[Tiffani] It all comes down to this.
One of you is gonna be the grand champion.
[Kirsten] My heart is beating out of my chest.
Oh, my hands are shaky.
[Tiffani] Stakes could not be higher.
[all cheering]
[Nilou] There it is.
[Christian] Lot of action. Flashing lights.
[Tiffani] The chefs are giving us exactly who they are on a plate.
Trinkets, people winning, people losing.
[Kat] Feeling the pressure, baby!
[Nilou] Get it done, get it done!
-Oh, my God! -Whoa!
This is Chopped, Casino Royale.
I'm gonna take it all.
I won with the worst ingredient
in Chopped history.
[woman] Cow eyeballs.
[Kat] From here on out, I can walk into any situation,
fearlessly.
I can do this. I can do this.
I am Lady Luck.
[Sam] Really struggled with being confident.
But I'm like, "It's about time I believe in myself."
Fear gets you nowhere.
I want this so bad.
[Ann] I was a pretty bad daughter
and I just hope that, if I win, you know,
she can look down and be proud of where I've come.
My mom taught to take risks and just go for it.
This gambler came to play.
[Kirsten] The grand finale is pressure
like I've never had before.
And I definitely feel like I need razor, razor sharp focus.
My knives are sharp, and I'm feeling lucky.
[Ted] Who's feeling lucky?
Champions, hello again!
-Hello, Ted. -Hi, Ted.
Luck be a lady tonight.
-Four ladies tonight. -[Ted] Literally.
With a little luck and a lot of hard work,
each of you won your preliminary rounds
to make it here to this casino royale finale.
The same special house rules apply for this finale.
Once you open the baskets,
you do not have to accept the hand you've been dealt.
You can ditch an ingredient and gamble for a new one
via a spin of our roulette wheel.
The jackpot for this finale currently stands at $25,000.
-Woo! -Good money, baby.
But, we're going to give you the chance to play the slots
to affect the prize.
With $25,000, or more,
I could open up my own place.
[Ted] Please open your appetizer baskets.
-[Sam] Oh! -Oh!
[chuckles] Oh, no!
Wow!
And here we go, with...
Uh, can we talk about this?
[Ted] ...lamb's head...
I think I have one of these hanging on my wall at home.
[Ann] It looks like a dinosaur head.
[Ted] ...trevisano...
Um, all right, this is okay.
A lot of money packets.
[Ted] ...money mints,
-and buffalo ranch chicken fries. -[gags]
[Ann] Ooh!
All right, chef Sam,
you wanna get rid of something,
or are you gonna let it ride?
We're in a casino, let's gamble.
I'm gonna gamble my buffalo chicken fries.
-[exclaiming] -Okay.
The buffalo chicken fries.
Also get rid of the buffalo chicken fries.
[whispering] What is happening?
We are all thinking the same thing.
Uh, Ted, I'm actually gonna get rid of the mints.
Money mints, okay,
my money is not on these mints.
All right, looks like we're back to the roulette wheel again.
[all applauding]
[Ann] All right, let's do this! Let's do this.
All right, chef Kat, place your bet.
Red or black?
-[Kat] Red. -[Ted] Red it is.
Okay, here we go, folks.
[indistinct cheering]
Come on, red!
[indistinct chatter]
[all cheering]
-[Ted] Congratulations! -Thank you.
You get to choose from our suite
of lucky ingredients.
I'm gonna take number six.
And Kat, you've got...
halibut fillet.
[all cheering]
[Sam] Yes, you do.
[Kat] Halibut filet is the perfect fish.
-But it's flaky, it is firm, it is easy to cook. -Woo!
-Chef Kirsten. -I'm gonna go black.
-Black it is. Excellent. -[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter]
[Ted] Here we go. Come on, black.
[indistinct chatter]
[Ted] Oh!
I'm sorry, chef Kirsten,
but unfortunately, you have to choose from our unlucky ingredients.
Cloche number eight.
[Ted] Alligator hearts.
-Oh, what? -Oh!
[Tiffani] Chef Kirsten,
obviously this is unlucky.
This is a difficult ingredient.
So, you wanna think about the consistency,
and the sort of grittiness of the heart.
[chuckling] Sincerely regretting my choice.
All right, moving on to chef Sam.
I'm gonna go with red.
[Ted] All right, here we go, Sam.
[indistinct chatter]
Come on, red!
[all exclaiming]
Oh, no!
[Sam] I'm gonna say that's black.
I'm gonna go with number seven.
