You know, in a normal market,
shoppers love the convenience of the Express Lane.
-But at Flavortown Market... -Get out, get out, get out!
...chefs dread the Express Lane...
-Four. -...'cause that means they'll have an extremely
limited number of ingredients to cook with.
Think, think, think, think, think.
[Guy] To win $20,000, one of tonight's competitors must defeat
other battle-tested chefs at the Express Lane.
It's a race to the finish!
-Then comes the hard part. -Whoa.
The winning chef goes mano a mano against
one of the culinary icons at the judges' table in
the ultimate Express Lane battle.
-Oh, my God. -It's Beat the Judges Express Lane.
-[Kelsey] Okay, Guy! -[Jonathon] Oh!
No, she didn't.
-Next on Guy's Grocery Games. -[Kelsey] Sorry.
So let's meet our fearless chefs.
Now, first up, Kelsey Murphy, the executive chef
of her own restaurant in the Indianapolis Colts home stadium,
who credits winning MasterChef with changing her life.
-Welcome aboard. Welcome aboard. -Hello.
Heavy hit.
Next, we got Lawrence LT Smith,
chef owner of a Phoenix eatery, named one of
Esquire and Bon Appetit's best two restaurants,
and a recent Chopped finalist.
This guy doesn't hit like that.
-See, that's a nice. -Sorry, man.
-That was nice. -I, like, killed him.
And finally, Jackson Kalb, Michelin-trained executive chef
who was named Star Chef's Rising Star of the Year in L.A.
in 2021 and competed on Top Chef in 2023.
-What's up, brother? -Big man walk-in.
Thank you for having me.
-What's up, guys? -Chefs, welcome.
We've handpicked the three of you to compete today
because you are all highly competitive and very highly qualified.
We know that.
After hearing all of your culinary cred,
I decided we're going to do things a little bit different tonight.
Whichever chef wins the first round
is going to get an automatic $15,000.
-Whoa. -See?
I'll take it.
Bad news is the chefs that don't win the first round
are instantly eliminated. Bye-bye.
But could stakes get any higher? Yes, they could.
The winning chef will get a shot at earning another
$5,000 in the second round, but that is only
if they can defeat one of the culinary icons
that are sitting [clicks tongue] right back at that table.
Because this, ladies and gentlemen, is Beat the Judges.
Now, the best part about this is the winning chef
gets to pick which judge you want to go up against.
For your first challenge, I want you to prepare
for the judges...
Vegetarian dessert sandwich.
You guys ever made one?
-Totally. -All the time.
-Thank you very much.
Ah.
Anyhow, let's have you make tonight your best pork dish.
-Ooh. -But competitors of your caliber
deserve a truly chefy game.
Great chefs, we know how to do more with less.
Those are the skills you're going to need to survive
one of the toughest games we call and
it's called Express Lane.
[all] Ooh.
Now, ten ingredients or less.
You dig it? Fantastic.
If you dig that, you're not going to dig this.
Because the first chef that hits the register will get
to check out with ten ingredients or less.
Knew it.
Then the second chef that arrives gets to go with
-how many? Guess. -Nine.
And the last chef gets a measly eight,
because this is Express Lane register run.
[sighs]
You'll have to check out at our Express Lane over here
with our recently promoted from garbage
and cart cleanup in the parking lot to
the assistant manager of cart pickup, Hunter.
-Congratulations. -Hunter!
[LT] Hunter.
You have 30 minutes to shop, prepare,
and plate your best pork dish.
But it's a one-time shop.
Just remember, we don't go until it's three, two, one, go.
Just hold tight, okay?
Onwards, onwards, ah, ah!
Oh, I'm sorry. I don't know where I'm going.
You gotta watch out for that one.
Go down, go down, go down, go down, sorry!
So now you gotta think on the fly,
is it worth making really quick decisions
in getting the ten ingredients, or should you just really be
methodical about it and go for the eight?
Pork cutlets.
I am very, very competitive.
I've only been cooking professionally for two and a half years,
but I've been hustling to really gain respect
in the culinary world.
Not only have a MasterChef win, I have now a restaurant
and a stadium concept and a whole personal brand.
You get run over in here. This is chaotic.
So I'm thinking fried pork cutlet
'cause I have some staple ingredients like flour
at my station that I can use.
Panko.
Express Lane is all about multi-use ingredients.
Red onions.
Onions are the perfect ingredient.
You can use it in a salad to top,
to pickle, and add some acidity.
Think, think, think, think, think.
I need something else that can lend itself to freshness.
Brussels.
When you're talking about so few ingredients
in the first place, to lose one or two of those...
-Six, seven. -...is the difference between an amazing composed dish
and something that's really just lacking.
So I need to be the first person at the register.
Pork, pork, pork, pork, pork.
My restaurant was most recently voted best new restaurant
in the country by Bon Appetit and Esquire.
Now I'm here to beat the judges.
I'm immediately thinking about one of our award-winning dishes,
grilled pork chop and a huitlacoche mole sauce.
Huitlacoche is a beautiful ingredient used throughout Mexico.
