I'm Bobby Flay.
Each week, one brave chef
will try to take me down in my house.
-I'm not worried about Bobby. -What?
Ooh.
This culinary battle is going to shake down in two rounds.
Round one, to get to me, two contenders have to go through each other
using an ingredient of my choice.
-Let's do it! -[audience cheers]
[Bobby] Two people that know me well will decide
who's got the skills to beat me.
Yeah!
[Bobby] Round two, I go head-to-head with the winning contender.
It's their turn to surprise me
with their signature dish.
[singing] ♪ Branzino ♪
-Is that distracting? -You're done.
This is going to be the first one I don't finish.
-Flay's in trouble. -Whoo!
-[Bobby] Bottom line... -No!
Everyone's out to beat me.
[audience cheers]
Grab your tongs and fire up the grills.
It's time to barbecue.
[applause]
Put your hands together for Food Network's Kardea Brown
and the amazing Carson Kressley.
-Oh, hi. -[applause]
Hi, Bobby.
[audience cheers]
Welcome, welcome. You guys look amazing.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
So what color is that jacket?
It's Bahamian Waters.
Ask about the tie.
Okay, what color is the tie?
-Electric papaya. -Wow.
I try to do food things for Bobby.
[Bobby] Yes. All right.
So Kardea, you're running the gingerbread baking contest.
-Ooh. -Judging on that, yeah.
-What else you up to? -Host of Delicious Miss Brown.
Yeah, of course. We're happy to have you in this family, for sure.
Well, you know, Bobby,
the last time I was here, you won.
-And I didn't sleep for a few days afterwards. -Really?
No, because I was here for a job and I didn't do it.
-Well, let's make it happen -[laughing]
-on this episode. -Okay.
Bobby, you've seen how great
this contender's barbecue is before
on BBQ Brawl.
Pitmaster Rashad Jones.
-[Bobby] Yeah. -[audience cheers]
Hey, Rashad.
[laughs]
[Carson] So Bobby, whether he's catering for a barbecue
or beating you back on the day on Throwdown,
there's no doubt our next contender
makes some winning food.
Chef Kent Rollins.
[audience cheers]
Howdy.
-Rashad, Kent, how you doing? -Doing good, my friend.
[Bobby] Here's the way it's going to work.
I'm going to give you an ingredient of my choice,
and you must make that ingredient
the star of your dish.
-Kent, what are you hoping for? -Beef.
What about you, sir?
-Chicken. -[Bobby] Chicken.
All right, Kent. Kind of got your wish.
Top sirloin cap.
There we go.
-[audience] Ooh. -[applause]
[Bobby] Okay, guys.
Carson, Kardea, they will taste your dishes,
and they will decide which one of you
goes up against me in the second round.
20 minutes on the clock.
Don't fall into a trap with this top sirloin cap.
-Go. -[bell dings]
But here's the deal. This is not a tender piece of meat.
So usually, this is something that's slow cooking.
That's not happening here.
I mean, you could pound it out
-really, really thin and grill it. -[Carson] Oh.
You want to bring those barbecue flavors.
Fajitas, perhaps.
They can make a spice rub that tastes like barbecue.
Or they can make burgers.
They could make burgers.
Rashad, how are you going to bring
the barbecue flavors tonight?
[Rashad] I'm going to get this cut down real thin
so it can cook quick.
Top sirloin cap doesn't have a lot of fat marbling throughout it,
so I'm going to cut it extremely thin
to make sure it cooks perfectly and on time.
I'm making a barbecue smoked top sirloin cap and cheddar sandwich
seasoned with salt, pepper, onion, garlic,
and chili flakes for some heat.
My plan is to smoke it and then grill it.
Hickory has vanilla and sweet notes in it
to add some really great flavor to the steak.
I got into barbecue back in 2011
because my wife and I were visiting her uncle Leon.
And his amazing cooking skills
just created an unbelievable experience.
So two years later, I launched Big Lee's,
and I've been on this quest of recreating the love and flavor
that Uncle Leon brought to barbecue.