[Ted] Lucky seven, they say.
And we've got...
-Duck-bills! -[all exclaiming]
Oh, okay.
[Tiffani] Chef Sam, these are delicacies in Southeast Asia.
Getting meat off this bone is gonna be as challenging
as getting the meat off of the lamb head.
All right, chef Ann, red or black?
[Ann] I'm gonna go red again.
-[indistinct chatter] -I really like the color.
[Kat] Back to the red.
Come on, red. Chef Ann, let's go.
[indistinct chatter]
Come on, come on, come on, come on.
[indistinct chatter]
[all cheering]
[Kat] Nice!
I'm gonna go with number five.
[Ted] Number five.
Broccoli rabe.
-[all cheering] -[Kirsten] Nice.
That's the face you're making for broccoli rabe?
Yeah, yeah. No, I mean... I was expecting
like, some meat or something.
But I'm happy with that. I am.
You might remember that I mentioned the $25,000
jackpot was subject to change.
Each round, one of you, will have the chance
to play the slots to affect the prize.
Ooh!
Each time a symbol lands in the pay line,
the jackpot will change.
Dollar signs add $5,000.
-Cleavers subtract $5,000. -Ooh.
Chef Kat, you wanna play?
Oh course, I do! Let's go!
[all cheering]
[Ann] Yes!
You won and the pot now stands at 40,000. Well done.
Now, you've got 20 minutes to impress the judges.
Clock starts now.
[Tiffani] Let's go!
[Nilou] Yes, let's go! You can do it.
[Tiffani] Winner's circle only. Come on, bring it.
[Ted] Four larger than life champions
back in the casino royale.
A giant jackpot.
Are you feeling finale fever, judges?
The energy is nothing short of electric.
[Sam] Behind. Coming down. Behind.
All four of these chefs have like, battled their way
to be able to be here in the finale.
You know, it's interesting.
Kat doubled down in the end in the first competition.
-Got a cow eyeball... -Oh, no!
[Tiffani] ...and made "eye-scream".
Cow eyeball ice cream is certainly, probably
the most ludicrous thing I've ever said.
Okay, Kat just took all the chicken
off of her buffalo chicken fries
and I think has only kept the potatoes.
[Ted] That's just the move to make.
[Kat] During the winters in Wisconsin,
I grew up eating a lot of wonderful soups.
So, I'm making buffalo potato soup,
with flash fried halibut
and a trevisano and herb slaw.
Hey Kat, $40,000 on the line. How's the pressure situation?
[Kat] Feeling the pressure, baby!
All right, all right.
[Kat] And I have got my lamb's head
with some chicken stock in it.
[Ted] All right, so chef Sam got the duck bills.
What do you go in 20 minutes?
Those duck bills are very smoky.
The move with that, in my opinion,
is to make a sauce,
get some of that flavor in there.
Behind, coming down. Behind, coming down.
[Sam] For my dish, I'm making lamb's head tostada.
My mom is from Mexico.
I really wanna showcase my...
Mexican background.
To start my filling, I put dry chilies
and money mints in with my duck bills.
In another pan, I put in chorizo and I chop up my...
lamb's eyeballs.
I feel like it will bring out the flavor of the lamb.
Ooh, it's like I'm massaging the face, huh?
I wanna make sure that the judges can get
one perfect bite with my appetizer.
So, I'm making a braised lamb cheek crostini
with pickled trevisano.
And I saute the broccoli rabe.
Out of everyone's ingredients,
it's clear, Kirsten is the unlucky one
with the alligator hearts.
The alligator hearts are definitely the worst
ingredient that I've had thus far on Chopped.
Now once again, I'm sitting with two proteins
on an appetizer round.
[Tiffani] Out of the four chefs that have made it to the finale,
chef Kirsten had the strongest first round.
Interesting.
[Tiffani] She had a long bone ribeye
and then, she rolled and got a great ingredient
but she got Cornish game hens.
Double protein.
[Kirsten] I'm making a shredded lamb
and pan-seared alligator heart
warm trevisano salad.
Hey Kirsten, keeping a cool head?
-[Kirsten] Oh, yes. -[Tiffani] And a warm heart?
And a warm heart.
I will say this, the pot is hot
in the casino royale tournament right now.
$40,000 just raises the pressure
in this kitchen just a little bit more.
[Kat] The game is already pretty intense.
Ratcheting up that jackpot
really turns it up even more.
[Tiffani] It's interesting.
Kat was the only person that kept her buffalo
ranch chicken fries.
I think it will set her apart.
