I'm Bobby Flay.
Each week, one brave chef will try to take me down in my house.
This is my show.
Today it is. Tomorrow, who knows?
-Ooh. -Trash talking.
This culinary battle is gonna 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.
It's do or die, Bobby.
[Bobby] Two people that know me well
will decide who's got the skills to beat me.
Yeah!
Round two, I go head-to-head with the winning contender.
-Let's go! -[Bobby] It's their turn to surprise me
with their signature dish.
-What? -Aah!
Don't try this at home.
[laughing] No, you didn't, Bobby!
[Bobby] Bottom line...
You're gonna run out of time!
...everyone's out to beat me.
All right, everybody. I know I'm in for it tonight.
Please welcome two of my best friends,
who love to give me a hard time.
♪ We gonna liven it up, yo... ♪
From Food Network, chefs Alex Guarnaschelli and Katie Lee.
You know, I kind of forgot that you were gonna be here.
I know it's called Beat Bobby Flay and all,
but I was looking forward to just a girls' night with Alex.
Well, you can certainly just hang out with Alex.
Every once in a while, I show up here.
I know. It does come with the job.
The drinks are free though.
Oh, what are you making?
He makes a really good margarita.
-Yeah. -He's never made me a margarita.
-I haven't? -Nope.
-But you did drop off Mexican food for you, right? -I don't believe that.
And he did drop off all the ingredients
to make a margarita.
Yes, exactly.
Guys, we have a lot of these inside jokes
because we've been doing this a long time together.
-Ten years. -You know, I want to show you all,
this was our first time here at Beat Bobby Flay
-together. Yup. -Oh, come on!
[Bobby] Oh, my God.
-[Katie] Look how young we all look. -[Alex] Look how bright-eyed
and bushy-tailed. We look so happy.
I know. [laughs]
But we are so fortunate to have had such a long relationship,
and I think that that gives Alex and I a leg up.
We know how to beat Bobby Flay.
[laughs] All right, bring out some chefs, please.
This Cali kid is ready to show the world the future of Korean cuisine.
Chef Kyungbin Min.
[audience cheering]
[Bobby] Yeah!
Oh, my God, so cute.
Oh, okay.
Our next contender also loves Asian flavors
and came up in Chicago's top restaurants.
Let's hear it for Chef Alex Ottusch.
[audience cheering]
Whoo!
Kyungbin, Alex, how are you?
-Doing well. -Good. I'm ready to cook.
-Ready to cook. -Ready to cook.
All right, cool.
I'm gonna give you an ingredient of my choice,
and you must make that the star of your dish.
And that ingredient is...
bitter melon.
[audience exclaims]
[Bobby] Have you worked with this before?
-Honestly, I haven't. -Played around with it before,
but it has like that bitter flavor
-that's a little hard to-- -It's bitter melon.
Yeah. [chuckles]
Alex and Katie will taste your dishes
and decide which one of you goes up against me
in the second round.
Make sure your dish is gellin' with this bitter melon.
[bell dings]
[Katie] This is probably the toughest ingredient.
It looks like a cucumber. Doesn't taste like a cucumber.
Not at all. It's a Chinese gourd.
It's got like a burned acrid note that you need to erase.
I think you have to combine it with other ingredients.
I would do some kind of stir fry here for sure.
[Katie] And it is used in Asian cuisine.
-And so maybe our chefs will know what to do with it. -[Bobby] Yeah.
If somebody can make bitter melon sing,
they got a good shot at beating you.
How is it, Alex?
-Bitter. -Yes.
Sixteen minutes and nineteen seconds.
So what are you making?
Grilled romaine lettuce cups...
-I love that idea. -...a little bit.
[Ottusch] Since the melon is bitter,
I wanted to use something like romaine, fresh and light,
with grilled bitter melon, pickled bitter melon.
I feel like pickling adds some sweetness to it.
This tastes like when I was married.
What else are you using?
Some pancetta with an orange guajillo sauce.
I love that.
-I love that. -I hope you do.
[Bobby] I like orange and red chilis together.
They have a good affinity for each other.
[Katie] Alex grew up idolizing you.
He knows all of your tricks.
So he could be a tough contender.
Yes.