It's deep, it's earthy, it's funky.
Ooh, hominy, hominy, hominy.
Oh, chili land, come to me.
All right, so I see something Mexican over here
-with dried chilies and hominy. -That.
[LT] Veal stock, I knew it was gonna be
super deep and rich and unctuous.
Argh!
One or two ingredients can really change
the complexity of your dish, so getting there first is huge.
Anybody checking out yet? Nobody is checking out yet.
[Jackson] At age 12, I started working at a two Michelin star restaurant,
and I've worked for some of the biggest names
in the industry, but I'm very limited in ingredients,
so I want to use foods that pack as much flavor as possible.
-Garlic. -Something that shows off the pork and makes it shine.
I'm thinking grilled pork chop with applesauce.
Very simple, very subtle, but a lot of flavor.
Soy, soy, soy, soy, soy, soy, soy.
If I were fish sauce... chili crunch.
My strategy here is to mostly get ingredients for my marinade
because I already have these beautiful pork chops.
Nobody saw that, right?
I want soy, I want sesame, I want ginger,
and I can't get all those, so I grab a teriyaki that
has all those flavors in there.
I'm going to get up there for...
See this mad dash.
[Jackson] First person to get to the register has ten ingredients
and only ten to work with.
I want to get there first to put a little bit of pressure
on the other contestants.
Where are we at, boss?
I got to go on break. I'll be back in ten minutes.
Just kidding. Come on, let's go.
That is so mean.
[Jackson] I'm first at the register, so that means
-I get to check out with ten items. -Two, three.
[Kelsey] And then I saw Jackson already checking out.
And I was like, "Okay, I got to go."
-Ooh. -It's a race to the finish.
-[carts clattering] -[Kelsey] Oh, my God!
-Whoa! -Hey, that's her!
-No, she didn't. -[Jonathon] Yeah, she did.
Oh, sorry, Guy. [laughs] I'm sor...
Please put that in slow-mo
-and call me an action injury attorney. -No.
[Kelsey] Oh, my God!
Oh, my God!
Next on Guy's Grocery Games.
-Okay, that's ten. -All right, good.
Thank you, brother.
[LT] I get to the checkout, nine ingredients.
I have two colors of cabbage,
so I gave back the green cabbage.
[Kelsey] And I get eight?
[Hunter] Eight.
[Kelsey groans]
I already know that I have heat in the pantry
with the crushed red pepper flakes.
I don't want those, I don't think.
So... my fresnos.
That's the best ingredient that I can get rid of.
-[Guy] She's dangerous, Hunter. -I am.
She ran over me, then laughed.
I'm just standing right here, and I get run over
-in my own market. -Run over?
You got trucked.
Here to give the lowdown on the showdown,
the Express Lane judges themselves.
The one and only icon from New York,
and one of my really close friends, Chef Rocco DiSpirito.
She's the TOC champ two times in a row.
Chef Maneet Chauhan.
He's a James Beard Award winner.
He is the restaurateur.
The one and only, Jonathon Sawyer.
Who wants to compete against any one of these three?
[Rocco] I think Maneet wants to compete, for sure.
-Really, Maneet? -[Maneet] Yeah.
You have your Easter outfit on.
I know I do.
Did you bring, like, a jumpsuit for actual terror?
No, I just take off my jacket.
[Rocco] I'm just going to say.
Rocco looks like he showed up to work.
I wore running shoes.
Well, they're all thirsty, I'll tell you that much.
Twenty-two minutes.
[Kelsey] The challenge is your best pork dish.
I'm going to do a pork cutlet, fried.
And then I'm going to do a bacon jam
with a fried egg over top, some Brussels sprouts,
and some pickled onions to give it some freshness
with some limes.
Since I only have eight ingredients,
and it's a pork challenge,
I'm trying to cross-utilize the bacon as much as possible.
So I'm going to make my famous bacon jam.
I have my bacon going. I'm cutting some onions.
I put those in the pan.
I use the lime juice in there, and then I add that
delicious bourbon maple syrup that rounds
and brings that whole dish together.
I wanted my chili peppers to add a little fresh spice to it,
but we're lucky to have some pantry ingredients,
so I add some red pepper flakes.
And then I start working on some of my other components.
I wanted to get my dredge going for my pork cutlets.
I love the cutlets. It's a real differentiator.
I love that.
[Kelsey] So I need some regular all-purpose flour,
pantry ingredient.
There you go. Use that pantry, girl.
I am making a mess.
Every day, I struggle with imposter syndrome.
Even after winning MasterChef, I get looked down a lot.
Like, who's this just cute little girl from the Midwest
who's a mom? How good of a cook can she be?
If I could beat one of these judges,
I would feel so validated.
How's that bacon?
Oh, my God, these burners.
Oh, no. What happened?
That pan got very, very hot.
My bacon jam is burnt. I cannot even save them.
[Guy] Twenty minutes left.
[Kelsey] And you don't get to go back for any ingredients.
So I really need to focus and figure out what
I'm going to do.
