I say turkey, you say teacher.
-Turkey. -Teacher.
Teachers deserve thanks everyday.
[all] Happy Thanksgiving.
Is this turkey bread?
-Oh, my goodness. -Turkey, duck, chicken.
-[gasps] -[man] Yum.
[Maneet] She's making biscuits from scratch.
Give me a spoon.
-[Ted] Jessica has not even touched her turkey. -[screams]
[all] Come on, teachers.
You have to get that on the plate.
[Tiffani] You plate, we'll grade the assignments.
-[sighs] -If I get to give up grading, that'd be great.
-[Maneet] You guys are incredible. -[Tiffani] Awesome.
Teachers can do anything.
-You got this. -You got this.
-Just a warmth and a feeling of love in here. -[cheers]
-Boom. -[Maneet] That's what Thanksgiving is all about.
[Ryan] In Mr. Gholson's clas everyone's a musician.
I'm a music teacher in Baltimore, Maryland.
Yummy, yum, yum, yum.
I love to cook comfort food.
I've done few local competitions
and I've won and I'm used to winning.
And I plan on winning Chopped.
I'm bringing my A plus game.
[Joshua] I'm bringing the flair, the vibe,
Mr. Martin's bringing it all.
I'm an elementary school math teacher from Houston, Texas.
Just about there.
I'm thankful for being able to actually
change student's lives.
After long days of work, I absolutely love cooking.
Oxtails, dumbo, turkey wings
just everything Southern.
This is amazing.
I have to win Chopped for my students.
They're my heart, they bring
the biggest smile to my face everyday.
The... [laughs]
I'm bringing my joy, my color, and my energy
to the Chopped kitchen
and I am gonna teach you what I'm all about.
I'm a math teacher
at Brooklyn Prospect Charter School in Brooklyn, New York.
I love mushrooms.
I definitely gravitate towards comfort foods.
And then the best part.
It would be so cool for my students
to refer to me as Miss Snyder, the Chopped champion.
They taste really good.
[Kathleen] I'm gonna be the teacher
that takes the Chopped championship
I'm a science and history teacher in Fort Worth, Texas.
All right...
I wanna win Chopped just to show my students
that there's value in taking risks.
I really want a chance to show off my baking skills
There we go.
Because pies are my favorite.
To, like, end the meal with something bright
and tart is just the perfect way.
If I win Chopped, my students
will think that I am world famous.
[Ted] Hello, everyone.
[all] Hello, hi.
And Happy Turkey Day.
[all] Happy Thanksgiving.
Teachers deserve thanks and praise today and everyday.
So thank you.
Now, are you ready to make
the best Thanksgiving meals of your lives?
-Absolutely. -[all] Yes.
Yes.
Now let's see what bounty is contained by this basket.
Let's find out.
What?
[Ted] And you'll be making Thanksgiving appetizers with
deep fried turducken.
I don't know what those are.
[Ted] Purple potatoes.
-All right. -[Ted] Ground turkey.
Okay.
[Ted] And a pumpkin cheese ball.
Pumpkin cheese balls? What is this?
[Ted] Thirty minutes.
Time starts now.
-Let's go, teachers! Come on! -[judges cheering]
-Let's go guys. -Yes.
[screams]
[Ted] Judges, these incredible teachers are heroes
who have devoted their lives
to making the world a better place.
And they can cook. Are you excited
to get Thanksgiving meals from these four?
So thankful.
You know, I have... I have a very special
spot in my heart for teachers
because my wife is a teacher.
-You got this. -[Kathleen] I got this.
You got this.
There's just a warmth and a feeling of love
in here that is really nice right now.
-I think we both got this. -We both got it.
[laughs]
[Ryan] I've been a music teacher for 15 years.
When my students are jumping
or they're dancing, I'm jumping and dancing too.
I'm making Thanksgiving Hash.
And nothing says Thanksgivin more than sweet potatoes.
I love Hash because it's great to eat
after a late night of celebration on Thanksgiving.
I don't love ground turkey because
it doesn't have a lot of flavor,
so I add some chorizo sausage to that
and then I add that turducken.
I think the challenge of the basket is definitely
the deep fried turducken.
I mean, think about it. It is turkey, duck, chicken.
Topped with a cranberry sauce.
That's like Thanksgiving on a stick.
Let's go, let's cook, let's go.
All right. See...
I see this crunchy outer coating of the turducken
and that reminds me of cornmeal.
And that's what I use to thicken chilies
when I make them at home.
There's nothing more comforting
than chili that you can just sink your face into on Thanksgiving.
