Chefs, we're cooking for the dogs today.
[narrator] Anything is paws-ible in the Chopped kitchen.
[Chris] Such a good boy.
[narrator] When four dog-loving chefs...
You're so welcome.
[Narrator] ...build $10,000 dishes for our judges.
It's a dog-eat-dog battle to the end.
[narrator] And craft a designer treat
- for their furry friend. - That didn't even make it to the floor.
- [narrator] Bone appetit. - [Amanda] Don't look, James, it's too suspenseful.
[narrator] This is Chopped, Chef's Best Friend.
[dog barks]
Hopelessly devoted to cooking and their furry best buddies,
four soft-hearted chefs are here.
If you think I came here to lose,
you're barking up the wrong tree.
I do regional American food with style and flavor.
I would love to win this competition
for my friends, family, and my dog Charlie.
Want some chicken?
Charlie is a lab-boxer mix
and Charlie's palate is probably more sophisticated
than most people I know. Is that good enough for you?
So, I'm ready to win this competition.
I'm a scrappy Jersey girl.
I don't give up no matter what.
I just graduated culinary school
and this is a giant step for me.
Nothing I make is ever gonna be bland.
I love texture, flavor, spices.
Braciole for you and a braciole for me.
And I'm taking the title of Chopped Champion.
I'm ready to kick some butt. [laughs]
Hey, want a piece? That's a good boy.
I make elevated comfort food.
It's all about something that makes me feel
warm and fuzzy inside,
but is elevated to a new level.
We'll just mix it in a little bit. So I'm coming from
some of the best restaurants in the world.
I have Michelin star dining experience,
and I'll show these judges
that Scott Rackliff has arrived.
I'm feeling strong.
I'm ready to win some money.
I don't take no for an answer
and no one will outwork me.
Do you like how mommy cooks for you?
I'm here competing for my one-and-a-half-year-old
golden retriever, Elsa,
who is always here with me to keep me company.
Elsa is the queen of the dog park,
and I'm here to show that I'm the queen of the kitchen.
One for me and one for Elsa.
Elsa, this one's for you, baby.
- Hello, chefs. - Hey, Ted.
You are all members
of a lovable subset of society,
chefs who love their dogs.
- Yeah. - Yes.
[Ted] For our dog-loving chefs,
there will be three rounds,
and as an added twist
for this special competition,
you also will have to make a dog treat
- in each round. - Oh.
- Okay. - Which will be tasted by
a finicky four-legged guest judge.
- [laughter] - [Brandon] Oh, boy.
[playful music playing]
[laughter]
[indistinct chatter]
- Oh, my God. - [laughter]
- Oh, my God. - He's so fluffy.
- Oh, my God. - Are you ready to eat?
[laughter]
The treat should be something that our guest judge pup,
James, might enjoy
and it has to include at least one basket ingredient.
- All clear? - [all agreeing]
All right. Appetizer baskets...
let's see what you got.
Oh, my God.
[laughs] Okay.
All right.
- Bone marrow. - [Ted] Marrow bones.
I could probably just serve this to the dog, right? [laughs]
Something fresh.
[Ted] We've also got haricot verts, sardines.
[Brandon] That's gonna be a fun one.
Peanut butter.
[Ted] And peanut butter.
This is a very mish-mosh basket,
but I think we'll make something work. [laughs]
We're giving you 30 minutes to work.
Clock starts now.
[Chris] All right. Let's go.
- Let's do this. - [cheering]
- Come on, doggonit. - Oh.
I was wondering when the dog puns
- would begin. - All right. All right.
I need all y'all chefs to break a sweat, okay?
We're cooking for the dogs today.
- [laughs] - Chris and Amanda, you are joined
by another very special guest judge,
- the dazzling Sunny Anderson. - Hey, hey.
- [Chris] Yay. - Thanks for having me.
- Woof, woof, woof. - [Amanda laughs]
Judges, how are you feeling about being here
at this Chopped dog show?
-I'm so excited. I mean, how can you not? -Feeling great.
- James is with us today. - [Ted] Such a good boy.
We all love dogs. I have a dog I'm madly in love with.
This is Frankie, my one-year-old merle Frenchie.
What's that? What's that?
Super cute.
The guy has so much swag and charisma.
It's amazing. This is a fun day,
but it's not necessarily a fun day for the chefs.
Their brain has to be working in two separate ways
because they also have to make something for James.
I mean, this is extremely, extremely difficult.
The basket is definitely intimidating,
but I think I have an idea of what I can do with this.
I'm going to make a warm haricot verts and potato salad
with a bone marrow and peanut butter dressing
and some pan-seared sardines.
To make my potato salad, I cut my red potatoes
and I put them in salted boiling water.
I really wanna make sure that they're warm enough
so that when I put them in with my dressing
that they kind of warm it up and get everything to mix.
Behind you, coming down.
Brandon, what's going on over there?
- It looks like you're hustling. - I am trying.
I'm trying to hustle.
I've mastered new American,
but my passion is Latin-American food.
