The holidays are a time to celebrate friends,
family, food, and of course the spirit of giving.
-Yeah! -Yeah!
So it's the perfect time to celebrate Best Buddies.
Chris, are you fired up?
-Let's go. -Let's go, baby.
The volunteer organization
that promotes one-on-one friendships
with folks that have intellectual
and developmental disabilities.
-Ooh, Cassidy, excellent job. -Yeah.
[Guy] But this year, I decided we should have our own
Best Buddies Challenge right here in Flavortown Market.
-Go. -Well, done.
-She got it right. -Come on, Cassie!
So I invited some of my favorite chefs
to partner up with Best Buddies in the kitchen
in an unforgettable GGG Challenge.
Using only holiday stockings.
-It's in. It's in. -Yeah, buddy. It's Christmas.
That's holiday 101 right there.
Woo.
So every time, Christmas time.
What can be better?
It's the Best Buddies Holiday special right now
on Guy's Grocery Games.
[upbeat music playing]
So let's meet our holiday teams.
Now, first up, we have Michael Jaxtimer-Barry,
the chef and Special Olympic medalist
who loves to cook classic comfort food.
He's teaming up with celebrated restaurateur
and winner of Tournament of Champions 2,
the one and only Chef Maneet Chauhan.
I won the Special Olympic medal for skiing.
My favorite holiday is Christmas,
because then I get to have Christmas dinner
and I like to spend time with my family.
-Yeah. -What's up, brother?
-What's up brother? -Glad you are here.
-What's going on? -Go get them.
I'm excited to cook with Maneet,
because she's really nice.
Next we've got the big man, Chris Harrington,
the chef and football coach from Boston
who loves to cook up Italian and American feast
with his food loving family.
Now, he's teaming up
with six-time GGG winner
and the executive chef
behind multiple fine dining restaurants,
Chef "BeauMac" Beau MacMillan.
I got your back.
[Chris] Well, the holidays is very special to me,
because I can spend time
with my family and my friends.
I love being in the kitchen.
My guy got to catch a pass from Tom Brady,
-is that true? -Yes.
-Dude, you're my hero. -Yeah.
What's up?
Big man, how... Come on, Chris.
-How are you, bud? -Come on, Beau.
And then there's Cassidy Bauer,
the Best Buddies Ambassador
who loves to be in the kitchen,
cooking up tacos, ribs, and pasta.
And she's teaming up with Food Network Star
and Southern Cookbook author,
Damaris Phillips.
Oh, with the shades on.
I am Cassidy Bauer and I love cooking.
The holidays at our house,
we have, like, a big food fest,
different kinds of pastas,
amazingly awesome desserts.
I have a new best friend today, Cassidy.
[Cassidy] I absolutely love her.
She's like my biggest role model ever.
Pinching myself like, is this real?
[laughs]
-Huh? -What a hotshot.
-Babam! -Ooh.
Nicely done.
Wow.
This is gonna be awesome.
Food Network Star Chefs,
I don't know if you know
who you have standing to your left,
but I know these folks very well.
We've cooked together.
There's nothing that these three won't do.
They have been doing the greatest job
as ambassadors of Best Buddies
around the country and to have them
taking the time to come hang out with us
for the holidays, I can't say thanks enough.
So thank you, chefs, all of you...
-Thank you. -for being here today.
-Thank you. -Awesome.
So I figured it was about time though,
that we had a Best Buddies Challenge here
in Flavortown Market, at no better time
than during the holidays.
Tonight's team competitions
will help form some new one-on-one friendships,
I'm sure of that, and showcase
some awesome culinary skills
of our up and coming chefs.
-Oh, yeah, baby. -For sure.
Yeah.
In honor of the holidays, we'll be doing
a single epic 60-minute round of cooking.
-Ooh. -Is 60 minutes enough?
And the chef whose team
makes the best dish will receive
an automatic $15,000.
-Whoo! -[applause]
-[Guy] Right? -Yeah.
-[Maneet] You getting it? -Yeah.
-[Damaris] Yeah. -So teams,
I'm giving you 60 minutes to make a holiday dinner
complete with an entree and a dessert.
Your holiday dinner can be elaborate,
it can be simple
as long as it has samples.
That's right.
The name of the game tonight
is Keep it Sample.
I knew that was coming.
We have got four sample tables
featuring ingredients set up around the market.
You taste all the samples you want,
but you must use two of those samples
in your dinner or dessert.
-You could use both in one... -Okay.
but you gotta use one in each.
To get in the spirit of the season,
we thought we would make it easy
and we would have you shopping
using only holiday stockings.
[Christmas music playing]
-No, thank you. -Hunter,
bring out the stockings.
-[Beau] Oh, no. -No. No, no, no.
-[Damaris] No, thank you. -You're gonna love this.
[Maneet] Are you kidding me?
-No, no. No, no, no, no. -Got stockings.
Hunter, I'm not talk... I'm not talking
about the stockings out of your trailer.
-Are those nylons? -[Hunter] You didn't specify.
-[Guy] Hunter, these are not-- -[Hunter] You did not say--
I know what we got...
I got somebody who can help me.
Dougie.
My cousin Doug saves the day.
-[Maneet] Yeah. -That's what I'm looking for.
-[cheering] -[Guy] Thank you, Doug.
Very nice.
I'm here to save the day.
Very nice.
So this is my cousin Doug.
He's always saving the day.
He won more special Olympic medals
than you could ever imagine,
and he's also been my sous chef,
not only at Best Buddies, but at family gatherings.
Douglass hand this out.
There we go.
You wanna hand that over there?