[Guy] Twenty minutes.
In a pork battle, could these three pork dishes
be any more different?
-Oh, no. What happened? -[Kelsey] My bacon jam is burnt.
I cannot even save them.
And you only get one shot.
But I'm a competitor, and I do not give up.
I need to start my bacon jam over.
We're figuring it out.
Luckily, I had already put some bacon in the fryer.
This bacon instead.
We're not going to panic.
Put that bacon into the pan with the onion
and get that working really fast.
And then I chop up some more bacon
to put in the fryer to use for later.
I am going to win today.
All right, bacon's going back in.
-Try this again. -[Jonathon] She's starting over.
The bacon onion, I love that.
Chef life is hard. Entrepreneurship is hard.
I really want to give back to my ride or die employees.
That means the world to me.
Eight ingredients there, nine ingredients here,
ten over on Jackson's.
One of these chefs is going to win $15,000 immediately,
and then they're going to have to take us on.
I have watched these people on TV, watched them compete.
Formidable chefs. They are icons.
I don't know what judge I would want to go up against.
Yeah, I don't think I would want to compete
against Jonathon Sawyer.
I grew up respecting what he was doing in Cleveland as a chef.
He's won a James Beard Award for... heck's sake.
Rocco DiSpirito, I have looked up to him for so long.
-He's an OG chef. -I mean, the guy is a beast.
To even think about going up against him is terrifying.
Anyone but Maneet.
She's too good, she wins everything she touches.
She's a two-time TOC champion.
Maneet Chauhan, we bow down to you.
I am just... honestly, I'm afraid of her.
[Jackson] I know these chefs are very talented.
I know these judges are very talented.
But I think I can go pound for pound with them.
All right, Jackson, what's on the menu?
You're going to do a marinated pork chop
-with some applesauce. -Got it.
The first thing I get started on is the marinade.
So teriyaki, serrano chili.
-[Jackson] Shiokoji. -[Guy] Shiokoji.
And a little chili crunch.
And a little ponzu.
You have Italian restaurants.
I do. So here's the thing.
But you're going Asian.
I'm very inspired by a lot of Asia.
-[Guy] That'll build some flavor. -I like that.
-[Maneet] I love those flavors. -Speaking my language.
[Guy] You're kind of a minimalist.
You've got ten ingredients, but the majority of them are sauces.
Well, I am a minimalist, but it's limited ingredients, right?
I prefer to cook with limited ingredients.
I find that if you have excellent ingredients,
I like to let those speak.
[Guy] Taking it off the bone.
I'm just grabbing some fat so I can get some texture.
[Guy] I like this little render move.
I do like the cross-utilization.
[Jackson] I remove the fat and fry them to create texture.
Turned it into a crispy chicharron.
The key to cooking a really great pork chop
is a lot of time, which we don't have.
I'm pounding out the pork chop a little bit
more thin than I normally would,
and I'm actually vacuum-sealing
the marinade into the pork.
[Jonathon] High-risk, high-reward strategy.
Is he gonna have enough time to cook those things all the way through
after marinating them in the cryovac?
[Jackson] I have a lovely wife.
She started our first restaurant, Jame, with me.
It started in a tiny strip mall
in El Segundo, and we had nothing.
I had to move back into my childhood bedroom,
but she believed in me, so I'd love to do something
nice for her if I win this money.
-LT, what's on the menu? -We're going to do, like,
a little mole riff with the huitlacoche,
and then we're going to brown butter up some hominy,
do it with our pork chop right off the grill.
It's going to be nice.
Got it.
-Love the huitlacoche getting in there. -Yes, sir.
-First thing I want to start on is the mole. -[Rocco] Huitlacoche,
and onions.
Good flavor. Big flavor. It's a big, bold flavor.
Never seen that much huitlacoche in one pan
at one time, but if he's going with that.
$1,000 pan of huitlacoche.
[Rocco] But those are great flavors. Those are very memorable flavors.
And he's being super bold.
[LT] I'm adding a veal demi.
It's just going to bring in deep richness.
It's going to bring in some collagen to give it texture.
Make it nice and rich.
-Give it that velvety texture. -[Maneet] Oh, wow.
-Looks really good right now. -And it's so sophisticated.
The next thing I want to start on to star the dish...
Pork. Pound it to tenderize.
This pork has to be worth $15,000,
because really, I need to take my wife on a honeymoon.
She's been full support since day one.
We started in a ten by ten tent, grilling a tortilla press.
We got married, went straight back to work,
and it's just been hustle, hustle, hustle, hustle, hustle.
Fifteen minutes.
[Kelsey] All right, I'm going to start on some Brussels.
My brain is just going a million miles a minute.
This is winner takes all.
Brussels sprouts are a perfect supporting cast member.
I like it.
[Kelsey] I wanted to use bacon fat for my Brussels sprouts.
But because I burnt some of my bacon,
I didn't have any extra.
So I thought, well, I'll just add some of my bacon jam.
[Jonathon] I love all of the components that are happening here.
The time management is quite impressive.
