[Ted] This is surely a battle that will go down in
"Chopped" history.
16 "Chopped" champions, handpicked by four iconic
"Chopped" judges, battled it out.
[contestant] Ah yeah!
Woo!
[Ted] Now the four who prevailed are back.
And the judges who put their reputations on the line
will cook beside them as their sous chefs.
-Yes, chef. -What is the idea?
What's the plan?
I am following your lead all the way.
[contestant] It's about to get real, real fast.
Who do you want? Talk to me.
[contestant #2] I have to destroy my competition.
This is the ultimate cooking show right here.
They're feeling pride and pressure.
[contestant #3] This is my time.
-$50,000 on the line. -[Ted] Alex looks worried.
Ow! Oh, my god.
[banging]
-[clattering] -Oh!
[Ted] Prepare for an epic showdown like none we've ever seen.
This is where legends are made!
[Ted] This is the "Chopped" Legends grand finale.
All day, baby. All day.
We made it to the end, and now here we are,
the opportunity to be the first legend of "Chopped" ever.
We have the opportunity to be the first one, and then once
we're the first one, then nobody else can ever have it.
I'm the chef here.
If I put something on the plate and it's not perfect, even if
Scott made it, it's on me. -[Scott] I'm here for you.
I am following your lead all the way.
I've got some tricks up my sleeve, and I'm ready to really
show those off.
Let's do this.
I am super pumped heading into the finale.
I am so excited to be chosen by Chris,
but the competition is next level.
Not only am I going up against three other "Chopped" champions,
but three other legendary judges.
I have competed against Alex and Maneet, and they're both
very, very good.
So I gotta step up my game to match theirs.
Definitely gonna put you to work.
I love it. I'm in, let's go.
Now that I'm in this finale, pressure's on.
But to become a legend? That's truly legendary.
This competition's about to be insane.
Hope everyone's ready for it.
Looks like the tables have turned.
Having Maneet as a sous chef in the finale
is unreal. She's humble, wise.
Talk about someone that's really an icon.
I'm ready to go up against anybody and everybody,
especially with flavors. -Let's bring it home. Boom!
I am in a room full of titans of our industry, but I plan on
taking home the title of "legend."
How are we feeling?
It's weird calling you a sous-chef.
Oh, no, don't be silly.
Alex is quite a presence in the kitchen.
I feel this weight to do well for her.
[Alex] I think we know our judges,
and so they're gonna just be -Yeah.
looking at, is it overcooked? Is it cut properly?
[Hosea] Right. This is my time.
I am not leaving here without that money.
This is gonna be wild.
Hello, "Chopped" champions and "Chopped" judges.
-[Ted] Welcome back. -Thank you, Ted.
-Good to be here, Ted, thank you.
-Good to be here. -Boom boom.
[Ted] Now, the tables have been turned
a bit here because the judges
are taking a sous chef role and supporting while
the champions take charge. -Got that?
-Yes, chef. -Got it.
[Ted] But also know that we want excellence at
the highest level.
The champion who wins here will score $25,000 for charity
and $25,000 to keep, plus the rarefied title of
"Chopped" Legend.
You can write that check right now, Ted.
[laughing]
Let's see what you got.
-Oh. -You're kidding.
-Whoa. -No idea what that is.
[Ted] And you've got pork blood ice cream.
-[Hosea] What? -[Alex] Blood ice cream.
Uh...
-[Ted] Sorrel. -[Maneet] OK.
-All right, looks good, too. -Beautiful.
-Omelet? -Yep.
[Ted] A tornado omelet.
-OK. -Whoa.
-Tongue, tongue.
-[Ted] And beef tongue. -[Christopher] Why would you do this to us?
[Ted] As usual, this will be a 20-minute appetizer round.
Clock starts now.
What do you want? Tell me, talk to me.
[indistinct] the miso paste.
Give me some of those cannelloni beans.
I'll make a salsa verde.
Yeah, make a salsa verde and make a crema.
We'll stuff them.
We're gonna do a little stir-fried rice.
Work while you talk. Work while you talk.
Behind, coming through.
Amanda, Tiffani, Marcus, it is the finale of our first-ever
"Chopped" Legends Tournament. -Yes!
-Oh, rice. -Hmm, interesting.
Do we fry the rice and make a crispy topping for it?
-I like that, I like that. -Yeah.
This is the big game of cooking.
Yes.
[Marcus] Think about what's on the line here.
Who doesn't want to be a "Chopped" Legend?
And also, there's $50,000!
$25,000 for your charity, $25,000 for you,
and we're picking you up out of the universe and saying,
"You, you're the legend." -Yes, the first one.