-Okay. -[Guy] Hunter, you got this over here.
-[Hunter] All right. -[Guy] And I'll handle Chris.
You are the man, brother. Thank you.
[Guy] There we go.
-There we go. -Thank you.
Everything you need for your holiday dinner
must fit in those two stockings,
including the mandatory sample ingredients
that you gotta put in there.
-[Beau] Wow. -No.
So 60 minutes to make your holiday dinner
featuring an entree, a dessert,
and incorporating two of your holiday samples.
Oh, by the way, I wanna let you know
you also have a special judge here tonight,
the superstar Best Buddies, Katie.
I want you to impress.
Chris, are...
You're pretty good at accounting, right?
I am.
Does it go 4, 2, 3, 1?
-I know. -How's it go?
I think it's 3, 2, 1, go.
-Exactly. -Go.
[Guy] Well done.
-She got it right. -[Damaris] Come on, Cassie!
Come on, Cassie!
-Come on-- -This is...
This is the best holiday show we've ever done.
Go, go, Cassie! Hurry, hurry!
Guy wants us to make a holiday dinner.
Okay. What do you think you wanna--
We have to make a main
and a dessert dish in an hour.
-That seems like a lot. -Yes.
So you said you like pumpkin pies?
-Yes. -Okay.
Two small stockings for a feast?
High five, baby.
Okay. What do you wanna make
for your holiday meal? Go.
The smaller chicken.
A smaller chicken.
Yeah, we could do some pieces of chicken.
Yeah. We can do like a sweet potato mash.
Okay. Great.
And some homemade
-cranberry sauce. -Awesome.
For our holiday dinner, we're thinking
about making fried chicken...
spice, sweet potatoes.
Okay. Let's get some in there.
[Cassidy] And some homemade cranberry sauce.
[Damaris] Awesome. So we've got to use
not one, but two sample ingredients.
[Jules] You guys want some eggnog?
Come get your eggnog.
You guys want eggnog?
Nothing says holidays like gingerbread cookies.
Come on in.
Come get your apple sauce over here.
Aisle nine. Aisle nine.
It's sweet and it's juicy. Come on.
Come and get candy canes.
Gingerbread cookies. Come on in.
You wanna try one?
-Fresh gingerbread cookies. -Yeah.
That gingerbread
is gonna be so good on the outside
-of that chicken. -Exactly.
I got the cookies. Let's go.
-Thank you so much. -Let's go.
Do you know what the gingerbread man did
to heal his leg?
-[man] What? -He iced it.
[man laughs]
Come get your eggnog.
Who wants the eggnog? It's eggcellent.
-Tried the eggnog yet? -You wanna try eggnog?
It's eggcellent.
Eggnog already is like syrup.
Thank you so much.
-No way right? -No way.
-No way.
Jules, how many eggnog?
[Jules] That's not for everyone. [laughs]
What is it?
-It's an eggnog pack? -Yeah.
What, you take this and you mix it into stuff?
Oh, I thought you were giving, like, real legit eggnog.
-And what about desserts? -Yeah.
-Like, we could do cupcakes. -Yeah.
-Right? -Right.
-Okay. You wanna try it? -Yeah.
Apple sauce.
Look at that.
Delicious sweet apple sauce. Mm.
Do we think we want apple sauce or...
-I mean, this is... -this is holiday all day.
do we wanna make an apple...
A caramel apple cake,
or do we wanna make a peppermint cake?
[Hunter] You have cinnamon there. A little nutmeg in there.
-Peppermint. -Let's do it.
-Sorry. -[Hunter] Okay.
-Bye. -[Hunter] It's fine.
No thanks.
[Damaris] That whole box?
Yes, the whole box.
Get it in there. Okay. Hold on. Hold on.
Okay. It's in. It's in.
Should it be just candy cane
or chocolate candy cane?
Chocolate candy cane.
Okay.
Put that in.
Hey, mom. [laughs]
-Cassidy, Chef Damaris... -[Cassidy] Yes.
what's on the menu?
Chocolate peppermint cupcakes.
[Guy] Delicious.
-What? -What? Boom.
It's the holidays. It's fun. We're a team.
It always feels better to be a team.
-Always. Right? -Yes. Right.
-Nutmeg? -Yeah. Pumpkin pie spice.
-It gets all... -Oh, yeah, yeah.
-of them in that one... -Yeah.
container. Okay. Great.
Now, let's get cooking.
Gives me goosebumps.
I've known these kids for...
I don't know, going on 12, 13 years now.
And to have them come here and be with these chefs
and all they love food,
and so to have them here now, pretty amazing.
That's what the holidays are all about.
How many duck breasts are in here?
It's got to be a holiday meal.
-Yes. -Right?
-Something that speaks to us. -Correct.
[Beau] Something around the holidays
with like roasted duck cranberries maybe.
Yeah. When BeauMac said,
"Let's do a pan-roasted duck,"
I was all in.
The sweet potato puree would be good.
[Chris] Yeah.
Holy cow, my stock
is getting filled with a lot of stuff.
Our goal is really find a bunch
-of holiday things... -Yes.
and try to bring this thing together.
Help us with that dessert.
That's easy, right?
-Yeah, yeah. -Just put stuff in here.
-Yeah. -[laughs]
We're gonna hide this later. We're gonna hide this later.
How many apple sauce did you sell?
-Zero. -[laughs]
Candy cane, that screams holiday like--
Big time.
I think... I say we go with candy canes.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
Do you think you can stick 'em in your bag, brother?
We can make a candy cane gastrique
-for the duck. -[Chris] Yeah.
