[woman] Latin America is a beautiful mosaic.
[man] We are different countries and different traditions,
but once we cross the border, we become the Latinos.
[woman #2] This is, like, our time to show our cuisine
to the whole world.
[man #2] I close my eyes and ask for a little bit of guidance.
-Tostones, chica! -I know how to do a tostones,
don't worry, baby. -Whoo!
[man #3] Denied in the open court!
Grr! [sustained rolling "r"] [fingers snap]
[Milena] Latin America is a beautiful mosaic of Mexican culture,
Argentinian culture, Peruvian culture,
and I mean, obviously, Puerto Ricans come in
all flavors.
You want to see a little more of this?
That's dangerous.
I got into cooking when I was very little.
I wanted to go to culinary school, but instead,
I went into engineering school.
You know, like, who says no to MIT?
[laughing]
And then I came back to cooking later in life.
Delicious.
I have a lot of skills under my belt.
Cute!
I want to make Puerto Ricans proud.
Was that a win? [laughter]
You ready? Let's do this.
Whoo!
Latin food is my heritage, my upbringing.
I'm half Mexican and Spanish.
[sing-songy] And another mole.
I'm chef-owner of Chefé Productions
in Dana Point, California.
I do a lot of fine dining for high-end clients.
[sizzling]
When I'm not doing that, I'm slinging tacos.
This is gonna pop. It's gonna go ta-ta-ta-ta!
Whoo!
I've always had this cosmic connection with cooking.
This is my destiny. It's my calling.
Ooh!
And when you pair my skills with my natural-born talent,
I'm unstoppable. Perfecto.
That was fun.
[short laugh]
[Mercedes] I am the chef-owner of The Arepa Stand
in Los Angeles, California.
Perfect, beautiful sauce.
I have a lot of Venezuelan influence.
The masa's so great when it's fresh.
Arepas are the most traditional dish in Venezuela.
You can have them for breakfast, lunch,
dinner, dessert. They're very versatile.
On Sundays between all our markets,
we do about 500 of these.
To all these other chefs, you better watch out because
my arepas are here, and they're gonna rip you apart.
[Juan] We are people who have been here for thousands of years
and we still kept our pride.
Gotta drop the beat.
Mexican food is love, it's culture,
everything the world needs right now.
Hi, I'm chef-owner of Johnny's Table in Chicago, Illinois.
In Mexican culture, there's not a party unless there's food
and that's what Johnny's Table is.
I have been working since I was 13 years old, just working
hands-on with my grandma.
My grandma would do this when I was a shorty.
I do believe my ancestors speak to me through my food.
I'm here to show the world that Latinos are very fierce
competitors, and we're not going anywhere.
That's the hard one to beat.
-[Ted] Bienvenidos! -Hi, how are you?
-Hey Ted, how's it going? -A special challenge for you.
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we'll be celebrating
Hispanic food traditions in every basket and every round.
-Let's go. -Vámonos, vámonos, vámonos.
[Milena] Nice.
[Ted] First basket is in front of you.
Open it up!
-Ooh! -[bleep] yeah!
[Ted] And you're looking at plantains...
[Milena] Plátanos.
[Ted] ...huitlacoche...
-Corn mushrooms. -Little corn truffle action.
[Ryan] I like this. It's got a ton of umami in it.
Huitlacoche, we call it corn truffle.
-It has a subtle, earthy flavor. -Yes, I love this.
[Ted] ...pernil...
Pernil is a Puerto Rican-style roast pork shoulder.
[Ted] ...and churros.
Churros in the house!
I was planning on making churros
at some point, so half the work is done, I guess.
[Ted] 20 minutes!
[nervous laughter]
Round starts now.
gonna ] Whoo!
[clapping] [thudding]
[cheering continues]
We have a very special panel assembled for this Hispanic
heritage competition, acclaimed Mexican cuisine chefs
Daniela Soto-Innes and Claudette Zepeda,
plus Peruvian restaurateur Franco Noriega.
Welcome to you all.
So Hispanic culture is known for its traditions and close
family bonds, and of course food plays such a major role.
Meanwhile, isn't it amazing to have so many different
countries represented here?
We are different countries and different traditions,
but once we cross the border, we become the Latinos.
So many things that tie us together.
Yeah.
[Franco] Plantains, they're my favorite ingredient.
They're so versatile.
I like to use them as a base for either a taco, an empanada.