[Ottusch] I wanted to be a chef as a kid.
That's why I clung on to Bobby Flay so much
because I got to see this world of food.
I have worked for some of the toughest chefs.
My proudest culinary moment was going to work at Alinea.
After leaving, I worked for Chef Stephanie Izard,
where I fell in love with Asian cuisine.
Today, I work as a sous-chef
at the Snake River Grill in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
If I can take down an Iron Chef,
I can do just about anything.
How are you? Club soda.
-Frying. Batter. -Oh, yes.
-Tempura. -Tempura.
In Korean cuisine, they do a lot of like tempura style fried vegetables.
So I'm making a tempura-fried bitter melon
using rice flour
because it's not so heavy.
And then, what, like a little dipper on the side?
Yeah, I'm gonna do like a sweet and sour sauce with gochujang.
It's a little tangy, a little spice.
Gochujang is a very traditional Korean fermented chili paste.
I'm combining the garlic, ginger, gochujang,
brown sugar...
-That's a good idea. -[Katie] Yeah.
[Bobby] It's got a lot of flavor that
will actually distract the flavor of the bitter melon.
All right. Fantastic.
You look like you really-- you have a vision.
-Thank you. -13 minutes and 39 seconds left.
[audience cheering]
♪ You're gonna remember where I take this... ♪
[Kyungbin] I immigrated here with my family
when I was about 5 years old.
At an early age, I had a passion for food.
I worked my way up in Michelin restaurants,
but I wanted to go back to my roots
and figure out who I am as a Korean-American chef.
Now I'm a chef in Koreatown, LA.
So I'm trying to incorporate Korean ingredients, Korean flavors.
I'm not the most competitive,
but, Bobby, I'm coming for you.
I want to win for my parents.
I want to show them that hard work and persistence,
you know, we can make it.
-Just under nine minutes left. -Ooh!
Kyungbin has some very thick, big slices that he wants to tempura.
I like where his sauce is going.
[Alex] It is such an old-school sauce.
Like, punchy,
just can't-stop-eating type of sauce.
But I think Alex could log a lot of points
for picking something juicy like romaine
to kind of be a supporting cast member.
[Katie] I don't know that I would have chosen
-to grill both the lettuce and the bitter melon. -Okay.
I feel like that Romaine could have just stayed fresh.
-As is. -Mmm-hmm.
[Ottusch] The next thing I need to do is dice up the oranges,
throw them into some hot water,
and get 'em really soft
so I can throw them in the blender
with the guajillo peppers.
Seven minutes and thirty seconds.
[audience cheering]
Chef, you got the bitter melon going in the fryer?
-Yeah. -And what did you think of the bite of the tempura fry?
You liked it?
Uh, it's good. But since it is rice flour,
I'm gonna do a double-fry.
So you get like that extra crisp.
Oh, that's smart. Do you feel like you can beat Bobby
-if you win this round? -I feel like I have a good chance.
"Good chance"? Come on. Yeah, you can do it.
-I can do it. Yeah. -[Katie laughing]
Hey, Chef. How's it going over here?
It's coming along.
Do you feel like you can beat Bobby if you win this round?
Absolutely.
[laughs] You seem pretty confident.
All right, well, we're looking forward to trying your dish.
Let's hear it...
-[audience cheering] -...for Chef Alex.
All right! We're gonna beat Bobby Flay?
Yes!
Come on! Whoo!
Five minutes on the clock.
♪ The time is now... ♪
[Kyungbin] I'm thinking, the batter, I could have gone heavier.
But at this point, time's running out.
I go with the sauce next,
crushed pecans, some lemon zest,
and then some scallions.
[Alex] Two minutes!
Alex has done a lot of your DNA on his dish.
The orange, the pancetta, the dried chilis.
It's almost like an homage.
[Bobby] 25 seconds.
[Ottusch] I get a nice swoosh of the sauce,
add a little touch of fresh basil, and I'm done.
[all] ...seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!
[bell dings]
[audience cheering]
Good job.
Nice job, Chef.
I am a little bit worried that mine's a little bit too simple versus his.
[Ottusch] I hope I didn't take it too far with the grilling,
but I feel like it's still gonna be a good dish, overall.
