I'm Bobby Flay.
The holidays are here and it's time for cheer.
Well, not for me.
Happy holiday!
All of my closest Food Network friends are teaming up
to take me down.
Gobble, gobble, gobble!
This battle is gonna shake down in three rounds.
Round 1 and 2, they must go through each other.
I have waited for this moment.
Whoo!
[Bobby] Round 3, the winner gets me.
Let's go, Flay!
In the spirit of the holidays,
we're teaming up for a culinary throwdown.
-Go! Go! -I'm going!
It's like three rounds of sibling rivalry.
Get out of here.
The competition is tougher.
I'm-- You guys smell it?
The rounds are bigger.
And the surprises just keep on coming.
Bottom line...
Come on.
...everyone's out to ruin my holiday.
Come on in, ladies.
Oh, wow!
[announcer over PA] Ladies and gentlemen,
Bobby Flay!
[audience cheering]
Time to grab a plate and celebrate.
Who's ready for a Thanksgiving feast?
Here to sit at the head of the table,
it's Food Network's Katie Lee Biegel.
Aah!
I got you!
Hey, everybody.
Happy Thanksgiving!
You look like a Thanksgiving princess.
I wore my best Thanksgiving for you.
And I've watched your last holiday season
of competitions.
The winner is...
Team Bobby.
-Bobby. -Team Bobby.
-Bobby. -Bobby.
[Katie] You were 5-1, and I just wanna let you know
that's not happening this time.
-Yes. -You're losing.
I get really inspired in the holidays.
What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving traditions?
I love cranberry martinis.
-Ooh! -To start it off.
Then I make a lot of turkey.
'Cause sometimes you come to my Thanksgiving,
and then you show up the next day unannounced.
[Katie laughs] Knock knock knock.
"Hello. Hi, Katie. Uh, Thanksgiving was yesterday.
Are you back?"
"Yes. Well, I thought there was gonna be leftovers."
Yeah.
I like to be fed.
Well, tonight's all about celebrating traditions.
And each of the chefs coming in
are gonna bring their own.
Let's see who's waiting behind those doors.
Our first contender is thankful for his second chance
to challenge you, Bobby.
And he hopes you won't hold a grudge
when he gobbles you up.
Give it up for "Super Chef" Darnell Ferguson.
-Yeah! -[audience cheering]
Gobble gobble, Bobby.
[exclaims]
Let's go!
Talkin' smack already.
Whoo!
Our next contender has a cornucopia of tricks up his sleeve.
I'm ready.
Come on out, Chef Bryan Voltaggio.
Yeah!
Aah!
Judgment day has come.
Ooh!
This is the worst Thanksgiving side dish
he could ever ask for.
[Bobby] Oh, okay.
Oh, my God, I love it.
Good evening, guys.
-How are you doin'? -Happy holidays.
Thanks for having us.
We have a little holiday throwdown tonight.
You got him covered?
Smothered and covered like mashed potatoes.
-Really? -We'll see about that.
[Bobby] I like it. I like it.
All right, well, here's the way it's gonna work.
You're gonna have to get through two rounds of cooking
before you challenge me to your traditional Thanksgiving.
But before all of that happens,
I'm gonna give you a single ingredient
of my choice,
I'm gonna put 20 minutes on the clock
and you must make that ingredient
the star of your dish.
Let's see what we got here.
What?
That ingredient is...
What is it?
Cornbread.
That's-- that's a throw-off.
It's already baked, so now it's just like,
"What do we do with that one?"
Exactly.
All right, guys, 20 minutes on the clock.
Don't loaf around. Make the cornbread the star.
Whoo!
[audience cheering]
Cornbread, it's so Thanksgiving.
But if you think about it,
it's actually really difficult.
When you make a cornbread stuffing or dressing,
you need the time to let it soak.
You need the time to let it bake.
Twenty minutes makes that pretty difficult.
-This is gonna sound shocking to you... -Mmm-hmm?
I might make a dessert.
A sweet corn pudding.
Toast the cornbread really quickly.
And then I might do some kind of like blueberry compote.
-[Katie] That sounds delicious. -Yup.
The first thing I'm gonna do is put a pot on the stove,
add some coconut milk to hydrate the cornbread.
[Katie] So he's gonna try to get that soaking up really quickly.
[Bobby] He also has prawns over there too.
Bryan, what are you making?
Uh, so what I'm working on right now
is a prawn dish with cornbread porridge.
It's a play on shrimp and grits.
-Wow, that sounds delicious. -I love it.
I'm Bryan Voltaggio.
My brother and I, Michael, have several restaurants.
We have Vulcania,
Retro by Voltaggio, Mandalay Bay,
Thacher & Rye and Voltaggio Brothers Steak House.
My food is progressive American,
really local ingredients
with inspiration from classic American dishes.
I've competed on Tournament of Champions.
I've also been a cohost on Beat Bobby Flay.
[chanting] Bob! Bob! Bob! Bob! Bob!
Of course, everybody wants to beat Bobby Flay.
[laughs] I think that would be a great tradition
we could do year over year
and I think it's gonna start today.
Flour, flour, flour.
Darnell, what are you cooking?
Uh... I'm cooking. Food, hot stove, pan.
You know, all the good stuff.
Let's try to take down Bryan with creativity.
So I'm gonna use cornbread in a couple different ways.