I'm making turkey chili with purple potatoes
and an herb cheese biscuit.
The kitchen is my happy place
and it's all the stress and chaos in my life
as a teacher and a mom of three.
Any given day, I'm cooking for at least seven people
which is me and my husband,
my three kids, my sister-in-law
currently lives with us, and my mom.
We have a lot of amazing friends and family nearby.
So it's filled with a lot of people and a lot of love.
Thanksgiving to me, if I am cooking,
obviously I'm tasting everything
and then as we all sit down and
I'm the one who isn't hungry.
[Tiffani] My mother always made cinnamon rolls the morning of Thanksgiving.
I remember waking up at my house
and it would be cinnamon rolls
and the, um, Thanksgiving Day parade.
[Maneet] I mean, Thanksgiving isn't a festival
which was celebrated in India, right?
It was something when I came over here
and just fell in love with it.
[Joshua] Thanksgiving is the best holiday
because the food is always amazing.
Dishes that are absolutely required
at my Thanksgiving table would be a fried turkey,
dressing, yam.
Living in Houston, Texas, we love Tex-Mex food.
So I'm making a picadillo taco.
A picadillo taco is essentially ground meat,
and potatoes with onion and bell peppers.
I feel that I'm teaching
my students a lot more than just the curriculum.
To motivate them, encourage them and guide them through life
I definitely take pride in being that person.
[Jessica] I have always loved working with kids.
My students would describe me as colorful.
I wear what I feel inside.
I see purple potatoes and I am excited
because I know that I'm gonna do a latke
because it's a family recip
passed down from my grandfather.
Miss Jessica behind is making latkes
with purple potatoes.
-[gasps] Yes. -[Maneet] I know, what a great idea.
[Jessica] I'm making a purple potato latke
with turducken and turkey meatballs.
This is definitely a dish my students would like.
They're always complaining about the school lunches.
[laughs] So I would love to be able
to make a latke for them. I think they would
go crazy for it.
So I mean, the pumpkin cheese ball in itself
is an appetizer which is served for Thanksgiving.
It's a combination of cream cheese with cheddar cheese.
All right. Twenty minutes left on the clock.
[Ryan] Thanksgiving is the one day
that we all get to come together
and we just sit around, and we eat, we laugh, we sing.
I'm always cooking for my friends, my family,
my co-workers, my church.
Everybody can have some.
I'm hanging in there.
Mr. Ryan, are you feeling nervous?
-Um, nerves are good. -Okay, good.
[Ryan] So turkey can be dry, so we need to add some moisture.
So I'm thinking this cheese will help a lot.
I'm here cutting with a bread knife.
I'm cutting cheese with a bread knife.
-It's fine. It's sharp, it works. -[Ryan laughs]
[Maneet] I am so impressed
at the creativity going on right now.
They are tackling the basket like pros.
And Miss Kathleen is making biscuits.
-[Tiffani] What? -Okay, that's crazy.
Kathleen, how you feeling? Chili in biscuits?
Well...
[all laugh]
I think I'm a good teacher for two things.
Number one, I just genuinely care about my students.
The second thing is, I am constantly looking for
new ideas or new ways to approach things
because there's always room to improve.
[Maneet] Mr. Joshua is thinking of a taco
and he is cool as a cucumber.
Mr. Joshua, how grateful are you to be here now?
Oh, I'm beyond grateful.
To be able to show that teachers can do other things as well.
I'm thankful to have had the opportunity
to start The Pipeline to Success.
I work with high school African American boys,
where I motivate and prepar them to go to college.
If I win $10,000, that money is going towards The Pipeline to Success.
Teachers, less than ten minutes to go here.
Jessica has not even touched her turkey.
It's gonna take a little bit amount
of time to prep that and cook it.
[Maneet] Think about it, like, even with teachers,
how important is time management?
They have a course in this much time,
we need to make sure that all of this is covered.
I just need her to get a plan
for the ground turkey and get it cooking.
Time's flying by. I haven't started to cook my meatballs
and I'm feeling a little concerned
that they're not going to b cooked all the way through.
Hey, Jessica. What's the plan?
I'm making a meatball. Hopefully, it works.
I'm feeling a little panicked.
My flavors are good but if I cannot get them cooked,
it doesn't really matter how good it tastes.
Time's flying by. I haven't started to cook my meatballs
and I'm feeling a little concerned
that they're not going to be cooked all the way through.
I start my meatballs in a pa to get some brown on them
and then I take that pan
and I put it in the oven.
I am worried about Joshua right now
because he is struggling with the deep fried turducken.
