[Ted] Get ready for another sizzling battle in the Chopped kitchen.
Yeah! Now we cooking. [laughs]
[Ted] You are all Creole cuisine specialists.
[Jouvens] Creole food is in my blood.
I make gumbo in my sleep.
-You've got some confidence right there. -She did not come to play.
You got Creole spice over there?
When I think of Creole cuisine,
it comes from family.
It's something that has a history.
I wanna win this for all of my ancestors.
[Ted] Who will be victorious?
Yes, baby. What's cracking?
[Ted] And who will be...
Chopped.
[Jouvens] Creole cooking is a marriage.
And behind almost every good marriage
is a little bit of spice.
I'm the executive chef at Maxine's Bistro & Bar
in South Beach, Florida.
I'm Haitian, and the base of Haitian Creole food
is savory, acidic and spice.
Every morsel of Creole food gives you an elevation of flavor.
It's more than just cooking.
It's to love something from the heart.
That's butter, baby.
I breathe, sleep, dream, live Creole.
[speaking Creole]
Haiti is here and I'm here to win.
[Eva] I am here to show people what real Creole food is,
but Cali-style.
I'm the private chef for Voodoo Love.
Voodoo Love is a catering concept
based in the San Francisco Bay area.
I serve Creole Nouveau.
[laughs]
I take elements of French, of West African, Spanish,
then I add a California, fresh, organic spin on it.
The $10,000 is the deposit for my own permanent brick and mortar space.
It is time to let the world know who Chef Eva is.
[Alanna] Creole food is like being at home with your grandma
and getting a big hug.
My name is Alanna Fredieu Porche,
but everyone calls me Chef Creole.
I am a celebrity private chef, based in Los Angeles.
I like to take traditional Creole dishes, like jambalaya,
etouffee and gumbo
and kinda give 'em a little twist.
I was taught how to cook by four different Creole grandmothers
that all live in New Orleans.
I'm 110% Creole
and I'm coming for that $10,000.
[Maya] The thing that I love most about Creole cooking,
is there's no fear of flavor.
Food should be a adventure.
I am the founder and chef of the Black Roux Culinary Collective
in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Hello?
I'm gonna eat you.
In New Orleans, the French and the Africans and the Indians,
came together and created this cuisine that's just magical.
Creole cuisine is in my blood.
I was raised with it.
NOLA, I'm bringing that win home for you.
Chefs, hello!
-Hello! -Hi, Ted!
How you doing?
Rich Creole culture has given us
some seriously delicious food.
We want you to put your traditional flavors to play here,
while being inspired by the Chopped baskets.
Can you do it?
-Uh, duh. -[Jouvens] Absolutely.
-[Maya] 'Course I can. -I wouldn't be here if I couldn't.
Absolutely.
Hands on the baskets.
And open 'em up.
Ooh. Yes, baby. What's cracking?
[chuckling] All right.
[Ted] Okay, then. You've got...
alligator sausage.
Alligator sausage!
I knew y'all was gonna put some alligators in here.
Okay.
[Ted] Plus crawfish.
Oh, look at these little babies. They so tiny.
[Ted] Okra.
[Maya] Okra can be tricky,
because if not cooked properly
it can be pretty slimy.
Okay, file, yes.
[Ted] And file powder.
Okay.
[Eva] File powder is sassafras.
It is typically used for gumbo.
Do y'all want me to make gumbo? Just say that.
Twenty minutes to make your first impression on the judges.
Time starts...
Now. Let's go.
-[all cheer] -Let's go chefs!
-We got this, alright. -Get that flavour.
Got a little more than a pep in their step.
They're, they're moving.
Amanda, you're joined on the panel
by two special guest judges,
the host of Food Network's, Delicious Miss Brown,
Chef Kardea Brown and acclaimed chef and author,
Kwame Onwuachi.
[Amanda clapping] Whoo.
It's so great to be here. My family is Creole.
Creole cuisine is a mix of a lot of different cultures.
You have the Spanish, Native American, African, French.
Typically when you think of Creole, you think bout New Orlans.
But it's also within the Caribbean, you know,
you have Haitian Creole as well.
[Kardea] Absolutely.
I'm from Charleston, South Carolina
and I'm, you know, of Gullah Geechee desceent,
-we have very similar cooking styles. -[Kwame] Mmm-hmm.
[Amanda] To me, when I think of Creole cuisine,
all I think about is huge flavor.
There's just spice and there's crawfish,
the okras, the andouille sausages.
[Jouvens] Hello.
[Amanda] It's not just a flavor bomb.
It's something that comes from family.
It's something that has a history.
Yeah.
The gators are talking to me over there.
-[Eva] Are they? -[both chuckle]
[Jouvens] You open a dictionary,
where you see Creole, you will see Jouvens Jean.
Both of my parents are Haitian.
