♪ You feel your heartbeat pumping ♪
[man] You don't get many chances in life.
If the opportunity is there you have to jump and take it
[Ted] Sixteen elite candidates...
[woman] I've dreamed of an opportunity like this
[man] This is gonna change my life.
[Ted] Only one dream job.
[Maneet] I am desperately..
[Scott] Desperately...
[Chris] Desperately seeking a sous chef.
I am born for this.
♪ Tonight, there will be... ♪
[Maneet] Want to work for me, you have to earn it.
I started seven years ago with one restaurant,
and now we have grown to four restaurants.
[man] I need this job, and I don't take no for an answer.
Coming down. Coming down.
It's not gonna be easy.
Everything fast but everything right.
We're basically the biggest global hospitality company in the world.
Be focused, pay attention, because if you get behind, you're gonna stay behind.
Ooh, feeling the pressure.
[Scott] I'm desperate for a sous chef with impeccable technique,
refined, honest, soulful cooking.
This is sexy.
That's the type of food that I want to serve.
I'll make it happen, baby.
[grunting]
[man] Am I in over my head?
[Chris] We're really throwing them in the deep end.
[woman] Everything I've done so far has been for this moment.
Who wants that job?
[panting]
[Maneet] Did you think being a sous chef would be easy?
[Loic] Spent a lot of years getting ready for this.
You know, I'm here to show the world.
[Beau] I'm the sous chef that judges should hire
because I won't back down from anything.
[Shine] People always get fooled by the way I look but don't get tricked.
I'm here to take the job.
[Mat] I cook with my heart.
I'm the sous chef the judges should hire because I'm the best.
-[Chris] Here we are. -[Maneet] Here we are.
[Chris] Once again.
[Scott] I'm looking for a sous chef.
But ultimately, myself, Chris, and Maneet,
we all have very high expectations of who we're gonna hire.
[Maneet] If you want to work with me,
you have to have a very strong technical foundation
and have the right attitude to learn new techniques.
[Chris] I'm desperately seeking a sous chef,
so I'm hoping he or she is here.
[Loic] Looking at my competition,
I mean, I feel like I got it
I'm sure I'm gonna knock them dead down.
[Scott] So, these are our candidates?
[Maneet] Oh, yes.
Hello, chefs.
-Hi. -Hello.
Judges Chris, Maneet and Scott are each desperately seeking
a sous chef to join their team.
Who is most qualified?
-I'm the one. -We got this.
-That would be me. -I am the best.
"I am the best."
[Ted] Four champions will meet in the finale.
The winner there will get to hear the judge's offer,
take their pick and start the job of their dreams.
[Loic] I am so born for this.
[Ted] Let's see what the first baskets have in store.
Open 'em up.
Oh, my God.
What the heck is this?
[Ted] And you've been blessed or cursed with chilaquiles.
Soggy nachos.
Oh, my gosh.
[Ted] Watercress.
Mmm.
[Ted] Skirt steak.
Skirt steak. Awesome.
I can work with that.
[Ted] And rice cereal treats.
[Loic] Ooh. I was hungry.
-[Loic] Whoa. -[Mat] Okay.
Thank you, guys. Whoever created this basket, that's amazing.
Well, I placed the chilaquiles in the basket.
It's been a staple on my brunch menus for literally decades.
However, I've never tried to pair them with rice cereal treats,
so I'm looking to see how creative you chefs can get
and make that all work together here in this first round.
I'll make it happen, baby.
I'll make it happen.
Twenty minutes to make these ingredients shine.
Clock starts now.
-[Maneet] Come on, chefs. -[Chris] Come on, chefs.
Show us who will be our Sous chef.
It's happening, huh?
-This is it. -This is it.
[Ted] Judges, is this a good setting
to test a candidate's abilities?
[Maneet] Competing on Chopped is pretty much
like a busy night during service.
-I'm behind. -Go baby, go, go, go.
[Maneet] The clock is ticking. You have perfect plates.
And that's what we are expecting from one of our future sous chefs.
[Chris] In my restaurant, we do very high volume,
and so it's a little bit of a pressure cooker.
And Chopped, of course, is, you know, the pressure cooker.
-The pressure cooker. -So...
Well, I put the chilaquiles in the basket.
Tortillas that are cooked in either green or red sauce.
There's a cheese, poached egg.
That's soggy.
I was taught that dish by a line cook from Mexico,
and I never had anything like it in my life.
And it's literally been on my menu since 1994.
Skirt steak here is beautiful to go with that.
Skirt steak.
I have worked with skirt steak before,
and I'm making skirt steak tartare with watercress oil and slicing it very thin
to show off my knife skills to the judges and hopefully impress them.
I am a sous chef at Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica.
