I'm Bobby Flay.
Each week, one great 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's 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.
[Bobby] 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? -[woman] Oh, no!
Don't try this at home.
I know you did it, Bobby!
[Bobby] Bottom line...
You're gonna run out of time!
Everyone's out to beat me.
[crowd cheering]
[Bobby] We've got a great show tonight.
And here to put me on the chopping block,
please welcome Food Network's Ted Allen and Tiffani Faison.
[crowd cheering]
Hoo! Ha!
[Tiffani] It's not every day I get to sit
between two barely living legends.
[laughter]
You're starting it already?
-You know. -Oh, wow.
[Bobby] Well, I mean, wow.
I know you guys. You're busy doing Chopped.
-You become a regular member of that team over there. -Yes.
But you're also... You're such a great chef,
like, would you rather compete
or would you rather sit, be on the table?
Oh, I know the answer to this one.
-[Tiffani] Do you? -You like sitting right here.
I do. I love watching you get taken down.
So speaking of taking down,
do you have any strategy tonight, Ted?
If I had a strategy, Bobby, why would I tell you?
Ooh.
Just gonna "Chop" me. Okay.
Well, let's bring out some chefs.
Our first contender has some of New York City's
trendiest restaurants on his resume.
Please welcome Chef Jim Armstrong.
[Ted] Woohoo.
Here we go. Let's go.
Let's show Bobby what's up.
[laughs]
Our next contender is an avid snowboarder,
but he's not only carving up the mountains of Montana,
also its culinary scene.
It's Chef Earl James Reynolds!
Yeah, buddy.
[cheers and applause]
[laughing]
That was a rodeo.
Jim, Earl. How's it going?
-Doing well. -[Bobby] What was that?
-Rode in, like... -I rode in on a horse.
-Okay. -And his name is Sinbad.
[laughter]
Wow. Here's the way it's gonna work.
I'm gonna put 20 minutes on the clock,
I'm gonna give you an ingredient of my choice.
And you must make that ingredient
the star of your dish.
And that ingredient is...
wonton wrappers.
-[Tiffani] Yes. -[Ted] I like it.
It's a great one.
How do you feel about these?
-I love it. I'm ready for it. -How about you?
Rock and roll, let's go. I'll eat 'em raw.
[laughter]
We'd rather not.
[laughs]
All right, 20 minutes on the clock
to wrap up a delicious dish.
[bell dings]
-Whoo! Here we go! -Yes.
[upbeat music playing]
[Bobby] So Earl's gonna just eat 'em raw.
-[Ted laughs] -You know, as you do.
They're wheat-based wrappers...
so they're flour essentially,
they have a little bit of cornstarch,
and there's also some egg in them.
[Bobby] Are they gonna be pot stickers?
Are they gonna be dumplings of some sort?
-I would make nachos. -Interesting.
Nachos, or a tostada, or something like that.
[Tiffani] Dumplings and pot stickers are hard in 20 minutes.
[Ted] Yeah, it's a ton of production.
You're making something that's very likely to burst open.
Jim, what're you making?
I'm gonna make some spicy wontons today.
-[Tiffani] All right. -With what? Pork?
Ground beef, actually. Change it up a little bit.
-[Bobby] Okay. -You don't often see beef
-in wontons and dumplings. -Not beef.
When I went to go grab the pork,
Earl swooped under me and now I'm stuck with beef.
I'm making beef and ginger wontons with chili oil.
I'm gonna add olive oil and drop in some ginger.
And then I'm adding paprika, and cayenne, and five-spice.
I love eating dumplings,
and I'm gonna try to put one on a plate.
I was born and raised in Northern New Jersey.
Growing up, I got to always cook
with my grandma and my mom,
and it was always a wonderful time.
My first kitchens were those old-school kitchens
that you really had to prove your worth.
I was a prep cook
and I climbed my way all the way to the top.
Today, I'm the executive chef at Krupa Grocery.
Krupa Grocery is a upscale casual,
modern American restaurant.
We kinda do a little bit of everything.
I'm here to beat Bobby Flay just for the bragging rights.
Not many people are able to say it
and I'm gonna be one of them.
[Tiffani] Earl's got a steaming basket out.
Earl, what are you making?
I'm also making a steamed wonton dumpling.
Okay. With what inside?
-Prawns and some ground pork. -So that's classic.
[Earl] I'm making pork and shrimp shumai
with a ginger broth,
crispy-fried wontons, and an herb salad.