I plan on winning.
You both got a really challenging ingredient.
Bobby, this was a low blow.
It's gonna all come down to what you both did with the bitter melon.
Kyungbin, what did you make?
I did a tempura-fried bitter melon
with a gochujang sweet and sour sauce
and some toasted pecans.
[Alex] The scallions and pecans,
fantastic additions to this dish.
They give a fattiness, what this dish really needs.
I think the tempura needed to be crispier.
If you had cut these a little bit more thinly,
it would have been helpful.
-Okay. -[Katie] I agree with what Alex said.
But I like where you went with it,
having that velvety sauce with it,
the fresh element of the scallions.
I think you were really smart about it.
Thank you.
Chef Alex, tell us what you did with the bitter melon.
A grilled romaine lettuce cup with charred bitter melon
and pickled bitter melon with an orange guajillo sauce.
I really love the salty fattiness of the pancetta
with the bitter melon
and having that sweet acidic moment from the orange.
I think that would have held off on grilling the lettuce.
Adding the burnt taste was kind of like butting heads.
[Alex] You threw a lot of really delicious ingredients at the melon,
but it doesn't quite come together,
'cause the bitter melon is just a party pooper.
This is a party pooper of an ingredient.
Yeah. You both took it and did what you could with it.
[Ottusch] I think with a little more time,
I probably could have made a more complete dish.
But, you know, I put my all into this,
and I hope it comes up on top.
The chef moving forward to beat Bobby tonight...
Chef Kyungbin.
-[audience cheering] -It was nice to meet you.
This was just a whole different ball game
that I've never really played before.
And it was just an honor just to be here.
We saw in your dish the elements
that could go up against Bobby
and have the potential to beat him.
I think you really can do this.
-I think so, too. -I do. I feel it.
I'm interested to see how he plays in my field this time.
Oh. So are we.
[audience laughs]
You feel good about the second round?
Very confident.
-"Very" confident. -Yeah.
Okay. What are we cooking tonight?
What's your signature dish?
My signature dish is...
bulgogi ssam.
-Bulgogi ssam. -Yeah.
[Bobby] I love this dish.
Beef and lettuce. Let's do it.
Beef and lettuce.
Oh, Bobby, you are in trouble tonight.
-Oh, really? -[Kyungbin] Yeah.
I feel confident. I got this.
[Katie] We believe in you.
Thank you.
You have 45 minutes. Your time starts now.
Go!
Yeah!
This dish is a Korean dish of meat and lettuce wraps,
usually beef, thinly sliced, going in a marinade.
It's usually caramelized
and it has a wonderful crunchy exterior to it.
And bulgogi often has a dipping sauce
with some short-grain rice.
It also always has some pickled
crunchy raw ingredient
to kind of counter
-the deep flavors of the meat and the marinade. -I'm so hungry now!
I'm starving.
We got stuck with that bitter melon,
and now they're making this.
You know, I think Bobby, he has so many opportunities
to add his Bobby Flay flair to this,
of pickling, of having sweetness, spiciness.
I wonder if he's gonna go crispy rice on us.
See, this makes me nervous.
[Bobby] I don't cook it very often, but I love these flavors.
It's a completely fun dish to make.
I'm making a bulgogi ssam with crispy kimchi rice.
I have some grenadine, some white wine vinegar.
I'm gonna pickle serrano chilis, shallots, cucumber.
It's spicy, it's sweet, refreshing.
Kyungbin, what was it that made you choose this dish?
[Kyungbin] It's something that I do make a lot.
But it's about how everything tastes together
once you eat it as a ssam.
I think my version of bulgogi ssam
has a high chance of beating Bobby Flay,
just 'cause it's all about the harmony
between different components of the dish
and just having that right balance.
Traditionally, you'll have soy marinated beef,
with soy sauce, water, sugar, garlic, black pepper.
I want to just keep it as traditional as possible
with short-grain rice and a quick cucumber kimchi.
[Alex] 37 minutes left.
Are we behind him on this side?
[audience cheering]
Right?
We are hyped up over here, Kyungbin.
Okay, so what's your edge on Bobby?
So we can psych him out a little bit.
Well, first of all, I'm Korean.
