-All right, let's go, let's go. -[Jenn] Whoa.
[Ted] There will be meat and potatoes in every basket.
-[Tiffani] All right, guys. -[judges cheering]
Innovate steak and potatoes.
[Jenn] I need to nail the cook on this fillet.
-Oh, no! -This is nerve wracking.
[Marlo] It's very risky,
but I'm going for it.
[Eddie] This is like meat and potatoes 101.
[Marc] But some of my potatoes, they're really
barely cooked through.
[Brittani] Meat and potatoes is gonna
make me or break me today.
-[Ted] Five, four-- -Come on, come on!
[Ted] ...three,
two, one.
♪ I'm feeling like a rockstar ♪
[Brittani] Oh, yeah. So pretty.
I love meat and taters. [laughs]
I'm country as all hell.
You can't have a Sunday dinner without a meat and a potato on the table.
Or multiple meats and multiple potatoes, and then, like,
the green stuff is just kind of on the side. [laughs]
This is gonna smell real good.
Growing up in the Appalachian mountains,
we are not people of means.
So, if it can be grown, or if we can hunt it in the woods,
then we're gonna turn that into something delicious.
I am the chef to beat.
Hell, you guys can put a bag of, like,
instant mashed potatoes in the basket, I'm good.
[Andres] I'm from the Bronx, New York, and I'm the executive sous chef
at Empire Diner, in the heart of New York.
My food is influenced
by my upbringing in Ecuador.
When you taste my food, I just bring in flavors,
tastes from South America, like Sazon, sweet, salty,
tangy, and spicy, of course.
♪ Hip hop is a way of life ♪
[Andres] I been in the industry for 18 years.
The other chefs should be nervous
because I got a few tricks under my sleeves.
People go meatloaf crazy in the Midwest.
People look at me and they're like,
"She's just a nice girl from the Midwest."
But we do meat and potatoes well. And if you don't,
you should pack up and leave.
I am a culinary instructor and personal chef.
I tend to bring a lot of fresh flavors.
It's beautiful.
When I was leaving high school,
I fell in love with the food industry,
the rush of the kitchen, and working hands on with food.
So, I decided
to pursue a culinary arts degree,
and I love everything about it.
I'm coming in cool, calm, and collected, and I'm ready to win.
[sizzling]
Listen to that sizzle.
Meat and potatoes, like peanut butter and jelly,
it's, like, the perfect combination.
My style of cooking is refined soul food.
I'm very versed in different cuisines,
but it all reflects back to my Southern upbringing.
Yeah, baby, that's what I'm looking for.
At 13 years old, I was frying fish and wings
at my parents' concessions trailer.
And you know, when you realize you're just good at something,
you just go with it.
I've been working in a professional kitchen for 30 years now.
My strategy, going into this competition,
is just cook from my heart, and don't overthink it.
-Hello, chefs. -[Marlo] What's up, Ted?
-How you doin'? -[Jenn] Hello, Ted.
[Ted] What satisfies a hungry belly better
than meat and potatoes?
-[Marlo] I can't name a thing. -Absolutely nothing on Planet Earth.
[Ted] Lucky for you,
there will be meat and potatoes
in every basket.
That's what the Midwest does.
Meat and potatoes are my meat and potatoes.
All right, first baskets are here.
[Jenn] My heart is absolutely racing.
Who knows what's inside this basket.
[Ted] Have at 'em.
All right.
-The best part. -[Ted] Round one's meaty goodness,
filet mignon...
Slam dunk.
[Ted] ...and beef fat fudge.
[Marlo] My history with beef fat fudge is zero.
What do I do with this?
[Ted] Also in the mix, cherry tomatoes,
and Idaho potatoes.
[Brittani] Here, have a thick cut of meat,
and also a whole raw potato. Have fun.
[Ted] Twenty minutes to make meat and potatoes meals
that are both delicious
and original.
Clock starts now.
-[Tiffani] All right, guys. -[judges cheering]
Let's do this.
[Andres] A little parsley.
Tiffani, Marc, you are joined by a special guest,
pro football player turned Food Network star,
Chef Eddie Jackson.
Chef Eddie, what does meat and potatoes mean to you?
All we had was meat and potatoes, growing up in the South,
so this is near and dear
-to my heart. -[Tiffani] It's a great basket.
-[Eddie] It is. -[Marc] Well, it is,
if you have 30 minutes.
-Twenty minutes is really hard. -Not in 20.
-[Eddie] And not to make an appetizer. -[Tiffani] Yeah.
This, like, almost forces you to wanna do an entree.
[Tiffani] I think that's the riddle of this basket.
Don't just give us a filet back.
[Jenn] Behind, chef, behind.
Behind.
I grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan,
and coming from the Midwest, you do see meat and potatoes everywhere.
So the challenge here, is how do you think about meat and potatoes
in a whole different way?
I really need to scale it back and think appetizer.
Beautiful filets.
I'm making
a seared filet crostini,
with beef fat fudge sauce and fresh tomatoes on top.
I realize how thick it is,
so I know I need to nail the cook on this filet,
and let it rest before I slice it.
-[sizzling] -[Jenn] There we go.
[Tiffani] I think filet gets, like,
chef hatred. Right? Like, chefs are like,
"I only want ribeyes, I want lots of fat."