[Ted] All right. So, Brandon's frying four tortillas.
Looks like you might get a tostada.
[Brandon] I'm making a sardine tostada
with a bone marrow salsa macha,
and apple haricot verts salsa.
I've used canned sardines a handful of times.
Figuring out how to cook these fresh ones...
I'm not excited about it.
Obviously, we all love our pets
like they are family members.
Our family dog whose name is Bob Marley
gets cooked for every night.
If mom eats lamb, Bob eats lamb,
if it's chicken, then Bob gets chicken.
Do you love sardines?
Do you? Do you?
[laughing]
I'm sorry, we're having a moment.
I'm gonna sear them up in a saute pan,
I'm just trying to get the skin a little crispy.
So, when I see the sardines, I'm thinking about doing a toast to really
tone down that overwhelming fishy flavor.
So, I'm going to make a grilled sardine toast
with peanut butter and bone marrow vinaigrette.
To prepare my sardines, I'm going to coat them
in a little bit of olive oil,
orange and lemon zest,
and just simply grill them.
[Amanda] You need a very, very hot grill
or a very, very hot pan
because they're very tender, delicate, flaky flesh.
Judges, what do you think our other
special guest judge, James, is expecting
from these chefs today?
Well, he's looking a bowl cleaner,
you know what I'm saying?
Maybe have a doggie nap and think about
going back to the bowl for more.
- [laughs] - Right, James?
I grew up on the water, fishing, spearfishing,
and cooking what I would catch.
And I'm used to cooking with fish,
but a lot bigger fish.
I feel like I have to keep it simple
but the technique has to be there.
So, I'm making grilled sardines
over a spring arugula salad
with a bone marrow peanut butter vinaigrette.
For my vinaigrette, I'm adding bone marrow
and a scoop of peanut butter.
- [Chris] I love peanut butter. - My dogs love peanut butter.
- Of course. - Okay? Yeah. You put anything
with peanut butter and the dog is gonna chew it up.
Meaghan, what's going, girlfriend?
- Are you working on the dog treat first or... - I'm bugging.
- [Amanda] She's bugging.
- She said she's bugging. - She's bugging?
I would be, too.
[Amanda] I have to say that Lisa has so much going on.
I saw her coating the sardines with some flour.
[Lisa] The sardines, I definitely don't wanna start, you know,
butchering and filleting a fish right now.
Don't crowd each other. So, I'm thinking
just shallow fry would be amazing.
Is Lisa frying? Is Lisa gonna fry?
[Amanda] She's doing a little panfry.
- She wants panfry. - Okay, girl. Okay.
[Lisa] I'm thinking this bone marrow
and the peanut butter will actually work well together
as the base of my dressing for the potato salad.
[Brandon] So when I see the bone marrow and the peanut butter,
my mind goes straight to salsa macha.
It's an oily peanut-based salsa
and then just kinda work off that flavor profile
and build from there.
- Touchdown. - [Ted] Ten minutes to go, chefs.
[Scott] Bone marrow would be a great fatty component
to go into a vinaigrette.
Scott is taking the bone marrow
off the bone and has pulsed it with peanut butter,
- I love that idea. - Now, is that gonna be for us, or for James?
For us or... I will... I will try that.
- I'll be happy with that. - Yeah.
[Scott] So, with less than ten minutes left on the clock,
I look over at Meaghan
and she hasn't even started her sardines.
And she looked in the weeds.
She's in trouble.
Meaghan doesn't even have her sardines
on a grill or in a pan, she's not even cooking them,
the thing that I think that needs the most manipulation
and she hasn't paid any attention to them.
Does she know what time it is?
[Brandon] I look over at Meaghan and she doesn't seem like
she really knows what to do with those sardines.
If Meaghan doesn't get it together with these sardines,
she's definitely going home.
[dog barks]
[Meaghan] Even though I'm a spearfisher,
sardines, I'm not entirely used to cooking with.
All right. All right. All right.
I think I'm gonna keep it simple
and grill them on the grill.
[Lisa] I really wanna make James, my dog judge, happy,
so I'm gonna go the extra mile.
I am going to bake.
I am thinking just a little bit of dough
with, um, peanut butter.
With about five and half minutes to go,
it looks like Lisa is making a dog treat
that needs to be baked,
- but it's not in the oven yet. - [Amanda gasps]
Five minutes on the clock, Chefs.
I am cutting it really close.
[Brandon] For my doggie dish, I'm doing peanut butter deviled eggs.
I'm gonna take hard boiled eggs and mix the yolk
with a little bit of Greek yogurt,
- peanut butter. - Wow.
You guys, Brandon is taking the time
to make a deviled peanut butter egg for James.
- [Chris] I bet he's gonna like that. - [Amanda] Yeah.
[Scott] For our dog judge,
I'm going to make a sourdough toast
with a peanut butter and bone marrow vinaigrette,
haricot verts, and fresh apples.
[Meaghan] So, I'm starting on my doggie treat
and I'm gonna fillet one of the sardines,
I'm gonna stuff it in a nice piece of bacon
and roll it up.