So hopefully I can't lose this one.
And that's the marinade for the meat?
-Or... -That's the marinade for the meat.
-Yes. -Okay, cool.
And what's the cut you're using?
[Kyungbin] Rib eye.
Traditionally, you'll use a cheaper cut, usually.
-Um... -Go for it, right?
[audience] Yeah!
[Alex] You got to pull the big guns out.
-Hi. -[Bobby] What's up?
What's up?
Is this a marinade for the meat?
-Or a sauce? -Yeah, this is the marinade for the meat.
-Okay. -A little black vinegar over here.
-Oh, black vinegar. -A little pear juice.
Bold. What kind of meat are you using?
-Filet. -Filet?
Yeah. I'm gonna grill it
so it gets a caramelized crust on it.
Oh, no, he's got the grill out,
and he's making rice, guys. I'm scared.
Thirty minutes and fourteen seconds left.
[audience cheering]
I heard you say that Bobby's using filet for this.
Isn't that interesting?
Kyungbin's using a rib eye.
[Katie] Rib eye has so much flavor.
-I think it's better choice. -That good fat in there.
[Alex] Look at Picasso over here,
painting his meat with the marinade.
You've gone from Bobby Flay to Bob Ross.
[Bobby] I'm just brushing it on to put on the grill
because the grill is gonna help caramelize it.
Geez, Bobby.
You know, this could be a time that Bobby overgilds the lily.
He is completely overdoing it.
It might just be too much.
Twenty-two minutes and thirty seconds left.
♪ This is bold times Do it... ♪
-Are you just doing that to look sexy? -Wow.
Come on.
[Bobby] I'm looking for a caramelization on the outside.
I want it to be a little charred.
And then I'm gonna make a sauce.
And I think this is where a lot of the flavor comes in.
It's gochujang that I thin out with some pear juice,
honey and soy sauce.
Either Bobby is gonna make this like
the most flavorful bulgogi ssam dish ever,
or he is completely overdoing it.
Where's the relief in Bobby's dish?
Right.
Whereas Kyungbin is doing a really classic, simple, preparation.
Now look, he is using the torch there
to really get some dark caramelization.
[Alex] Two very different ways to approach char on a meat.
-And now Kyungbin's cutting his meat... -Yes!
...into smaller pieces to break it up.
[Katie] Very traditional in Korean cooking.
I also think having it cut up like that
makes it just easier to eat.
So a lot of my meat is coming together.
Now it's time for the kimchi.
It's gonna be dried chili flakes,
soy sauce, a little bit of sugar,
garlic, a little bit of sesame oil.
And because cucumbers have so much water,
most of the flavors should penetrate right away.
[Katie] Coming up on 18 minutes.
-What's up, lovely? -Hello.
-How are you? -How's it going over here?
-Good. How are you? -I was wondering,
when's the last time you had bulgogi ssam?
Actually, I was in K-town the other night.
-Oh, yeah. What do you-- -We're gonna go to K-town after this, Chef?
-[Bobby] After this? -Yeah.
Are you gonna feel like taking me if you lose?
-Yeah. You know. -[Katie] Can I come?
I'd like to come.
Okay, so tell me what you're working on right now.
Kimchi and garlic chive rice.
Is it crispy?
Yup.
Crispy rice! Bobby Flay and his crispy rice!
-Imagine that! -[Alex laughing]
You know when the sign comes down, that it's official.
Bobby Flay is making the crispy rice.
Yeah!
I'm folding in the kimchi,
which is like fermented cabbage,
and some garlic chives into the rice
to give it more flavor.
All right.
-That's the cucumbers. -Yeah.
So this is gonna be a quick kimchi,
lighter, refreshing kimchi.
Not too spicy or anything like that.
I think that yours seems simpler
and fresher than Bobby's.
Yeah, I mean, I've been doing this for some time.
-So... -[Katie laughs]
[Katie] Just nine minutes left.
♪ Here we go... ♪
Bobby knows he needs any trick he can to make up lost ground,
so he's making kimchi rice.
Bobby is using the cabbage kimchi.
I love that Kyungbin's using those fresh cucumbers like that.
I think that's better than the jarred stuff.