Sometimes, I just want a filet.
[Andres] My father used to cook on the grill,
getting the nice crust
and searing the outside. So, this
bring me back to growing up in Ecuador.
I'm making seared filet mignon
and crispy fried potatoes, with queso fresco.
The tricky thing about the potatoes,
you gotta put some time to cook them well.
So, I think frying the potatoes is the way to go.
[Eddie] So, Idaho potatoes, is like
-Americana 101. -[Tiffani] Mmm-hmm.
-[Eddie chuckles] Right? -Yep.
[Eddie] So, this is something that we always had,
-nice and buttery, easily accessible. -[Tiffani] Yep.
[Brittani] I pick rustic Appalachian ingredients,
and elevate them to,
you know, a higher level.
I'm making a seared filet salad,
with warm potatoes and a beef fat fudge sauce.
-[Marlo] Coming behind. -[Brittani] Heard.
The direction I wanna go with is turn those potatoes into a crouton.
I'm gonna dice 'em up, I'm gonna blanch 'em really quick,
and then I'm gonna throw them in the oven at a really high heat
and blister the tomatoes with the potatoes.
[Eddie] I don't just want tomatoes, like in a salad, mixed with herbs.
I would rather see some char in there, get it nice and blistered.
You can use the beef fat fudge and kind of make, almost like
a roasted tomato sauce with that.
[Tiffani] You can definitely do that.
[Marlo] I want my kids to know that they can color outside the lines.
So, I'm going in a poutine direction.
I feel like it's offbeat than what the judges may expect,
and I feel like nobody can deny a good French fry.
Chef Marlo, how are you changing meat and potatoes for us?
[Marlo] I'm gonna make a poutine.
Use the, the fudge to make a gravy.
-[Eddie] Oh! -That is smart.
-I like it. -We love that.
Fifteen minutes to go, chefs.
Heard, chef.
[Tiffani] Chef Jenn, I see a mandolin.
What are we getting out of your spuds?
I'm gonna fry my little potatoes here.
There's not a lot of time to cook these in.
I don't wanna necessarily make French fries,
so, potato chips are the way we're going.
But I hear baskets dropping in the fryer, and I realize that
Chef Marlo and Chef Andy
-are already using it. -[sizzling]
[Jenn] It's a waiting game at this point.
I don't know if I'm gonna have enough time.
[Andres] How you doin' over there?
[Brittani] Getting ready to try this beef fat fudge.
Have you tried that yet?
[Marc] The tricky thing here is that fudge, 'cause it's just so sweet.
[Tiffani] The beef fat fudge is, like,
you know, it's dense. It's really, like, super rich fudge.
In addition to the normal richness of fudge,
we now have made it with tallow, with beef fat.
So, it's, like, funky. It's sweet.
It... It packs a punch. It's tough to work into something.
I would maybe dose it into a mayo, some, like, grainy mustard.
I'm all about that.
[Jenn] The plan for this beef fat fudge, is to coat my final filet.
So, I grab some beef stock as well as cayenne.
I'm thinking of ways to balance out the sweetness
but also the fattiness from it.
[Andres] The flavor of this fudge is, like,
so chocolatey,
so I'm making a vinaigrette.
[blender whirring]
-How you doin', chef? -Good, how are you doin'?
[Jenn] Good.
Chef Brittani, how are you changing the meat and potato game for us?
I'm gonna elevate this for y'all.
Uh, I'm doing a nice, little sauce with the beef fat fudge.
-Okay. -[Brittani] It's gonna be spicy,
but fatty, and kind of acidic too,
to like cut through a lot of that fat.
I'm excited to show you guys this.
[Andres] Coming through, coming through.
[Ted] I hate to break it to you,
-uh, judges, but-- -[Marc] There's not much time left.
There are 10 minutes left in this round.
[Jenn] The fryer's open, so I get
my Idaho potato chips right into that fryer.
-All right, let's go. -[Jenn] I'm making it through.
-Nine minutes. -Right behind you. I know, nine minutes
it goes by fast.
[Marlo] Being from the South, I'm very familiar with gravy.
I've been making it my whole life.
So next, I'm making a tomato ketchup,
because French fries and ketchup go perfectly together.
[Tiffani] Chef Brittani, with eight minutes left,
has not touched her filet yet.
[Brittani] I can see the filet mignon just staring me in the face.
Time is winding down, and I really need to get a nice crust
and a good pan sear on this.
-[Tiffani] Brittani's not gonna get the steak cooked. -[Marc] I mean,
-if you're... Filet mignon should be rare. -Rare, not raw.
[Ted] Believe it or not, chefs,
five minutes only.
-Right behind you. -[Brittani] Heard.
[Eddie] Has Brittani touched her steak though, with five minutes left?
Don't know if it's on the fire, it sure should be.
[Brittani] Time is winding down,
and I really need to get the filet mignon in the pan.
[Eddie] So, Marlo just cut into his steak,
and they're completely raw.
So now, he's going back into the pan,
and you don't wanna do that with filet.
Once you cut it open, you start to let those juices run out.
There's no way it's not gonna overcook.
[Brittani] I flip it over and notice that the crust is perfect,
but I'm running short on time.
