[Guy] For the next five weeks,
Flavortown Market will become...
Flavortown Academy.
[Antonia] We're talking about elevated food.
Throw some butter in there and butter baste.
[Guy] Where the best home cooks in the country
get learn to take their skills to the next level.
Rain it on and rub it in.
Tonight, home cooks attempt to elevate their dishes to the next level.
Oh, my goodness.
We don't have wagyu already ground?
-Don't go crazy. Don't go crazy. -Whoo!
They are sophomores, I mean this isn't rookie time.
It's part three of Flavortown Academy
and it starts right now.
[screaming] Yeah!
Let's welcome our Flavortown Academy sophomores!
Professor Jet's class.
[in sing-song voice] Come on, come on, come on.
Last week I lost Mada.
But I'm really seeing a lot of improvement in Maria and Tyler.
I'm coming back this week with a vengeance.
Small class. How you doing, Ty?
-Nice to have you back. -Hi.
-Thank you, Chef. -Wonderful.
And professor Chef Antonia's class.
-Here we go! -What's up!
My entire team is safe coming into the sophomore year.
So coming into this week, high expectation.
Welcome, team. Nice to have you.
-[Jet booing] -[cheerfully hooting]
Boo. I mean "yay."
-Hello. Hello. Hello. -What's up, team? What's up, team?
You deserve some props, students.
The five of you have passed last week's freshman course,
proving that you could cook on a budget.
[Jet] $5.99 versus $6.99
Every penny counts in a budget challenge.
Share the ingredients, so limes.
Now, you'll need to follow your professor's guidance carefully
if you want to be crowned Supermarket cum-laude
-and win $35,000. -[all cheering and clapping]
[indistinct shouting]
All right. This week's course in higher education
is all about elevating your food...
to make higher end dishes.
Love it.
So I'm giving your professors an opportunity...
Oh, God.
I'm giving them an opportunity to increase your chances of success
-with a challenge that demonstrates... -[sighs]
-...their fine dining skills. -Oh, man...
Namely, the art of serving champagne.
-Oh! Champagne. -[all] Oh. Champagne.
Let me bring you in just a moment
to the champagne station.
-Hi. -Hunter!
There we go.
Your job, professors,
is to pour champagne into a flute
and deliver it on a tray
to one of the judges.
Then repeat that process
until you have served the entire panel of judges.
-Wow. -[laughing]
[Guy] Whoever can serve three judges first
will win a key advantage for their students.
[Jet] Oh...
Let's go, teams. Let's go, team green!
[Guy] Here we go. Ladies and gentlemen,
three, two, one, go.
-All right, Chef Jet! -[Guy] There they go!
[all cheering and clapping]
[Tyler] I'm a sports broadcaster
Let me turn my play by play voice really quick.
Chef Lofaso jumps out to an early lead
and it looks like this horse is gonna gallop to a victory.
My pony, Chef Tila,
is struggling to open the champagne
and get his butt in gear.
-Yay! - [Tyler] Lofaso starts out great.
She's got a tremendous lead on Chef Jet Tila.
[Samar] Don't drop any! Don't drop!
[cheering]
[shrieks]
-[clapping] -[Aarti] Come on, Chef Jet!
-Well done. -Yes, Chef Jet!
Come on, run quicker!
[Tyler] Tila is struggling at the box to get that champagne in the glass.
-[Samar] You got this. -[Guy] Okay.
Go, Jet!
[Diana] Look at that.
Move!
[Maria] Run!
Run!
[Tyler] No, no. Look at this.
Chef Tila, around the stretch,
turning up the speed.
all off a sudden, it's coming down to the final stretch.
-Got it. Got it. Got it. -Fill the glass!
Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it.
Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.
[Jet] So last week, I lost Mada,
I need to win this for my team
and build back their morale.
-Come on! -[all cheering]
-Oh, my-- -[all laughing]
[Tyler] Here comes Chef Tila,
around the corner they come.
[all cheering]
-Run back! -You have to get back!
-Oh, you gotta go back? -[Guy] Oh, here comes Jet.
[Tyler] It's Chef Tila!
A comeback for the ages.
I cannot believe what I just saw.
Our winner, Professor Tila!
[all cheering and clapping]
-Yes, Chef! -There you go, Professor Tila!
[Guy] Now, students,
Hunter and I have devised
a fantastic first sophomore assignment.
I want you to make an elevated weeknight dinner.
Now, these are the dishes
we'd like to see you make your elevated version of.
We have meat and potatoes,
chicken and rice, spaghetti and meatballs.
Okay? So when I say "go,"
you can huddle with your professor
and decide which dish each student in the class will upgrade.
How much should you elevate your meal?
Well, sky's the limit.
Well, there's one limit and that's...
-nine ingredients or less. -[groans in frustration]
Because this is Express Lane.
[all groaning]
This is gonna help teach you
that you don't need a high ingredient count
to make a high-end dish.
You can go get nine ingredients or less.
Professor Jet, since you got the key advantage,
we'd like to grant you one extra ingredient.
[all] Yes!
[Tyler] Thank you.
[Guy] Teams, just one other brief note.
Unfortunately, this week, no class is safe.
The two bottom dishes will go head to head...
for pass or fail.