I grew up eating Creole food.
So Creole food is in my blood.
All right. Let's go, guys, let's go, guys.
Chef Jouvens, what are you making?
I'm working on, uh,
on a rip of, uh, shrimp and grits.
In Haiti we call it mayi moulen.
-Mayi moulen. -[Amanda] Ooo.
-Oh, makes shrimp and grits sound really sexy. -[Amanda] I love that.
Come on, come on, come on, come on.
[Jouvens] File powder is basically a thickening agent.
I'm using it in my grits.
Hoping that it adds a depth of flavor.
[Maya] Behind.
[Eva] My style of cooking is Creole Nouveau.
I incorporate Spanish,
Italian and Asian.
There you are.
It's Creole influences meet Asian.
Eva, what are you working on?
I'm working on a...
Uh, it's kind of like a yaka mein.
So, it's gonna be an Asian-South,
spicy Creole broth
with rice noodles, some crawfish
and okra and sausage.
So it's, like, a Creole-Asian fusion?
-Yeah, absolutely. -That's some serious flavors.
[oil splattering]
[Jouvens chuckling] Yeah! Now we cooking.
-Whoo! -[Jouvens] Now we cooking!
[Alanna] Show off. [chuckles]
[both laugh]
I'm gonna talk about my favorite ingredient which is okra.
You obviously can stew it.
I know people don't usually love that,
-sliminess of okra. -[chuckles]
[Amanda] But I think it's used in so many ways
to make things a little bit thicker.
-Mmm-hmm. -To give it viscosity.
You got Cajun spice over there?
-I got Creole spice. -Oh, thank you.
[Alanna] My style is Creole fusion.
I like to take traditional Creole recipes
and turn 'em into something fun and light.
Chef Alanna, what are you making?
I am going to make some alligator-crawfish gumbo.
I make gumbo in my sleep.
-She makes it in her sleep. -Ooo.
-Confidence right there. -[Kwame] We did not come
-here to play. -Oh, my goodness.
They don't call me Chef Creole for no reason.
-Yeah. -All right.
That's what we like to hear.
[Alanna] Every gumbo needs a good roux.
So I'm mixing oil, rice flour and Creole seasoning.
Creole cooking is in my blood.
My great grandmother's ancestry
was Native American and French.
Which are the building blocks
of Creole and Cajun cuisine.
My earliest memories were,
standing next to her, helping in the kitchen.
I wanna win this for everybody back in Nola,
I wanna win this for all of my ancestors.
I'm making gumbo wontons
with a coconut and crawfish red pepper sauce.
[sizzling]
So I start with my vegetables
and then I add in the alligator sausage.
[Alanna] Behind. Behind.
[Jouvens] Time, time, time, time, time?
All right, chefs. 10 minutes on the clock.
Oh.
The ingredient I'm most excited about, is the alligator sausage.
-[Kardea and Amanda] Mmm-hmm. -It has so much flavor.
It's like a combination between, like, chicken
-and fish and rabbit almost, you know? -Mmm-hmm.
[Kwame] It has a really nice, like, chew to it.
[Jouvens] I sauteed my alligator sausage
to release some of that flavor and then add it to my grits.
Then I decided to boil the crawfish because,
a crawfish boil
is staple in, in New Orleans, in Louisiana.
Behind.
[Kwame] Crawfish are a small crustacean.
They look like tiny little lobsters,
they're very indicative to the Low Country.
I'll save some of these heads for plating too.
[Amanda] You do peel, uh,
the tail or, you know, imagine a lobster,
you wanna eat that meat.
[Eva] I'm keeping the shells on the crawfish, because in Louisiana,
we love sucking the juice out of the head.
You guys getting that done?
Aye. [chuckles]
[Maya] I get started on my sauce.
So I put some pimento peppers,
I put coconut milk.
I wanna make sure that I'm using the crawfish heads,
because it will put that rich flavor of crawfish into my sauce.
Five minutes to go chefs.
[Alanna] The alligator sausage,
the crawfish, the okra and the file powder,
it's all gonna go inside of my gumbo.
There's so much going on
and all of a sudden I smell something burning.
[Alanna gasps]
Oh, no. It looks like Alanna's roux
is burning and she is not happy about it.
-[Kwame] Oh, no! -[Amanda and Kardea gasp]
[Amanda] That is the foundation of a gumbo.
-[Kardea] Yes. -Yeah, without that you got nothing.
[Alanna] If this roux is burnt,
it could ruin my gumbo for sure.
[Alanna gasps]
Looks like Alanna's roux is burning.
[Kardea] If we taste any of that burnt roux,
it's, it's just gonna mess up in that entire dish.
Let's take that off.
I'm thinking, "What am I gonna do?"
But I realized that only a corner of it was burnt.
So I'm gonna salvage the other part
and pray to God that it doesn't taste burnt.
