[man] Barbeque is almost embedded in your soul.
[woman] I love the heat, the fire, the intensity.
There's nothing that we love
more than putting meat up against the flame.
[man] Strike that match
and watch the competition burn.
[woman] I know how to manipulate fire.
Feeling the heat.
[Tiffani] These aren't your grandpa's grillers.
- We expect more. - Woo, sweaty.
[Eduardo] If there isn't fire leaping off these plates,
I'm gonna be very disappointed.
Give me meat, give me fire, that's all I really need.
[woman] I'm the new face of fire.
Yeah, I'm just a high school math teacher.
I'm missing class right now.
This is like some cooking.
But sometimes when you play with fire...
You can get burned.
[Justin] Keep working hard for everything.
$25,000.
I need you to cook like you mean it.
[man] Yeah. No big deal.
He just looks confused.
I can't breathe right now.
Oh, God.
Now, I don't know what the hell to do.
[Kimberly] This tournament is about to get wild.
- You're killing me. - You sound like my mom.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
[whispering] That's fire. Bring it.
Hey, there's no stopping me.
I'm the chef and owner of The Chef JRob Experience
in Atlanta, Georgia.
I'm quick, young, and I'm on fire.
And I'll bring a Cajun kick to the Chopped kitchen.
Oh, this is so sexy.
Grandma, I want you to watch your grandbaby going to work.
Your grandbaby [indistinct] go to work.
[Larissa] I was raised in the Amazon.
We lived off the land and whatever we fished
or hunted that day, that's what we ate.
Of course, I can grill.
And I specialize in wild meats,
as well as farm to table dining.
But there's always an Amazonian flare to my food.
Yeah, I just love playing with fire,
so bring it on.
[Kimberly] I'm New York City's preeminent meat maven.
[singer] ♪ How bad [indistinct] ♪
♪ Can you feel it In your veins ♪
[Kimberly] I love fire.
I love cooking with fire, I love charring things.
Perfectly grilled, everything slaw.
I like big steaks on big grills.
I was raised on food stamps,
and now I put my stamp on the food.
[singer] ♪ Welcome to the main event ♪
[Joseph] You think you know Tex-Mex barbeque,
but you have no idea.
Only a real grill master
will dare to take on wilds game.
You gotta be willing to take chances,
you gotta be able to leap without the net.
Remember this face,
this is the new face of grilling.
Let's see if I can get through
this encyclopedia of a line.
It's long.
So, I think with this competition playing with fire,
we're witnessing the new young faces
of the grill world. Pulling from the past
and pushing those ideas into the present.
All by way of the grill
and I expect to feel those flames in every dish.
- Lots of pressure. - Its four rounds
to even get into the finale.
[Ted] Hello, Chefs. We are elated to welcome
four rising stars here for the first battle
of our playing with fire tournament.
- Are you happy to be here? - Lets rock and roll.
- So excited. - Let's go. Let's do it.
[Ted] Excellent. All of the baskets
for your competition will feature wild game of meat.
I'm as wild as they get.
The winner will come back for this tournament's finale
to compete for the $25, 000 prize
and the illustrious tittle of Chopped Grand Champion.
- Hell, yeah. - Yeah, show me that money.
[suspenseful music playing]
Check it out.
- [Joseph] Oh. - Oh, my goodness.
[Ted] And we want you to work your magic
with ostrich burgers.
How am I gonna cook ostrich?
I've never even seen an ostrich before.
- [Ted] Stinging nettles. - [Larissa] Yeah, not terrible.
These are beautiful.
[Ted] Oyster mushrooms and a silkworm pupa.
[Justin] Silkworm?
I don't even know what this is.
[Justin] Ostrich and silkworm, wow.
- All right. - [Ted] Let's put up
that punishing 20-minute appetizer round clock.
- Time starts now. - [Justin] All right, guys.
- [Eduardo] All right, Chefs. - [Alex] Let's get wild.
I'm rocking the room, baby.
[Ted] It's the wild game battle
of our Playing with Fire tournament.
But how does wild game fit in
to the picture of Playing with Fire?
So, when fire came onto the scene,
way back when, wild game wasn't staple.
So, the challenge for these chefs is,
"How do you make it fresh again?"
Because that's what's gonna be important today.
Every single ingredient needs to touch a flame.
Does the smell of chard ostrich awaken your senses?
[Tiffani] Its super red. What does it taste like?
It's gonna taste like [indistinct]
it can taste like raw tuna [indistinct]
- [Tiffani] Very low fat. - [Joseph] For this round,
I'm really gonna let the basket speak to me
and it's screaming chard burger.
This whole dish is gonna be lean.
So, right away I get some of that bacon to add flavor.
I have those mushrooms in the pan with it.
And I'm thinking that Brioche buns,
I can toast really well.
I'm trying to get some of that flame kiss.
I came here to highlight what I can do.
I'm Chicano, you know, and I have Texan pride
also running through these veins.