To beat these guys today,
we might have to do something kind of special.
Load it up, Chris.
Dude, we could also make fruit cobbler
and use the gingerbread
-crust on that. -Yes.
-I love getting cinnamon. -Yes.
-That's Christmas, right? -Yes.
-Cloves are Christmas. -Yes.
[Beau] Thinking about the ingredients we got for the dessert,
-we got pears... -[Chris] Pears.
-[Beau] Figs. -[Chris] Figs.
-[Beau] Berries. -[Chris] Berries.
Ice cream.
Let's go back and see what we got.
-Dougie Fresh... -Yes, sir.
Is that your favorite holiday candy?
Yes, sir, it is.
Dougie, are you telling me the truth?
No.
[laughing]
What do you want to do for an entree?
I'd like to make a turkey dinner.
Maybe we just get a Turkey breast.
-A turkey breast. -Take... Make a room, a lot...
Because we don't have a lot of space.
We were inspired by Michael's
favorite holiday dishes.
He likes turkey, likes mac and cheese,
likes mashed potatoes, and likes pumpkin pie.
-Pumpkin. -Canned pumpkin, canned pumpkin,
-canned pumpkin. -For dessert,
we're going to make a pumpkin pie ice cream.
Okay. Let's get that.
So how can we take all of Michael's favorites
and make them delicious in 60 minutes?
[Michael] I thought that was really cool
that we did a Christmas shopping in the stockings.
So what did you think about it?
I wasn't happy about it at all.
We'll do mushrooms on the side, okay?
-Yeah. -We do a lot of butter.
-Yeah. Okay. -And my bag is really,
-really filling up. -Yeah, I see.
Broccolili pancetta
is an easy way of adding some savoriness
and flavor to any dish.
-Cheese. -Which mac and cheese do you want?
-Let's get... -Yeah.
-Nutmeg. And let's see. -Yes.
Pumpkin spice. Grab the pumpkin spice.
And for dessert, we are going to make...
Pumpkin ice cream.
And what do we have for samples?
Common parmesan substitute, some eggnog.
-Fresh eggnog. -You want to try the eggnog?
Yes, I would like to try the--
-Okay. -It's eggcellent.
Oh, it's eggcellent. Good?
-Mmm-hmm. -Yeah? Okay.
And we are going to use the eggnog
in the mashed potatoes.
We have some ginger grounds right over there.
-Yes. -Right?
We were going to use it
both in the mac and cheese.
-Can we get one of these? -[Jules] Yes. Of course.
And a crumb on top of the pumpkin pie ice cream.
And come on, this is the holidays.
What screams holidays
other than ginger cookies?
We've managed to get a lot of stuff in our stockings...
-Yes. -because of teamwork.
'Cause of teamwork.
[Guy] Fifty-five minutes.
[Christmas music playing]
Let's start taking stuff out.
Let me get a picture of you three knuckleheads.
All right.
Bunch of bozos over here.
[upbeat music playing]
[Christmas music playing]
Yeah, buddy, it's Christmas.
Let's go.
How you feeling about your... You want me
-to help you with this? -Yeah.
-Go ahead and peel that. -Yeah.
Here's the whole deal,
Best Buddies is about
supporting kids and adults
with intellectual disabilities.
The great thing about what the organization does
is it gets them into a place and a spot
in an environment where they get to really succeed.
And I am so happy to be involved in this tonight.
I've been a... I've been a fan of Best Buddies
from the moment I heard about it.
So, hope you are now too.
Fifty minutes.
Here to judge our Holiday Special
is a panel of people who are worth celebrating.
First, we have James Beard Award-winning
restaurateur, the one and only Iron Chef GOAT,
Stephanie Izard.
Acclaimed executive chef and the winningest chef
in GGG history, the one and only Mayhem,
Chef Aaron May.
And another Iron Chef
and James Beard Award winner
with a whopping 15 restaurants worldwide,
the one and only, Chef Jose Garces.
And ladies and gentlemen, for the first time ever,
we are joined by an honorary fourth judge tonight,
the groundbreaking model and Best Buddies ambassador.
My good friend, the one and only, Katie Meade.
-Hi. -[Guy] All right.
When you think about holiday food,
-what's your favorite thing? -Everything.
-Everything is your favorite thing? -Yes.
Well, get ready because they're gonna make you
some pretty iconic dishes,
and they have 45 minutes.
So, a full hour of cooking, that's a long time.
But if you think about you have to make
two dishes in that hour.
That's gonna be challenging, for sure.
You know, the nice thing about traditions
is that there's always time for a new tradition, right?
We'll probably pick up some new ones today.
Probably.
Like, we just started
a tradition of the four of us
judging the holiday.
-How about that? -Yes.
-Shown at Guy's Grocery Games, right? -How about that?
Damaris, what's on the menu?
[Damaris] Well, we were thinking about
doing fried chicken thighs
over sweet potato mash and our...
[Cassidy] Homemade cranberry sauce.
-[Damaris] Yes. -[Guy] That all sounds delicious.
What about dessert?
[Damaris] We're gonna do peppermint cupcakes.
Very nice.
We're gonna start working on our chicken.
What herbs do you want on this?
[Cassidy] Little bit of oil, definitely.
Okay. What else?
Um, rosemary, thyme, and sage.
Yeah. That tastes like the holidays.
Then we're gonna spread this with mustard. Okay.
That's gonna give it a little bit of a zip.
Okay. Great job.
We've gotta use a lot of these sample ingredients.
[Cassidy] I dip them in the flour.
We soak them in egg.
[Damaris] That gingerbread is gonna be so good
on the outside of that chicken.