I've won countless competitions,
including BBQ Brawl season three.
-Rashad. -[all cheer]
But this time, Bobby is going to see what I can do one on one.
I'm here to show my four sons that hard work
and passion can take you anywhere.
-Oh. -Excuse me, brother.
Kent, what's on your mind?
-Maybe fajitas. -[Bobby] We like fajitas.
[Kent] Top sirloin caps got a pretty thick fat wall,
and it's going to make good fajita meat.
I'ma make top sirloin cap barbecue fajita
with a honey chipotle barbecue sauce.
We're going to season the beef
with a little bit of salt, black pepper,
and smoked paprika.
[Bobby] Make sure that's sizzling.
[Kent] Grew up in Hollis, Oklahoma,
and my mother taught me to cook making comfort food classics.
I started working on a small ranch
that my dad had put together.
Then in 1991, I switched from working as a cowboy
to cooking for cowboys on working ranches.
Today, I am the owner of Kent Rollins Cowboy Cooking.
We do a lot of grilling, a lot of Dutch oven cooking.
Many years ago, I beat Bobby in a throwdown
with my chicken fried steak.
Tonight, I'm ready to beat him again,
just to prove that this cowboy
really can cook in New York City.
I hope you're ready to lose.
-16 minutes, fellas, 16 minutes. -[audience cheers]
-Well, hello, cowboy Kent. -How are you, ma'am?
[Kardea] Okay, so what do you got going on here?
A little barbecued fajita meat.
-Spice it up a little. -I know that's right.
[Kent] My plan is to grill the beef first,
get a pretty good char on it,
and then get it into the smoker,
which gives you a better overall flavor.
-[Kardea] All right, I feel it. -[Kent] Thank you, ma'am.
All right.
[Kent] The next thing I'm going to do is
I'm going to get that old smoking bin going,
where you add me some mesquite chips over some high heat.
It's just a great mellow wood to smoke with.
Next, I'm going to caramelize them onions
to bring out all that great flavor.
Rashad, Rashad, what's going on?
[Rashad] The approach is to get this broken down.
[Kardea] That's what we're looking for.
But I also want to pack a lot of flavor into this.
-Ooh, now, how are you going to do that -And, uh...
with that particular cut?
[Rashad] If you cook it perfectly,
and you get it seasoned up really well,
it can happen.
All right, good luck. Thank you.
I'm making a sweet and tangy barbecue sauce.
I break down some garlic, onion with some ketchup,
and apple cider vinegar for the acid punch.
-All right, ooh, that smells of barbecue already. -Yeah.
Oh, it's my cologne.
It's just cumin behind each ear.
[all laughing]
Rashad and Kent are both using wood chips.
That's a very smart way
-to get that barbecue flavor in 20 minutes. -[Carson] Mmm-hmm.
Kent is smoking his peppers, onions, and the steak.
Yeah, I like that.
[Kardea] That's interesting to me
that he grills it first, then smokes it.
-I thought the smoking would happen first, -Happen first. Yeah.
-and then seal in the flavor. -[Kardea] Yeah.
He's got some ketchup. Looks like chipotles.
[Kent] The next thing I have to get started on is the barbecue sauce.
We need some ketchup, chipotle peppers,
and adobo sauce,
brown sugar, molasses,
mustard, and a little bit of honey.
I'm going to go in.
-10 minutes to go. -[audience cheers]
Rashad, this is taking me back.
He won BBQ Brawl.
We ate delicious food.
We cuddled.
Oh, they cuddled?
[Carson] So what is that going to be?
[Rashad] This is going to be a little bit of barbecue sauce.
[Carson] Okay.
We're going with a little bit of honey,
put a little bit of crushed red pepper in there.
And then we're going to use a hearty bread.
[Rashad] We are.
I'm using brioche because I think it'll hold up well to the meat.
Hi, Kent.
Now that's the homemade barbecue sauce.
