You know, ever since we introduced the Triple-G scoreboard,
we've seen some nail-biting final scores.
A one point difference.
-Wow. -[woman] What?
And on the rarest of occasions,
after the scores of both rounds are combined,
we see two competitors actually tie.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a tie.
And we have a tie!
[whooping]
So, tonight we've got rematches that will finally break their tie.
[Cayla] It's time to settle this once and for all.
[Stephanie] Today, I gotta win this.
Now the first rematch is between two home cooks who tied with 80 points.
Then a throwdown between two amazing supermoms
who tied in our supermoms competition.
[both yelling]
-Whoa, that was by a nose. -Oh, yeah!
Get ready for two intense
winner-take-all match-ups worth 10,000 bucks a piece.
And this time, I guarantee you, no ties.
Hey, Stephanie, how you doing?
It's hot, baby, it's hot!
It's Triple-G Tiebreakers tonight on Guy's Grocery Games.
-That's perfect, Hunter. -Right? Thank you.
[bell dings]
Let's meet our first returnees
itching for their tiebreaker.
[bell dinging]
First up we have Cayla Atha,
a food blogger and fitness instructor
who's here to make her competition feel the burn.
[Cayla] I may look sweet, but I'm coming out fierce.
The last time I was in Flavortown,
Nick and I were competing against one another in the home cooks tournament.
Ladies and gentlemen,
we have a tie.
-[man] What? -[woman gasping] What?
A lot has happened since the last time I was here.
-I had twins. -[babies crying]
[Guy] There she is.
If what I have heard is true,
we're gonna have a big talk about this.
[chuckles] Oh. Okay, let's go.
And back for the rematch we have Nick Farrer,
a former Minor League pitcher
who's hoping to throw a curveball at the competition
and get the big win.
In baseball, there are no ties.
I've had to wait months to come back and settle the score.
Since Cayla and I have been on the show,
we've definitely created a friendship.
But that all stops here and now
'cause I am here to win.
There he is, headband and all!
Welcome to the jungle, baby.
I know you've waited for this for a long time.
Now last time you were here, you were challenged to create great delicious party foods.
You did so great that the judges,
they couldn't pick a winner and you ended up splitting the prize money.
So, for your tie-breaking match,
it's gonna be a winner-take-all
single-round showdown for another $10,000.
You ready for the tie-breaker battle?
-Yes. -Ready.
I'm wondering what would have happened
if you would have had a different party to prepare for.
You know what? There's only one way to find out.
So, I've got... Well, I don't have...
Hunter!
-Hello, chefs. Welcome back. -Hey.
-So, I know you thought long and hard about this. -I have, yes.
What two party invitations do they have available?
Two awesome party invitations.
-[Guy] Okay. Here we go. -One of them is Ryder's birthday.
-And the other one-- -Oh! Ryder's birthday, by the way.
Choo-choo train.
-[both] Ponies. -[Hunter] Yeah. I think fairy wands.
Face painting.
How old is he?
[both] Sixteen.
-Oh. -[all laughing]
Oh, too good.
It's either Ryder's party or...
Guess this... Flag Day.
[chuckling] Flag Day?
Flag Day parties are awesome. What are you talking about?
Okay. So, you're gonna have the choice between Ryder's party and Flag Day.
And you're gonna make a menu that is going to coincide with that.
Okay.
Flag Day?
[laughing]
[Guy] Cayla, you picked last time.
So, big man, we're letting you pick.
Which one's it gonna be?
I want what's ever in your left hand.
-That one? -I'm left-handed.
[Guy] There you go. Take it back over there.
I hope it's Flag Day, I can't wait to see what they make.
"You are invited, please join us for a dinner party
hosted by Mr. Fieri at Flavortown Market,"
and it's just neither of those two things.
-[Guy] Wait-- -It's for the family reunion.
I thought we were... Okay. Well.
Hang on a second. I gotta be honest with you.
-Yeah. -[Guy] That's not a challenge.
Next time, come up with something a little bit more difficult.
[Hunter] Well, I mean, I do have some other items,
but I was gonna use them for another event. But we can use them for this.
-You have more items? -I do.
[Guy] Like what?
I mean, not gonna lie, these aren't great.
But it's fun.
We're good here. All right.
What are these from, Hunter? These are from last year?
This is from when they competed last time.
A mandatory grocery list.
This is gonna be called the tie-breaking grocery list game.
[Hunter] Tiebreaker. Yes.
[Guy] So, you must incorporate
-blue cheese. -[Hunter] Mmm.
-[Guy] Pistachios. -[Hunter] I love pistachios.
[Guy] Corn on the cob, and strawberries in your family reunion dinner.
-[chuckles] Okay. -That's awesome.
Forget Flag Day.
Thirty minutes to shop, prepare, and plate your family reunion special.
Shop for anything else you want,
but you must use these four mandatory ingredients.
Okay?
[both] Okay.
-[Guy] Hunter? -[Hunter] Yes.