Thirty minutes to shop, prepare and plate
your elevated weeknight dinners.
And just remember,
when I say, "three, two, one, go,"
-it's time to go. -Go, go, go.
-Pick one, pick one, pick one. -Spaghetti and meatballs?
I don't know. Which one do you want?
-[Antonia] Yes. 100%. Let's go. -Cool.
It's not "can they make the dish?"
It's "can they elevate the dish?"
[Maria] Yes!
Let's go. Move, move, move. Run, run, run.
All right. What kind of chicken do you wanna do?
So, Diana is doing chicken and rice.
Samar is doing spaghetti and meatballs
and Jeff is doing meat and potatoes.
So, we want to think of something fancy, right?
Elevating is gonna be a choice of ingredients
and it's gonna be also plating.
-You do what you normally do. -Okay.
-I normally do a breast. -Great. Let's go breasts.
I'm Mole Mama. So I have to make mole.
Cause I can make my family's chicken mole recipe.
You wanna get the frozen rice? Go ahead down there.
But, oh, my goodness,
we only have nine ingredients.
When I make mole at home from scratch,
I use four different kinds of dried peppers.
Limited ingredients actually doesn't always bother me.
Because it really makes you focus.
[Diana] So, I have to grab California chili powder.
Because that's going to mimic
those four other peppers that I would use
making this from scratch.
And I'm also gonna get cloves.
That is a must-have in our mole sauce.
I gotta do something to elevate this rice.
I'm gonna make it spicy with some peppers in it,
some blistered tomatoes.
[Antonia] I'm definitely worried about Diana.
The shopping cart looks very scarce.
And you feel like you can make a good dish with this?
You feel good about this?
I do.
But I trust that she knows what she's doing.
Then let's get ready to rumble.
Gosh darn. What am I doing? What am I doing?
I'm elevating this meat and potatoes to a surf and turf.
With filet mignon and some shrimp.
Also some fried potatoes with truffle salt
to kind of elevate it in flavor.
[Antonia] Okay. Where are we at?
You can add the shrimp. The shrimp has to be very secondary.
Please make sure it's about the meat and the potatoes.
'Cause that's what we're being judged on.
-[Jeff] Do I need more veggies? -I would say something fresh.
He has shrimp, he has fillet mignon
both of those read to sort of this high-end surf and turf.
He had a little bit of truffle salt.
This seems like you have a lot of ingredients.
-Chef, where's the pasta? -[Antonia] Right?
There's fresh pastas here.
-Like the fresh rigatoni. -[Samar] Nice.
I have to elevate spaghetti and meatballs.
[scoffs]
Maybe we can elevate it by getting super bougie ingredients or something.
You can go a pesto.
[Samar] I'm getting pre-made pesto
because we have limited ingredients.
This might elevate it a little bit different.
Remember, only nine ingredients.
[Antonia] Limited ingredients without question,
a hand-made pesto is the best way to go.
This might be a little elevated for these chefs at this stage.
But they are sophomores.
I mean, this isn't rookie time.
My students, they get ten items
when Antonia's team got nine
and that's massive.
Maria making meat and potatoes,
it better be the most expensive meat in the market.
-What do you think? Porterhouse steak? -Lovely.
That's better than fillet.
[Maria] But it's not just a weeknight dinner,
it's an elevated weeknight dinner.
So I have to go big.
[Jet] Yeah. Gold potatoes. Always yes.
[Maria] So, I immediately think famous crispy potatoes.
[Jet] Maria, you making a sauce? Like, a morel sauce?
[Maria] Yeah. ♪ Morels ♪
We all know morels are the most expensive mushroom out there.
Last week, my team ended up in the bottom.
I learnt everyone is up for grabs in this competition.
These judges are fancy.
They need herbs and balance.
We don't have wagyu already ground?
-Are you confident enough to grind it yourself? -That's two.
-No, I don't think I am. -[Jet] Okay.
-[Jet] Get a veal. Veal's expensive. -Veal.
Professor Tila's got a tremendous idea.
Wagyu fillet and mix it with your ground veal
and that is how you elevate a meatball.
Ingredients to make a sauce from scratch.
I gotta go jarred.
How about Guy's?
Guy's gotta have the best high-end.
That's as high-end as it gets right there.
A great way to elevate your own jarred sauces at home
is to add the highest quality ingredients.
I'm using goat cheese and basil.
[Jet] Elevated weeknight dinners.
You can punch it up with either ingredients or technique.
My students. They shop excellently.
Play to your judges.
Play to your amazing judges. Look how great they look today.
So, here to grade tonight's elevated dishes,
our three next level judges.
Now we have Food Network star and cookbook author
who can elevate any dish
with her beautiful smile
-and sophisticated spice palate. -Aw.
-I threw the smile part in. -Thank you.
[Guy] That's the one and only Aarti Sequeira.
A restaurateur, an incredible competitor
who knows how to make flavors soar,
the one and only super chef,
-Darnell Ferguson. -[Aarti] Hey.
And a chef whose impressive culinary skills
have helped elevate restaurants to two and three Michelin stars,
wow, the one and only, Chef Joe Sasto.
Okay. So out of all three of the dishes,
which one do you think is the easiest to elevate?