You use them more as a starch. Always need to be cooked.
Having a hard time getting these peeled.
All Puerto Ricans know a million and one ways to
cook plantains.
These ones are very firm and green.
So right away, I know I'm gonna fry them.
Milena, what are you doing?
I'm making tostones with pernil
and huitlacoche,
and some onions. -Sounds good.
[Milena] I'm going to the fryer.
Tostones is like having a chip, a tortilla chip for
Puerto Riquenos.
[Ted] I've never seen anyone smash plantains with
a tortilla press. -[Franco] She's smart.
-I mean, that's a hack, that's a love it. -I know how to do a tostones,
don't worry, baby. -OK, I can tell!
[Milena] I am right next to the deep fryer, so I can monopolize
the frying oil and then everybody else has to scramble.
You got to tie up the resources.
[cackling]
[Daniela] The pernil with the churro is not a bad idea.
[Franco] It's not a bad idea at all.
-Just, ah, melting that sugar on the pernil. -[Franco] Over the pernil.
But the pernil is cooked, so you have to add some
moisture to it, or else you're just drying it out.
[Ryan] I'm really excited to see this pernil.
It's slow roasted pork and sour orange, but I don't really know
where the moisture level's at.
I'm just gonna try to crisp it up, give it some texture.
The plantains, my mind immediately says,
I got to make a tostone because that's what you do.
Ryan, what are you doing?
A little huitlacoche salsa action going down.
It's going to go on top of
a tostone with a little
smoked pork.
But one problem we may have with all these tostones
going down is that we have a small fryer.
So we could have some congestion.
-May I use the fryer with you? -Tough chance, man.
-Sorry. -Ooh! Denied in the open court.
-I have both baskets on. -I see that.
-Bless your heart. -You snooze, you lose, Ryan.
Grr! [sustained rolled "r"] [fingers snap]
[Ryan] But, Chef, I always have plan B, you know what I'm saying?
You have to be so careful with churros because it has so much
sugar on the outside, so if you're doing something savory,
I would just use the middle part. -[Franco] Yes.
How are we gonna balance all that sweetness?
It is a balance game. It's a dance.
For sure.
[Mercedes] I think everybody's making tostones, so I'm gonna go
a different route.
So I'm gonna use my churros and plantains to make
fried plantain cakes.
It's something that a lot of Venezuelans are gonna feel familiar with.
[speaking Spanish]
OK.
I'm putting some churros in
the food processor and then
folding those into my plantain batter.
And then I am going to sear my pernil, sliced red onion,
some diced tomatoes, a little bit of cilantro.
My plan is to make an empanada, and first thing I gotta do is
make my dough.
So I go and grab the masa harina.
I'm using my plantain and my churro into my masa.
Juan, what are you mixing?
I'm doing some masa harina with
some banana and some churros.
Trying to make an empanada with the chicharrón,
some huitlacoche bean puree. -Ooh, that sounds good.
[Milena] Juan is putting raw plantains into his dough.
And that's a rookie mistake.
Green plantains need to be cooked.
[Daniela] The ingredients in the basket that I'm super excited about is
the huitlacoche because it's our Mexican truffle.
It comes from the corn, and once you find it,
it's like the most exciting thing that you see.
-It's like finding a truffle, no? -It's like finding a truffle.
[Daniela] The right way to cook it, just a quick saute.
[Juan] To start my puree, I start sweating my onions and garlic,
add the beans, and finally the huitlacoche.
Let everything marry together.
Chefs, nine minutes on the clock.
Oh, my God.
[Milena] I'm cooking the penil, the huitlacoche, and the onions together,
and I used some spices there to really amp up the flavor.
[singing] We've got the plantain going down.
I'm gonna make a spicy kind of relish with some onion
and some jalapeno.
I'm gonna go in with this can of huitlacoche.
I fold in the fresh avocado, and I'm quite happy with it.
Aah!
Less than five minutes to go, chefs.
[Juan] My plan is to make an empanada.
I'm using my plantain and my churro into masa dough.
My masa's sticking.
I am pressing my empanada dough, and my masa is not
working with me.
I thought that throwing in those raw plantains there would
work, but they're fighting back right now.
-Chef Juan, how's it going? -Ha, not so good.
In my opinion, I would just scrap it
and figure something else out. -[Juan scoffs]
Oh, my God, I'm so nervous.
Chefs, you're looking at about three and a half minutes.