I think I wanna do like a cornbread style
of like a pancake
with, uh, cornbread fried chicken
in like a hot honey.
Ooh!
[Darnell] Mama's good old cornbread pancakes
on Thanksgiving morning.
I wanna encrust my chicken in a cornbread batter.
So I put in the blender cornbread, pankos,
salt and pepper.
I'm making sure to cut my chicken breast super-thin
because time is like going extremely fast.
Sixteen minutes to go.
Oh, my gosh!
I'm Darnell "Super Chef" Ferguson.
And I am known for my urban eclectic cuisine
and also competing all over the Food Network.
I'm currently the host of Superchef Grudge Match.
[Darnell shouting indistinctly]
Get set up!
I've competed on Tournament of Champions
for all the seasons.
I've competed on Beat Bobby Flay once before.
Lost in the first round. It was a tough loss.
I still haven't been able to sleep that well since then.
You know, so all I want for the holidays
is for Bobby to lose to me.
All right, guys, we're coming up on 15 minutes.
I love the idea that you're making this cornbread
into a crust.
-Yes. -You got a lot to do
with less than 15 minutes on the clock.
Twenty minutes is hard.
You think you can make it through Bryan?
Oh, for sure.
[laughing]
[Darnell] Bryan is classically trained
in that French culinary box.
Whereas me, I was in that box. And I broke out of it.
I've been smashing it down ever since
and recreating it.
-All right, Bryan. How are we doin' over here? -Hi, Katie.
This is really interesting
that you're doing it as a porridge.
I'm making a smooth puree with that,
treat it like grits in the center of the plate,
and then toast it off some more to crumb over the top.
-Grits, you are speaking my language. -Yes.
-Yes, I grew up on grits. -Good to hear.
So I'm excited to try 'em.
I'm so sick of seeing Bobby Flay win.
We have got to beat him.
Yes! Come on! Come on!
We got 10 minutes and 23 seconds on the clock.
Why kind of accelerated clock is this?
-[laughs] -Looks good up there.
Wow, what great inventive dishes these guys are doing.
[Darnell] So I'm gonna take my thinly-sliced chicken,
put it into the flour, the eggs,
then the cornbread mixture.
[Katie] He's gonna be cutting it close
to get that fried and plated.
[Darnell] So for the hot honey,
I grab a raw honey, sriracha.
I feel like cornbread needs something
to really wake it up.
We've got Bryan, he's doin' shrimp and grits.
[Bryan] So in the sauce, once I remove the shrimp,
I add a lot of garlic to the pan and some scallion,
deglaze with some shrimp stock,
add gochujang, which is fermented red pepper paste,
and so that's gonna kind of caramelize in the pan.
Oh, my gosh.
How are you doin', Darnell?
I'm going through it mentally.
This is accelerated cooking.
I've never had to cook so fast in my life.
[Bobby] Just over four and a half minutes.
Darnell, is this the grudge match of your life right now?
Oh, my gosh. Yes, with this clock.
I still have to make my pancakes.
Rosemary's bringing that classic Thanksgiving stuffing vibe.
[Katie] Darnell, please get this done.
I wanna eat that.
-Yeah. -Gochujang.
Always a good thing.
[Bryan laughs]
So I got the cornbread puree here.
-I just wanna taste this. -Yeah.
My stomach's growling.
Delicious.
-How much time? -3:45.
So I take my chicken out, that cornbread being fried.
Now it's naturally browning that chicken
and it looks beautiful.
-[Bobby] Oh, the hot honey. That's it. -[Katie] Wow.
Uh, let me get a bucket of those please.
-[Katie] Yeah. -[Darnell laughing]
If Darnell can pull this off
with only two minutes left on the clock,
I think he's got a really delicious dish.
But Bryan's grits, they look beautiful.
I'm gonna top each one with one piece of shrimp
and I'm gonna glaze it with the sauce afterwards.
[Katie] Will the shrimp outshine the grits?
We'll see.
[Bryan] And then last-minute,
I toast some cornbread crumbles
and I finish that over the top of the shrimp.
-One minute to go. -[gasps]
[Darnell] I gotta move extremely fast.
So I'll cut my pancakes a smaller shape
just to give some structure to the plating.
[Katie] Darnell is turning this into such an elegant dish.
Twelve, eleven, ten...
-[Katie] Oh, my God. -[all] ...nine, eight...
This is like as down to the minute
that I've ever seen it here ever.
-Ever! -[all] ...four, three,
two, one.
[audience cheering]
Oh, my gosh.
[Bryan] Way to go.
[Darnell] Bryan's dish looked like it came out of his restaurant.
But I didn't see any cornbread.
[Bryan] I feel really good about the dish.
It looks beautiful.
I have to win this round.
[Katie] So, Bobby, after tonight,
I'm gonna start a new yearly Thanksgiving tradition.
And that's gonna be that I call you up every year
and remind you how badly you lost tonight.
But, right now, it's all about the cornbread.
Chef Darnell, tell me what you made.
I have a little take on Thanksgiving breakfast.
This is cornbread pancakes
with a cornbread encrusted chicken tender
in a honey hot sauce.
Because honey, by nature, always goes with cornbread,
at least at my house for Thanksgiving,
so I wanted to bring that here.
I really like the chicken. It's super-juicy and tender.