It culminates into the new face
of where live fire cooking is headed.
[Kimberly] Perfect. Thank you.
I'm really expecting inviting flavors.
I want some heat, I want some sweet
against that char.
It is very hard to look at this basket
and think elegant appetizer. So, you really need
to be able to manipulate those flavors.
[Justin] Behind... Behind you, behind you,
- behind you, behind you. - Ostrich is a lean meat,
so I'm treating it as if it was
a extra lean ground turkey.
[indistinct]
I'm making a rosemary ostrich kebab
with a salsa verde on a mushroom
jalapeño hot salad.
So, for my ostrich kebab,
I'm going back to my Cajun roots.
A little bit of paprika,
put in a little cinnamon on it,
and then some smoked salt to really bring out that fire.
That's how you [indistinct] it.
Where are my pupa, people?
It is the immature form of the silkworm
that produces the silk.
So, you go from larva, to pupa...
- To worm. Silkworm. - Adult worm.
Exactly. It tastes basically like you're eating dirt.
Typically, you would wanna blanch it
and let it leech out.
Silkworm pupa,
definitely I have cooked with some strange things
but that has not been one of them.
Luckily, it had almost like a clammy,
briny quality to it,
so I thought, hmm, a broth.
I'm making a stuffed roasted poblano pepper
over a stinging nettle and pupa broth.
I just saw Larissa take the juice
of the silkworm in the can
and add that to the sausage she's making.
- Oh. - [Ted] Interesting.
[Larissa] While my stinging nettles are simmering
with my broth, mmm,
I throw my mushrooms in the grill
to get a nice little char.
Larissa has those whole
pieces of mushroom on the grill.
She's really cooking as if things
need to be kept the way they naturally are.
And then, when you cook like that,
you get such a different flavor.
[Tiffani] Right.
Chef Kimberly, you're a butcher,
how comfortable are you feeling?
I'm feeling pretty good about the ostrich itself,
but these silkworms are...
Not breaking down the silkworm much in the shop at all...
We don't have many of those in the in the butcher shop.
So, I'm looking at this ostrich burger
that's lean and I have an idea.
I'm going to make a bruschetta
but I'm gonna make it hot.
Bruschetta is usually like a cold tomato
and garlic topping that you put on bread.
I take the ostrich burger
and give it a hard char
to get that smoky flavor of the grill.
I transfer them to the pan with garlic,
some canned tomatoes.
A lot of people don't think about
canned vegetables as being fatty
but they are actually very, very rich
from the canning process.
Less than 10-minutes to go, chefs.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Joseph] Stinging nettles just looks like a green.
Not very flavorful, kind of earthy.
I'm gonna just jazz that up with the [indistinct]
that big grease leftover.
Come and get it now. Come and get it. Come...
I go back to check on my kebabs
and it's just not the seer that I want.
I gotta crank up the volume and get that flame.
I'm just gonna crank that up a little bit more.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Justin] I see radicchio in the fridge
and that's gonna give it a nice color pop.
Come on [indistinct] it now.
And I chopped up some mushrooms
and make this nice hot salad by bringing in that jalapeño.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Larissa] Ostriches are extremely lean meat.
It needs a little bit of that fatty component to it.
The first thing that came to mind is
fatty Italian sausage.
And I really just want to cook it very gently
because ostrich overcooked so quickly,
and once it's overcooked,
it's like super dry and gross.
[Eduardo] The thing about the nettles is that
they have these minute little hypodermic needles.
It's not gonna kill you but it will create
- for the histamine reaction. - [Tiffani] Mmm-hmm.
Which is why you have to cook them.
[Eduardo] And when you cook those,
flavor will jump out
because you're breaking up all that cellular structure.
I think this basket is crazy but I'm also crazy,
so... [laughs] I should make it work.
A gremolata is some kind of herb, lemon zest,
but I'm using the nettles.
The nettles are so fresh that it's needed.
Oyster mushrooms are so good.
I'm going to keep it simple
and do the hardest possible grill on it I can.
Chefs, four minutes to go.
[suspenseful music playing]
Justin is making me super nervous.
- [Alex] Why? - He's running around.
There's no economy of movement.
- He just looks confused. - My first chef said,
"Work with your feet or work with your head."
Something isn't right, like, I go back to check my kebabs
and it's still not cooking.
[staff speaking]
It's... It's all the way up.
It's all the way up.
[staff speaking]
[bleep]
Of all things to not cook,
the ostrich is not one of them.
I cooked half of that round without my grill even on
and I didn't even realize it.
It's gonna be full throttle, full throttle.
[theme music playing]
[Kimberly] Behind, behind.
[Larissa] Justin, how are you doing?
Run into some problems but...
- Who isn't? - [Justin] Hey.
[Larissa] Chopped kitchen,
what's a Chopped kitchen with no problems?
Justin has not opened his silkworms.
Oh, don't... don't even.
- And his grill is off. - No.
I thought I turned the grill up but I turned it off.