The first one.
How thick do you want them?
-About like that, yeah, yeah. -Like that thick?
[Scott] Sara immediately takes charge.
I know that I got to start on the beef tongue.
Giddy up. Let's go.
-Nice slices like that. -Yes, Chef.
For me, what makes a legend is someone who is that bright
light on the hill that people talk about.
Someone who is the example. That's what a legend is to me.
Awesome.
[Sara] We're gonna make a five-spice beef tongue with
fried rice, sorrel salsa verde, and a pork blood aioli.
I want it to be like kind of broken up.
-Garlic too? Half a clove of garlic? -Yeah, go for it.
A sous chef should always take as much off the plate of
the chef as possible. -[Sara] You love this.
I do this for you.
But listen, these are my friends.
These are my peers.
And if I do something wrong, they are gonna take great
pleasure in letting me know about it.
-I brought chorizo if you want to use it, -OK good, great.
but if you don't, that's fine too.
[Kat] To have Chris next to me as my sous chef with all of
his skill, I'm very excited about this.
[Chris] I haven't been a sous chef for 30 years.
And so giving up that control is probably not gonna be that
easy, but it's all about pride.
We don't want to lose to our peers.
Let's do a taco.
We're gonna do the crispy rice with it.
-OK, yeah, I like it. -[Kat] I live in Los Angeles.
I see the beef tongue, and I think tacos.
We are making a beef tongue taco with a sorrel salsa verde,
a pork blood crema, and crispy rice.
I'm doing the beef tongue. You're doing the salsa verde.
Let's show them what we got, right?
I've got queso fresco. How do you feel about that?
Yeah, I love it, love it, love it.
What are you planning?
We're gonna highlight these tongues.
Beans and rice plays well in both of our cultures,
so I'm thinking beans and franks because that's what
I grew up with.
We're making beef tongue medallions with pork blood
cannellini beans, a sorrel chimichurri sauce with
sorrel apple salad, and a crispy rice.
[Maneet] What else? What's next? Talk to me.
-It's working, Chef. Working good. -OK.
[Tiffani] Chris and Maneet have become one team.
-She's a bouncy assassin. -A bouncy ninja.
-Chef! -Yes?
Grab me some chicken stock.
Chicken stock.
Feeling good?
Oh, I'm feeling good. We got a plan.
[Alex] There's a lot of dramatic ingredients, but I'm with him.
I'm his sous chef.
Whatever he says, that's what I do.
[Hosea] We're making stuffed cabbage with rice and beef tongue
and a pork blood ice cream sauce.
So for the filling, I dice up the beef tongue.
I add the rice from the tornado omelet.
[Alex] Keep your cool, be calm.
Chefs, champs, less than 14 minutes on the clock.
[Scott] You know, I used the sorrel in the salsa verde.
Sara tasted it, and she's really happy with it.
-Good, good. -All right.
[Tiffani] Scott and Sarah are just working in lockstep.
[Amanda] I just want to watch.
This is the ultimate cooking show right here.
[Alex] I literally add over half of that pig blood ice cream
into the shallots.
Start stuffing. Start stuffing.
-I'm doing it. -[Alex] Go ahead, keep going.
[Hosea] They look good.
-You OK? -[Hosea] I'm good.
-Are they braising those cabbage rolls in pork blood? -Yeah.
-Yes. -I am so impressed.
[Tiffani] So the pork blood ice cream is actually delicious.
It's cream, a little bit of cardamom, cinnamon,
vanilla, and it's just substituting the egg yolks for
pork blood, which has the same level of coagulant
and viscosity of egg yolks.
[Ted] 10 minutes, chefs.
[Maneet] So we decide to go ahead and make this chimichurri.
What else? What's next? Talk to me.
[Christopher] From the tornado omelet, putting the rice component in
the fryer. I'm cooking for On The Rise.
This particular non-profit is focused on taking people from
homelessness to homes, and I just want to see them do
well, and I also want to see them be supported.
[Chris] So I'm gonna handle the pork blood crema, while Kat handles
the fried rice.
But my biggest concern is
just the clock, the clock, the clock,
the clock, the clock.
It's uh -- whose -- are you guys done with the fryer here?
-[Christopher] No. -Heard.
When I get to the fryer, it is occupied, so I need to wait.
At this point, I'm worried about time.
It's stressful.
It's not only my reputation, it's Chris's.
Chefs, five minutes left on that clock.
I need to get into this fryer.
I'm not freaking out yet, but I'm borderline.
It's finally free, so I'm able to start frying my rice.
[Sara] So I want to make a pork blood aioli.