I got that sweetness of the honey
and a little hint of spice, not overpowering.
The cornbread breading, for me,
it got a tad bit granular.
The pancakes, I really got the cornbread flavor
with those...
the rosemary kind of came through a little too much.
But, overall, I think it's really delicious.
Chef Bryan, tell me what you did with the cornbread.
So, Katie, what I did
is I made a roasted prawn
with cornbread and coconut porridge
and a gochujang shrimp jus.
You know, Bryan, I think this dish shows a lot of finesse.
The porridge has a really nice sweet flavor to it
and the coconut comes through.
The texture is a little bit going towards the gluey side,
but it is really good flavor.
Adding the toasted cornbread crumb on top
really gave it a good texture.
So, overall, this was a really delicious dish
and plated beautifully.
Thank you.
So, as you guys know, I have to decide which one of you
is gonna move on to round 2.
And the other one will join me here
to talk turkey-- I mean trash about Bobby.
And the chef moving forward is...
Very hard decision.
And the chef moving forward is...
Chef Bryan.
All right.
-Good job. -[audience cheering]
Good job.
Come on, Darnell. Come sit with me.
I really wanted to get to hang with Darnell.
[sighs] Yeah. Even when I lose, I win.
[all laugh]
Bryan, I thought that you had a really nice balance
of flavors in here.
I think it was inventive.
And so I felt like it could take you to beat him.
All right.
Well, let's see who's comin' through the door, then.
All right. Bobby, you come over here and sit with us.
Well, Bobby, I'm excited for this one.
Our next contender's food is anything but traditional.
Please welcome one of your Triple-Threat Titans...
-Oh. -...and Bryan's brother...
Oh, come on!
Chef Michael Voltaggio.
Yes!
What's up with this?
What's going on with this?
[Darnell] This is great.
I'm just thankful you brought me here to beat you today.
-Let's go. -Talking smack already.
-This is interesting. -[Katie] Mmm-hmm.
It's kind of messed up, you guys.
Like, seriously?
No. This is what they do.
What's up, guys?
Nice to see you both in the kitchen.
This is so fun for me.
Glad it's fun for you, Chef.
Yes, very fun.
Two Voltaggio brothers.
Katie's pulling out all the stops.
So Bryan's already got a win under his belt tonight.
How are you feelin'?
I mean, I don't like that part of it.
You know, he got to practice a little bit.
That's kind of unfair. But I see how it's gonna go.
I know you guys cook a lot together, obviously.
But do you compete against each other?
-We don't. So we don't compete anymore... -Yeah.
-...against each other, so-- -Right.
Well, we're actually tied right now though.
Because there was Top Chef--
-Yeah, that's true. -There was Top Chef
and then Battle of the Brothers.
He actually won that season of that show.
-So, as far as I'm concerned... -[Bobby] Oh, okay.
...this is like...
this is the title match, you know.
Okay. I like it.
Just don't tell our mother.
You guys ready for this?
-Yes. -Yes, Chef.
This is a pumpkin.
Come on.
But it's really the Trojan pumpkin.
Oh, no.
The Thanksgiving ingredient is...
-butternut squash. -[Bryan] Okay.
Do you like this better or worse than cornbread?
I like that better than cornbread.
Okay, good. Wow. He's gonna be strong.
'Cause he was strong in the first round.
How do you feel about this?
I'm ready to go, Chef.
-You're ready? -Yes, Chef.
-You already know what you're making. -Yes, Chef.
Okay, big stakes here.
Whover wins moves on to round 3,
they pick the dish
and your teammate.
And then I get the last chef standing.
20 minutes on the clock.
Don't get squashed.
Make the butternut the star.
[all cheering]
Wow.
Butternut squash, it takes time to break it down.
It takes time to cook it.
It is a familiar ingredient when it comes to the holidays.
Can you hurry up?
Yes, I'm trying!
The brothers fighting.
[Katie] Bryan's already got...
-Duck. -...duck out.
[Bryan] So I'm starting my duck breast.
I have to get that rendering so it gets nice and crispy.
My strategy here is to make two different uses of squash.
So I'm making a roasted duck breast
and a broth made with butternut squash
and crispy butternut squash over the top.
It looks like Michael got a juicer out.
Michael, what are you making?
Uh, I think I'm gonna make
a butternut squash char siu pork.
Char siu pork?
Yes.
Char siu pork generally is pork belly,
usually glazed, uh, in a sticky glaze
of like hoisin and soy sauce and sesame and ginger.
It's amazing.
I love the barbecue aspect of it. That's great.
You know how they put food coloring and all that in char sui pork?
Butternut squash is such a beautiful color
I'm gonna char siu my pork with butternut squash juice.
How the heck do you come up with that?
Because he's the only person that thinks like this.
I'm telling you, it's nuts.
Chinese restaurants are open on Thanksgiving.
And so this is sort of like a nod to
the fact that, other than turkey dinners,
you know, a lot of people can go out
and get good Chinese food.
And so why not bring those flavor profiles together?
We don't know that it's gonna work,
but we'll see.
I am Michael Voltaggio.
I am one of the Titans on Bobby's Triple-Threat,
but better known as Bryan Voltaggio's brother.
I love competing
because it keeps my creative process sharp
and it helps me as a chef in my restaurants
to think on the fly.
Bobby's a tough competitor.