I gotta move faster than I ever moved before.
Here we go. I take the heat and roll
with the punches and dish them right back out.
Baby, let's roll, let's roll.
Down the wire dish. That's what we have, folks.
[Kimberly] I'm really happy the silkworm pupa
is not like a weird case.
I'm just gonna do a light smoke
and then I drop it in the fryer
just to get them crispy on the outside.
How are you feeling about the silkworm?
- I think that they are gross. - [Kimberly laughs]
But they smell kinda salty.
I'm trying to make an aioli out of it real quick.
I'm blending the silkworms,
otherwise it'd be almost like finding a bug in your food.
Nobody wants to do that.
It's not really what I'm creating here
that makes it wild. It's kinda bring
the different components together.
That's the wild part.
[Justin] Behind you, behind you.
You gotta start plating now. You've only got
- a little over three minutes. - [Joseph] Yes, chef.
[Ted] Larissa has not stuffed her peppers yet.
- This is the hard round. - It's a hard round.
- [Ted] It is a hard round. - [Larissa] At this point,
I don't even care about peeling the pepper.
God, I hope this is gonna be good.
[Alex] Get it on the plate for real.
We can't taste it if you don't give it to us.
Keep working hard.
Keep working hard through everything.
That worm pupa is literally staring at me like,
"Use me, use me."
I wanted to make a salsa verde.
I had to scratch that.
Now, I'm making this stinging nettle
and the silkworm pupa jus.
We have less than a minute!
[suspenseful music playing]
[Ted] Get the pieces into place, chefs.
Running out of time.
- Ten, nine... - [Tiffani] Come on, guys.
- [Eduardo] Let's go. - [Alex] You gotta go plate!
- [Tiffani] You can do it. - Everything on the plate.
[Ted] ...four, three...
two...
one.
- Time's up. - [Tiffani] All right.
[Eduardo] That's it.
Woo!
[Justin] I got everything on the dish.
I thought I turned my grill high,
I turned my grill off.
So, this is a wild plate.
This is a wild plate.
[Joseph] That was nuts.
But, hey, it kinda fell in my wheelhouse,
so, I'm looking forward to step up a little bit.
A little bit more wild.
[upbeat music playing]
Chefs, your first Playing with Fire basket
contained ostrich burgers,
stinging nettles,
oyster mushrooms,
and silkworm pupa.
Chef Larissa, what have you made?
Today, I made ostrich-stuffed poblano peppers
on a stinging nettle and worm broth.
The ostrich, I feel it's lacking seasoning,
especially because it's in a broth.
But the oyster mushrooms, you grilled them on the fire,
I love seeing that.
That is why we're here.
Did you try the liquid in the can
- or did you eat a pupa? - I did try the broth
but I should've tried the pupa but...
The pupa jus and the broth
was kind of interesting, right?
Like, it does give you that briny funk,
almost like using fish sauce.
And the nettles in there was [indistinct] stunning,
but for all of these crazy bold flavors
that are in that basket, this is just...
- It's like a whisper. - Okay.
[Tiffani] It needs so much salt and seasoning.
Got it, Chef. Thank you.
If you locked me in a room with poblano peppers,
I would never make this in a gazillion years.
But I will say, this is one of the most
dramatic appetizers I can remember having.
And I really like that.
Don't hide from that.
Let's not forget, there ultimately is
$25,000 on the line here.
Is that what brings you here?
- Not really. My... - Oh, come on.
- [Larissa giggles] - Really?
I just wanna represent my culture.
I wanna represent
the indigenous people of the Amazon.
I'm from a really tiny little village.
They just got their television about three years ago and...
- [Ted] Wow. - I think I brought a lot of creativity
and versatility to the table.
I try to be grounded in the old school
but also think ahead and, you know,
where the future of cooking is going.
- Chef Larissa, thank you. - Thank you, Chef.
- [Ted] Next up, Chef Justin. - Yes, Ted.
What I have presented in front of you today
is a rosemary ostrich kebab
over a stinging nettles silkworm jus.
[Alex] I love the radicchio
because it gives the ostrich juiciness.
I also love the vibrancy of this dish.
[Tiffani] Mmm-hmm.
Where are the nettles?
I had to turn the nettle into a jus.
Oh, I don't think I got that.
- Did you? - [Eduardo] No.
- Forensics is saying no. - [Kimberly and Joseph laughs]
I also don't get the mushrooms in the radicchio.
I'm not seeing any mushrooms in here.
I don't need to echo any of the comments
that both chefs already shared,
but this is my style.
Serving dishes on wood.
It truly does embrace the fire and wild
- of today's challenge. - Thank you, Chef.
[Ted] Chef, why do you wanna win Chopped?
[Justin] I came here to win this $25,000.
I'm trying to make my family proud.
- [Ted] Chef Justin, thank you. - Thank you, Ted.
Next up, Chef Kimberly.
What I have for you today is a ostrich bruschetta
with a little bit of stinging nettle gremolata.