[Guy] Pork cutlet working. Brussels sprouts, bacon jam.
Eggs?
-How much coffee did you have today? -I, I...
I have endless amounts of energy.
I always think Maneet is a superwoman
and is just trying to channel her energy.
She's calling you out, Maneet, calling you out.
[Maneet] She's calling me out.
[Kelsey] Guy, don't get too close.
She ran me over.
[Maneet] I know.
[all exclaiming]
-You saw that? -[Rocco] We saw it.
-We all saw it. -The momentum was so much.
To get the opportunity to possibly go up against
one of these culinary icons is insane.
And to actually get to cook against one of them
is terrifying, but also super exciting.
-Mmm. Oh, my God. It's delicious. -[Guy] Nine minutes.
[LT] Pork is done. Well, they're looking great.
They have some crust. Next, I start the brown butter hominy.
This is going to add some notes of nutty popcorn
and a great textural component.
Hominy, hominy, hominy, hominy.
That's what we always say in the kitchen.
I am just loving the components
that LT is putting on his plate.
It is so elegant.
There's also a red cabbage slaw he's making,
which looks really good.
Red cabbage slaw always smart, right? It goes with everything.
Normally on my cabbage, I would squeeze charred lime.
I couldn't get the limes with the limited ingredients.
I knew I had that red vinegar on the station,
so I went for that instead.
There's a lot riding on this dish.
If you win it, you get 15 grand.
My wife would be so ecstatic.
So it's time to get that mole sauce blended up.
It's going to be nice, smoky, funky deep
from that huitlacoche.
It's good. It's deep.
I'm feeling confident to get to the next round.
Pushing it through so it's nice and velvety.
And I'm starting to think about what judge I might want to call out.
Once my pork chops are done marinating,
I put them on the grill.
You can't hide behind anything
if you're only putting a few components on the plate.
The whole thing has to be perfect.
-Uh-oh. -A lot of char. Watch that thing, Jackson.
That's a lot of char.
This thing gets hot.
[Jackson] I certainly do not have enough time to start over,
so I'm just going to roll with the punches.
I'm here to compete. I'm here to prove myself.
I want to go up against a judge,
so I add a touch of butter to them so that they can baste
while they're cooking.
Next, I can get working on the applesauce.
[Maneet] What are we going to get?
An applesauce at the base with pork chop on top?
He put a lot of time into that marinade on
those chops, but all he's got is applesauce.
There is only the main character.
There are no supporting cast members over here.
And Jackson had the ten ingredients.
Is there enough?
We're going to see.
[Jackson] For my sauce, relatively simple.
I add some black garlic, cook that down
-with a bit of butter. -[Rocco] I like his approach.
Just melt butter at the same time with all your aromats.
-[Jonathon] Yeah. -[Rocco] It's actually a good, quick way to make a sauce.
Apple is the perfect balance to the pork.
It is bright, it's citrusy, and it cuts through
both the fat and the sweetness of the pork itself.
Ooh-la-la.
So the last thing you need to do is make fish sauce caramel
so I can dip the pork chops in something.
A dry caramel, great way to start a sauce.
[Jackson] I add some of my marinade, a lot of fish sauce,
and I let that reduce.
Jackson's sauce looks really good right now.
-Dark and glossy. -Will it be enough to win the day?
-I think we'll find out. -Four to go, four minutes.
Guy made enough mole.
It's good mole.
I think you could use a little salt.
Getting ready to plate here. Everything's done.
Feeling all right.
LT's sauce looks so luscious.
His entire dish is coming together so beautifully.
There's so much technique.
[LT] We're going to lay our pork chop,
and we're just going to sprinkle that hominy right on top.
I'm happy with it.
[Jackson] I check on my pork chops in the oven.
They're done cooking. I dip them very quickly in the caramel sauce.
So I slice into the pork.
[Jonathon] Yeah.
An impeccable pork chop.
[Jackson] It's perfect medium, exactly the way I want.
I go apple on the bottom, pork, put that on top.
[Guy] Ninety seconds.
Big slices on the Brussels sprout salad, huh?
Yeah.
I like the texture in there.
The first thing I get down is the sauteed Brussels sprouts.
Then I put on my perfectly golden brown pork cutlet.
And on top of it, I put my bacon jam.
It's going to be unctuous and delicious.
Thirty seconds. Eggs going on.
I don't know.
I don't want to, like, overdo it.
I don't think I need it.
Love it. It's like Coco Chanel said.
When you leave the house, you take one piece off,
and the outfit is perfect.
[Kelsey] And we are raining bacon all over this plate.
-Five, four, three, two, one. -[Kelsey] That is pork-tacular.
-That's it. -All right. Nice job, everybody.
-[sighs heavily] -[Rocco] Tough round. Tough round.
-Good one. -That was fun.
That was an interesting round.
All right, judges, here it is. Game one of Beat the Judges.
They played a little Express Lane.
They loved it. They were so excited.
They were so excited, they figured,
why not crash the cart into somebody?
[laughs]
Chefs had to create their best pork dish with only ten ingredients
or less, depending on how quickly they made it
to the register.