[Cassidy] Coated the chicken with the gingerbread cookie.
Yeah.
-There. That's what we wanted. -That's better.
Sizzle. That's what we wanted.
Okay. They're in.
We're looking for three minutes per side.
-Okay. -[Cassidy] Yup.
Have you ever made gingerbread in crusted chicken?
No, I have not.
Me neither.
I think for me, holidays
is one of the most special times
to get together with friends, family.
Bringing people together through delicious food.
-[Katie] I agree. Yeah. -It's my favorite time.
Yeah. We like to do, like,
holiday lights.
-Yeah. -And we go in the neighborhood.
Back up some tunes, Christmas tunes.
Drive around and see all the lights.
[Stephanie] Oh, yeah. That's incredible.
You got an idea what you're making, Chris?
-Oh, yeah. -[Guy] What are you guys gonna do?
We're gonna do like a... like a cobbler?
-Yeah. Like, a cobbler crumble... -Okay.
'cause we're gonna... Want to use the candy canes
and the gingerbread,
but we also are gonna do a duck dish.
We felt duck and cranberry,
it would also work with those two flavors
if we wanted to use maybe two of them in each.
I like the dish.
I love duck, that screams great holiday meal.
-Yes. -I get us sweet potatoes.
[Beau] Probably wouldn't have boiled the sweet potatoes.
I would've roasted up.
But we don't have that type of time.
Beau, how happy are you? We are in the kitchen.
Buddy, we're together in the kitchen.
Look at that fat rendering down.
Beau back over there quale-ing that duck.
Really getting the fat-based on it.
You can see, he's really getting as much flavor,
putting a lot of love into that duck.
Such a classic ingredient for this dish.
I already feel like I've been visited
by ghosts of holidays past right now.
Beau, that duck is smelling perfect.
[Beau] That's right, baby.
Christmas all the way. Ho, ho, ho.
[Guy] Thirty-five minutes to go.
All right. What's on the menu?
For the entree, we are doing a Turkey roulade.
Turkey in the holidays, that works, right?
We got a lot of spices
and he's with the Dancing Spice Queen.
-Yeah. -Dancing Spice--
That's her name, Dancing Spice Queen.
-Yes. -You know that?
-Yes, I know. -Okay.
-He loves mashed potatoes. -Mashed potatoes.
-So there'll be some mashed potatoes. -Yup.
[Maneet] And he loves mac and cheese.
So we are going to do a pumpkin pie
inspired ice cream.
How many things are you doing?
-It's a feast. -It's a feast.
[Guy] Okay. Well, good luck.
-Let's do it. -Yeah. Yup.
I'm telling you, Maneet, this is the first guy
when I got the Best Buddies.
When I was out there cooking in the parking lot
and Michael was the first guy who came and cooked with me.
[Maneet] Oh, wow.
Once you're done with that, cut it into small pieces
and I'll put it in the water to boil, okay.
-Yes, yes. -Okay. Lovely.
I think that Maneet and Michael have
really taken it to the judges' hearts right now.
They went double starch on the entree,
mac and cheese and mashed potatoes.
[Stephanie] And mashed potatoes.
-[Jose] Right now-- -They're not messing around...
-No. -with this holiday carb fest.
But it's not just mac and cheese,
-there's pancetta fat in it. -Hmm.
That's just adding that saltiness, that richness.
The mac and cheese, I just made
from bechamel sauce.
Some of the fat from the pancetta.
There we go. Mix it up.
Mix, mix, mix.
-Mix, mix, mix, mix. -Good job.
So we make a good team together.
Yup. Mix it up.
And then we put the mac and cheese
in the oven to make sure
that it has a nice melted frost right on top.
I put a lot of cheese on the...
-on the macaroni and cheese. -Yes.
Okay. This is in.
Remind me that I don't forget about it, okay?
-[Michael] Yeah. Okay. Yeah. -[Maneet] Okay.
[Guy] Thirty minutes.
-How you feeling? -I feel good.
Okay. Me too.
What would you like to start on now?
Probably we need to start
cooking those sweet potatoes, right?
Let's get them into the microwave.
This seems like a lot of work, Cassidy.
Yes, it does.
You know what? I'm starting to feel
that these teams have got
some pretty illustrious menus.
I think it could be helpful
if maybe I gave them
a little elf help, don't you?
It might be time to call on the elves.
Attention teams.
I have some great holiday cheer.
-Woo. -Uh-oh.
Happy Holidays.
[upbeat music playing]
Attention teams.
I have some great holiday cheer.
There are three elves in the store
that would love to come and help you
and support you on your team.
Woo.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-Yes. -Yeah.
We needed that. We needed that.
Ryder with Beau Mac.
-Hunter... -[Ryder] All right.
with Damaris and Cassidy.
-Okay. -And Jules with Michael and Maneet.
-[Jules] Yes. -Help 'em out.
-[Hunter] Okay. -[Ryder] All right. Beau, what are we doing?
See how this goes.
Happy Holidays.
How you doing? I'm the helper elf.
We definitely need the mixer.
-Okay. I can get you a mixer. -[Damaris] I've been ready to go.
We're gonna melt some butter
-for a crumble topping. -Okay.
The smallest cast iron
-skillets that you can get. -Will do.
Let's put this elf to work. [laughs]
[Guy] Where are we at on the menu?
[Damaris] Well, we're getting ready to start a cranberry sauce.
Chicken is browning.
Okay, Hunter, we need the sweet potatoes opened up.
It's nice to see all three of these elves
really putting in a little work in the kitchen.
