Tonight in Flavortown Mark--
Hunter, Damaris, what are you doing?
[Hunter speaks in hushed tone]
Shh!
"Desert games"?
Shh!
It's a game where we search the store for food found in the desert.
It's "Dessert Games," two S's. Dessert!
Well, now I'm very excited.
Oh... Damaris, please go get changed.
That was a close one. Tonight, four dessert chefs are creating delicious treats
while playing my devious games.
Clean up on aisle one!
[Guy] It's gonna be fun, it's gonna be sweet,
and I might even learn something along the way.
I know three-star chefs who can't do that.
[Guy] It's Dessert Games right now on Guy's Grocery Games.
Dessert, not "desert"!
So let's meet our dessert chefs.
Now, first up, we have Sarah Wallace,
head of culinary production at a donut shop in Somerville, Massachusetts,
where she gets to invent new donuts every day.
What a cool job.
Hold the phone, Guy's Grocery Games, we're turning it dessert.
I always say that cooking is to sustain yourself
but baking is to indulge yourself.
Union Square Donuts is just fantastic.
We do brioche-based donuts with all of these different glazes.
We make the best donuts in Boston.
-Good luck, Chef. Go get 'em. -Thank you.
Next, we have Jamal Lake,
baker, owner of a West Palm Beach bakery,
who spends his days making custard cakes, cupcakes and ganache.
[Jamal] Growing up in the Virgin Islands,
I was that skinny kid that just loved too much cake.
Being from the Virgin Islands,
I like to infuse the tropical flavors in my desserts,
like guava and key lime and definitely the rum.
St. Croix do really makes good rum.
[Guy] And then there's Caleb Fischer,
owner of a family farmstead in Auburn, Alabama,
that delivers breads, pastries and specialty desserts.
[Caleb] Everyone always says that baking's a science
and you have to be really strict about it,
but I completely disagree with that.
There's no problem breaking the rules.
My wife and I just started Fischer Family Farmstead
and what we hope to do is raise money for a non-profit
by selling cakes, breads, pastries, specialty items.
What, do you carry them in arms? You don't even have a truck.
Does he pull the wagon?
And finally, Lasheeda Perry, the Los Angeles pastry chef who runs her own company
where she does everything from virtual baking classes, to pastry pop-ups.
The Queen is here! [chuckling]
The Queen of Flavor is in Flavortown!
I like to use unique ingredients on my desserts
such as matcha, ube, saffron.
I'm not afraid to take risks in the kitchen.
Tonight, the rich dessert could earn you riches.
However, for some of you, your dreams could deflate faster than a failed souffle.
The chef with the lowest score at the end of round one will check out early.
But if you have highest combined score at the end of both rounds
you'll get to shop Flavortown Market for up to of 20,000 bucks.
And, ladies and gentlemen, it doesn't get much sweeter than that.
So, to kick off the Dessert Games
I want you to make the judges a handheld, fried dessert.
That perfect, sweet, fried bite that will transport the judges to dessert heaven.
-You know what I'm talking about? -Yeah.
[Guy] Now, as we know on dessert shows,
you normally get much longer than 30 minutes to cook, correct?
But here at GGG, when they zig, we zag
so I'm only giving you 20 minutes.
-Wow. -That's not right!
[Guy] That is right. I'm call this "Sugar Rush"
because for this, you're gonna need to speed around with those carts
in a way that, well, I'll tell you what, hang on one second.
My son, Hunter, hang on a second. What do you need?
Sorry, guys. Sorry.
There's a problem The cart tech guy...
-What about the cart tech guy? -Well, I think...
See, I know that one and I believe that one...
Honestly, they might all be screwed up on the wheels, right now. I don't know.
Listen, so what we have is the wheels lock up sometimes,
people go over the carts, groceries everywhere...
[Hunter] We've just ordered new wheels. Just ordered new ones.
All right, well, do me a favor,
just get the carts out of the way. This is ridiculous.
-Hurry up. Let's go. -[Hunter] All right.
-Sorry, guys. -I'm sorry about this, folks.
[Hunter] Sorry about that, folks.
Whoa, we'll get these fixed right away.
All right, here's the deal, we pivot, right?
We zig, they zag.
So, not only is this going to be a handheld, fried dessert,
this is going to be a handheld shopping
because we're also playing No Carts Allowed. Okay?
20 minutes to shop, prepare and plate your handheld fried dessert.
When you start, you start down aisle eight.
Do not start... 'Cause I can't have you go down aisle four.
Sometimes people go four, and then they'll hit the three,
they'll circle around the two, and they'll go to one.
You can't go there. You have to go to eight first, okay?
Just want to make sure we're good with that. All right.
-You excited? -[all] Yes.
And you guys know where the clock is, right?
[Sarah] Right.
Oh! Oh!
-[contestants muttering] -[Guy laughing]
[Guy] That was perfect.
[Jamal] So, Guy wants us to make a handheld fried dessert,
but I don't have a shopping cart
and I only have 20 minutes to shop and complete this dessert.