I'm not sure that Scott is super into it, but I'm the boss
here, so I tell him, "Scott, make me a pork blood aioli."
[Scott] I have no problem with the sous-chef role.
-Yeah? -Better.
Much better.
Okay.
Behind you, behind you, behind, behind, behind, behind.
[Maneet] The dish needs some sort of salad, and Granny Smith apple
would be a great idea.
-Start the plating. -Don't worry.
-I'm gonna do you proud. -One minute, chefs!
Let's go! This is where legends are made!
-How do you want to build this? -[Tiffani] Go, go!
-[Marcus] Come on, Chef! -[Scott] Oh, that's sexy.
-Put your pan down and do it. -One of you goes home.
-Come on, come on, come on. -Let's go, guys.
[Ted] Work together in these final seconds, chefs.
Ten, nine, eight...
...seven, six, five...
...four, three, two, one.
-Time's up. -Whoo!
Silent killers.
[Maneet] I haven't been a sous chef for a very long time, so it took
a little bit of extra control to kind of restrain myself,
but I think I did a decent job. Did I, Chef?
-You did a great job. -OK, great.
[Chris] It was such a short round, we didn't have a lot of time to
really communicate, but we got our plan down really quickly, -Yeah.
and then I just took orders from the chef.
You're an excellent sous chef, thank you.
Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.
[Ted] Judge-Champ teams, you have arrived at
the chopping block.
For the appetizer round, we gave you pork blood
ice cream,
sorrel, a tornado omelet, and beef tongue.
Chef Kat and Chef Chris, please tell us
what you've made.
We made a beef tongue taco with sorrel salsa verde, pork blood
crema, and crispy fried rice.
[Ted] So how did the two of you manage this round?
We immediately had really great cooking chemistry.
Yeah, we were on the same page, like, very quickly.
Chris, why do you think your champ could be a legend?
I think that she has no problem taking charge and telling me
what to do, so... -[all laughing]
Every chef here is very talented.
It's not gonna be easy, but I think that she has every
chance to be a legend. -Thank you.
-Yeah, that's true. -Right on.
Um... The tongue is delicious.
You render it in the chorizo fat?
-Mm-hmm. -That's really nice.
And I love the salsa verde. It's delicious.
[Tiffani] I am wanting a little bit more of the sorrel.
I do want a little bit of heat, but using the pork blood
ice cream as the crema on the bottom is just
incredibly smart. -Thank you, Chef.
And that fried crispy rice...
Wow. Really delicious.
-This is a great start. -Thank you.
Thank you very much.
[Ted] Next up, Chef Sara and Chef Scott.
Please tell us what you've made.
Today I did a five-spiced beef tongue.
There's a little fried rice, a sorrel salsa verde,
and a pig's blood aioli.
[Ted] Scott, what was it like for you to become
a sous chef again? I think it's been a minute.
Ted, I've been married for 17 years.
I know exactly how to play "back."
That'll do it.
Chef, who are you competing for?
I am playing for Maiden Alley Cinema.
So in Kentucky, we have a local art house cinema that is just
barely hanging on, and so I'm playing for them.
[Ted] All right.
[Tiffani] The beef tongue, it's so soft, and the five spice flavors on
it just melt into that texture that is so lovely.
I didn't know it was possible to create like a duck dish out
of beef tongue.
Because that's really the vibes I'm getting.
It's absolutely delicious.
It's really hard for me to give Scott compliments.
I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna.
I'm not even gonna go there.
By the way, I've noticed you haven't looked at me once.
-[Marcus] No, I -- whatever. -[laughing]
-Well done. -Thank you.
[Tiffani] It's so good.
And then to have that sorrel sauce on it that's just
a bite of refreshment.
Then the pork blood aioli, it's wild.
It all comes together.
[Amanda] It's hard to say anything negative, but the finish of sea
salt over that would have killed it.
Chef Sara, Chef Scott, thank you.
Chef Hosea and Chef Alex.
Today is a stuffed cabbage with rice, tongue, and sorrel.
The sauce is a shallot and blood ice cream sauce.
What was it like for the two of you working together?
We synced really quickly.
We have some serious connection.
Mainly, we both have daughters and I'm here fighting for
my daughter, trying to win money for our charity.
Your charity is Sophie's Neighborhood.
[Hosea] That's right.
My daughter has an extremely rare disease,
one of 30 people in the world.
It's a degenerative genetic condition where she's slowly
losing the bones in her body, but she can still
use her hands.
She still cooks with me in the kitchen.
Any parent would fight like hell for their kid,
and that's why I'm here. -That's a lot.
[Hosea] Yeah.
Alex and Hosea, this is OG confident cooking.
This also has so much complexity, the sour notes.