-Yeah, you want to taste? -[slurps]
[Carson] Oh, that's nice.
-I'm glad you enjoy it. -And then you've got the beef fajitas.
Yeah, but we've got some other secrets to pull out.
Oh, what are the secrets?
I can't tell you, it's a secret.
-You can tell me. -I don't trust you.
I don't know you that long, you know what I mean?
Oh my gosh, you can trust me.
You've got six minutes, you guys.
-Good luck. -[audience cheers]
[Kent] At this point, I pull the beef and the onions off the grill
and get them into the smoker.
So now I take the beef and I get it onto the grill.
I want those charred fire notes
in addition to the smoke.
So Rashad was making a homemade barbecue sauce,
and he's added a little bit of apple cider vinegar
into it as well.
-Mmm. A little tang, a little sweet. -[Carson] Mmm-hmm.
[Carson] Kent, I tasted his sauce.
-It looked deep and rich. -Delicious.
[Kent] First thing down, the warm tortillas with sour cream
to help mellow out some of the spice.
Then I spread my barbecue sauce,
and then I top it with top sirloin cap,
and bell peppers and them onions.
Less than a minute, you guys.
[Rashad] I'm starting with sirloin cap.
Then I'm adding cheddar cheese,
because cheddar pairs really well with beef.
[all] Ten, nine,
eight, seven, six,
five, four,
-three, two, one! -[bell dings]
[audience cheers]
[Bobby] Good job.
Overall, I'm feeling pretty good,
because I'm happy with my barbecue sauce,
and I know this beef is tender.
-Good job, Kent. -Thank you, sir.
[Kent] I feel really good about this.
Know where we come from.
Your food don't have to be fancy.
You can eat it out of a hubcap.
Time to get some barbecue.
Hopefully one of you is going to beat Bobby tonight,
and based on what we're seeing here,
it looks like you might be in a little
trouble in River City.
Rashad, what did you make for us?
So for you, I made a smoked sirloin cap
and cheddar sandwich.
Mmm. Oh.
Delicious, kind of, buttery bread.
And then the sirloin was so tender,
I was actually very surprised.
I wish the cheese were more melted.
It's kind of like little strips of cheese.
My apologies.
Rashad, it's cooked to perfection.
The sauce, sweet, smoky, a little spicy.
But eating it separately, I think
there should have been a little bit more seasoning
-on your sirloin. -Okay.
Chef Kent, tell us what you made.
Sirloin cap, barbecued fajita
with a honey chipotle barbecue sauce.
Hope you enjoy.
It literally tastes like you were outside grilling this.
And the sauce,
sweet, spicy, and everything I love in a barbecue sauce.
But the sirloin cap could have been sliced a little thinner.
It's reading tough.
[Carson] I like the char on the beef.
It has all that great smoky flavor because of it.
But I almost want more of this sour cream
-to give me a break from the smokiness. -Thank you, sir.
[Kent] Sure, the meat could have been sliced thinner,
but I'm confident that I was able to bring them
big barbecue flavors to the plate.
The chef moving forward tonight is...
Chef Rashad.
[audience cheers]
I wish that I sliced the beef a little thinner,
but hey, that's okay.
I've already beaten him once.
Rashad, if I were to go to a barbecue joint
and this would be on the menu, I would order it.
Then come back the next day
-and order the same thing. -Mmm-hmm.
-Thank you. -Now Rashad,
I've seen you win before.
Are you going to keep bringing that winning energy today?
Absolutely.
-All right, Chef. How you feeling? -I feel great.
What are we cooking tonight? What's your signature dish?
My signature dish is...
Barbecue chicken wings.
-[chuckles] -[audience] Ooh.
-[audience applauds] -I love a good chicken wing.
[Bobby] This one I can do.
But you look like you got a little trick up your sleeve.
-I can tell by just looking at you. -[laughing]
45 minutes on the clock, and your time starts now.
[audience cheers]
-Chicken wings in 45 minutes. -Mmm.