[Kyungbin] The rice is still going.
I'm a little worried that it's not gonna make it out on time.
So while it's cooking,
I'm building my ssam in red leaf lettuce.
It's a very traditional route of doing it.
I'm adding the kimchi on the plate, the bulgogi.
Four minutes and eighteen seconds left.
How we doing, Kyungbin?
You feeling good?
I'm feeling real good.
I'm pulling my rice out a couple of minutes early.
It could have probably steamed a little bit longer
and it would have been a lot better.
But time's running out and I just gotta go.
It looks good.
[audience cheering]
I don't say this very often.
Bobby needs to start plating.
See, Bobby was so cool through this.
-And now... -You got me running, sir.
Three and a half minutes on the clock
and you're not even plating yet.
I gotta go. I gotta go.
I gotta go.
I put some butter lettuce leaves
on the bottom of the plate,
I put some of the crispy rice down,
the beef on top of that, some of the gochujang sauce.
I think those big pieces of meat
look funny on the lettuce leaf.
-It should be smaller, you think? -It needs to be chopped up.
Good point.
[Katie] One minute left.
On the side of the plate will be the gochujang ssamjang
with mayonnaise and gochujang.
I'm confident, you know, in my dish. I'm done.
-[all cheering] -I look over at Bobby,
you know, it looks like he's doing some
weird iteration of a ssam.
It doesn't really look Korean. [laughs]
[audience] Ooh!
I like it. He finished, and now he's trash talking.
[laughs] Love it.
Do you need help, Chef?
Eighteen seconds left.
[Katie] Bobby, how many more pickled vegetables
do you have to put on there?
[Bobby] As quickly as possible,
I finish with some of the pickled vegetables
and some fresh cilantro.
[all] Five, four, three, two, one!
[audience cheering]
Good job.
Beautiful.
Okay, so tonight's challenge was bulgogi ssam.
Now we'd like to introduce you to your judges.
First up, cookbook author and entrepreneur,
Marja Vongerichten.
Chef and owner of Noreetuh, Chung Chow.
Chef and cookbook author, Aliya LeeKong.
All right, judges, please start
with the first dish in front of you.
[Marja] I love the fact that it's in the traditional red lettuce wrap.
I really love the flavors of the marinade.
The beef was a little bit chewy for me.
I love this cucumber kimchi.
It's so fresh and has this perfect balance,
and I think that that's sort of the theme of this dish.
I would say that the rice is undercooked.
[Chung] Overall, this is a great dish.
Everything seems to be coming together.
I think the sauce overall is-- is a good sauce by itself.
The dish has enough flavors, enough balance,
that you don't really need it.
Okay, could you please try the second bulgogi ssam?
This dish has incredible technique.
The beef is seared perfectly,
and yet it's still really, really tender.
It's a little thicker than I would say a traditional bulgogi,
but I don't mind that here.
I would say I wished there was a little more sweetness to the dish,
giving it more of a traditional edge.
[Chung] The crispy rice was a really nice addition to the dish, overall.
On the flip side, I think the butter lettuce is not as durable,
so it kind of falls apart on you as you eat.
[Marja] I agree with Chung, but I really loved it.
I really like the mix of kind of fresh and pickled vegetables.
Overall, I think it's a nice mix of texture, color and taste.
All right, there can only be one winner.
Pick it.
[Kyungbin] I flew out here to definitely bring back a win for my parents.
I feel like I put up a good fight,
but let's cross our fingers.
And the winner of battle bulgogi ssam is...
Chef Bobby Flay.
[audience applauding]
Congrats.
Bobby, you know how to marinade a piece of meat.
Really tender.
I really love the presentation of your dish,
but I could not get past the texture of the rice and the meat.
It was a little tough.
Listen, man, you did a great job, okay?
-Thank you, Chef. -Thank you.
That's the crispy rice.
But I'm glad that I got an opportunity to play against Bobby.
Hopefully, the next time I come back,
I can show him what's up.
He pulled out that crispy rice yet again.
Isn't it time for some new tricks?
I'm starting to give up on you, my friend.
All these years of friendship, Bobby,
the least you could do is give us a win.
Well, my bulgogi was a ssam dunk.
[audience cheering]