Two minutes to go, Chefs.
Brandon hasn't started plating anything yet
and he just looks like he's just got
- a lot going on. - Coming out.
I mean, listen, I'm happy James is gonna get a treat,
but I want treats, too. Let's go, Brandon.
[Amanda] Brandon, there's no more time, you gotta finish.
[Ted] What is Brandon doing?
[Sunny] I have no idea what Brandon is doing,
but he is not on his station plating right now,
which is what he needs to be doing.
[Ted] Chefs, this round ends in ten, nine,
eight, seven, six, five, four,
three, two, one,
time's up.
You think you know what you're gonna do in Chopped
and then you're here doing it and it's like a whole,
whole another animal. It's like the busiest kitchen
you've ever worked and the busiest service
you've ever worked, it's insane.
I'm just happy I got everything on the plates.
I want this so bad. Just getting here was like
a dream I couldn't even imagine.
When you watch at home, it's the easiest thing
in the world, but conceptualizing,
making sure everything's there, definitely
has a lot of pressure to it, so.
[tense music playing]
Chefs, you have arrived at the Chopping Block.
We worked you like dogs in that first round
featuring a basket of marrow bones,
haricot verts, sardines, and peanut butter.
So, do you think you can impress Amanda,
Sunny, Chris, and James?
Chef Brandon, please tell us what you made.
So, I made for you a sardine tostada
with a bone marrow salsa macha,
and a haricot verts and apple salsa.
I have to be honest with you. I was a little worried about
everything piled on to your tostada.
One of the hardest things to do is get that rigid fry
that holds up after the first bite,
as you can see, holding up,
and I got this salty sardine thing.
Your cheese is the perfect amount and salty.
I'm guessing the bone marrow and the peanut butter
- were in the salsa macha. - Correct, yes.
[Chris] Because I didn't get a lot of that salt.
So, I'm not getting a lot of those two ingredients,
which is kind of a big deal,
but if I was sitting at your restaurant and just had this dish,
I'd be... I'd be quite happy with it.
I think the sardines are great.
This is super creative. It's really fresh and bright,
- and I think it's really good. - Thank you.
And what have you made for our fourth judge, James?
[Brandon] I made a peanut butter deviled egg
with crispy pancetta.
Hey, buddy. I got something for you.
- [Amanda] Oh, oh, wow. - [laughter]
- [Sunny] Okay. - [Ted] Well.
[Sunny] Okay. Tell us how you really feel, James.
- Five seconds. Gone. - [Brandon] I'm honored.
It's very creative. Dogs loves eggs.
Dogs loves peanut butter. So, you hit all the points.
Next up, Chef Meaghan.
Please tell us what you've made.
Today, I made for you, guys, grilled sardines
over a spring arugula salad
with a bone marrow peanut butter vinaigrette.
Hey, buddy. I got you. Look, look. Here you go.
[Meaghan] For James, I made a bacon-wrapped sardine roll.
[Ted] So he digs sardines.
That's cool.
-Only one? James wants to know. -[laughter]
[Meaghan] I know [indistinct]
[Ted] James needs another taste.
- [Amanda laughs] - James, paws.
- Oh. - [laughter]
That's for me. That's for the human, okay?
I'm really, really, delightfully surprised
by this vinaigrette.
The sardine for me is a little dry,
it's a little underseasoned.
But I absolutely love this vinaigrette.
- [Sunny] Doggonit. - Oh, my God.
How many of this do you have left?
I got several. I came to play.
I agree with you with the salad.
Except for the peanut butter.
It's kind of hidden.
I do think it makes sense
to mix bone marrow and peanut butter,
but I wanted to taste one or the other
a little bit more,
just a little more representation
of the actual basket ingredients
would've taken this up a level.
[Ted] Chef Lisa, tell us what you made.
So I made for you a warm haricots verts and potato salad
with a peanut butter and marrow dressing,
and a pan-seared Mediterranean sardine.
[Chris] I think everything on the plate is well-cooked,
I think the sardine is well-cooked, the haricots verts,
the potatoes are cooked just perfectly,
but it's flat.
The bone marrow is completely lost on me.
And the peanut butter just kind of comes
and smacks you in the face.
But the potatoes are delicious.
You know, I think you needed acid in here.
Anytime you have bone marrow, you need something
to, you know, counteract
that heavy, fatty, fatty, fattiness.
On the sardines, they're cooked well,
they just need more seasoning.
So let's see what our fourth judge has to say.
Hey, buddy. Hey, buddy. Got you something.
[Amanda] I think those look like professionally-made dog biscuits.
[Lisa] Thank you.
I made it with peanut butter,
a little bit of flour, and an egg to bind it.
It looks like he likes it.
[Ted] He's going over to thank her.
I love you. You're so welcome, buddy.
- He knows who cooked it. - [Amanda] I know.
- [Ted] That's so crazy. - [Amanda laughs]
[Ted] He looks happy, and you got a clean plate.