My parents were born in the Philippines,
so my favorite type of food is Filipino cuisine.
I would love to get a sous chef position from one of the top judges.
I've worked with countless Michelin starred chefs, and I cook with my heart.
My mom and my girlfriend are the two most important people in my life.
This job would mean the world to them.
Winning Chopped is on my bucket list, yes.
I have the motivation and the drive to cook anything.
Mate, are those my chilaquiles in the food processor?
-[Scott] Yes, sir. -What's going on?
He took the egg off. You'll be happy to know.
[Chris] My chilaquiles dying in a food processor over here.
[Loic] Chilaquiles, I'm thinking,
I could use the egg as a binder for a vinaigrette.
Watercress, baby.
I'm making grilled skirt ste with watercress salad.
Come on, baby, give me some color.
Dressed with an egg, citrus vinaigrette.
This is the most intense job interview.
I trained under some of the best chefs in the country,
and I'm hungry to learn more.
I'm the chef to hire becaus I'm a lion in the kitchen.
♪ I'm a game changer ♪
[Loic] I have a background in fine dining.
I like to wow people with my cuisine.
I want to show these judges I'm worthy of this job.
I worked in a lot of Michelin star restaurants
I have the drive and I have the potential.
I'm destined to be one of the best chefs in America.
Nothing can stop me, nothing can slow me down.
[Scott] With the skirt steak, it's really important,
I think, to test their technique.
The one thing that you want with a sous chef is someone
who knows how to cook meat properly.
Really needs a nice, hard sear.
I love that Chef Shine has that grill pan on her station
getting really searing hot.
Behind. Coming down.
I want to make a spicy skirt steak taco.
To marinate the beef with soy, sake, and mirin.
I decided to use cryovac machine to get the flavor.
Behind. Coming down.
[Maneet] Shine, she's vacuum sealing her skirt steak.
[Scott] Such a great way to infuse flavor into that skirt steak.
[Shine] Oh, yeah.
I would like to work for Chef Scott Conant
because Italian food is always the cuisine that I will like to learn more.
And I think that would be a perfect match.
I am a sous chef in San Francisco, California
This competition is gonna be easy one,
because I am the best sous chef out there.
I work at a high-end steakhouse.
My style is very precise.
This is a job interview, and my biggest strength is how focused I am.
♪ Make it drop like this ♪
[Shine] When I want somethin I always want to be the best
I'm not here to be mediocre
[Beau] I love peeling tomatillos.
Chilaquiles has a salsa verde of sorts.
I want to use this in some sort of salsa with rice cereal treat.
So, I'm making rice cereal treat salsa verde marinated skirt steak crostini.
What I'm looking for on my next job is new responsibilities.
I want room for growth.
I want to be pushed outside of my comfort zone.
I'll be competing for a job opportunity of a lifetime.
I'm classically French trained,
but I've cooked anything from Nepalese to Filipino.
I would totally love to work with Scott Conant.
He's very successful and there's nothing fake about him.
If you can't cook 500 cover in a night and smile,
then you should probably get out of this career.
Chefs, you've got less than ten minutes.
[Chris] Ten minutes.
[Mat] The taste of watercres is herbaceous, pairs well with oil.
I grab the rice cereal and I'm coating it with cornstarch
and then putting it into the fryer to make a crispy element.
[Loic] Getting a job under Chef Maneet,
Chris or Scott will definitely put me in the right direction.
Behind!
I love Chef Scott a lot, he's got a lot of swag.
Will be a great opportunity to work under him
because he has a lot of tool I could learn,
not just as far as cooking, but how to be a successful chef.
Behind. Coming down.
Excuse me.
I'm hoping to show the judges my upgraded flavor profile.
So, I'm going to make a rice cereal tree salsa.
I'm going to char some tomatoes, put that in the blender,
along with rice vinegar.
Behind.
I want to cook my steak with a hard sear.
I see the egg on the chilaquiles
and I'm gonna take this egg yolk and start an aioli.
But then I realized that the blade ends up heating it too much.
All right, that's not working.
Killing my emulsification.
[Maneet] Beau, he's tried to make his sauce.
He's not very successful.
[Beau] So I ditch my aioli.
I grab some mayonnaise.
Chiffonade the watercress.
There are only five minutes to go.
Oh.
[Chris] Mat, he threw the rice crispy treats in the fryer.
[Maneet] Yes.
[Chris] Oh, no.
[Scott] It doesn't work. It completely melted.
What am I gonna with that?
Behind. All the way.
Oh, check on my rice cereal,
and they've completely fallen apart.
I'm definitely freaking out.
[Scott] Chef Mat is taking his rice cereal treats
and it looks like he's trying to make some kind of a disc out of them.