I think Juan is going to pivot, and do something else for us.
Let me tell you, that's risk-ay!
[Juan] I am having trouble with this masa dough.
But I close my eyes and ask for a little bit of guidance...
[Mercedes] You got this, man.
...and then I think, my abuela would make gorditas
every Sunday -- I take my masa, I start forming it with my hand,
and just start ripping.
We are like three minutes away, so good luck Juan.
Go grab a few more things.
I'm procrastinating on the churros
because I keep thinking about how to use them.
I'm going to pop them in the oven and use them as
a crispy garnish.
They were a little bit soggy, so, like, toasting your churros
is a good move. -[Daniela] Yeah.
I am tasting the huitlacoche...
Terrible.
...and I don't like it.
It's, like, slightly slimy and then sour.
This may need some sort of sweetness.
I'm gonna take the huitlacoche and the churro
and make a glaze so I can spoon over my pork.
-[Juan] Anybody got the sour cream? -Yes, sir, here.
-You got it? -Here you go, sir!
Two-minute warning, chefs.
[Ryan] Two minutes! Oh, my God!
[Daniela] Right now, it's a little hectic.
I don't know what's going on with Ryan.
[Ryan] Taking the churro, putting it in the blender, I add some
Mexican crema, I add some chipotle, some lime juice,
a little bit of salt.
This is gonna bring a sweet and sour characteristic
to the whole dish.
Perfect, perfect.
[Ted] All right, get those plates into shape, chefs.
-Ten...nine...eight... -[indistinct shouting]
...seven...six...five...four... -Vamos!
...three...two...one.
-Time's up. -Whoo! [clapping]
Oh, my God, where are we? Come give me a hug.
[Juan speaking Spanish] -[Ryan] Where's tostone?
Whoo!
[Ryan] Damn!
[Juan] My dish doesn't look as bad as I thought it would
after that masa wasn't working with me.
I was a little worried.
Uh, I'm a little like, ah!
I hope the judges will see that I am an excellent cook when it
comes to plantains.
Like, when I pulled my tostones out of the fryer,
I was like, money.
[suspenseful music playing]
Chefs, you have arrived at the chopping block.
In your first basket, huitlacoche, plantains,
pernil, and the churros.
Chef Juan, please tell us about your starter.
Gorditas are something that my grandma used to make for me
when I was a kid.
So I prepared for you a gordita with huitlacoche bean puree,
a little bit of carnitas.
First, I wanted to make an empanada, but the masa
wasn't really working for me.
So next thing I thought about was gorditas.
Juan, the pernil is so flavorful, but I think you need
some kind of fat for the gordita.
I think you would have been really successful to chop up
the pernil skin that was super crunchy and give us like
a chicharrón type of gordita.
But your presentation is really beautiful.
Gracias.
I like the lime in the carnitas.
Gives it that almost a carne apache, ceviche kind of vibe.
But the green plantain, it does eat really hard.
The other flavors are there.
They're very connected, but it's a little clunky
on the bottom. -Understood.
I think risk is always better than regret.
That's for sure.
But the actual gordita, in my case, it was not 100% cooked,
so it's very tough and not as soft and pillowy as I like.
But overall, I think it's a pretty dish.
Gracias.
So Chef, what's motivating you to compete with us here?
[Juan] My daughter, I had her when I was 19 years old, so I just,
you know, wanna win for her, wanna win for my grandma,
you know, who's looking down on us, and just all
the Latinos everywhere. -Thank you, Chef Juan.
Next up, Chef Mercedes.
I made for you today fried plantain cakes with
avocado crema, and the pernil.
And then with the huitlacoche and the churro, I made a glaze
to pour on top of the pernil.
The use of the churro was really innovative in putting it
in a tostone.
I think that it tastes very homey, which I appreciate.
-Thank you. -The flavors, you nailed.
The patty is very fluffy, so I like what you've done with all
the ingredients there.
I like the use of the crema also.
It's like that tartness that really ties the whole
dish together.
I feel like we're missing the huitlacoche flavor here.
But overall, it's a very good execution.
The pernil became a carne mechada type of situation.
So that made me really, really happy.
And I like the sweetness of the churros with the pernil.
Thank you, Chef.
Thank you, Chef Mercedes. Next up, Chef Ryan.
I prepared for you guys a tostone tostada with crispy
pork, a chipotle churro crema, and a huitlacoche avocado
relish right on top.