Chicken and rice, meat and potatoes or spaghetti and meatballs?
Spaghetti and meatballs.
-I think meat and potatoes. -I think meat and potatoes.
[Aarti] Not only do you have to nail it
but you have to reimagine it in an elevated form.
That's a lot.
[Guy] Twenty-four minutes!
I love Diana's idea
-of taking something like chicken and rice... -[Aarti and Darnell] Yeah.
-...and elevating it into chicken and mole with rice. -[Darnell] That is so smart.
Because mole on its own, inherently,
-is an elevated dish. -[both] Yes. Yeah.
[Antonia] This chicken,
I would cut it so that there's just this beautiful piece right here.
'Cause it's gonna be about the way you plate this.
'Cause it's your very like homestyle cooking.
[Diana] It's really interesting
that Chef Antonia is already thinking about plating at step one.
I never have done that before in my life!
[sizzling]
-Just leave it there. Do not touch it, okay? -Okay.
-I'm gonna make a roux. -Yes.
[Antonia] Make your roux. We gotta go, guys.
[Diana] So while the chicken is cooking,
I'm gonna start on my mole sauce.
My chicken stock. I threw in the California red chili powder.
I put in some cayenne pepper and cloves.
I'm cooking a recipe that's been in my family for over 100 years
with only nine ingredients.
I'm a little nervous.
-[searing] -[Antonia] Good.
Put more butter in there.
Like, two more big nuggets of butter.
Cilantro. Gorgeous.
Put that into the oven.
Is your oven on all the way?
-Yeah. -[Antonia] Okay.
Make sure the oven's all the way up. Good.
[Aarti] Two chefs go into the pass-fail round.
And they can be two chefs from the same team.
Which means Jet could lose most of his team
or Antonia could lose two-thirds of her team.
-[Darnell] Wow. -[Joe] Yeah.
-There's a lot on the line here. -[Aarti] Yes.
[Guy] Twenty-four minutes!
They're each making one
-of the three weeknight dinner. -Yeah.
[Aarti] Their professors are gonna be very helpful here
-to take their ideas and help them elevate them. -[Darnell] Yeah.
First thing's first. Work on the steaks.
[Aarti] Crunch Dad is doing a surf and turf
which I think is also a really
-smart way to elevate meat and potatoes. -[both] Yeah. Super smart.
[Aarti] And then I love the ingredients he's grabbed.
He's got shrimp, he's got gochujang over there.
He's gonna elevate it using some of the flavors, from his family.
-Yeah. -From his heritage.
-Very smart. Very smart. -[Aarti] Love it.
You need a lot of salt in there.
-Lot more. Okay. -Okay? It should taste like the ocean.
[Jeff] Got it. Potatoes are gonna need some more, too.
Are you sauteing the, uh, the fillets?
-[Jeff] Yes. -[Antonia] Okay. Let's get 'em on and rested.
We're talking about elevated food.
Throw some butter in there and butter baste,
-okay? -Thank you, Chef.
[Jeff] I'm gonna take every bit of advice that she gives to me
and utilize that 'cause I don't wanna go home.
Good idea. Good idea.
We've only cooked as a class once.
This week, it's really just about
making sure that you know, they're getting more comfortable in the kitchen,
taking these ingredients and elevating them
in a way that you wouldn't normally think.
[Samar] Okay. I'm just gonna do half the packet.
For my elevated spaghetti and meatballs,
I'm making pesto pasta with ground beef meatballs.
I'm seasoning the meatballs, uh, with nutritional yeast
'cause it's gonna give it like some creaminess.
I'm adding some panko breadcrumbs to it.
And then I add my mixed dried herbs.
-[Antonia] You're gonna sauté these, right? -Yeah.
Don't make those meatballs too big, okay?
[Samar] Yeah.
[Antonia] We're still early in the academy,
I don't wanna scare the students just yet.
But I'm just like, "Hey, by the way,
it's not freshman week anymore, like we gotta go."
[Guy] What's going on here with this menu?
We're making a crispy potato
and then I'm making morel sauce on the side
with an aged porterhouse steak.
[Guy] I dig it. I dig it.
[Maria] Chef, is there baking soda?
[Jet] Yes. There's baking soda in your pantry.
Want a little in the water.
I like that and salt.
Don't go crazy. Don't go crazy.
-And then salt. Lot of salt. -Whoo!
[Maria] I learned this hack,
adding the baking soda to the water actually pulls the starch out
and that's gonna allow the potatoes to get super crispy.
[Jet] Salt.
Rain it on and rub it in.
Rub both sides.
[Joe] So Maria that was working with these porterhouses,
the hardest cut of steak to cook.
Because you have two different muscles
that cook at two different rates,
-two different fat contents. -[Aarti] That's right.
[Joe] And getting that fillet and getting that strip
both to a beautiful medium-rare medium
is not easy to do.
-So that's why you have the professors here. -[Darnell] Yeah.
-Jet has his-- -[Joe] Jet has an eye on it.
Come back. Flip the steak over to this side now.
Other side. There it is.
[Jet] Maria did a great job following steak cooking directions.
It was very satisfying.
Now you can work and focus on everything else.
We have a lot to do.
Lot of salt there 'cause there's a lot of water.