[Mat] Being a great sous chef, you have to pivot.
So, my plan B is to make it a cracker.
Two minutes. Two minutes, Chefs.
I'm pan frying eggs because they are gonna go on the taco because
who doesn't like a runny egg with just about anything?
-Behind. -Behind.
[Loic] I pulled my rice cereal treat out of the fryer.
Oh, [bleep].
Just melts and I'm thinking, okay, don't panic.
So, I let it cool down. Behind.
[Chris] You got just over a minute
to make your first impression on us.
-Oui, chef. -[Chris] Wrap it up. Finish it up.
Shine, I don't know if she's gonna finish it.
Forty seconds, Chefs.
-Go, Chef. -Go, Shine.
[Chris] Let's get it done, get it on the plate now. [inaudible], Chefs.
It's gonna go very fast. Shine, let's go.
-[Ted] Nine... -[Maneet] All the ingredients.
-[Ted] Seven... -She's trying to get her eggs on the plate.
-[Ted] Five, four... -[Chris] She's trying to get her eggs on the plate.
[Ted] Three, two, one.
-Time's up. -Oh.
-[grunting] -[Beau] Let's go.
Whoa!
That's what I'm talking about.
I pride on being consistent in the kitchen at all times
and just beating myself up for not putting
the rest of the egg on the plate.
[Loic] I've been preparing myself for this for years,
and I don't think any of these guys are a challenge to me.
[music playing]
[Ted] Chefs in your quest to impress three potential bosses,
you had to make appetizers using chilaquiles,
watercress, skirt steak and rice cereal treats.
Chef Mat, tell us what you made.
Here I have a steak tartare with watercress oil and rice cereal treat.
[Maneet] Mat, the steak tartare is...
-is delicious. -Thank you, Chef.
[Maneet] The watercress oil is beautiful.
It adds that level of brightness and herbaceousness
-which works very well. -Thank you, Chef.
[Chris] So the chilaquiles, right?
They're kind of the star of the basket.
I was kind of horrified when I saw them in the blender,
but it's actually a really smart move in a steak tartare.
I think the presentation is buttoned up,
but the rice cereal kind of just put on top as a garnish
-is a little disappointing. -Yup. Yes, chef.
[Scott] What's happened to that rice cereal
is all that marshmallow and sweetness kind of melted away.
So, what you're left with is the savory aspect of the rice itself.
But I think the tartare is delicious.
Thank you, Chef.
Thank you.
[Ted] Chef Shine, tell us about your dish.
It is a spicy skirt steak taco with rice cereal salsa.
[Maneet] The steak is delicious.
It's cooked perfectly.
The salsa, I love it.
I think that it's a very creative utilization
of the rice cereal treats.
But you wanted to put an egg on top.
You did run out of time, right?
So, you've got to be ready to just let go of some ideas and pivot.
[Chris] I agree with Maneet, an example for my restaurants.
So, it doesn't matter how great a dish is,
if we can't execute it on a Saturday night doing 1,000 covers,
it's not gonna work.
If you move on, think about what you can realistically do
in a 30-minute period.
[Shine] Yes, chef.
[Chris] All of you. I mean, this is essentially a job interview, right?
And so, if you have any questions for any of us, now's the time.
So, I would like to ask Chef Scott Conant,
if I do move on, what's the biggest challenge for the entree round?
I think you should look at your successes
and throw them out the window.
No one cares about accolades.
Instead, let's focus on the things that you can do better.
Your time management.
Time management is huge.
-Does that make sense? -Yes, Chef.
Chef Shine, thank you.
Chef Loic.
So, I made for you guys a grilled skirt steak
with watercress and iceberg salad.
And the salad is dressed with egg and citrus vinaigrette.
How did you get started cooking?
[Loic] I was born in Cameroon, West Africa.
I've been cooking since I was a little kid
with my grandmother back in Cameroon, outside with wood fires.
And when I arrived to the country when I was 16, I knew no English.
I kind of started working my way up
in some of the best kitchens in the country.
People like to say, I'm hungry, I'm hungry.
I'm starving, I want this.
I want this badly.
And you hire me to be a sous chef, I'll work hard.
I think I'm the one.
[Maneet] This is delicious.
When you get a steak and a salad,
the salad needs to have a personality
-which is strong enough to stand up to the steak. -Right.
-[Maneet] And that's what you've done over here. -Thank you, Chef.
[Maneet] And this rice cereal treat, it works.
Because it gives you that crunchiness,
but it also gives it the sweetness
which balances with the savoriness of the dressing.
Right.
[Chris] I have to tell you, man, this salad is amazing.
[Loic] Thank you.