I-- I learn a lot when I watch him cook.
I know what he's capable of
and I think I can take him out.
-Oh, hey, buddy. -Bryan, what are you making?
I'm making duck breasts
with a broth using the butternut squash.
Then I'm going to...
-Boring. -Oh, come on!
Can you get off my station?
-I need the juicer. -You have your own station over there.
I wanted to come see you, hang out.
I like all this trash talk going on.
I'm definitely faster at juicing than he is,
I can tell you that right now.
The crowd is hyped about this match.
This is intense.
[Bryan] So I have my juice now
so I'm gonna run back over to my station
'cause we're gonna reduce down the butternut squash
so we can concentrate the flavor.
Because this is gonna be the star.
Add some butter
and make a really rich butternut squash broth.
Fifteen minutes and thirty seconds, chefs.
Yes, Chef.
I'm then gonna take that juice,
I'm gonna add some soy sauce, fish sauce,
sugar, some rice wine vinegar
so it's acidic, sweet and sour.
And just let this reduce down, reduce down, reduce down.
I'm coming to see you.
-Happy Thanksgiving. -Happy Thanksgiving.
I'll be right back.
-I'm just gonna hang out here and smell everything. -Okay. Let's talk.
I wanna know, is this like a peek
into the Voltaggio Thanksgivings?
Are you guys like, "My dish is better than his dish"?
It gets a little awkward sometimes,
but it's good, you know.
Like, right now. Right now, it's a little awkward.
Good thing our mama's not here though because
me beating Bryan's probably not gonna go over too well.
He's the favorite, so.
Oh!
He beat me last time we competed against each other
so I kind of owe him one right now.
And then there's that other guy we gotta worry about.
-So that's... you know. -Do you think you're gonna beat Bobby
-if you beat Bryan? -I'm--
No. I know I'm gonna do that.
That's not what I'm worried about today.
-Oh, okay. -Okay.
Bryan, I comin' to you.
Over here I've spiralized some butternut squash.
So I'm gonna add a crispy texture
over duck breasts
that I have roasting in the oven right now.
So you're gonna fry those butternut squash noodles?
-Yeah. -Oh.
I don't know, Michael. Bryan's using the fryer.
He's gonna fry some butternut squash.
Let's hear it for the second best chef in the family,
Bryan Voltaggio!
[audience cheering]
Ten minutes to go.
Ten minutes?
Ten minutes left? That's it?
[Michael] I'm frying the bacon to get the fat rendered out.
Then I'm gonna take these bacon portions,
put 'em in that char siu glaze,
cook it all down together with the onions
and just get it nice and sticky.
Start cooking your duck yet, Chef?
Duck's already in the oven.
It's gonna be resting soon.
[mockingly] "Oh, duck's already in the oven.
It's gotta rest a time."
[Bryan laughing]
A little payback from growing up, I would imagine.
I need to shut up and cook.
I do wanna have a piece of like center-of-the-plate
butternut squash on my dish.
So I blanched the butternut squash,
I pull it out.
It's not as tender as I'd like it to be,
so I'm gonna try and cook it the rest of the way
in the glaze.
These guys are focused.
[Bryan] It's just spiralized butternut squash.
It looks great. It's nice and crispy.
Are you a butternut squash fan?
Fanatic.
-"Fanatic." -Come on.
Cornbread first?
[Katie] Comin' up on seven minutes.
Brother-versus-brother Thanksgiving battle,
like this is intense. You got your duck goin' too--
This is-- this is intense.
And at this point, I'm gonna baste the duck with butter,
some of that duck fat.
So, that way, it helps it caramelize the skin.
Wow.
I'll put the juicer away, Bryan.
You just leave it on my station
so I have nowhere to plate.
-All right, all right, all right. -Fight, fight, fight!
[chanting] Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight!
[audience clapping in rhythm]
So, Michael.
Try that char sui sauce, sir.
My God.
How are we lookin', Chef?
You already know you're a bad man.
[laughs] You already know that though.
This is gonna be good.
What'd you see?
I see them two as oil and vinegar.
When they're together, make a great vinaigrette.
But, separately, Voltaggio would be the vinegar.
He's spicy.
And then you got Bryan, who's more smooth.
More classic.
[Bryan] So I cut into my duck breast,
it's slightly underdone.
So I'm a little bit worried.
So my strategy is I glaze it with some of that jus
to continue to cook it.
[Bobby] 90 seconds, you guys.
[Michael] That's it?
My pork belly goes down onto the plate.
The squash still feels a little bit tough.
So I'm now taking that, putting it into the fryer,
but I don't have a lot of time.
Come on, cook!
How much time do I got? 50 seconds?
Gotta go, guys. We'll talk later.
I pull the butternut squash out of the fryer
and then bring it back to the glaze.
It think it looks like sticky-icky and delicious,
like a char siu should be.
These guys are cooking killer dishes.
Twenty-five seconds.
[Bryan] I'm running out of time.
Duck breast, medium is about where you want it to be.
It looks perfect.
[all] Ten, nine, eight...
[Bryan] And over the top, the crispy butternut squash garnish.
Finish it with some red mustard leaves.
[all] ...four, three, two, one.
[audience cheering]
[Michael] I mean, the only thing I could ever be worried about
is the fact that I know how good of a cook my brother is.
That looks pretty good.