You can picture that at Guy's house though
that the boys are all in the kitchen together
with Guy and Lori and just all making a huge meal together.
-Absolutely. -I'm guessing.
I've actually spent the holidays
in the Fieri house before
and made raviolis with Ryder.
-[Jose] Oh, look at that. -[Stephanie] Oh, really?
Always really nice.
[Damaris] Okay. Cranberry sauce.
One of our secret ingredients.
-Raspberries. -Raspberries.
And what's our other secret ingredients?
-[Cassidy] Black cherry juice. -[Damaris] Yup.
So I'm putting this black cherry juice in.
-[Cassidy] And I'll put some raspberries in. -[Damaris] Yup.
What's your favorite gift you've ever got at Christmas?
My favorite gift was definitely a cell phone.
You got a cell phone?
Man, you get nice presents for Christmas.
And guess who we got?
Our secret weapon over here.
-You see this kid right here? -Yes.
He's not messing around.
-[Chris] He's the best. -[Beau] He can get throw down with us, baby.
All right. So now spinach is...
This cleaned yet?
We want to get those leaves picked off.
We're gonna saute those...
Why did I choose candy canes, Chris,
that you have to unwrap individually?
You think you could find a fun way
-to put candy cane into your entree? -[Katie] Maybe.
Maybe just make a simple syrup out of 'em.
[Beau] So I'm doing candy canes
in the gastrique for the duck today,
'cause that's how we get down in Flavortown.
Town.
[Beau] Candy canes are like Santa's
natural breath freshener.
This kind of candy cane peppery sauce
-would be sweet... -Yeah.
-and delicious for the duck. -I agree.
[Beau] Cinnamon, clove, red wine, ginger, candy cane.
-Are you kidding me? -[Beau] Is it tasty?
-Tasty is an understatement. -[Beau] Yes. Yes.
Guys, this is gonna be hot over here.
I'm just gonna rest these suckers for a minute.
-Got you. -I was so happy, Dude.
We cooked that duck
-like a boss. -Spot on.
[Beau] I also got the cranberry sauce going.
-The potatoes. -[Guy] What's that right there?
-Sweet potatoes? -[Beau] That's our sweet potatoes.
Can you grab the potatoes for me?
Yeah. I got you, baby.
-You want me to strain those? -Yeah.
[Beau] A little bit of cinnamon.
Smells like Christmas, right? Boom. That's good.
Okay. We got a little brown butter in there.
Mmm. But how you feeling?
-You excited? -I'm ready to go.
[Beau] I think we got a good plan.
I think we got a good plan.
♪ La, la, la, la ♪
Sing it, bro. Sing it. Hunter.
-[Hunter] What up? -Happy Christmas, baby.
-[Hunter] Happy Christmas. -Good to see you.
-[Hunter] You too. -[Guy] How we looking chef?
[Maneet] I think we are getting there.
Mac and cheese in it is in, mushroom is going.
Got it.
[Maneet] Next we start the cream cheese
stuffed turkey roulade.
As I am pounding out the turkey,
our elf helper Jules and Michael
are making the marinade for the turkey.
There you go. Good job.
Put my Indian spice flare to it.
Ginger, garlic, turmeric,
and a little bit of a pumpkin puree in it.
And come on. This is the holidays.
These are really strong flavors.
And then this is gonna be a marinade for our meat.
-Yeah. Okay. -[Jules] Grind it.
-I think it's smoother. -Yeah.
[Jules] Yeah. You kind of go in like a circle. Yup.
There you go.
-All right. -[Michael] Okay. Now, what?
[Jules] So we're gonna spread this on like a paste.
[Michael] Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Ready.
[Maneet] Okay.
Maneet is rolling up cream cheese
inside of the turkey.
She knows how much we like cheese.
Put a toothpick in it
and make a tempura batter of flour,
a little bit of cayenne, cumin, sparkling water.
And fry these turkey roulade.
Next, we've got to make the mashed potatoes.
[Michael] Okay. I'm mixing it up.
[Maneet] The eggnog mix is going to go
in the mashed potatoes.
Eggnog added a layer of sweetness and creaminess.
If I win the money,
I would donate to Best Buddies.
My favorite thing about Best Buddies
is that you find job opportunities and if you...
If you think you can, you can.
[Guy] You get the mashed potatoes handled?
-Yup. -Fantastic.
I wanna make sure we're the winners.
We are the winners.
[Guy] Twenty-five minutes.
[Cassidy] Guy, you have to try my cranberries.
-Is it the real deal? -[Cassidy] Yes.
Oh...
nice and tangy.
Nice and tangy.
[Cassidy] I absolutely love Guy
and he's my all-time favorite chef
in the whole entire world.
Have you seen every single episode
of Grocery Games?
Yes, I have.
[Cassidy] Next we had to work
on the sweet potato mashed potatoes.
How's the potatoes coming?
Looking great as all potatoes.
[Damaris] Great.
[Aaron] Damaris and Cassidy are really like
hand and glove over there, working together.
While Hunter does a lot of prep in the background,
I love to see the way this team
is pulling together too.
Our elf was such a little worker.
Elf, you're doing a great job.
Hot in this hat.
[Damaris] In all the rush, we accidentally grabbed
Japanese sweet potatoes
and the Japanese sweet potatoes
are much starchier.
Let me see it.
Good. I need a little bit more cream.
-More cream. -[Cassidy] Little more cream.
[Damaris] To loosen it up just a little bit
and maybe some more butter while we're at it
might as well, right?
The only thing we can do to fix these sweet potatoes
is to add more butter and more cream...
-Cream. -and mix it less.