Ryan, I think you cooked the tostones perfectly.
They're nice and pillowy.
Don't think you were so successful on the pernil,
I think you dried it out a little bit.
But I like the contrast of having a little bit of that
churro crema, and you were very successful on giving that
canned huitlacoche some texture.
Thank you.
The huitlacoche, that's pretty textbook on what I would like
to be on a taco, but I echo Chef Daniela with the pernil.
It was kind of beaten up.
Again, moisture, moisture, moisture.
[Franco] I like what you did with the huitlacoche
and the avocado.
I'm not a big fan of huitlacoche, so giving me
avocado gives me an option to like it a little bit more.
But overall, flavors are good. -Thank you, Chef Ryan.
-Finally, Chef Milena. -Hola, chefs.
As soon as I pulled out the plantains, I got
really excited.
In Puerto Rico, it's very common to make
tostones and then top them with whatever.
So that's what I did.
I made for you a pernil and huitlacoche tostone.
I would eat that with my hands, too, if you dare.
Well, I can say this is delicious.
I love the snackiness. I'm a grazer at heart.
so I love that I can pick it up.
The pernil
and the huitlacoche together, it sings.
I would say a little bit of focus on knife skills,
but I think it was quite successful, so thank you.
Thank you, chef.
I am Peruvian, so we're all about sauces, so I'm missing
something that kind of ties the whole dish together.
But overall, it's a good balanced dish.
You obviously know how to make tostones, right?
The minute you open the basket and you saw,
tostones, chica!
But churro was the one thing
that didn't make your tostones shine.
There's a little dark churro parts that you didn't
need there,
but overall, very delicious. -Thank you.
There was some technical errors on my behalf, and I might have
left my pork on a little too long, kind of dried out.
Hopefully that doesn't come to bite me in the butt.
I should have cooked the plantain, but at the end of
the day, I'm happy I got something on the plate.
[suspenseful music climbing]
Whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Ryan, you've been chopped. Judges?
Chef Ryan, thank you for bringing your culture
and flavors into the Chopped kitchen,
but unfortunately, the pernil was overcooked.
Thank you, chefs.
I made some technical errors, but I will say I feel like
a winner in my heart, you know?
Being on Chopped is something I've always dreamed about.
Chef Juan, Chef Mercedes, Chef Milena, are you ready to
rise to the challenge of round two?
-Vámonos. -[speaking Spanish]
All right, well, don't get too confident until you see
what's inside these.
Open 'em up!
-Hoo! -Oh god.
-[Ted] And you've got arepas... -Arepas!
Why would I get arepas already made?
Oh, I see these ones.
...oca... -[Juan] These are... interesting.
All right.
...corvina and cajeta... -Cajeta.
Cajeta. OK, OK.
Cajeta is kind of like a caramel.
My grandma would always cook with it, and I would always
lick the spoon at the end, so.
[Ted] 30 minutes on the countdown clock.
Interesting. It's an interesting basket.
-For sure. -And we're starting it now.
I'll just get some rice.
One of the biggest challenges in this basket is the cajeta,
which is a goat's milk with sugar and eat it with churros.
For fish, I'm a little bit worried.
The corvina, known to many of our viewers as sea bass.
-[Franco] Sea bass. -[Ted] Wonderful ingredient.
I think you have to use the cajeta in, like,
a miso or a soy. -[Franco] Yes.
In Peruvian cuisine, we have a huge amount of Asian
influence, and I think that's what makes the food culture
so rich.
So the cajeta, which is basically a caramel sauce,
Speaking of Asia, you could put that into a curry.
I think that's what Milena is doing.
-Because the coconut. -Because I see the coconut milk there.
Chef Milena, what are you making?
I'm gonna make, like, a coconut
and shallot sauce.
-I'm gonna put the cajeta in that. -Nice.
I'm making little oca chips as a garnish.
Caldo Santo is a seafood stew, very popular in Puerto Rico at,
like, beachside restaurants.
There is a coconut milk component.
There's a fish broth component.
Ave Maria, this looks good. I'm excited.
So I'm browning up shallots.
Add some coconut milk, the cajeta, fish
sauce, and lime.
An arepa is a corn cake that's griddled.
And this is a Colombian arepa, so it's a little bit sweet.
I'm thinking I'm gonna do a puree,
incorporate sweet potato, fish broth, coconut milk.