I'm not going against somebody
that I'm positive that I can beat.
You know, there's nothing like a new Food Network tradition
of beating Bobby Flay.
But, right now, it's all about the butternut squash.
Chef Bryan, tell us about your dish.
I made a roasted duck breast
with a broth made of butternut squash
and some crispy
And some crispy butternut squash over the top.
-This is dreamy. -Really?
[Katie] Yes. That sauce?
Is so good.
The butternut squash has this wonderful sweetness to it.
Thank you.
Cook on the duck. Perfect.
Skin on the duck. Crispy.
[Katie] If I was having Thanksgiving at your house,
I would ask if you could make that sauce,
and I would forget the gravy, which is my favorite part,
and I would put that all over everything.
Done. New tradition. Butternut squash gravy.
-[Katie chuckles] -Can we get to the negative parts?
[all laugh]
Maybe just a little bit more hit of acidity,
to cut through all the fat.
[Darnell] I think on the duck,
you could have went harder on the seasoning.
But it is so good.
-Thank you. -All right, chef Michael.
Tell us about your dish.
So I made a butternut squash char siu pork,
and a char siu of butternut squash on top.
The bacon, super tender, smoky.
With that sweet butternut squash,
there's an earthiness to it.
The way that the glaze stuck to the texture of that,
it's outstanding.
To go with char siu,
on this dish, was bold.
It's aggressive. but beautiful, it's like,
daring and edgy.
I think if butternut squash
was writing its obituary,
this would be how it would wanna go out.
[chuckles]
Could we give him one rib shot?
-Something? -[all laugh]
I will tell you, the butternut squash
was not completely consistently cooked,
but the sauce was great.
Your mom did something right with the two of you.
I mean...[laughs]
How did all this creativity happen in one family?
Okay. Give us a little moment to discuss here.
[Bobby] Both of these chefs did something incredibly inventive.
I think they both used the butternut squash really well.
I just think it's gonna be, like, conceptually, you know,
I liked this concept better than this concept.
But they're both great dishes.
[Darnell exhales] All right, chefs.
After much back and forth,
Katie and myself have come to a decision.
And the chef who will get to serve up
a big ol' piece of humble pie to Mr. Flay is...
...chef Michael.
[cheering and applause]
[Katie] The butternut squash really came through
as the star of the dish,
having that larger piece of it.
-This was super bold. -Thank you.
So I guess you feel confident, chef Michael,
that you can take him out in the next round?
This? Yeah, of course.
This?
-This chef. This chef! -[laughter]
My boss. Yes.
-I mean, I mean, yes, sir. Yes, chef. -[laughter]
♪ Why, 'cause we said so ♪
♪ Zero to 100 Like a tiger smelling meat ♪
♪ I see fresh flesh Time to eat ♪
[Bobby] All right Michael, great job.
Curious what you might bring to the table here tonight on Thanksgiving.
What are we, uh, what are we cooking tonight?
So, my Thanksgiving signature dish is...
...turkey Tetrazzini.
-[chuckles] -[Katie gasps]
-I love turkey Tetrazzini! -[applause]
Let's hear it for turkey Tetrazzini!
Bobby, have you ever made this?
-No. -[laughter]
-Ask me. -[Katie] Michael,
you are a turkey Tetrazzini fan?
Never made it in my life.
-What? -[laughter]
I wanted to keep it fair, you know, like,
-he's getting a little older... -[Katie] Mm-hmm.
-Ring the bell. Let's go. -[laughter]
[Katie] Okay, chef Michael.
You also get to pick the teams.
I have feeling which way you're gonna go here.
I love Darnell, but, I mean,
bud, you know, I gotta go with my brother.
-[Bobby] Darnell, let's go. -[applause]
It's my brother.
I know what he can do, so...
I complete you.
He completes me.
[Katie] So we've got Michael and Bryan Voltaggio brothers,
against Bobby Flay and Superchef Darnell.
Darnell, how's it feel to be on team Bobby?
This is like MJ throwing LeBron an alley-oop.
[laughter]
All right, well, 45 minutes on the clock.
Let the Tetrazzini begin.
-Go! -[cheering and applause]
[Katie] Tonight is all about Thanksgiving tradition.
So let's discuss turkey Tetrazzini.
This is the ultimate Thanksgiving leftovers dish.
It's got some noodles in there,
it's got a creamy, rich sauce,
mushrooms, peas,
and then some sort of crumbed topping.
Baked, it's delicious.
All right, let's get the party started.
Bryan, do you think today we're gonna gobble the competition?
[laughs obnoxiously]
[Michael] Bryan and I, we spend a lot of time together, cooking.
We can almost complete each other's sentences
when we're in the kitchen, and so,
Bobby and Darnell are gonna have to find
their stride with each other,
and their food has to be cohesive.
The vibe has significantly changed here in the kitchen.
The Voltaggio brothers are back together,
last round they were trash talking each other,
and now they're best friends again.
So I guess that's just what it's like
to be in a family, right?
I'm making a braised turkey thigh
and smoked turkey leg Tetrazzini,
with fresh turkey egg noodles,
and brown butter breadcrumbs.
[Michael] Bryan, sides, what are we gonna make?
Uh, cauliflower gratin, with Taleggio,
cabbage rolls with shrimp and pork,
glazed in a tomato shrimp jus.