These three cards.
-Give those two. -Okay. Here you go.
And a present for you, and a present for you.
One of you is gonna go home with ten--
That was a fast start. They even...
[chuckling]
-What was that all about? -They've played it too much.
[Cayla] Nick is definitely known for heartier food,
more meat and potatoes guy.
[Nick] Cayla's known for cooking ultimate healthy meals.
She is dang good at this.
[Cayla] I love this grocery list that we are given.
It is totally my vibe to cook summery, light, fresh flavors.
There is nothing on this grocery list that I love.
I wanna cook what I wanna cook for my family reunion,
not what Guy wants me to cook.
So even though these ingredients are on there,
I still gotta stay true to myself.
On the South Side of Chicago,
you will never go to a family reunion
without having some type of sausage.
So for my family reunion dinner,
I'm thinking a beer-braised bratwurst sandwich.
We're gonna go with some buns
if I can find them.
I need a smaller bun.
I gotta make sure that I get all of these whammy ingredients.
[Nick] Parmigiano Reggiano.
-What are you looking for? -Blue cheese.
That's Roquefort.
Roquefort and Gorgonzola are both blue.
Okay?
-So I'm good there? I'm gonna call it blue cheese then. -Yeah. No, it is blue cheese.
-That's some blue cheese. -Okay. All right.
I was looking for the crumbles, personally.
[Nick] I think I can use the blue cheese
with some spicy mustard and a little stock
to make a sauce to go on top of my sausage.
I know that I wanna have some type of starch.
Potato salad is a staple of any family reunion or get-together.
Corn on the cob, where are you? There we go.
What am I gonna put corn, pistachios, and strawberries in?
I'm thinking a salad, 'cause there's always one or two aunts
that are looking to watch what they're eating at the family reunion,
so we can't let the aunts go without what they need for a healthy salad.
Pistachios. Where are we?
Peeled or shelled?
-You want them shelled or not shelled? -[Nick] I like this.
[Guy] Yeah, there you go.
[Nick] Having a tie is so unsatisfying.
I'm here to win!
It's not that tough of a list unless you only have 30 minutes,
and unless you have to make a family reunion,
unless it's a tiebreaker event,
and unless you got all these people watching you.
Otherwise, it's really easy.
[Cayla] Grabbing some chicken.
When I think of family reunion,
I'm thinking big, crowd-pleasing favorites.
Immediately, my head goes to fried chicken.
Panko.
I'm grabbing this hot honey which is spicy and sweet.
It has everything I need to just take my fried chicken to the next level.
And my strawberries! [chuckles] Need these.
I'm thinking of a strawberry-spinach salad
that my mother-in-law makes on big holidays when we're all together.
So, I'm thinking I'm gonna use them in a salad
with the blue cheese and the pistachios.
I know corn on the cob is a starch,
but I don't wanna just put that on the plate. I've gotta amp it up.
This is the tiebreaker after all.
So I'm thinking I'm gonna mix it into my gnocchi
and make a really beautiful pasta to pair with my fried chicken.
Nick, sorry, you're going down.
So here to judge our tie-breaking battles
are a trio who have never been tongue-tied.
[both laughing]
We've got the Food Network star and a resident spice afficionado.
The one and only Aarti Sequeira.
-Hi, everybody. -Wow. Hello, everybody.
Wildly successful Southern California restaurateur,
shenanigans himself, the one and only Brian Malarkey!
[mock roar]
And last and definitely not least, the pasta maestro himself,
the one and only guy with a better mustache
than anybody in the room tonight, Chef Joe Sasto!
So let's talk about ties.
-Have you ever been in a tie? -[Aarti] I don't think so.
No, I don't think I've been in a tie.
I don't like ties in sports, I don't like ties in suits.
Right.
Both of the competition teams did this tonight,
but here's the chance to break the tie.
I don't want to jinx it, but it is possible there is another tie tonight.
-[Aarti laughing] No! Oh, damn! -No, Joe!
We need closure.
-They need it, yes. -They deserve closure.
Chicago and Wisconsin,
you gotta have a beer brat.
It's definitely a family reunion thing
to have a big pot of beer with a ton of bratwurst in it.
All right, so what's your gameplan, buddy?
I'm gonna do a little beer brat,
and then I'm gonna figure out how to make
a little mustard-blue cheese dressing to put on there.
-[Guy] I like it. -[Nick] And then I'm thinking
it's gotta be some type of fresh salad
with the strawberries and the pistachios,
maybe some grilled corn in there.
Then I'm gonna figure out a starch.
Got it.
All right. So these can just stew a little bit.
Now I gotta start working on my warm potato salad.
The way that I'm gonna make these potatoes is by triple frying them.
Triply frying potatoes to make sure that they're crispy
when you dress them absolutely says family reunion
because they're probably gonna be sitting out for multiple hours.
No one wants a soggy potato.
You think Aarti's a harsh judge?
You've never met my brother Dave.