[Daniela] Can we talk about those arepas?
The Colombian arepas, they almost are like a sandwich
in between two sweet corn cakes and then stuffed with cheese.
[Mercedes] Last year I made 40,000 arepas.
My plan was to come here and make arepas from scratch
and now that plan is out the window.
Chef Mercedes, how are you bringing those Colombian
arepas to become Venezuelan?
Right? I'm gonna use these beautiful Colombian arepas
to make a salad.
I am going to make some sort of seared...[speaking Spanish]
-[Franco] Nice. -Like something like a very beachy dish.
[Mercedes] And I want to make sure I score my fish to get that, like,
nice crisp on it.
I am going to use my oca to make a puree, putting them into
the boiling water to get them nice and soft, and then I'm gonna melt
the cheese with a little bit more milk to make sort
of a sauce. -Oca is amazing.
It's a Peruvian staple.
It grows in the Andes, and it's very similar
to potatoes.
They taste the same, but they almost get the flavor
of whatever you're putting in, so it's very versatile.
Whew.
-Got measuring cups anywhere? -Chef Juan.
[Juan] Yes, Chef?
[Franco] How are you bringing and representing your culture?
I'm doing a caldo de mariscos, something that my grandma
and my mom would always make when they were hungover.
[Ted] He just called his mom and his grandmother drunk.
[all laughing]
Caldo de Mariscos is a seafood soup.
It's very, very rich.
Potatoes, rice, nice thick broth.
I grab the fish stock, the tomatoes, and the fresh
chipotle adobo.
Oca is pretty similar to potato.
I'm gonna use my oca in my caldo.
Finally, I'm going to pan-fry this corvina.
Chefs, less than 15 minutes on that clock.
[Mercedes] I want to win $10,000 for my entire team.
They live and breathe The Arepa Stand.
Just getting this win will mean so much to them.
-Mercedes, where is your cajeta? -In my dressing.
So I'm gonna make, like, a sort of a take on a Latino
panzanella salad with arepas. -Oh, okay.
[Mercedes] I'm going to cut them in, like, little triangles and fry
them, and then I'll add some lime juice and red bell peppers
and tomatoes to make a salad.
[Milena] With oca, given that I'm next to the fryer, I whip out
the mandoline, I slice a few chips,
and then I throw them in the fryer.
They taste like baby little potato chips.
[Ted] Less than five minutes to go, chefs.
[Juan] To prepare my oca for my salad, I am slicing it thinly
and then just chopping it up raw.
I am adding frisee, jalapenos, onions, and a little
bit of cilantro.
Let's get this cajeta in there.
I'm making a cajeta caramel vinaigrette,
a little bit of vinegar, a little bit of fish sauce.
I want it to showcase that sweetness still, but also that
tartness from everything else.
I want these arepas to be more like tortilla chips that
you would have on the side that you usually eat with caldo,
kind of scoop everything together.
One minute to go, chefs.
-Oh, my God. -Sorry, I'm making a mess.
Last seconds to pull off perfect plates, chefs.
Ten...nine...eight..
...seven...six...
...five...
[drumming and cheering] Vamos, vamos, vamos!
[Ted] ...three...two...one.
[judges] Whoo! [clapping]
[Mercedes] Receiving the arepas was definitely like a bad joke.
But I tried to embrace them, and do the best I could.
[Juan] I feel very confident in this dish.
I'm hoping that they see my culture.
This is something that I feel like hits home, very closely,
and I hope that it hits them as well.
Chefs, you took on an entree basket of arepas, oca,
corvina, and cajeta.
Chef Milena.
I made for you today a seared corvina filet with a arepa
and sweet potato puree, a coconut shallot lime sauce,
and some crispy oca on top. -The presentation is beautiful.
I love the contrast of the yellow and the green.
I love the fact that you gave me a crunchy element
with the oca.
I tried the fish without the sauce, and it's a little
bland, but overall, it's a very well-executed dish.
-Thank you, Chef. -The puree, I love.
I think it's super smart use of arepa.
I think it's a lot of puree.
I think just a little on the bottom of the fish would
have been enough. -You got me.
The fish is overcooked, but it has good flavor,
so thank you.
I think the flavor of the arepa puree is delicious.
The flavors of the corn work together with
the cajeta magically.
But I would have loved to see the oca not only fried,
but also pureed instead of sweet potato.