He's just scraped the sauce off the top of it
and I'm worried about that a little bit, like,
we need more than just the sauce.
The taste of the cranberry sauce
is nice and sweet.
So I run to the pantry to grab the sriracha...
Gonna make this one.
And the chipotle so I can ad
them with the cranberry sauce and get a nice, even balance.
[Ryan] Josh, you doing all right there?
-Oh, yes, sir, I'm great. -All right.
[Cliff] Kathleen's little drop biscuits
look really good.
[Tiffani] And she's got her chili working.
Like, the plan is being executed.
Teachers just don't mess around.
[Cliff] Jessica, she has some really nice-looking
purple potato latkes.
[Jessica] Now, I'm thinking like, just get everything on a plate.
Josh, you have to get that on the plate.
-All four ingredients, you got 30 seconds. -[Ted] Thirty seconds.
-Please, please, please... -[Maneet] Let's do it!
-[Tiffani] Josh has to get it on the plate. -You are running
out of time here, teachers.
Ten, nine,
eight, seven,
six, five,
four, three,
two, one.
Time's up.
-All right, guys, good job. -[cheers]
Oh, my stomach hurts.
Oh, my.
[Jessica] The Chopped kitchen is very intense.
There is a lot of quick thinking you do
and a lot of pivoting and that's similar to the classroom,
but it was definitely challenging. [chuckles]
Being under pressure and in 30 minutes,
having to get out four plates,
making sure you're using every component,
there's definitely a lot more to it.
Teachers, after cooking the first course
of a special feast, you have arrived at the chopping block.
Your appetizer baskets.
Deep fried turducken,
purple potatoes,
ground turkey, and a pumpkin cheese ball.
All right, you're up first, Kathleen. What do we have?
I have made for you
a turkey chili with purple potatoes
and a cheese biscuit with a pimento cheese crema
[Ted] What do you teach?
I am a middle school history and science teacher.
I would never in a million years
had thought to attempt to make a biscuit.
Um, and you completely nailed it.
-I love the turducken in the chili itself. -Yeah.
It's... It's delicious.
-Thank you. -[Maneet] I think the purple potatoes
were almost hidden in the chili. If you had just
-shaved it and put it as fries on top... -[Kathleen] Hmm.
...that would have been fun.
But we've had professional chefs...
-[laughs] -...cook here in the kitchen
and to give something
as hearty and homey
as this is amazing
-and that's what Thanksgiving is all about. -Yeah.
This is a well thought-out lesson plan,
-I will tell you that. This is really good. -[chuckles]
Okay, Kathleen, thank you.
Next we go to Ryan.
Um, so I made a Thanksgiving Hash.
[Ted] Where do you teach?
I teach at KIPP Baltimore in Baltimore city.
-We call it Baltimore back home. -Baltimore.
I'm a music teacher.
And sometimes, with the city that I live in,
students have so much trauma that they don't get to be children.
So when you come to the music room, it's a place of fun.
My classroom's about joy.
What you have given over here to us is music.
And this is Thanksgiving.
You went and got the sweet potatoes.
There is that sweetness that you get,
-along with that savoriness. -Thank you.
The one thing it needs a lot more of the cheese sauce.
-It needs more fat in it. -Okay.
You know the turducken, I think, worked into here is great.
It links up with the ground turkey.
Ground turkeys are, like, a little bit dry
so I wanna take this over there
and just put more cheese sauce on it. But it's you,
it's bright, it's dynamic, and it's joyful.
Thank you, Ryan. Next up, Jessica.
What I've prepared for you
is a purple potato latke topped with
a turducken-turkey meatball
and a little bit of cranberry sauce on top.
[Ted] And where do you work?
Uh, I work at Brooklyn Prospect Charter School.
I teach fifth grade math,
which is really fun.
-No, it isn't. -Yeah, I know.
-I was about to say stop. -[Maneet] It isn't.
-[all chuckle] -Um, this latke,
it's so crispy and delicious.
And pimento's a sour cheese
so knowing how to work with it
and squeeze all that moistur out is really, really smart
But I would have liked a little bit more moisture in the meatball.
Yeah, the latke is amazing.
-Thank you. -[Cliff] And the sauce is delicious.
Um, I just want more of it.
It's not coming through in the final dish.
Miss Jessica, this is a mathematical equation
gone completely right, right over here.
But, yeah, to Tiffani's point, when you think of latkes,
you want that sour cream...
-Hmm-mmm. -...right on top of it, right?
That perfect bridge between the latkes
-and, uh, the meatball. -Definitely.