So we'll keep everything Italian,
-like a Voltaggio Thanksgiving. -Keep it Italian.
I like this, okay.
Chef Michael, why did you choose turkey Tetrazzini?
Bryan and I are Italian, and it's an Italian dish.
And so, I've never really gotten to make it before,
and I always wanted to learn how,
so I thought this would be a good time to learn.
I mean, who decides to learn how to make a dish
when they're going up against Bobby Flay?
Only Michael Voltaggio.
-Whoo! -The good news is that I have Darnell on my team,
the bad news is I've never made turkey Tetrazzini before.
Or any Tetrazzini, for that matter.
But, we're gonna do a very home-style casserole dish,
we're gonna use egg noodles, turkey sausage,
some portobello mushrooms and peas,
and then on top, I'm gonna put porcini breadcrumbs.
So tell me about your side dishes.
So, thinkin', um, harissa glazed carrots,
some bacon and pomegranate Brussels sprouts.
Since we had the creaminess in the Tetrazzini,
I wanted to bring something that was light,
but flavorful in two different ways.
-I love that. -[Katie] Team Bobby,
the two of them look like they're already having a good time.
There's some Brussels sprouts being chopped.
-Bobby! -What?
What's your take on the turkey Tetrazzini?
Well, this is like an old family recipe of mine.
[laughs]
So, I'm gonna use, um, turkey sausage,
that I'm spicing up with some Calabrian chili,
egg noodles,
I'm gonna make a Fontina béchamel,
to kinda layer it all together.
Wait, so you're not actually cooking a turkey,
you're using turkey sausage?
Well, there's turkey in turkey sausage, Katie.
[Darnell chuckles]
That's really smart, in a 45-minute time period.
It takes out a lot of the extra work.
But, turkey Tetrazzini,
usually, is full turkey.
Bryan, Bobby's using turkey sausage.
[chuckling] Okay.
I took the leftover turkey,
turned it into sausage, then took it out of the casing,
-and now I'm sautéing it. -[Darnell chuckles]
-[Katie] I'm so sure, Bobby, I'm so sure. -Did you?
I'm grabbing a fresh turkey,
breaking the thigh down, taking the bone out of the thigh,
getting that into the fryer to start cooking it,
and then starting to build the liquid for the pressure cooker
that the turkey thigh's gonna cook in.
Onion, celery, carrots, garlic,
turkey stock, rosemary.
Whoo!
A smoked turkey leg,
and my goal is to braise these thighs
in this pressure cooker, in all these aromatics,
then drain that out and use both the thigh
and the smoked turkey leg in my Tetrazzini.
[Katie] It's gonna give it a bolder flavor,
and a lot less time
than you would typically be cooking a turkey.
-How you doing, Darnell? -Great.
[Darnell] So I cut my carrots in half, I sear them all,
and I start working on my harissa glaze,
so I have my harissa, I have some oil,
I have honey and I have cumin,
and I toss those carrots in there,
and then finish them in the oven.
Darnell's got a heavy spice rub on those carrots.
He's going for really nice charred color and texture.
Voltaggio brothers, how you doing?
So we're making turkey egg noodles.
Wow.
Didn't you ever wanna see if you could make noodles out of turkey eggs?
No.
I didn't even know turkeys had eggs.
[laughter]
[Bobby] That's Michael Voltaggio.
It's like, don't ever expect the expected, 'cause it's not happening.
I mean, seriously!
-We have 24 minutes on the clock! -[Bobby] Yes, chef!
[applause]
-Okay, Voltaggio brothers. -Hi, Katie.
How's it feel to be cooking together,
instead of against each other?
[Michael] Best day of my life.
-[Katie laughs] Best day of your life? -[Bryan] Aw!
-[Darnell chuckles] -So you're making, like, an egg noodle?
-I'm making egg noodles out of turkey eggs. -[Katie] Mm-hmm.
[Michael] So far, they look like eggs...
-[Katie] Yeah, they look like eggs. -...so I got that part right.
[Michael] Please turn into pasta, you turkey egg.
Bryan, what are your side dishes that you've got going on?
Uh, doing stuffed cabbage rolls, staying in an Italian theme.
This sounds great.
[Bryan] So the stuffed cabbage rolls,
have to blanche the cabbage leaves first,
then you stuff with sausage and shrimp.
I added a little bit of fish sauce,
just to kinda give it a little bit of umami,
and then it's gonna be glazed in a tomato shrimp broth.
Wow! if you have any extra later on, I'll take it.
[Michael] I take the dough, put it into a vacuum-packed bag,
to speed up the resting process,
so that when I roll it out,
my noodles are not too elastic.
[Katie] Bobby!
We've got over here at the Voltaggio station,
they are making noodles from scratch,
not from a bag.
-[Michael] Pasta. -[audience member] Ooh...
-Yeah, I'm not using pre-packaged pasta. -[laughter]
The thing about dry pasta and fresh pasta is, like,
one is not better than the other.
But because I'm baking it,
I think a dry pasta is probably gonna be a little bit heartier.
When I stop by your apartment,
the day after Thanksgiving this year,
are you gonna be making turkey Tetrazzini?
Definitely not.
-[Katie] Definitely not? -Actually, you know what? Let's see how...
[laughing]
Let's see how it works out.
Darnell, what's it like to be cooking with Bobby?
Amazing.