Put that on.
I really want Cassidy to win today.
I know how it feels to lose, it feels much better to win.
[dramatic music playing]
[upbeat music playing]
[Guy] Twenty minutes.
[Damaris] Maybe some more butter while we're at it
might as well, right?
The only thing we can do to fix these sweet potatoes
is to add more butter
-and more cream. -Cream.
Oh.
-Now they're getting good. -Oh, yeah.
I think dessert.
It's gonna play a big role in the...
In the outcome of this... Of this battle.
Beau Mac and Chris seem to have
a plethora of berries over there.
-[Jose] Yeah. Yeah. -[Katie] Really?
These things, holidays think,
maybe they're making berry pie.
Berry tart. Yeah, maybe berry pie.
-Sounds berry good. -[Stephanie] Yes.
[laughter]
You banged out all the fruit for all the cobblers.
[Chris] And the reason why I wanna win so bad
is because I want to donate
my money straight to Best Buddies.
It helps me to be positive...
-[Beau] Yeah. -[Chris] to be confident.
Grow as a person.
That's awesome.
How we doing, Big Chris?
Guy, we're doing great.
Look at that. You chop all that up?
-[Chris] Yes, sir. -You're an animal.
[Beau] Yes, he did.
-Animal. -Beau, uh--
Look at how beautiful that is.
Beau, I'm in my...
I'm in my happy zone right now.
You're in the zone, baby. You're in the zone.
Brother man, we are making a little crust over here.
I wanna get some flour in it
and some sugar.
We're gonna melt some butter for a crumble topping.
When Ryder came in,
I think it was a big plus for us.
We're gonna use a gingerbread cookies
and we use the candy canes a little bit in the crumble.
Gingerbread topping. We have a beautiful...
Check it out, you guys.
Just look at that crumble. Show them that.
Gingerbread.
Little flour, little butter, little walnuts.
It's gonna be perfect holiday topping
for a beautiful fig and pear cobbler.
I'm with my buddy from Best Buddies.
This is Chris. He's from the Commonwealth.
He's a stud. Chris, you fired up?
-Let's go! -Let's go, baby.
I saw the fresh figs that Chris was cutting
to put into this cobbler,
and I'm really excited for that flavor.
Pairing the figs, the berries.
I'm hoping for something really rich
-in the cobbler topping. -[Stephanie] Oh, yeah. It's good.
[Aaron] I think it's gonna be delicious.
[Chris] You want me to put this back in the oven?
[Beau] Yeah.
Cobblers are going in, Beau.
[Beau] Excellent work.
Chefs, 15 minutes teams.
You've got 15 minutes left.
[Maneet] Looking at making the ice cream.
-The ice cream. -[Maneet] Okay?
[Michael] Yeah. Okay. The ice cream.
I scream, you scream, we all scream for...
-For ice-- -Pumpkin ice cream!
Pumpkin ice cream.
I'm making pumpkin pie ice cream.
Oh!
Pumpkin pie ice cream.
This is Michael's menu.
And start heating some milk
and a little bit of cream in it.
We add some pumpkin puree,
some pumpkin spice, some cinnamon, and nutmeg.
[Jules] So what is your favorite part
of the holidays?
Well, actually my favorite part of the holidays
is spending time with my family
and nice presents.
You get to give each other presents.
You get to get presents. It's really my favorite thing.
Michael, how's she doing? Is she a good cook?
Yup, she is.
[Maneet] Both of you taste it.
See what it needs.
Careful, it's hot, okay, sweetie?
-Okay. -[Jules] What do you think?
Good. Tastes good.
It doesn't need anything.
Doesn't need anything? All right.
-[Michael] Nope, it doesn't. -[Maneet] Okay.
The next thing I did was take that ice cream base
and put it in the ice cream machine.
-[Stephanie] Katie... -[Katie] Yeah.
how do you feel about pumpkin pie?
I love pumpkin pie.
Ice cream is churning, churning.
Churning, churning, churning, churning.
[Aaron] Damaris and Cassidy
-are making fried chicken thighs. -[Stephanie] Okay.
Mashed sweet potatoes and for dessert,
chocolate peppermint cupcakes.
I could have her chocolate peppermint cupcake.
-I like that. -That looks great.
What are we working on here, ladies?
-We're working on-- -We're starting with the cake.
[Guy] Working on the cupcakes?
-Yeah. -[Damaris] Yeah.
-Fantastic. -We're gonna put in this whole amount of creme fraiche
-into there, okay? -[Cassidy] Okay.
[Guy] Very nice.
We have eggs, milk, sugar, oil, and our salt.
-We're ready to blend. -[Cassidy] Yes.
-[Damaris] You ready? -[Cassidy] Ready.
[blender machine whirring]
And we're making the cake from scratch.
Yeah!
[Damaris] We want some of that peppermint flavor
inside of the cupcakes.
Ooh, it smells very minty.
-You ready to smell? -Yeah, it does. Oh, yeah.
That does smell...
-You wanna put that in? -Yeah, definitely.
Okay. So candy canes are going in.
-Ooh, that's so good. -Is it?
Let's see.
-Ooh, Cassidy, excellent job. -Yeah.
Excellent job.
Hunter, one level scoop per cupcake.
Got it.
-We put Hunter elf to work. -To work.
-I will scoop. -You scoop.
-[Cassidy] Thank you, Hunter. -You got it.
[Damaris] And then we're going into this oven, Hunter.
There.
Okay. So that means
we can start on our buttercream.
We add marshmallow cream, two sticks of butter.
Then we're gonna do powdered sugar into that.