Thank you, Jessica. Finally, Joshua.
Yes, what I've made for you all today
is a picadillo taco and I topped it
with chipotle-cranberry sauce.
And crumbled on the cheese ball.
Tell us where you work and what you teach.
Yes, I work at Frost Elementary school in Houston, Texas.
I teach math.
Everyone loves a taco.
And to start out with
the taco was an extremely intelligent choice.
The texture of the ground turkey is great.
The level of spice is fantastic.
But where's the turducken?
So what I did actually with that was,
I used the cranberry sauce
to add with the chipotle sauce.
I wish there was more of that sauce
-because it is a touch dry. -Okay.
That taco's so smart, right?
And it hints at Thanksgiving without going straight at it
-and I really like that. -Thank you.
[Maneet] Mr. Joshua.
This is delicious.
The turducken, I actually don't mind you just using
the cranberry because I'm getting that sweetness
and it also reminds me of Thanksgiving.
But the pumpkin cheese ball...
I don't think that there was enough transformation.
If you would have even mixed it with sour cream
and put that on top of it, it wouldn't be as dry as it is.
-Joshua, thank you. -Thank you.
[Ted] This has been really fun.
Unfortunately, now the judges must decide
who's leaving the competition.
[Ryan] I was concerned about the amount
of cheese sauce that I put on my dish.
But I felt that my dish had a great flavor.
I really wanna stay and I believe I can cook.
I am nervous because I was missing that layer
of fat in between the latke and the meatball.
But I have so much more to prove.
Three teachers get to stay.
One must leave us.
So, who's dish
is on the chopping block?
[Cliff] Mr. Joshua, it's been our absolute pleasure to have you here.
The taco was a brilliant idea,
but unfortunately, two of the basket items
fell very short in your dish.
The sauce from the turducken wasn't sufficient,
and then the transformation of the pumpkin cheese ball
just wasn't there.
And so, we have to chop you.
All right, thank you all.
-[Kathleen] Bye. -Good luck, bye-bye.
[Joshua] I'm thankful to be able to represent teachers.
And if my students will say that,
no matter what,
they're gonna love and support me every step of the way.
Kathleen, Ryan, Jessica.
Are you ready to make comforting, cravable main dishes?
-Bring it on. -Yes, we are.
Let's go.
Time to get into basket two.
Open it up.
Oh, my goodness.
Is this turkey bread?
[Ted] And what do you know?
-Each type of a turkey. -[Ted] Sourdough bread turkey.
This is bread?
Turkey tenderloin...
[Ted] You also have turkey tenderloin.
I am excited, actually.
-Brussels sprouts. -[Ted] Brussels sprouts.
[Ryan] I hated brussels sprouts as a kid.
-I love 'em. -Hated 'em.
[Ted] And maple pumpkin butter.
Maple pumpkin butter?
-There's definitely thoughts. -[Ryan] Right.
Thirty minutes to create Thanksgiving entree plates.
Clock starts now.
[judges cheering]
-Let's get at it. -Go, teachers!
Go, go, go!
Attack those turkey tenderloins.
I say turkey, you say teacher.
-Turkey. -[Cliff] Teacher.
[Tiffani] Our sweet, sweet teachers.
Their hearts are as big as the effort that they
put into what they do everyday.
Love comes out of them into their food.
Their dishes really represented them.
So now in the entree round,
I want the big Thanksgiving plate.
[Kathleen] Growing up in Texas, Mexican food is just
part of what we eat.
And so I know that I wanna put a Mexican spin
on a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
Add a little bit of zing.
I am gonna do a salsa verde turkey tenderloin
with mashed mascarpone sweet potatoes.
The sourdough bread turkey is nothing but just a sourdough bread
which has been baked in the form of a turkey.
I mean, what an amazing addition to any Thanksgiving table.
[Kathleen] What am I going to do with this bread?
Bread crumbs.
Who doesn't love crunchy bread crumbs on anything?
So at Thanksgiving, we always have a traditional
soul food dinner. But I'm always trying to sneak in
some new ingredients or some new dishes.
I've travelled the world a bit. I love Asian food.
So I'm making a maple-soy turkey
with roasted brussels sprout with a sourdough crumb.
[Jessica] Making it to the second round feels incredible.
I wanna show my students that it really is worth taking
risks sometimes. And if you have a passion,
you should pursue it
and take it as far as you can go.
I am making a sourdough fried turkey tenderloin
with a maple pumpkin butter
and mustard brussels sprouts.
[Cliff] Jessica's frying her turkey tenderloin.
She has her dressing station set up.