My wife and I's first date,
I made shumai and it must've done the trick.
I was born and raised in Whitefish, Montana.
I started working in kitchens when I was 15.
I loved it. So after culinary school,
I moved across the Pacific Northwest.
But the mountains were calling me home.
During my time at Stone Hill Kitchen and Bar,
I was a James Beard nominee for the mountain region.
Today, I'm the executive chef at Dancing Spirit Ranch.
We cook for mindfulness retreats,
but I'm just trying to prove
that Montana has some chefs
that are willing to get beast mode
out here in New York City.
So Bobby Flay's gonna be the entree,
and I am ready to eat.
You got 15 and a half minutes on that clock. Let's go.
[cheers and applause]
All right, Jim. You're going with a beef wonton.
What led you in this direction?
Whenever I go out and eat, I love spicy wontons
and that's kind of like... It's one of my favorite comfort foods.
-So we're going with it. -All right. I like it.
Right on.
-Chef Earl. -[Earl] Yes, sir.
So you're doing kind of a shumai play here?
Yes, I am. Shrimp and pork.
I'm making the filling right now.
Okay. What else is going in this?
-A little bit of ginger. -[Ted] Okay.
You've got 13:20, let's go.
[cheers and applause]
Whoo!
So I put the pork into the food processor,
the prawns, kimchi, and egg,
and a little bit of corn starch.
[blender whirring]
[Jim] For the inside of the dumpling, I'm adding cabbage,
ginger, five-spice, salt, and then parcooked the beef.
Just so that I cut down on the cook time.
Come on, baby.
So I don't wanna make these really skimpy wontons.
I fill them generously.
So the shumai's kind of like
an open-face dumpling, you know?
[Ted] Yeah, that's a huge amount of pork and shrimp
going into that shell.
Coming up on 8:30 here.
Oh!
-Those are giant shumai. -Yes, they are.
[Tiffani] How are you feeling about eight minutes in the steamer?
[Earl] I feel pretty good.
Can I just really quickly...
-Hold on one second there. -Yes.
Damn it.
[laughter]
I mean, if we can make this happen for me,
I think I'm gonna put a BOLO out for this. So...
-[Earl] Let's go. -[Tiffani] All right.
Are you gonna fry those on top?
-Yes, ma'am. -Oh.
If you can just... It's Chef.
You don't have to use ma'am like...
-Yes, Chef. -"Ma'am" is for my mom.
-Yes, Chef. -[Tiffani] All right.
-Keep riding, cowboy. -[Earl] You got it.
So I'm chopping up some wonton wrappers
and I chuck them into the fryer.
-[Tiffani] Jimmy. -[Jim] Chef, how are you?
I'm great. We're hot beefing into wonton wrappers.
[Jim] Yes. I'm doing this just to cut down a little
on the cook time at the end.
I'm gonna sear it up and give it a little steam.
And this way, I can guarantee that it's gonna be cooked.
[Tiffani] All right. Keep on keeping on.
I know your love for Southwestern everything,
so I got this for you.
Oh, thank you so much.
Yeah, complements of Earl and me.
-It's a bolo tie. -It's a bolo tie.
This is good luck. You're gonna need it.
[Earl] And now, I'm making a ginger broth
using the shells from the prawns,
butter, shrimp stock,
ginger, garlic, shallot.
[Tiffani] Earl's also made a sauce with the shrimp shells.
-[Bobby] I love that. -I love that.
-Yeah. -[Tiffani] That's so great.
[sighs] Let those bad boys ride.
[Ted] Jim seems to have used some egg
to make that wonton more sticky.
He needs it. Wrapping hot
anything into wontons is really, really tough.
[Jim] As I'm pinching them closed, I'm going so fast,
I didn't realize most of these wonton wrappers are stuck together.
And now they're double-layered.
Normally, I would never leave my wontons double-wrapped.
But I don't have time to peel them apart.
Now I need to get them steaming,
and I'm gonna add veal stock to get more flavor.
[Tiffani] If I were Jim right now, I'd throw those in the fryer.
He doesn't have a lot of time. He's got four minutes left.
I'm not worried about the beef cooking.
I'm worried about the wonton cooking.
Yeah, it's gonna cook on the bottom. But...
Like, the actual raw wonton on top,
that doughy, like, raw-ness.
Blech!
Yeah, that would be kind of a kiss of death, I think.
[Jim] I'm feeling the heat today, guys.