Is that gonna be good?
Ooh, that is so good chocolate.
Okay.
That's going on top of the cupcakes, on top of it?
-Oh, yeah. Yup. -You're crushing this.
-I wanna win that money. -And what would you do with the money?
I'm going to save it for my summer camp.
It's called Camp Horizons in South Windham, Connecticut.
Awesome.
And it's for individuals with intellectual
and developmental disabilities.
What's your favorite thing about camp?
-I love horses. -Are you a horse...
I'm a horse person, too.
We got six minutes, guys.
Six left.
We're gonna play this entree like Pablo Picasso.
It has a candy cane gastrique,
a beautiful sweet potato puree.
Chris has the eye of the tiger going right now.
He is focused on the attention to detail
and I love everything about it.
[Chris] Oh, Beau, how good does that duck look?
-It's amazing, bro. -Oh.
It's like five-star holiday duck,
cranberry, apple, and ginger relish right there.
-[Beau] Hmm. -How is it, Beau?
I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty dang tasty.
And you know what it tastes like?
It tastes like Christmas, family, and love, bro.
[Chris] The cobbler came out spectacular.
[Beau] Yup.
That cobbler looks dynamite.
[Chris] We also did ice cream on the side too.
Good teamwork.
They look like a family plating
-a holiday dinner together. -Yeah. I know.
Amazing. [laughs]
[Guy] Three minutes.
Three minute, chefs.
The wonderful ginger that you...
-[Jules] Those are good. -sold me.
If you can put that along with the...
Along with the breadcrumbs.
-Yup. -Let's crush it.
And that's going to be...
That's going to go right on top.
The elf helper was very helpful.
That's going to be our panko topping
for the mac and cheese.
At the base of that,
the sage brown butter mushrooms go.
On the side,
we do the eggnog mashed potato.
Beautiful.
Once we take out the turkey from the fryer,
we finish it with some grated parmesan cheese.
The fried turkey roulade goes in the center.
-[Jules] Last one. -Yup. There we go.
-[Jules] All right. -The ice cream is ready.
-You're an animal. -I swear--
You are an animal.
Crazy is more like it.
-[Guy] I got you. -Oh, thank you.
[Guy] Just 'cause I want some of it.
What? I'm helping.
[Michael] Everything looks really good.
We had a lot of fun cooking together.
Christmas miracle ice cream, they call that.
Aw.
[Guy] One minute!
[Damaris] The cupcakes come out,
I'm icing the cupcakes
and then Cassidy is gonna finish decorating them.
[Cassidy] Uh, and I just sprinkled
the last crushed up of the peppermint.
You did excellent on those.
Okay. Let's plate those bad boys.
I absolutely loved plating.
I put down the sweet potato mash
and then the cupcakes.
Cranberry.
Go right in the middle? Where is it going?
[Cassidy] And then I added the chicken
and then we added
the cranberry sauce next to it.
I feel amazing.
Four, three,
two, one.
Best Buddies Holiday Challenge is finished!
-Bring it in, baby! -[laughs]
Merry Christmas!
-Winner, winner... -Merry Christmas! Right here.
Christmas dinner!
-Let's go! -[Guy] So awesome.
Let's go!
[cheering]
[cheers and applause]
-Yeah! -Whoo!
Yeah. Great job!
You did so excellent.
-Nice job. -Oh, my gosh.
Best, like, experience of my whole entire lifetime.
So awesome.
[upbeat music playing]
Judges, this is our Best Buddies Holiday Special.
Our team's had 60 minutes to make a holiday dinner
consisting of a holiday entree and a dessert
using only the ingredients
that would fit into a stocking.
Up first, Chef Chris,
Chef Beau Mac, and the elf, Ryder.
What do you got for us?
So chefs, this screams holiday meal.
This screams Christmas.
So we have a pan-seared roasted duck,
and potatoes, and mushrooms.
-Sweet candy cane streak... -[Beau] Sauce.
-[Chris] on the bottom. -[Beau] Yup.
So candy cane gastrique on the duck?
-Yes. -Genius.
And then for dessert, judges, we have a pear
and fig crumble.
The crust is, um, gingerbread
then you have ice cream on the side of that.
It's incredible to me to think
that this all came out of two stockings.
And you've also hit every flavor profile.
Not only is the duck cooked perfectly,
you've got sweetness from the sweet potatoes.
You've got the earthiness from the mushrooms
and the candy canes in the gastrique
is definitely smart gameplay.
Sweet potatoes are velvety.
And this dessert, I get good crunch
from, like, gingerbread cobbler topping.
I get peppermint,
I get tart berries, I get sweet pears.
And then the ice cream, mine's melted.
I would've liked a little bit of like creamy,
cold deliciousness.
Guys, an amazing job pulling all this together.
It screams a holiday feast.
The cobbler was right on the ratio of fruit.
To crumble, is really important.
And you guys nailed that.
I like how you present this plate.
I like the duck
and I like the dessert as well.
Thank you, judge.
Fantastic. Nice job, gentlemen.
-Thank you so much. -So proud of you.
-[Guy] Up next... -Good job, man.
Chef Michael, Chef Maneet, and elf Jules.
What do you got for us?
Michael told us
what his favorite holiday meal is.
Turkey...
Turkey, mac and cheese...
[Maneet] And mashed potatoes.
[Michael] and mashed potatoes...
-[Maneet] Right? -[Michael] And mashed potatoes, yes.
[Maneet] Mac and cheese
which has the ginger cookie in it.
[Michael] Yeah. Ginger cookie in it.
[Maneet] Eggnog mashed potatoes.