Finally, Chef Scott, please tell us about your dish.
So what I made for you today is a grilled sardine toast
with a peanut butter and bone marrow vinaigrette.
I made James a toast with peanut butter
and bone marrow vinaigrette, and some fresh vegetables.
The bite that you made for James seems the closest
in terms of its relationship
to what you made for the judges.
So I'm detecting a lot of orange in here,
which is a surprising flavor. I like it.
The sardines are cooked really well,
I like the way you prepared them.
I want a little more of something,
even with the vinaigrette, something with a little bit of pizazz.
- Okay. - I would have loved just the platform
of the toast to be more exciting,
more crunchy.
I think it's great. I think... I love the sardines.
Your plate, I don't think there's any issue
with execution of the ingredients,
other than the bread.
Okay. Please give James and his colleagues
a chance to mull over this decision.
- Thank you, chefs. - The one thing that's worrying me is
maybe I didn't put enough salsa on the tostada.
I know there was a lot of flavor packed in there,
the peanut butter and the marrow.
Hopefully, that came through enough.
I'm kind of just rethinking what my dish
should have been and could have been
if I just toasted that bread a little longer,
if I had just put a little more of that sauce on that.
Remember, no matter what happens now,
your dog will still love you.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
[dramatic music playing]
[Ted] Chef Lisa, you've been chopped. Judges?
Chef Lisa, this dog lovers competition is unprecedented.
All the ingredients were executed well,
but it was just flat, it needed salt,
it needed acid, and it had too much fat.
And so we have to chop you.
Thank you guys for the opportunity,
and I'll lick my tears
- when I get outside. - [laughter]
Come here, buddy.
- Bye. - [Amanda] Aww.
[Lisa] My competition was fierce, I have to say.
They were all really, really talented chefs.
I wish I went further, but it is what it is.
Chef Brandon, Chef Meaghan, Chef Scott, good luck.
I heard a rumor this basket is tough.
Don't you mean "ruff"?
[laughter]
You're on fire.
[dramatic music playing]
[Ted] Let's see what you've got.
- Ooh. - [Brandon laughs]
[Ted] And what do you know? You've got
spaghetti and meatballs.
- Ooh. - [Ted] You also have chayote squash.
That's what I'm talking about. [laughs]
I don't know what that is. [laughs]
[Ted] New York strip steaks.
That is nice.
Hell yeah.
Wait, what is this?
[Ted] And doggie beer.
Doggie beer?
I kinda just wanna drink one just out of curiosity.
Forty minutes to make an entree dish,
plus, a designer dog treat.
- Clock starts now. - Here we go.
- [Amanda] Come on, guys. - Do it.
[Amanda] It's dog-eat-dog in there.
[Sunny] It is dog-eat-dog in here.
- [laughter] - [Brandon] Yeah.
- Let's start with that. - Judges, the faux beer
in this basket is made for dogs,
but it's perfectly safe for humans to taste it, too.
- Not bad. - It's actually not beer at all,
it's just kind of a fun little play on the word.
It's really just a bone broth.
So it's like if you crack yourself a cold beer,
- you do one for the dog as well? - That's right.
- Yes, exactly. Exactly. - [laughs]
So Meaghan, does your dog eat this good
when you cook at home? [laughs]
- My dog eats better than I do. - [laughs]
I'm going to make a grilled New York strip steak
with an ancho chile salsa roja
and chayote slaw.
Oh, yeah. With this big New York strip steak,
my mind is thinking Argentinian kind of grill,
and I get them going right away.
What am I doing? What am I doing?
The challenge here is, this whole basket
is devoid of flavor in a lot of ways...
- [Sunny] Yes. - ...because it's "dog-friendly".
What do you think of the spaghetti and meatball?
A little weird, but I have a little idea for that.
Like, the meatballs have no garlic, no onions.
It's just basically meat, egg, breadcrumbs.
James doesn't like onions and garlic in his meatballs.
No. These chefs are gonna really have to utilize
the pantry for us.
Loving the doggie beer here.
- Need some real beer. - [chuckles]
[Meaghan] So the basket is tough,
but I feel like I can put things together.
So I'm making a grilled New York strip steak
over a chayote puree
with a dog beer reduction sauce.
But I'm really struggling to figure out what to do
with the spaghetti and meatballs.
I decided to use the tomato sauce in my sauce.
It's not as scary as the last round in my opinion, but...
I'm scary, though.
[Scott] When I see that New York strip,
my mind goes straight to steak and potatoes.
For my entree, I'm going to make a New York strip
with roasted purple potatoes,
pickled chayote squash,
and a meatball and doggie beer jus.
I'm gonna make a sauce
out of some of the meatballs
and the doggie beer.
Coming up on 23 minutes, chefs.
I really love the direction
that Brandon's going in
with this kind of Mexican,
he's gonna do like a salsa.
He's doing a lot of stuff,
and I like it.
Really getting tripped up over the spaghetti meatballs,
so I figured I can just take some of that tomato sauce,
and maybe work that into my salsa roja
with the doggie beer. As I'm making my dish,
I realize it's not big enough for an entree.