[Jouvens] Chef Creole, how's it going? How we doing?
-[Alanna] It's good. -[Jouvens chuckles] All right.
I'm loving the fry on my okra.
The color is there, the crispiness is there,
so that's a win for me.
Behind.
[Eva] The file powder is just gonna add
that one last element of the New Orleans flavor.
Oh, come on, open up.
So, I wanna dust the file powder on top.
Two minute warning, chefs.
[Jouvens] Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah, woah, calm down.
-Maya hasn't formed her wontons yet. -[Kwame] Oh, wow.
[Amanda] I'm worried about her.
[Maya] I check on my gumbo
and I realize that the skillet is still too hot for the wonton wrappers.
So I decided to turn my sauce into a bisque.
I don't have time to strain the shells out of my bisque
and I'm hoping that this blender is powerful enough to break these shells down.
Whew.
[Alanna] One of the last things I add
into my gumbo is the file powder.
[Amanda] Come on, chefs, finish up. We wanna try your food.
[Kardea] We need all the ingredients on your plate.
-Don't have a lot of time. -[Kwame] Push, push!
Get it on the plate.
The clock is ticking away, chefs.
[groans]
[Ted] Ten,
nine,
eight,
seven, six,
five,
four,
three,
two,
-one. -Ah!
-Time's up. [claps] -Hands up.
[clapping]
[singing] And wave 'em like you just don't care.
[singing] On the island...
-You did it. -[Jouvens laughs]
[both laugh]
-[Eva] I mean, I'm just happy I finished it... -Ah! [chuckles]
Who can't make gumbo in 20 minutes? Who?
-[Eva] Oh, okay. -[Jouvens] I believed in you.
[Maya] 20 minutes is way faster than you would think it is.
But I pulled it back together at the end. So...
I hope the judges like it. [chuckles]
[Jouvens] I'm feeling fantastic.
[laughs]
The adrenaline is going but I feel great about what I did.
Chefs, you just cooked appetizers using your
Creole expertise and a basket
of alligator sausage,
crawfish,
okra
and file powder.
First up, chef Eva, what have you made?
I made yaka mein.
When the soldiers came back from Vietnam,
they would trade dishes with the, uh, Asians in Louisiana.
So they, like, would trade their noodle dishes for, like,
another dish that they would make.
So then it all just kinda turned into yaka mein. That's the history behind it.
-That's so cool. -[Eva laughs]
New Orleans is such a melting pot of different,
um, cultures and backgrounds
and so, I think you did a good job
with the alligator sausage and the tomatoes and okra.
Overall, this is out of this world. It's really good.
Thank you, Chef.
Yeah, I like the dish.
You can taste the file powder,
you know, you got a whole crawfish in there so...
-[Eva laughs] -And then the alligator sausage is prevalent.
[Amanda] The flavors are good.
But I want more okra and the crawfish
floating around in that broth.
I wanna feel it coming together more.
Thank you, Chef.
Chef Jouvens, what have you made for us?
Today I made for you, chefs,
alligator and file powder grits,
with almond roasted crawfish and fried okra.
I think this dish is great.
-Thank you. -[Kwame] There's so much depth within the grits.
But I wish you did more with the crawfish itself.
I would've loved to see some tails in the grits, right?
[Amanda] I agree. If you took that crawfish and just...
put some butter in the pan with it,
and then gave me that butter, with a little lemon or something.
But the flavor is on point.
Thank you, Chef.
I'm from Charleston, South Carolina.
I know a thing or two about grits.
You put a lot of flavor in there,
but you have cream, you have file,
so it's a tad thick.
But I love how you incorporated
the smoked alligator sausage within the grits.
-Thank you, Chef. -Also, okra...
Beautiful fry on your fried okra.
Overall, it does have a ton of flavor and the presentation,
very, very nice.
Thank you, Chef.
All right. Going to Chef Maya.
I made for you a crawfish gumbo bisque.
Chef, love that choice of coconut milk, it made this bisque
-so rich. -Mmm-hmm.
[Amanda] The alligator sausage does work really well in here
and I get the flavor of the file powder with that.
But then in the rush of time, the execution got a little bit lost,
because we're getting shells in every bite.
It just needed to be strained, right?
Just ain't had the time. The time got away from me.
But beautiful dish.
The okra, it's, like, fire-roasted, it's a nice juxtaposition
to, like, this intense flavor.
Thank you.
Not the flavor. You got all of that, sister.
-Like, this is flavorful. -Thank you. [chuckles]
[Kardea] This is a great starter.
Chef Maya, thank you.
Thank you.
[Ted] And finally, Chef Alanna.
I have made for you,
a gator and crawdad gumbo.
Both of my parents are Creole from New Orleans.
So growing up,
that was kinda, like, all we ate at the family functions.
I think you did a pretty good job
with 20 minutes.