I grab another saute pan
and put it over top of the filet,
so that way, that steam
will cook it through a little bit faster.
I might be cutting it close on time, but I think I'll be okay.
[Andres] My plan for the cherry tomatoes
is incorporate it with a little chimichurri, with fresh parsley,
cilantro, garlic, shallots.
It's gonna be nice.
[Tiffani] Two minutes.
[Jenn] To prepare my cherry tomatoes,
I'm just going to slice them in half,
add a little bit of olive oil, lime juice, cilantro,
to really elevate that freshness.
[Ted] All right, chefs, you are rapidly
approaching your final minute here.
Get some pesto fresco, of course.
-[Brittani] Looks a little bit crispier. -[Tiffani] Brittani, you good?
-[Brittani] Maybe. -That's not good.
You have to get to the plate.
-[Ted] Thirty seconds. -[Brittani indistinct]
Come on, Brittani, come on Brittani.
-[Tiffani] Come on, guys. -[Marc] You got this, guys. Let's do it.
-Everything's gotta be there. -[Eddie] All the basket ingredients.
[judges clapping]
Wrap it up, chefs. Get those appetizers ready.
-Come on, come on. -Come on, guys.
[Ted] Ten, nine,
eight, seven,
-six, five-- -[Tiffani indistinct]
-[Eddie] Come on, Brittani. -[Ted] ...four--
-Finish! -[Ted] ...three--
-Moving, moving. -[Ted] ...two--
-[Tiffani] Come on. -[Ted] ...one.
Time's up.
Oh, my God.
[Brittani] I'm actually a little impressed with myself, right now.
Like, did I really just cook a filet in four minutes?
Did that happen?
[Marlo] I'm a little worried about the temperature on my steak,
the consistency of it.
But overall, I'm very satisfied.
[Ted] Chefs, you have arrived
at the chopping block.
In your first basket, you found filet mignon,
beef fat fudge,
cherry tomatoes,
and Idaho potatoes.
Chef Marlo, please tell us about your first course.
Today, chefs, I have made for you
a filet poutine with a beef fat fudge gravy,
and a roasted tomato ketchup.
What would it mean to you, sir, to win this competition?
[Marlo] Uh, it would mean a lot.
I really would like to win for my kids. I have three kids,
a daughter, 17, Alicia,
graduated high school this year.
Uh, she probably gonna take the whole ten, but, you know,
-that's the way-- -[judges chuckle]
-She definitely gonna take-- -And then some.
-[Marlo] Right. -And then some.
I have two sons, six and three.
Marlo III, and Bishop. You know,
I wanna bring the trophy home for them.
Very sweet.
[Eddie] Marlo, this is like,
pinstripes and polka dots.
Like, you don't think it's gonna make sense...
[chuckles] ...but you put this together very well.
Where you were creative, was using the beef fat fudge
and the tomatoes.
Transforming those tomatoes into this kind of ketchup situation,
delicious. I think, if you would have
cut the steak, in... Just like a real poutine--
-[Marlo] Mmm. -...so, where you get everything in one bite,
it'd make this feel more of an appetizer to me.
Thank you.
[Tiffani] Chef Marlo, I would
never, ever choose to do ketchup and gravy together.
But now, I'm rethinking that.
-Um, it's really good. -[Eddie chuckles]
[Tiffani] You had a ton of confidence with your fries in the fryer,
and just let 'em ride.
I would have loved to have seen that confidence with the filet as well.
[Marc] I think you came up with a pretty good idea.
But, you could have done a better job with the filet,
'cause it's overcooked.
When you sear, slice, and go back to the pan,
all the juices ran out.
[Ted] Next up, Chef Jenn.
Judges, today I have made you
a seared filet crostini.
It has a fresh tomato salad on there,
with a potato crisp on top.
[Eddie] Chef Jenn, the filet itself,
I think is cooked perfectly. I love that sear.
And I think you treated your tomatoes very well.
I'm a sucker for
a good crouton, and this is good,
but I don't think you need
the potato and the bread.
-Thank you. -[Marc] This is more about
gameplay with the ingredients from the basket.
The potato's one of the stars in there.
It's a little, little under represented.
-Okay. -But when you take that bite
it's delicious.
[Tiffani] Chef Jenn, um,
when we give you a potato, you can't run for bread.
And I am Carby Barbie, like, I'm here for all the carbs.
[Marc] Carby Barbie?
-Carby Barbie. -Let me write that down.
-[chuckles] -Um, I just became a meme.
[all laughing]
Thank you, Carbi B.
[all chuckle]
Yes! Carbi B, honey, yes.
[Ted] Thank you, Chef Jenn.
Chef Brittani.
So, today, I made for you guys
a seared filet with a warm potato salad,
and a beef fat sauce.
Uh, I grew up in far Eastern Kentucky
on a really big farm.
So, that's kind of where I got my startup.
-Oh, you raised livestock? -[Brittani] Yeah, uh, cattle,
pigs, chickens, guineas. You name it, we raised it.
Brittani, did I do something to you?
I'm trying to figure out why my piece of filet
looks totally different than Tiffani's.
-[Brittani] You did nothing to me. -[Eddie] This is like
the last piece of bread in the load.
-[Brittani] It sure is. -The booty bread, we call it.
[laughs]
Sorry about that, chef.