I need to add a little more substance in here.
So I chop up some sweet potato from the pantry,
and I throw it in my water to boil.
Chayote is a squash, it kind of tastes
somewhere between a very mild apple
- and cucumber, maybe? - [Amanda] Yeah.
Sometimes I would add it to sauces.
So do you think that perhaps Meaghan
has not worked with chayote?
[Chris] I wouldn't boil that.
So I'm boiling my chayote squash
to make a puree.
[blender whirs]
[Amanda] How do you like your steak?
- Medium rare, medium? - [Ted] His answer is yes.
Or medium well? Okay.
I think it's medium well.
[Scott] For the New York strip steak,
I'm going to grill it.
My dog MJ would love it.
So with the chayote squash,
I'm gonna pickle them.
It'll bring a nice acidic bite.
But I think my biggest competition
now is Brandon.
He seems to be very well-versed
and truly just understands food.
It's exciting this round, isn't it?
[Chris] He's wagging his tail.
Yeah. Steak, meatballs.
Five minutes on the clock, chefs.
Five minutes.
Meaghan, you good with five minutes to go?
Uh, we'll find out. [laughs]
Let's go, let's go, let's go. Pick it up, then.
[Meaghan] For my doggie dish, I'm making a steak
peanut butter burrito.
Giuseppe would be ecstatic with this.
- Brandon, how about you? - I'm good to go.
- [Chris] You're good to go? - Yeah.
I like that confidence.
All right. Let's go.
For James, I'm utilizing
not only the doggie beer, but also the meatballs.
Fish sauce because the dogs love the funk.
I'm crumbling them up and making that
into a fried rice.
I hope you're tasting everything.
Even the dog food. [laughs]
[dog whimpers]
[Sunny] What? What's that? Okay.
Well, so James says what he's looking forward to
is anything in that bowl, just anything.
[Amanda] Okay. Anything at all?
Scott, how you looking?
- I'm looking good. - You got a $10,000 dish
for both us and James?
- Yes, sir. - All right.
[Scott] For our dog judge, James,
I'm making a meatball slider.
[Chris] You guys gotta move.
You really seriously have to move, chefs.
One minute, forty seconds.
[Chris] Amanda, Meaghan's having a really hard time
slicing her steak because it's so undercooked.
[Amanda] James is stressed out.
- You're stressing James out. - What is Meaghan doing?
Where is she going? Where is Meaghan going?
- [Amanda] Meaghan, you have 30 seconds. - Meaghan, what are you doing?
[Amanda] Come back to your table.
[Ted] Chefs, there is very little
time left on that clock.
-Ten... nine... -[Amanda] Come on. Get it on the plate.
- [Ted] ...eight, seven... - [Amanda] Come on, guys.
- [Ted] ...six, five... - [Chris] Let's go, chefs.
- [Ted] ...four... three... - [Amanda] Let's go.
- [Ted] ...two... one. - [Amanda] Whoo.
[Ted] Time's up.
[cheering]
[Sunny] Wow.
[Brandon] I got everything on the plate again.
Cooking under that time constraint just is
really difficult. I think I nailed it,
but it was definitely a whirlwind. [laughs]
[Meaghan] I'm sweating. [laughs]
What's making me nervous is it looks sloppy.
It's not what I wanted.
Hopefully, it tastes really good.
We'll see.
[dog barks]
[tense music playing]
Chefs, in the second round,
we asked you to create main dishes
using spaghetti and meatballs,
chayote squash,
New York strip steaks,
and doggie beer,
and also to throw in a treat for the dog.
Chef Scott, what do we have?
[Scott] A grilled New York strip
with roasted purple potatoes,
pickled chayote squash.
[Ted] Well, James certainly likes the aromas.
So for James, I made a meatball slider,
I grilled the meatballs,
and then gave him a little vegetables
to go along with it, he got some tomato
and arugula on a slider bun.
- [Amanda] Hmm. - [Ted] Dinner is served.
- [Chris] Oh. Geez. - [Ted] Oh. He's pretty excited
about that.
[Sunny] I love what you did with the chayote.
It's crisp. Just for eating purposes,
I think I might have wanted it a little bit thicker,
just so I could get it on the fork easier.
It goes well, obviously,
with the potatoes and your steak.
Thank you.
I like the sauce that you made.
You know, you were given very, very plain,
sort of bland spaghetti and meatballs
because it's dog-friendly.
And I think you were able to kind of really build
a sauce that has some real flavor here,
and it complements both the steak
and the potatoes really, really well,
so great job there.
The steak is cooked nicely.
For me, this is a personal thing probably,
but I would have liked to have seen a harder sear,
and just more salt and pepper.
[Amanda] Again, really straightforward.
Obviously, this is your style.
So I see what you have here, and it's good.
I wanna up the creativity just a notch.
Turn it up a little bit.
[Ted] Chef Scott, thank you.
Thank you.
Next up, Chef Meaghan.