Came to beat him, but now that we're on teams,
like, I want him to win now.
All right everybody, let's hear it
for the Voltaggio brothers!
[cheering and applause]
Yay!
The turkey Tetrazzini, I think is gonna have good flavor,
so when I started the béchamel,
first I make a roux with butter and flour,
I add the milk to it, and then I pump in
a whole bunch of grated Fontina cheese,
for that good, nutty flavor.
[Michael] So I take the dough from the vacuum sealer,
it feels nice and rested, roll it out with the rolling pin
so it goes through the machine faster,
down to almost, like,
a two or three setting on the pasta machine.
Michael, how's that pasta working out for you?
[Michael] It looks pretty...
freaking incredible.
It does!
Yeah, it looks great.
[Michael] And then cutting it into hand-cut parpadelle.
Darnell, you putting those Brussels sprouts in the fryer?
-[Darnell] Oh, for sure. -[Katie] Smells so good.
Fried Brussels sprouts, yep.
[Darnell] So my Brussels sprouts are done,
so I wanna take 'em, toss 'em in a light vinaigrette,
bacon fat, red wine vinegar.
You wanna talk about tradition?
That's a traditional Bobby Flay Thanksgiving dish.
[Bryan] So I'm making a cauliflower and kale gratin.
The cauliflower is blanching at the same time
that I'm sautéing the kale.
So that way I can bring the two together in the pan,
with the Taleggio because it's nice and creamy.
Then I'm gonna place it in the gratin dish and top it with some parmesan cheese.
[Katie] Cauliflower gratin, that's kind of
in the same vein as a turkey Tetrazzini,
so there's a lot of rich, on rich, on rich happening here.
Ten minutes and 23 seconds on the clock!
-[applause] -Ten minutes? Crap!
So Bobby, you know Thanksgiving's all about
family and traditions, and you're like me,
we're both only children.
Yes, we are.
Are you a little jealous of the Voltaggio brothers
over there, with their brotherly love?
We're walking! Still walking! [chuckles]
You know, a little bit, actually.
I wanted you to have a family feeling,
so I wanted to bring in somebody for you
to feel like family,
like a brother to you, I mean,
-he looks like you, he acts like you... -What?
Please welcome Tommy the turkey.
♪ Everybody get up ♪
-[cheering and applause] -[Katie] Gobble, gobble, gobble!
-[Bobby] Oh my god. -[Katie laughs]
I gotta take a picture of y'all. Darnell, get in there.
[scoffs]
[Katie] All right!
Bobby, doesn't it feel like
-you've got your family here now? -[chuckling]
[Katie] You guys look just alike!
Yes, we do. People have been saying that forever.
And you act just alike, too.
-[chuckling] -[Katie] We're gonna roast you.
And carve you. Maybe burn you tonight.
Would you like some Fontina?
[laughter]
[Katie] Y'all, let's hear it for Tommy the turkey!
[Bobby] I take all the ingredients,
the turkey sausage, the portobello mushrooms and peas,
marry it with the Fontina sauce,
put it in a casserole dish,
and then I put it in the oven for about 10 minutes.
[Michael] Turkey in my pressure cooker's done,
breaking the thigh down, taking the leg from the smoked turkey,
chop that up,
everything Tetrazzini is in this cast-iron pan.
Stock goes into it.
Mushrooms and cream.
Parsley, parmesan, peas.
I'm not baking this in the oven like a casserole,
because I want to serve this over perfectly-cooked pasta.
With fresh pasta, that's just not gonna work.
And so, I'm hoping this sauce
will reduce, reduce, reduce, reduce.
It's time to push a little bit.
[Katie] Six minutes on the clock.
♪ Get your, get your, get your game face on ♪
Seems like team Voltaggio is really scrambling for time.
It's down to the wire.
[Michael] Bryan and I are here to beat Bobby Flay,
at any cost.
[Katie] It is Michael Voltaggio.
I'm sure he's gonna make something amazing.
♪ Get your game face on 'Cause I'm coming to play ♪
[Michael] These last six minutes are the most stressful
six minutes of Thanksgiving I've ever had.
Voltaggio brothers, how you doing?
We're getting there.
[Bryan] It's a dance, for sure.
There's a short amount of time on the clock,
um, there's a lot to get done.
[Michael] It's coming down to the wire.
I wanna reduce this Tetrazzini to the very last minute.
[Katie] I think the biggest thing that can hurt team Voltaggio,
is that these dishes stray from the tradition.
Bryan's cauliflower gratin,
and he's got some fried cauliflower going on top.
Sounds delicious.
But the stuffed cabbage,
he also did some fried shrimp crackers.
These are very modern takes on Thanksgiving dishes.
-You good? -Yep.
[Bobby] Smells really good.
[Katie] Look how beautiful those Brussels sprouts look.
But, Darnell's harissa carrots
-could be a little too charred. -[Bobby] Underneath...
[Bobby] The turkey Tetrazzini's come out of the oven.
I top them with some porcini breadcrumbs.
[Katie] Bobby's looks like a more traditional take,
even though he's using sausage versus shredded turkey.
[Bobby] I put 'em in the salamander,
I want a little crustiness on top.