But she also got halibut.
I mean, we could have a halibut fish and chips
with a little lamb poutine situation.
A little tongue poutine.
Yeah.
[Kat] The halibut is giving me the most concern.
I really, really have to nail it.
I'm just gonna try to...
treat it very simply and flash fry it.
[Sam] I decide to use the trevisano raw.
I cut myself.
And I end up getting a cut.
Behind. Coming down.
Sam, how we feeling? What's going on?
-She just cut herself. -Oh, no, Sam!
[Sam] Come on, come on, come on.
This jackpot being at $40,000, like...
I mean, the pressure is on.
Behind, coming down.
Sam, how we feeling? What's going on?
She just cut herself.
[Sam] Come on, come on, come on.
I'm gonna be positive.
Like, believe in yourself.
Behind, coming down. Behind.
You got this, Sam.
-Relax. -Back in the game, Sam. Let's go.
[Ann] Mint and lamb is actually a classic pairing.
So, I can add some of that mint flavor
from the money mints in there.
How the hell do you open these mints?
[Kirsten] With the money mints, I'm making
aromatic sauce to go with my dish.
With some habanero,
some spring onion and some ginger.
For my fresh trevisano salad,
I grab oranges, cucumber and dill.
This competition is ridiculously fierce.
Behind. Coming down.
[Kat] For the trevisano slaw, I've got parsley,
dill, tarragon, chives.
[Ted] Chef Sam has fried some little tortillas
that she's cut down.
Behind. Coming down. Behind.
I need to keep pushing myself.
I can be Sam, the one that shines.
Every tostada needs a crema.
For my crema, I am mixing Mexican crema,
lime, cilantro, and queso fresco.
[Kat] I am kind of surprised by the flavor of this soup.
The buffalo flavor is definitely coming through.
But the lamb's head is not quite coming through
as strongly as I was hoping.
My crostini needs some sort of creamy element.
I grab some goat cheese and ricotta.
[Ted] Only seconds left in round one, chefs.
Ten, nine...
-eight, seven... -Make it nice, make it beautiful.
[Ted] ...six, five, four, three, two, one.
Time's up.
[cheering]
Girl power!
[Sam] I definitely think I'm in the route to $40,000.
I'm really pouring my heart out there.
[Kat] Sam is really quiet but...
she comes with a lot of skills.
I think she's our x-factor.
I feel confident that this will take me onto the next round.
Champions, you have arrived at the chopping block.
In the first round of our Casino Royale finale,
you opened the appetizer basket
and found a lamb's head,
trevisano, money mints,
and buffalo ranch chicken fries.
But you didn't have to stick with that.
We gave you a chance to discard something.
Chef Kat, what did you do?
I gambled my mints away.
I ended up with halibut.
I made a buffalo potato soup
with a flash-fried halibut
and a trevisano and herb slaw.
Having now made it to the finale, Chef Kat,
what does this mean to you?
[Kat] I'm opening two new restaurants this year
and this kind of invigoration has got me like,
really ready to blow the doors open.
Awesome.
Kat, this is warm.
I mean, like, warm.
You feel good, like a better person while having this bowl of soup.
You took a gamble and you got that halibut.
So, really great play.
It eats well in here but I'm looking for some texture.
Chef Kat, making fries into a soup, smart.
Gives you a base of the soup.
I think the cook on the halibut is a little over.
There's a gaminess that I keep searching for
from the lamb head that's not really here.
But I like the idea of this and I think it's a really...
adept way of approaching the basket.
Thank you.
Chef Kat, where I feel like...
I am not feeling it's gelling is...
the amount of acidity there is.
There's a lot, a lot of acid.
But this is a great first dish.
Yeah. Thank you.
Next up, chef Sam.
[Sam] So judges, you have a lamb head tostada.
I gambled away the buffalo chicken fries.
I ended up getting duck bills.
Chef Sam, what would winning this tournament mean to you?
Winning this tournament would mean everything.
And you know what? I hope to be like Kat one day.
You know, maybe come back and be like, "I have two restaurants."
-So, that's amazing. -You will.
You developed so much flavor using
the chorizo and the chili habanero.
I'm not discerning the mints,
but the crunch on your crispy tortilla's perfect.
-Thank you, chef. -Thank you.
I think this is a really nice vehicle
for your basket ingredients.
But I think there's an opportunity
to just turn the volume up on everything.
Like, we have a crema here that's very similar
to the crema that you made,
of your first competition.
It's fine. But it needs a good amount of salt.