You've seasoned your filet better than anyone here.
-Thank you, chef. -[Eddie] The potatoes that you have,
again, obviously,
you have authority with seasoning.
Where are the tomatoes?
They were with the potatoes.
There's no tomatoes
anywhere on the plate.
There's a few misses here. I think the consistency on the plate,
I only got one tomato.
But the seasoning on the steak is, is, is delicious.
-Yeah. -My steak is cooked perfectly.
And I got tomatoes.
I like that you blistered the tomatoes.
Like, transforming those makes a lot of sense, and they're seasoned nicely.
So, just, like, trust all those instincts, just let them ride.
Thank you.
Next up, Chef Andy.
What I made for you today
was seared filet mignon, with a beef fat fudge vinaigrette
and, uh, fried potatoes with queso fresco.
Chef Andy, the beef fat fudge with the sherry vinegar is so smart.
So smart, like, a little umami in it.
The filet, mine's cooked really nicely.
I also think charring the tomatoes was really smart.
This is how you play the game, right?
You take an ingredient, you form it into
-what you need it to be. -Thank you.
This is like meat and potatoes 101.
But some of the filet is cooked perfectly,
and some is a little bit over, so it's a little bit uneven.
And the potatoes
don't have that crispness that I'm looking for.
-Thank you. -[Marc] This is tough,
because I think you might have fallen
a little bit into the trap of just giving us
a big piece of meat.
It's a lot for an appetizer.
I like the heat, but some of my potatoes
are really barely cooked through.
-Thank you. -Thank you, Chef Andy.
We wish all four of you could keep cooking, but the judges must pick
just three chefs to move ahead.
[Andres] I was surprised when the judges said my potatoes were undercooked.
But I feel confident.
[Brittani] I'd be stupid to not be nervous.
It's nice to hold on to those good things,
where, like they're talking about how good my, you know, steak was.
But, like, the timing really did kick my butt.
[Ted] So, whose dish
is on the chopping block?
[mouths] Crap.
[Ted] Chef Brittani, you've been chopped.
Judges?
[Marc] Brittani, unfortunately, there were some inconsistencies on the plate.
Some of us didn't get tomatoes, some of us did.
And then,
the steak, the way you cut it,
Eddie got the end of it,
and it was overcooked. And so,
we had to chop you.
[Brittani] Good luck.
I'm glad that I, kind of, got to,
you know, show my skills.
I did have the tastiest steak of everybody up there,
so, you know, like, I'm gonna hold on to that. [laughs]
Chef Andy, Chef Jenn, Chef Marlo,
more meat and potatoes
in the second basket.
Let's see exactly what you're dealing with.
Open your entree baskets.
-[chuckling] -Oh, my God.
-What is this? -[Ted] And you're
-looking at bison ribeyes-- -I love ribeye.
One of my favorite.
Oh, my God, what the hell is this?
[Ted] You also have steak cake.
[Marlo] It is a big piece of steak,
with mashed potatoes as the icing.
Who made this?
[Ted] Dandelion greens
and green peppercorns.
Over.
[Ted] Thirty minutes.
Clock starts now.
-[Tiffani] All right guys, here we go. -[Eddie] Come on, let's go!
-[judges clapping] -Innovate steak and potatoes.
-[Jenn groans] -[Tiffani] This round
takes the cake for the amount of steak.
[chuckles]
[Eddie] You have a bison ribeye, you have the steak cake.
It has sirloin,
and then it also has a strip steak on it.
Then, it's iced in mashed potatoes,
with salami roses.
-Didn't you have that at your wedding? -[Eddie] Nah.
[Jenn] This is like a mean joke.
My brain is going in a million directions.
I know I need to up my game and be a little bit more creative.
So, I'm making seared bison ribeye,
with gnocchi and sauteed dandelion greens.
[sighs]
[Marc] Do you want them to just sear it,
and have a big piece of bison meat on the plate?
-Actually, yes, I do. -[Tiffani] Yes.
It's a bison ribeye, so it's a little bit leaner,
but it's a ribeye, so there's plenty of fat in it.
It's not a beef ribeye. Uh, they're kissing cousins, right,
in terms of how we raise bison.
They get a lot more exercise.
So the flavor's lighter. This is not a trick.
This is a gift. Just cook that thing perfectly.
[grinding]
[Andres] First thing that I start is the green peppercorn,
and grind it up and just
add in as a seasoning on the steak.
I'm making seared bison ribeye,
with a creamy potato puree and, uh, sauteed dandelions.
I had issues with my execution
of the protein at the first round,
so I'm trying to show the judges
really good technique.
[Tiffani] I wonder if there's enough seasoning
on that steak. He has ground his green peppercorn,
and then using that very lightly
-on the steak. -[Marc] Yeah, but that's not
the proper use of green peppercorn.
They're not hard like a normal black peppercorn that you'd see.
Having grown up in France, it's basically the end all
of making a steak au poivre.
After you're done cooking it in the pan,
you deglaze with a little cognac,
you put your peppercorns in...
-That's the best-- -I would murder
-a steak au poivre that you made. -That would be so good.
[Marlo] Steak au poivre is a elevated steak and potatoes dish.
First, I wanna get a hard sear on the bison.