I'm actually having a little bit of trouble with the skirt steak
because it feels like it didn't have enough time to rest.
So, you're losing some of that minerality and some of that flavor.
Right, Chef.
I agree with Chris.
It could have been rested a little bit longer, but the flavors are great.
Thank you.
[Ted] And finally, Chef Beau.
Today, we have salsa verde marinated skirt steak on a crostini
with watercress aioli.
[Maneet] Beau, I really love the watercress mayo.
I think that is delicious.
But this is a very petite portion, right?
This is... this reminds me more of an amuse-bouche.
[Maneet] And an amuse-bouche should pack the impact, the flavor.
The steak did not pick up any of the flavor of the salsa or the rice crispy.
[Chris] It was a delicious bite.
But if you ask me, what do you think the basket was?
I would say bread, mayonnaise, watercress, steak, right?
Having said that, it's a...
it was a delicious bite.
So, it's a bit conflicting for me.
Got it. Thank you.
I don't know what else I can add to that, Chef.
Other than that, steak is cooked beautifully.
I like the technique.
You know, that hard sear allowing it to rest.
Those are really important things
that some of you did better than others.
I think this is a good version of it.
Thank you, Chef.
Okay. So, before we let you guys go,
something that we want to also see throughout the day is growth.
And all of you had a flaw when it came to time management.
You get an extra ten minutes in the next round.
We want to see some growth.
-Yes, Chef. -Heard, Chef.
[Beau] I'm feeling pretty good.
There's some things that I could have done better,
but overall, I got the ingredients on the dish.
It had some good flavor to it.
[Loic] I want it more than Shine
and I want it more than Beau
I want to win more than Mat
It's like I want it badly.
[Ted] So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
[music playing]
[Ted] So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Beau, you've been chopped.
Judges.
[Scott] Chef, unfortunately, there were two of the basket ingredients
that we just couldn't discern.
One was the chilaquiles, the rice cereal treats as well.
We just couldn't discern them.
And also, we just thought you could have put a lot more on the plate.
We decided that we will not be offering you a sous chef job,
and so we have to chop you.
[Beau] I understand.
-Good luck. -Thank you.
Thank you.
[Beau] I'm a little upset, but I didn't manage my time right.
It was a small portion and I can see where they're coming from.
[Scott] Time management.
Editing, time management.
Chef Shine, the good news is...
is that we all really were impressed with you, who you are.
The amount of ambition that you put into your dish.
So, we wanted to see you again.
Thank you, Chef. I appreciate that.
And also, keep in mind that one of the biggest quality of a good sous chef
that we are looking for is somebody who listens to feedback.
We are hoping that you come back much stronger in the next round.
Yes, Chef.
Shake the nerves off.
Yes, Chef.
Chef Loic, Chef Shine, Chef Mat, entree basket.
Please open them up.
Oh, wow.
[Ted] And you see aloo toast sandwiches.
What is this?
I don't know what that is.
What is this?
Radish?
[Ted] Oca.
Whole chickens.
And ground bean sauce.
-[Loic] Ground bean sauce. -[Ted] Ground bean sauce.
-[Maneet] Easy, right? -Easy.
[Ted] Hey, Maneet, what tricks did you judges put into this basket?
[Maneet] They are two whole chickens.
So, we are going to be testing you on fabrication
and consistency in plating.
Chef 101.
Oh, God.
Thirty minutes to make dishes that are better than your competitors.
Clock starts now.
-[Maneet] Yay! Let's go. -[Scott] Let's go.
Go, go, go. We need a sous chef. Let's go.
[Scott] Time to shine.
[Ted] Judges, all the ingredients in this tournament
were carefully selected to illuminate the candidate's strengths and weaknesses.
So, what can tell about these chefs by
what they're choosing to do first?
[Maneet] Breaking down the chicken first is a really smart idea
because you get that out of the way.
I put my favorite, the aloo toast sandwich.
This is iconic Indian street food.
It's spiced potato in buttered bread
with a little bit of cheese in it.
[Scott] I might take the aloo sandwich and actually remove the potato
and boil some other potatoes and make a gnocchi out of it.
I still feel that aloo sandwich would make a great crust for chicken.
[Loic] I take the sandwich apart and use the bread for my chicken.
So, I'm making aloo toast parmesan with a linguine pasta.
I know how to break down a chicken,
but I only have 30 minutes.
So, I'm using just the breast here.
And then the ground bean sauce is very salty.
So, I'm gonna make a tomato sauce with it.
For my tomatoes, I add my garlic.
Flavor town.
Seeing the aloo toast the first thing I was thinking is to do
a fried chicken with breading from the toast
Feedback that the judges gave me is to focus on time management.
[Chris] Think about what you can realistically do in a 30-minute period.