You missed an opportunity to use one of the key ingredients
into that puree. -Thank you for the feedback.
Next, we go to Chef Juan.
Chefs, today I prepared for you a reviva muertos,
which translates to "reviving the dead."
It's something that my grandma and my mom would traditionally
eat after they were hungover.
Your mom, she's gonna be mad at you when she watches this.
The apple don't fall too far from the tree, right?
-So. -[Ted chuckling]
I love the way you cut your fish, but the fish
is overcooked.
A piece of fish this big cooks in four minutes.
Let that fish be the star and, like, cook it
with the broth.
There is some sort of comfort in the rice and the sauce that
you kind of want to keep going back to it.
a definite grandma hug in a bowl.
I think this was a bit of a miss to me.
It's not utilized, I think, in the best way possible.
I'm not 100% that the frisee and the cajeta
vinaigrette worked.
The cajeta could have been a little bit less, like,
more acid to balance that sugar. -Heard.
Chef Juan, I was super excited to see you were the only one
doing a caldo of broth.
You put a lot of rice, so I basically feel like this is
kind of like a risotto, but the fish,
it's very well-seasoned, so points on that.
Thank you, thank you, chefs. Thank you, Chef Juan.
Finally, Chef Mercedes.
I have a pan-seared corvina with a salad with
the fried arepa.
Mercedes, so I think the composition of flavors,
you really nailed it.
I think you cooked the fish the best.
I love the creaminess and the elegance of the puree.
It really brings out the dish.
The puree, I think it's a very creative way to use the inside
of the arepa, I think you under seasoned it,
but I like the vinaigrette, delicious.
The texture of one of those chips is like you're chewing,
you're chewing for a minute. But it was a really solid
effort, beautiful use of every single ingredient in the basket
in my opinion. -Thank you, Chef.
Thank you.
[Juan] I feel like my dish was one of the only ones
that stood out.
It represented my culture heavily.
And I think the flavors were pretty well balanced.
[Mercedes] I might get chopped because of my use of the arepa.
So I'm afraid it might be me.
Whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Juan, you've been chopped. Judges?
Chef Juan, valiant effort.
But the cajeta was hard to overcome on that frisee salad.
Bitterness and the sugar just lacked a little balance there.
So, unfortunately, you have been chopped.
Understood. Thank you guys so much.
-Thank you. -Chefs, muchas gracias.
Gracias.
I learned a lot in the Chopped kitchen.
I learned that it's not easy as it looks.
[speaking Spanish]
My daughter, I think she's still gonna be proud of me
no matter what. It's only up from here.
Chef Mercedes, Chef Milena, let's have a look
at your final basket.
Get in there.
What?
[Ted] And you're looking at concha ice cream sandwiches.
-Concha ice cream sandwiches. -Oh, ice cream, nice.
A concha is a yeasted sweet bun from Mexico.
-[Ted] Guava. -Hmm. All right.
Guava.
-[Ted] Queso fresco. -Queso fresco?
[Milena, chuckling] OK, lemonade, wow.
Oh, that's no lemonade...
...and a pitcher of margaritas. Salud.
[Ted] 30 more minutes in the chopped kitchen.
I don't know how I'm gonna put this all together.
Clock starts now.
[judges clapping and cheering]
Let's go! Let's go! Vámonos!
[Daniela] I have to say both of them are neck and neck.
[Claudette] Yeah.
-Do you think these two girls have made their culture proud? -For sure.
-Behind. -Do you need that?
No, I have white sugar if you need it.
[Daniela] We saw Milena having these tropical flavors, Puerto Rico
on the plate.
And then we also saw Mercedes talking about arepas,
talking about her country, her family.
I think on this basket, they have to perform with,
like, a really high level of technique.
I mean, they have already ice cream that they could rework,
make another base.
A queso fresco, you take that on glaze, and you make in
a custard, an eggless custard. -[Ted] Ooh, that sounds lovely.
[Milena] In this basket, we have two ingredients that are
both dairy.
I'm going to melt down my ice cream and whip it into
a custard with the queso fresco.
Milena, what are you making?
I'm gonna incorporate the queso fresco
into a custard. -OK.
And then I'm doing a guava and berry jam.
I crumble up the concha, and I brown a little bit
of butter.
I'm adding a few coconut flakes and a little bit of sugar Just
to kind of make, like, a nice, toasty, sweet crumble.
Chef's kiss.
Chef Mercedes, how are you feeling?