I'm making bison and gnocchi au poivre
with some crispy dandelion greens.
[sizzling]
Chefs, 20 minutes left on the clock.
[Jenn] Chef, behind.
[Marc] It's meat and potatoes,
but there's only the potatoes that are on that cake.
-Yep. -[Marc] Do you really just want
those mashed potatoes reheated?
But before they even start to innovate,
they've gotta excavate the steak cake.
[Andres] I scoop out the mashed potatoes,
to do a creamy potato puree.
With the steak
out of the cake,
I'm making a red wine steak sauce.
Okay.
When I first
moved to New York, I didn't even speak English.
I have to work hard everyday for everything that I have.
It make me so competitive.
You know, I just wanna show my son,
if you work hard,
you can do anything.
[Marlo] Next, I started making my gnocchi.
Gnocchi is a classic
pasta made from potatoes.
[Jenn] To make my gnocchi dough, I'm mixing
the mashed potatoes from the steak cake
along with flour
and egg.
What are you gonna do with the potatoes?
[Marlo] I think I'm going with a gnocchi.
What? I'm doing the same thing.
-Are we? -Oh, no!
-We're gonna be battling. -That's dangerous.
[Marc] I'm sorry, is Marlo making gnocchi?
-I think Marlo and Jenn are both making-- -Are both making
-gnocchi. -[Eddie] ...gnocchi.
[Tiffani] This is so risky, guys.
This is so risky.
There's so much butter in those mashed potatoes,
that you're gonna have to put a lot
of flour and a lot of eggs to hold that gnocchi together.
That might be dense.
How you doin', Jenn?
Getting these gnocchis fired off.
[Andres] I'm glad to see, uh, Marlo and Jenn
are making similar dishes,
because mine is gonna stand out.
My bison has a nice sear on it,
but it still look rare.
So, I put it in the oven to finish.
[Ted] All right, chefs, you've got
10 minutes to finish here.
Oof. Goes by fast.
[Andres] I'm pairing Brussels sprouts
and radicchio with the dandelions,
because I wanna give that a little twist on it.
[Marc] You know, it's interesting, because dandelion greens,
because they're so bitter, sometimes they're too strong.
Sometimes, I'll cut it 50/50 with spinach.
Jenn is using her dandelion greens. She's taking some of that
salami and dicing it up, and she's, like, braising out the dandelion greens.
[Jenn] Hit that with chicken stock,
and then it needs a little bit of acidity.
So, I'm gonna add some lemons as well.
I'm going to try to work those peppercorns into a sauce.
I need to grind them up to really extract that full flavor from them.
[Marlo] Au poivre is a classic French cognac cream sauce.
I start with some garlic,
shallots and mushrooms.
I deglaze the pan with some cognac,
and then I add heavy cream, and green peppercorns.
Feel like my sauce is coming together.
I'm feeling good, man. I'm feeling good.
-You got three minutes left. -[Marlo] Heard that,
three minutes.
The dandelion greens,
I'm gonna drop them in the fryer and get 'em crispy.
I take some of the salami,
and I drop it in the deep fryer as well.
I add some lemon juice, salt and pepper and pepper flakes.
[Marc] I see Andy pulling out the iSi.
-I'm not sure what is really going in there. -[Tiffani] For what?
I have no idea, I'm a little scared.
[Andres] I'm hoping putting the potatoes into the siphon
is gonna give a nice texture.
[Ted] There is no way
mashed potatoes go through a whipped cream cannister--
-[Tiffani] They're not coming out. -...in a million,
billion, trillion years.
-There's no way. -[Ted] Not happening.
[clicking]
[Andres] My potatoes are not coming out.
Somehow I gotta get these potatoes on the plate.
Yeesh. This is nerve wracking, watching.
[Andres] Even when things not gonna go your way,
you just push through.
All right, chefs, you're under two minutes here.
[Marc] It looks like Andy's now going to Plan B.
He's just taking the potatoes right out of the pot, putting them on the plate.
[Jenn] I have one ribeye
that's cooked really nicely,
and the rest are on the rare side.
-A minute and 15 seconds guys. -[Eddie] Let's go, chefs.
[Tiffani] Make it nice, beautiful plates.
-[Eddie] Come on, chefs. Get it on the plate. -[Tiffani] Come on, guys.
[Eddie] All ingredients.
[Ted] All right, wrap it up, chefs. Wrap it up.
-[Eddie] Come on, let's finish up. -[Ted] Ten,
-nine, eight-- -[Tiffani] Come on, guys.
[Ted] ...seven, six,
five,
-four-- -[Eddie claps] Finish up.
-[Ted] ...three-- -[Tiffani] Finish strong.
[Ted] ...two, one.
-Time's up. -[Tiffani] Whoa.
-[judges clapping] -[Marc exclaiming]
[Jenn] I had
some ambitious goals
I don't think I executed 100%.
But... [inhales] ...had to take a risk.
Chefs, you opened a basket to find
bison ribeye,
steak cake,
dandelion greens,
and green peppercorns.
Chef Andy, what do we have?
Seared bison ribeye,
with a creamy potato puree,
sauteed dandelions,
and red wine steak sauce.
Chef Andy, there's so much good here.
I think the red wine steak sauce,
really it has the flavor of a really well-developed sauce.