So I've got to think really smart.
So, when I think of handheld dessert,
I automatically think of a dessert that we have in the Virgin Islands
called guava empanada.
I cannot make this dough from scratch, so I got frozen empanada dough.
For the filling of my empanada I'm gonna need guava,
white chocolate and cream cheese.
This is Sugar Rush, and I'm definitely going to give the judges a sugar rush.
Get ready, judges.
Twenty minutes is really tough.
I'm from the south. we eat hand pies all the time. It's a Southern staple.
So, I'm making a cherry, apricot hand pie.
[laughing] Why is this so difficult?
Without having a cart, I've really got to be
really selectful with the products I choose.
And I don't have time to make my own dough,
so I'm gonna grab these empanada shells.
-[Jamal] Oh, you've copied me! -[Caleb laughs]
I see empanada dough, I see...
more empanada dough.
[Guy] They know it.
[Sarah] Rice pudding...
20 minutes, it's a very, very short amount of time
so I'm thinking rice pudding because I love rice pudding.
So I'm gonna get some minute rice, but it's gotta be fried.
I'm gonna do a rice pudding arancini.
Ooh, breadcrumbs.
I'm grabbing the breadcrumbs.
Because this is a fried challenge,
I want that nice, golden brown, crispy, fried outside.
I want something kind of light to freshen it up,
so I'm gonna get some berries and then I'm gonna get a little baby food
because they're all just pureed fruits
with no added sugars or anything.
It's just fruit.
[breathlessly] Anything else? I think I'm good.
[Lasheeda] Tortillas. Tortillas. Tortillas.
-[Guy] What are you looking for? -Tortillas.
-[Guy] Over on nine. -You're the best!
For my handheld fried dessert, I thought of donuts
and then, I'm, like, "I don't have time to make a donut", not in 20 minutes.
So my mind automatically went, "A sweet taco!"
Oh!
I love corn tortillas, I grab them
Okay.
and then I grab matcha, which is a green tea powder,
to make a matcha whip with strawberry sugar
because strawberry and matcha,
they go perfectly together.
I don't have a lot of time. Get some fruit.
I want a bitter note to it. Kumquats come to mind.
They're small, I can candy them really quickly.
Oh, I've got to get some alcohol.
And I'm grabbing orange cognac for an extra oomph
'cause, you know, I'm the Queen of Flavor.
[laughs]
All right. Time to go cook.
Once they're back in their station, there's no more shopping.
I hope they got everything they needed.
Here to critique tonight's sweets is our sweet panel of experts.
Food Network star, confectionary expert
and an experienced dessert guide,
the one and only, Damaris Phillips.
I did say "dessert" and not "desert".
James Beard award-winning cookbook author
and New York restaurant icon,
the one and only OG legend himself, Chef Rocco DiSpirito!
Thank you, brother. Thank you, guys. Thank you.
And acclaimed restauranteur, whose deconstructed desserts are legendary,
the one and only Chef Michael Voltaggio.
AKA the Flavortown sweetheart.
[laughs]
[Lasheeda] Where's my fryer?
The first thing I need to do is start frying those tacos
because they can't be warm
because I need to fill them with the matcha and strawberry whips.
It looks like Lasheeda's frying taco shells, right now...
-Ooh. -...for some kind of a dessert taco.
[Rocco] Taco shells are so salty.
It's gonna be curious to see how she turns it
-to something sweet. -Yeah.
[Lasheeda] There we go.
[sharp exhale] Oh, shoot.
I've never made a sweet taco like this before,
but I'm going to take a risk here and wing it.
How do I get these good and crispy, though?
I'm struggling over here with getting the tortillas to hold that taco shape.
Oh, they're not puffing up the way I want them to.
This is crazy, like, I don't have time for this.
[chuckles worriedly]
[Guy] 15 minutes! 15 to go.
It's in the fryer.
This is crazy. 20 minutes to make a fried sugared taco.
Like... [exhales]
-I could use a tip, Chef. -Talk to me.
I wanna make a sweet crispy taco,
but I'm having a hard time getting it to hold that shape.
I know you have a solution for this.
You just stay right there, Chef.
I called my favorite "Guy". [laughing]
There you go, Chef, taco molds.
I love you, I love you, I love you.
-Uh, who's your buddy, who's your pal? -You're my guy!
-Yes, Chef. -You're just gonna have to hold them there for a second.
-Got it! -Okay?
You're all right. You're my "Guy".
[Guy] 14 minutes! All right, Chef, gameplan?
Stone fruit, and then with that a little bit of thyme.
-And you're gonna put this inside of an empanada? -Yeah.
Okay. Good luck.
[Caleb] The first thing I'm gonna get going is the fillings.
Some dried cherries, elderflower liquor, a little thyme, apricot jam.
After I get the filling made, I run them over to the blast chiller.
I'm running short on time. I've got to get my fillings in my hand pies
but I'm worried if I put the hot filling onto the empanada dough,
I won't get the empanada dough to seal.