Up first, Chef Crash and Burn, Chef Kelsey.
So I only had eight ingredients,
even though I tried really hard to get nine.
Willing to almost kill for it.
I made for you a pork cutlet on top of
a sauteed Brussels sprout and bacon medley.
And then on top, I have a bacon jam
that is a little sweet, little savory, little spicy.
Chef Kelsey, this is the trifecta for pork,
bacon, pork cutlet, and Brussels sprouts.
I like the fact that you put the jam on top,
even though I thought it's gonna ruin the crispiness,
but it didn't.
Very smart shopping in the ingredients that you shopped for.
Brussels sprouts, I think, delicious,
but you really have to work on your knife cuts,
because each and every bite tastes differently
if the knife cuts are not consistent.
Yeah.
This is a master class in time management.
You had the opportunity to redo the bacon two times,
and then you fried some on the side.
I mean, it really is smart, smart game play.
Thanks.
Next up, Chef LT.
Lawrence, what did you make for us?
For you guys today, I made a grilled pork chop,
a beautiful mole riff on a huitlacoche
and guajillo veal demi sauce on the bottom,
brown butter hominy on top, as well as a little bit of slaw,
a little crunch.
LT, the fact that you gave us this dish from
only nine ingredients, that is incredible.
-Thank you. Thank you. -The smokiness of the char
on the pork chop goes very well with the sauce.
-But overall, it needed more salt, vinegar. -[softly] Damn.
This sauce is fascinating.
And if you saw me, I keep going back
'cause it just keeps giving.
If you told me there was huitlacoche and morita in here,
I probably wouldn't have known.
And then the veal demi in there, they are combining in like
a way of alchemy to create something totally new to me.
And the hominy is something you don't see a lot.
Very happy to reacquaint myself with it.
Overall, I think everything could use a touch more seasoning,
a little more acidity, a little more salt.
Heard that.
All right, here we go.
Not to be outdone, the one and only Chef Jackson.
What do you got for us, pal?
Judges, I have Italian restaurants,
and our ethos is to do less and do it perfectly.
I have for you pork chop with applesauce, a classic.
There's a fish sauce caramel that it's dunked in,
and I sliced off the fat from the pork cap
and made the chicharron.
[Jonathon] Chef.
You hit it big time here. No, you hit it pig time here.
This pork chop is beautiful.
Borderline perfect. I've eaten more protein off this plate
than any other plate I've enjoyed tonight.
I love the combination of koji with the vacuum seal.
You're employing classic flavor combinations
in a very modern technique.
You seared it real quick, you let it go real low and slow
in the oven, and all that paid off with this caramelization
on the outside and the aroma that we're all hit with
the moment that it sits on this table.
This is just one fresh component away
from being a perfect dish.
To me, my favorite part is the contrast in texture
when you get the chicharron along with the chili crunch,
a little bit of the pork chop, and the applesauce.
But I thought it was incomplete.
This does need something fresh to complete the dish.
[Rocco] Even a couple of herbs, any kind of slaw,
something just to finish the thought.
Thank you.
[Guy] Awesome. Judges, thank you.
Chefs, thank you.
So few ingredients.
People at home are like, there's no way.
There's no way. They got like magic ingredients.
Nope.
That's the power of the Triple-G, baby.
Awesome. We're going to send you back to the kitchens.
Let them deliberate.
Whoever wins will get a guaranteed $15,000.
And you get to pick which judge you want to go up against.
Call you back when we have a decision. Thank you.
Who gets 15 grand? Who faces one of you?
I think I was least impressed with LT's.
[Jonathon] Yeah.
[Rocco] You expected that to be explosive with flavor, right?
And then you were like...
It was such the beginning of a great dish.
So much work, so much technique,
so forgot the salt.
That leaves us Kelsey and Jackson.
Kelsey gave you more of a composed dish.
It was delicious.
To me, it was more the technique of the way
she cut the vegetables.
-And it affected each and every bite. -Yeah.
[Maneet] What Jackson gave over here was amazing.
I thought it was incomplete. It needed another element.
I think they both delivered great dishes. They're very close.
All right, chefs. One chef will win $15,000.
The other two will check out, and we will hopefully
see you again one day.
The winner of the first round of
Beat the Judges is...
Chef Jackson.
-Well done. -Ooh. Okay.
[Guy] Chefs, what is tough for me...
This really came down to not whether or not
the dishes were delicious.
This came down to a little bit of seasoning
and a little bit of execution.
Salt, salt and acid.
That mole, brother, I am telling you, LT,
no wonder you're so successful in business.
I tasted it. I'm like, "Man, this is great, but I hope he salts it."
Your knife cut.
When the competition is this difficult,
that's how small this was.
Congratulations, 15,000 bucks.
-Kels, LT, great having you. -I'm feeling disappointed.
-It's very nice to meet you. -But I agree with the judges.
-My seasoning should have been better. -Thanks.
Guy, please invite me back.
I promise that I will not run into you with a cart.
Go get them, Jackson.