For my elevated weeknight dinner,
I'm making spaghetti and wagyu fillet meatballs.
Chef, I'm gonna need some help
-on how to grind this. -Yeah.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what? -Put these--
Chunk it and put it in there.
-Chunk it and put it in there? -Yeah.
[Tyler] I've never ground my own meat.
So, I just wanna give it--
[Jet] Give it three seconds. One, two, three.
One, two, three, stop. One, two, three, stop.
[Jet] One, two, three, stop.
One, two, three, stop.
-Now really stop. Yeah. -Okay.
[Jet] Now I have nice ground fillet to go with my ground veal.
Tyler's in the right direction here
because he chose all elevated ingredients.
[Darnell] Yes. That's a good start.
-Your base is already there. -[Joe] It's a great start.
[Guy] Fifteen minutes. Fifteen left.
How's team Antonia doing over there?
Now I've gotta deal with that rice.
Mole is really gonna be spicy.
So I want something a little softer.
I'm adding freshness.
Because family cooking and family recipes
are so important to me,
with the $35,000,
I would like to take a salsa that I've been working on
for 30 years.
Something that my mother made, my abuelita made.
I've been tweaking it for a very long time,
but I'd like to take it to market
so that other people can enjoy it as much as my family and friends do.
Tasty.
[Jeff] The fillet is so tender.
I take the meat out, so it can rest.
How we feelin' bud?
Good. Good, good.
So where are the shrimps falling into meat and potatoes?
Right now, I'm gonna be taking some of that butter,
melting it down and loosening up a little bit of this gochujang here.
So I can just coat this shrimp just a tad bit.
Got it.
How's your potatoes?
-I might have to just flash fry 'em real quick. -That's okay.
[Antonia] I'm concerned that Jeff isn't paying enough attention to his potatoes
They're nowhere close to being done.
Watch the water.
I told you meat and potatoes.
He knew that those potatoes were kind of being left on the sideline.
[Guy] Twelve minutes. Twelve to go, guys.
[dramatic music playing]
Ooh! That's hot.
So I'm turning my meatballs and, um...
It's a little overcooked.
[sighs]
[Antonia] I am concerned about the texture
and the crust that's formed on the outside of Samar's meatballs.
What I think you should do is throw some butter in there,
-move them around in butter and let them fry in butter. -Okay.
A lot more butter than that.
-Like, half a stick. -Oh.
-I know you're a nutritionist, I'm sorry. -[laughs]
-I don't use that much butter, but okay. -You're like, "Oh!"
I'm like, "Whoa!"
[Antonia] That entire stick of butter
will stop Samar's meatballs from like getting dried out.
[Samar] I'm trying to warm up this pesto here.
Really smart gameplay.
Choosing a pesto you don't have to make,
you're eliminating some of those ingredients
that you would have had to get.
-I like it. -That's really good.
Nine minutes!
[Maria] Now I'm gonna focus on my morel cream sauce.
So, in a pan, I throw in my onions
my morels and I wanna utilize the whole bottle of the truffles.
-[Darnell] Morels. There goes your elevation right there. -[Aarti] Yep.
Yeah. Right?
[Maria] So I'm letting that simmer.
I have to grab my potatoes
out of the water and get them in the fryer.
But first,
I have to take these little Yukon gold's beauty
and toss them in corn starch.
Professor Tila tip.
Corn starch is basically instant batter.
Put it on something that's moist, put it in liquid
and it makes crispy fried.
Right?
I have so much going on with the fryer being on
that I completely forget about my sauce
and I burn my onions.
[Jet] Burnt onions will make everything taste burnt.
Especially with cream.
It would be disappointing if onions really hurt her.
[Maria] It's okay. It's okay.
[Guy] We are getting into danger time.
Six and a half minutes!
[Tyler] Next thing I needed to do is start my spaghetti sauce.
Just take a little bit of that goat cheese.
[Jet] You're gonna throw a little basil in there?
I'm gonna, I think fry the basil for some crunch.
-I would do a little bit of in there, too. -Okay.
-Throw a little bit in there? -Yeah.
[Jet] Tyler seems razzled
but the meatballs are looking spot on.
All his movements are correct.
Five minutes, students!
Five minutes left!
Cut this little end here.
You're gonna cut,
like a beautiful, like just long, straight like that. Go ahead.
Yep. Okay.
See, it's a little rare.
You have any butter left?
-See it. Perfect. Drop it right in there. -Yes.
Season it.
You don't even need to turn it on,
you just need to kind of baste it in there now. Right.
Fat side down. Exactly.
Now do it, the rest of them.
So those are two pieces per plate.
-And you need to go. -Okay. Thank you.
We gotta move.
[Jeff] I've learned that presentation is just as important
as the flavor that goes into your dishes.
First, I'm taking my gochujang shrimp
and placing it right next to my salad.
And that steak is cooked perfectly.
I pile on those fried potatoes.
And this thing is gorgeous.
You need to pick your salad up a little bit.
[Guy] We got four minutes!
Four minutes to be plated and finished.
Now move this out of the way. Pull your chicken out.
[Diana] So, my mole is done.
The chicken is done.
The rice is done.
And now I've gotta plate it.
I am terrified.