-This is incredible. -Thank you so much, Chef.
[Amanda] The whole thing is delicious.
When you dig in, you get the satisfying
carbohydrate of the rice wrapped in the juicy cabbage.
-[Tiffani] There's fried shallots on top of this, right? -[Hosea] Correct.
-I want a lot more, and that's textural contrast. -Yeah, yes.
I just want more.
OK, Chef Hosea, Chef Alex, thank you.
Chef Christopher, Chef Maneet, please tell us about
your first course.
You have a beef tongue medallion.
Below that, there's a bean and beef tongue.
You got a sorrel chimichurri sauce.
So the idea behind the dish was beans and franks.
[Ted] How did the two of you divide and conquer?
How did it work?
[Christopher] You just need to know your sous chef has your back.
Like, oui, Chef, thank you, Chef.
OK.
She's like, "What do you need?" That was magical for me.
I Wanted to make sure that Christopher had everything that
he needed at hand.
So just giving him options.
Chef Christopher, how you saw pork
blood ice cream and beef tongue and thought franks and beans,
I will never know -- it's a great idea.
[Tiffani] And having the pork blood
ice cream as the base of the franks and beans --
just genius.
[Amanda] That crispy rice and that chimichurri,
it's herbal, it has a little kick, it has tons of acid.
[Marcus] The sorrel is just brilliant.
It breaks up everything and makes it a light dish.
But I'm not in love with the amount of
non-basket ingredients.
[Amanda] Apple, I understand why you put it there, but it's distracting
from all the rest of the good stuff on the plate.
[Ted] OK.
I feel great. I feel like we did it.
[Alex] I'm sorry.
Until Ted lifts the cloche, I don't feel
100 about anything.
This is a choose-your-own-adventure,
and we have yet to turn the page.
[Kat] I was feeling absolutely golden.
And then they ran through everyone.
[Chris] Quite frankly, some of those other dishes were extremely
creative, so that's what I'm worried about.
[Kat] Now we're very concerned.
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Christopher, Chef Maneet, you've been chopped.
Judges?
Chef Christopher, Chef Maneet, it came down to pantry items.
The apple coming in from the pantry was just too much,
and it was disjointed. And so we had to chop you.
-I still love you, Chef. -Thank you.
[Maneet] Very, very, very disappointed, more so in myself.
But in my eyes, he'll always be a legend.
[Christopher] I've done a phenomenal job, Maneet's done a phenomenal job.
And you really can't be mad at that.
[Ted] Mentors and champs, here are the legend-making finale
entree baskets.
Open them up.
Oh, my.
[Ted] And you're looking at our old fragrant friend, durian.
[Kat] Smells pretty strong.
[Ted] You've also got Brussels sprouts on the stalk.
-All right. -[Ted] A whole duck.
Duck, duck, duck.
All right, we can do a million things with this.
That looks like cotton candy, right?
-[Ted] And a cotton candy cake. -[Kat] OK.
[smacking]
[Ted] Entrees are due in half an hour.
-Clock starts now. -[Tiffani] Legendary!
-[Marcus] Go, go, go, go, go, go! -Legendary!
I'm gonna break this down.
We're gonna get lots of duck fat.
Judges, we have $50,000 in prize money on the line here.
Half of it goes to the champ.
The other half goes to a charity of their choice.
It's a war zone in there. They're in this battle.
[thunk]
[Amanda] Also, you have this huge durian that you have to break open.
You have this big Brussels sprout stalk.
You have to get all the Brussels off of it.
You know, you have this big duck that you have to
break down. This is, like, legendary. -Yep.
-Yes. -Big items in the basket.
Totally.
[Tiffani] This entree round is really gonna tell us, like,
where the skill set and the ideas of the champions are.
By the way, Kat?
-Yeah? -We got this.
We got this. We see the durian.
We both realize we love Southeast Asian food
and cooking, and it's another way to weave our story
into this plate.
We just need to do what we do, and if we do what we do,
we're gonna be just fine.
[Kat] We are making a coffee and cinnamon spice duck with
a sweet potato and durian puree.
Brussels sprouts two ways, tossed in a fish sauce caramel.
[Tiffani] People don't love durian because of how it smells.
It smells like blue cheese, garbage feet, but it doesn't
taste like that. -You really like it, though?
I do, I love it.
Today I'm playing for No Us Without You.
They make sure that undocumented workers who are
experiencing food insecurity get fed.
-Coriander. -Yeah, coriander, black pepper.
Heading into the entree round, you got to come out swinging.
Punch 'em in the nose first, as she might say.
-[Alex] Start cooking the duck breast. -Yes, Chef.