Incorporating a lot of flavor into this gumbo.
You have crawfish swimming in here,
lots of tails, you have the alligator sausages that you seared.
The gumbo is cloaking my mouth [chuckles]
with all the aromatics that are indicative of Creole cuisine.
[Kardea] Overall, it is very flavorful
but I do taste a little bit of that scorched roux.
So your getting a lot of bitterness,
it's a little off putting.
[Amanda] I agree with Kardea.
I'm getting a little bitterness from the roux.
But I do like the flavors.
Thank you, chefs.
[Ted] Okay. Thank you all for doing your best.
[Jouvens] Chef Kardea's, uh, critique,
with the grits being a little bit, you know, too tight,
is dead on.
I'm feeling a little shaky right now.
[Maya] I should have strained the bisque.
But I am hoping that
the flavor and the creativity
trumps the shells.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
[intense music playing]
[loud bang]
Chef Maya, you've been chopped.
Judges?
[Kwame] Chef Maya, we really thought you did a great job
incorporating all the flavors into the bisque.
Unfortunately, you didn't strain the shells out of the sauce
and so, we had to chop you.
Thank you, chef Maya.
-[softly] Thank you. -[judges] Thank you.
[jazz starts playing]
[Maya] The time got me.
But, just being in this competition...
making my ancestors proud,
it's... it's everything.
[music concludes]
[Ted] Chef Alanna, chef Jouvens, chef Eva,
please turn your attention to these.
[suspenseful music building]
And open up your entree baskets.
[everyone exclaiming]
-What? -[Jouvens] Wow!
[Ted] It's a rack of wild boar.
Hello, boar! [laughs]
[Jouvens] I've never worked with wild boar.
Who would've thunked it?
[Ted] You've also got chicory.
Woo-hoo!
And what are these?
[Ted] Bread pudding beignets.
My doggy's name is Beignet.
[Ted] And Louisiana caviar.
I'm freaking out. [chuckles]
I'm not sure what I'm gonna do, but we're about to...
make it shake.
Thirty minutes for this second round.
[jazz music playing]
Clock starts... now.
[Amanda] Come on, chefs!
-[Kwame] All right, let's go. -[Kardea] Let's go, chefs.
Gimme that Creole love.
-[Kwame] They gotta bring it this time. -[Amanda] Oh, it's a race.
[Amanda] All these chefs have no problems with flavor.
I mean, we have given them every part of the palette.
-Bitter chicory. -[Kwame] Mmm-hmm.
-[Amanda] Very salty Louisiana caviar. -[Kardea] Mmm-hmm.
-They have sweet from the beignet. -[Kwame] Mmm-hmm.
[Amanda] And there's that beautiful piece of wild boar.
Boar does not have as much fat as like a domesticated pig.
So, you've gotta be careful. Can't overcook it.
-You need some of that fat flavor. -[Kwame] You need fat.
-[Kardea] Pancetta or something like that. -[Amanda] Yes.
And barbecuing is a very big thing
within Haitian-Creole, Caribbean-Creole and American-Creole.
So, I would love to see that wild boar on the grill.
-Chef Jouvens, what are you making? -[Jouvens] Yes.
I'm doing something really cool.
Touching into my, uh... Haitian culture a little bit.
So, I'll bring that to the table and then we'll win this thing
and go to the next round.
-[Kardea] Oh! Ooh! Confidence. I like it. I like it. -[Amanda] It's a secret.
[softly] All right. Let's go.
I'm making grilled wild boar,
with chicory black eyed pea rice
and caviar epis remoulade.
The epis is a staple to all Haitian-Creole food.
For my epis, I'm adding parsley, garlic, shallots, thyme
and Creole seasoning.
Chef Alanna and chef Eva,
they're bringing everything they got.
But I have that Haitian-Creole edge on all of them.
[Eva] I started round one pretty strong.
The judges liked my creativity.
-Creole seasoning. -[Eva] Yep. Go for it.
[Eva] With both Alanna and Jouvens, came out with a strong dish,
so I just have to make sure that I stay on top of my game.
I'm making blackened boar chops,
with a chicory salad,
and a date and golden raisin madeira reduction.
I'm breaking down the boar chops
and I've rubbed them with Cajun spices.
I feel like boar is gonna be a gamey meat,
so it just needs some date and red wine sauce
to kind of take away the gamey-ness of the meat.
[meat sizzling]
[Alanna] Creole cuisine is all about
low and slow. Giving yourself time to develop those flavors.
So, for the wild boar, I need a marinate.
I'm making seared wild boar over caviar mashed potatoes,
with a beignet cream sauce and charred chicory.
For my marinade, I'm whisking together red wine vinegar,
Creole seasoning,
ketchup, Worcestershire,
and some apricot jelly.
[trumpets playing]
Twenty minutes on the clock, chefs.