Next, I have to work on this spicy mustard and blue cheese sauce.
So since I was on Guy's Grocery Games,
I started my own channel called The South Chicago Chef.
I'm out there cooking up a storm
and putting it out there for the world to see.
Let's see if this will melt down.
That's why if I win this money today,
I'm using it all to put into my channel.
We've all competed here before, and to tie?
-[Brian and Joe] That's crazy. -It is. It's crushing.
We have to remember that these are very excellent home cooks.
And this is why it was a tie.
I mean, they were really close.
I remember, I was there.
-[Brian laughs] -[Aarti] Their food was great.
But they need closure, and so do we.
-Yeah. -We need a winner tonight.
-[Brian] We're celebrating our family reunion. -[Aarti] Mmm-hmm.
And we have to use four of the same ingredients they used last time.
Blue cheese, pistachio, corn on the cob, and strawberries.
[Guy] Twenty-four minutes!
Chef, what's on the gameplan?
Okay, I'm making a crispy chicken
-with some hot honey and panko crust. -Okay.
And I'm gonna do a spinach-strawberry salad
with some pistachios that are gonna go in our gnocchi pasta salad.
You feel good?
-[Cayla] I feel good. -[Guy] Twenty-three and-a-half minutes.
[Cayla] Okay.
My chicken is seasoned with paprika and cayenne, salt and pepper.
I'm gonna dredge some chicken, put this into the fryer.
Cooking for the family, that's what it's all about.
Nick and I might have tied the last time we were here,
but we do have very different cooking styles.
My style of cooking is lightened up versions of classics and comfort food.
Not only are there bragging rights on the line,
but $10,000 would go a long way.
If I win today, I wanna invest in my blog, The Savvy Spoon,
so I can continue to help people feel their very best
by living healthier, happier lives.
Looking good.
I am so excited to be creating a family reunion dinner
because since I was here in Flavortown last, I've had twins.
Roxy and Riley, my daughter and son
that are four months old and a handful.
Family is everything to me.
Today's rematch is my one shot
to beat Nick once and for all.
This is a tiebreaker, so I'm not bringing 100%,
I'm bringing 110%.
Okay, let's put this back in here.
So, I come from the land of "Not good for you."
She's from the land of "Good for you."
Look at this, I'm using beer and fat sausages.
Nick is going with beer brats, which is interesting
because I don't really see corn, strawberries, pistachio and blue cheese
jumping on to my brat.
[Nick] My salad has all of the components on the grocery list.
[Aarti] Nick has all of his eggs in one basket.
All four of these grocery-list ingredients are in one dish.
[Joe] That makes me very nervous.
I think that's a huge risk, putting everything together
into one component on the plate,
-'cause we're either gonna love it or we're not. -That's right.
[Nick] I thought it was a great idea
putting all of the whammies into the salad.
If you could make that work, you could probably make anything work.
A little bit of olive oil.
My blue cheese is also in my sauce for my bratwurst.
Tell me what you think on that.
That's wango-tango. That's delicious.
Yeah. Thank you.
The last thing that I have to do is make this aioli for my potatoes.
Mayonnaise, chipotle in adobo,
salt, pepper, and a little bit of lime juice.
Yeah, I don't wanna tie this time.
Tying gave me unfinished business.
I don't like having unfinished business.
This feels like the ultimate rematch,
and it's time to settle that score.
Third fry on these guys.
Cayla's chicken looks beautiful on the outside,
but I think on the inside, it might be a little bit raw.
[Joe] It needs a little more time.
Time be a-tickin'.
Okay. Let's finish this in the oven.
Where are you at with your salad? You got nine minutes.
Yep. Thank you, Chef.
While the chicken is in the oven,
I'm gonna start working on my gnocchi
as well as the strawberry-spinach salad with blue cheese.
You either love blue cheese or hate it.
So I don't want it to overpower the salad.
Then I'm adding in my spinach leaves.
And finally, I'll make my dressing.
We're doing a balsamic vinaigrette.
This is a vinaigrette that I make at home all the time.
It has just a couple of ingredients,
but it's packed with flavor.
Next, I need to finish my pistachio-corn gnocchi.
So I'm gonna put the corn in the gnocchi,
and do a little butter sauce with that.
[Brian] Right here is a great hack for home cooks.
Watch Cayla cut the corn into the bowl.
I don't know how long it took me to figure that out,
but that is the greatest hack ever so you don't have corn kernels going all over.
Kernels going all over your kitchen.
[Cayla] Mmm, tastes great.
I like that t's fluffy little pillows of deliciousness.
Going into our fresh side.
Chefs, get your plates! Three-and-a-half!
[Nick] The potatoes look absolutely perfect.
So I make sure that I toss these potatoes
while they're warm out of the fryer
'cause it's gonna soak up all of that aioli,
but still remain crisp.
I put my salad in a little side dish and put it on the plate.
Then I add my fried potatoes in the chipotle aioli.
Finally, I got my toasted bun with my brat, my sauce goes on top.