[Hosea] We're making pan-seared duck breast with a cotton candy
glaze, roasted Brussels sprouts, durian puree,
and grilled radicchio.
While I start on the duck, Alex is starting on the durian.
-Taste this. -[Hosea] I just love working with Alex.
She's helping me keep focused, and this is more than
just winning.
As the Blues Brothers would say, we're on a mission from
God here, so Alex is definitely helping me keep my eye
on the prize.
[Alex] Figure out what to add to that.
I put some vinegar in it.
-Chef Sara. -Yes, ma'am.
What's the dish plan? What are you guys making?
We're gonna turn this mother out, Tiffani.
-That's what we're doing. -Amazing.
[Sara] I think that Alex and Hosea won the first round.
You can't let them get too far ahead, or they'll stay ahead.
-[Sara] Just glaze the duck when it comes out. -Yes.
We are going to make cotton candy lacquered duck breast,
Brussels sprouts two ways,
and a durian coconut demi-glaze. -Duck is going.
-[Scott] We're good. -[Sara] So we're gonna glaze these.
-Yes, chef. -[Ted] You've got 20 minutes, chefs.
-20 minutes. -[Chris] Heard that.
Down, coming behind, behind, behind, behind.
[Kat] I want to fry some of the Brussels sprouts,
but I also want to serve some of them fresh and shaved.
I love her idea of frying some of the Brussels sprouts,
and she's making a really amazing fish-sauce caramel with
the cotton candy cake. -Mix.
All right, I'm gonna put the fat in here.
Go for it.
[Hosea] I previously competed on the All-American Showdown.
Sara, she beat me just barely, and it made me feel like I had
just let myself down. I let my daughter down.
So I would feel full redemption if I won the title of "Legend."
[Sara] You know, Hosea and I have met here before.
I feel like, so far, I have shown that I am the legend.
Chef, you good with this thickness?
Yeah.
What I love about Brussels sprouts is the versatility.
So I'm gonna roast some of the Brussels sprouts and make
a shaved Brussels salad. -Beautiful.
-Oh, that's good. -[Scott] Money.
Five minutes to get it done, chefs.
[Kat] To go with the duck, Chris is making a spiced orange sauce.
That's just such a classic pairing.
Does it need, like, jam or something?
-Apricot jam? Grab it, grab it. -Ooh!
-That's a fantastic idea, Chef. -Thank you.
[Chris] And Kat totally steps up as the executive chef,
and she says, use apricot preserves.
Brilliant. Just totally brilliant.
-I think this is good, yeah. -Start slicing duck.
I know. I'm on it.
-Three minutes, chefs. Three minutes. -All right, let's go, guys!
[Sara] So we remove the duck. We start to lacquer the skin.
Look at that duck skin.
It's actually perfectly rendered -- mm!
[Amanda] You know it's gonna be good.
If I've ever cooked a better piece of duck,
I don't remember it.
That's your durian coconut cream?
-[Sara] Yes. -Perfect, perfect.
-One single minute on the clock. -[Tiffani] Gotta get plating!
Let's go, guys.
-[Chris] This duck is really nice. -You got this.
You gotta hustle, you gotta hustle.
Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on.
-From champs to legends. -[Ted] Get this done.
[Tiffani] Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on.
-[Ted] Ten...nine... -[Tiffani] Let's go, let's go!
...eight, seven, six...
five, four, three, two, one.
-Time's up. -Whoa!
-[Marcus] Good job, guys. -[Amanda] Whoa!
Legend.
That went so fast, I can't even recall what I did.
I wish we had another minute for plating.
I know. Me too.
[Alex] Oh, my God. The pressure's unbelievable.
It's like no other thing in the world.
It's like a giant pressure cooker times 20.
Yep.
[deep exhale]
Nicely plated, Chef.
Champs and mentors, in your entree basket, you got durian,
Brussels sprouts on the stalk, whole duck,
and cotton candy cake.
Chef Sara and Chef Scott, what have we got?
So you guys have cotton candy lacquered duck breast,
Brussels sprouts two ways, and a durian coconut demi-glaze.
Um, I find this really disappointing,
because I don't know if I'm gonna ever eat a better dish
on "Chopped."
This is the best dish I've ever had.
Not only is it beautifully presented, the duck is
beautifully, perfectly cooked, and the lacquer on the duck is
incredible, where it's, like, helping the crispiness of
the skin the crispiness of the skin as opposed to dampening it.
I just am blown away.
Sara, I've eaten your food multiple times now,
and your style is to connect these flavors and layer them
and then bring them back around again.
And you did that so well here, especially with the durian
demi-glace and then the Brussels sprouts two ways.