Heard.
A beignet is synonymous with New Orleans.
It's like fried choux paste...
and they are doused with confectionery sugar.
Now, with this boar,
I think you can use the beignet as a coating.
-[Kwame] Yeah, correct. Yeah. -Or on your...
-On your rack. -Yeah.
[Jouvens] Once my boar got a great grill mark on them,
I baste them with epis, mayo and mustard.
All right, this is when I put some of the love in.
And then I start to bread them in my beignet crust.
[upbeat music playing]
[Eva] I'm keeping the chicory fresh
'cause I wanna add a nice brightness of a salad.
Dress it in a very acidic vinaigrette
so it cuts through some of the bitterness.
Chef Alanna, what's up over there? How you feeling?
I'm feeling good.
I'm making a little white wine cream sauce for my beignets,
give it a little sweet touch.
Okay.
[Alanna] I love Creole cuisine
because that's who I am.
I was raised on it, and we always had a pot of gumbo,
some jambalaya going,
and when Mardi Gras comes around,
everybody is wearing beads and Mardi Gras masks.
It's so rich and being a part of that culture is everything.
I'm here to win.
There is no other option.
All right, chefs, ten minutes on the clock.
[Kwame] You've got that Louisiana caviar
which is from the bowfin fish.
[Amanda] It's swimming around in some muddy waters.
And I think of course, concentrated eggs...
You know, fish eggs will carry that flavor as well.
So, there's very unique aftertaste with this caviar.
I think it can still be used as a salt.
[Kwame] Yeah, and you can make a cream sauce
-and then finish it with that. -[Amanda] Mmm. Yes.
So you'll still have those beads that'll pop.
[Jouvens] For my caviar remoulade,
I'm mixing my epis, mayo, Louisiana caviar and a little bit of Cajun seasoning.
Once my rice is set, I add in some chicory,
and some epis and I let it set.
I think this rice is gonna showcase who I am
and is definitely going to impress the judges.
Five minutes to go, chefs.
Come on. [chuckles]
Green plates. Money green.
Give me the money.
[Eva] I love beignets as a dessert
but I don't know how to use them in an entree.
Then I look down at my chicory and go, "I'm making a salad, why not make croutons?"
So I take them to the fryer to crisp them up.
And I wanna toss them in a little bit of Creole dust and Creole mustard.
[intense music playing]
Two minute warning, chefs.
[Alanna] My potatoes are not cooked
as well as I wanted them to be.
So, I put them in the food processor.
That's a big no-no for me to put mashed potatoes in a food processor.
-[Amanda] I agree. -[Kardea] 'Cause it just
-becomes so gummy and gluey. -[Kwame] Yeah.
I think the mashed potatoes are the perfect place
to incorporate my Louisiana caviar,
because they can kind of hold a salt element.
[music intensifying]
-[Kwame] Come on, chefs. Let's go. -Let's go!
-[Kwame] Get it all on the plate. -[Kardea] Everything plated.
Get 'er done.
[Eva] I still haven't figured out what to do with this caviar,
but I'm running out of time.
One minute left on the clock. Just one minute to go.
[Eva] So, I'll just have to finish with my caviar.
-[Kwame] Come on, come on. -Forty seconds!
-[Kardea] That's not a lot of time. -[Kwame] Push, push.
Finish strong again, chefs.
Ten,
nine,
eight,
seven,
six,
five,
four,
three,
two,
one.
[Ted] Time's up.
-[Kwame] That's a lot of pressure. -Step back.
[Kwame] I felt that one.
-[Kardea] Oh, my goodness. -[Amanda] Me, too.
-[Jouvens] Good stuff. -Good job.
That round was more wild than the boar.
It was intense, but I added a lot of my Creole, um... ancestry from Haiti,
so, hopefully the judges appreciate it.
[Alanna] I feel like the dish is amazing.
Next round, here we come.
[chuckles]
Chefs, you had another chance to stretch your culinary muscles in round two,
with a rack of wild boar,
chicory, bread pudding beignets
and Louisiana caviar.
Chef Alanna, what have you made?
I have prepared for you, a...
pan-seared boar
over a caviar mash
and a charred chicory
over a sweet cream beignet sauce.
[Amanda] The seasoning that you put on the boar is excellent.
The Worcestershire with the other seasonings was delicious.
Really nice.
And I think it was brilliant to put the caviar with the potato.
You used it as salinity in the mashed potato.
Bread pudding beignet and your white wine sauce was so good.
[Kwame] The chicory... you charred it a little bit.
It was delicious.
But for me, half of my boar is cooked nicely
and the other half is like, you know, pretty raw.
[Kardea] Chef.
For me, the boar is a little rare.
And I'm just not a big fan of mashed potatoes in a food processor
because it, you know, releases all of that gluten
that it makes it very gummy and gluey.
