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 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.
It's do or die, 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!
It's their turn to surprise me with their signature dish.
What?
Don't try this at home.
You did it, Bobby!
Bottom line
You're going to run out of time.
everyone's out to beat me.
All right. I'm ready to dance my way to a win.
You guys ready to watch?
Here to spread joy in all directions except mine,
it's Food Network's Carla Hall
and dancer and TV personality, Allison Holker Boss.
Come on, come on.
Oh, yeah, Bobby. Come on.
Oh, okay.
Who knew? Who knew?
Look at you. That was amazing.
Okay, that was the scariest moment of my life.
You did good.
I do love to dance. It's one of my favorite things to do.
I definitely don't do it in public often.
When I heard that you guys were cohosting tonight,
I was like, oh, this is going to be one of those nights
where they're going to make me move my hips.
Thanks so much for being here.
During the pandemic,
you and your late husband, honestly, just lifted me up and everybody else up
with your moves and just such positive energy.
Yeah. We always have music playing throughout the whole house,
so everyone kind of gets up and we're all in the same vibe together.
Yeah, it's so amazing. I love it.
And so you have a new children's book out now, too.
Yes, we do. Oh my gosh. I'm so excited about it.
It's called Keep Dancing Through: A Boss Family Groove
and our family's really big on, like, affirmations and keeping our spirits high,
keep moving through life.
It was something that was great with my children, as well.
-So it's a great memory for our family. -Oh, that's amazing.
So obviously, there's going to be some dancing tonight
and hopefully, a little cooking as well.
Let's bring out some chefs.
Well, Bobby, our first contender is serious about nose-to-tail cooking.
It's chef and butcher Kimberly Plafke.
Okay.
What's up, y'all?
Okay.
Our next contender is fusing soul food and Filipino flavors.
It's chef Tiana Gee.
-Amazing. -Yeah.
Kim, Ti. How's it going?
-Pretty good. -Fantastic.
-Very relaxed. -Got to keep it cool till I get to you.
Till you get to me. Okay. I'm going to put 20 minutes on the clock.
I'm going to give you an ingredient of my choice.
And you must make that ingredient the star of your dish.
-What are you hoping for? -Something I know.
-How about yourself? -Something she doesn't know.
[laughing]
And that ingredient is...
maple syrup.
Maple syrup is super versatile
and everybody likes a little bit of sweet.
All right, chefs. Don't waffle here.
Make the maple syrup the star.
[Carla] Maple syrup.
-Are you a maple syrup fan? -Absolutely. It's the only way to get my kids to eat.
I'll put it on vegetables. I'll put it on fruit.
I'll do it on anything. You know what I'm saying?
[Carla] I love just maple syrup with hot sauce and chili flakes.
Oh, yeah.
-It's good on chicken. It's good on anything. -Fried chicken, yes.
-Can I steal some flour? -Yep.
Are they going to do breakfast?
Wait. Ti is going to the flour. Ti, what are you making?
I'm going to make, uh, maple syrup, uh, cornbread. John cakes.
-Oh, yes! -Okay.
[Carla] I love this chef. She is not measuring anything.
This is something she clearly has done before.
She's taking her salt, her baking powder, baking soda.
She's just dumping it in.
[Tiana] I'm making a brown butter and maple Johnny cake
with a soy and maple syrup [indistinct]
with a corn succotash.
A Johnny cake is pretty much like if cornmeal and a pancake had a baby.
I'm a southern girl. For me, Johnny cakes and corn...
-It brings you home. -Yes.
My name's Tiana, but you can call me Ti.
I'm the chef and owner of SoulPhil,
which is my popup where I celebrate my heritage.
It's Filipino and soul food.
My love for food started out with my grandmother.
She taught me how to make Filipino food and started my passion for cooking.
I'm here to represent for all of the Black, female chefs,
all of the minority female chefs,
because there's a space for us and we're here to take up space.
Kim, what are you making?
Maple spicy shrimp tacos.
-Whoa. -Oh.
Sweet and spicy, just like us.
Oh. [laughs]
Shrimp goes really, really well with, you know,
a little sweet and a little heat
and so that sweet is going to be the maple and it'll really stand out.
And making homemade tortillas I think would catch their attention.
So I grab flour, blue cornmeal, oil, water and salt.
[Carla] Kim is a butcher.
When you have the confidence of breaking down a large animal,
it translates in the kitchen.
[Kimberley] I am the production manager at The Meat Hook.
I produce link sausages, charcuterie and ready-to-eat goods.
I have the best job in the shop.
My culinary style is cooking methods that are better for the planet.
Utilize all parts of the animal.
Make sure nothing gets thrown out.
I just basically want to prove to myself
that hey, you are one of the best people in your field.