Today, I made for you guys
a grilled strip steak
over a chayote
and roasted pepper puree,
topped with a dog beer reduction sauce.
It's missing something acidic,
anything acidic.
But I think the salt that its missing
is in your drizzle that you put
over the top of the steak.
It is perfectly seasoned, I like that.
Thank you, Chef.
I like a clean presentation,
but you... You'll hear this more in the future,
you don't need something like this,
it's not necessary.
Your steak, it definitely needed more time,
more searing, more rendering.
But the sauce is really powerful and delicious.
I mean, that, to me,
is the most delicious thing on the plate.
Thank you, Chef.
The star of the show for sure
is the sauce that you made,
which has a really good salt
and there's enough of it,
so it's coating each piece of the steak.
So the steak is a really delicious bite.
There's really delicious bites to be had here,
but I don't know that it's a completely
- delicious dish. - Thank you, Chef.
So, Chef Meaghan, what have you made
- for our friend, James? - [Meaghan] For James,
I made a steak and peanut butter burrito.
- Hey, buddy. - Steak and peanut butter.
[Ted] It's your favorite host.
It didn't even make it to the floor.
[laughter]
You almost lost a hand there.
That dog treat is very creative,
obviously hitting all cylinders
with steak and peanut butter.
Chef Meaghan, thank you.
Finally, Chef Brandon.
So for this round, I made for you
a grilled New York strip
with an ancho-sweet potato puree
and a chayote slaw.
[dramatic music playing]
As soon as this arrived to my face,
I was excited because it's pretty,
and I love red onions.
I'll just touch on one thing.
I love the puree,
the doggie beer is delicious.
I like red onions.
- Uh-oh. Uh-oh. - No, I like red onions.
I just think there's too many of them here.
I think it really overpowers the chayote.
[Brandon cackling]
[Chris] For me, the chayote is so delicate
but I just think the red onions overtake it.
And the steak's a little undercooked.
The presentation is just stunning, you know.
You get the plate and it's just warm.
It has the sort of south-western feel
because of that terracotta color
and then you have the chayote.
All right. It's time for a very important customer
to get served.
So for James, I prepared
a pork and apple fried rice.
So I took the meatballs and I crumbled them up.
[Ted] Hey, buddy. Getting out of here.
Getting out of here quick.
Well, it looks as if James was pleased.
- [laughs] - [Ted] Yes.
There's two grains of rice left, James.
Yeah [laugh].
[Ted] Okay. Chef Brandon, thank you.
- Thank you. - [mellow music playing]
As far as going down to the chopping block,
I think I have a big chance of going home
but then again everyone had their flaws
so it really is kind of up in the air.
[upbeat music playing]
[dog barking]
[suspenseful music playing]
Which two chefs are moving on to the dessert round
and whose dish is on the chopping block?
[suspenseful music playing]
[Ted] Chef Meaghan, you've been chopped.
Judges?
Meaghan, we all loved
the spirit and the fire,
determination you come in here with.
The chayote sauce was just missing
some seasoning and your steak
was slightly undercooked
and needed more seasoning
and so we had to chop you.
- Thank you, guys. - [Sunny] Thank you.
It's been an honor, seriously.
Thank you.
[dramatic music playing]
[Meaghan] Even though I lost, I definitely accomplished
what I came here to do.
My dogs know their mom is a fighter.
They know I'm gonna do everything I can
to make their lives better and better
no matter what.
Chef Scott, Chef Brandon,
are your dogs, MJ and Charlie,
cheering you on from home?
Charlie's my boy. He's always got my back.
MJ's in my corner.
The dessert basket is the last one left
to conquer.
[suspenseful music playing]
Check it out.
[laughs]
All right.
[Ted] And you are looking at pig ears.
We got the really odd one.
All right.
[Ted] Bananas.
Bananas are easy enough.
[Ted] Quail eggs.
Small, dainty, kind of a pain to work with.
[Ted] And a puppy cappuccino.
I'm thinking this is one hell of a basket here.
Those pig ears are definitely a curveball.
Oh, and don't forget to make a little treat
for our doggy judge, James.
- Forty minutes to cook. - [upbeat music playing]
Clock starts now.
All right. Here we go.
- Come on, guys. - Let's do it, man.
- [Brandon] Come on. - [Chris] Think, James.
- Who's gonna take it? - It's a dog-eat-dog
- battle to the end. - [laughing]
- Do you have baking powder? - Yes.
- Mind if I snag a little? - Here.
Judges, the coffee shop surprise in this basket
epitomizes the idea of the pampered pet.
You're gonna get yourself a cappuccino,
Fido ought to get a little something special too, right?
- Why not? - But let's be clear,
were not serving coffee to dogs.
Oh, no. Come on. Yeah, they can't handle the caffeine.
[Amanda] It's just heavy cream whipped.
I like the basket, I just...
It's gonna be a time kinda thing,
if I can make it in time.
I've got the idea to make a cupcake.