Two minutes! Two to go!
[Cayla] I pull my chicken out of the oven.
I know it's good to go,
so I put it first on the plate.
Next, I get my strawberry-spinach salad tossed in onto the plate.
On to the plate goes my pistachio-corn gnocchi.
The last thing I do is drizzle plenty of my spicy honey over the fried chicken.
I think my family would love a big plate of this at a family reunion.
Fifteen seconds!
[Cayla] This is the winning dish,
this is not gonna be another tie.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Chefs, that's it. Stop working.
-[Aarti] Wow. -Wow. Well done, you guys.
-[Cayla exhales] -Well done!
[Guy] All right, let's see if your family reunion dinner
can reunite you with a win!
Let's take it to the judges. Right this way!
Here we are, judges.
This is the first matchup of our Triple-G Tiebreakers event.
We upped the difficulty by having them prepare a family reunion party plate.
I liked Flag Day, personally.
I thought it sounded awesome.
And to make things just a little more complicated,
Hunter had a grocery list in his back pocket
featuring twisted versions of ingredients they used the last time they competed.
First up, Chef Cayla.
What did you make for the tiebreaker?
For my family reunion dinner,
we're starting with a hot honey fried chicken.
And then some of the fresher flavors,
the corn gnocchi with pistachios and Parmesan.
And then a spinach-strawberry salad with blue cheese.
This looks like a family reunion plate.
You've got protein, starch, some vegetables, high marks on that.
The chicken is beautifully crispy, cooked, well done. [laughs]
[sighs in relief] I had to... had to throw up some prayers.
Yeah, and I think that little drizzle of hot honey
was such a good play and such an easy way
to give you that sort of flavor you're kind of craving.
Okay.
I think it was very smart to reach for that premade gnocchi
to kind of bring a starch into this dish
and not try to make something from scratch,
especially when you're doing all the components like this.
It really kind of tied everything together.
Where I do think you kind of stumbled a bit
was the salad over here on the side.
The balsamic vinegar and that garlic really kind of overpowers
-that bright, fresh strawberry... -Okay.
...and delicious, savory blue cheese you have in there.
This is exactly what I think about when I think of like a family reunion.
-Thank you. -[Brian] It's big portions,
it's loud, it's proud, it's having fun.
The gnocchi and the corn, great play there.
Classic with the pistachios.
You cooked it all in 30 minutes.
That's why you're co-champion of the last round.
Excited to see who wins this one.
Thank you so much.
[chuckling] Well, then.
All right, not to be outdone, though, Chef Nick.
What do you got for us on this tiebreaker meal?
[Nick] So, chefs, welcome to the South Side of Chicago.
I had to bring you there.
You got a beer-braised bratwurst.
On top, I made a little sauce for it.
It's got some spicy mustard, some blue cheese component in there to put on top.
Then you got a little chipotle aioli, warm potato salad.
And then we all have that one aunt
that likes to be healthy at the family reunion.
So, she made a little salad
with the strawberry, the pistachios, some grilled corn, some basil,
and she also has a little blue cheese in there, too.
So I hope you enjoy.
Are we on the South Side or what?
South Side, baby.
This plate of family reunion is awesome.
I'm a big fan of dressing potatoes warm like that right out of the fryer
so they suck up all that dressing.
My favorite bite on your plate is that ding-dang potato salad with the chipotle.
You really nailed that.
You have a really nice, crisp char on the outside of that brat.
You did a really great job there.
And the play between the mustard and the blue cheese
is so inventive. I really loved that.
But I think your pieces of blue cheese are too big, so it overtakes every bite.
That healthy aunt salad, you know what? I love her.
I just wonder if you didn't put all of your eggs in one basket.
You gave the healthy aunt the whole lift, you know?
I mean, she's got the pistachios, the corn, the strawberries,
and the blue cheese, and it's excellent.
Those are great combinations.
I just would have liked to have seen more interaction between the whole dish
rather than everything in one dish.
Got it.
[Guy] All right! Chefs, thank you.
I've said it once, I'll say it again.
You are dynamite cooks, and those are great-looking plates with a lot of flavor.
So the question is who's gonna win the tie?
We're gonna send you back to the kitchens,
call you when we have a decision.
Thank you.
20 points available in gameplay.
20 points available in taste.
10 points in plating.
Judges, which one of these family reunions
is gonna have that big celebration happy ending?
Unfortunately, only one of you gets to win the 10,000 bucks.
And the title of the real champ.
...real champ.
Who'd like to go first?
I'll go first.
Cayla, let's take it.
Out of gameplay...
sixteen out of 20.
Taste, 16 out of 20.
Plating, eight out of ten. For a 40.
-Nice score. -Thank you.
Nick.
Fifteen out of 20 in gameplay.
Sixteen out of 20 in taste.
Eight out of plating. For a 39.
Congratulations, Cayla, you're our winner.
-Thank you. -Wow!
That's as close to a tie as you can get.