Congratulations, Chef Jackson.
[Maneet] Whoo-hoo!
You guaranteed yourself 15,000 bucks.
And now you have a chance to earn $5,000 more
if you can beat one of our superstar judges,
Jonathon Sawyer, winner of Best Chef Great Lakes 2015,
named Best New Chef by Food & Wine magazine 2010.
I mean, no big deal.
Then there's Maneet Chauhan. Let's see.
One, two. Yeah, that's right.
Two-time winner of Tournament of Champions,
owner of a Nashville restaurant empire,
and an award-winning cookbook author.
Whatever.
And then that guy, Rocco something or another.
James Beard Award winner, James Beard nominee
for Best Chef New York five times,
best-selling cookbook, and legendary Union Pacific restaurant
received three-star review from New York Times.
Whatever, Rocco DiSpirito, whatever.
So who do you want to battle?
You're all so good, I don't know what to do.
[Guy] You get to pick which one of these legends you want to go against.
Gentlemen, no disrespect, but anyone but Maneet.
-Wow. -[Jackson] Anyone but Maneet.
Your fame precedes you, Maneet.
I was taking off my jacket. I was ready to compete.
I was rolling up my sleeves.
-Why anyone but Maneet? -She's too good at the games.
She's too good.
I mean, if you're going to go into the pit,
go in against the lion.
All right, losing is not so bad, right?
-Let's go, Maneet. -[all exclaiming]
-[Rocco] A turnabout! -Losing's not so bad, right?
Jackson, you are a gangster.
Let's do this.
Chef Jackson versus the champ.
Wait a second. Hang on.
We need somebody to take her place at the judging table.
Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only,
-terror from the North Coast. -[horns blaring]
Give it up.
Triple-G winner, Chef Crista Luedtke.
Nice to see you.
All right, you two, you ready to compete?
So ready.
-We'll see. -To the carts.
Second round starts now. Good luck.
Maneet Chauhan is a two-time TOC champion.
She wins everything she touches.
But in order to consider yourself as excellent,
you have to beat excellence.
So stupid.
Chefs, this is the second final round
of Beat the Judges Express Lane.
Chef Jackson, you beat out two incredibly talented chefs
and earned $15,000.
If you win this battle, you could win $5,000 more.
But I want you to put your money where your food is.
So you have to wager how much you want to win.
You could wager anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000.
You wager the $5,000,
you would win $5,000.
You walk out of here with $20,000. You wager the 5,000 bucks,
you lose, you walk out of here with 10,000 bucks.
-Let's go $5,000. -$5,000.
-Go big or go home. -Yeah, we know, Jackson.
We know. All right.
-Here's the great news, Maneet. -Yes.
He loses the five grand,
you win the five grand.
Ba-da-bing.
Final challenge, I want you to make the judges...
You're gonna either love me or hate me on this.
We love you regardless, Guy. You know that.
Make the judges a seafood favorite.
That's it, seafood favorite.
Make sure you check out through the Express Lane
which now has a nine item limit or less.
Go for a decisive win, because if the judges
can't decide who's won, they'll have to flip a coin.
Actually, why don't we just do that now?
Oh, no.
It was too good to be true.
Hunter, Maneet's talking smack about you.
Come on out here.
I heard you were saying something.
-It was too good to be true. -Well, guess what?
I brought you a gift.
Yeah, of course.
Why don't we play a little odd-even?
Oh, no.
The question is, chefs, would you rather shop
at the odd aisles or the even aisles?
If it lands on the odd, you get fresh produce,
but no fresh seafood.
But if it lands on the even, you get fresh seafood,
but no produce.
Would you like, chef, that we throw this for you,
-or would you like to do it? -Argh...
-[Guy] Want to do it? -All right.
Da-da-da-da!
-That's odd. -Not ideal.
[Guy] So therefore, all of the seafood
would have to be frozen.
Nine ingredients.
We are looking for your seafood favorite.
Why do you look so nervous right now, Maneet?
I'm always nervous doing it.
It went from three to two to one.
Excuse me.
Gophers are the worst thing.
Gophers is what you came up with?
[Jackson] Our favorite seafood dish, but we don't get fresh seafood.
Tell me how I'm supposed to do this.
Maneet is the queen of all flavor, all spice,
and I have seen her just tear the competition to shreds.
Tell you what, it's gonna be a battle
of a lifetime for this guy.
[Jackson] I don't mind frozen lobster tail,
but I know that it can thaw in a relatively short amount of time.
For my seafood favorite, I'm making
butter poached lobster and lobster jus.
I'm trying to grab some things that can build
a lot of flavor in a very short period of time.
I mean, we don't get any dairy, no fresh seafood,
no pasta, no Thai curry, no fish sauce, no soy,
no nothing.
All of my restaurants are based in Italian food.
Can't use aisle four. Can't do pasta,
so the only grain that I'm thinking of is using polenta.
On the first round, I got dinged for being
a little bit too simple, so I want to add some ingredients
to zhuzh up the polenta.
I grab chickpea miso.