So for my dish, I'm going to make
a peanut butter and banana cupcake,
pig ear caramel sauce, and flambe banana.
These quail eggs are a pain
to crack right now.
I know my recipe takes two regulars.
I'm trying to figure out how many
quail eggs that equals.
Brandon, what are you baking there?
[Brandon] I'm making some regular cakes
and some pupcake.
- [Chris] Pupcake? - [Sunny] Okay. Okay.
[Brandon] For my doggy dish, I'm going to do
a peanut butter and banana pupcake.
Brandon's really baking.
He's baking something for James
and then he's baking something for us.
[Brandon] Aha. Have you seen the non-stick cook spray?
Uh, yeah, over by the oil.
So I think the pig ears are the biggest
- challenge here, honestly. - [Chris] Right.
[Amanda] I like pig ears fried
- and crispy. - [Sunny] Yeah.
- With salt and lime and spice. - [Chris] Limes.
[Chris] A little cinnamon sugar on those bad boys
- should be okay, I think. - It's a dessert I'll take it.
[Amanda] Pig ear doughnut?
[Scott] I'm feeling pretty confident,
and I'm thinking everybody loves a doughnut.
They're super personal. You can incorporate
lots of different flavor profiles.
So for my dessert, I'm gonna make
a pig ear doughnut with banana cream.
Chef Scott, what are you making?
I'm working on some pig ear doughnuts.
- Oh. - Great, okay.
- Pig ear doughnuts. - Pig ear doughnuts.
- [Sunny] Say it again, Scott. - [Amanda] Wow.
Pig ear doughnuts.
Woo-ho-ho.
[upbeat music playing]
[Amanda] Chef Scott has sugared and cooked down
the pig ear with some bourbon.
- Mixed it into the batter. - Yes.
[Amanda] I mean I think some kind of caramel
also goes great with bananas.
- [Sunny] Say it louder. - Hello...
Caramel
or Carmel.
[laughs]
I'm thinking I can melt down this puppy cappuccino
and just use that cream as the cream
in my caramel sauce.
I think his concern
is if I'm gonna really taste
the pig ear in caramel
- that Brandon made. - [Chris] Mmm-hmm.
[upbeat music playing]
Those doughnuts look good.
[Sunny] He's got to coat those in sugar or something.
They can't just come out on fire.
And he's got to do it, like, now.
And Scott has a blender full of bananas.
So for the bananas and the puppy cappuccino,
I am making a banana cream,
you know, just try and make a nice sauce
to drag that doughnut through
before you stuff it down your face.
[Amanda] I love that Brandon is bruleeing
- the bananas because... - [Sunny] Yes, same here.
...they brulee so well and it's such a delicious way
- to do them. - It's getting pretty crazy
in the kitchen and I'm just kind of
all over the place at this point.
Hoo.
[Chris] There's only two minutes and thirty seconds left.
Can you believe it, James? James doesn't want...
Brandon, you got to move, man. 2:30 left.
[Chris] James can't bear to look.
James can't bear to look,
he's hiding.
[Sunny] Do you smell fear in these chefs?
Do you smell it? Yeah? I do, too.
[Chris] I think he winked yes.
[Scott] So for our dog judge, James,
I put a little sugar on the banana
and put it on the grill
then I... I'm going to add crispy pig ears.
[suspenseful music playing]
So Brandon has pulled out the pupcake,
James looks good to go.
But us humans, our human cupcakes,
I don't think he can get them out of the muffin tins.
So this is the worst-case scenario,
these cupcakes are stuck.
We're hitting the one-minute mark
and Brandon is having a world
of trouble over there.
Don't look, James, don't look.
It's too suspenseful.
Is he gonna even be able to get them
out of the muffin tins?
[dog barking]
[upbeat music playing]
You have under a minute to get that on the plate.
[Brandon] And sure enough these cupcakes are stuck.
Okay. We're doing this, we're switching up the plan.
So I just kind of saw off the crisp top
of the cupcakes with my knife,
this was not my plan at all
but I've gotta get something on the plate.
[Chris] Come on, Brandon, you can do this.
- You got this. - [Amanda] Is Scott finishing up?
[Sunny] There you go, there you go, Brandon,
that's what I'm talking about.
- [Chris] Twenty seconds. - Oh, you guys got this.
- Finish up. Come on, guys. - [Ted] All four ingredients.
[Amanda] These desserts are...
[Chris] Turn this up, Scott, let's go.
$10,000.
All right, chefs, final seconds
of the final round.
Ten, nine...
eight, seven...
six, five...
- four, three... - [cheering]
...two, one.
- Time's up. - [Sunny cheering]
Wow,
talk about having a dog in the race.
[Brandon] That small round was absolutely insane.
My adrenaline is popping to the roof.
I'm sweating up a storm.
It was down to the very end.
[Scott] Feeling great. I made some delicious doughnuts
with a delicious banana cream.
This is absolutely a $10,000 dessert.
[suspenseful music playing]
Chef Scott and Chef Brandon,
in your final basket, you got pig ears,
banana, quail eggs,
and a puppy cappuccino.