[Kardea] Barbecue chicken wings
are basically wings that have been cooked
and then finished on the grill.
-So it gets that nice caramelization on the wings -[Carson] Mmm-hmm.
and gets that smoky flavor as well.
And then we should also be getting like a delicious sauce
-and maybe, like, a little side something. -Mmm-hmm. A little side.
[Rashad] Bobby definitely knows his way around the grill.
But I've cooked thousands of chicken wings
at Big Lee's, and people love them.
I'm making smoked barbecue chicken wings
with a blueberry barbecue sauce,
grilled corn ribs, and a slaw.
Isn't Rashad doing great, everybody?
-[audience applauding] -[Carson] Oh!
[Rashad] So I need to make my slaw first,
so everything has time to marinate.
I'm adding mayo and yogurt for creaminess,
and I zest lemon and garlic.
I add white wine vinegar.
Then I grab bok choy. I cut the top off,
and then I grill the rest.
Rashad, are you charring some romaine?
[Rashad] That's a little bit of bok choy that's going to go
into my, uh, coleslaw to add a refreshing element.
So I kiss my bok choy to the grill
just to give it some smoky notes.
This dish is going to need some texture.
And that grilled bok choy
is going to help balance the dish out.
We've got some savoy cabbage...
Mmm-hmm.
[Rashad] Some lemon zest in here. Grated garlic.
All right, don't tell them everything.
I've made a chicken wing or two in my day.
But a couple of side dishes, sauces,
et cetera, all of a sudden,
your 45 minutes starts to dwindle.
So much to do.
So I am making bourbon and smoked chili
barbecue chicken wings
with a blue cheese ranch sauce,
potato salad,
and I'm going to get a little pickle relish in there as well.
So I get my hickory chips on,
get a little of that barbecue smoke
on the chicken wings,
and then I can fry them at the end.
Bobby, are we going for, like, the Kansas City vibe?
My sauce is going to have some smoked chilies,
and it's going to have some bourbon in it.
Kind of like New Mexico meets Kentucky.
Oh.
-Okay. [laughs] -Happens.
[Bobby] To me, they just go hand in hand,
so we're going to make a barbecue sauce out of them.
It's a little ketchup, Worcestershire sauce
I have molasses, maple syrup,
apple cider vinegar, chipotle,
peppers, and Dijon mustard.
And I'm putting some smoked paprika in there,
and of course, that caramel undertone from the bourbon.
I'm going to find out everything that's going on.
-38 minutes, everybody. -[audience cheers]
Hi, Rashad.
Can I do anything for you?
-Yeah, do you want to taste a little bit of that dressing? -[Carson] Can I help you?
[Carson] Sure.
Mmm. It has a little tang,
because the, um, actual wings
are going to be super spicy.
There's going to be some heat.
We're going to go into the grill,
-and I'm going to smoke them, -Okay.
and then they're going to go in the deep frier.
Okay, I'm going to get out of your hair.
I mean... You know what I mean.
[all laughing]
My dry rub consists of salt, pepper, onion, garlic,
Chinese five-spice. And Worcestershire powder
is a powdered version of the sauce.
It's a great way to add flavor to the wings
without adding that extra moisture,
because you don't want the wings to be sticking
onto my grill grates.
-Hi, Bobby. -[Bobby] Hi.
Look at all these spices.
Should I put these away for you?
-No, I just... -[audience cheers]
Get rid of these vegetables.
I'm going to put these in the fridge.
Do you need me to stir this?
-It looks like it might be burning. -Yes.
[Carson] It's like I'm sleeping with the enemy.
[Kardea] Are you helping him, Carson?
No, no, no. [whispers] I'm supposed to be sabotaging him.
Dishwashing liquid.
Oh, that would be terrible.
All right, let's see.
Just kidding. Okay, carry on.
Going down, Bobby.
Only 28 minutes to go.
Bobby is smoking up some of his chicken wings
-with that hickory wood. Yeah. -[Carson] The chips?
What's in your spice rub?