How's it going, Jamal?
-I'm doing good. And you? -[Caleb] Good.
[Jamal] First thing I gotta do is open up these empanada shells,
let them defrost while I work on the filling.
Put in my mixer: cream cheese and a little bit of sugar.
The reason I'm adding white chocolate
is to tone down the saltiness of the cream cheese
because those empanada shells might be a little salty,
so I wanna make sure I've got the perfect balance of salty and sweet.
[Guy] We have 11 minutes left, Chefs, 11 minutes!
[Sarah] First thing I get started on is my berry sauce.
Oh, I haven't put the baby food in there.
I have my mixed berry baby food. I add a little bit of sugar.
Oh, look at the little scoop!
And I get that cooking on the stove.
[whispering] There we go.
Next, I need to work on my rice pudding arancini.
I take minute rice, I'm gonna pop it into the microwave,
and then I'm gonna mix it into my rice pudding.
Everybody likes cinnamon on their rice pudding.
Now I'm gonna shape it all into a ball.
The thing that concerns me about Sarah's direction is that...
-You have concern already? -...is being able to mold that arancini...
-[Rocco] Yeah. -...you know, 'cause usually
-you're working with cold risotto. -[Rocco] Yes.
-Yes. -Being able to shape that, to bread it, to fry it,
might be tough.
[Sarah] Put these in the blast chiller.
I'm going to pop it into the blast chiller so it stiffens up a little bit
so when I dredge it it doesn't all fall apart.
All right.
This'll work great, but I'm nervous that 20 minutes
is a very, very short amount of time to really develop a lot of flavor.
It feels like two seconds.
[Guy] Ten minutes to go!
All right, that's all I got time for.
My tortillas are done. Now I'm going to coat these fried tacos
with some granulated sugar and cinnamon.
Just the outside, 'cause it can become too sweet.
Next, I'm going to make my strawberry whip
which is my filling for them.
I have some cream and the strawberry sugar.
And a little big of orange cognac.
I love boozy desserts.
I have my strawberry whip whipping.
I'm going to slice up my kumquats to candy them.
Water and sugar and get them on the stove.
Now I'm going to make this matcha.
Some matcha powder and some heavy cream.
Seven and a half minutes!
[Caleb] While my filling is in the blast chiller,
I'm going to start working on my Chantilly.
Heavy cream, powdered sugar.
My filling is chilled.
I'm gonna start and put this filling into the empanada dough.
I think my advantage in this competition
is that I don't have a huge sweet tooth.
I think that's what helps me to incorporate a lot of savory elements
into desserts, is because it gives me something
that allows me to provide something sweet and decadent for everybody else
and still be able to play to my own likes.
Golden brown there, buddy.
[Caleb] I pull my hand pies out of the fryer.
If I put them in the glaze while it's still hot,
it'll ensure that I get a really thin coating of the glaze.
[Guy] Six minutes! Six to go!
[Jamal] I've got to put my empanadas together.
So I put my guava pears down, the cream cheese filling.
Oh, yeah, this is gonna be so good!
I crimp my empanadas, and I put them in the fryer.
I love a little pineapple and... Oh!
I'm gonna start working on the piña colada sauce.
I put the frozen pineapple puree in a pot, add some of my coconut cream.
The pineapple is gonna bring that extra little acidity to balance this dessert.
The pineapple with it. Oof! I love that.
[Guy] Five minutes, five to go!
-What's in the blast chiller? -The arancini. I gotta go pull them out, actually.
Hang on one 'sec.
She's very organized.
[Sarah] Yeah, you're good.
I check on my arancini in the blast chiller and they're perfect.
And I'm gonna roll it in my egg and then the bread crumbs.
So when I fry it it'll get nice and crispy.
Fry, little babies!
Get in there! [mimics whooshing]
While my arancini is frying,
I'm going to blend up my sauce, and then I'm going to pass it through a sieve.
'cause I want to see a nice, smooth sauce.
It'll look nice and refined.
You're looking done.
Two minutes, chefs, two to go!
[Lasheeda] I put down my sugar-coated fried taco,
my strawberry whip.
Next, I added my matcha whip
and then my candied kumquats and my micro mint.
That took 20 minutes of my life!
[Guy] Guys, you've got 90 seconds. You got to get plated!
[Caleb] When I'm thinking of friend, hand held desserts,
I'm thinking of the county fair.
I'm gonna put it in a basket with some parchment paper.
And then I scoop my Chantilly into the ramekins
and put them alongside of it.
-[Guy] One minute! -Thank you.
[Jamal] I put my empanadas onto the fryer.
They're nice and golden.
Now I gotta get the cinnamon sugar on.
I'm gonna put my piña colada dipping sauce in a little ramekin.
Ooh, Jamal's using those fry baskets
which I think is so cute for a fried dessert challenge.
[Guy] 30 seconds to plate!
[Sarah] I put my sweet berry sauce down into my plate
and then I put my little arancini right in the middle
and they're perfect.