Yes, Chef. Thank you.
And I know both my opponents are very fast.
So, I definitely have to pick up on pace.
[Maneet] Ground bean sauce is fermented soybean made into a paste.
It is used as a flavoring ingredient in Chinese cooking.
And it's got an amazing umami-ish taste to it.
[Scott] It's wildly salty.
Wildly salty.
It's exactly what I want.
Ooh, that bean paste is salty.
So salty.
Aloo toast sandwiches, it's a spicy component.
So, I instantly thought mole.
Making a chicken mole with sliced oca.
Breaking down two whole chickens in 30 minutes
could definitely be a proble but any great sous chef
should know how to break down chicken.
Chef Mat did a semi boneless version.
He kept the thigh and the wing bone in.
I mean, he's really doing a great job over there.
Chefs, just under 20 minutes here.
[Shine] I am marinating my chicken,
and I just realized I don't have flour in the flour base.
Behind.
Coming through.
Behind.
Chef Shine, she's left for a split second.
And Loic came in and took over the fryer.
While I look at the time...
You know what.
So, I decided to shallow fry them.
[Mat] Behind.
[Maneet] Chef Mat, are you happy?
-I am, Chef. -Will we be?
You're gonna be surprised how fast I made mole.
Hmm.
[Mat] Mole is a traditional Mexican dish.
Takes hours to make.
I'm taking a big risk, crunching it between 30 minutes.
[Loic] Sorry, guys. Behind.
[Shine] All of a sudden, I see Loic is out of fryer, so I pick up all the chicken
Behind you.
Shine's chicken, she pulled it out of the oil.
Now she's going back to the deep fryer.
Five minutes to go, Chefs.
[Loic] The Oca, I'm gonna blanch it
and I'm gonna give it a hard sear.
I'm playing for my grandmother.
Oh, yeah.
The last thing she told me over the phone
before she passed away was you have to make it.
And also for my son, I want him to grow up
and have something to look up to.
And hopefully, he'll be a great chef himself one day.
[Ted] Two minute, Chefs.
Exactly two minutes.
Oh, yeah.
I take my chicken out of the oven, just as I dreamt, it's perfect.
[Scott] You're happy with that temp, Chef?
Yes, Chef.
I am 100% confident that this is a winner.
One minute to go, Chefs.
One minute.
One minute, one minute.
I'm plating.
I look at my chicken and certain pieces are overcooked,
certain are under.
So, I'm a little nervous.
Chef Shine, I'm worried about you.
-Get it done. -Yes, Chef.
Kick it into high gear now, Chefs.
[Scott] Let's go, Chefs. Get it all done.
[Ted] Eight, seven.
[Loic] Where did the time go?
-[Ted] Five, four... -[Loic] Oh, boy.
[Ted] Three, two, one.
Time's up.
[Loic] It was rough.
I didn't have enough time to plate it very nicely.
But I hope the flavor is all there.
I got thrown off a little bit because of the deep fryer,
but all four plates look similar.
Better than last time.
[Chris] It is a nice looking plate.
[Maneet] Yeah, it is.
This does not look as promising.
-Look at that. -Look at the color of the sauce.
[Scott] Right. No breading on that.
[Maneet] Oh, no. Look at this chicken.
This doesn't look great either.
That's so overcooked.
[Chris] How desperate are we?
Not this.
[Ted] Chefs, the challenge was to make main plates
using aloo toast sandwiches, oca,
whole chickens, and ground bean sauce.
Chef Shine, please tell us what you've made.
I have a buttermilk fried chicken
with black bean sauce and oca slaw.
[Chris] So, you were about to go in the fryer and then Loic came in.
-[Shine] Yeah. -[Chris] And did him getting something in the fryer
unexpectedly throw you off?
[Shine] Yes.
Um, I think at the end I was just trying to get it cooked.
[Scott] The piece of chicken that I have here is overcooked.
Yes.
[Scott] It's really brown. It's too brown.
This goes back to our initial commentary
of making correct choices in the very beginning.
So, you're not later reacting to your initial choices, right?
Yes, Chef.
[Maneet] The trick of this basket was fabrication of the chicken.
Right?
And that's where you started faltering.
So, there was a lack of focus,
which is what resulted in this.
-Right? -Mm-hmm.
[Chris] You know, I think this slaw is so good.
It's so juicy. It's so flavorful.
I think if you put all this between two slices of bread,
it would have really worked.
But today is also a different kind of competition.
Normally, we base everything on the plate and the food,
but here we are actually going to hire one of you.
So, we're looking at other characteristics.
You're still in the game because of how hard you're working.
Thank you, Chef.
[Ted] Thank you, Chef Shine.
Chef Mat.