Some hot smoked paprika,
garlic, and onion powder, some cumin.
[Carson] Bobby, I forgot to ask.
Are you making side dishes?
-I'm going to make some potato salad. -Potato salad.
[Bobby] And I'm going to make, like, a pickled relish.
I'm going to pickle some onions
in grenadine and red wine vinegar
and then mix the pickled red onions
with cucumber pickles, a little bit of olive oil.
And this is going to cut through
the heat of the barbecue sauce.
We got a slaw over here,
-potato salad over here. -Mmm-hmm.
[Bobby] So for my potato salad,
I'm making a dressing out of mayonnaise,
Dijon mustard, whole grain mustard,
a little pickle juice, some fresh dill,
and some scallions.
Not feeling the potato salad.
No, not with the wings.
[Carson] So Rashad
-is going to grill them to cook them. -Okay.
[Carson] The smoke gives it all that great flavor.
-And then you fry them to get that nice, crispy, -A flash fry.
-golden, like a deep fry. -Ooh, okay.
[Rashad] What puts my dish over the edge
is the blueberry barbecue sauce.
So I chop up some onion and garlic,
and I get it into a pan with some melted butter.
Blueberries add tremendous color and amazing flavor.
I'm adding cayenne pepper, brown sugar,
and some vinegar.
Then I add in maple syrup and blueberry moonshine
for that whiskey and deeper blueberry flavor.
Bobby, what are you making now?
[Bobby] I'm making a blue cheese ranch.
No dipping sauce in barbecue.
Bobby, that's called shade.
-I know. -[Rashad laughs]
[Bobby] My blue cheese ranch is sour cream,
buttermilk, onion powder, garlic powder.
Put some lime juice in there, and then some blue cheese,
some fresh dill. I mean,
I mean, why have one when you can have both?
-[Kardea] 16 minutes left on the clock. -[audience cheers]
[Kardea] Now, Bobby.
-[Bobby] Yes, Ms. Brown? -[Kardea] I don't know if you know this,
-but I used to be a cheerleader. -Really?
[Kardea] I was a cheerleader in high school.
Come on now! We got to bring it.
When I say Bobby, you say "me!"
-Bobby! -[audience] Me!
-Bobby! -Me!
-That's how you do it. -[audience cheers]
[Bobby] Okay.
When I say Barbe, you say "cue!"
-Barbe! -[audience] Cue!
-Barbe! -Cue!
-[Rashad laughs] -We got this. I mean,
the wings are smelling incredible.
And then they're going to hit the fryer,
and they're going to be tossing in this barbecue sauce.
We've got blueberry moonshine.
We're going to hit it with the immersion blender.
Blueberry moonshine?
-Yeah. Yeah. -[audience cheers]
-Whoo! -[Kardea] I know you got it.
-[Rashad] Thank you. -All right.
[Rashad] I'm using oak wood chips
because oak is a nice, mild flavor.
[Kardea] Rashad is confident.
-Blueberry moonshine? -Moonshine.
-[Carson] So it's going to have a lot of layers. -Layers of flavor. Absolutely.
Bobby's doing a more spicy sauce.
But with that rub,
-I think it could be, like, too spicy. -Too much. Right.
[Bobby] So now it's time to take the chicken wings
from the smoker into the fryer.
And then I'm going to toss them in the barbecue sauce.
Oh, we got some corn going on over here.
-[Carson] Rashad, are you going to grill the corn? -[Rashad] Yes.
Some of your best barbecue experiences,
there's corn, there's coleslaw.
And then I want to get it into a pot
with some melted butter.
Make sure it's nice and tender.
[Kardea] All right, Chefs, five minutes.
[Rashad] I'm running out of time, so I pull my wings,
and I get them into the deep fryer.
[Kardea] So Rashad has grilled,
-smoked, and then finishing it off in the deep fryer. -Mmm-hmm.
What do you think?
[Kardea] First, it's Bobby who has just smoked
-and then using the deep fryer. -Deep fryer.