[upbeat music playing]
Wow. The first thing I see
is the marriage of nettle and mushroom,
and that's a wild match made in heaven.
And the lick of flame reminds us
that this is a fire focused event,
- so I love that. - Thank you so much.
[Eduardo] Way to go.
It's so smart how you approached this.
The nettles have the citrusy quality with it
and the gremolata.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
The ostrich is dry but the metallic note
in the juicy canned tomato picks up
on the metallic note of the ostrich.
It works. But the pupa,
they're just tossed in and I don't blame you.
- Yes, Chef. - Shame on all of you
for not really knowing how to deal with silkworm pupa.
What's wrong with you?
[Ted] Chef Kimberly, thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, chefs.
And now, Chef Joseph.
What I have for you here today
is a grilled and sauteed bacon and mushroom
ostrich burger with a silkworm aioli.
Chef, um, a burger is not wild.
Having said that, it's cooked nicely for ostrich.
Of all of the silkworm aioli's I've had,
this is probably the best one.
It's also the only one.
I love bacon.
I'm so glad you used it.
It really gives the ostrich a smoke.
These are the best nettles
because I actually get their essence
and the mushrooms, too.
Actually, my only critique
is you just needed to give me more of everything.
Chef, where is that fire and charcoal?
I grilled the ostrich burger.
- [Eduardo] Mm-hmm. - And I grilled the buns.
I feel a little bit of it
- but I want it to be on fire. - Yes, chef.
You are looking at a Mexicano right now.
- [in Spanish] - [in Spanish]
Yeah, I-I get you.
Okay. Chef Joseph, thank you.
[Joseph] Thank you.
[Ted] Three of you get to keep playing with fire,
one of you got burned by the first basket.
[Justin] I'm hoping I'm safe but the judges said
that they cannot detect the nettles,
but it was in there.
[Larissa] I definitely think my dish was very raw,
simplistic, which I think goes hand in hand
with the theme of fire.
[intense music playing]
[clock ticking]
[intense music playing]
Whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Justin, you've been chopped.
- Judges. - Chef Justin,
you're playing with fire,
but the oyster mushrooms and the stinging nettle
just simply never got touched in that way,
and so, we had to chop you.
Thank you, chef.
Good luck, guys.
Rock and roll, y'all, rock and roll.
Yeah, I'm kinda upset.
Uh, I really wanted to rise to the occasion,
really wanted to showcase all of my talent,
and I wasn't able to do so.
But I'm always gonna bounce back.
Chef Larissa, Kimberly, Chef Joseph,
you were spared the cleaver.
Now we'll see whether you can survive
the second Playing with Fire basket.
[intense music playing]
Open it up.
And this is definitely a wild basket.
- Wow. - [Ted] You've got alligator nuggets.
I'm from Florida, so I've seen this.
I'll be okay with that.
[Ted] Rack of antelope.
Rack of antelope.
Just a average day in the Chopped kitchen.
What are you?
[Ted] Fiddlehead ferns.
Those are tricky to cook.
[Ted] And then, blueberry pie filling.
Blueberry pie filling.
It's a wild basket.
[Ted] Thirty-minutes to Play with Fire
like your life depends on it.
Clock starts now.
- Go, guys. - [indistinct] chefs.
- All right. - Let's get wild.
Let's go. I wanna see some flames coming
leaping off those stations.
Rack of antelope, this animal runs around,
lean, no protection from intermuscular fat.
- [Eduardo] None. - It's definitely wild, first one for me.
You really want the bone to protect yourself
- from overcooking it. - [Alex] Yeah.
A hundred percent. And it's a mild flavored meat.
It needs to be spiced with cracked black pepper
or the fire component.
Behind, chefs. Behind, behind.
Rack of antelope can handle a lot of heavy spices.
So, today I'm making a grilled antelope chop
with Moroccan spices over an alligator couscous
and blueberry [indistinct].
[Tiffani] Larissa, what spices did you just put on your...
I'm using turmeric, cinnamon, smoked ho... Paprika,
some cloves, and coriander,
if I have time to toast them.
[Eduardo] Aha.
[Larissa] That's gonna be plenty of meat.
In the first round, I was told
that I didn't seasoned enough
and I am not making that mistake again.
- Oh, look at that. - Going in the fire.
That looks primal.
That looks very primal.
Bone and all for you guys.
I like that we're seeing who Larissa is,
but I do wanna say that Kimberly,
I think the rack is a price,
most tender, most expensive cash money,
- why would grind that up? - [Tiffani] Mm-hmm.
Hey, Chef Kimberly, what are you grinding?
The antelope rack and some red onion,
and I'm gonna do like a little grilled shawarma.
- [Tiffani] Ooh. - Ah.
My competitors are probably going to immediately
wanna do chops and I am going to go in
a completely different direction.
Joseph, what are you doing with that antelope over there?
- Medallion. - I'm gonna keep it Texas.
I'm gonna make a fat steak out of it.