If you can beat Bobby Flay, then that'll be the proof.
Fifteen minutes.
Kim. You're making your own taco shells.
Yeah, I saw a little tortilla press over there.
Well, you know there's a tortilla press with Bobby, you know. Okay.
That's true. He's a human tortilla press.
-Totally. All right, get into it. -Thank you.
I'm pressing out the tortillas
and then my super awesome butcher muscles broke the press.
There's another. However, it's a lot bigger
and it's a little harder for me to manage.
They're not coming out as thin.
So I'm adding some bacon lardons
to add some nice smoky saltiness.
-Chef Ti. -What's up?
I see some scotch bonnet here. What is that?
Scotch bonnet, brown butter with a little, uh, maple.
Going to make some kind of, like, gastrique for the lardons.
[Carla] Okay.
[Tiana] I add some soy sauce and some rice wine vinegar to make it nice and acidic.
Do you have a dance move? Your outfit says you do.
I don't. You know, they do that little TikTok one like this right now.
Okay. Oh. Okay. Okay.
Ten minutes, chefs.
Tia's getting some color on those Johnny cakes.
-Those Johnny cakes look baller. -Dude.
[Carla] Kim, I think the shrimp look good.
-Put in maple syrup now. -Bring on the maple.
It's time to get started on my pico, which every taco needs.
Using tomatoes, jalapeños and lime juice
Next, I'm going to make a spicy maple crema for my tacos.
I'm adding sriracha, mandarin orange juice and of course, maple.
So, making a corn succotash using shallots, bell pepper and bacon fat.
You guys have eight minutes left.
Chef Ti over here. What are you doing now?
It's going to be, like, a corn succotash, but I need to add some layers to it.
Do you have time for a dance move?
-I've got the moves. -There we go.
She's doing the dicing, so my cutting dance.
-No? -Yeah, I'm here for it.
That's good. I'm going to go over here.
She wasn't feeling my dancing.
How are you doing?
Very ambitious of you to be making your own tortillas right now.
Got to have big dreams. Right now, I dream of tortillas.
I've got my tortillas cooking,
even though they're a bit thicker than I originally planned.
A little more color.
[Allison] All right. You know what?
I'm going to get the audience to do some dance moves to encourage you.
We're all going to head to the side. Hey, hey.
That looks good.
They're giving you a little bit of love. A little encouragement.
We're at four minutes.
I really wish I could get my tortillas thinner, but time's running out.
So first, I'm going to put my tortillas down,
then my shrimp, a nice big spoonful of my pico,
followed by my crema.
It's hot in here, y'all.
-Thirty seconds to go. -Uh-oh.
It's time for me to start plating.
I start with the maple gastrique.
I add my Johnny cakes, the lardons as well as that succotash
[all] Eight, seven, six...
I add cilantro and some lime on the side.
[all] Three, two, one.
This is going to be hard.
[Kimberley] I'm nervous about the tortilla situation,
but I know that I've made maple the star.
[Tiana] If I was at a diner and I ordered some Johnny cakes
and this came out, cleaning the plate, immediately.
That was a heck of a 20 minutes.
Bro, you have no idea.
We know Bobby's a pretty good cook.
But after earlier, he's a pretty good dancer, too.
But fear not, we're going to knock him off his rhythm.
But before we see you guys dance to the man in the middle,
let's see what y'all did with the maple syrup.
Chef Kim.
I did maple shrimp tostada
with a spicy maple crema and a classic pico.
Love this crema. Your shrimp were cooked perfectly.
I get the maple syrup.
The pico, I think your cuts could have been a little cleaner
and the tostada, I think if it was a little thinner,
-you could have really cooked it through. -Right.
I do agree. It was a little uncooked in the middle,
but the shrimp is delicious.
I think you made maple the star
and I think that was really, like, standout.
-Thank you. -Chef Ti, what did you make?
I have a brown butter and maple Johnny cake
with a maple gastrique and corn succotash.
It's spicy.
First bite I had, it felt like it took me on a journey.
You go from the sweetness and then it gets hot.
-It really hits you. you don't expect it-- -Bam!
but I love, it was, like, whoa!
The bacon, so fantastic on top.
Might be a little bit too spicy.
My mouth's still on fire, right now.
Oh, it's on fire. But the sweetness of the corn
pairs beautifully with the maple.
Johnny cakes are cooked beautifully.
You've got a lot of lift.
You're calling it a gastrique, so I'm expecting that sort of sweet and sour.
-I could have used a little more acid. -Thank you.
I am a little bit nervous because of the heat.
I don't know if it was too much but I've got to keep it spicy.
The chef moving forward to beat Bobby Flay is
Chef Ti.
I'm upset that I won't be able to beat Bobby Flay,
but no regrets.
All right, Ti.