[Kardea] So the grill is the difference.
Bobby, you seem concerned.
-Shh, shh. -No, you shh.
-[laughs] -[audience laughs]
[Bobby] Two minutes to go, and I'm rushing a plate.
First, I put the blue cheese ranch sauce.
And then I put four chicken wings on a plate,
a little potato salad on the side,
some of the pickle relish around it.
Looks like a chicken wing fantasy.
Finish up.
[Rashad] First, I get my ramekins down with my slaw
and top it with a sweet orange pepper
to add a little bit of sweetness.
I pull my wings out of the fryer
and get them into the barbecue sauce.
Then I plate my chicken wings, two per plate.
[all] Ten, nine,
eight, seven,
six, five--
[Rashad] I pull my corn ribs out of the pot,
and I top them with cotija cheese.
[all] Two, one! [applause]
[Rashad] I'm feeling really excited.
I know Bobby brings big flavors,
but I don't know if he's ready for this.
[Bobby] It's going to come down to blueberry versus bourbon.
Who are you going to pick?
-Good job. -Thank you, Bobby.
So tonight's challenge was barbecue chicken wings.
Now we'd like to introduce you to our judges.
Head honcho of Bear Creek Smokehouse,
Robbie Shoults.
Creator and host of Mama Tanya's Kitchen,
Mama Tanya.
Chef and co-founder of Rise Donuts,
and Mighty Quinn's BBQ,
Hugh Mangum.
[all applaud]
So judges, you can start with
the first plate in front of you.
[Robbie] The chicken was fabulous.
I love the barbecue sauce.
I thought this had the right amount of sauce
to make it just juicy,
and it really appealed to me.
[Hugh] The blueberry notes are not overbearing at all.
There's a good char, so I'm getting some of that
nice crust on the skin.
The corn is a genius move.
It has, like, this beautiful char
that is almost tying in smoke.
My only drawback is that the chicken just
tugged a little bit.
-It could use a little bit more time. -[Robbie] Yeah.
Yeah, could have been a little more tender.
[Tanya] I would have liked a little bit more smoke
flavor in the chicken,
but I agree that the corn brings that smoke to it.
And while I like the crunchiness of it,
I know this was supposed to be a slaw,
but it felt more like a salad with a rich dressing on it.
Thank you, judges. We'll have you switch your plates.
[Tanya] I love the wings,
and I like that the barbecue sauce had a nice sweetness to it.
Potato salad at Mama Tanya's kitchen,
when we really enjoy something,
we give it a [cooing]
-and this potato salad is a [cooing] -[laughing]
[Tanya] I'm really enjoying this.
The first bite of the chicken was a little bit undercooked.
The relish, I'm a pickle fanatic,
so I love that bright acidic bite.
The only part of the plate
that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me
is the blue cheese ranch sauce.
Where I'm from, it's either blue cheese or it's ranch.
And then we're probably going to have
some sort of west side story fight about it,
-you know? -[audience laughs]
[Robbie] When I eat chicken wings,
I usually like enough barbecue sauce
where I don't have to dip it.
But the wings were great, and the spice level does work.
But I think they could have been cooked
a little bit longer
so that they pull off the bone a little better.
All right, judges, we're going to ask you all to take a vote.
Overall, I feel the tasting went superb.
But I'm a little worried that the judges said
my wings are not fully tender.
Tonight's winner is...
Chef Rashad! [screams]
-[audience cheers] -[Kardea laughs]
[Rashad] Yeah!
Whoo!
This is a dream come true.
I got a chance to go up
against the OG, and I took him down.
[Hugh] This was a hard decision,
but we just chose the dish that seemed to be
more cohesive from start to finish.
-Thank you, judges. -[audience cheers]
Yeah!
-Yay, winner, winner, chicken wing dinner. -Finally.
[Kardea] What is his day job?
What does Bobby really do?
I think he's an accountant.
Stick to that.
I'm Rashad Jones, and I just beat Bobby Flay!
[audience cheers]