I'm saving time by getting packaged mirepoix
already chopped for me.
My mind is going a million miles an hour.
-What are you looking for, Jackson? -I honestly don't even know.
Look, here's the thing.
I came here to compete. I didn't come here to be dim.
I didn't come here to be shy. Go big or go home, right?
[Maneet] I watched Jackson cook in round one.
He's a very good competitor.
So my work is really cut out for me.
For my seafood favorite, I am making
etouffee-style crawfish.
I'm going to top it up with some poached lobster.
It's very difficult working with frozen ingredients,
which doesn't pack as much flavor.
So to augment that flavor, I'm going to pick up
some anchovy.
That's an umami bomb right there, those anchovies.
Uh...
Not having access to the ethnic aisle,
now I'm going to fall back on my Indian flavors.
Maneet's so dangerous.
When she gets to do her spice thing, she'll hurt people.
Tomato basil sauce is the base for
this curry tomato sauce that I am planning to make.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
That leaves me two ingredients.
From fresh produce, fennel is going to be
my secret ingredient, and it'll go in everything.
This is not only my reputation on the line,
but all the judges' reputation on the line.
So I can't lose.
[Crista] Look, Maneet, she's one of us, right?
But it's the best dish that wins.
Would I bet $5,000 to go against Maneet?
If you're crazy enough to go against Maneet, then yes, go for it.
Do it. I mean, you're already in the mouth of the dragon.
-Twenty-five minutes. -Jackson comes in
as an owner of five restaurants,
all award-winning.
He brings some credibility, but he is taking on the best of the best,
the two-time TOC champ.
Rule number one, don't go up against Maneet.
The first thing I get started on is the frozen lobster tails
straight into boiling water.
So I know that it can thaw properly,
but I don't want to cook it.
Now I can start working on the polenta.
Maneet is the queen of all flavor, all spice.
She is certainly going to be tough to beat.
So I need to build layers of flavor.
So I want to add that chickpea miso,
give it a bit more depth of flavor.
-Is that polenta? -[Crista] Yeah, he's got polenta.
[Rocco] When you're restricted on ingredients,
you have to really look at what's on the aisle and say,
"What can I make from this?"
And sometimes it's a prepared food.
Jackson won $15,000.
He was able to wager $2,000 to $5,000.
If you're going to wager, wager the full five.
Like, go home with a pocket full.
It ain't so easy when a TOC champ is involved, is it?
[Crista] He's up against the TOC two-time champ.
Maneet wants a payday today, and I think
she's going all in for the 5K.
Chef, are you poaching these lobsters in this water
-or just defrosting them? -No, sir.
I'm just pretending like I know what I'm doing here.
-Got it. -Thank you, sir.
[Maneet] The first thing that I do is take the packet of crawfish
and throw it into the microwave to thaw it out.
I'm going to start my rice pilaf.
I add some of the anchovies in oil
to give it an underlying note of umami
and put fennel in that, which is going to substitute
for onions.
She's just such a sorcerer.
-[Rocco] And what is this? -[Crista] What is this?
[Jonathon] Crawfish.
-Oh, the crawdad tail. -Oh.
That's a power move, guys.
[Maneet] I have judged over 20 times.
I have competed at least 15 times on Triple-G.
But it's never easy to cook in Flavortown.
Chef Jackson, Chef Maneet, 15 minutes, halfway point.
[Jackson] Going up against Maneet,
of course, she's cooking her tail off.
I can smell it coming from her station.
It just smells like a warm hug.
How is anyone supposed to win against this woman?
How are we feeling, bud?
Not great, but I'll get there.
Now that the polenta's in a good place,
I start working on the lobster tails.
I wanna do something that's pretty elegant.
My plan is to cook them in a lobster jus.
I get some seafood broth, some lobster base on the stove.
I grab some extra lobster tail.
I get them on the grill and I intentionally char them
pretty heavily so that I can add them to our broth.
This jus is very important because it's one of
only two or three components.
So I add a bit of gochujang with the jus.
My wife, she started our first restaurant, Jame, with me.
I started in a tiny strip mall in El Segundo,
and that is just when she believed in me.
She's very proud of me.
She will be very happy if I win this.
[Maneet] I do not want the lobster to be cooked through and through.
I let it boil for a couple of minutes
and shock the lobster in the ice water.
Take the lobster, put some butter, olive oil,
and fennel fronds in it, salt, and let it cook.
While my lobster is poaching, I'm going to start my curry,
tomato sauce, anchovies, the fennel.
Fenugreek leaves is going to give the smoky depth of flavor,
along with the curry powder.
Maneet pulls out this innate knowledge of spice
and how to use it.
It's a superpower that only a few chefs have.
Chefs, five minutes, five to go.
I want to make a fennel salad, because everything on my dish
is very rich.
And I want to give judges something fresh,
some salt, red wine vinegar, and fennel fronds.
-You feel good, Maneet? -Never.
Okay, good talk.
-Two and a half. -All right, I'm into it.
The polenta is perfect.
I spoon the polenta on the plate.
I add half of a lobster tail.