[bell dings]
Two minutes, folks.
[cheers and applause]
[Earl] I need to start plating,
so I take the wontons out of the fryer,
I go over to the steamer,
they feel mostly cooked.
I put the sauce in the bowls, shumai,
and I'm garnishing with hydrocress and cilantro.
[Jim] I have no time left,
so I need to get these on the plate.
I've got the oil down,
the wontons feel a little doughy,
but there's no time to do anything about it.
[all] Ten, nine...
[Earl] I add the crispy-fried wontons.
[Jim] I'm garnishing with scallions and yuzu
to give it some acid.
-Come on! -Three, two, one.
[bell dings]
[cheers and applause]
[Ted] One of the reasons I like coming here
is that unlike on Chopped, I get to eat.
Chef Earl, what'd you make?
I made a pork and shrimp shumai
with a ginger broth and some fresh herbs.
I love that you've used the wonton in two different ways.
First of all, that's really gutsy
to form a shumai and steam it,
and then frying the wontons on top.
Um, I sort of wish the pork was left
in its ground form so there's a little bit more texture.
Your presentation is fantastic.
You're very, very close
on getting that shumai cooked all the way through,
-but pretty yummy. -Thank you.
All right, Jim. Please tell us what you made.
I made a beef and ginger wonton
with a hot chili oil.
The dumpling flavor is great.
The beef, the ginger, it's really, really delicious.
These are really...
Well, Earl would eat these because they're raw on top,
but I would prefer not to.
[Ted] I love the heat in the chili oil a lot.
As soon as we saw those dumplings,
we were worried about the top part,
which is a little bit under, but all in all very nice.
Thank you.
Well, Ted and I have a tough job tonight.
Momento.
[Earl] We both had a couple shortcomings,
but my gut is telling me
that I'm gonna be the one to move on.
The chef who will be moving forward
to beat Bobby is...
Chef Earl.
[cheers and applause]
Good luck.
Oh, Earl got me.
I'm really bummed.
I was hoping to take down Bobby Flay today.
Earl "King of Shumai",
we think that you succeeded by using the wonton wrapper twice
and really giving us a pretty balanced dish.
We need you and your horse focused.
-All right. Sinbad. [whistles] -[Tiffani] All right.
[laughter]
[yawns]
[laughter]
All right, Earl, congratulations.
-Thank you, chef. -How you feeling?
Well, I have an iron-deficiency.
And the doc said I have to gobble Iron Chefs up
at least once a month, so...
[laughter]
[applause]
[Bobby] Okay.
So what are we cooking tonight?
What is your signature dish?
My signature dish is...
okonomiyaki.
[Tiffani] Yes!
Yes! It's a Japanese cabbage pancake.
I've eaten them tons of times
but I never... I've never made 'em.
[Tiffani] Well, on that note,
45 minutes, your time starts now.
[cheers and applause]
Come on, Earl.
[upbeat music playing]
Okonomiyaki is actually a Japanese-style pancake.
So it's eggs, flour, typically shredded cabbage,
and then topped with mayonnaise.
Usually, Japanese barbecue sauce.
From there, it kinda goes anywhere.
It literally means "as you like it,"
you see seafood sometimes, meat of any variety.
So, it plays to Bobby's strength in that way.
[Earl] I'm making okonomiyaki
with tempura-fried soft-shell crab
and morel mushrooms.
I go immediately to making the dashi.
Dashi is hot water poured over bonito flakes,
which are dried and aged
skipjack tuna and kombu, which is seaweed.
And in this case, I add morel mushrooms.
Earl, why okonomiyaki?
I figured that Bobby wasn't really wise with okonomiyaki,
and this winter, I had okonomiyaki on the menu.
All right.
I've had this dish a couple of times, not many.
I've actually had it with, like, pork belly,
but, you know, I'm... I don't have time to cook pork belly,
so I'm gonna use some bacon instead.
I'm making okonomiyaki
with bacon and shiitake mushrooms.
I start making the batter for my pancakes
with some flour, some eggs,
little baking powder, and some dashi powder.
I chop up cabbage, scallions.
[Ted] Bobby put an awfully large amount of cabbage
-into his batter. -That's normal.
The cabbage really gives it a lot of moisture and levity
so that when the cabbage cooks,
it sort of releases some of the moisture into the batter.
[Ted] All right, folks, 37 minutes.
-Let's go! -Whoo!
Let's do this thing.
All right, Earl.