-[Katie] Two minutes on the clock, guys! -[applause]
[Michael] I toss my turkey egg noodles in olive oil,
and a little bit of salt and pepper,
that's going on the bottom,
so that now when I take everything from that cast-iron pan,
I'm spooning it over the top of it,
so it just seeps into all those
beautiful hand-cut noodles that are underneath.
Bobby, there's less than 40 seconds,
and you still have your Tetrazzini
-under the broiler. -I know.
-[Darnell] Am I going that side or this side? -[Bobby] Where do you want?
[Michael] Bryan's grabbing the chives and the parsley,
topping it off with some brown butter breadcrumbs.
-[audience] Ten! Nine! -Serve, serve. Sprinkle it on top.
-[audience] Eight! Seven! -Look out, look out.
[audience] Six! Five! Four!
Three! Two!
-[Michael] Lid goes on. -[audience] One!
Done.
-[cheering and applause] -[Bobby] Theirs is more fancy than ours.
We went Thanksgiving holiday.
We'll see what happens.
Tonight, we're celebrating Thanksgiving traditions.
Team Voltaggio and team Bobby,
I'd like to introduce you to your judges.
First up, chef, restauranteur,
and the queen of soul food, Melba Wilson!
Chef/owner of Portale restaurant, Alfred Portale.
Cookbook author and chef/owner
of one of the hardest reservations in town to get,
Don Angie, Angie Rito!
[applause]
All right judges, please try the first
Thanksgiving meal in front of you.
This turkey Tetrazzini exuded flavor,
and the creaminess inside was amazing.
Oh, my god. The carrots, roasted to perfection.
Loved the heat that was on there,
as well as the caramelization.
I thought it was deep, delicious.
My Brussels sprouts were amazing,
I would have liked to have had a tad bit more
of the pomegranate dressing on mine.
The flavors are delicious.
Brussels sprouts, bacon, pomegranate, great.
And, I loved the carrots. They were roasted perfectly.
The Tetrazzini, it's very well-seasoned.
It is delicious.
But it lacks a bit of turkey flavor.
I really loved the textural contrast on the Tetrazzini.
The porcini flavor was a little overpowering,
and I would have liked maybe a little more
turkey flavor in there.
The carrots, I really enjoyed the heat from the harissa.
Overall, a really great Thanksgiving meal.
Thank you, judges! Let's switch your plates.
This dish screamed turkey Tetrazzini.
I loved the fact there was smoked turkey in there.
The breadcrumbs on top were delightful.
The crunchiness when I bit into it.
There was some sauce,
but really not a lot.
I would have loved for there to have been a little more cream
inside of here.
I loved the marriage of kale and cauliflower,
however, I did think that the gratin,
that the sauce was very, very loose.
In terms of the stuffed cabbage,
pork, shrimp,
and a tomato sauce.
-What else could make me happier? -[light laughter]
[Melba] This was Thanksgiving on a plate.
[Katie] Alfred, what do you think?
The Tetrazzini, I liked very much,
you know, I loved the braised turkey leg.
Delicious, lots of turkey flavor.
Breadcrumbs gave it that sort of nice texture.
The noodles, great.
The gratin, the Taleggio was a little powerful.
Loved the cabbage.
Pork and shrimp?
Excellent combination. Very successful.
The turkey Tetrazzini was so delicious.
I loved all the different types of turkey in there.
I do think it could have,
you know, maybe been a little creamier,
or a little saucier.
I really liked the stuffed cabbage,
I thought this was a really unique Thanksgiving side dish.
Overall, a really great Thanksgiving meal.
Judges, thank you so much for your comments,
but we gotta take a vote.
[Michael] Bobby's, uh, such a huge mentor for me.
I study what he does so much
and apply it to how I compete,
and it makes me wanna beat him that much more.
[Katie] And the winning team is...
...team Voltaggio!
[cheering and applause]
-What? I'm sorry? -[laughing]
-[Bobby] Good job. -[Darnell] Good job!
Whoo!
-Get over here! -[laughing]
Chefs, this dish was turkey forward.
You chefs should really be proud of yourself.
You really brought Thanksgiving to us today, thank you.
-Thank you. -Thank you, chefs.
I think your Mom's gonna be really excited about this.
[Michael] She's gonna be super proud.
Darnell? You did a great job,
you came in to beat Bobby, so technically,
this is a win for you as well,
-because we beat Bobby. -[laughter]
-[applause] -Come on over here!
-[yelling excitedly] -[laughter]
-[Darnell] Yeah! -We're all thankful today!
-Bye, Bobby! -[chuckling]
-Bye. Come on, Darnell. Let's go. -[laughter]
We just beat...
[both] Bobby Flay!
-We don't sing. We cook. -[chuckles]
-Give it up for the Voltaggio brothers! -[cheering and applause]
Oh, come on!
[Katie] So sweet!
We are the Voltaggio brothers!
And we just beat Bobby Flay!
[cheering and applause]
This is the 12 ways of beating Bobby Flay!
Okay!
[Bobby] The game is on, everybody!
-Something's burning! -Oh, mushrooms!
I don't have time to chill! Look at me!
They're yelling at each other already.
That's not how you do it!
Don't scare me!
It's gamesmanship.
Where's he going?
So excited, my apron's coming off!
That's a little personal, isn't it?
[chuckles]
Stop laughing, Bobby!
I'm about to steal Christmas, baby!
Turn out the lights!
[Bobby] Wow. Everyone's out to beat me!