[Marcus] It's gorgeously roasted, it's a simple thing.
It's just stunning.
But my favorite part is the durian with the curry.
That umami funk, that's brilliant cooking.
We've all heard those songs when two megastars
makes a song, and it's horrible.
This band should stick together for a long time because
whatever you're doing, it's like,
it's good, it's really well done.
Chef Sara, Chef Scott, thank you.
OK, Chef Hosea and Chef Alex, please tell us about your dish.
We have pan-seared duck breast glazed with a little bit of
the cotton candy.
We have roasted Brussels sprouts, Some grilled radicchio
that was also cooked in the duck fat.
Underneath that is a durian puree.
[Ted] OK.
I just love watching you guys cook together.
The things that I love immediately is the durian,
that you didn't shy away from it, and that it has some acid
and has that nuttiness.
The cook on the duck is so perfect.
I love the incorporation of the herbs.
That's so you, Alex, and it's just gorgeous.
The sauce is extraordinary.
This is bitter on plate already, and you guys go
and get the radicchio.
So you're bringing in more bitter into the Brussels,
that's my favorite move.
If anything, I wanted even more acid to make
the dish lighter.
It gets very dense with that amount of durian puree and the
radicchio, but the duck is amazing, this dish is amazing.
Thank you, Chef.
Chef Hosea, Chef Alex, thank you.
Chef Kat, Chef Chris, what do we have?
Well, for you, we have a cinnamon-and-coffee-spiced
duck breast over a sweet potato and durian puree,
Brussels sprouts two ways, and then an apricot and orange
spice glaze.
Kat and Chris, that really bright, beautiful coconut,
sweet potato, durian puree, it's super smooth and silky
and really delicious. -Thanks. Thank you.
The sweet potato puree with the durian was really,
really smart.
And then I saw you, like, pour the duck fat right into
the blender, and I was like, all right, Queen,
that's the legendary move. Like, that's it.
-It's really, really good. -Thank you.
[Marcus] Such a well-composed dish.
If I would say one thing, the duck gets a little bit
overcooked on the end bits. -I hear you.
-[Amanda] You said the rub was coffee? -Coffee and cinnamon.
I would have loved to get more of that coffee,
because you have a lot of sweet.
I think that would have been a good bitter balance.
But this is a really successful dish.
I really love it.
Chef Kat, Chef Chris, thank you.
Thank you.
I'm not feeling great about our chances
of moving forward.
We did everything we needed to do.
It just might not have been as good as the other two dishes.
[Kat] I feel pretty good.
I think they really loved how much playfulness
we brought to the dish.
[Chris] We have a good chance of moving forward.
Whose dish is on the chopping block?
What?
Man.
Chef Kat, Chef Chris, you've been chopped.
Judges?
Chef Kat, Chef Chris, that dish was bananas good.
But the duck was slightly overcooked on the ends,
and it just needed a little less sugar.
And so we had to chop you.
I'm very proud of Kat.
Thank you.
And we can walk out of here feeling really good
about the food we cooked today.
Yeah, and you should.
-I mean, look at this competition. -Yeah.
[Kat] This has been really incredible.
To have you by my side, it's like, it gives me so much
strength and made me feel really brave.
I want to be the "Chopped" Legend.
I'm confident I can win this whole thing for Alex
and for my daughter Sophie.
I can taste the victory. It's right there.
I can win $25,000 for myself, $25,000 for charity.
The stakes are really high.
Chef Sara, Chef Hosea, final basket,
final ingredients.
Open them up.
Let's see here.
[Ted] And your desserts must include an orange embellished
chocolate egg. -An orange chocolate egg?
[Sara] I mean, whatever.
-Basil. -[Ted] Basil, raw licorice...
[Sara] All right.
[Ted] ...and haggis in a can.
I mean, it's not my favorite dessert ingredient.
[Ted] The critical 30-minute final round
starts now. -OK, let's go!
[judges shouting and cheering]
-We make pastry dough. -Show us who's a legend!
-Get two cups of flour. -Behind.
-And put it in a bowl. -[Ted] Judges, look where we are,
at the very end of the "Chopped" Legends finale.
How far we've come.
[Alex] I got the tart shells.
Normally, there's $10,000 stakes, and today, $50,000.
[Amanda] Yeah, and what you guys might not know, when Sara won
her last tournament, which was the All-American tournament,
Sara and Hosea went head-to-head.
-I didn't know that. -[Ted] This is a rematch.
-It's a grudge match. -It's legendary!
[Sara] I know he wants redemption, and I'm just not ready
to give it up.
If you want to win this, you have to crush
this dessert round. -How's that haggis taste?
