pie. -Yeah.
Annisha, what are you up to?
Uh, I'm doing an ice cream with the cake.
[Ted] She is going to make an ice cream with the cake.
I think it's such a layup move. It's already buttery.
It's already, like, sweetened. It's gonna be good.
Less than 20 minutes on that clock, Chefs.
[Annisha] I'm deciding to grill the figs,
which is gonna, like, caramelize the figs.
[Alex] What Annisha has done is chiffonade all that mint...
-[Eric] That looks so good. -...the dice of the apple.
It's almost giving the fig all sorts of things
-it doesn't know it needed. -[Eric] Yeah.
[Alex] The caramel, though.
-Have you tried these things yet? -[Annisha] No.
[Alex] Those caramels are trickier than you think.
They are actually made with Gruyere.
They're nutty, they're sweet, but they've also got,
-you know, like a little barnyard funk in them. -[Marcus] Yeah. Yeah.
I'm trying to melt this down and turn it into more of a sauce, like a drizzle.
Chefs, already less than 15 minutes left.
[Hosea] I have a lot of sweet ingredients to work with,
so I make a very light whipped cream
and then add the mascarpone cheese
to have a lightly sweetened mascarpone whip.
I love crumbles, and I'm like, in my head I'm thinking, like, Sunday situation.
Annisha is sauteing panko and butter and macadamia
to make some kind of toasted nutty crumble.
This is Chopped.
It's gonna most likely come down to dessert.
Less than ten minutes, chefs.
[Hosea] I'm gonna try to do a little caramel work with these guys.
I want to show a little technique.
And so I dip the macadamia nuts
and you swirl it around in the sugar,
and then as you lift up, it creates this long line of sugar.
Def Leppard. Pour some sugar on me.
-That's what is happening right now. -[Eric] Yeah, that's true.
-[Alex] Oh, you're hilarious. -Behind.
I check on my ice-cream and it doesn't have the texture that I want.
Ice-cream is the biggest risk on this kitchen so far.
There's no way that my dessert is gonna win.
Come on, baby.
I have to hit a home run, like, definitely,
to be able to call myself a legend.
-[Ted] Five minutes on the clock, chefs. -[Hosea] Heard.
Let's go.
[Annisha] The pressure is so high
but all aside, cook for yourself.
So that's what I'm trying to do right now.
Ooh la la la la.
-la. Sure is. -[Ted] Sexy looking ice-cream.
My ice-cream tastes so good. And it's like exactly what I wanted.
The one thing Annisha does, she's constantly working on it.
-She doesn't stop. -[Eric] I love that.
[exclaims] Son of a bitch.
-Oh. Oh, no. -Oh, no.
-[Ted] Oh, no what? -[Annisha] You okay, Chef?
[Hosea] I just lost one of my garnishes.
I just lost the tournament. I'll be okay.
Remember that Hosea was the only one who ever got chopped...
-[Eric] Mmm-hmm. -...before.
And it was in the dessert round.
This is a repeat. This is a Shakespearean moment.
[Hosea] To top off the trifle,
I am trying to add some bruleed figs.
[Ted] Two minute warning, chefs.
Well, we've got plating. That's one good sign.
Look at Annisha. She's tasting and tasting and tasting.
-[roars] -[Alex purrs]
-Yes. -[Ted] It's getting serious. It's getting real.
[Alex] Let's go!
Get it done, chefs. You got this.
Bring it home for Guarnaschelli.
Let's go!
[Ted] We're down to the final seconds to the final round.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six...
-[judges] Five, four, three... -...five, four, three...
-[Ted and judges] Two, one. -[Alex] Okay. All right.
-[Ted] Time's up, guys. -That was super funny.
[Marcus] Great work.
-I made a dessert. [chuckles] -[Annisha] Yes.
I mean, that looks like an awesome dessert.
[Hosea] I'm going out swinging, but I'm really happy with what I made.
I'm trying to make my daughter proud.
I bet she would try this dessert.
[Annisha] I feel really anxious. I feel really stressed,
because I never lost in this kitchen.
[Ted] Chef Annisha, Chef Hosea,
in the dessert basket curated for you by Alex Guarnaschelli,
you got gooey butter cake,
black mission figs,
macadamia nuts, and Gruyere cheese caramels.
Chef Annisha.
I did a butter cake ice-cream
grilled fig with a apple.
And then I did a crumble with the macadamia nuts and a caramel sauce.
[Eric] Chef Annisha, I love the ooey gooey butter cake ice-cream.