I have chicken mole with cotija and sliced oca.
[Maneet] Chicken 30 minute mole?
Yes, that's right, Chef.
I mean, to make mole, which is such a part of the culture of Mexico
and is a sauce that takes hours to make,
say it's mole inspired, that's fine.
Mole inspired.
[Chris] Terminology aside, this is dynamite.
Thank you, Chef.
-[Chris] I think the sauce is delicious. -Thank you.
[Maneet] It's got a perfect balance of the spice.
But to me, the one thing which I'm most impressed with,
is how you broke down the chicken.
You gave us these A-line breasts,
which is something that you serve at upscale restaurants and dining,
and that works very well.
[Scott] Love the use of oca.
Love that you layered it on top like scales, almost.
The flavors are great.
If I were to do anything on this plate,
I would have rested that chicken a little bit longer because
after you cut it, you could see the dried juice
from the chicken itself, but otherwise really good flavors.
-Thank you, Chef. -[Scott] Really good flavor.
Chef Loic, please tell us what you've made.
[Loic] So, I made for you guys
a parmesan dish with linguine pasta.
[Scott] Chef, you did a lot of work here.
Some of it is successful and some of it just needs a little bit of a tweak.
The tomato sauce that you created,
the rosemary inside of it, it's not cooked out enough
so you get that real raw resin quality.
This chicken is overcooked.
[Loic] The chicken could have been cooked a lot better.
I mean, overall, I'm better than that.
[Maneet] I agree.
But the oca, the way you roasted it, delicious.
-Yeah. -[Maneet] But there were only two pieces of that.
Yeah.
[Chris] Unfortunately, my chicken is undercooked.
It's very pink in the center.
But one of the things we were looking for was technique
with fabrication of the chicken.
And I think when you pounded it,
we all got kind of different thicknesses,
which is why Scott's is overcooked
and mine's a little undercooked.
So, if you do move on, we saw it in the first round,
we know what you can do.
Bring that back if you make it to the next round.
I will.
My chicken was not consisten
But I think Shine should go home
because I'm a better sous chef than she is.
[Maneet] We're looking to hire a sous chef
with the ability to make the right call,
given the right amount of time that they have.
[Shine] I got thrown off by the deep fryer,
but Luic's chicken was undercooked
and I do believe that is a flaw.
I mean, the pressure is not only on them
because it's our business on the line.
[Ted] So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
[Ted] So, who's dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Shine, you've been chopped.
Judges?
[Chris] Chef Shine, you brought a lot to the kitchen today.
That's very admirable.
But the chicken was very, very dark, very overcooked.
Unfortunately, we will not be extending you a job offer,
and so we have to chop you.
Thank you, Chef.
[Scott] Good luck, Chef. It was great having you, Chef.
-Thank you. -[Shine] Bye.
I feel like I could have done better.
And I didn't really showcase all my skill sets.
[Chris] You know, this is a job interview
and the dessert round is one-third of the interview.
So, you've both done very well so far,
but this last round is extremely important.
[Mat] Loic has the passion, you can tell that
he wants the sous chef position.
I definitely have to bring my A-game.
Turn to the third baskets.
[Loic] I wanted to show all these judges that
I'm the sous chef that you should hire.
I got you, Joe.
I'm gonna put my head down
and make the best dessert I've ever made.
Go for it.
And you've got gianduja.
And this is...
I have no idea what this is.
[Ted] Bananas.
Banana. Okay.
[Ted] Licorice.
Licorice.
[Mat] I hate licorice, but it's gonna happen.
-[Ted] Duck prosciutto. -Prosciutto.
Duck prosciutto for dessert?
Okay.
[Mat] All right.
[Ted] Hey, Scott, any last minute words of wisdom for our chefs?
Chefs, that gianduja is in all of my restaurants on the dessert menu.
It is a chocolate hazelnut paste.
And the duck prosciutto, that's in there to see
how you can integrate a meat into a dessert.
[Ted] Thirty minute round, starts now.
Oh, wow.
Let's go.
We need a sous chef, Chefs.
Let's get it done.
So, this gianduja that I put it in the basket,
this is a staple in Italian cuisine.
And I feel like if you want to cook good Italian food,
you really need to understand the ingredients
that the country offers.
[Maneet] Hazelnuts plus chocolate,
I mean, what could go wrong with that?
That is not an appropriate size.
[Chris] Now, every time it's 2:00 a.m.
and I'm just eating spoonfuls out of the jar,
I'll think of you every time now.
In my underwear.
[Scott] Hopefully you're clothed.
I was just gonna say.
[Chris] At least partially.
I see gianduja and I taste it,
and my brain automatically thinks cheesecake.
I came to this country, knew no English.