It needs more chili, more garlic.
Yes, chef.
For me, this was really inspired.
The flavor that you've been able to build, specifically,
with those dried and smoked duck bills.
That trevisano is so nice and bitter
and a great counter balance point to
that lovely funk of that lamb's head.
Thank you, chef.
[Ted] Thank you, chef Sam.
Next up, chef Ann.
Judges, I made for you
a toast made with braised lamb cheeks,
broccoli rabe and pickled trevisano.
Any use for $40,000?
40,000. Well, I hope that pot grows.
But I definitely plan on using that money
to open up my own business.
You know, Ann, this is a really smart dish.
Like, funky, funky, bitter, bitter, right?
-Like, the use of the mint... -Yeah.
...with the money mints
is one of the most smartest plays in this round.
But I would like the crostini to be a little bit thicker.
Mine's a little bit soggy.
A perfect first bite.
You got a lot of meat out of the cheek
-of our lamb head. -Yeah.
The one thing I wonder about.
You have kind of a large dollop of cheese
that is distracting for me.
Okay.
[Christian] I think that the goat cheese smear,
it kind of holds everything in place.
Where I get a little bummed out, is...
you could have put forth the broccoli rabe
a little bit more.
Thank you.
Finally, chef Kirsten.
My gambling went a little awry and I ended up with...
alligator heart.
So, I made a shredded lamb and alligator heart,
warm trevisano salad.
I will tell you, this salad is really...
magnificent.
Thank you.
[Christian] A warm salad like this,
it really scratches a lovely itch.
You played really great
against that bitterness of that trevisano
by grilling it.
I wish it was just some crispies...
on here that I can...
go against this cornucopia of flavor.
-I think we're all like just... -Gobsmacked?
Gobsmacked.
I love the braised trevisano with the raw trevisano.
This kind of lifts up the salad
and the funk of the alligator heart and the lamb head.
I think it's really smart.
Thanks, chefs.
[Ann] I feel like my biggest competition is Kirsten.
You have to be so brave to conquer that alligator heart
and I really respect her
for executing it successfully.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Kat, you've been chopped.
Judges?
[Christian] My dearest Kat, you gave up those money mints
and you got some beautiful halibut.
But unfortunately, your halibut was overcooked.
And then, the lamb's head, it just didn't come through.
So, we had to chop you.
-[Kat] Thank you so much. -Nice job.
[Ted] Thank you.
[all applauding]
I'm not walking away with money,
but I am walking away with...
so much new found confidence.
Chefs, what is in the second finale basket?
[sighs]
[Ted] Only one way to find out.
-[chuckles] -[all exclaiming]
[Kirsten] Oh, wow!
[Ted] Fish maw.
I'm thinking it's kind of like a chicharron.
-Woo-hoo. -[Ted] You also got rainbow chard.
Camel hump fat.
[Kirsten] I thought it was pork fat.
-[Ted] And finally... -Oh, no!
-[Ted] ...lobster. -Oh, my gosh!
Okay. [sighs]
So, feeling good about this basket?
I'm feeling great about this basket.
-I'm going to stay. -Oh!
I'm not going to give up any of my ingredients.
I'm gonna gamble away the fish maw.
All right. Let's spin for some swaps.
[indistinct chatter]
[Christian] Let's do it.
Chef Kirsten, you are here to roll.
I sure am.
Lady red.
-[Tiffani] Okay. -Here we go, folks.
[indistinct chatter]
-[all exclaiming] -[Sam] Oh, no!
[Ted] Sorry, Kirsten.
You have to choose from our suite of unlucky ingredients.
Yet again.
Number 12.
-[Ted] Brownie hot dogs. -[chuckling] Oh, okay.
[Kirsten] Oh, my God! All right.
Chef Kirsten, it's a hot dog.
-It's a hot dog. -[Tiffani] It's a brownie.
I mean, it's no alligator heart, but...
this is not great.
All right, chefs, as a reminder,
the grand prize is currently at $40,000.
All right, chef Kirsten, come on down.
Here we go!
All right.
[indistinct shouting]
[all cheering]
All right so, Kirsten, you've two dollar signs
and then, you've got a cleaver.
So, it brings our total to $45,000.
Good job.
-[Tiffani] Yeah. We love that. -Not too shabby.
All right, your 30-minute entree round
starts now.
-[all cheering] -[Tiffani] Let's go!
High rollers. Come on, guys.
Coming down, behind.
Judges, a jackpot, bouncing up and down.
Different ingredients for every chef.