At the end of the day it was about flavor, it was about texture.
My palate literally craved another bite.
-So are you ready to take on Bobby? -Yeah.
Do you guys think she can do it?
[hip-hop song playing]
All right, Ti. That was an exciting first round.
What are we cooking tonight?
-This round, I'm tapping into my Filipino roots. -Oh, really?
So my signature dish is
sinigang.
Here we go. Here we go.
How do they do that?
Oh, yeah.
It's a soup, or something like that, right?
It's a soup. Are you ready to do this? Let's go.
Forty-five minutes on the clock, hit it.
Sinigang is a sour soup that originated in the Philippines.
-Okay. -It's made from the base of tamarind paste
and there's usually meat or fish bones
so that's the most important thing, is to get a very flavorful broth.
Chef Ti, why did you choose this dish?
Sinigang is one of my childhood favorites.
Who taught you how to make it?
My lola, that means grandmother in Tagalog.
And I knew that Chef Bobby might not know what it is.
What do you mean? I grew up on this.
[laughs]
[Tiana] My signature dish is seafood sinigang
with sea bass, king crab, mussels and prawns.
It's one of the best, most comforting dishes ever.
The first thing I need to do is get flavor and color into the broth.
I'm adding in some daikon, long green peppers.
She has already put a bunch of things in this pot.
Whole garlic cloves, she's got tomatoes and onions
and now she's putting in some tamarind paste.
You have to have that note of tamarind, that sourness,
to make your mouth salivate.
And then, I add in shrimp stock and fish trim
because it needs that fattiness.
Bobby, how many times have you had this meal?
You know, I've had this, like, once or twice.
The first thing I thought about was tartness.
Sinigang. Not a lot of experience with this dish.
Is this supposed to be spicy?
Oh, he's going down. He's going down in flames.
Definitely not made this dish before.
But then, the first thing I think about is maybe some kind of tamarind,
lots of lime juice.
I'm making sinigang with shrimp, mussels and some crispy shrimp heads.
I break out the pressure cooker.
I'm adding fresh ginger, fresh garlic, some shallots,
pork shank and then fish stock.
I'm not serving the pork shank,
I just want the pork flavor into the broth.
And then I'm going to steam some mussels with white wine.
Coming up on 36 minutes.
Oh, crap.
[Tiana] I'm keeping the heads on the spot prawn,
because the head is always the best part.
-All right, girl. -Yes.
-So you've got some shrimp going on here. -Yep.
I see crab legs. What else are you using?
-Sea bass. -All right.
I'm seafood crazy.
I think you chose well.
-Confidence in the culture. Confidence in the culture. -There we go.
I'm going to go over here.
All righty.
What's up?
[Carla] The mussels look good.
And I've got some prawns. I'm going to fry their heads and put them in there.
Okay. You're Bobbyfying it.
Now, I know that this dish doesn't normally have a lot of spice.
It doesn't have spice in it?
It has spice, but it's not a spicy dish.
Okay. I'm going to put a little heat in here.
-You should put a little heat in. -I've got to.
So I'm sautéing my shrimp with some New Mexico chili powder,
just to give it some flavor.
I can't help myself.
I hope your pressure cooker doesn't let you down.
I don't know what's going to happen.
I mean, I threw a bunch of aromatics in there,
but I don't know this at all.
I like the uncertainty, Bobby. You know why?
'Cause you're going down.
[laughing]
-You're going down. Okay. -[Bobby] See you later.
Twenty-six minutes on the clock.
[Bobby] So the pressure cooker is done.
I strain everything out so I just have the broth.
My broth tastes okay, but I'm definitely missing a couple of ingredients.
So I get to work on my vegetables.
I'm blanching some long beans, bok choy and then I'm going to shock it and chop it up.
-Smells good over there. -Thank you.
[Tiana] It is extremely important
to make sure that every piece of protein is cooked perfectly.
I've got to get the mussels cooked
so I take some of that broth and I strain it into another pot,
add the mussels into it and then time to cook the sea bass.
I get some nice color on the outside
and make sure it's still flaky and tender on the inside.
Fourteen minutes to go, chefs.
After the mussels get poached, I take them out.
I then poach the shrimp and some crab in that same broth.
What do you think, Carla? Should we go distract him?
-Absolutely. -Let's do it.
Hey!
-All right Wait. -Hey!
Come on!
Yeah.
-All right, Bobby. -Whoo!
-Okay. That was fun. -I didn't see it coming.
Whoo! Can we taste that broth?
-[Bobby] This has a lot to go. -[Carla] Right.
[Bobby] But you can taste it.
[Carla] Um...
-It's not very good. It tastes like dishwater. -It does.
Right now.
Are you going to do a little loser luau?
[laughs]
-'Cause you ain't winning tonight. -You don't think so?