Using that sourdough bread turkey as part of the mix,
she actually has mayonnaise mixed with her egg
in order to give her some added fat.
You don't want dry turkey, but you do have to cook the turkey.
And you have to do it kind of slowly and Jessica doesn't have
her turkey breast even remotely close to a fire yet.
[Ted] Chefs, you're now under 10 minutes, less than 10.
Oh, my God, darn on me.
[Kathleen] I'm here playing for my students
but I love to feed people.
We've this giant wooden table that my husband built
and I love to, like, squish people around it.
Like elbow to elbow.
I really want that $10,000 because it would mean a lot for my family.
[Tiffani] Guys, Kathleen has made some sort of sweet potato puree
with maple pumpkin butter with some mascarpone.
Give me a spoon.
Maple pumpkin butter, it's essentially got that pumpkin pie vibe
in the form of like an apple butter.
[Maneet] I would probably
make a kind of a maple pumpkin butter vinaigrette
and just mix that along with the brussels sprouts.
My dish needs something a little crunchy
and so I decide to turn my brussels sprouts into a slaw.
Ryan, how are you doing?
-I'm shakin'. -You're shakin'?
Is your dish shakin'?
Uh, we're gonna hope, we're gonna see. [laughs]
As a young boy growing up in the city,
music helped me to find my place.
I would love to take that money home
and invest in getting a larger space.
That kitchen is just too small.
-Behind, behind. -If I can't do a complete show
song and dance, full choreography
in my kitchen, it's not gonna work.
[Ted] Teachers, you're rapidly approaching four minutes.
Jessica right now is taking the temperature
of her deep fried turkey.
I am very concerned because I know that
they have to reach temperature in order to be edible.
So I've gotta keep them in there and cooking as long as possible.
[Ted] Two minute warning, teachers.
Teachers, you should be plating right now.
-You plate, we'll grade the assignments. -Nice.
If I get to give up grading, that'd be great.
Now Jessica has put her turkey back into the fryer.
Jessica, how's your turkey looking?
Hopefully cooked.
I am feeling extremely overwhelmed.
My fingers are crossed that they are officially cooked.
Come on, teachers. Go for it.
[Cliff] You can do it.
-[Tiffani] Make it worth it. -You gotta hustle then, come on.
[Tiffani] Ten seconds. Everything on the plate.
[Ted] Nine, eight,
-seven, six... -Stop whatever you're doing, just get it on the plate.
[Ted] Five, four, three,
two, one.
-[Cliff] Let's go, come on! -[Ted] Time's up. Please step back.
[judges clapping and cheering]
[whooping]
Oh, boy. [laughs]
That was insane.
-[gasps] -[indistinct]
[whispers] What?
-That looks amazing. -[Ryan] I'm nervous.
-[Kathleen] I'm nervous. -[Jessica] I hope it's cooked.
[Ryan] So you guys, you have extra to share, huh?
-I do. -[Ryan] Mmm.
-What you got? -Only end. [laughs]
[Kathleen] Only end and it's gorgeous.
Oh, my God.
-[Jessica] It's delicious. -Ryan, this is so good.
-Isn't it? -Yeah.
[Ryan] We'll see.
-[Kathleen] Yeah, we'll see. -[Ryan] We'll see, guys.
[sighs]
Teachers, for the entree round,
we gave you a basket containing a sourdough bread turkey,
turkey tenderloin,
brussels sprouts, and maple pumpkin butter.
We're starting with you, Jessica.
What have you made for the entree course?
So I have made for you
a sourdough-fried turkey tenderloin
with a pumpkin maple butter and mustard brussels sprouts
There's also gravy on top.
Jessica, we all sat here and we're like, "She's temping it again."
-I think that's the third time she is gonna cook 'em. -Yeah. [chuckles]
And the concern is that the turkey is either gonna be dry
or it's gonna be raw on the center.
Now, this turkey, um,
it is...
beautiful.
-Thank you. -It is far from dry,
it is far from raw, it sits right in that
-beautiful center island and it's shining. -Thank you.
[Tiffani] Brussels sprouts are great,
the maple pumpkin butter, it's a perfect
roasty charred sweet combination. But the gravy...
I don't know that you need it.
The gravy...
-doesn't work at all. -Okay.
But I'm going to copy their homework.
-[laughs] -The turkey crust is beautiful,
brussels sprouts are amazing.
Very well done.
-[Ted] Jessica, thank you. -Thank you.
-Next, Ryan. -So, I did a maple-soy turkey,
with roasted brussels sprout with a sourdough crumb.