Five, four, three, two, one.
That's it! Stop working.
[cheering and applause]
[Rocco] Nice job, everybody, nice job.
[Damaris] This is very impressive.
-Good job, y'all! -[Guy] All right, folks,
it's time to give the judges a sugar rush!
Follow me right this way.
Judges, this is it. Round one of GGG Dessert Games,
and our chefs had to play a little Sugar Rush
to make a handheld fried dessert in just 20 minutes
and they were so happy.
They could only grab all the ingredients they needed in one shop
and what was in their hands.
Chef Caleb, you're up first. Tell us what you made.
So, in the style of fried pie, it's a cherry and apricot fried pie.
In that filling there's a little bit of thyme that I cooked into the filling.
The dough itself, is an empanada dough.
Caleb, what I really appreciated was how you got the flavors of sweet,
sour, bitter and a little bit of salt in there.
It eats like a sophisticated fine dining dessert.
Great gameplay.
I love how this is clearly handheld.
I love that there's a dipping sauce that's also handheld
so you can walk around and, you know, enjoy this.
Grabbing dried fruit as well as the jam
makes me feel like you cooked the filling yourself.
Then to add the thyme is lovely.
Herbs and desserts are so underutilized.
Thank you.
All right, not to be outdone, Chef Sarah.
Today for my handheld fried dessert,
I made a rice pudding arancini.
I used the premade rice pudding,
but then I also got the minute-30 rice
to kinda bulk it up a little bit.
And then I wanted to have a little tart dipping sauce in there, too,
that would be fun.
That's why there's a little bit of baby food in there too.
Okay, one, we've never seen a sweet arancini in Flavortown.
Two, we've never seen anybody go use baby food 'cause they wanted to!
It's fantastic.
Sarah, you can tell that you make donuts for a living.
The texture on the inside is giving me this beautiful little chew.
For me, it's a little one-note.
It's, like, just fruit and sweet.
And I think any other heat or spice or herb
would have made it pop a little bit more.
I was really impressed with all the technique.
The passing of the sauce, the blending, the pureeing.
Clearly, you know what you're doing.
Plating-wise, I thought it was a beautifully-plated dessert.
But I think the filling on the inside,
because you mixed the minute rice into the rice pudding,
that needed a little bit more flavor added to it
just to make it, like, pop a little bit more on the inside.
Gotcha.
Thank you very much, chefs. All right, next up, Chef Jamal.
What I made for you guys is a guava
and cream cheese empanada and a piña colada sauce.
So, inside the empanada, I have a white chocolate, cream cheese filling,
and I did a little cinnamon sugar on the outside
so it kind of gives it that little churro kind of flavor.
Jamal, I think it's brilliant. This definitely feels like a handheld dessert,
so great gameplay there.
And I liked how, like, flaky and light your dough felt
on the outside of your empanada.
-But the entirety of the dessert is a little sweet. -Okay.
The combination of the big chunks of guava with the cream work great.
I like the pineapple sauce a lot.
I think that would have worked great on its own as its own dessert.
But together, they also work well.
[Damaris] It's fried very, very well.
For me, the only miss is I don't need the white chocolate.
I think the white chocolate's actually fighting with the guava
and the guava with this, like, piña colada almost pudding
-is so beautiful. -Okay. Good.
Well, not to be outdone... Chef Lasheeda's next.
For the Sugar Rush challenge, I made a sweet taco
filled with both a matcha and strawberry whip.
To bring in some tartness, I lightly candied some kumquats.
Chef Lasheeda, I think you did a really nice job of creating an expectation
and then exceeding it.
I love the combination of flavors, but I wish it was a tiny bit crispier
so that when I bit it it didn't squash out all the filling.
The creams themselves are beautiful.
They taste delicious, but they were so refined
that the flavor of the corn was masking all the work
that you put into creating the flavor and the texture in the cream
and so it just sort of disappeared when it hits your palate.
This is an absolutely stunning dish.
For me, the only problem is that it's not handheld.
Because I wanna get in there, but it's just falling everywhere
making it a little hard for it to be a fried handheld dessert.
Thank you.
Chefs, you crushed it. Dynamite job.
Unfortunately, somebody gets sent home after this round.
So we're gonna send you back to the kitchens.
We'll call you back when we have a decision. Thank you.
Judges, remember we have 20 points available on gameplay.
20 points available on taste and ten points for plating for a possible of 50 points.
And it's time to see who is about to be deserted.
[Guy] Let's take a look at the scores.
Sarah, you get a 16 out of 20 in gameplay.
14 out of 20 in taste.
Eight out of ten in plating for a score of 38.
Jamal...
16 out of 20 in gameplay.
13 out of 20 in taste.
Nine out of ten in plating for a 38 also. A tie!
Caleb...
16 out of 20 in gameplay.
15 out of 20 in taste.
Eight out ten in plating for a 39.
A one point edge. You definitely aren't going home.
And that leads us to Lasheeda.
15 out of 20 in gameplay. 14 out of 20 in taste.