[Antonia] There's no style of food that doesn't allow elevation.
Because elevation is quality of ingredient
and plating. End of story.
Kind of pack it in there so it stays.
Does that make sense?
[Diana] This is where I'm leaning in to Chef Antonia
and she is helping me.
What I learned about elevated plating
is that it has to look so pretty and so gorgeous
and I just never knew how to do that.
Honestly, my mole has never looked this beautiful before.
[Guy] Three minutes! Three minutes, chefs.
[Samar] So, to plate,
first I get that cheesy pesto pasta down.
I add my meatballs.
Some of them are a bit overcooked.
So I'm like trying to pick the ones that aren't as overcooked.
[Antonia] You're gonna do like, doo, doo, doo, doo, cherry tomatoes.
-Does that make sense? -[Samar] Yes.
[Guy] Two minutes! Two minutes to go!
[Maria] Pulled the potatoes out of the fryer.
Oh, yeah. They cooked.
[Jet] There you go. Now get 'em ready to plate.
[Maria] The flavors are totally there.
[Jet] Good. Good.
[Maria] I did most probably burn few of those onions.
I don't wanna be at the bottom.
[Guy] One minute to go! Sixty seconds. Let's rock and roll!
[Jet] Put a nest of pasta.
Garnish.
[Tyler] The meatballs are awesome.
Mmm. That's great.
-That's good? Kill the heat. -Don't lose here.
[Tyler] I just gotta get it on the plate and make it look perfect.
[Jet] I really liked Tyler's dish all the way around.
I think it's plated well,
I think all the components are good.
[Tyler] I promised Chef Tila, "You have taught me well,
I'm not gonna let you down."
Five, four, three,
two, one.
-That's the bell! -[bell ringing]
-Class dismissed! -[Aarti] School's out.
School's out. Great job.
[all cheering]
Oh, thank you! Oh, my gosh!
-Yay! -Guys, that was a hard one.
[Antonia] That was a hard one.
All right, students, it's time to find out whose elevated dishes
are coming out on top.
Let's take it to the judges! Right this way!
[Guy] All right, judges,
it's our sophomore week here at Flavortown Academy.
The assignment was to make an elevated weeknight dinner
with nine ingredients or less.
Well, that's unless you are on superstar Jet Tila's team.
Now let's start off with Tyler.
Tyler, tell us about this dish you made. What'd you choose?
I chose spaghetti and meatball.
What I did with my version
to take it to the next level,
I made the meatball by getting wagyu fillet,
mixed that with the veal.
The sauce is the best part.
It's the most extravagant, most elegant
Guy Fieri sauce that I got in Flavortown.
Congratulations on our winner of $35,000!
-[all laughing] -[Guy] Very nice!
We all know spaghetti and meatballs.
We all grew up eating it.
And I think you did a great job at executing that.
Are you happy with the cook on it?
Yeah, I'm happy with it.
As am I.
-Oh, nice. -I think it came out very nice.
[Aarti] You elevated this dish
by shopping really well.
I loved that you ground that meat from scratch
and I think it really paid off here.
I thought you were smart when you put the goat cheese there.
It just like helped elevate that sauce that was already so good
when it was made and bottled already.
[all laughing]
[laughing] Uh...
The meatball fell a little short for me.
-Just on seasoning. -Yes, Chef.
Thank you, judges. All right, up next...
Maria.
For my elevated dish,
I made a dry aged porterhouse steak.
And then I did a fried potato,
paired it with some asparagus and a morel cream sauce.
The potatoes are as elevated as you want when it comes to flavor.
I mean they pop, they sing,
they're crispy, it's like a choir.
They're loud.
The steak and the morel mushrooms with the cream,
I mean beautiful!
[Aarti] You shopped so well,
grabbing the morels,
the dry aged porterhouse was such a wonderful way
-to elevate this dish. -Yep.
What I do think kind of failed
was putting together the sauce.
And it became burnt.
I agree. I think your onions got away from you.
-Yeah. -Now let's switch over to the other class...
Professor Antonia and Diana.
So I have elevated my family's recipe
of chicken mole and rice.
Then I also made a rice with blistered tomatoes.
Something very special for you.
You are a bold lady making mole in 20 minutes
with nine ingredients.
Are you kidding?
I love the mouth feel of it.
I love the smokiness of the chilis.
I actually really love the rice and how fresh it is.
Very, very much an enjoyable dish.
I see that you actually worked on the plating.
I like how tight it was. I appreciate that.
Thank you.
However, I do wish maybe you went with the chicken thigh,
so it could have been braised in the mole.
All right. Next up, Samar. What do you have for the judges?
Hello, chefs. I had spaghetti and meatballs.
So I chose a fresh pasta.
And then I also chose pesto for the sauce.
And then for the meatball,
I seasoned it with a bunch of herbs,
some cayenne pepper, cumin, crushed red peppers.
When thinking of elevated,
you took a cheat code.
Because you gave us a dish that doesn't resemble it at all.
So it's already elevated by you
just using the other ingredients and not going with the norm.
Mmm-hmm.
You chose a different pasta shape.
Rigatoni which to me could be one of the king
of pasta shapes.
I thought it was very smart
and I think you cooked it well.