And I'm looking to showing these judges that I'm one of the best.
All right. I'm about to burn this kitchen down, yeah?
-Yeah, I'm loving that. -[Mat] Don't do that.
[Maneet] Licorice, it's such a fun candy.
I think the challenge is going to be the texture.
[Chris] Yeah, I would steep it in something
and maybe bring some other fruits into the picture.
[Mat] I'm using the licorice to make a syrup
and I'm using berries and bananas to make banana
and berry cobbler with gianduja pastry cream.
I'm making a streusel to be on top of the cobbler
And I'm frying the duck prosciutto folded into my streusel.
Less than 20 minutes left, Chefs.
Duck prosciutto, delicious ingredient, and essentially dried, salty.
It's got a very delicate duck flavor.
[Loic] I grab walnuts, and I toss them in the food processor
along with my crispy duck prosciutto.
So, I'm gonna need a crust for my cheesecake.
And I'm using the licorice to make a gastrique.
I worked at a lot of Michelin star restaurants across the country,
and it's my dream to own a Michelin star restaurant.
This is a job of a lifetime.
I mean, set me up to open up my own restaurant.
-[Mat] Back. -Yup.
[Scott] Chef Mat has really good pedigree.
He's currently working at a Michelin starred restaurant in Los Angeles.
He's really shown us throughout this competition that he can stay focused.
[Chris] Loic came here from Cameroon
when he was 16 and has crisscrossed the country to work
with some of the best chefs and some of the best restaurants.
Both very ambitious.
[Mat] Working for Chef Chri would be awesome
because as an executive che at 23 and opening his own restaurant at 29,
like those are huge achievements.
I know that if he hires me as a sous che
they'll give me the opportunity to open a new restaurant.
Ten minutes to go, Chefs.
I'm behind you.
[Scott] Chef Loic, is this a dessert
that's gonna take you to the finale, Chef?
It's gonna have to be.
I'm gonna keep it simple with the bananas.
So, I season them with some salt
and just kind of caramelize the salt as I was searing.
Come on, baby. Cook.
[Scott] Chef Mat, what'd you do with the duck prosciutto?
Ah, it's into the streusel, but my streusel is not cooking properly.
Pray that my dessert makes it.
[Ted] Five minutes on the clock, Chefs.
Take the cheesecake out, but it's not set up.
[Ted] I feel like we kind of have an emergency here.
Loic's cheesecake mix is totally failing.
It's totally failing.
It's watery.
It's not going to set.
[Scott] Oh, my God.
[Maneet] This wasn't whipped.
[Chris] It's not whipped enough.
[Loic] A lot's riding on these cheesecakes
if this dessert doesn't cut it.
I lost my shot.
Okay.
[Loic] I can take the cheesecake out, but it's not set up.
Gelatin.
So, I go out and get some gelatin into these cheesecakes
to help it set a little faster.
All right. I'm just gonna have to go in.
And then I throw my cheesecake in the blast chiller,
and I'm hoping for a miracle.
[Maneet] So what Loic has put, gelatin,
the problem is that gelatin needs time to set.
So, I would be very surprised if it sets.
[Ted] Two minutes. Two minutes, Chefs.
[Mat] Good as I can get it.
I put my gianduja onto the plate.
Mat, he just got a hot cobbler out,
and he is putting some whipped cream on top of it.
Beautiful canele, by the way.
[Mannet] Yeah. But we will not get to see it because it will be soup.
Less than a minute left, Chefs.
[Loic] I have to get this cheesecake on the plate.
Loic, you've got to really move.
-Oh, man, come on. -[Scott] Come on. Let's go, Chefs.
-Get it done. -[Maneet] Come on, you got this!
[Scott] Get it done. Let's go, Chef.
[Ted] Final seconds of the final round, Chefs.
-Ten, nine, eight... -[Scott] Oh, my God.
[Ted] Seven, six, five,
four, three, two, one.
Time is up. Please step back.
-[Loic] All right. -[Mat] Good job.
Good job.
That was good.
I mean, I didn't have time to set my cheesecake properly.
So, if I don't win right now, it will break my heart.
[Mat] The streusel is kind of underdone,
but I know my flavors are spot on.
I think my dessert is better than the Loic's.
[Ted] Chef Loic, Chef Mat,
in your dessert basket you found gianduja,
bananas, licorice and duck prosciutto.
Chef Mat, what do we have?
So, we have a banana and berry cobbler with a gianduja pastry cream.
Seems like the dough.
-[Mat] Yep. -It's not cooked.
[Mat] Yep.
My streusel did not really cook well.
[Chris] I mean, it's just really hard to eat
because you've got this warm cream,
and then below that, you have that middle layer of just raw dough.