Eight out of ten in plating, for a 37.
One point behind the tie of 38.
And you know what...
when I look at that 37, all I can remember is that
when you are the Queen of Flavor
you do not leave Flavortown, you're staying.
[cheering and applause]
You cannot throw the Queen of Flavor out of Flavortown, folks.
Second round, deciding round, comes up now.
Back to your carts and good luck!
Whoo! That was awesome.
Chefs, for the final round, I want you to prove you are the master of sweet treats
by making your signature dessert.
The one, that when people talk about you they go, "Oh, my gosh."
Now, I saw a lot of fruit in round one
so I was thinking, "What would go better than fruit, than vegetables?"
And to help you out, we're going to play a little game of Produce Toss.
What you'll do, is you will take one of these fresh fruits
wing it from your cart into this basket
and whatever basket you land,
you must include that ingredient in your signature dessert.
So, you could score zucchini, sweet potato, butternut squash,
canned beets, party, avocado or corn.
-Caleb, you can go first. -All right.
Step up, step in, come in and win!
-What are you aiming for? -I want corn.
-[Caleb] That's it. -[all cheering]
[Guy] Corn it is! Sarah, what are you going for?
Corn as well.
[screams with delight]
All right, Jamal, what's it gonna be?
I am going for sweet potato.
-[Guy] Did you get it? -[Jamal] Yeah!
-Okay, are you ready, Lasheeda? -Yes.
-What are you gonna go for? -Either avocado or sweet potato.
Well, they're kinda in the club.
-Sweet potato it is! -This is ridiculous.
-So, they all got exactly what they wanted. -[Rocco laughing]
Two have played for corn, they got it.
Two played for sweet potato, you got it.
You must create a signature dish using that ingredient.
You can shop for anything else you want in the store.
You have 30 minutes to shop, prepare and plate your signature dessert.
Now, just so you guys understand this,
out of the four of you, had I only let three of you pick which ones you wanted,
if you two had gotten sweet potato
and I only let one of you go and use it, that would...
There we go! Now they're fired up!
I caught it that time!
Sweet corn.
[Sarah] I have to make a signature dessert using corn.
Oh, duh, I went passed it.
There's so many yummy things you can do with corn
to make it sweet, and I love corn bread.
So for my signature dessert, I'm thinking of making a waffle.
I think that breakfast is the first opportunity in the day
that you can have dessert, and so why shouldn't it be?
I need some popcorn.
And then I'm thinking, "What's another way to use corn? Popcorn!"
And what a nice little accent right on top
with a kettle corn whipped cream.
Whoo.
I'm grabbing blueberries because I feel like blueberries and corn,
they just go together.
It's like the perfect little fruit-vegetable marriage.
Oh, I've made a mess! Clean-up on aisle one!
Okay, okay, you've got this, Lasheeda.
I was at the bottom, the first round.
I need to show why I'm here.
Sweet potato...
I got sweet potato.
What goes well with sweet potato?
Okay, caramel goes well with sweet potato.
I'm making a dulce de leche lava cake
because it's easy to put together and typically it bakes fast.
Sweet potatoes in here.
And I'm going to do ube sweet potato ice cream.
Um...
There's a variety of purple sweet potatoes in the world.
Ube is very popular in the Philippines.
[Michael] Lasheeda grabbed ube which, as we know,
is in a Filipino dessert. It's a purple yam.
[Lasheeda] Could do a whiskey.
I grab some whiskey as well because I need a sauce to go with this lava cake.
I got to start cooking.
-Yeah, it'd be a good idea. -Time to go.
Okay, go get them, sister. She's got booze in there.
I need eggs. Eggs, eggs, eggs.
[Jamal] When I think of a signature dessert, I think molten lava cake.
I am king of the molten cake.
Sweet potatoes.
I'm going to make a spin on sweet potato pie
by making a sweet potato swirl ice cream
with my famous chocolate molten lava cake.
-[Sarah] Pardon me. -[Jamal] Sorry.
Chocolate molten lava cake pairs well with ice cream,
but I'm not going to make ice cream in Flavortown in 30 minutes from scratch.
That's too much of a risk.
So, to make my ice cream, I'm gonna grab a can of sweet potatoes...
Which aisle has the cans of sweet potatoes?
-Sweet potato right there, bud. -[Jamal screeches]
...puree it down, and I'm gonna swirl my sweet potato concoction
into a ready-made ice cream so I got a really fancy vanilla bean gelato.
So, I like to top my sweet potato pie with meringue
so I'm gonna use some marshmallow fluff
and that is going to replace my meringue aspect in my dessert.
I kinda eat a lot of pie.
That's a crowded row.
I wanted corn
because corn's one of those ingredients
that really lends itself well to sweet and savory applications.
Frozen berries.
So, for my signature dessert, I'm going to make a corn and berry cobbler
with a salted butter ice cream.
Milk, cream...
So, for my ice cream, extracts are great
because they lend a quick and easy way to add flavoring.