Tastes like haggis, Chef.
[Sara] We're making haggis Paris-Brest whooped basil, bitter orange,
and a licorice chocolate glaze.
-Right behind. -[Sara] I delegate to Scott.
I need a basil whoop.
I need an orange and fennel syrup.
So the haggis is a little weird, and I'm thinking
the best place to put it is in the choux dough.
-Anything else? -I think we're good.
I got some haggis in my choux dough.
You got haggis. Oh, we're good.
[Marcus] This is one of the hardest desserts you can make, right?
But this is also the legendary ambition that we're looking
for, right? -Exactly.
This is $50,000.
This is about becoming the first "Chopped" Legend.
So we want to see ambition -- shoot for the stars.
[Scott] Good idea. Well done, Chef.
Well, this is gonna be like a grudge match, because Sara
is one that I ended up losing to previously.
So I want to mop the floor there.
-I like that, I like that. -That's how I'm feeling.
Clear the molds.
Fill the shells. Got it?
-[Hosea] Got it. -[Alex] Sorry to boss you around.
Oh, it's all right. You're a better pastry chef.
Chef Hosea, what are you making?
We're going to do some tarts, haggis tarts, for you.
-Haggis tarts. -Haggis tarts.
We're making a chocolate haggis and dried fruit tart with
a lemon basil sorbet.
[Alex] You got it. Keep going.
[Hosea] I'm making the dough for the tart shells.
She's getting straight away on the sorbet.
[Amanda] Right before our eyes, all of a sudden, there's an ice cream
base made, and it's churning already. -[Marcus] Yeah.
Boom, boom, boom. I got you.
How and when did that happen?
When you're talking about "Chopped" Legends,
that's what you're looking at.
Let's get those tarts in the oven.
-Hurry up. -[Ted] 20 minutes, chefs.
20 minutes.
[Scott] So Sara makes that big, beautiful pate a choux,
but there's not gonna be enough time to bake it.
-So she deep-fries it. -Frying it is genius.
-Mm-hmm. -Like, usually you pipe everything, but you bake it?
-Yes. -[Scott] That's why she's the boss.
So Sara tells me to make a basil cream.
She calls it a whoop. Basil whoop, Chef.
It needs sugar.
[Hosea] I need to get this tart crust in the oven baking immediately.
But it's taking me a little longer than I had hoped to get
this dough to the right texture.
-It's wet. -What?
-It's wet. -[Alex] We need more flour.
We try to roll it.
Finally, I just say, let me do it.
Move.
[Hosea] Alex to the rescue.
I'm leaning on her expertise right now.
I'm sorry. I'm just trying to fix this.
[Hosea] Behind, behind, behind.
[pounding]
[Ted] Alex looks worried.
[Hosea] I'm definitely feeling stressed, but we get 'em in
the oven and just hope that we have enough time
to finish this.
-Where's the licorice? -Has anyone seen our licorice?
Ow, I cut myself.
Give me a Band-Aid, I cut myself.
-Oh! -[Tiffani] Wait a minute, Alex cut herself.
-Alex cut herself. -[Amanda] She did not.
-[Ted] No way. -[Tiffani] Oh my god.
She stabbed herself with a knife.
Get her a Band-Aid, quick!
[Hosea] I am feeling the heat of this dessert.
[Alex] Give me a glove.
[Hosea] Alex cuts her hand and has to go to the medic.
And that just makes us lose even more time.
Ten minutes left to go, chefs.
Honestly, you know how sometimes a cut can
curtail a chef? It can also motivate her. -Yes, yes.
You know what? That's what legends do.
-Yes. -What you got there?
[Hosea] Fruit. Haggis.
Might even throw some of the licorice in there.
For the filling, I gather dried fruits and the orange slices
from the chocolate egg.
All right, how are those tart shells looking?
[Alex] They're getting there.
[Ted] Five minutes on the clock, chefs.
[Hosea] It's going quick.
[Sara] The pear's supposed to come out of the fryer.
Looks good, looks good.
[Sara] They're just beautiful and fluffy inside.
We got this, Chef. We got this.
Two-minute warning, chefs.
-[Marcus] Wow. -[Amanda] Holy wow.
[Hosea] I'm still feeling like we've got this, but it is definitely
getting close. It's getting a little hairy.
-[Alex] Fill it carefully. -[Hosea] I am.
[Ted] All right, get it done, chefs, you got this.
This is it. Let's go, guys.
[Ted] Here we go, chefs.
Final seconds of the final round.
[Amanda] Oh, my God. Oh, my God, oh my God.
[Ted] Ten, nine, eight, seven...
six, five, four...
three, two, one.