Oh, so fancy.
I'm going to make grilled antelope shawarma.
Fiddlehead is really style salad
and cumin dusted alligator nugs.
I absolutely would not be the chef I am today
without parents that have instilled
such a great work ethic in me.
I haven't really broken a sweat.
Without them, I wouldn't be able to do that.
[Ted] What can you do to an alligator nugget
- to give it some flavor? - I would fry it immediately.
- [Larissa] Fryer. - So, essentially it's surf and turf
the wildest way possible.
And then, fruit and [indistinct]
together are a dream.
So, I'm taking the blueberry pie filling,
- like I'll glaze the nuggets in that. - Oh, yeah.
[Tiffani] I'm approaching that like sweet and sour.
[Larissa] Fried alligator crunch.
[Joseph] Antelope and alligator reminds me of home,
so I'm like, "Okay. Maybe we can do
like a play on a surf and turf."
I'm gonna make a honey and chili-glazed
alligator nugget and the antelope steak
with a blueberry and balsamic reduction.
Deep frying the alligator nugget,
that's the best way to get a crunchy exterior.
And then, I'm gonna toss, I'm gonna glaze it with honey,
butter, balsamic, and chili flakes.
Less than 15-minutes on the clock, chefs.
I might grind the alligator.
Antelope, the blueberries, and the fiddleheads,
- that's a dish. - [Eduardo] Yeah.
[Alex] Throwing the fry alligator nugget on [indistinct].
- [Tiffani] I would rather. - Uh, it's literally like
going through the drive-through
on the way to a three-star Michelin.
- [Tiffani] Yeah. - [Alex] Its never gonna fit.
I grew up eating alligators.
I hope that this alligator couscous
with toasted pine nuts is going to be
a really resourceful way to use this alligator meat.
What I think is most wild
about this basket is the fiddlehead fern.
The unfurled portion of what will become a fern.
- [Ted] Mmm-hmm. - Then, the grassiness to them,
they will become what you put them in.
- [Eduardo] Yes. - [Larissa] Fiddlehead ferns,
I'm just gonna throw it in the grill
and let that char speak for itself.
Less than 10-minutes to go, chefs.
We have a dough on aisle one.
[Eduardo] Whoa.
Dough pita in the Chopped kitchen,
I'm gonna have to make my own
because that's what you need for shawarma.
I love fiddlehead ferns but they're so tasty
at their most basic, so I'm just gonna do
a beautiful tomatoey fiddlehead Israeli salad.
I'm frying the alligator nuggets the easy way out,
just to add some crunch.
[Joseph] I know that I need another grilled component,
so I tossed the fiddleheads with some olive oil
and I get them on the grill to develop some real good char.
I peeked over at Chef Kimberly and I'm like,
"Yo, there's a lot going on there."
Looking vibrant over there, girl.
- I'm always looking vibrant. - There you go.
[Kimberly] So, is my food.
Guys, this is the entree round in our wild competition.
We're really expecting all the fire, all of the wildness.
If there isn't fire leaving out these plates,
I'm gonna be very disappointed.
[Larissa] My antelope, they're perfectly done.
Give this rest.
For my blueberry compote,
I really want that to pair well with the antelope,
so I warm it up with a little bit of cinnamon.
Less than five minutes to go, chefs.
[intense music playing]
- Oh. - Is anybody worried about Joseph?
Because he looks almost finished.
Joseph, what's going on?
I'm trying not to get it...
The dish done too fast and I don't wanna regret
that I didn't use all the time.
Kimberly potentially mixing
the blueberry pie filling with yogurt.
Sauce.
That's our smart, smart twist of sourness
and some punch up against the blueberry.
[Kimberly] The blueberry pie filling is extremely sweet,
so we're gonna do a garlicky
and blueberry tangy Greek yogurt spread.
You're so lazy, Kimberly.
Honestly, you've done nothing this whole round.
Just kidding.
You sound like my mom.
Let's do this.
Warning, chefs, this second round
is drawing to an end.
- [Alex] Come on, guys. - [Ted] Ten, nine...
-[Eduardo] All right, chefs. Check your plates, chefs. -[Ted] ...eight...
- [Ted] ...seven, six... - [Eduardo] Triple check.
Make sure you have the ingredient on there.
[Ted] ...five, four, three, two, one.
Time's up.
- [Alex] Nice job, guys. - [Tiffani] Wow.
- All right. - Main dish round.
Did I get it? Oh, I did everything.
Did you make a huarache?
- Shawarma. - [Larissa] Oh, nice.
Yes.
[Larissa] I feel a little nervous.
I really tried to compensate for the last round
and hopefully the judges feel my love
and my soul when they taste it.
[Joseph] That was wild, man,
like, would I think that I was able
to create some really good flavors.
Ready.
[clock ticking]
[intense music playing]
Chefs, inside your entree baskets,
you found the alligator nuggets,
rack of antelope, fiddlehead ferns,
and blueberry pie filling.