And so in Flavortown, when time is of the essence, you gotta use the extracts.
For my corn muffin, typically I'd use in-season grilled corn for this.
But I'm cooking in Flavortown so I gotta do a hack,
so I'm grabbing the canned cream corn.
We've got to pull out all the stops for round two.
We're playing for $20,000 here. It's got to be perfect.
This is where they're going to get creative.
They should really bring it all out here.
[Guy] 27 minutes. People are getting after it.
I think I see a little cobbler going.
-Cobbler with... -[Caleb] Sweet corn muffin.
I may get a little crazy, maybe salt and butter ice cream.
-[Guy] Do you think you'll have that kind of time? -Yes.
Okie-dokie.
[Caleb] So, the first thing I need to do
is get these berries in the cast irons,
add a little bit of sugar, a splash of vanilla
and place them in the oven.
There we go.
Knowing I have to get ice cream in as soon as these berries are in the oven,
I got to get that base going.
I get my milk and heavy cream into a pot, add some eggs,
and whisk in a little bit of sugar and some corn starch to make a slurry.
Making ice cream, it could be a bit of a risk.
You really have to get the texture right
and there's a lot that can go wrong in it.
But, without risk, there's no reward.
My wife is a special needs teacher
and I have a passion for working with at-risk youth
and so if I win the $20,000 today,
I'm gonna put it towards the Fischer Family Farmstead
in hopes that we can build it out to be a resource
for special needs adults and at-risk youth.
Making fresh ice cream in a competition is very difficult.
[Caleb] How are you doing, Jamal? What are you making?
I'm making, like, a spin on sweet potato pie.
-[Caleb] Using fresh or frozen? -[Jamal] Canned, baby.
So, the first thing I do is start on my sweet potato ice cream.
So, I open up a can of sweet potatoes
and I put it right into my blender
and get it going so it's nice and smooth.
I'm going to be adding some cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.
After it's nice and smooth I'm going to put it in a pot
because I want to bring that sweet potato back to life.
Now I'm going to put that in a blast chiller
because I'm using premade ice cream
so if I add this hot sweet potato in there,
the ice cream is going to melt.
Definitely think it's smart gameplay
to grab the premade ice cream just like Jamal did and add other flavors to it.
[Jamal] I'm one point behind the leader
and if I execute it right
I could win $20,000 with this signature dessert
and that money is going to come in really handy
'cause there's opportunity for me to expand my bakery
and this would totally give us the extra capital that we need.
I need this $20,000. Give me the money, Guy. Give me the money.
[Guy] 20 minutes left!
I'm going to make a corn bread waffle with some corn in it.
Breakfast of champion.
So, the first thing I'm going to get started on is my corn bread waffle.
Mix.
So, I get my eggs, my oil and my milk and I make my corn bread mix.
Corn bread, corn-corn.
I add handfuls of the frozen corn in there.
Are you hot yet? Yeah.
I scoop my batter in there
and let it cook in the waffle iron.
Ah! I'm going to make a blueberry syrup.
Usually when I make my waffles, I love to make a homemade fruit sauce with it
so I get a pot. I'm going to put my blueberries in there.
You know what, I'm going to keep a couple out for garnish.
and put a little bit of sugar.
I want to bring that $20,000 home so bad.
Nine months ago we had our son, Jonah,
and I would love to put it in a bank account
so that Jonah can go to whatever school he wants to.
My parents set me up with my education
so I want to do the same thing for Jonah and set him up for success.
-What's on the game plan? -I am making a dulce de leche lava cake
with a sweet potato ice cream.
I like the energy and attitude.
[Lasheeda] I need to get this ice cream done first.
To start my ice cream I have some milk, some heavy cream, some sugar.
I added my defrost sweet potato cubes.
This is my secret surprise here for my sweet potato.
and a little bit of ube extract,
It's a purple sweet potato.
It's actually a smart move. It gives it a really vibrant, vibrant color.
Look at that. Do you see that?
-That is some purple. -Oh, it matches my shirt.
Blend it up.
Oh. That got me real good. [laughs]
strain it real quick
and dash over to the ice cream machine.
I pour the base in there.
I'm thinking in the back of my head,
a batch this size, it should take roughly five minutes,
so I'm like, "Okay, just let that be,"
Coming through!
and I want another component to this dish
so I'm taking this lingonberry jam
and I'm going to add a little bit of bourbon
just to give it that little kick and that's my sauce.
Whoo!
I want to win today because I'm actually a great-aunty
and I want my nieces and nephew to know that
when you work hard and you enjoy what you do,
then good things will come to you.
[Guy] Where is everybody?
It's like we evacuated Flavortown.
Everybody's at the ice cream machine.
[Caleb] I run over to the machine, I check on my ice cream.
Let's see where we're at. Oh, beautiful.
It's coming out great. Now I'm going to start working on my corn muffin mixture.
I plan on my corn turning into a sweet corn muffin.
It's going to be used as a cobbler topping.