[Maneet] The flavor is amazing.
The turkey that I got...
Perfectly cooked. They are nice and juicy.
But I do think that the sourdough bread turkey...
It's missing.
If you wanted to do the crumb,
then put a big, like handful of it on top.
Because you put in all the work and that is something
that would have been delicious.
The flavor profile of the turkey... Love the direction.
It's absolutely delicious.
But unfortunately, I've a couple of pieces that are uneven in size.
And so, a couple of them are a little bit on the dry side
and some are absolutely perfect.
And I love this. I love maple and soy together.
It's just so smart.
The sweetness and the savory link up.
And you have this really incredible sauce that kind of like...
winks at, like, orange chicken just a little bit, which I love.
-[Ryan] Thank you. -[Ted] Thank you, Ryan.
Finally, Kathleen.
I made turkey cooked in salsa verde
with mashed sweet potatoes
with maple-pumpkin butter and brussels sprouts slaw.
-This is delicious. -So good.
Maple pumpkin butter with sweet potatoes...
What a great idea.
Just that flavor together,
of sweet, tart, little bit of spice,
makes for a fantastic bite.
I did see you put a little bit of the sourdough bread turkey,
a crumb right on top...
That's the one thing I wished
that you had put more of.
-[Kathleen] Hmm-mmm. -Because that crunch would have
added another textural layer to the bite.
If you're gonna do the crumbs on it,
-I want you to roast those crumbs really hard. -Hmm-mmm.
If you're gonna put breadcrumbs on something,
they need to be crunchy, maybe garlicky,
like, flavor them or something.
The turkey, I was afraid it was gonna be dry.
It is not dry. It is really delicious.
The salsa verde has a little bit of spice.
The tomatillo just sings right through everything.
[Cliff] I love the mascarpone into the sweet potato
in order to mute the cloying sweetness of the maple pumpkin butter.
The cooking from your wheelhouse.
It's very, very good.
Kathleen, thank you.
This does feel like I'm being graded.
It gives me a little bit of empathy
for the way my students feel.
Like, as they see me passing back tests,
that moment of like... [gasps]
[Ryan] I'm super nervous.
I didn't cut the meat the way it needed to be cut.
So, it was a little uneven as the judges said.
I'm not ready to go home yet.
So, hopefully I can stay a little longer.
[Ted] So whose dish is on the chopping block?
Ryan, you've been chopped. Judges...
Mr. Ryan, there's absolutely
no doubt the amount of joy
that you bring into any room.
Your students and community in Baltimore
are going to be so proud of what you have done.
The turkey was unevenly cooked.
So there were inconsistent pieces.
We also thought that the sourdough bread turkey was missing.
So, for these reasons we had to chop you.
Thank you.
It was so nice to meet you.
-Keep doing the good work. -You're amazing.
Do a good job, right?
[Ryan] So this win would have meant a lot but I'm not defeated.
I believe that my students are proud of me.
Mr. Gholson loves you,
I am so proud of you guys.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Well, if you have any nerves,
maybe seeing some friendly faces will help calm them.
[giggles] Oh, no!
We love you, Ms. Snyder, we're thankful for you.
Good luck, Ms. Snyder, we're thankful for you.
-Oh, my God. -You're my math teacher, Ms. Snyder. You can do it!
[all] You're gonna ace it.
Ms. Cluchey will rock.
I love Ms. Cluchey because she is always so enthusiastic
about what she teaches.
She is an awesome teacher
and I think that she can do this.
[all] Go Ms. Cluchey!
That was awesome, thank you.
-I am world famous now. -[laughs]
-Yes, yes, exactly. -[Tiffani] Yes.
-This is as cool as it gets as a teacher. -Yeah, it does.
Well, thank you both, for all that you do.
We're rooting for you too.
Now, let's check out your final ingredients.
Open them up!
-Oh, my God. -What!
[Ted] And you'll be making your sweet creations
using a pie cake.
Yes, you heard me right.
I could do something with this.
Oh, my gosh.
[Ted] Pomegranates...
I like this.
...pecans or pee-cans, if your prefer.
Oh, my...
[Ted] And candy corn punch.
The clock has been restored to 30 minutes.
-Time starts now. -[Maneet] All right, let's go!
-[Judges cheering] -[Tiffani] Let's go!
Dessert for everyone!
I am rooting so hard for both of them.
I just love them so much.
You know, I've been shocked and amazed
by Jessica's performance in particular because
she seemed to overcome a lot of obstacles
within every single round.
[Tiffani] This could really be Jessica's round,
she's a math teacher.