So, do you use the liquid from those mushrooms at all?
[Earl] Yes. So this is my dashi broth in here.
[Ted] What are you going with?
Crab and morels. It's my take on surf and turf.
-[Ted laughs] Okay. -Oh.
[Earl] I take the morel mushrooms, I chop 'em up,
and I get some butter in the pan.
Little bit of garlic, some mirin.
[Ted] So often, I feel, Bobby, when you come here
to take on yourself,
it's a great idea to choose something
-international that you're unlikely to have cooked. -Yeah.
But this one can be topped with anything.
Do you think it's possible Earl made an error?
No, he made a good move,
because no matter what dish you're making,
the tenth time is gonna be better
than the second time, et cetera, you know?
Okay. So I'm adding the shiitake mushrooms to it
and then some pickled red ginger.
[Ted] All right, good luck, chefs.
You're looking at 34 minutes. Let's go!
[cheers and applause]
[Earl] I'm making my okonomiyaki batter
using egg, dashi broth,
and now it's time to get the dry ingredients.
So, I got flour, sugar, salt,
baking powder, morel powder.
And then I add the rest of the wet ingredients.
-How you doing, Bobby? -No idea.
[laughter]
[Tiffani] Bobby, do you need like a GPS about where you are right now?
You look a little confused.
[Bobby] It's just one of those things,
you know, you're walking down the road,
you've never been there before,
and you know you're gonna get there,
but you don't know what you're gonna find when you get there?
It's like deep thoughts by Bobby Flay?
-What are we doing right now? -[Bobby] Yes. Exactly.
[chuckles]
[bell dings]
[Tiffani] Guys, we're at 26 minutes.
[Ted] Woo!
This really looks like something
that chefs get really experimental with.
Yup. Okonomiyaki is a canvas.
[Bobby] Making a spicy mayonnaise with aji amarillo,
which is a yellow chili from Peru,
mayo, a little turmeric in there.
So my pancakes, I'm gonna put the bacon
in the bottom of the pan.
Oh, little bacon slid underneath.
When you don't know what you're doing,
-you know what you do? -Bacon.
You put bacon in stuff.
[Bobby] And then I put the batter over the pancakes,
and I'm gonna let them cook very slowly.
-[Tiffani] Earl and Sinbad... -Talk to me.
What do we got going on over here?
[Earl] I'm just chopping some chives.
-And then you have crabs? -I do have crabs, yes.
[Tiffani] Are you hearing this?
We got a little surf and turf over here.
-Yeah, I do. -[Tiffani] Yeah.
Next, I have some shaved green cabbage, pickled ginger.
I add the morels and some chopped chives.
Oh, can I turn these up real quick, just, like--
No, not yet. Taste my sauce or something.
Here.
It's a little gritty.
Yeah, 'cause I put some turmeric in there.
-Yeah. Ugh! -[laughs]
Did you taste this? Tastes like dirt.
[Bobby] She's saying it tastes like dirt
'cause she's being annoying, of course.
That's her job here. My mayonnaise tastes good.
-[Tiffani] Earl? -[Earl] Yes.
He's floundering.
Right where I want him.
I'm making a tempura-fried soft-shell crab using water,
and rice flour, cornstarch, and baking soda.
So, I take the soft-shell crabs,
coat them in the tempura batter,
and into the fryers they go.
And then, I'm making okonomiyaki sauce
using ketchup, oyster sauce,
Worcestershire, and sugar.
Okay. So, I'm going to make a Japanese barbecue sauce.
Add some ketchup, some oyster sauce,
some soy sauce, and some rice wine vinegar.
[Tiffani] Both chefs made like a Japanese barbecue sauce,
which is a really traditional condiment for the top of this.
Right on.
[Tiffani] The crabs look good.
Are you making soft-shell crab sandwiches for lunch?
I'm down.
[laughs]
I chop the bodies up.
[Tiffani] It's gonna go into the batter.
Oh, so delicious.
-Oh, wow. That's so cool. -Yes! Yes, Earl.
Bobby, how's your omelet station working over there?
-Pretty good. -You know, you gotta flip 'em.
Oh, here we go.
-Flip, flip, flip. -[Ted] Oh, yay!
-You kinda nailed it. -Flip. Flip.
Guys, he has five more to go.
[all] Flip, flip, flip, flip, flip, flip.
[Tiffani] Yeah!
I like how crispy and golden they are.
Bobby just threw all of everything in the oven.