I'm nervous.
Milena is extremely confident.
She has this, like, fiery, sassy energy,
so I'm definitely a little bit intimidated by her, but my mom
still makes me this delicious arepa dessert where she fries
arepas, so I channel her energy.
What are you making?
Fried arepas with queso fresco
and some guava glaze-y sauce on top.
And I still gotta figure out
what I'm gonna do with that concha ice cream.
Making an arepa has nothing to do with the basket ingredient,
so I have to make sure it's perfectly executed.
Chefs, you've got 15 minutes to go here.
I think my favorite ingredient is the margarita pitcher.
-For sure. -I mean, tequila keeps you young, you know?
My favorite ingredient in this basket, and I think
it's the most difficult one is the guava.
That guava right there is a little bit hard, but you can
get so many good flavors from that. -[Franco] Totally.
My God, this guava is, like, impossible.
Guava-strawberry is a very common pairing, you know,
in Puerto Rico, and I start working on
a guava-strawberry compote.
I don't like savory chefs using strawberries to save them to
do dessert. I really hope that if...
-Guava-strawberry goes. -Hopefully we'll taste the guava.
The guava. We'll taste the guava.
The guava has no flavor.
-Ooh! -You can reduce it.
-[Milena] All right, let's see. -You can take the flavor out, Chef.
I did hear Chef Daniela that she didn't want the strawberry
to overpower the guava,
so I'm keeping a few chunks of guava in the compote
to make sure it's a prominent flavor.
You took my beautiful pink guava and turned it into
something else. -They're not pink, honey.
-I bet you it's red. -They're very white, they're not pink.
Don't hate on my guava.
This basket is really throwing me sideways.
Chefs, eight minutes left on the clock.
Mercedes, how's it going for you?
Um, it's going.
You know, I'm a little stressed out.
Do you still think you're gonna beat me?
I think I got you, Milena.
OK, behind you, Mercedes.
[Mercedes] I'm making concha queso fresco ice cream.
I grab my ice cream and the conchas, and I put it
in the blender with the cheese.
Cheesy ice cream, that's something that I love.
But I don't have enough ice cream mixture to make enough
ice cream in the machine.
I have two ingredients in here, and they both need to make it
on the plate.
-[Claudette] Oh, she's putting it in. -[Ted] Oh, wow.
-[Franco] Oh yeah. -[Daniela], Oh, no...
-[Ted] Wait, no, she's going -- -[Daniela] Anti-griddle.
She's going on to the anti-griddle,
that is always concerning to me.
-[Daniela] Yes. -[Franco] Why?
[Ted] Why? Because when you take something off the anti-griddle,
it immediately melts. -It melts.
She's bold.
I don't have the cojones for that, but I would not be sad to
see her lose over using the anti-griddle.
[Ted] We are under five minutes now. We are under four minutes.
[Mercedes] I take my ice cream mixture, and I pour it on
the anti-griddle, but it's just coming out in, like,
big chunks.
[Daniela] Oh, no, she doesn't know how to use it.
-Oh, no, no, aye, no, no, no. -Aye, nooooooo.
[Daniela] At this point, I'm just like, it's either sink or swim.
So I'm just gonna put it in the freezer and just go for it.
Guava, when I taste it, it was a little tart, so I want to
cook it a little bit to make a margarita guava glaze,
incorporate some brown sugar and agave and cinnamon
to my sauce.
All right, chefs, two minutes left on that clock.
I mean, I don't know about you, but I'm sweating.
-Me too, me too. -I'm so stressed out.
I'm stressed out, I'm stressed out.
I see that my custard has seized into a thick paste.
It was like wallpaper glue.
-All right, chefs, coming up on your final minute here. -Oh my god.
-Your final minute. -Oh, my God.
I have no more time, so grab some milk, and I'm gonna
immersion blend this into the right consistency.
-I'm scared now. -[Ted] All righty here we go, chefs,
final seconds of the final round.
Ten...nine...eight...
...seven...six...five...
...four... -Oh my god, oh my god.
...three...two...one.
-Times up. -[judges] Whoo!
[clapping and cheering]
[cheering in Spanish]
[Mercedes] Live or die, sink or swim, all that stuff was going
through my head, so it was like, take a risk.
I took them, um, so I hope they pay off.
Oh, my God.
Uh, the custard gave me a hard time because it seized.
Uh, I'm a little nervous about that.