So many variables at play here.
True to a casino, there's a lot going on.
When I see this camel hump fat,
I'm thinking tamale dough.
And instead of using pork lard, I can use...
this fat from the camel.
I'm making a deconstructed lobster tamale.
This camel fat is actually very emollient.
It has tons of vitamins.
It's kind of like the next gen of coconut fat.
I have loved watching Sam blossom over
the preliminary to now.
I feel like she was timid and as each course has been delivered,
she's become something of a machine.
[Sam] When you really start believing in yourself,
the sky is the limit.
[Tiffani] Chef Ann has broken down her claws
and split her tails in half
and she's sauteing her tails.
I think she understands the assignment of how to cook lobsters.
Well, chef Ann runs a steak house.
You know they have a lobster on that menu.
I'm excited about the lobster,
because I work with lobster all the time.
I'm making sherry cream lobster tails,
served with camel fat potatoes.
I'm making a seafood stock with the fish maw
to reinforce the flavors of the lobster.
So, the fish maw is the bladder that allows the fish to...
rise up in the water or it goes down.
And then, what we're seeing here is,
a dehydrated one.
In order to eat it, you would have to hydrate it.
The jackpot is now $45,000.
I really need to bring it.
Chef Kirsten decided she was gonna give up the...
fish maw and ended up with a brownie hot dog.
A brownie hot dog?
Is this a common American thing?
Basically, just brushing off all of the toppings
and I'm gonna use the sausage.
I'm making a lobster and hot dog wonton
with a curry-saffron lobster broth.
So, at this point, Ann and Sam are both
working with the exact same ingredients
and I'm really intrigued to see where they're gonna go with this.
[Sam] Fish maw!
I can definitely incorporate it
into a sauce.
I'm making a habanero sauce for the tamale,
so I can add that spicy Latina on there.
[Anni] Take out the lobster tails
and let the sauce reduce and thicken.
I take the rainbow chard, I cut it up,
and then, I add it into my pan with the sauce.
I'm going to render down the camel fat,
so I can cook some potatoes in there.
That is so fatty.
I wanna add another element to mask the camel fat flavor.
So, I add in some bacon as well.
[Kirsten] I'm sauteing the rainbow chard
pretty hard, because you wanna get a little bit of that...
chard flavor.
To make my filling, I blend the lobster meat hot dog
with ginger, lime zest, egg,
corn starch and cream.
All right, chefs, five minutes left on that clock.
[Kirsten] Time's running out. I'm still folding wontons.
They still have to get boiled.
I don't wanna fry them, because...
if they're gonna sit in the broth,
they're gonna get soggy.
A lot is riding on the fact
that this masa has to cook correctly.
Kirsten's pulling her wontons out of the water right now.
Only 30 seconds.
Behind, coming through. Coming through, behind.
[Tiffani] Stakes could not be higher.
This is a $45,000 dish to even get to the next round.
-Okay, let's get it done. -[Tiffani] Come on.
[Ted] All right, there's no time left
for mistakes, chefs.
[indistinct chatter]
-[Ted] Nine, eight, seven... -[Nilou] You can do it!
-[Ted] ...six, five, four... -[Christian] Yes!
-[Ted] ...three, two, one. -[indistinct chatter]
[Ted] Hands up!
[Christian] Yes!
[Tiffani] Yes.
Giving us a heart attack.
I am just thankful that I got everything on the plate,
in time.
I'm stressed. I'm confident, but...
I barely made all of the basket ingredients
on the plate.
Chefs, we gave you a basket of fish maw,
rainbow chard,
lobster, and camel hump fat.
You also had the chance to swap out an ingredient.
Chef Kirsten, you chose to do so.
[Kirsten] I swapped out the fish maw
and I got a chocolate brownie hot dog.
I made a lobster and hot dog wonton,
done with a curry-saffron broth.
[Ted] $45,000.
Do you have thoughts on what that might be able to do for you?
I have always dreamed to go to Japan
and I want to take my wife.
How long have you guys been married?
We've only been married two years.
-Congrats! -[Ted] Congratulations.
I love braised chard,
and using it as the bed in this broth,
I got nothing else to say about that.
And then, what you did with that lobster,
and utilizing the hot dog
as the emulsifier?
You showed that hot dog who was boss.
As much flavor you were able to coax out of that broth,
maybe pulling back on the saffron,
because you're just getting a little bit of that bitterness.
Chef Kirsten, I'm from Iran.
So, I'm never gonna say less saffron.