But it had great flavor.
Thank you, Chef.
Next up, chef Jouvens.
Prepared for you today, a...
beignet-crusted wild boar
with a chicory, black eyed peas, coconut rice.
And a caviar and epis remoulade.
This dish is pretty much Haiti on a plate.
-Well, you told us you were gonna bring Haiti and you did. -[Jouvens laughs]
Haiti!
-[Kardea] Yeah. -[Amanda laughing]
The idea of making that beignet crust
and using mustard as a foil to a sweetness is brilliant.
It's just brilliant.
[softly] Thank you.
[Amanda] My boar was cooked perfectly. Both of them.
Flavors are...
outstanding.
Oh, my goodness. The black eyed peas,
you know, there's saltiness, there's a little bitterness from the chicory
but it all just works so well together.
Thank you, Chef.
I cut into one of the pieces of the boar chop and it was completely raw.
Like, completely raw.
However, you gave us two.
-And the other one was cooked perfectly. -Okay.
[Kwame] I really enjoyed this dish. Especially,
when you eat this epis
you know, a caviar aioli
and then the rice... and the rice is cooked so... beautifully.
-Yes, Chef. -Chef Jouvens, thank you.
[Ted] Finally, chef Eva.
Chefs, what I made for you today is...
a blackened boar
with a date and golden raisin madeira wine sauce
with a chicory salad
done with beignet Creole mustard tossed croutons.
[Kardea] What...
a brilliant idea of using
that bread pudding beignet as a crouton.
Delicious.
What I like about your cooking...
it's very vibrational.
It's very light and airy, but
there's still that remnants of Creole cooking here.
But, I think, you all kind of struggled
with cooking the boar to the correct temperature.
So, for me, this is almost well-done.
Very, very chewy.
[Kwame] I have to agree.
The boar is... mine is half and half.
When I saw a giant pile of chicory,
I was a little bit worried until I tasted your sauce.
You cooked that vinegar and sugar down...
which is so smart to add the dried fruit,
because some of those sugars release into that sauce and give it body.
I agree. That chicory salad was delicious.
But the caviar's not adding anything.
Even if somehow that was paired with lemon
or a cream or something that would break it up a little bit.
Thank you, chef.
Chef Eva, thank you.
[intense music playing]
[Alanna] Uh... a little longer cook
on my boar would've probably made the plate excellent.
But, overall, I still feel really good about it.
[Jouvens] What the judges said about my dish
that got me a little bit worried is the, uh...
uneven cooking in my boar.
So, technique, technique, technique. But...
I brought a lot of Haiti,
and I hope I'm gonna move to the next round.
[music intensifies]
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
[intense music playing]
Chef Alanna, you've been chopped. Judges?
[Kardea] Chef Alanna,
your wild boar was unfortunately very rare.
And the mashed potatoes with the Louisiana caviar was very, very gummy.
And so, we had to chop you.
I understand.
Thank you for the opportunity, chefs.
-Thank you, Chef. It was so nice to meet you. -Of course. Keep cooking.
-Keep cooking. -[Amanda] Thank you.
[jazz music playing]
[Alanna] It didn't turn out exactly how I planned it to be, but,
I feel extremely blessed, to have been given the opportunity
to represent Creole culture.
[intense music starts]
[Ted] Chef Eva, chef Jouvens,
you've both done a great job creating savory Creole cuisine
but how are you with desserts?
I'm ready to bring this home, now.
Feel I got a few sweet tricks up my sleeves.
[Ted] Okay.
Ready, set...
[intense music playing]
Open those final baskets.
-[wheezing] -[Eva laughing]
[Amanda laughing] Uh-oh.
What is this?
[Ted] You've got your hands on
a king cake milkshake.
Sweet potato?
[Ted] Sweet potatoes.
Tasso. [speaking Creole]
[Ted] Tasso ham.
What is that?
All right. What's this guy?
[Ted] And Creole pralines.
I don't know what I'm going to do with this king cake milkshake.
[Jouvens] Um...
All right, you got me with this one.
Remember how quickly 30 minutes goes by here.
We're starting the clock again,
now!
-[Kardea] Whoo! -[Kwame] Let's go, let's go.
-This is it. -Ten thousand dollars is on the line.
Right now, this competition, I think it's up for grab.
Both chef Jouvens and chef Eva,
they stick to their roots.
-Yeah. -[Kwame] Mmm-hmm.
Cinnamon, cinnamon, cinnamon.
[Kardea] Chef Eva has that Cali flair.
[Amanda] And I think chef Jouvens has represented Haiti all day.
But, I'm focused on execution.
Because they failed on execution,
on one element, each round.
Is it coming together like you thought?
-Hell nah. -No? [chuckles]
[Amanda] So, this is it.
-I want it to be perfectly executed. -Yeah.