[Guy] This has been awesome, to have you back.
And, Cayla, congratulations. 10,000 bucks.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
-Thank you. -Nick, you're the man.
I love watching you cook.
Never put all your whammies in one basket.
I'm still happy that I came to Flavortown, settled this score.
-Well done, Cayla. -Thank you so much.
-Thank you. Thank you. -Thank you, bro. Thanks for having me back.
I am just so thrilled right now.
It was so exciting to get to share the win,
but now getting the win feels really, really good.
[Cayla chuckles]
A one-point difference.
All right, judges, I know you're hungry.
Don't worry. Another tiebreaker round coming up right now.
-Oh, yes! -Whew!
Let's welcome back two worthy opponents
who scored an impressive first place
in our Supermoms competition.
Now, first up, we have Stephanie Jaworski,
the mother of three cooking up cuisines from around the world,
who showed us she was a world-class cook.
[Stephanie] I traveled the world
and worked in over 20 countries.
Last time, against Jenny Martinez,
I tied, and I should have won.
There is so much flavor in your dish.
I'm a very competitive person,
and I do not like to tie with anyone.
So I'm back for this rematch, and I'm back to win.
Whoo!
Here you are. Welcome back.
Thank you.
Let's meet the mom you tied,
and that is Jenny Martinez.
A culinary influencer and mother of four,
who's taking TikTok by storm
with her authentic Mexican dishes.
All right.
I have 3.3 million followers on TikTok
and 360,000 on Instagram.
Last time that I was here, I tied with Stephanie.
Jenny, really smart gameplay. Well done.
And we have a tie.
[whooping]
[Jenny] And when they invited me back to do the tiebreaker,
I said, "I'm on." 'Cause I need to win this.
Oh, my God.
-Welcome back. -Good to see you.
Go get 'em!
-Stephanie, you ready? -It's on.
Welcome back, moms.
[both] Thank you.
Now, the last time you competed here, I gotta be honest with you,
Flavortown Market was pretty tough on you.
Yeah.
You moms had to make a mom's choice.
With no money.
[Guy] Don't worry.
We've decided to make it a little kinder, gentler this round.
Let's do a comfort dish.
-Okay. -Okay.
Moms are always comforting their families.
Make a dish that everybody loves, and we'll go from there.
That feel good?
-Yeah. -Great.
All right. Fantastic.
-Hi, Hunter. -Hi, Hunter.
-Hi, chefs. -Convince your dad no budgets today.
I said comfort dish. It's okay. Great.
They're great with comfort dish.
-But I'm trying to think. -Mmm-hmm.
-Since I'm making it easy on that. -Right.
-Something harder? -Should they just see how they did in the budget?
No budget, guys.
-$25. -How much did we give you last time?
Too little.
Was it 25?
Not even.
It didn't feel like 25 to me.
[Guy] Twenty-five.
Twenty-five for you.
So, since I made it easy...
-No. -[Guy] The dish...
$15 each.
-No! -[Hunter] Fifteen's not...
That's not nice.
Hunter, convince your dad.
At least 20.
Wait a minute. There's inflation right now
so you gotta put it up.
$20 each.
But the first mom to check out over here with Wendy,
I'll give $25.
-That is so mean. -[Guy] Extra $5 if you're the first to check out.
-I think that that is-- -Because this is Register Run.
You think that's a good idea, Hunter?
I'm just an employee here.
I don't really have a say in the final decision.
All right. And 20 for you.
-Give me more. -And 20 for you.
We're very generous here at Flavortown Market.
I see that.
So, we want you to shop quickly,
but we also want you to shop carefully
because there's no going back.
-Whoa, one shop. -So once you check out, that's it.
You have 30 minutes to shop, pay, prepare
and plate your comfort dish.
Oh, my God.
But just think, one of you can get an extra five bucks.
$5.
Smackeroos.
But listen, don't mess with me,
I could give you $4.
I could do it right now and just split it,
give you both three more dollars.
-Well, $2.5. -The two of you could have one dollar
that you guys could go and split
and decide who was going to get
$1 that could go
-to whoever got to the register. -What is he saying?
-Go. -There it is.
It's time to go.
-One got $3, one got $2. -Okay.
-That would leave $1 that could go to-- -Go!
Oh, you got it this time?
-It was two times. -Like, the fifth time I said it.
Two times.
[Stephanie yelling]
[Stephanie] A tie is not first place.
This win needs to be mine.
[Jenny] In order to win the tiebreaker,
I need to step it up a level.
[Stephanie] I have to make a comfort dish, but I have $20 to shop.
And if I get first to the register,
I get an extra $5.
$5 is huge when you only have $20 to start with.
I need the skirt steak.
Ooh, look at this one.
The first thing that comes to mind is beef au jus,
which is a French dish
of a sandwich that you dip in a gravy.
This is my husband's favorite sandwich.
Very comforting.
Where's the pizza dough?
Next, I wanna grab the pizza dough.