And I think the way that these are bobbing
in this beautiful saffron-hued broth
is magnificent.
But, a hot soup tends to get cold pretty quickly
and it turns out that
camel hump fat congeals extra quickly.
Chef Kirsten, I think there are other ways that are more successful
to use the camel hump fat.
But there's great flavors here.
And to be able to get these wontons done in 30 minutes,
wow, is that a lot of work.
Thank you.
Next up is chef Ann.
I chose not to give away any of the ingredients.
I have a sherry cream lobster tail
with rainbow chard.
And I've also cooked some potatoes
with camel fat and bacon fat.
[Christian] Ann, the way you've given
the lobster tails to us,
you leave really nothing to hide behind.
-Yeah. -So, if they're overcooked,
it's really obvious.
And they're not.
Oh, my God. I was like...
[Christian] The flavors are great.
But the one thing that I'm noticing,
that camel fat.
[Ann] Yeah.
[Christian] It congeals so quick.
Chef Ann, your lobster is beautifully cooked.
You know, if you think about all four basket ingredients,
you gave more attention to potatoes than you did
to your rainbow chard.
One of the best moments that I really like
is the potato, the bacon, the lobster, the sherry sauce,
and the onions.
They're really nice and melty and super delicious.
Finally, Chef Sam.
I had a vision,
and I was gonna go through with that vision.
My mom would always cook tamales on special occasions.
So, judges, you have a deconstructed lobster tamale.
At the bottom, is a habanero sauce.
[Christian] That habanero sauce on the bottom,
takes you right to the edge
and it becomes just this lovely back note,
that I just really, really enjoy.
You just ended up cooking a very large lobster tail.
Mine's a little over.
Chef Sam, it's so nice to watch your journey
in this competition.
Like, the other day, I was like...
[whispering] "Sam, I can't hear you."
[speaking normally] And to see you like, come out of your shell,
and continue to grow in confidence,
it's just been joyful and inspiring, actually.
-[crying] -Yeah, it's okay. Feel the feels, man.
I think all of you sort of thought,
"Ah, rainbow chard. Super-easy. Don't care."
Right? And I would love to see it celebrated
in this dish as well.
I also think this habanero sauce,
like, needs onions and garlic and like, you know,
little bit more oomph to ground it.
But I will say, the use of the camel hump fat
is really successful in the tamale.
Thank you, chef.
Chef Sam, thank you.
[Sam] I've taken the judge's criticism
to the T and I want to prove to them,
and myself that you know, I deserve to be here.
I deserve to stay in this competition 'cause...
I feel like I've taken the most risks.
I have stayed technically sound,
and I feel like I've been delivering flavor.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Kirsten...
you've been Chopped.
Judges?
Chef Kirsten, we wanted to see the lobster shine in your dish.
Your broth felt like it could have used
more impact and the camel hump fat
really congealed on top.
And so, we had to chop you.
[indistinct conversation]
[Kirsten] I'm walking away knowing that
I did my best and...
the two other ladies just did a little bit better.
[Ted] Chef Ann, chef Sam,
with a life-changing jackpot on the line, I'm wondering,
how you feeling?
The stakes are high but I am in it to win it.
I'm ready to take that jackpot home.
Well, it's time to face up to whatever ingredients
might be inside these finale dessert baskets.
Open them up.
[chuckles nervously] Oh!
[Ted] And you're looking at liver cheese.
[Sam] Liver cheese can be best described
as a cross between a bologna deli meat
and chicken liver.
[Ted] Giardiniera.
[Ann] I know that ingredient very well.
[Ted] A bottle of champagne.
Champagne!
I'm gonna have to try this out.
[Ted] And a Vegas winning cake.
And a cake!
[Ted] Okay, are we all good?
I'm gonna gamble away the liver cheese.
I thinking I'm gonna keep these ingredients.
Yes.
To the table.
With that $45,000 price in mind,
let's get our game on, shall we?
Let's do it. Let's do it.
-All right, chef Ann? -Final bet.
I'm just gonna keep on going red.
[indistinct chatter]
Come on, red for chef Ann. Let's do this.
[Ann] Oh, my God! Here we go.
[indistinct shouting]
Come on, red. Red, red, red.
[indistinct chatter]
[Tiffani] No!
Oh, no!
Might go with number 11.
-[Ted] Number 11. -Yes.
-[Ted] Mustard ice cream! -Oh, okay.
So, it's yellow mustard.
-It's gonna be punchy, and strong and... -[Ann] Yeah.
...sweet, so, you're gonna have to find a way to balance those flavors.
