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?
-[audience] Ooh. -Ooh.
This culinary battle's gonna shakedown in two rounds.
Round One. To get to me,
two contenders have to go through each other
using an ingredient of my choice.
-[audience cheering] -Let's do it!
[Bobby Flay] 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! -[Bobby] This is gonna be the first one I don't finish.
-Flay's in trouble! -Whoo!
-[Bobby] Bottom line... -Ah!
...everyone's out to beat me.
[audience cheering]
Let's give it up for two very funny people.
The hilarious actress and comedienne, Cheri Oteri,
and Food Network chef, Zac Young.
[audience cheering]
[Bobby] Cheri Oteri, legendary SNL cast member.
She's so funny.
I love Zac, great pastry chef,
but I know he's gonna be attempting to make some sort of dessert,
so I don't like that.
[audience applauding]
-I'm not showing any mercy on you today. -[Bobby] I know.
Last time you were here, you had me in hysterics,
and I was bent over my cutting board the entire day.
It was not... It was not pretty.
I like to see him knocked down a few pegs
'cause he's the cock of the walk, right gang?
-[laughing] -Right?
But not today. Not today.
It's actually only one of the things that will take you out.
Distraction or pastry.
That's true. When I see you in this place,
that's a bad sign for me.
'Cause I know it's gonna be butter, flower, sugar, and eggs somewhere.
But if it some kind of dessert or pastry or something like that,
I definitely have about a 12% chance of winning.
But there's that 12% chance.
So, every once in a while, it happens.
Tough guy Flay!
[Bobby laughing]
Let's bring out some chefs.
Bobby, we're not making it easy.
Our first contender is the Pastry Chef De Partie
at The French Laundry.
-[Cheri Oteri gasps] -From Napa, California...
Ooh!
...give it up for pastry chef, Laura Ochikubo.
-Yeah! -[crowd cheering]
-[Bobby] A knock-out punch. -[Zac Young] Oh, yeah!
-[applauding] -Yes!
Well, Bobby, our next contender
dominated New York City's pastry scene,
and worked alongside Jean-Georges for 20 years!
-Wait, what? -[laughing]
Please rise for the chef-owner of Bakehouse,
Joe Murphy!
[audience cheering]
[Bobby] Oh, God.
Good evening. Laura, Joe, welcome.
Joe, what's your goal this evening?
Just to teach you how to bake.
Oh, you wanna teach me how to bake?
-Ooh, snap! -[laughing]
[laughing]
-How about you? -I wanna show you how we do it on the West Coast.
"How we do it on the West Coast."
Here's the way it's gonna work.
I'm gonna put 20 minutes on these clocks,
I'm gonna give you an ingredient of my choice,
this ingredient, you can go either sweet or savory,
and that ingredient is tahini.
[audience murmuring]
Ooh, okay.
Tahini? Wow, okay.
I saw a little stutter step in your smile there.
[laughing] I'm happy to see that.
-[Bobby] You're happy to see it? -Yeah.
Same thing here.
All right, guys, 20 minutes on the clock.
Don't let the tahini get you twisted.
-[bell chimes] -[audience cheering]
Tahini.
Tahini comes from ground sesame seeds.
-Did you know that? -[laughing]
Really? Oh!
[Bobby] Sorta has a nutty flavor to it.
Very earthy.
You find it in lots of Mediterranean dishes,
and you can go sweet or savory.
[Zac] Both of these pastry chefs are no joke.
Joe Murphy, legend.
And then Laura, French Laundry, need we say more?
This is, like, the three star Michelin smackdown.
[Bobby] I know.
Joe, do you know what you're making?
Some sesame beignets with, uh, mandarin.
-Sesame beignets? -Go big or go home.
I got my first job when I was 16 years old
working at a Jewish bakery in Brooklyn.
Really kinda fell in love with it at that point.
After culinary school, I worked at Park Avenue Cafe.
Then I spent 20 years working for Jean-Georges.
We were awarded three Michelin Stars.
Four stars in The New York Times,
and then decided to open up my own business.
Leaving Jean-Georges to open up my own business
was definitely a big risk.
But beating Bobby would prove that I made the right decision.
Twenty minutes. Beignets. The fryer is your friend.
[Joe Murphy] I think the sesame flavor of tahini will work perfect
in a deep-fried dough.
I'm making tahini beignets with sesame honey glaze
and a citrus banana broth.