In the Caribbean, they fry dough,
and they cut it in half, and you have sandwich bread.
I need to put flavors together with a little bit of money.
And I'm thinking instead of buying pickle,
I'm gonna make my own pickle.
So, I grab cucumbers, I grab garlic,
I grab spring onions.
And I'm thinking I'm gonna do a quick pickle
with a little bit of heat in it.
The shallots keep on falling. All right.
I'm feeling rushed
because I just want to get to that check out on time
to get that $5.
I love Jenny, but I gotta win this.
Where is it? Where is it?
Where did I see it?
Oh, right here.
So, I'm gonna go full force.
And I need that money to buy my food truck.
I really wanna win $20,000
because I wanna start my own business.
I'm gonna buy a food truck,
make some birria tacos.
Comfort food, for me, reminds me of my mom's house.
The quesabirria tacos is definitely a comfort food.
So next, I ran to go get my cheese.
I needed Oaxaca cheese, but the mozzarella was on sale,
so I had to stick with my budget.
2.69.
In order to make the birria sauce,
you need five different dried chili.
Thankfully, they were all there.
With birria, I mean, it's a two to three hour process.
So, I have to make it under 20 minutes.
So, cumin.
Oh, my God. Everything is so expensive.
And I see the bay leaves for $5.99.
I mean, the oregano is $7.99.
Come on. I'm on a budget here.
Where's the chicken bouillon?
I know that back in the pantry,
I have a couple of spices,
and I'm gonna make this work.
[Guy] Attention, chefs. Attention.
There's 26 and a half minutes left,
and I have $5 with somebody's name on it.
Let's get over to, uh, the check-out lane.
$5.
[Stephanie] All right.
-I guess it's me. -Is this you?
-I guess it's me. -Okay.
This is your one-and-done shop.
Here's your five bucks.
Thank you.
[Guy] Now I gotta get back to my shopping.
Yes, I get that extra $5.
That's awesome.
Hi.
-How are you today? -Good. How are you?
[Wendy] Good.
Okay, can I just point out...
$29.99, my love.
Oh!
-[Wendy] Yeah. -No.
You have to take it all the way and go back
-and give me the $5. -[Stephanie] All right.
Let's...
That's what happens when you don't look at the tag.
That's what happens when you don't price check things.
That's what happen.
Oh, man.
This is a budget battle, and I forget to look at the price.
That's not good.
Skirt. Oh, here it is.
What you looking for?
-Skirt steak. -[Guy] Okay.
[Guy] And you had to give back the five bucks, huh?
Yup.
So now I'm rushing to beat Jenny to check out again.
[Jenny] Then I see Stephanie approaching to pay.
I need those $5. I need it!
[both yelling]
If I get first to the register, I get an extra $5.
-[both yelling] -[Jenny] I need those $5.
[Aarti] Drama.
-That was by a nose. -Oh, yeah!
-[Jenny] I'm sorry, Stephanie. -You're good.
I'll get you later.
Those $5 are mine.
How much money do you have to spend?
All right, let's see.
Even though I got those $5 more,
I still have to leave some of the ingredients.
[Wendy] So you're at $30.49.
We're taking those off.
You're at $24.80.
[Jenny] Normally, I need all these spices to make my birria,
but I'm on a budget here.
And I'm gonna make this sauce.
And I'm gonna try to pull it off.
[Wendy] How much do you have to work with, girl?
I got 20 technically.
You're at $18.60 right now.
Can you take this out, and this out, please?
-[Wendy] Okay. Whoa. -Thank you.
[Wendy] Okay.
You're at 19.55 right now.
What? Okay. I'm taking this off and this off.
[Wendy] So we're taking off the miso.
Check out is going bad.
And we're taking off the ginger.
That puts you at 19.89 with nothing else.
Okay, here, have it. I just have to cook something.
I stretched those $20 to the extent of what they could give me.
This challenge is right in my wheelhouse.
Hunter's here. He can host. I'm gonna cook this.
1.79. Do we have any cheaper eggs?
Now I'm thinking fried pork chop.
Sausage gravy with an andouille.
How much are those egg sausage?
5.99? Holy moly!
Who makes the prices up around here?
$1.79. There we go.
A chorizo gravy,
eggs, fried pork chop,
mashed potatoes.
Heavy cream.
Who knows where I'm at.
[Aarti] In the history of Grocery Games,
there have only been a handful of ties.
One of the greatest ties we had was between these two mom cooks.
Today is retribution day, redemption day.
[Jenny grunts]
I need so many... So many other spices.
Hopefully, I can pull this one off.
In order to make the birria sauce,
you need to hydrate the dried chilis.
I use the chile guajillo, chile pasilla,
chile puya and the chile de arbol.
In the blender, I put in a quarter of white onion,
chicken bouillon, the black pepper
and some cumin from the pantry.
[sighs] I forgot the beef broth.
I need the beef broth.
Oh, my gosh. I need that. It's crucial.
When you have birria, you're cooking your roast,
and you get that beef broth.