Where I think you may have stumbled a bit were these meatballs.
They're a little dry.
If you had worked some of that fresh basil
into that store-bought pesto,
this whole thing would feel more balanced.
I think it's lacking a little freshness.
Okay.
And not to be outdone, last but not least, Jeff.
I had meat and potatoes
and I decided to step it up a notch by doing a surf and turf.
So I did a fillet mignon.
I took my potatoes
and then I wanted to kick it up a notch
and get that shrimp in there
as a gochujang glaze on it.
I thought you did a good job on seasoning the steak.
I like the cook on the steak personally.
I think where this dish really lacks is the fried potatoes
that are not elevated.
I love the strategy of making this an elevated dish
by doing surf and turf.
And that cost you an ingredient.
But I think that was a wise move.
I wish you had taken that gorgeous gochujang glaze that you put on the shrimp
and tossed the steak in it.
That glaze to me is the $100 piece of this dish.
-Okay. -[Guy] Thank you, judges.
Students, we're gonna send you back with your professors.
And when we have a decision, we'll call you back.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
-Thank you, guys. -Thank you.
[Guy] We need to get into the nitty gritty.
But let's talk about it first.
Who's safe?
Of all the dishes, Tyler's was probably the strongest.
And I think Maria had the most elevated component of the whole competition
-with those potatoes. -I agree.
So that brings us to Chef Antonia
who's not been in the bottom yet.
Jeff, Samar and Diana. Who's safe?
One of the students who will be moving on to their junior course is...
hands down, no question,
unanimous by the judges...
Chef Tyler.
-Congratulations. -[all applauding]
[Guy] We'll see you next week, buddy.
-Go rest. -Well done, man. Congrats.
Well done, Tyler.
The next student that will be moving on will be...
Chef Maria.
[all applauding]
Chef Jet, we'll see you next week, buddy.
Very happy for you.
Have a nice week, buddy.
It's okay, guys.
I have yet to be in a pass-fail round.
I'm very sad that they're my students.
[Guy] The three of you.
Question is, which one of you will be safe
moving on to the junior course
and which two will be playing pass or fail.
The student that is safe and moving on to the next week will be...
Chef Diana.
Well done.
Say goodbye to them. [laughing]
-I'm so sorry. -[all laughing]
She has to say goodbye to somebody.
-[indistinct conversation] -[Diana] I did.
-Congratulations. All right. -Thank you.
-Mama Mole! Rocking it! -Thank you so much. Thank you.
Chefs, here's the deal.
We're gonna send you back to your carts.
We have another round of competition.
The chef that prevails and move on to the junior course
and the other will take their backpack and go home.
Students, back to your carts.
[Antonia speaking]
Students, welcome to the probation period
known as pass or fail round.
For this sudden death sophomore test,
I want you to make something that should always be elevated.
A date night dinner.
Make it as elevated as you can.
Can.
-No. -Uh-oh.
-Exactly. Oh. -[all groaning]
-[Guy] Hunter. -Hi.
-This looks fantastic. -Didn't see that coming, huh?
But love this game called
Crazy Can Roulette.
-Yes, there we have it, ladies and gentlemen. -[Hunter] Really fun game.
Each one of you is gonna get one of these mystery can ingredients
to incorporate into your date night dinner.
The good news is, your buddy
your pal,
is gonna pick for you.
Oh, my goodness!
[Guy] Yeah. That's what's gonna happen.
Which one are you giving for Samar?
'Cause my birthday is the 23rd,
I'm gonna pick the two and the three.
I'm gonna give Samar the two.
-Hunter, go ahead and give that to Samar. -[Hunter] Wow.
-Bigger doesn't mean worse, I promise. -Yeah.
And three is gonna go to Jeff.
-[Guy whistling] -All right.
-Enjoy. -All right.
Samar, go ahead now and show us what's at the bottom of the can.
Beets.
-And what do you got? -[Jeff chuckles]
-I got spinach. -[Guy] Spinach.
Thirty minutes to make your impressive date night dinner.
You can shop for anything else you'd like.
There is no limit.
You can go to any aisle.
Ten through four are open. So are three, two and one.
-You can go to anyone you want. -Let's go!
[intense music playing]
They already... They know too well.
That was a delicious drop.
So it's Samar and I now.
I'm competing against my classmate that I was rooting for.
Someone's gonna graduate and someone's gonna go packing.
First time in the pass-fail round,
it's like, "Okay. I know I don't wanna be here."
But not everyone can be perfect every single time.
Okay. All right Let's do a menu plan really quick.
I have to make an elevated date night dinner.
Tell me what you got.
I'm gonna go with a little bit of lobster. I'm gonna take out the meat.
-Deep fry 'em. -Okay.
And then I cook the shell, so I can plate it on the shell
-on top of a bed... -Got it.
...of like a rice noodle that's been fried and spinach on top.
Okay. Perfect. Great. Let's go.
I feel like he's going very much date night.
Are you doing any kind of sauce for this?
I'm gonna do a spinach and sweet and sour
-on top of the lobster. -Okay.
I see it all day long.
[Jeff] The only way I can think of to utilize this can of spinach
was to throw it into my sweet and sour sauce.
So this is going to be my first time going into pass or fail.