[Laura Ochikubo] Joe has worked for three-Michelin-Star restaurants,
but I have too.
I grew up in Southern California.
When it comes to cooking and baking,
I really like drawing a lot of inspiration
from a lot of different culinary influences.
On my mom's side, I'm Korean,
on my dad's side, I'm Japanese.
I went to a small culinary program in Long Beach,
Chef Tech Cooking School, and I've been cooking my way
through Michelin-Star restaurants in Los Angeles.
Currently, I am Pastry Chef De Partie at The French Laundry.
Working at a three-Michelin-Star restaurant
is a lot of high pressure, but also a lot of high reward.
Beating Bobby Flay will show that I can do anything I put my mind to.
Laura, what are you baking?
Shrimp, uh, tempura with a tahini dipping sauce.
-Shrimp tempura. -Apples and oranges.
That's great!
I'm thinking about using my tahini in my tempura batter.
But I'm worried the thickness from the tahini paste
will make the tempura batter too heavy.
So, I'm gonna just incorporate it in the dipping sauce.
All right, let me go see what's up.
Okay. Bye, sweetheart. I love you.
[chuckles] I'll miss you.
Just under 15 minutes, Chefs.
-Let's go! -[audience applauding]
[Joe] I start my beignet dough with water and butter,
stir in the flour until it's cooked,
finish off with the tahini.
What are we doing?
[Joe] I'm gonna put the tahini inside the beignet.
Mandarin just enough, then add the, uh, eggs.
-[Zac] You know how much time you have? -[Joe] We're going for it.
[Zac] Let's go, Joe!
-[Joe chuckling] -[audience applauding]
[Laura] I get started on my tahini dipping sauce.
First, I get the tahini in the bowl,
and I mix it with rice vinegar to add a little bit of kick,
and a little bit of soy sauce.
Why savory in the first round?
More than half of my professional cooking
was done on the savory side...
-[Zac] Okay. -[Laura] ...so, I kinda wanna do
something that goes more that way with it.
[Zac] I love it. Nine minutes on the clock!
I think either of you could beat Bobby.
[audience applauding]
Now I'm gonna start on the glaze for my beignets.
I toast the sesames and caramelize the honey.
Joe going sweet.
I think the orange and sesame pair really nicely.
Laura, shrimp tempura.
I'm wondering if the heads are gonna be fried crispy.
[Joe] I rush over to the fryer,
and start scooping my beignets out.
-[Bobby] Going in? -[Cheri Otari] Yep!
Seven minutes in heaven left!
Whoo!
Hey, Joe! Ooh, banana.
We got bananas, mandarins.
I take mandarins and bananas,
and toss them with tangerine juice, mint, and some sugar.
The sugars will macerate the fruit,
and make a nice, sweet broth.
[Cheri] Oh, that looks pretty.
Are you a little nervous about Laura?
She's not even breaking a sweat.
So far, so good.
Ooh! Ouch.
[laughing]
-[Cheri] Hey, homegirl. -[Laura] How's it going?
Pretty good. Ooh!
I get my prawns battered and in the deep fryer.
[Cheri] You can't go wrong with the fryer.
[Laura] You got that right.
-[gasps] Ooh, gosh! -[crowd murmuring]
No, I'm kidding.
[laughing]
-Are you gonna fry the head separately? -Yes.
Prawn heads go a little underappreciated sometimes,
so, I would like to put both on the plate.
Guys, she's frying the head separate.
-[audience laughing] -'Kay?
[applauding]
[Joe] As I'm looking at the beignets,
I'm getting a little worried.
If they're not cooked all the way through,
that's a problem.
[Laura] My tahini dipping sauce is clumping...
Why's it getting so weird?
...and the acidity from the vinegar
does not pair well
with the creamy, nuttiness of the tahini like I thought it would.
There's no way I can serve this to the judges.
Laura, where's your tahini?
[Laura] It's, uh, it's chilling.
This is a disaster.
I need to come up with a new plan for this tahini, and quickly.
[Laura] My dish is falling apart.
[Bobby] There's one minute, forty to go.
She's gotta get it happening.
I'm not giving up without a fight.
I take the tahini and put it in a bowl
to mix with sesame oil and sugar,
and I use that to dress some Napa cabbage slaw.
-Napa cabbage. "Nappage." -Smart.
[Joe] I'm running out of time.