Chef Scott, what do we have?
For dessert, I made you a pig ear doughnut
with a banana cream.
[Amanda] Fork and knife with a doughnut, Sunny?
[Sunny] Oh, I'm sorry. I was trying
to be like you, Amanda.
I thought I'd have a little bit of etiquette.
First of all, great presentation.
I'm a sucker for doughnuts
and I think they are delicious
but I do think they're a little dense
and I so think they could be sweeter.
[Amanda] I think in the doughnut batter,
- more sugar. - Yeah.
On the outside of the doughnut batter,
more sugar. And I saw you
making that batter with the pig's ear
and I'm getting it here and there,
but I almost want more of that too, you know.
I can definitely taste the smoothness
that that puppy cappuccino brings into the game.
Makes you wanna go back for more.
- Thank you. - [Ted] All right. Well, now,
let's see what James thinks about it.
So it is a grilled banana
and then crispy pig ear.
Who wants a brulee banana with crispy pig ears?
[laughter]
I bet you do.
I think it was a really creative
use of your basket items,
especially the pig ear,
and James is going off looking for more.
[laughter]
[Ted] Chef Scott, thank you.
Chef Brandon, what do we have?
For dessert, I have prepared for you
some peanut butter
and banana cupcake tops
with a pig ear caramel.
The caramel, which is delicious,
I would never in my million years
ever know that there was pig ears
or the puppy cappuccino in there. It... It's just...
They don't come through.
But the muffin tops that you gave us
they were absolutely delicious, moist, light.
I like that you bruleed the banana.
A lot of really smart choices.
Thank you.
I think that cake that you made
is really lovely.
But flavor-wise, a little salt
or a little meatiness would really work in here.
Kinda gave you that with the pig ear,
I'm just not getting that.
Pig candy, deliciousness
that we love so much.
I think the way you managed to flip this
into something that was presentable,
after you couldn't get it out of your actual tin,
is admirable.
But I find the caramel sauce
slightly burned.
All right. Serving up the dog.
[Brandon] For James, I made a pup cake.
A different batter, this one is just egg,
peanut butter, and banana.
Oh, he's...
It barely even made it to the floor.
I think it's very similar what you made us,
but you definitely tailored it to James.
I think it's very smart and he clearly agrees with me.
Well, that may have been the most unusual
three rounds in the history of Chopped.
Now just a little bit more waiting.
Thank you, chefs.
Well, judges, you can still tell
both those chefs really want this win.
Brandon really introduced himself
right out of the gate with the appetizer,
with the tostada.
He gave us texture.
But, you know, the one thing though
is the salsa macha didn't even get...
That had the bone marrow and the peanut butter,
it was kind of hard to detect those ingredients.
Scott really came out of the gate
very simple with his toast.
[Sunny] I loved his sardines the most.
To fillet it, take the skin off.
[Chris] But he could have used half the amount
of bread or twice the amount of topping.
- [Sunny] Yeah. - But Scott made
a really good entree.
He probably cooked his steak
the best of the entire round.
The pickled chayote, which he had the best usage
of the chayote in the round as well.
And I think for Brandon, we got a big-bowled entree,
colorful, bright,
you know, that chayote salad
and it was crispy and pickley and oniony.
I loved it.
[Chris] That puree, too. Which was...
[Sunny] Yeah. That puree was delicious.
But Brandon's steak was very rare on my plate.
- [mellow music playing] - I think I know who I want.
Yeah. I have a clear winner in mind personally.
- James. - [laughter]
He is the winner today, you know?
He really is.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Brandon] I feel like me and Scott have been pretty neck and neck.
What it all boils down to is I think that Scott
maybe played a little too safe.
I wasn't afraid to take risks.
I think at the end of the day,
my dessert was a strong finish.
There were more flaws in his dessert.
I think that's what's really gonna seal
the deal for me and take home this championship.
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
[tense music playing]
Chef Scott, you've been chopped.
Judges?
Chef Scott, this was very close.
In the first round, we really enjoyed your toast.
But we felt the toast wasn't toasty enough.
In the entree round, we all just felt
that steak needed that hard sear
and a lot more seasoning on it.
And so we had to chop you,
but we still appreciate you being here.
- Thank you. - Thank you, Chef.
Good luck to you, take care.
You know, obviously a little disappointed
but I had a great time. No regrets, you know.
Just gonna make sure I make my food better.
[Ted] And that means Brandon Campney,
you are the Chopped Champion.
For being best in show
in this very special competition,
you've won $10,000.
How do you think Charlie will react?
Oh, Charlie's gonna be so excited.
Oh, I'm so excited to share this with him.
I'm like flipping out.
I'm like, can I flip out yet?
- Like... - Yeah. Flip out.
- Yeah. - Wow.
- You're top dog. - I'm Chopped Champion.
- Aww. - Thank you, James.
I just can't wait to brag to all my chef friends
that I won Chopped, honestly.
I'm so excited about this.
Woo-hoo,
I did it.