You know, baking is
-straight math. -All math.
But baking also is science
and Ms. Kathleen is science teacher, right?
[Kathleen] I am one teacher away from
bringing this win home to my students.
And I really wanted to show them that we can take risks
and we don't have to live being afraid of what people will think.
I decided that I'm gonna make
brown butter pecan shortbread
with bourbon-apple ice cream.
So, Thanksgiving desert... What are our expectations?
[Maneet] When I think of Thanksgiving desserts,
I want the cinnamon, I want the nutmeg,
I want those warming spices.
[Kathleen] Brown butter, pecan, bourbon and apple
are all very warm flavors. They are very comforting.
For my shortbread, I toast the pecans
and I top them up and I toss them in flour,
sugar, salt and the brown butter.
And then, it's going right in the oven.
[Jessica] To be so close to winning Chopped
is a surreal experience.
And cooking next to Kathleen has been really energizing
and she is pushing me to cook better food.
I'm making a spiced-cake,
candy corn punch custard,
pomegranate, persimmon parfait.
I have only made a custard before once.
[giggles] So I'm feeling very nervous.
But I want to show my students that
for me to be here and to push myself and to be vulnerable,
I hope they learn that anything that
they set their mind to, they can be successful in.
All right, teachers. Less than 20 minutes to go.
I am curious to see what they are going to do
with this candy corn punch.
[Maneet] Yeah. Orange soda with pineapple, then whipped cream on top.
If they strain it, it could go in the direction
of an orange creamsicle.
Throw it in the ice cream machine. Boom!
[Tiffani] So, Kathleen is making an ice cream
and she is using the whipped cream from the candy corn punch
as the dairy component in her ice cream,
with the vanilla and the bourbon.
Very excited about that.
[Kathleen] So my shortbread's going, my ice cream's going.
And then I have to figure out this pomegranate.
I decide to reduce it down with some raspberries
and I really could bring this home
by incorporating the candy corn.
I'm making a pomegranate-maple sauce.
And persimmons are so fall and they are so Thanksgiving
that they will be a perfect addition to my pomegranate.
'Cause we have a multi-layered pie-cake...
Got a little apple, kind of, compote on top,
we got a spice cake, we got a little bit of pumpkin pie vibes.
There's some frosting in between.
[Maneet] It's basically the entire
Thanksgiving desert table
in a slice.
[Jessica] I am stressed about time because I am thinking about
all of the components that I'm trying to do,
and I haven't even touched my pie cake.
[Tiffani] Jessica's making a custard.
She is literally stirring two things at the same time.
But I'm a little bit worried. She's just now touching her pie cake.
[Cliff] You know, Jessica's really struggling.
If it's not on the plate, we can't taste it.
[Jessica] If I don't get this cake on the plate
I am definitely not going to win today.
-[laughs nervously] -How are you doing?
-I am doing crazy! -Are you okay, friend?
Teachers, five minutes to get it done.
[Tiffani] I'm a little bit worried.
Jessica is just now touching her pie cake.
[Jessica] As I am looking a this cake, I decide
I wanna get directly to the spiced cakes,
so I can use that as a base for my parfait.
Let me give it a minute. [chuckles nervously]
Well, Kathleen's waiting to plate her ice cream
with a scoop in hand.
[Tiffani] She's chaperoning a recess right now.
-The stance. Look at that stance! -[everyone laughs]
Okay.
I decided to take the apples
and the pie coating from the pie cake
and I am folding it into my ice cream,
to add that kind of nice crunch to the ice cream.
So I am plating, I burned my pecans.
I am very upset. But it's a basket item
and it needs to get on my plate.
[Cliff] Let's go, Jessica. Come on, Kathleen.
Come on!
[Ted] Teachers, final seconds of the final round.
-Ten. Nine. -Make sure everything is
-where you want it. -Eight.
Seven,
six,
five,
four,
three,
two,
one...
-Time's up! -All right!
Oh, my God. [laughs]
My students are gonna be proud of me regardless.
So, it's just exciting to have even made it to dessert.
[Kathleen] I really think this could be a $10,000 dessert.
[Ted] Kathleen and Jessica...
We asked you to whip up
one more plate of food for Thanksgiving.
A dessert, featuring pie cake
pomegranates, pecans and candy corn punch.
All right, Jessica, tell us about your dessert, please.
What I made for you is
a spiced cake, candy corn punch custard
with pomegranate, persimmon parfait.
[Tiffani] Well, I never thought in my life I would say,
candy corn punch custard is now one of my favorite things
but I am saying that.