I pull the beignets out of the fryer,
toss them in the sesame honey glaze.
I get them onto the plate with my banana citrus broth.
Laura, let's get it on the plate.
[Laura] I go to check on my prawns,
and all the bodies are stuck to the bottom of my fry basket.
[with audience] Ten, nine, eight...
[Laura] The prawn heads are looking crispy,
so, I'm just gonna go with those.
-[Bobby and audience] ...four, three, two, one... -[bell chimes]
[audience cheering]
Chef Laura, tell us what you made.
This is a tempura-fried prawn head
with a tahini Napa cabbage slaw.
[intense music]
I love the tahini as the dressing.
I think it really brings some life to that Napa cabbage.
Yeah, I would use that dressing on a lot of things.
But the shrimp head itself was under fried.
[Cheri] But I thought it was a great idea.
You didn't play it safe.
Thank you.
Chef Joe, what did you make?
I made a tahini beignet and a citrus banana broth.
Joe, now I know that tahini can go both ways.
[gasps] Well!
And I also really enjoyed the coating as well.
The sesame and the gooeyness.
Yeah, that stickiness, that sesame flavor,
it really gave a boost to the tahini in the beignet.
But I don't think you needed the banana.
It was kinda weird.
Unfortunately, we can only pick one of you to move forward,
so, um, we're gonna discuss.
It's gonna come down to sweet versus savory.
Zac and Cheri are gonna decide
based on technique and flavor.
So, the chef we're picking to move forward is...
...Chef Joe.
[audience applauding]
[Laura] It looks like the East Coast came out on top this time,
but this is just the beginning for me.
Way to go, Joe.
Joe, your use of the tahini was perfect.
I like your attitude.
Now, smack him down!
[laughing]
[Joe] Bobby is a legend. A fierce competitor.
But last I checked, Bobby never had three Michelin Stars.
[Bobby] All right, Joe, congratulations.
What are we cooking tonight? What is your signature dish?
So, my signature dish is...
...Brooklyn Blackout Cake.
-[audience laughing] -[Bobby] Oh, that easy.
[applauding]
Bobby, it's a layer cake.
The layers are important.
Generally, you can't stack a hot cake.
How are we gonna do this in 45 minutes?
-Oh, heart rate's gonna fall, Flay. -[laughing]
And your time starts now! Whoo!
Brooklyn Blackout Cake, layers of Devil's food cake
-deep, dark, rich. -[gasps]
Chocolate pudding is normally the filling,
and then it's covered in chocolate cake crumbs.
-So, a light dish? -[Zac] Yeah, exactly.
Bobby, use the white chocolate, it's better for the cake.
-The white chocolate? Okay. I like that. -[audience laughing]
Blackout cake is a delicious cake.
It's, basically, chocolate on chocolate on chocolate.
What's wrong with that?
I'm making a chocolate blackout cake
with some whipped cream with blackberries and some cherries
with a cinnamon crumb.
[Zac] Joe, a layer cake in 45 minutes?
This is some show-off cake, huh?
Go big or go home, right?
-Ooh! -[laughing]
I'm making a Brooklyn Blackout Cake
with cassis-soaked cherries and dark chocolate pudding.
Bobby, you're going down.
First thing, you gotta make the cake batter,
bake it off so it has time to cool.
[Bobby] I'm making cake batter.
I start with melting butter, adding cocoa,
and then, off the heat, I'm adding buttermilk,
flour, eggs, brown sugar, some salt.
My strategy is to get three thinner cakes baked,
and just use them as layers.
[Zac] We're not even 10 minutes in,
Bobby already has cakes in the oven.
[Joe] I'm definitely gonna have to move faster if I wanna beat him.
Start mixing baking powder, baking soda,
cocoa powder, sugar, flour, eggs,
buttermilk, coffee.
[Zac] Coffee, chocolate they enhance each other.
They're grown in the same region. Super smart.
[Joe] Once it's cooked, I'm gonna fold the cake to get three layers.
Two layers of cake, and a layer of pudding.
All right, going in the oven.
-[audience applauding] -It's really interesting to watch.
[Bobby] My cakes are in the oven,
and I'm gonna get my pudding going.
Milk and cornstarch, dark chocolate,
vanilla, sugar, and half and half.
I'm gonna whisk it until it gets nice and thick,
then we'll lay it on a sheet pan,
and put it in a blast chiller to cool it.