All right, Ann, the jackpot is currently $45,000.
Sam, how lucky you feeling?
[Sam] I'm feeling lucky.
[indistinct shouting]
[all cheering]
[indistinct shouting]
$55,000.
I'm like, shaking.
And your final 30 minutes in this kitchen
starts now.
-[Nilou] Go, go, go! -[Tiffani] Jackpot dessert!
Let's go!
-[Tiffani] Come on! -[Nilou] Let's go, let's go!
We're finally at the final round of the finale.
$55,000 on the line and one of those two people is
walking out of here with it.
[Tiffani] These two chefs have come in with a level of intensity
and tension to this tournament
that has been so inspiring.
Wow, the cake's actually good. Mm.
[Tiffani] Chef Sam, she's a mom of two.
Sam came in very, very quiet to this tournament
and we have watched Sam find an identity as a chef.
I'm thinking, "I'm freaking Mexican.
I gotta make churros."
And I'm gonna make a liver cheese sauce.
Sam actually mixed her Vegas cake frosting
-into her batter, which is nice. -[Nilou] Aw, that's nice.
[Sam] This dish is definitely gonna complete
the streak that I'm on.
Just pouring my heart out on the plate.
[Ann] Throughout this competition,
Sam has highlighted her heritage.
I wanna make sure that
I highlight the basket ingredients.
All right. Check out this mustard ice cream.
-[Christian] So, Ann gambled away her liver cheese. -Mm-hmm.
And ended up with mustard ice cream.
I like that. It's so weird. But I like it.
Some apricot in there.
[Tiffani] Chef Ann lost her mom recently.
One of her big reasons for coming into this tournament
was to make sure that her mom
can see that all the sacrifices
that she's made as a chef has paid off.
[Ann] I'm making a bruleed wedding cake waffle
with an apricot-mustard creme anglaise.
I choose to go with a waffle because...
I want to transform the wedding cake
into a different form.
Right now, I feel like Sam and I are neck and neck.
I know I can't make any mistakes.
[Tiffani] One of the four basket ingredients in this round is liver cheese.
It's a German ingredient.
There is neither liver, nor cheese.
It's like a meatloaf.
It's pork, bacon and beef.
It's got great flavor if you're in an entree round.
[Sam] I make a sauce with the oil
from the giardiniera,
the liver cheese, and my champagne.
Once that's cooked down, I throw it in the blender
with my mascarpone and a little heavy cream.
And my roses from my Vegas wedding cake.
[Ann] Giardiniera is a mix of...
pickled vegetables.
Great on a sandwich,
not so much in a dessert.
I wanna use the giardiniera to make a brittle
to top off my waffle.
In the heat of the moment,
I add a splash of heavy cream to my giardiniera.
Oh, I don't know why I added that.
-God! -What's the plan with the giardiniera?
[sighs] I was gonna do a brittle,
but I forgot and I...
poured some heavy cream into it.
I realize, I can never make a brittle now.
It will not set.
Five minutes to go, chefs.
Hmm. Uh...
In the heat of the moment, I add a splash of heavy cream
to my caramelized giardiniera.
I don't know why I added that.
I cannot make a brittle now.
This is too much work to come down to one mistake.
[Christian] She's scrambling.
You don't feel like you have time to redo that?
I don't wanna screw it all up,
'cause it's $55,000 on the line, you know?
So, I decide, I'm caramelizing the giardiniera.
So now, it's a caramel sauce.
Okay.
Well, coming down.
[Ann] To go with the waffle,
I'm making a raspberry coulis with the champagne.
I think this will add a nice acidic
tang to the waffles.
-And you've got one minute... -Come on, guys.
-...on the clock, let's go. -[Christian] Come on, guys.
[Sam] I need to start plating.
-Let's get these things plated. -Get to plating.
[Sam] Oh, shoot!
I realize, I don't have the cinnamon sugar
for my churros.
[Tiffani] All the chips are on the table
with your $55,000
and the Chopped Casino Royale champion.
I want this so bad. Ooph!
Make sure you do an inventory of your basket.
I cannot believe I am so close to winning this much money.
[Ted] Final seconds of the final round.
[indistinct chatter]
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one.
-[Ann] Oh, my God! -[Ted] Time's up.
[all cheering]
Oh, my...
I can't describe how I'm feeling.
Like, my stress is like, 200 percent.
My vision actually came through.
My plating could have been better.
[sighs] Right now, one of us will be Chopped.
And the other one will walk away with the jackpot.