So, it's a little bit disappointing.
The flavor that you have of this topping is delicious.
I did get some pieces of the duck prosciutto and they were delicious.
So, I think the savoriness was great.
It's disappointing.
And for me, it's not sweet enough either.
[Ted] Thank you, Chef Mat.
And finally, Chef Loic.
[Loic] Made a chocolate cheesecake with duck prosciutto
and a walnut crust
And I used the candy to make a gastrique.
[Maneet] This cheesecake, the flavor is good and the texture is silky.
But when you were putting gelatin sheets,
-there was no way that this was going to set, right? -[Loic] Yeah.
[Maneet] So your instincts are strong, techniques, technique, technique.
-That's what it boils down to. -Yes, Chef.
I love the texture that you have of this mousse.
-Thank you, Chef. -[Scott] I wouldn't call it cheesecake.
-Yeah. -[Scott] But it's really good.
It has a nice chocolate component.
That crust that you have on the bottom, it's really salty.
Yes, Chef.
I add a little bit of salt and I think I was heavy handed when I did that.
I really like salt and chocolate.
So, this is actually...
I like this. I like the saltiness in this.
But the presentation's a little rough.
And you can just tell that this is not what you wanted, right?
-Chef Loic, thank you. -[Loic] Thank you.
-Good job, dude. -Good job to you too.
[Ted] The desperately seeking sous chef finale
is the next stop for one of you.
[Scott] Thanks, Chefs.
-Thank you, Chefs. -Thank you, Chefs.
[Chris] It's nerve-racking to be in the Chopped kitchen.
And Mat was really composed all day today.
I mean, that's something that I look for in a candidate.
You know, what was really interesting about Loic was that
he showed that he's hungry, he's hungry to prove himself.
And in the first course, that salad was the star.
The way he took the egg from the chilaquiles
and made a delicious dressin
Not to forget taking the rice cereal treats, deep frying it,
adding it to the salad, and it gave it the sweet crunchiness,
which worked so well.
Mat started off really strong.
The steak tartare, it worked.
[Chris] Yes, but the rice cereal treats, he didn't.
He literally did nothing to them.
But Mat's tartare was very, very good.
And Mat, he continued the streak in the entree round,
gave us chicken, seared properly, basted properly.
And the mole inspired sauce was delicious.
[Scott] It was.
But Chef Mat didn't rest that meat before he sliced it.
Yeah.
Loic really struggled in the entree course.
The chicken was overcooked.
-The fact that he... -[Chris] Mine was undercooked.
-[Maneet] Yeah. -[Chris] Yeah.
[Scott] But he did a tremendous amount of work.
[Ted] So, who wins?
We know.
All right.
[Loic] I'm really doing this for my son and my grandmother
who's watching up there right now.
I came such a long way to get this far.
I have to win.
[Mat] I should move on to the finale over Loic because of execution.
I know I'm the best.
And they should pick me because I am the best.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Loic, you've been chopped.
Judges.
[Maneet] Chef Loic, in the first round,
we thought that the steak hadn't been rested enough.
In the second round, the chicken, some was overcooked,
some was undercooked.
So unfortunately, we will not be extending your job offer.
And for these reasons, we have to chop you.
[Loic] Thank you so much.
-Good luck. -Good luck.
-Thank you, man. -Good job, man.
Yeah, I'm disappointed.
I'm crying.
I have... I've always had high expectations for myself,
but even Michael Jordan got cut in high school.
I'm not gonna stop, I'm not gonna stop.
I will get there for my son.
I will get there.
[Ted] And that means Chef Mat Espiritu,
you are the Chopped Champion.
You are headed to the desperately seeking sous chef finale.
Congratulations.
[cheering and applauding]
[Scott] Well done.
[Maneet] Chef Mat, how are you feeling?
Oh, my God.
Everything.
[sobbing]
I'm sorry.
I know it means a lot to my mom.
Oh. This is awesome.
[Ted] That's so cool.
[Mat] It's awesome. I'm stoked.
I have the motivation and I'm not leaving without that job.
Whoo!
[Ted] A chance like this comes along once in a lifetime.
[man] There's challenges that define who you are as a chef.
Everything is on the line for me right now.
This is gonna change my life.
[man] Definitely freaking ou
My one piece of advice to you would be don't [bleep] up.
It's survival of the fittest.
I am a bad bitch.
Oh, yeah.
[Loic] I want this badly.
Only one chance to make a first impression.
I just screwed this up.
[Maneet] There goes the entire dish.
You got to really move.
We need a sous chef. Let's get it done.
[Chris] You're not gonna win this tournament
if you come in and make [bleep] like this.
It's simple as that.
[Maneet] You thought this was gonna be an easy job interview?