[Zac] I'm looking for Bobby
'cause Bobby can get an advantage on flavor.
[Bobby] Now I'm gonna make my crumble.
So, I'm gonna take some chocolate wafer cookies,
but I'm gonna bring some flavor into this one.
Some cinnamon and a little cayenne.
Yeah, I'm seeing spices. Okay.
What are you putting in there, Bobby?
Cayenne.
-Uh-huh. Oh. -What?
[Bobby] I mean, I have to try something
to kinda make the judges at least take notice.
Is he serious?
It's a Flay signature move.
Bobby on the dessert dancefloor, he's like...
-[laughing] -...throwing that cayenne.
I just gotta go into Iron Chef mode.
Bobby getting spicy.
[scoffs]
Just try and say,
"Blackout cake" without a smile. I dare you.
-Seriously. -[Cheri] You can't do it.
[Bobby] My whip cream is the cherry syrup
with Amarena cherries and heavy cream.
[Cheri] Thirty-one minutes on the clock.
I'll be back.
Chocolate pudding will be the filling for my cake.
As the half and half is heating up,
I measure up cornstarch and cocoa powder.
I add dark chocolate, and then I finish with gelatin.
Is this dark chocolate?
[Joe] We're using a dark chocolate.
It's a 64% chocolate.
The flavor of the chocolate is kind of acidic
because of where the chocolate is from.
Geez, Joe, could you be more specific?
[audience laughing]
Joe is still smiling!
Unlike Bobby all miserable over there.
[Joe and audience laughing]
Mom! [gibberish] It's my show! [gibberish]
[laughing]
I'm making a whipped mascarpone for the cake,
and it's gonna cut through the richness of the chocolate.
[audience chuckling]
[Bobby] Cherry whipped cream.
-Oh, my God. I'm gonna hit you, but I can't! -I win?
-Mmm-hmm. -Okay, good.
Oh, my God, that's good.
Come over here to my deep freeze.
Okay, Bob!
[chuckling]
[Bobby] Making chocolate pudding.
-Oh, that's good. -[laughing]
-That's good. -[laughing]
-You look great. -That's delicious.
All right, I'll let you get back to work, okay?
-Okay. Good to see ya. -Okay, bye!
[laughing]
[Joe] My cake is finished and ready to cool down.
I pull the cake off the hot sheet tray,
and put it onto a cooler sheet tray.
I run my cake over to the freezer to chill it.
Joe, are you using cherries?
Cherries with cassis.
Ooh, fancy!
[Joe] Cassis is pureed blackcurrants.
Bobby, do you have cherries?
[Bobby] I do. With, uh, blackberries.
You know what, I like the currants.
It's fruity, it's acidic,
but they're good with the sweetness of a cherry.
[Bobby] I get my cakes out of the oven.
I just hope it's gonna come out of the cake pan.
Oh, he just prayed.
[Bobby] They look good, they're nice and light,
but now they have to cool.
[Zac] He put them onto the board.
You can't put the board into the blast freezer, it doesn't fit.
[Bobby] I'm having a hard time getting them off the cutting board,
and onto a sheet pan.
Hmm.
[chuckling]
What am I going to do?
[chuckling] And they're hot.
[Bobby] Everything has to work.
If one thing doesn't go well, I could be totally screwed here.
[audience applauding]
[Bobby] I probably should just put them on the sheet pan.
Didn't think of that.
-How's the cake? -[Bobby] I think it's okay.
[laughing]
Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool!
[Zac] You've got 12 minutes.
-[audience applauding] -Let's go!
-Joe! -What's up?
-[Zac] Crumble. -[Joe] This is a chocolate crumble.
-[Zac] Okay. -[Joe] Pinch of salt, cocoa powder,
butter, sugar.
Guys, how do you think Joe's doing?
-[audience cheering] -[Zac] From the back...
-[audience cheering] -[Zac] All right! Yeah.
That's the problem, Joe, you make it look too easy.
-Hi. -[Bobby] How you doing?
Good.
-[Bobby] I'm tired of cooking. -Wow!
-Oh, my gosh, what-- -I'm finished.
Bobby, am I supposed to finish?
I'm trying to get nice with a lady.
[chuckling]
Bobby, you're not on a date.
A little bourbon?
-Are you serious? -Cheers!
I think Bobby needs a drink 'cause he knows he's about to lose.
[Bobby] How's that?
It's strong.