I don't wanna go home. I gotta pass.
Carrots.
Okay, we'll do skirt steak.
Oh, boy. [chuckles nervously]
I kinda saw this coming.
I mean, my meatballs were just not it.
I have to make a date night dinner using canned beets.
Is there any pre-packaged hummus?
Immediately, I'm thinking of my favorite beet hummus that I make at home.
With skirt steak.
Rich and creamy hummus.
Although I can make a really good hummus,
I'm gonna grab the pre-made hummus to save time.
I'm like, "Let's play it safe."
Okay, Samar...
-Yeah? -...you don't wanna make the hummus,
you wanna buy the hummus?
-Okay. -Yeah. I'm gonna blend it with that.
I can bring the student to the chick peas,
I can't make them make hummus.
I'm not trying to do anything too extra.
I'm trying to play it safe.
I think not skirt steak for elevated,
I would go like fillet, ribeye.
-Do you feel comfortable cooking those? -I really don't know
but maybe if you guide me.
-I will guide you through it. -Okay.
Antonia's into this with her.
[Antonia] I think it'll be beautiful on top of what you wanna do.
[Samar] Okay. This is risky.
Out of my comfort zone.
But I trust her.
So I'm gonna just do it.
This is a survival round.
So if one of my students needs to go home tonight,
I wanna send them off in the most dignified way.
Doing a dish that they're most proud of.
Okay. We have 25 minutes.
You have your ingredients.
Organize and go step by step, okay?
[Darnell] The canned products they got,
I don't wanna see beets just on a plate, canned spinach.
But actually highlight those ingredients
in ways that you by nature wouldn't do it.
What's going in this dish?
So we're gonna do beet hummus
-topping it with a fillet. -Okay.
[Antonia] I would just sear them,
you're gonna throw a little bit of butter in there.
-Okay. -And then you're gonna baste them,
okay? And they're gonna cook very, very quickly.
[Samar] I'm seasoning my steak with a seven spice mix
cayenne pepper, the paprika, the cumin
to give it a little bit of a Middle Eastern twist on this elevated dinner.
[Antonia] Because it has all those spices, it will brown faster.
-Okay? -[Samar] Okay.
[Antonia] Okay. Let's do this.
Take some tongs and let's flip those.
Throw like a half a stick of butter in there.
-I know you're like... -A half a stick of butter?
Okay.
Now it's gonna brown. Throw some rosemary in there.
And look how delicious that's gonna be, I promise you.
-Okay. -Okay?
[Samar] I'm here today to play for my mama.
She takes care of my dad who has health issues
and she's like our backbone.
Mentally just always there for us.
So I wanna make sure that I'm doing something that she'll remember forever
and she'll feel so proud of.
[Guy] Chef, tell me what's on the menu over here, bud?
Chef, I'm going to be making a tempura style lobster
that's gonna be sitting on top of a rice noodle
that's been fried and elevated up to the sky.
-Okay. -It's gonna have a sweet and sour glaze
that's gonna go straight on top of it
with the spinach included into the glaze.
-Got it. -Add a little bit of pepper.
[Antonia] What did you season the lobster with?
[Jeff] Salt and pepper.
-The sauce is gonna be the main seasoning for it. -Copy.
-Do not fry that yet. Okay. -No. Definitely not.
[Jeff] I want some nice big chunks of pineapple
inside my sweet and sour sauce.
-You don't want the pineapple the same size as the... -[Jeff] That is true.
-[Antonia] Okay? -As the lobster.
Otherwise it's gonna be like, what's lobster? What's pineapple?
-It's gonna be a little too big. -Thank you, Chef.
[Jeff] I get that sauté
and then I throw in my bottle of sweet and sour sauce.
Let that reduce down a little bit
and then throw in my pineapple juice.
Whoo!
Students, halfway point! Fifteen minutes left!
Halfway!
Yep, and now turn it off
and just let them sit in the hot butter.
You start on your beet hummus.
[Samar] Beets have a very strong vinegary flavor,
so I feel like the flavor of the pre-packaged hummus
will really balance each other out.
Turn this up so it like really purees.
[Joe] Oh, no.
She bought hummus.
-[Darnell] Why? -[Joe] Why?
[Joe] She got away with the pesto
-because it was a limited amount of ingredients. -Yeah.
But if you're not limited,
you can easily get the three components it takes to make hummus.
Keep going.
I stopped her when she grabbed the pre-made hummus for the record.
A student is a student, a teacher is a teacher.
I can say like, "I think you should do it,"
but it doesn't mean that they're gonna do it.
[Jeff] I cannot get this can open.
I got canned spinach as my whammy ingredient.
The only way I could think of to utilize these canned spinach
was to throw it into my sweet and sour sauce.
-Yes. -Okay.
That's very good.
You can start frying your lobster.
[Guy] All right, students, you got five minutes.
Five minutes left to the test.
[Samar] I check on my steak...
[Antonia] Cut. Okay.
You wanna saw back and forth 'cause right now you're pressing it.
[Samar] I don't usually make fillets.
So Antonia is teaching me how to properly cut the fillet.
Just kind of like to make an elevated version.
But then I'm plating the beet hummus,
I'm making a little swirl trying to make it look all fancy.