I hope it's cooked the way I want.
Spoon some jus around the edge to keep it warm and luxurious.
[Crista] Oh, my God, you guys.
Both these dishes are coming together, looking incredible.
[Jackson] I'm feeling great. If you can beat these judges,
you certainly have something to be proud about.
A minute, 20.
[Maneet] At the base, I put rice pilaf.
Curry tomato sauce.
The poached lobster.
[Crista] Look at that.
It's absolutely astonishing to see what is made
from nine ingredients.
[Maneet] Put the lobster shell right over the lobster
and some of the fennel salad on the side.
Five, four, three, two, one.
-That's it. -Amazing.
-Nice battle. -[Rocco] Great job, both of you. Whoo.
I'm never happy with it. That is the truth.
Beautiful dish.
If he does manage to pull off a win here,
the bragging rights are worth a million dollars.
Okay.
All right, judges.
Wow. This is it.
Game two of Beat the Judges Express Lane.
Eh, we threw in a little odd or even.
That's right.
Chefs had to shop for their seafood favorite using
only odd aisles and nine items or less.
Let's just make it more difficult. Oh, yeah.
And then we put Chef Jackson up again TOC champ
Maneet Chauhan.
Up first, Chef Jackson.
For my seafood favorite, I made lobster with
a bed of polenta.
I built a soffritto for the polenta,
poached the lobster in broth mounted with butter.
I love that you bet on yourself in terms of
your minimal style.
Again, the polenta, delicious.
I love that you used an instant polenta.
Very smart gameplay.
Chef, you couldn't obviously use any fresh seafood,
so you supplemented with the base,
the stock, and the frozen lobster tails.
You really allowed the protein to be the star
and the sauce to sort of go behind it.
I wonder if the cook on the lobster is a little bit over.
But I do want more of that sauce.
It's a compliment to your cooking technique,
but I want more.
Thank you.
This is a visually stunning dish,
and it eats incredibly well.
If anything, I feel like it needed a little bit of relief
of a fresh herb.
Maybe a dill or something a bit more delicate
might have given that relief just to the richness,
but the flavors that you coaxed out of here
-in 30 minutes, epic job. -Thank you.
Okay, I like it.
Not to be outdone, though, Chef Maneet.
There is a etouffee-style crawfish fennel pilaf,
tomato curry sauce with some poached lobster,
fennel slaw with fennel fronds.
I used anchovies in all the different layers,
so I just wanted to get seafood in each and every bite.
There's a reason why you've won twice,
and there's a reason why you've beaten me twice.
I love this sauce.
This tomato, fenugreek, fennel combination
is just absolutely in your bag.
I like the etouffee, but I just don't love crawfish.
I almost don't think if the dish had more anchovies
and no crawfish, I might like it a little bit more.
Thank you.
This is just a really beautiful and fun dish to eat.
I love the fennel. It's a little bit pickled.
It's a little bit sweet.
It really provides that balance and that relief
because there's so much richness in this dish.
But just the layers of flavors that are coming out of this dish
are really fun and yet incredibly elegant.
Thank you.
Wow, wow, wow, wow.
It's like the best of New Orleans, the best of India.
How you manage to balance all of those techniques,
flavors, and regions of the world,
extraordinary for me. I love the dish.
I think for both of you, the lobster presented
its challenges.
Thank you very much.
Quite a battle. We're gonna send you back to the kitchens,
let them deliberate, and you guys can stew.
Thank you so much.
They both had a little problem cooking the lobster.
Very hard to do.
-They both went a little too far in the end. -[Rocco] Yeah.
What Maneet did here was she gave us so many
interesting, wonderful bites and combinations.
I really enjoyed Jackson. The sauce work is impeccable.
This is way closer than I thought watching the battle.
What a fantastic battle.
Nothing like saying, give us your best.
Give us seafood, and we'll give it to you frozen.
This came down to one simple little factor.
The winner of Beat the Judges Express Lane
and the $5,000 bet will go to...
-TOC champ Maneet Chauhan. Congratulations. -Whoo!
-You did such a good job. -Thank you.
Congratulations, Maneet.
What I love is that you're always up to game.
That's why you're a champ.
Jackson, you did more for yourself calling her out.
And I applaud you for that.
This close. What took you down?
-I would say the seasoning. -[Guy] No.
She gave them a break.
They could go back to that fennel salad,
clean that palate up.
But for the guy that's only competed two times,
to the chef that's competed a million times,
I think it was job well done.
So, Jackson, very proud of you, man.
Very proud of you.
[Jackson] Cooking alongside Maneet was just such a pleasure.
She was just so killer out there.
It's an honor to have cooked just next to her.
Thank you.
It was not an easy win.
Jackson did an absolutely incredible job.
In Flavortown, it can be anybody's game.
Jackson goes home with 10,000 bucks.
Chef Maneet, of course, another 5,000 bucks to her big winnings.
And you got to join us next time on Triple-G. Adios.
-Congrats, man. -Thank you, brother.
-Very happy for you. Awesome. -Appreciate it.