It tastes exactly the way the cake does,
but then, like in a really creamy, velvety ice-cream form,
and I think that's fun.
-[Marcus] The ice-cream is amazing. -Thank you. Appreciate it.
When you cooked the... the figs,
I don't think the heat on the grill was where you wanted it to be,
-because the texture is not there. -Okay.
Texture of the fig seeds, and the sourness of that raw apple,
is really my favorite part.
-But I got to dive in. -[Marcus] Yeah.
You're cooking with a legend,
so you really work on those details.
Finally, Chef Hosea.
I have a trifle of figs, mascarpone, macadamia nut, and gooey butter cake
and then some candied macadamia nut on top.
[Eric] That candied macadamia nut was a lovely touch.
I think this dish is decadent.
I get the notes of the fig. Definitely get the ooey gooey butter cake.
The comet spear of the, uh, the macadamia nut with the, uh, the sugar at work,
it's pretty cool, and I'm impressed by it.
For me, though, it's too heavy.
[Marcus] I loved the fig compote on the bottom.
That's really addictive. You want to go back to it.
And it's a really delicious dessert.
Thank you very much.
Everything is so wildly delicious in here.
-I'm so impressed by that. -Thank you.
But I don't like how you built the building.
Everything has to be scoopable and edible.
A very large fig like this,
if I put that on my spoon, I can't dig down, this fig prevents me,
and it's... it's a stupid little thing.
But I said it came down to dessert,
and I kind of think your desserts are exactly neck and neck.
I'd be honored to have either of you be
-the person that I cook for and with. -Thank you, chefs.
I'm exhausted.
So, Alex, where do we start?
[Alex] The old first course.
Hosea came out of the gates charging.
That sliced hiramasa gently seared,
- albeit under seasoned. - [Marcus] Mmm-hmm.
The only thing was, I need a little bit of heat in the seasoning.
But other than that, it was next to flawless,
-flawless dish. -Yeah. Yeah.
[Alex] Annisha's first dish, the pate vinaigrette that she made
was delicious and that asparagus didn't belong.
It was definitely suffering from the plating,
but it was also very unassuming.
We run into a similar issue with the entree basket.
Annisha diced it small and overcooked it.
[Marcus] But here was a round where Annisha really showed
-what an incredible chef she is. - [Eric] For sure.
[Marcus] Two weeks from now, we're gonna remember it.
[Eric] With Chef Hosea's,
it was almost like a masterclass of, like, how to cook,
how to rest. But then, even within that,
there was some flaws, like seasoning wasn't really there.
[Marcus] I just wonder for Chef Hosea,
can he ever walk down a New York City street again
or is he gonna get some old pizza thrown at him?
-I'm gonna find him and throw a piece. -Yeah.
Don't worry.
Does it come down to a parsnip?
-I think it just might. -Yeah. Yeah.
[Annisha] I think I'm gonna be Alex's Chopped legend.
Every single thing that I did, it was thoughtful.
I never wanted to win this bad in the Chopped kitchen.
[Hosea] I want to say I'm going to the finale.
I really want to go to the finale.
It's just so not clear to me who is the winner right now.
[Alex] Everything is on the line for both me and the champs.
I'm choosing the very best to represent me.
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Annisha, you've been chopped. Judges.
[Alex] Annisha, it felt like your main course was
-probably top 10, 20 dishes... -Yeah.
...we've eaten on this show ever.
But the meat, that trimmed deckle was really overcooked
and for your dessert, the figs,
they didn't get that char from the grill.
And for those reasons, we had to chop you.
-[Annisha] Bye, Chef. -Great job.
-Win for your daughter. -Great job. Thank you.
-Please win. -Thank you.
-I'm gonna do it for her. -[Annisha] You have to win.
-Thank you. -Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate it.
[Annisha] I was here, like, this time because of my ego,
and he was here because of his daughter.
So that's kind of like the way that it works when you cook with your heart.
I'm proud of myself because I keep doing it and I keep enjoying it
and you can go home and be like, "I did it."
And that means, Chef Hosea Rosenberg, you are the Chopped champion.
You are advancing to our tournament's finale
where you'll have judge Alex Guarnaschelli as your sous chef.
[Alex] Whoo!
This is someone who cooked his heart out.
And here we are.
-I'm excited for you. -I'm excited.
I am so confident that Alex and I can bring home the championship.
I look at her as the queen bee of this whole place.
[Alex] I just love this guy.
I wanna win this for Hosea more than myself.