-Time's up. -Whoo!
Wow.
Legendary.
Mic drop.
[Scott] You have a history with Hosea,
and Alex is one of my best friends, -Yeah.
so there was a lot for all four of us
in different ways.
[Hosea] Well, we had a couple mishaps.
We were definitely pushing the clock with the pastry,
but all of the flavors we chose work absolutely
wonderful together. -Yeah.
-That is true. -Yeah, yeah.
Chef Sara and Chef Scott, Chef Hosea and Chef Alex,
in the "Chopped" Legends finale dessert basket, you received
an orange-embellished chocolate egg, basil, raw licorice,
and haggis in a can.
Chef Hosea and Chef Alex, take it away.
Haggis tart.
-[laughing] -Oh.
[Hosea] What else do I have to say?
So this is a chocolate haggis and dried fruit tart, chocolate
licorice ganache.
I'm probably forgetting something, too.
We made a lemon sorbet.
-[Hosea] Yeah. -That sorbet is beautiful.
Thank you.
[Marcus] Yeah, throwing fresh herbs on it gives body and texture
and flora that is incredible.
But the tart shell needs to be cooked more.
It's the only flaw in the plan of this tart.
Yeah, the haggis is there.
It's not the most delicious part on the whole thing,
but this section,
it's perfection. -Good job, Chef.
-Good job. -Truly, truly.
Thank you. Thank you all.
OK. Chef Sara, Chef Scott.
Today we have haggis Paris-Brest stuffed with
whooped basil, bitter orange, licorice, and a little
chocolate glaze.
[Tiffani] Sara, wow.
There's moments here that are just absolutely brilliant.
The tarragon on top with the fennel frond picks up that
anisette quality in a way that's surprising and playful.
I love it, but it needs more sugar.
[Marcus] The techniques, everything is there.
The haggis is hidden, it's in there.
But it just could have been a little sweeter.
But I have to commend you for the technique on
the pate a choux, on the Paris-Brest is really good.
[Ted] All right,
thank you all.
Judges, you have a huge responsibility choosing
the first "Chopped" Legend. -Wow.
[Marcus] Wow.
Wow.
When it comes to the first round, the food was incredible.
That dish that Hosea and Alex did.
Yeah, stuffed with rice and beef tongue.
-[Marcus] Beef tongue. -That dish blew me out of the water.
But I want a lot more of the fried shallots.
-[Amanda] Yeah. -Sara and Scott.
That rice was the star.
That beef tongue was incredible.
But the finish of sea salt over that would have killed it.
And then when it came to the entree round,
-Sara and Scott. -[Amanda] The durian curry.
[Marcus] The durian coconut curry.
-How good was that? -Unbelievable.
Hosea leaned into that durian in a way that was so bold.
And with the richness of that duck sauce, it worked.
So are you ready to break the news?
It's extremely difficult, but we know.
[Alex] I think it was a pretty even playing field.
We won the first round. They won the second round.
So honestly, I say it's anyone's game.
[Sara] I feel good, but you never really know.
I've cooked the food.
I put it on the plate, there's nothing else I can do,
now I just gotta wait for the review to come back.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
[quietly] Thank you.
Chef Hosea, Chef Alex, you've been chopped.
Judges?
[Marcus] Chef Hosea, Chef Alex, the way you started,
that cabbage roll with that beautiful rice,
absolutely legendary.
When it came to the entree round, the durian puree became
very dense, and going in to dessert,
that tart was just under-baked, therefore, we had to chop you.
A lesson that I teach my daughter is that you gotta try.
You gotta go try things that are hard.
You're not always gonna make it, but I know she's gonna be
proud of me, and I wanna make sure I congratulate you, Sara.
She's such a legend in my mind.
Well, you know, along those lines, Chef, Sara and I were
talking in the back.
And I would like to donate my $25,000 to you
and your family.
Thank you.
If I could help you and your daughter,
it means so much more to me. And this is you and me.
We've done it twice, standing right here next to
each other. -We have, yeah.
That's amazing.
-[everyone clapping] -Whoo!
[Hosea] I was not expecting what Sara did.
I'm blown away by her generosity.
And I'm walking out of here ready to give my daughter
the biggest hug and squeeze.
[cheering]
And that means, Chef Sara Bradley, under the mentorship
of Judge Scott Conant, you have earned the illustrious
and coveted title of the very first "Chopped" Legend.
-Congratulations. -Whoo!
[Amanda and Tiffani] Yay!
Legend! Legend!
[Sara] I came here to win.
I came here to prove that I am a "Chopped" Legend, and we won.
We did it. First Legends right here.
Boom. Legend.