I love the greens, using the salami, really, really smart.
And the potato puree with the greens is really great.
I want more of that potato puree.
[Eddie] I was so excited for this bison.
You developed this nice char on the outside,
and so it's kinda puzzlin' to me
how the inside is still rare.
I think it's seasoned very well.
Just wish that it was a little more done for me.
I was eating the edges because the inside is a little bit underdone.
Have you ever used green peppercorn before?
-No. -[Marc] You don't season the steak with it.
You usually, like, season the sauce with it.
You know, we were looking to elevate the basket ingredients,
and I'm looking at reheated up mashed potatoes.
And, uh, a bison steak that's just cooked.
-Thank you. -Next up is Chef Jenn.
I have made for you today a seared bison ribeye
with sauteed dandelion greens and gnocchi.
Chef Jenn, it is all green peppercorn gravy baby.
That gravy is dope.
-[laughs] Thank you. -[Tiffani] That bison's cooked really nicely.
I see Eddie's and I see Marc's that are really rare, mine is not.
The dandelion greens for me,
-they're a little salty. -Okay.
The gnocchi, so smart to do it. It's such a risk.
It's a little bit dense and it's a little bit floury,
it could've had more egg
and cooked out a little longer.
The gravy brings me back to my childhood.
I want gravy over everything.
The dandelion greens, I think you treated beautifully.
I wish there were more on this plate.
The bison itself
is, is seasoned well, but it's, like, completely red.
And so I'm havin' to search around and find, find a bite.
Yeah, thank you.
Problem with slicing steak is it didn't have time to rest.
I've had worse gnocchi in restaurants,
-but you made this in, like, in no time. -[chuckles]
[Marc] If steak had been cooked better,
I might've finished that too, but I didn't.
-Thank you. -[Ted] Finally, Chef Marlo.
Chef, today I have made for you
a bison and gnocchi au poivre.
Uh, we got some green peppercorns in the sauce.
So, we fried some of the dandelion greens.
And salami on top for garnish.
[Tiffani] This is stroganoff for me,
and it's, it's probably one of the best stroganoffs I've ever had.
I would like more of the dandelion greens
folded into that gravy to kind of--
some of that bitterness to pull away from the richness.
The gnocchi, I think you guys, if were a a battle of gnocchi,
it's, like, almost like you made the same gnocchi twice.
But I need this plate removed from me...
-Yeah. We're thickenin'. -...because I'm gonna eat all of-- every bite of this.
Yeah, uh, Chef Marlo,
-this is... Chef Marlo... -Get-- Give it back to me. [laughs]
...the way that you put, uh, these ingredients together,
I think the dandelion greens is fantastic.
You're pairing that with this
green peppercorn sauce that you have.
I think that the way you cut the steak,
cutting into these small medallions was smart.
I just wish you would've, like, seared it, take it out, let it rest.
Because it, it got a little bit over, for me.
Thank you, chef.
[Marc] You really played it smart here.
I think your gravy is obviously delicious.
I agree, I, I think the bison is really, really hard to eat.
-Chef Marlo, thank you. -Thank you.
Presentation, taste and creativity are all important
as the judges decide who gets to stay
and who has to go.
[Jenn] The critique that has me the most worried right now
is the cook on the bison.
I noticed the other two chefs as well, you know,
struggled with that so... [inhales sharply]
[Andy] I feel nervous, but confident.
I have a lot more that I have to show the judges.
[clock ticking]
So, who's dish is on the chopping block.
Chef Andy, you've been chopped. Judges?
[Eddie] Chef Andy,
unfortunately, you didn't transform the basket ingredients.
And then your bison was just a little bit too rare.
And so, we had to chop you.
-Thank you. -[Eddie] You too.
-Good luck to you, sir. -Take care.
I'm walking out of here confident, excited,
um, you know, happy.
I just came to do what I did, cook.
[Ted] Chef Marlo, Chef Jenn,
meat and potatoes for dessert?
Born and raised on meat and potatoes.
This your last course, Jenn.
[Ted] We'll see.
Open up this final basket!
-Ooh. -Oh.
-[Jenn] All right. -What?
[Ted] And you'll be making dessert with roasted marrow bones.
[Jenn] Little bone marrow going on?
-A hash brown. -[Ted] Hash brown waffles.
-[Marlo] Smells cheesy. -[Ted] Plums.
[Jenn] All right.
[Ted] And goat's milk caramel.
I am feeling a little nervous.
[Ted] Thirty minutes restored to the countdown clock.
Time starts now!
-Let's go! -[Tiffani] All right, guys, here we go.
-[Ted] Chefs! -Here we go! Last round.
Judges, in the dessert round
we've got marrow bones and hash brown waffles.
Is this a recipe for disaster?
Automatically, when you think of dessert,
you think sweet. But this is still kind of a meat and potatoes.
I wanna have a plate with that savory as well, and not just all sweet.
[Jenn] Every fall, my mom makes an apple crumble,
so looking at these plums, I'm realizing that I can put a spin on that.
So, I'm making plum and bone marrow crumble
with a goat's milk caramel whipped cream.
So many plums.
I get my plums into a pan with butter, brown sugar,
the goat's milk caramel, some vanilla and then bourbon.