[Eva] In the entree round, I overcooked my boar
and Jouvens undercooked his boar.
So I feel like we're neck and neck.
So, I need to stay on top of my game.
When I'm craving sugar, I often make myself a French toast dessert,
so, I'm making king cake French toast
with a caramel-praline sauce.
I take the king cake milkshake and add it in with milk and eggs.
Cinnamon, brown sugar... then I soak the bread in my mixture.
[Amanda] These king cake milkshakes, first of all, are delicious.
-So good. -I got a little scared from the color.
But they're really just vanilla.
-[cameraman] Hi. -Hello.
[Jouvens] Hello, sir.
Whipped cream on top, a little piece of king cake...
and there's a baby in there.
[Kwame] There's a baby floating in it.
-King cake was that quintessential New Orleans... -[Amanda] Yes.
...celebration cake.
The milkshake could be made into an ice-cream.
-You have the base. -Ooh!
[jazz music playing]
[Jouvens] I'm making king cake ice-cream
with sweet potato funnel cake.
Ice-cream!
My dish is inspired by Haitian carnivals
and beignet is one of the staple food that we eat,
but I'm gonna put my own spin on it.
Sweet potato is gonna be the base for my funnel cake.
Twenty minutes on the clock, chefs.
[exhales deeply]
-Guess what I got? -What'd you... What'd you get?
-Bourbon? Thank you. [chuckles] -[Jouvens chuckles]
[Eva] I'll need that in a minute. [chuckles]
[Kardea] Now these are a little softer than...
-Than typical praline. -[Amanda] Yeah. Right?
-Don't they have a little more caramel than normal? -[Kardea] They do.
[Kardea] Well, it's made with brown sugar or just granulated sugar.
[Amanda] But they're also just like a staple
-candy in... -Yeah. Mmm-hmm.
-New Orleans. -[Kwame] Staple candy in New Orleans.
[Eva] Creole praline. These are a treat that my mom makes every Christmas.
And I'm thinking
I can definitely melt these down and create my own caramel sauce.
And...
[Eva] I want to incorporate my sweet potatoes
and the tasso ham into my caramel sauce.
Because I want to add a little bit of texture to my sauce.
Tasso ham is a part of the, like, hind leg
-and not necessarily, like, the shoulder... -Right.
...where you find most ham, so it's super flavorful.
Yeah and it has a lot of that typical Creole seasoning.
So, there is some heat in here.
Heat and sweet can go well together but I think
-a karma has to be made to counteract the spice. -[Kardea] Yeah.
I'm gonna use this tasso ham and a habanero gastrique to candy it a little bit.
Jouvens, that's some crispy tasso?
[Jouvens] Crispy, candied tasso.
[both] Crispy, candied tasso.
Five minutes to go chefs.
Once I have my sweet potato mixture in a piping bag,
I drizzle it in the fryer whimsically, because I want it to be fun.
-Funnel cake, everybody, funnel cake. -[exclaims]
[Eva] I taste my caramel sauce and I'm really unhappy with it,
because the starch from the sweet potatoes
have made my caramel sauce a little gritty.
I think I'm gonna try to remake this caramel.
So, I run to the fryer to fry more ham.
Oh, wow, oh, I quit.
[both laugh]
Jouvens is there frying funnel cake.
Chef Eva, just pivot if you have to. Give us something.
I'm trying.
I have three basket ingredients in this caramel
and I am freaking out right now.
[Eva] Oh, I quit. [both laugh]
Four minutes left, four minutes.
The starch on the sweet potatoes have made my caramel sauce a little gritty.
I don't have time to remake it.
So, I strained it out and I'm just going to have to roll with it.
[Ted] Just under two minutes.
Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.
Jouvens's ice cream is coming out.
[Jouvens] All right, that's perfect.
Ice cream looks good.
-[woman 1] Yeah. -[woman 2]Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
-[Kwame] Yeah. -[Ted] One minute to go.
-[Ted] You got this chefs. -[Kwame] Come on,
come on.
[Kardea] Let's get everything plated.
[Jouvens] I decided to mix the Creole pralines with my candied ham.
It'd be the perfect topping for my ice cream.
Final seconds of the final round chefs.
And 10, nine,
eight, seven, six, five,
four, three, two, one.
Time's up.
[judges cheering]
-[Jouvens] Come on, bring it in, bring it in, bring it in. -Congratulations.
-[Jouvens] Bring it in, good job, good job. -[Eva] Good job.
Ah! [laughs]
All the adrenaline is coming out right now. I got goosebumps.
I brought some of that Creole flavor to my dessert.
So, I feel great about it.
[Eva] I was struggling with the caramel sauce.
But the French toast itself is delicious.
And it's not the most beautiful thing I've ever done [laughs] but it's great.
Chef Eva and Chef Jouvens,
your final basket, the king cake milkshake, sweet potatoes, tasso ham,
and Creole pralines.