[Michael] Eggnog mashed potatoes.
And for dessert, we have a pumpkin pie ice cream.
-[woman] Ooh. -[Jose] Wow. Very nice.
And great ice cream, by the way.
I tried that ice cream. That's ridiculous.
I love what you did here.
You took the holidays
and took the spread that I'm used to seeing
that my family puts out on the table
and just put it all on the plate in front of me.
So it feels like my childhood,
finding cheese inside of the turkey
and more cheese on top
definitely wins me over.
What's most impressive to me is the ice cream.
It's everything I love about the flavors of pumpkin pie
that in an ice cream,
along with the sample ingredients
of the gingerbread for crunch.
It works just really well.
-To holidays. -To holidays.
-It's holiday to you. -It is the holidays.
Really good job on that. And I like your ice cream.
Does it taste like pumpkin pie ice cream?
Just a little bit, yes.
-All right. Thank you. -You're welcome.
Eggnog inside of mashed potatoes?
I would've never thought that.
And it really works well with this...
-I mean, that's holiday... -[Jose] holiday dish.
-101 right there. -That's right there.
I mean, eggnog mashed potatoes.
I think... Michael, we need to get your name
on a box of eggnog mashed potatoes going.
-[Aaron] Yeah. -[Jose] Yeah.
Okay? I mean, that's well done, my friend.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
The gingerbread cookies that were one of your samples
on top of the mac and cheese
for that sweet and savory crunchy rich.
I think it's so beautiful.
The only complaint that I would have,
you left the wooden skewer in the turkey.
You could have taken it out.
And finally, last but not least,
Chef Cassidy, Chef Damaris, and elf Hunter.
We made a gingerbread-spiced fried chicken,
a raspberry cranberry sauce.
Yeah, we did.
[Cassidy] And for dessert we made
a chocolate peppermint cupcake.
Uh-huh!
[Cassidy] And we also made cinnamon spice sweet potato.
Whoo!
What's going on, Damaris?
-What? I'm just a little-- -She had like four cupcakes.
Holy moly.
[Katie] The fried chicken is awesome.
-Fried chicken's your jam? -Yeah.
Okay. How'd they do on the fried chicken?
They did a good job together.
-[Guy] Good crunch? -[Katie] Very crunchy.
-That's what I like about it. -[Guy] Not dry?
Not dry at all.
You all put out a great show here with this plate of food.
The chicken, perfectly cooked,
nice and juicy.
The potatoes, nice spice flavor.
It looked slightly overworked to me.
-Thanks, Chef. -This is dynamite.
The gingerbread cookie crust
on this fried chicken is so good.
The tartness of the raspberry cranberry
with the sweet crunch
of this fried chicken is amazing.
Thanks, Chef.
Buttercream icing on there,
it's very hard to get the perfect creamy texture.
Not have crystallization from the sugar,
chocolate and candy canes
meant to go together at the holidays.
That's everything that you want
in a holiday meal with a cupcake on top.
Thanks, Chef.
Very nice.
Well, well, well,
we're gonna have them do some deliberation.
Discuss your dishes.
Who made the most composed dish?
Who wants to be named after a reindeer?
I don't know. They're gonna vote.
There's gonna be a lot of conversations.
We're gonna send you back to the kitchen area
and we will call you back when we have a decision.
You should be all so proud of yourself.
You did an awesome job tonight.
-Thank you. -[Chris] Thank you.
-Well done. -[applause]
[Chris] Thank you.
You feel good? Okay now.
All right, judges.
Let's see whose holiday dinner really slays.
I thought Cassidy's dish was great.
I can't get over the gingerbread chicken.
Just beautiful.
I bet the icing in the cupcake was outstanding.
And let's not forget about Maneet and Michael's.
I mean, that dish was great too.
The eggnog potatoes though for Michael?
So smart.
That was good.
Katie, what do you think?
I liked them all, but if I had to choose one,
I like to... Um, the duck.
The peppermint sauce on the duck was great.
It was one of the best things that I saw.
-Agreed. -We have a final answer.
[tense music playing]
Tough deliberation.
We've spent some time talking about this.
The winner will get $15,000,
and I'm proud of y'all.
And to present the winning check
my cousin, Doug,
Dougie, bring it on down, buddy.
-[man] Yeah! -[cheers and applause]
To the two chefs
that did not win tonight,
we're gonna make a $5,000 donation
in your honor to Best Buddies.
-[Damaris] Yeah! -[Beau] That's amazing.
[Maneet] Yeah! Whoo!
-[Damaris] Great. -[Beau] Amazing!
The winner of Triple G's
Best Buddies Holiday special is...
Congratulations, Cassidy!
[cheering and applause]
[Damaris] Yeah!
And guess who won?
Me.
Come on up! Come on up!
We're going to summer camp.
Well, I am.
-[Guy] Come on [indistinct] -Yes!
We have a time, Christmas time.
What can be better? Merry Christmas, everybody.
[applause]
[Michael] Guy donated $5,000 to Best Buddies in my name.
It's gonna help a lot of people.
The first champion we have
on Guy's Grocery Games Best Buddy Holiday Challenge,
and to everybody at home,
we hope you have great holidays.
And remember, it's all about celebrating
with your friends and your family
and having a great meal.
Just like you saw.
I had a lot of fun cooking with Damaris
because she is an amazing chef
and I absolutely love Damaris.
Happy holidays from all of us at Guy's Grocery Games.
See you next week!
-[cheering and applause] -Adios!
Congrats to the Champ!
Whoo! Whoo! Whoo!
Phew! Phew! Phew! Phew!