Chef Milena, Chef Mercedes, inside your dessert baskets,
you found concha ice cream sandwiches, guava,
queso fresco, and a pitcher of margaritas.
Starting with you, Chef Mercedes, please tell us
about your dish.
I made fried arepas and concha queso ice cream.
And with the guava, I made a little tequila and guava
caramel sauce.
I love that it's like a deconstructed
ice cream sandwich, took me back to when I was a kid.
And you have the sweetness of the concha, the tartness
of the cheese. I love the syrup.
It's very simple, but just like simple is great.
-Thank you, chefs. -Your caramel, it's beautiful.
It gives me that like nostalgia.
I can taste the margarita, I can taste the tequila,
which has been reduced in a beautiful way.
The guava, I can see it, I can taste it.
I think there were a few misses with the arepas being a little
bit oil-logged. You needed to get it
thin enough to become crispy.
But overall, I think it was a really, really smart use
of the ingredients.
Thank you, Chef.
So when you put that caramel sauce, it just gets soft,
soft, soft, soft, and it's not crunchy anymore.
But I think you did a really good memory for all of us,
and it's the most important thing that you represented.
I feel, like, really happy.
I want to cry.
All right. Chef Mercedes, thank you.
Thank you, chefs. Finally, Chef Milena.
I made a queso fresco and vanilla bean custard with
a guava strawberry margarita compote, and I did a concha
and toasted coconut crumble on top.
Milena!
I go to a nice pastry shop, and I want to have this
for a dessert.
The custard, the little mermelada, or chutney,
and the crunchy bits of the concha.
When I saw you taking strawberries, I really wanted
you to take those out.
But it worked.
You were able to give more sweetness for the guava.
-Thank you. -Thank you, Chef.
[Franco] Milena, there's an explosion of flavors, and I feel like you're
an explosion of personality.
So I feel like you're very well represented in this dish.
Thank you so much.
There were a few little bit of hiccups here and there.
The texture on the custard, there's some little bit of grit
to it. I got guava seeds.
They're not the best.
I don't get as much margarita flavor as I wanted to,
but you can't go wrong with butter and concha.
That's... that was really lovely.
Thank you, chef.
All right, well, you two have definitely earned a break,
which will also give the judges some time to hash this out.
Thank you, chefs.
Judges, which of their dishes did you love the most?
Let's go to the beginning.
[Daniela] Milena knew exactly what to do with the plantain.
She gave us tostones.
But the churros, the churros,
she put the churros... where did she put the churros?
-Crumble, but half-burnt. -Like a churro...
-Half-burnt. -Yeah.
I think Mercedes was really smart incorporating the churros
inside her little tortita.
But I don't remember huitlacoche being featured prominently in
Mercedes' dish.
And then for the entree round, Mercedes' dish.
Let's talk about the use of arepas.
Doing that white sauce of oca and arepa, even though it was
under seasoned, I thought it was really cool.
-I think so too. -Then we go to Milena's dish.
-It was a lot of puree. -And gummy.
And the fish was overcooked.
I think Milena gave us Puerto Rico.
For sure, every single dish had a tropical element to it.
I think Mercedes, on the other hand,
used the ingredients that were given to her in a more
sophisticated manner. Wow, that's a tough one.
Do we know? I think we know.
-I think we know. -I think so.
[Mercedes] I'm gonna win today because I left nothing behind.
I grabbed all my experience, and I put it out on each dish
on every round.
I'm really proud of myself and how I represented
Venezuela today.
[Milena] I think my chances are good.
I would love to be the chopped champion.
I hope I get to take this one home for Puerto Rico.
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
Ah.
Chef Milena, you've been chopped.
[Ted] Judges?
Chef Milena, you represent Puerto Rico with
such a high level.
But on the appetizer, we had the burnt little pieces
of churros.
Then we talk about the entree, the puree was a little bit too
thick, and the fish was overcooked, and so we had to
chop you. -Thank you so much.
-Congratulations. -Oh, my God.
You're amazing.
Well, I had high hopes that it was gonna be me, but I'm very
happy for Mercedes. No regrets.
I loved it.
And that means, Chef Mercedes Rojas, you are
the Chopped champion. Congratulations!
[all clapping]
Thank you all so much.
I have this, like, rush of everything going on right now.
I represent my country every day in my business, so coming
here, doing Chopped, I feel like I achieved a huge dream.