It is teetering between, like,
a really light, beautiful frosting and custard.
Which is cool, 'cause it's sitting on top of that spiced cake
and that makes a lot of sense.
It's literally giving you all the desserts
that you want from a Thanksgiving table.
But the pecans are burnt.
Yeah, some of the pecans are burnt...
But the elements that you got in here are really, really flavorful
and you nailed some execution.
Thank you.
[Maneet] I love the fact that you went in and got persimmons.
The little bite that you ge
with the pomegranate and the persimmons works really well.
Thank you, Chef Jessica.
Finally, Chef Kathleen.
I have made for you a brown butter pecan shortbread,
with bourbon-apple ice crea
and a pomegranate-raspberry candy corn reduction.
[Maneet] Ms. Kathleen...
I consider myself an ice cream aficionado.
This...
-is one of the best ice creams that I've ever had. -Wow.
And the fact that you used some of the cream
from the candy corn punch, I think that was great.
That contributed towards the lovely silky texture.
And then going ahead and folding in the pie cake,
such a smart idea.
I do think that the shortbread
has a little bit too much butter in it.
That's why it is as crumbly as it is.
Because I really want to pick it up and then...
-[Kathleen] Yeah. -...dip it in here and eat it. And I can't.
This screams Thanksgiving.
But I'll tell you that I don't super-love the pomegranate sauce.
I didn't like the flavor, I didn't like how it looked.
[Cliff] I wanted pieces of pomegranate
in that ice cream so it added to the textural differences
that were already in the ice cream itself.
But you kind of knocked it out of the park.
-Really, really great flavors. -Thank you.
We will call you back when the judges have a winner.
-See you soon. -[both] Thank you.
[both exclaiming] Whoo-hoo!
-[Jessica] Oh, should we hug? -[Kathleen] Yes!
Judges, was it a delicious Thanksgiving?
This is a Thanksgiving I would be happy to repeat
year after year after year.
They did a phenomenal job.
We saw a lot of natural talent and a lot of natural ability
come out during this competition today.
[Cliff] In the appetizer round, Kathleen comes out of nowhere
with biscuits and chili.
[Tiffani] Kathleen's chili tasted like
it had been cooking for days.
It had incredible spice to it.
To put that pumpkin cheese ball into the biscuit,
-next level. -[Maneet] Agreed.
With Kathleen, I think the purple potatoes
were almost hidden in the chili.
-The purple potatoes were a highlight on Jessica's dish. -[Tiffani] Mmm-hmm.
Purple potatoes and this pumpkin cheese ball
converted into this beautiful latke
-with a turkey meatball on top. -Latke was amazing.
-Latke was incredible. -[Cliff] The Latke was amazing.
-[Tiffani] So crispy. -The texture of the latke was amazing.
I just needed a little bit more fat
and something else like some sour cream.
Or a little more of that pumpkin cheeseball on top to deliver that meatball.
[Maneet] Agreed.
I think the pendulum definitely swung in the entree round.
-And Jessica's turkey was delicious. -[Maneet] Oh, my God.
[Cliff] Delicious, it was seasoned beautifully.
You know, was the texture on the gravy textbook?
-No. -Agreed.
What Kathleen created was a complete opposite of
what we think of when we think of a Thanksgiving dinner.
The sourdough bread turkey was almost an afterthought.
So what is it that makes this decision so difficult?
Kathleen brought really strong flavors.
Jessica, on the other hand,
got some really strong techniques.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Jessica, [sighs] you've been chopped.
Judges...
Jessica, we've loved having you
and you've cooked amazingly all day.
The first course, I mean, the latke was so good,
Jessica, it was crazy. But the meatball was a little bit dry.
We get to the entree round and that turkey was perfectly cooked.
But the gravy was not particularly flavorful.
And so, we had to chop you.
-Thank you so much. This has been so amazing. -[Cliff] Thank you.
And I am grateful for all of you.
Thank you so much. Oh, my gosh. We loved having you!
[Jessica] I don't have any regrets.
I know I'm gonna go home and just feel so supported.
I think my students are going to be really excited
and I'm hoping that we can all watch it together
[all applauding]
Oh, my God! [shrieks]
And that means, Kathleen Cluchey,
you are the Chopped champi.
You've won $10,000 and you have our deepest respect.
-Congratulations and happy Thanksgiving! -[shouts] Yes!
[all cheering]
I am so thankful,
because I have the best people at home.
My family, my friends, my school.
They've been behind me the whole time.
-Now I'm a Chopped champio! -[all applauding]
I am very thankful for a Chopped win this Thanksgiving.