I'm making sure to cook all my vegetables.
I want to make sure I cook them separately
because they all have different cook times.
-[Carla] Ti! -What's up?
I've got to taste the broth.
-Mmm-hmm. -Oh, what?
I mean, look at it, y'all.
Let me put the booty back.
[Allison laughs]
Oh, it is looking good.
If you want to do a little more salt, you absolutely can.
I mean, all that fish, the tomatoes coming in.
It tastes really complex.
Bobby, it's got so much flavor.
Allison, when you taste it, what are you tasting?
Listen, I'm not going to fall for those dirty tricks.
I feel like we might need to do a little bit of a victory dance over here.
-Already? -Hit it.
Seven minutes.
What did you think?
I think he should have had the shrimp in the pot at the start.
I think it would have added so much to it.
-Complexity on hers. -Yeah.
Flat on his.
Yeah. Complexity and flat.
Well, let me tell you. This is where Bobby has the sneak ups.
I've seen him come from behind.
-Okay. -So we've got to watch it.
[Bobby] I'm not very enthusiastic about this broth quite yet.
So I just want to put a bunch of stuff in it. Enrich some of these flavors.
I add a whole bunch of lime juice, some tamarind, soy sauce, daikon
the bok choy, long beans.
Three minutes left.
It's time to plate. I start with the bass. I add my prawn.
Then I add some mussels and some crab.
-She kept her mussels in the shells. -Mmm-hmm.
Bobby took his out.
She put the shrimp heads on top.
Bobby is frying his shrimp heads.
The fried shrimp heads are going to add more shrimp flavor,
but also, like, a nice crunch.
[Allison] You make me nervous for our girl, though,
because you keep saying that he sneak attacks you at the end.
Oh, he's sneak attack.
[Tiana] Now it's time to get into all of the vegetables.
Green beans, the bok choy and the eggplant.
Pour in the broth over that.
-[Carla] Ti, how's your broth taste? -That's a great question.
Uh, girl?
It's great.
Thirty seconds.
[Bobby] Let's get everything in the bowl.
I have the shrimp that's cooked, the mussels that are cooked,
I pour the broth with the vegetables over it.
[all] Nine, eight, seven, six...
[Bobby] Then I put the crispy shrimp heads on top.
[all] Three, two, one.
I think it's going to come down to the broth.
It smells really good, so I think I have a chance. We'll see.
I definitely know that I showcased myself.
I just hope that my flavors can get me the win.
Congratulations for finishing your sinigang.
And now we'd like you to meet your judges.
Author and restaurateur Nicole Ponseca.
Cookbook author and chef Ronnie Woo.
Founder and owner of Egg Shop NYC, Sarah Schneider.
Judges, please try the first sinigang in front of you.
Sinigang is such a comfort food.
And this dish delivered that. And I felt like, oh, I'm home.
I would love to have had just a little fish sauce.
I want that umami with that acid.
The broth, for me, was fantastic.
Really tangy and savory
and the crispy shrimp heads were just like... a delicious crunch
but maybe just a little bit more seasoning with the vegetables.
I loved, sort of the hardiness and the stew-like nature of it.
And I love the crispy fried shrimp heads
but maybe a pop of fresh garnish or something like that
could really just help with presentation.
That would be my only critique of the dish.
Well, thank you so much. Please switch your bowls.
This dish feels like a really modern approach.
Flavors, for me, were beautiful and really well-balanced.
The challenge, I loved the mussels,
but having them in the shell just makes it a little bit harder to sort of dig in.
I thought the seafood was cooked really well.
The crab was just absolutely delicious.
And I thought the presentation was just really gorgeous.
But I just wish that the broth had a little bit more flavor and punch to it.
I went like... from the acid.
I mean, that's really what sinigang is.
I didn't quite get that part of the dish.
Charring the bok choy, the eggplant.
Taking the crab out of the shell.
They say love is in the details.
There was a lot of love put into this dish.
And now, I need you all to vote.
[Tiana] Defeating Bobby would mean everything
and it looks like it could be close. Really close.
Tonight's decision was not unanimous.
The winner is
Chef Bobby Flay.
So how is this possible? Explain your votes, please.
Both soups were absolutely delicious.
But ultimately, this broth just had the pungent nature
that I really wanted in a sinigang.
Let's give it up for Chef Ti, everybody.
I got robbed, but I represented for Filipino culture,
African American culture, and I'm extremely proud of myself right now.
Tear it up. Come on, Bobby.
You've got to dance with us, Bobby.
I'm floored. I cannot believe that our girl did not win.
There will be a rematch.
Bring her back.
Ti, you've got to come back.
You have to come back. Girl, I'm going to drive you here.
Well, it threw me for a loop but the judges liked my soup.