Chef Joseph, what have you made?
I made a surf and turf.
Honey and chili-glazed alligator nugget
and antelope steak.
[Eduardo] Chef Joseph, I like the spice
that I'm getting out of the alligator.
Spice and sweet, they go very well together.
And the rack of antelope, what we wanna see is,
sort of, more of a rare-medium rare cut wild game.
Don't you think it rested quite long enough?
And all of the beauty from the inside is gone.
I agree with Eduardo, but this might be the one
of my favorite preparations of fiddlehead ferns.
Just the grill kisses them.
- They're delicious. - Thank you, Chef. Thank you.
This is a case study in how to put a basket
- right in front of the judge. - Thank you.
Why do you wanna be the next Chopped Grand Champion, Chef?
Its simple. To open a food bank
- in the neighborhood that I grew up. - Cool.
Because I didn't grow up with a lot of opportunity.
We were very poor and if I can inspire one kid,
honestly, that's huge than winning $25,000.
[Ted] Okay. Chef Joseph, thank you.
- Thank you. - Next up, Chef Kimberly.
[Kimberly] What I have is a antelope shawarma style
and a fiddlehead and grilled tomato
Israeli style salad.
[Alex] This is exactly all the flavors
that I want when I think of Shawarma.
You know, if I'm gonna, like, really come at you a little bit,
the cucumber steak is bigger than the antelope.
But the blueberry yogurt, it's so good.
I'm gonna eat some more.
When I dream about eating Shawarma... I live in Montana,
I can't just go get one at 3:00 a.m.
[judge laughing]
But I dream about it. And so,
I envision something that's been sliced,
and so, I was confused that you wanted to grind it
when in fact, if it was whole,
the fire element would have truly
come into the dish.
The fiddleheads, I like them like this.
Its fresh, kinda helps what is otherwise
a very flavor heavy dish.
I agree. And maybe, a little too much salt
on the alligator nugget but I don't mind.
It's almost like a chicharon.
- [Eduardo] Mmm-hmm. - Thank you.
[Ted] Chef, if you were to go all the way and win
the Finale, you get $25,000.
Any thoughts on where you would use that?
Yeah. My mom end-stage kidney disease.
My dad has rapidly possessing Parkinson's
after being a body-builder his whole life,
and it's not very easy to be sick
and in your late '60s
when you don't have a lot of money,
so I'm just gonna give it to them.
Make their life a little bit easier.
[Ted] I can imagine. That is so rough.
Okay. Chef Kimberly, thank you.
Finally, Chef Larissa.
We have a Moroccan antelope chop
over alligator couscous
with grilled fiddleheads, voila.
Voila.
[Tiffani] The whole thing down,
the alligator nugs into the couscous
is clever beyond measure,
and then I get these grilled fiddleheads
that are like a little vegetal quality.
It's just so good.
Thank you, Chefs. I am utterly flattered.
The rack of antelope has always nooks and crannies
for the fire to get in.
There's textural crunchy burnt and interesting elements.
That is fire cookery through and through for me.
So, let's talk about the blueberry pie filling.
It's like just a little too much of that black pepper
that's in there steals the show
from some of the other spices.
Absolutely.
It's just great. Super clever.
Good job.
- Chef Larissa, thank you. - [Larissa] Thank you.
The scene is set for an incredible
Playing with Fire dessert round.
In terms of creativity,
I definitely cooked my competitors,
so I have no clue who's gonna be chopped.
I just really hoped that it's not me.
[Joseph] I should've rested those steaks a lot longer.
I mean, it's just wild, man.
Everything was wild about that round.
[intense music playing]
[Ted] Whose dish on chopping block?
[intense music playing]
[Ted] Chef Joseph, you've been Chopped. Judges.
Chef Joe, ultimately, it came down to over cooking
that antelope and not letting it rest,
- and so we had to chop you. - Understood.
- We love having you. - [Joseph] Thank you so much.
[applause]
[Joseph] I really feel like I accomplished
having my voice heard.
The future of fire and the future of grilling
looks brighter than it ever has.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Kimberly] Larissa is just...
I mean, first of all, she's gorgeous.
Very intimidating.
Second of all,
she has as much passion as I do,
but my ability to completely change
something into something else
will give me a step up over her.
Kim is a very strong competitor.
She intimidates me.
I really have to bring all of me
into this competition at this point.
- [suspenseful music playing] - [bell ringing]
Check out your ingredients.
[rock music playing]
What the hell is...
[Ted] And what will you make with barbeque boar sliders?
[Kimberly] Great question, Ted.
I have no idea what I'm gonna do with that.
- [Ted] Cape gooseberries. - Oh, gooseberries.
That's what they're called in English.
I'm familiar with them.
They might fall through the grill.
[Ted] Shredded coconut.
Not horrible.
[Ted] And goat's milk caramel.
Oh, goat's milk caramel.
All right. That sounds cool.
But how can I grill any of these?