I'm throwing my flour and my sugar into a bowl.
I also add some eggs and a lot of my sugar's
going to come from the can of corn itself.
[Jamal] Once my sweet potato mixture is cool
all I got to do is fold it into my premade ice cream
and boom... sweet potato ice cream on the fly.
Now I need to start on my chocolate molten lava cake.
I put the couverture chocolate and the butter
in the microwave and get that going.
I got whole eggs, egg yolks and sugar mixing in the mixer.
I got the chocolate butter mixture, fold in some flour.
My strategy was bake it on a high temperature
because the key to the molten cake is
you want the outside to cook but the center to remain soft.
[Guy] 12 minutes, chefs. 12 minutes left.
Lava cake is a very smart choice
if you get it into the oven in time.
[Jamal] So, you got to use this fresh sweet potato and I thought of a genius way.
I'm gonna put sweet potatoes on top of the ice cream.
Coming good.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God. You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
I check on the waffle and it looks perfect
so now I'm just cranking out waffles
because why would you just want one waffle?
Yeah, let's do another.
The last thing I have to do is my whipped cream
so I pop my cream on the stove so that that can start warming up.
I'm going to get my popcorn popping.
So, it looks like Sarah is tripling down on the corn flavor.
She has popcorn kernels and frozen corn.
She's got cornbread waffle. Brilliant gameplay.
-It's definitely... -[Caleb] Yeah.
-...going to be corny. -[Caleb laughs]
-Ah! Corn! -Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop!
[Sarah] As soon as my popcorn's done
I start grabbing handfuls of the popcorn
to put in my heavy cream so it can start absorbing all that flavor.
Easy!
Because I want this to be a kettle corn whipped cream
I'm going to add a little sugar.
This is the sweet show.
Now I'm going to strain my popcorn out of my cream
and then I'm going to start whipping that up.
Ooh! I like kettle corn.
[Lasheeda] Time to check my ice cream. Coming down.
Little legs are going!
I run back to check on my ice cream
and, yeah, it had a little surprise for me.
Overspun. Damn it!
I overspun my ice cream.
Oh, look at that ube ice cream. Wow.
It's rock hard. You can see the fat is not the same.
Oh, no.
-Like frozen butter shards. -[Michael] Oh, no.
I got more base. Don't you trip, you got more base.
I'm not going to panic because I did not
put all of my base into the machine.
Something told me not to spin it all.
Lord, am I happy for that.
I'm going in there a second time.
At this point, I'm wasting time for this ice cream.
Lasheeda is respinning her ice cream.
This is the second attempt.
[Lasheeda] Now it's time to start these lava cakes.
I need to get these in ASAP.
I cracked a couple eggs, I'm going to add some flour
and I'm not adding any sugar to this recipe because I'm adding tons
of that caramelized sweet and condensed milk.
Mix that very well and then portion it into the ramekins.
Okay, cakes are in. All right.
Better. Much better.
The ice cream is looking good.
I'm hoping it's going to be enough.
[Guy] Four minutes. Four minutes to be plated and finished.
I check on the molten cake. They're looking beautiful.
I pull them out the oven, now it's time for plating.
I'm going to put my sweet potato coulis down on the plate,
then I get a little quenelle of the marshmallow fluff
and I'm going to torch that to give it that perfect torchy element.
Then, I put the sweet potato ice cream
in these mini cast-iron skillets,
then I get my chocolate molten cakes on the plate,
dust it with some powdered sugar
and then top the ice cream with the sweet potato garnish.
It's simple but it has some good vibes in there, you know?
[Guy] Three minutes!
[Caleb] The corn muffins are great.
There's not much color so I'm going to grab a torch
so I can brown the tops.
I need a little bit of caramelization
to really round out the flavors.
I'm plating my ice cream separate from the cobblers
'cause I don't want the heat from the cobbler to melt the ice cream.
[Guy] 60 seconds!
Let's see which one of you guys look good.
I'm plating these cornbread waffles.
I'm going to pour that blueberry syrup on top.
I need a piping bag.
Now that my corn cream is done I put it in my piping bag
and I want to give them this nice, beautiful rosette on top.
Breakfast in the skillet.
Okay. Yeah, I think that's good.
Ah, my cakes aren't baking.
You got 15 seconds! Pull those cakes, Chef.
[Lasheeda] I'm taking my lava cakes out of the oven
and it's not where I need them to be.
Lasheeda's cakes are not done.
[Lasheeda] I had no choice but to put the ice cream on there.
Sometimes you got to improvise.
I know it's going to melt, but I can sell this.
I'm going to call it a sweet potato custard
and then to finish it off I have my lingonberry, whiskey sauce.
You got to get them on that plate.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Stop working, chefs!
-[applause] -That was rough.
All right, judges, this is it, game two of our dessert game.
The chefs had to make a signature dessert
using one vegetable they tossed for.
The first chef, Sarah, got corn. Please tell us what you made.
Great. So, let's start off with breakfast.
So, they are cornbread waffles.