Chef Ann and chef Sam,
the Casino Royale finale dessert basket
gave you liver cheese,
giardiniera,
a bottle of champagne,
and a Vegas wedding cake.
Chef Ann, you gambled away the liver cheese
and what did you get?
[Ann] I got the mustard ice cream.
I have for you a wedding cake waffle
with an apricot-mustard creme anglaise
and a giardiniera caramel sauce.
I also have a raspberry champagne coulis.
My friend, you are a lightning rod.
[chuckles]
I've enjoyed watching you cook,
and when I saw you turning
that Vegas wedding cake into a waffle batter,
I was like, "I'm just gonna go wait on my couch
at home, put on a movie,
and have somebody bring that over to me."
As I eat it, I just kind of wish it was
more apricot forward with that mustard undertone.
This dish is all of the coziness
I could ever imagine.
You have that burnt caramel vibe
with the giardiniera,
but there's heat coming from that,
because of the giardiniera and I love that.
Thank you.
Chef Ann, this waffle's a revelation.
It's so good.
Thank you.
It's like self-contained creme brule.
It's so, so good.
-Unfortunately, when I come to the mustard sauce off. -Yeah.
I think the use of the champagne is good.
But the use of the giardiniera in the caramel... Woo!
So good.
[Ted] Next, we go to chef Sam.
You decided to stay with the basket.
Yes. So judges, in front of you, you have
a churro tossed in cinnamon sugar,
and a liver cheese sauce.
Frankly, both the waffle and the churro
are pretty spectacular.
It's really, really good.
I watched the liver cheese sauce being made
and I thought...
Um?
Honestly, it's delicious.
It's pretty deftly handled and it's really, really good.
The consistency is great, but this churro's
spectacular.
Utilizing the Vegas wedding cake
inside of it as your sweetener,
beautiful.
Then, when I run it through that liver cheese,
it adds just like,
a funky sort of richness that I'm really enjoying.
Chef Sam, I think you could give a masterclass
in churros.
The churros are perfection.
I just wanted everything else on the plate to be exponentially as good.
And I don't really detect the giardiniera.
I don't really detect the champagne.
[Ted] All right.
Rest assured, the judges will look at all courses
and reach a decision as soon as possible.
Thank you.
This is gonna be hard. This is epically hard.
Start with the appetizer round.
I feel like chef Ann delivered
a dish that felt muddled to me.
Even though her crostino looked beautiful,
flavor-wise, it didn't feel like it delivered
on the basket ingredients as best as it could.
There was no broccoli rabe on my dish at all.
[Tiffani] I will say to her credit,
she got the lamb's head kind of scooped out.
She even got the lamb cheeks on the crostino, which I love.
On the flipside, think about chef Sam's appetizer.
[Tiffani] Chef Sam's lamb head and duck bill tostada
needed a good amount of salt, it needed lots of fresh herbs.
But it was still really, really good.
That bite had crispiness.
It really scratched a lot of itches.
Let's talk about our entree.
Chef Ann's lobsters was very well cooked.
She had that cream sauce.
I loved the little purple potatoes.
So good.
[Nilou] She also had that camel hump fat
that was this congealing of the fat
that was really unappealing.
Chef Sam did a deconstructed tamale.
Her lobster was a little bit overdone.
Her mango habanero sauce was on the spicy side.
Chef Sam's dish was the only dish that round
that we didn't receive a camel fat encapsulated.
-[Nilou] That's true. -...sort of entree.
This is a very, very hard decision.
We've both come a long way
and I think we both deserve it.
But you know, like somebody has to win.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
I wanna win this money, so I can be my own boss.
Oh!
[Ted] Chef Ann, you've been chopped.
Judges?
First of all, this was extraordinary.
Both of you.
Cooked your hearts out.
Starting with the appetizer round,
you gambled away the buffalo chicken fries,
ended up getting the broccoli rabe.
We didn't get a lot of it.
So, we get to the entree round.
The camel hump fat, it was tough.
And so, we had to chop you.
Thank you.
[Ann] I'm feeling...
pretty bad right now.
I'm not surprised by the judges' decision,
because I think chef Sam is very, very talented.
And that means,
chef Sam Quintero,
you are the Chopped grand champion.
You beat the house, the money's all yours.
$55,000. Amazing job. How you feeling?
I'm feeling great.
-[all cheering] -[Ted] Right on.
I'm the Chopped Casino grand champion.
Oh, my gosh!
I can't believe it. No, believe it.
Yes, I did it.