[suspenseful music playing]
[Ted] Only half an hour to work.
Clock starts now.
- All right, Chefs. - [judge] Here we go.
[Eduardo] Bring it in strong.
[judge] All right.
[Larissa] Are you taking a AP flour?
- [Kimberly] Yeah. - Don't worry.
Great, great, great. Don't worry.
I wouldn't leave you flourless. Sugar.
Even though I'm going to leave you without money.
Judges, so of course wild boar is the wild surprise
in this desert basket,
but they also have the corn bread slider bun.
Could they set the meat aside
and still get a passing grade from you?
[Eduardo] Better be on fire.
[Tiffani] If you don't have the boar in your desert,
your desert better be spectacular.
[Alex] Yeah, I mean, a little pig candy...
- [Tiffani] Yeah, [indistinct]. - Would really be lovely here.
[indistinct] me this, what about the flame?
- What about fire... - [Alex] Mmm-hmm.
...still needs to play a role?
Hundred percent. Yup.
And maybe that somehow with sweet coconut.
I don't know a lot of pastry,
but I can manipulate savory stuff
into sweeter thing.
I'm gonna make a toasted coconut scone
with a gooseberry sauce.
I have made tons of bacon jam before
and there is a very tasty boar on the sliders.
I'm adding golden raisin, just to add some sweetness
for my gooseberry sauce.
I add them to a pan with some fresh raspberries
and a little rum to put some fire in there.
Wow, I like to see that fire playing a role.
[rock music playing]
You know, I want many different textures and layers.
So, my dessert round, I'm doing streusel
with pistachios and jalapeño cornbread buns.
I'm trying to scrape off all those wild boar
and I grill that in the fire immediately,
and make sure that gets a nice char.
Give me that fire.
I'm also gonna create some pistachios
because they play really well
with the acidity of the gooseberry.
Mmm-hmm. Really good.
Puff it in the oven and hope it bakes on time.
Thirteen lucky minutes on the clock, chefs.
Do you have some powdered sugar?
[Kimberly] Uh, I do. I'm about to use it
and then, I'll toss it your way.
Can I just grab a cup from a measuring cup...
Yeah. Here. Come get it.
[Alex] Its important to point that, too,
Kimberly, she's grown up with sick parents.
I've never seen anybody say,
"Oh, if I win, I'm just gonna give it to them."
And Larissa, her roots are underrepresented.
So, I feel like those two great motivators
for these two competitors.
I'm making a cream scone,
which takes a less time to cook.
So, I expect these scones to take 12-minutes.
Give me goat's milk, anything, it doesn't matter.
I'm going to eat it.
It's so tangy and fun.
So, I'm making whipped mascarpone
built with caramels.
Less than 10-minutes to go, chefs.
[suspenseful music playing]
The cape gooseberry is naturally a thickener.
- Yeah, it is. - It's loaded with pectin.
For my gooseberries,
fruit and fire love each other
and enhance the flavor.
And then, I'm going to incorporate apricot jam
to bring out the sweetness.
For my goat milk caramel,
I decided to mix that with toasted coconuts.
I'm burning my coconut.
I keep burning every batch.
At this point, I'm really heavily
second guessing myself.
Damn it.
Chefs, four minutes to go.
Calm down.
[suspenseful music playing]
I'm worried a little bit about with Kimberly with the scone.
She really needed to get it full-cooked quickly.
The propensity for it to steam out
and not be able to cook all the way through is high.
- I don't want a gooey scone. - [Eduardo] No.
[Kimberly] I'm in trouble with these scones.
And all I see is a little bit of color
on top of a raw blob of dough.
This is definitely the low point for me
of this competition.
Ah.
[Tiffani] Chef Kimberly, how are your scones?
Just char them on the grill. Then, they're going
- right on the plate. - Go. Go.
[Ted] And you can smell the scone's burning.
There is less than two minutes left.
[rock music playing]
So, I'm doing a gooseberry jam
and then, I realized this is very sweet.
I decided to spice up some conisholme pickles
from the boar slider
to balance out the sweetness.
Have you ever had pickles with your gooseberries before?
Fifty seconds, Five-O.
Oh, my God. There's no time for [indistinct]
please, you're killing me.
[Kimberly] I'm so worried about these scones.
Uh, I didn't give myself enough time to plate.
Oh, my God. If she has to go one by one,
we're not gonna do this.
Get it on the plate.
[Ted] Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five...
- [Eduardo] Let's go, chefs. - Come on. Come on.
[Ted] ...four, three, two, one.
Time's up.
[Alex] Oh, God.
[Kimberly] That was awful.
I want this money for my parents
and the fact that I didn't finish the plates
is like gut-wrenching.
This is how your heart breaks.
[suspenseful music playing]
Chef Kimberly, Chef Larissa,
you boldly took on a final basket
of barbeque boar sliders, cape gooseberries,
shredded coconut, and goat's milk caramel.
Chef Kimberly, what do we have?