And then I quickly place my juicy fillet on top.
I want the plate to look beautiful
for a romantic date night dinner.
This needs a little bit more.
Kind of have it go all the way around.
Two and a half minutes. Two and a half to go.
[Jeff] I'm gonna fry my rice noodles.
I'm so desperate to make sure I graduate
'cause I have so much more to learn from her.
[Antonia] Jeff is definitely learning.
You know, he's taking the competition very seriously
which I really, really love to see.
Lobster.
Lobster's ready.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[Antonia] Good. Are you ready to plate?
[Jeff] Yes, I am.
First, I put down my crispy rice noodle bed.
then I can put my sweet and sour sauce on the side
in a gravy bowl.
And then I'm gonna put those shells on top of the bed
and place my tempura lobsters right on top.
It looks good, it tastes good.
I'm happy.
Five, four, three,
-two, one. -Ahhh!
-[Aarti] Oh, my God! -[Guy] That's it!
[Guy] Stop working. Students, class is over.
Oh, my God.
-Good job. -I'm hungry.
[Aarti] That was a fight.
Very nice.
-Thank you. -All right, students,
it's time for a very important date
with the judges!
Follow me. Right this way.
All right, judges. This is it.
It's the pass-fail round.
Now our students had to make an elevated date night dinner
using canned vegetables.
Up first, Chef Samar.
-What do you have for us? -Hi, chefs.
When I think of date night,
I think of small, dainty, romantic and a fancy protein.
So I went ahead and made that fillet.
My ingredient was canned beets
and I incorporated that into my hummus.
-I'm very much impressed. -[laughs]
There's so much simplicity,
but also excitement on the plate.
This is what I want on a date night.
I love the whimsical play that you used those canned beets for.
I mean, it's pink, it's bright, it's herbaceous.
I do wish however you would have made your own hummus.
That said I love the seven spice on the steak.
It's a marriage made in heaven right there.
[chuckles softly] Okay. Thank you.
Okay. Up next, not to be outdone.
The one and only Chef Jeff. What do you got for us?
So before we start today,
I want you guys to go ahead and take that tail,
you're gonna use your fork
and kind of spoon it on to that bed of crispy rice noodles
and then you're gonna pour your sauce on top of it.
Today I made you a tempura lobster
on a bed of crispy rice noodles
that have been elevated.
Canned ingredient was canned spinach.
And I actually incorporated that into my sweet and sour sauce.
I thought that the presentation was amazing.
If we're on a date,
whoever I'm with is impressed.
They think I got money.
[all laughing]
I love fried lobster.
It's exciting, it's extravagant
and it's over the top.
Reminds me a lot of you.
I love the idea of fried lobster.
I wish you would have left it as bigger pieces.
Some of 'em overcooked, some of 'em are cooked well.
A date night dinner needs to feel elegant.
And so the idea of these big chunks of pineapple
and spinach getting caught in your teeth
doesn't seem that elegant to me,
but it eats very well.
Thank you.
All right, students, professor, we're gonna send you back to the kitchen.
And while we do that, the judges will make a decision.
Someone will be moving on to their junior academy
and someone will be talking about what they experienced.
Thank you very much. See you in a bit.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
-You both did so good. -Thank you.
All right, judges.
We got a lot going on here.
I think it's much closer than I thought it was going to be.
Yeah, I agree. I think it's really close.
[Darnell] Samar, it looked amazing,
tastes great,
but when you're spending a lot of money on date night,
you would be upset if you find out that it just got out of a jar.
[Aarti] Jeff's dish, for me the lobster
which is probably one of the sexiest ingredients here at the market
was a little tough and that felt like a real disappointment.
All right.
Who passes? Who fails?
[dramatic music playing]
It was a little bit of a split decision.
And the judges really had to deliberate.
Unfortunately,
one chef will be dropping out of the academy
and that will be...
Samar.
[Antonia] Aw.
-It was an honor. -[Guy] Samar, we loved having you on here,
-you were the first round draft pick. -Thank you for having me.
Antonia got the first pick.
Your flavors were all there.
This really, honestly,
came down to the hummus.
It was an honor to be here.
Like, I am so grateful for this opportunity.
So thank you so much.
-Very nice to meet you. Thank you, Chef. -Thank you.
[Samar] It was so nice to work with you.
The biggest lesson I'm gonna take from Antonia
is to step out of my comfort zone
and make things that I typically wouldn't make.
Because this showed me that I'm capable of it and I can do it.
Chef, congratulations.
You have survived the elevated exam.
Okay? That means you will be elevated
to the junior class.
Enjoy the rest of the students in the Flavortown Academy's
next course and we will see you next week.
-Okay? -Come on. Let's go.
Thank you.
Come on, guys.
Let's welcome our Flavortown Academy juniors.
-Let's go! -Come on, winners!
[Guy] You're getting a crash course
in world ingredients and international cuisine.
But you have to find your carts.
Huh?
This is gonna be a fight.
One, go!
-Go! -They're coming! They're coming!
Really spicy.
Some Hollywood. I love it.
[Guy] These students have done so great.
I mean they have improved week after week after week
and so have the professors.
-They do so good! -Don't stop.
In the end, only one of us can win.