Well, I didn't have the chuck roast.
I was using skirt steak, so I need that broth.
What am I gonna do?
[Stephanie] For my comfort dish, I'm making
a beef sandwich au jus with pickled cucumbers
on fried pizza dough.
First, I'm starting to do the gravy.
I pick a pan, I put some butter in it, some flour,
and I start to do a roux.
So, this is the perfect comfort dish
because gravy is very, very comforting.
So, I add in some onion, the demi-glace.
Some garlic, some salt.
And I'm just gonna let that boil down a little.
Looks like she put that demi-glace into the roux,
which is not something I've seen before, but I love.
-I do love that. -[Joe] What an idea.
That is a move.
I might be taking that one.
Next, I'm gonna work on my pickled cucumbers.
You always want that acidic thing.
That's gonna help cut the fat
of the steak and the fried dough.
Next thing I'm gonna start on...
The most important piece of my sandwich.
...my pizza dough bread.
That's supposed to be pizza dough, right?
It's masa!
-Yeah. What were you hoping for? -[Stephanie] Pizza dough.
-Oh. -Ooh.
It's not gonna work for my sandwich.
Okay, don't panic.
-Well, she can't shop again. -Oh, my God.
Guy!
I think the manager is on his way.
Okay, Chef, I heard you have a little problem over here.
-What's going on? -Can I please have pizza dough?
-What happened? -I took masa dough instead of--
-You took masa instead of pizza dough? -Yeah.
-I'm gonna let you go change it... -[Stephanie] Yeah.
...for pizza dough.
But it has to be the same price, all right?
All right.
Thank you, Hunter.
That was really nice.
If you wanna go back and exchange one ingredient,
I'll let you do it.
[Jenny] So I swapped one of my chili pods.
And I said, "I need that beef broth."
Here, I'll take it for you. There you go.
-Good luck. -Thank you.
Thank you, thank you.
Now I'm feeling so much better.
Is mother Guy gonna cook us something?
I think Guy is actually gonna get into the competition
-a little bit late right here. -Yeah, looks like it. Looks like it.
These are already thin, but I'm just gonna make it cook quicker,
and it's also a comfort dish
so it will be a little bit bigger on the plate.
Season the meat and season the batter.
Little cumin, cayenne, paprika.
[Hunter] Dad, what are you making?
-I'm making, uh, fried pork chops. -Oh.
[Guy] With a chorizo gravy, mashed potatoes.
[Hunter] Did you make extra so I can have some?
-Your son? -[Guy] Of course I did.
Sweet, sweet.
[Jenny] So, I add my beef broth to the consomme.
My trick here was to at least simmer that sauce for ten minutes.
That way, you get that sazon, and you get all those flavors already boiling
The next thing that I work on is the skirt steak.
I'm just gonna give it a quick marinade with the consomme.
Stephanie is such a great, uh, competitor,
but I need to beat her.
Sorry, Stephanie. You know I love you.
This is more like a carne asada taco.
But just having the birria marinate in there makes it a birria taco.
So, I add the tortillas to the pan,
and I start layering the cheese on the tortilla so it will start melting.
[Stephanie] So, I'm gonna get started on my pizza dough.
I'm gonna roll it out, cut it in four.
I'm gonna get them in the fryer.
Stephanie, are we gonna start cooking the meat?
Yeah. I'm waiting for the last five minute 'cause it's--
No, don't wait for the last five minutes.
-[Stephanie] No? -[Brian] No.
-Cook it now. -You need to plate in the last five minutes.
You're right, Aarti. You're right.
There's a lot riding on this. It's a rematch.
It's adding a lot of pressure.
This could be ten more thousand dollars if I win this.
And that's gonna help my family.
With three kids, I have a lot of bills to pay,
so I need that money.
I'm very grateful to have an opportunity
to play this again against Jenny. I love her.
She's a friend of mine.
But today, I gotta win this.
My kids and my family are the most important thing to me.
And so any money that I'm gonna win today
is gonna go right back to them.
I'm liking what I see.
Hey, Stephanie, how you doing?
It's hot, baby. It's hot.
-How you doing, Jenny? -[Jenny] Oh, my gosh.
-It's looking pretty close. -[Stephanie] Yeah.
Let's see.
I'm running out of time.
Little garlic green beans on the mashed potatoes.
Lay up the cutlets.
Chorizo, gravy.
You made it.
-You made it. -I had so little time.
You did it.
-Oh, wow. Look at that. -[Guy] So...
Ooh.
[Guy] So first, it's a pork cutlet.
The gravy is mirepoix and chorizo
with mashed potatoes, double butter.
And then the green beans just done with a little lemon and butter.
And, uh, little quick saute.
I love how much lemon is on the green beans
'cause it balances everything out.
-That's brilliant. -[Guy] Comfort food.
-Did I do comfort? -You got it.
All right. Let's go check on the chefs.
Four minutes!
[Stephanie] I need to be plating.