So, what have you made for dessert, Chef Jouvens?
Chefs, today I've created for you the sweet potato funnel cake
with a herb spicy berry gastrique and the king cake ice cream.
[Amanda] I love that you've made ice cream.
And I like that it has chunky, fun things in it.
I love the praline in there and the funnel cake is a great idea.
But some of my pieces are crispy and some of them aren't.
The fruit sauce went over it and it sogged out.
[Kwame] I have to agree.
Putting a wet sauce on a crispy item
it just loses what you were trying to do.
If you put that on the side as a dipping sauce
I think we would be kids in a candy store right now.
Thank you Chef, thank you.
Chef Jouvens, the candied tasso ham is delicious.
I could just eat that in a bowl.
Just go to town.
Now the ice cream itself, I like
the way you took that king cake milkshake and reverted it back into an ice cream.
But it needed more sugar.
Just little, little tweaks would've sent this over the top.
Thank you Chef.
And finally, Chef Eva, please tell us about your dish.
I made a king cake batter French toast with a bourbon, praline, caramel sauce.
That's got the tasso ham and the sweet potatoes tossed in.
I've never personally in my life tried French toast
for dessert but I'm not mad at it.
I mean it's sweet, it's bread, why not.
I really like the French toast.
It had, you know, a nice soaking of whatever custard you made.
It was the king cake milkshake.
Yeah, it's, it's, it's really, really good.
Um, the sweet potatoes, they had a lot of texture.
You, like, roasted them really, really hard and then
rehydrated them in the sauce.
Flavors really work here.
Okay.
[Amanda] The French toast itself is delicious.
I like the tasso ham.
But I was searching for sweet potatoes,
-I didn't get as many on my plate. -Okay.
I don't have a lot to say about it because there's not much here.
But I also, I like it and I wanna keep eating it.
Thank you Chef.
[Ted] Okay.
The question now, who will be the champ?
Thank you, chefs.
I think, Chef Eva, introduced herself with a beautiful broth.
[Kwame] Yeah, definitely.
That broth, to make that, in that amount of time, so elegant and refined.
[Amanda] Yeah, but I think it was missing some stuff.
You know, it's, like, it's one piece of ocra, one crawfish here, like,
I thought all those flavors could've been developed more.
Chef Jouvens made a delicious grits.
Every bite had alligator sausage or ocra.
[Kardea] But I think his grits was kind of thick
because with the gumbo file in there,
it ended up being very thick and almost gluey, like...
Their first round was pretty solid compared to their entree round.
The wild boar really tripped them up.
For, Jouvens, unfortunately, like, couple of us had undercooked wild boar.
Which is a huge no, no.
But there were two on each plate and we had perfectly cooked pieces.
And using that Louisiana caviar as a salting agent
for the aioli, it was beautiful.
Eva's used to Louisiana caviar.
She just dolloped it on the bone.
She needed to manipulate it a little bit.
I agree, Chef Eva did not manipulate that Louisiana caviar.
And she overcooked her wild boar, which was a problem.
But it was so light and refreshing,
and the croutons she made out of the bread pudding vignette had great flavor.
Honestly, they didn't have a problem with flavor.
But who did... who executed everything better?
-I think we know the answer to that. -[Kardea] Yeah.
-[Kardea] For sure. -[Kwame] Yeah.
[Eva] I don't know how this is gonna go but I'm feeling very confident.
I do feel like I have a real chance to win.
[Jouvens] I think I did a much better job at showcasing Creole cooking.
I absolutely know that I deserve to win.
So, who's dish is on the chopping block?
[exclaims in Creole]
Chef Eva, you've been chopped.
-Judges-- -Can I give her a hug first?
Aw.
-[Jouvens] Good job. -Thank you [laughs].
Chef Eva, in the first round you came out really strong
with that version of a yaka mein.
But we wanted to see more of the okra, more of the crawfish.
In your entree round, the Louisiana caviar
just didn't bring anything to the dish.
And your dessert, the sweet potatoes on the dishes were a little bit inconsistent.
And so, we had to chop you.
-Thank you very much. -[Amanda] Thank you.
-Thank you, Chef. -Thank you, Chef.
[Kwame] Thank you.
I'm definitely disappointed, but it was a well-fought battle
and it's just meant the world that we were able to show,
Californians can cook Creole too.
That means, Chef Jouvens Jean, you are the chopped champion.
You've earned $10,000 for your work here
and we hope you really enjoyed the challenge. Congratulations Chef!
[all cheering]
-Thank you for Haiti! -[judges cheer]
-[Kardea] Oh, my God. -[Jouvens] Thank you guys so much.
It is the best feeling in the world to be the Creole Chopped Champion.
I came here to compete for Haiti and I did it.
Super exciting to win $10,000.