This is going to be the base layer of my crumble,
and I'm really hoping that all of these flavors
are really gonna help elevate those plums.
-We have these two chefs, very different chefs. -Yeah.
[Tiffani] One from the South, one from the Midwest.
Jenn is very used to cooking healthy,
and so meat and potatoes in this round,
it's her wheelhouse 'cause it's where she's from, but it's not what she does.
And Marlo has really been carried through both of these rounds by his sauce work...
-Yeah. -...and making these incredible gravies.
We're gonna have to find that in a different way for him this round.
[Marlo] Jenn has been really creative,
bringing her Midwestern flavor,
but I'm coming with the Southern flair.
Right now I'm thinking, "I'm ready to go into battle."
I am making a hash brown-crusted French toast
with a bone marrow butter
and a plum, goat's milk caramel.
[Jenn] How you doing, Marlo?
[Marlo] I think I'm okay right now.
Yeah? [laughs] Think through it a little bit?
It's still early, the jury's still out so...
[Jenn] I know, I know.
[Marlo] The hash brown waffle's gonna be a good crust
because it's got the cheese, it's got the potatoes.
They're all gonna toast up nicely and be delicious.
So I start my French toast in a buttery saute pan.
I brown it on each side and then I finish it in the oven.
Just under 20 minutes to go, chefs!
Yeah, we good.
[Tiffani] The tricky part about the hash brown is
it's hash browns and eggs and flour and cheese,
it's already been cooked once.
So, I think you kinda have to fold it into something.
[Eddie] I actually like the hash brown waffles
'cause it has some cheese in there
-that adds a crust. -[Tiffani] Sweet and savory.
Yeah, sweet and savory together.
[Jenn] For my crumble topping, I'm mixing together oats,
flour, brown sugar, walnuts, and my hash brown waffle.
But, I'm just hearing a little voice in my head that's whispering,
"meat and potatoes". I need to make sure that
-this dessert really makes them shine. -[sizzling]
[Jenn] So, I'm adding in the roasted bone marrow
and the hash browns into this crumble topping
because I think they're gonna really hold up
to that super sweet base that I have going on right now.
[Tiffani] The initial inclination is to look at this basket and think
that the bone marrow is really tough.
And I don't think it's that tough.
Bone marrow is essentially the bones split crosswise, and then it's roasted.
And essentially, it's just very unctuous.
-It's meat butter. -[Eddie] It's gonna be interesting to see how
these chefs manipulate the goat's milk caramel...
-Mmm-hmmm. -...because it is commonly sweet.
[Marc] Basically, sugar that's been cooked to a certain point,
and they added the goat's milk,
probably a little butter in there as well.
It's rich, it's thick. This is, this is a gift.
[Marlo] Goat's milk caramel is very similar to regular caramel,
just with a little tang. I wanna add some tartness
because the goat's milk is sweet,
and the plums are sweet.
So, I thinly slice some plums and apples, and I get 'em in a saute pan.
I add some goat's milk caramel, heavy cream, and a pinch of salt.
[Jenn] The plums are looking beautiful,
but I'm looking at the clock, and I need to get them into my ramekins,
and get them baked.
Wow, it looks like Jenn's got all the ingredients right there.
-[Tiffani] Genius or a fool? -[Eddie] Exactly.
[Tiffani] 'Cause you either kill it and you win,
-or it doesn't work out. -[Eddie] Yeah, yeah.
Chefs, five minutes to get it done here.
[Marlo] I want my French toast to feel like a dessert,
so I'm adding the whipped cream like a
cold, creamy component.
-[Tiffani] No, no, no, no, no. -[Ted] What is that?
[Tiffani] Chef Marlo is using the iSi cannister.
-You need to mix it first. -[Eddie] Yeah.
Everything needs to be strained before you... [indistinct]
Oh, are we gonna see that thing fail twice?
Marlo, what's going on in there,
-in that cannister? -[Marlo] Some whip.
-Ooh. -[Marlo] It is very risky 'cause it can over-whip,
but I'm going for it.
[clock ticking]
Marlo, what's going on in there, in that canister?
[Marlo] Some whip with a little orange liqueur.
We have seen so many failures with that canister,
I don't know why on earth you don't just whip it
in a bowl or a stand mixer 'cause it works every single time.
[Jenn] I check my crumble, it is bubbling.
This huge risk of putting all the basket ingredients in one dish
could possibly be paying off.
[Marc] Jenn's making a whipped cream and just putting that
goat caramel in there. That sounds delicious.
[Eddie] Yeah, totally.
So what is it that Marlo's rubbing on his French toast?
That's a heavy dose of bone marrow and butter on your French toast.
[Ted] Forty-five seconds.
-[Marlo] Oh, man. Oh, man. -[Tiffani] Come on, guys!
-[Eddie] Come on, let's finish up. -This is it, finish strong.
We're bubblin'.
[Marc] Let's go, chefs, let's go.
All righty, chefs, final seconds of the final round here!
[Marc speaks indistinctly] Let's do it!
-Everything on there. -[Eddie] All of the basket ingredients.
[Ted] Ten, nine,
-eight, seven, six, five... -[grunts]
-Come on, finish up! Seconds away. -...four, three, two, one.
-Time's up! -[applause]
-[Tiffani] All right, guys. -[applause continues]
Good job, good job.