I made a blueberry syrup with a little bit of lemon
and then I made a kettle corn cream
and it has a little bit of corn
in the cornbread waffle itself.
Sarah, this is a delicious dish.
I cannot believe how much corn flavor
and specifically popcorn flavor you got into that.
You took your whammy ingredient and tripled down on it,
maybe quadrupled down on it.
There was frozen corn kernels, popcorn, corn in the cream, corn in the waffle mix,
or [in Boston accent] "waffle," depending on where you're from.
-[laughs] -I think it tastes incredible.
It's such a good breakfast that it's less of a dessert.
Up next, Chef Caleb. You had corn, buddy. Tell us.
My signature dish
is a sweet corn and berry cobbler over a mixed berry compote.
the ice cream itself is a salted butter ice cream.
I think it's delicious. I love a hot, steamy sort of cake
with the cobbler underneath
and then having the melty ice cream on top of it, it's delicious.
This speaks ambition to me. You made your own ice cream.
That's very risky, to make ice cream, but you managed to do it.
Because this is so creative, it definitely says "signature."
For me, the batter is a little bit overworked.
You developed a little bit too much gluten in that
-so it's a little tough. -Thank you.
All right, thank you very much, judges.
Up next, Chef Jamal, sweet potato. What did you make us?
So, I made chocolate molten lava cake
with a sweet potato coulis, sweet potato ice cream,
garnished with fresh sweet potato fries.
There's also a little toasted meringue on there.
Chef Jamal has nailed a molten cake.
I know three-star chefs who can't do that.
Nicely done, my friend.
This is like a tasting of sweet potatoes dessert and I think that's very smart
because you've got all these individual little components
that you can enjoy separately, but you can also eat them together.
Thank you.
I appreciate that you're giving me three types of sweet potato,
but I might like it more if the ice cream
-was just plopped on the top. -Thank you.
Not to be out done, the one and only Chef Lasheeda.
What do you have for them?
My signature dish is a dulce de leche lava cake with ube
and then to bring some tartness in
is a lingonberry, whiskey sauce.
Wow. The flavors in this dish are sublime.
You're lava cake did not actually turn out, right?
Well, I didn't have time to turn it out.
-[Rocco] Right. -[laughs]
I think you've invented something new here
that is sort of beyond comprehension.
I love that you partnered the very, very sweet caramel sauce
with the lingonberry sauce.
I love the color of this ube ice cream. I thought it was brilliant.
I think the dulce de leche with the sweet potato,
brilliant flavor combination.
For me, the batter is a little underbaked.
-Thank you. -Chefs, awesome job.
We're going to send you back to your kitchens.
We will call you back when we have a decision. Thank you. Excellent job.
Thank you.
[Guy] Remember, we have 20 points available in gameplay,
20 points available in taste and 10 points for plating for a possible of 50 points.
The question is, "Whose signature dessert would you pay $20,000 for?"
Let's take a look. Sarah, 20 points for gameplay. You get 15.
20 in taste, 16. Plating for an eight for a total of 39
and there you have a 77.
Jamal, 18 in gameplay, 18 in taste,
nine in plating. Big score!
45, coming in at 83.
That's monster.
Caleb, you are going to need a 45 to take the title.
16 in gameplay, 15 in taste, eight in plating for a 39.
Doesn't retain his title at 78.
Lasheeda, as Chef Rocco said, you probably invented something new
and the judges were impressed. Let's take a look.
16 in gameplay, 16 in taste, eight in plating for a 40.
Wow, nice score of a 77.
So, there you have it ladies and gentlemen,
our winner, Chef Jamal with an 83.
[all applauding]
Sarah, Caleb and Lasheeda, great job, wonderful to have you.
-Thank you very much. -Thank you.
[applauding]
I truly wanted to win, but Chef Jamal,
he deserves it with a score of 83.
Coming on Guy's Grocery Games was a dream come true
and now, when I go home and I watch it,
I'm still going to scream at the TV
and tell them exactly what to do
even though apparently I didn't know either. [laughs]
-So, are you ready to win some cash? -Yes.
All right. Flavortown Market offers its customers
two fantastic choices about how to win up to $20,000.
Now, the first one we like to call "the recipe spree."
Every ingredient you grab, you get $2,000.
Or we can skip the running around part
and there is a mystery check right behind that door.
-Go ahead and look over your shoulder. -Oh, Lord.
[Guy] Anywhere from $8,000 to $20,000.
-Check behind the door or run around the store. -Well...
I hope you guys are generous. I want the check.
-Yay! -You chose the check!
-[Damaris] Okay. -Yeah.
Show us that check!
-15-5! That's great! -$15,500! Congratulations, my friend!
-[all applauding] -[Jamal] I'm coming home with a smile and $15,500.
GGG desserts! Bup, bup, bup! Virgin Island to the world!
And that's what happens
when we have the dessert games.
Meet the champ, the guy that took them down!
-[cheering] Great job! -And we'll see you next time on Guy's Grocery Games, adiós!