-How do I look? -Good.
[laughing]
[Zac] Bobby, where's your... Where's your food?
-What food? -[chuckling]
All right, guys, let's hear it
for Bobby "Don't Count Me Out" Flay!
[applauding]
[Bobby] Now I'm gonna build it after I take it out of the blast chiller.
I gotta go, baby. Gotta go!
So, I have three layers of cake,
I put the pudding on each layer,
slater it evenly, stack the cakes.
This is the best chocolate cake you've ever seen.
-I don't know. -[chuckling]
Building a cake is a very delicate process.
Pull my cake out of the freezer,
I add the chocolate pudding,
and then I fold the cake over to make the layers.
-[Bobby] How much time? -[Zac] Two minutes.
[Bobby] I take the Mexican cinnamon crumb on top.
He's dusting it.
[Joe] I put down my cherries and shaved dark chocolate.
As I'm cutting into the cake slices,
some of them are starting to fall apart.
[Zac] They're not cool. They're not cool.
I'm starting to think beating Bobby
is not gonna be as easy as I thought.
[Cheri] Bobby, are you gonna have time to cut the cake?
Yep.
I cut the slices,
I put it next to some of that blackberry cherry whipped cream.
-Looks good. -[Zac] This is insane.
It actually looks like Bobby might pull this off.
What about Joe?
[Zac] I don't know, man!
[Cheri] Twenty seconds!
Luckily, I made extra cake so I can cut a new slice.
Ten, nine...
[Joe] Once the crumble is on top of the cake,
I garnish with whipped mascarpone.
[with audience] ...three, two, one...
[applauding]
Good job. Thank you so much.
[Joe] I'm proud of the cake that I made,
but Bobby's looks pretty good.
[Bobby] I mean, there's cake on a plate.
You both finished. Congratulations.
Now we would like to introduce you to the judges.
First up, TV host and pastry chef, Raiza Costa.
Founder of Baked By Dan, Dan Langan.
Master baker of Polly Cooks & Eats,
Paulette Goto.
[applauding]
[Zac] Judges,
please start with the first Brooklyn Blackout Cake in front of you.
[intense music plays]
All right, Raiza.
I love how fluffy this cake is.
The Amarena cherry flavor, it's amazing.
I think this cake is lacking a little bit more pudding.
I miss having a thicker layer.
[Dan Langan] I taste the blackberry whipped cream,
I taste the cherry and that little bit of spice,
whatever it was, it's good stuff.
But I wish there was more pudding.
'Cause this is a Brooklyn Blackout Cake and we need that pudding.
This is a really delicious chocolate cake.
It's soft, it's cold, it's creamy.
Really like the pudding, it was really smooth,
it had a really good flavor.
I wish it tastes a little more chocolatey.
But the flavored cream was just magic.
Thank you, judges.
Do that old Brooklyn Blackout "switcheroo".
Raiza, what do you think?
I love cassis...
and I'm pretty sure there's some here
because I tasted it right away.
And I think it compliments the chocolate cake very well.
Having some texture on top, it's amazing.
But I miss having more pudding here again.
The fact that it only has two layers,
it's like, "Where's the chocolate pudding?"
I feel like I'm at the dessert course of, like, a fancy date.
Those cherries, and the flavor that was packed into those
seems like it took days to create.
I wish there was just a bit more cream, though,
just to balance out all the big chocolate flavors.
But, overall, it was really fantastic.
I loved the presentation, and I love the taste.
I like that it was just the two layers.
I thought the pudding was good.
If I could, I'd have more of the cherries.
We can't wait to see how this turns out.
Please take a vote.
Um, if I was a betting man, I'd probably bet on Joe.
I'm scared, Zac.
But will see what happens. [chuckling]
I am shook.
This is not unanimous.
[Cheri] And the winner is...
Thank God. Chef Joe!
[laughing and applause]
[Bobby] Good job.
-I'm happy for you. -Thank you so much.
For us, it was about the flavor in the cherries,
and the combination of textures
with the cake and the crumble on top and the pudding
that led us to choose your cake.
Thank you.
But, Bobby, you did get a vote.
[laughing]
-[audience cheering] -Congratulations.
Thanks for being here.
Bobby gave me a run for my money
with this one, so it feels really good to be on top.
The Blackout got a knockout.
Sorry, Bob!
I'm Joe Murphy, and I just Beat Bobby Flay!
[cheering]