Easy to get dry.
Let's go in together. Yeah, let's crush this.
Let's go bust some heads up.
[Tiffani] We're at the five-minute mark.
[cheers and applause]
-[Tiffani] Hi. -[Ted] Hey. Here we go.
[Tiffani] Did you call the omelet guy in to fix this?
I was so happy to see that they actually cooked.
-You had no confidence in yourself? -No. Zero.
All right, Bobby.
Uh-oh.
-Earl, how are these coming? -[Earl] I'm good.
-I say okonomi, you say... -[audience] Yaki.
-Okonomi... -Yaki.
-Bobby's gonna go... -Down.
Yes.
Earl, keep... keep riding.
[cheers and applause]
Name's Early James and flapjacks is my game.
[laughter]
[Ted] Two minutes.
[cheers and applause]
[Earl] Okonomiyakis are going down onto the plates.
Now, it's time to sauce.
Kewpie mayo.
[Tiffani] Kewpie is Japanese mayo with...
Chalked with MSG and a little bit of sugar,
and that only just punches up the umami and the flavor.
[Earl] And then I got my crispy tempura-fried crab legs.
Bobby's okonomiyaki look okay.
[Bobby] For the plating is the pancake,
and I make a salad with some dashi bonito flakes,
some mustard greens, and some chives.
And then I have the Japanese barbecue sauce,
the yellow chili mayonnaise.
-[Tiffani] Ten seconds. -[audience] Ten, nine...
eight, seven...
[Earl] I'm garnishing with Japanese basil,
green onion, bonito flakes.
[all] Three, two, one.
-There it is. -That's it.
Great job. Beautiful job.
-Thank you, Bobby. -Very good.
[Earl] Looking at my dish, crispy, salty,
fried, boom, I got a winner.
[Bobby] Is there a world that I could win? Yeah.
I'm really happy with the flavors.
I accomplished something I'd never done before,
and that's an accomplishment.
[bell dings]
Bobby, Earl, congratulations
on finishing the Battle of Okonomiyaki.
Now, we'd like to introduce you to your judges.
The chef-owner of Dokodemo, Shin Takagi.
Chef-owner of Oconomi, Kazuko Nagao.
DJ and food personality,
Matt FX.
[cheers and applause]
Judges, if you would,
please start with the plate in front of you.
[tense music playing]
I really love the way that the bacon
and the shiitake sort of marry with the bonito.
I think it adds, like, a really nice
amplification of umami.
I love the smoky notes.
Really nice dish.
The round shape is a signature of the okonomiyaki look,
so it's so nice and pretty.
And I really like the shiitake mushroom flavor.
But, for okonomiyaki, I really like
the traditional little more sweeter, the mayo,
so instead of the spicy one.
[Shin] Like Japanese people,
spice tolerance is very low.
So, for me, like, it's a little too spicy.
But, uh, the thickness is perfect.
And okonomiyaki, we use a lot of shredded cabbage.
It gives a lot of crunchiness.
So, this reminds me of back home.
Judges, please try the second plate.
[tense music playing]
I think this crab is absolutely slamming.
It's so addictive
and really creates
a very rich seafood flavor.
I'mma keep eating this. I'm gonna finish this crab.
I never had okonomiyaki with soft-shell crab.
It has really nice crunchiness,
and I really like the sauce.
This is more like the traditional flavor,
but I really want more, like, vegetables.
I've never had crab on my okonomiyaki before.
It's a great idea.
I can also taste this,
like, sweet dashi flavor, which I like.
Only downside is, this okonomiyaki
is very, like, flat.
Maybe add more, like, veggies.
[Ted] Judges, thank you for your comments.
Now, we'd like to ask you to take a vote.
[Earl] The suspense right now is magnificent,
and I don't know which way the judges are gonna go.
Here.
[Tiffani] Well, this was clearly a difficult decision,
'cause it's not unanimous.
But the winner is...
-Chef Earl! -Yeah!
[Bobby] Good job. Job well done.
-I'm very happy for you. -Thank you so much.
Holy smokes! I just beat Bobby Flay.
Couldn't have done it without my loyal horse, Sinbad.
He became more of a part of this than I expected him to.
[Tiffani] Hey, Ted, what'd you do today?
I don't know. I think I kinda beat Bobby Flay.
We beat Bobby Flay!
My name is Earl Reynolds and I just beat Bobby Flay!
[cheers and applause]
[horse neighs]