[Marlo] I struggled a little bit early on with my French toast,
but eventually I got a good sear on it and
it made a nice crust.
[Jenn] A lot of the basket ingredients did go into that crumble,
so as long as that cooked correctly,
then I should be okay.
But we'll see.
[Ted] Chef Marlo, Chef Jenn,
your marching orders were to make desserts using
roasted marrow bones, hash brown waffles,
plums and goat's milk caramel.
Chef Jenn.
So, I really wanted to take a risk
and throw a lot of the meat and potatoes right into the crumble.
So, I have made for you today
plum and bone marrow crumble
with goat's milk caramel whipped cream.
[Eddie] Chef Jenn, it's always tricky
when you put all your eggs in one basket.
And I think it worked
'cause it has this combination,
sweet, salty, so incorporating the, uh, bone marrow inside of that pan
is really tamin' the caramel.
I think the crumble has nice pops of salt
by adding in the hash brown waffle.
-I wanted little bit more of, like, a crunch. -Thank you.
[Marc] It does not seem like this is a
Chopped dessert, basket dessert.
This feels like something I would've ordered in a restaurant.
-Thank you. -[Marc] The plums,
slicing them thin and cooking them,
you got them cooked through.
-That was really smart. -Thank you, chef.
Chef Jenn, this is a dessert
where the basket is right here.
What you did add brought lot, like, the bourbon
is cutting through that bone marrow and the goat milk caramel
in a way that, like, lightens it and deepens it at the same time.
If I'm getting a little bit nitpicky,
I would like to see the crumble be more of a crumble.
A little bit more butter in here would've gone a long way.
Thank you, chef.
Finally, Chef Marlo.
Chefs, for you I have made a
hash brown-crusted French toast
with a Granny Smith apple and plum caramel.
We finished it with a little bone marrow in the butter
that I spread on top of the French toast.
[Eddie] Marlo, so, this goat's milk caramel,
definitely shines on the plate.
The hash brown waffle
that you crusted the French toast in,
makes a, a wonderful bite.
Well, you're obviously good at what you do.
-Thank you. -[Marc] I like some of the flavors here.
I think there's a couple problems.
If French toast doesn't soak enough,
the French toast is a little bit dry.
You went up whipped cream to whipped cream,
and unfortunately, it looks over-whipped.
But once again, you're, you're killing it in the sauces.
-And this sauce is delicious. -Thank you.
Marlo, this is really, really good.
There's like a foie gras quality that
the bone marrow has brought into here
that I did not see coming.
Feel like I'm sitting in France, eating dessert.
All right, we're almost set now to name the champion. Thank you, chefs.
I think that Marlo and Jenn,
throughout the, the competition today,
have found creative ways to incorporate the meat and potatoes.
[Marc] I was a little upset 'cause Marlo was doing a great job
with his sauces better than his appetizer.
He basically overcooked the meat.
But the dish overall worked.
[Tiffani] Jenn's appetizer, it was a cocktail cracker.
For me, if I was at a cocktail party and that came around,
I think I might start looking for the door.
I think that's being a little harsh.
[Eddie] Jenn, when you got that bite with the meat,
with a little bit of that crostini
with the beef fat fudge on there
-with the tomatoes... -[Tiffani] Yeah.
...it made a, a perfect bite.
[Marc] When you look at the bison that Jenn made in the main course,
I thought that was very, very good.
Jenn made that green peppercorn gravy,
that to me was like a flash of genius.
[Tiffani] So, so good.
But, you can definitely see some technical flaws. It was rare.
But in Marlo, really, that bison was tough.
[Tiffani] But I'm telling you, I wanted to crawl into that,
-like, stroganoff gravy. -[Marc] Look, there was some
flashes of genius on both sides,
and, uh, there was also some mistakes done on both sides.
You know, meat and potatoes is not an easy way to go.
-Especially when it's all three rounds. -[Tiffani] Yeah.
But, I think we've decided.
[Jenn] I'm ready to win $10,000 because I have a new hobby,
mountain biking, and it is expensive.
[Marlo] I put out some really good dishes all day.
I ain't leavin' here without bringing this trophy home to my kids.
Who's dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Jenn, you've been chopped. Judges?
[Tiffani] Chef Jenn, this is painful, especially to have
this dessert underneath the cloche on your chop,
it's really, really painful,
because Marlo really just had moments of brilliance
throughout the day that blew us away.
Your filet was cooked so nicely in the first round.
We were just missing a little bit more potato-forward vibe.
We get to the second round, and Marc and Eddie got
really undercooked bison, and that was hard to ignore.
And so, we had to chop you.
-Congratulations. Good job. -[indistinct] Good job.
[Jenn] I feel like after today,
I definitely represented myself,
I represented the Midwest well.
Chef Marlo was just,
he was the better chef today, for sure.
And that means, Chef Marlo Nash,
you are the Chopped Champion, congratulations.
-[applause] -Let's go!
-[Tiffani] Yeah. -Let's go!
-Yes! -[Tiffani] Good job.
Yes! Yeah, let's go.
Thank you.
The best part about this is testing yourself,
pushing yourself to the limits.
I came here to show my kids to follow your dreams,
believe in yourself,
and don't ever let up.
I have definitely did that.