This is it. My cards are on the table.
We cannot have another tie.
One person will emerge today as the winner,
and that's a lot of pressure.
It's a lot of pressure.
[Stephanie] I get my bread down first, and then I top it with steak.
I'm slicing into bigger pieces
'cause I want it to be hearty.
I add my pickled cucumbers.
Then I put the jus next to it.
This is a lot of food for the budget that I had to work with.
[Jenny] So now, I'm building my taco.
Once I transfer the taco onto the plate,
I start adding onion and cilantro.
I need to get my little cups for the consomme.
Add some cilantro, some onion.
Oh, my gosh.
And then I realize I forgot my lime.
I mean, I had red wine vinegar on my counter,
but it's not the same as lime.
No, there's no way.
Five, four, three, two and one.
Chefs, that's it. Stop working.
[Brian] Yes!
-Whoo! -Holy cow!
All right, let's see whose supermom superpowers
are strong enough to break the tie.
Let's take it to the judges. Right this way.
All right, judges, here we are.
This is Round 2 of Triple-G's Tiebreakers.
Our returning supermoms, well, they had to make a comfort dish.
And their budget was based on how fast they could shop and get to the register.
We played ourselves a little Register Run.
Up first, Chef Steph. What have you got for us?
I made my comfort dish,
one of my husband's favorite, the skirt steak sandwich,
with deep fried pizza dough.
Or you can just dip the sandwich in the gravy.
And I hope you guys enjoy.
Clearly, you have a great understanding of what comfort food is
because this is all delicious.
It's well seasoned.
The budget battle didn't seem to throw you off at all
because everything here really ties itself together.
And you had those crispy, cool cucumbers right in the middle.
I think that really balances out your whole dish.
-Great job. -Thank you, Chef.
What I think is the most comforting thing about this dish
which is the dipping.
Like, to me, that's what this dish is all about.
The flavor that you got in that jus,
grabbing the demi-glace.
That teeny tiny little concentrate.
It was such a great move.
That's a good shop, girl.
Thank you, Chef.
The cucumbers are a little clunky.
I wish they were a little bit smaller
so I got a little bit in every bite.
And I wish the meat was actually cut up a little bit smaller.
[Aarti] Yeah, I agree.
Taking the extra couple of minutes
to slice through the skirt steak
would just make for a more successful bite.
Thank you, Chef.
Up next, Chef Jenny. What do you have for us?
Judges, today I present you my entire family's comfort food.
My mom used to make her famous birria
for quinceaneras, for weddings,
and every Sunday that she would invite all of us back to her house.
Jenny, that is filthy in the best possible way.
That is dirty, dirty comfort.
It is fatty, greasy and just indulgent.
It is so good. Wipe my mouth.
The fact that you built this much flavor and complexity in this sauce.
This feels like a sauce that you spent all day making.
But I got the one taco without any cilantro and onions on the inside,
which it really, really needed.
I think I taste the extra $5
in all the chilis that you grabbed,
the fresh ingredients that you grabbed.
It made a really big difference in your dish.
And that's why it was risky.
Because if you hadn't gotten there first,
I don't know whether you could have pulled this off.
It's interesting that you both did a dip sandwich.
You two are neck and neck.
Incredible cook. It was very hectic on both sides.
I'm glad you both got it done because you both made amazing food.
And I can see why you tied the first time.
Great battle. Tough battle.
It's gonna be a tough decision for the judges.
Send you back to the kitchens,
and we'll call you when we have a decision.
Thank you, Chef.
All right, chefs.
Twenty points available in gameplay,
twenty points available in taste,
ten points in plating.
Will either mom's comfort dish give them a comfortable win?
-You nailed it. -You also did really good.
We both win.
Talk about the night to be a judge.
You have been eating well.
And I think this last round was fantastic.
We had some comfort food.
We gave you a budget,
and you made it look like there was no budget.
And you got your run of the store.
So, let's take a look. We'll start with Chef Steph.
You get 16 out of 20 in gameplay,
17 out of 20 in taste,
seven out of ten in plating for a 40.
Good score.
Very good score.
Jenny, you gotta beat a 40 to take this.
Seventeen out of 20 in gameplay,
nineteen out of 20 in taste,
and a seven for plating for a 43.
-Congratulations. -[Aarti] Wow!
Good job!
[Guy] Steph, great to have you.
-Jenny, congratulations. 10,000 bucks. -Thank you, guys.
And you both did a dynamite job. We'll see you later.
[Stephanie] I lost,
and I hate losing.
It didn't work this time, but I'll be right back.
Excellent job.
-Very happy for you. -Thank you. Thank you so much.
I won! Oh, my gosh! I won $10,000!
Now I definitely have more money to buy that food truck.
So there you have it, judges.
I'm telling you what, amazing home cooks face off in tiebreaker rematches
and take Flavortown for even more money.
It's like I'm giving it away.
We'll see you next week on Triple-G.
Adiós.
[Aarti] That was awesome.