So, what I have is toasted coconut scone
with a grilled gooseberry and raspberry sauce
with a little rum.
[suspenseful music playing]
It's delicious
and the golden raisin from the pantry
makes the boar belong,
and the goat caramel cream with the mascarpone
gives room for the char to bloom.
Tell me what you did with the cape gooseberries.
Unfortunately, I didn't get them on my plate.
I added that to some fresh raspberry
and rum for some more fire.
- Brilliant. - [Kimberly] Thank you.
[Eduardo] You flambeed
one of the key basket items. Thumbs up.
[Alex] Two of us did not get the gooseberries on the plate.
- [Kimberly] Yeah. - [Alex] That's just math.
There's a lot of extra credit around here, a lot.
Yeah. This biscuit dough is not fully cooked,
but the coconut gives it the kind of like
snicker doodle-y sugar cookie...
Uh, like, I love that.
I keep going back for more.
[Ted] Chef Kimberly, thank you.
Finally, Chef Larissa.
[suspenseful music playing]
I have here, uh, pistachio
and grilled cornbread streusel
and toasted coconut cajeta caramel.
Something smokey and wild
[indistinct] the jalapeño in here.
I really like it. But for the ingredients,
that's kind of like the easiest one we give you.
I don't taste coconut.
I've never had pickle in a desert.
Just on that,
I would give you all the marks.
However, I'm still looking for my wild boar.
- I don't think it's in here. - No, it's not.
- You're correct. - Mmm-hmm.
But it is a very elegant way
to wrap up our meal today.
Um, it's missing a center.
To me streusel is something that comes on something.
- [Larissa] Yeah. - My question is,
is it the same as leaving an ingredient off?
[Ted] Thank you, chefs.
- [Kimberly] Thank you. - [Larissa] Thank you, Ted.
[suspenseful music playing]
Judges, you're taste buds definitely took a walk
on the wild side.
Was it a nice journey?
[Eduardo] It is an adventure.
I feel like they were neck and neck on the fire.
Kimberly's appetizer,
the pupa was just a tough ingredient.
The stinging nettles in that,
brought it to the next level for me.
[Alex] But the pupa felt thrown in.
In Larissa's appetizer,
I was really drawn to a whole poblano pepper,
although not a basket ingredient.
It being as it's found in the wild.
But there was no salt.
It was a dish of a food stylist, not the chef.
- Agree. - But then Larissa follows up
with alligator couscous
- and pine nuts. - And pine nuts.
Yeah. That savagery of a full chop on the fire.
[Tiffani] Larissa's entree was as close as to perfect
that I've ever seen.
For me the best thing
about Kimberly's main course
is she took the basket
and she made it all fit.
[Tiffani] But the cucumber was bigger than the antelope.
And it trumped the fiddlehead.
- [Tiffani] Exactly. - [Alex] The question in hand
is does sheer work trump creativity?
In a fire and wild game round,
it has to be creativity.
Love it.
I wanna win this so badly,
but Kimberly is very strong
and even though her dessert wasn't beautiful looking.
It was certainly delicious.
[Kimberly] I have a lot on the line.
My parents are extremely sick
and it would at least be nice to have this money
to make them more comfortable,
so I'm felling literally all of the emotions.
[suspenseful music playing]
Good luck. God Bless.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
[suspenseful music playing]
[Ted] Chef Kimberly, you've been chopped.
Judges.
[dramatic music playing]
Kimberly, honestly, you are really something
- and I don't like to say... - Thank you.
...you are something and so we had to chop you.
So, I'll say, please don't forget a basket ingredient
and for that, we have to chop you.
Thank you.
[applause]
[Kimberly] I'm obviously disappointed,
but I'm really proud
of the first two dishes that I put out.
I love my parents. I love my family.
I'll definitely find another way to help them.
And that means Chef Larissa Da Costa,
you are the Chopped Champion
and you will have a chance to become
a Chopped Grand Champion when you come back
for the Playing With Fire Grand Finale.
- Congratulations. - [Larissa] Thank you.
- [Alex] Yes. Nicely done. - Thank you.
- [Eduardo] Bravo. Well done. - Thank you.
- I'm literally jumping in joy. - [Tiffani] Good.
- I'm [indistinct] - As you should be. Well done.
I just won Chopped.
But the next round is going to be the cream de la crop,
so that is some pressure there.
Only one of you is gonna make it to the Finale
for $25,000.
I'm feeling the heat right now.
This is Chopped kitchen,
you definitely feel the pressure.
My nerves are shook.
It's madness in here.
- [Alex] Behind, behind. - Let's go. Let's go.
What happened?
[man] I am trying to make the best bad decision
I possibly I can.
- Oh, oh. No, no. - [speaks Spanish]
Presentation is a little Bless your heart,
you know what I'm saying?
With respect, I do disagree.
- Finish, finish, finish. - Oh, my God.
This is it, guys. You will think about this
in the shower for the next 10 years.
Let's do this.
What the hell?