[Bret] Barbecue is almost embedded in your soul.
[Stacy] I love the heat, the fire, the intensity.
[Alex] There's nothing that we love more
than putting meat up against the flame.
[contestant] Strike that match
and watch the competition burn.
[Nicole] I know how to manipulate fire.
I'm feeling the heat.
[Tiffani] These aren't your grandpa's grillers.
We expect more.
Ooh, sweaty.
[Eduardo] If there isn't fire leaving off this place.
I'm gonna be very disappointed.
[man 2] Give me meat, give me fire.
That's all I really need.
[woman] I'm the new face of fire.
[man 3] You know, 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're gonna get burn.
He worked hard through everything.
$25,0000, I need you to cook like you mean it.
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.
This tournament's about to get wild.
You're killing me.
You sound like my mom.
[Chris] Oh no, no, no, no, no, no.
Yes, fire. Bring it in.
You wouldn't think grill masters look like me,
but we do.
I am the chef owner of Nikki's Kitchen
in Atlanta, Georgia.
I'm all about Caribbean spice and flair on the grill.
Growing up in Brooklyn, Caribbean food
was just ingrained in me.
I wanna prove that you can be young, Black,
and a single mom and you can obtain anything in life.
I am not going home without that $25,000.
[Franco] I'm not your traditional pit master.
I do things my way, that's why I'm gonna win.
Franco V.
I'm a co-owner and pit master of Holy Ground restaurant
in New York City.
1966 Chevy pickup truck with a smoker and grill
on the back of it.
I have no roots in traditional barbecue,
which means I can make up my own rules.
The higher the stakes, the hotter the grill,
the hotter the grill.
[laughs]
[Stacy] Women can kick ass on the grill,
and I'm here to show that.
I am a chef and owner of Tagalog Takeover
in Los Angeles, California.
Grilling Filipino fusion with fine dining experience.
Grilling plays a big part of Filipino culture
because we like low and slow meat.
I love the grill. I love the heat,
the fire, the intensity.
And I'm going to win that $25K.
[upbeat music playing]
You can take the boy out of the South,
but he's gonna bring his food.
I'm the executive chef of Blue Smoke in New York City.
I grew up all over the South Atlanta, Georgia,
Texas, Mississippi.
Barbecue, it's almost embedded in your soul.
My love of cooking was heavily
influenced by my granny,
but I've used my fine dining background to bring it
to the next level.
Winning Chopped means that I am that chef
that I imagined I could be.
And I can't wait to be the last one standing.
- Hello. - Hello. Hello.
We hope you find this kitchen inspiring.
How do you like our home away from home?
Not too shabby.
Love what you done with the place.
Your goal is to survive three rounds
with mandatory mystery ingredients.
And you're going to get steaks in every basket.
- Can I get a hallelujah? - [all] Yeah, hallelujah.
- [Ted] That's great. - Hallelujah.
The winner will return for the tournament's finale
gunning for the grand prize and the title
of Chopped Grand Champion.
- [Stacy] Yeah. - [Franco] Let's do it.
I'm here to thug it out, and take home that $25,000.
If your dish doesn't cut it, you will be chopped.
Turn your attention to these appetizer baskets.
[suspense music playing]
Dig in.
- Whoa. - Oh, my God.
All righty.
And you see a smoked watermelon ham.
This is definitely bizarre.
Watermelon smothered with barbecue sauce.
- Okay. - [Ted] Ramps.
- New York strip steaks. - Love it.
[Franco] Oh, man, these are beautiful.
[Ted] And butcher cut bacon.
[Stacy] Nice.
This is crazy.
Just 20 minutes on the clock.
Time starts now.
[upbeat music playing]
-All right, guys. Let's go. Light it up. -[Alex] All right.
[Eduardo] Get it cooking.
Alex, Tiffani, you are joined
by a special guest judge, culinary entrepreneur
and outdoor cooking fanatic, Eduardo Garcia.
Great to have you back, Eduardo.
Thanks, Ted.
Judges, what is the big lure
of cooking with live fire?
It's primal.
We've been doing it as long as we've been
walking on two feet.
It goes back to our DNA.
As soon as we started cooking meat,
that combination of fire and protein took
our humanity to a different level.
The question is, what do we expect?
What's... Where are we setting the bar for this?
[Tiffani] I want creative.
Like, reintroduce these ingredients in a way
that brings us beyond just steak.
I am shaking and quivering with fear
but excitement at the same time.
In this basket, it's a gift to have in New York strip.
What is this gonna taste like?
The watermelon ham on the other hand,
it looks like a brain, it's, kind of,
funky, a little sexy.
Sweet, smoky, salty.
That hickory ham's actually a watermelon.
So, we crosshatch it, slow cook it,
it's got hickory flavor, soy sauce, garlic.
Turn it into a sauce, a gastrique,
a vinaigrette.
I wanna cook something I would make for myself,
for my friends out just having a beer.
So, I'm gonna make a backyard-grilled carne asada
taco with a ramp salsa verde and a watermelon ham
and bacon, component.
Watermelon, ham, bacon?
Why not? Get in there.
The charred poblanos go into the salsa verde
with the grilled tomatillos and the ramps.
But the bell peppers are gonna go
with that watermelon, ham, and bacon.
I'm trying to really incorporate
the grill flavor as much as I can.
It's almost like a dance when you're cooking with fire.
Higher, higher, higher, more heat, more heat, more heat.
The New York strip steak for me,
it's beautifully balanced.
It's not too fatty. It's great on the teeth.
It has a little texture when you wanna bite
into something versus, like, your fillet.
So, they're working with gold here.
[Tiffani] But the trick with that steak
is you want a beautiful char on the outside.
That takes time.
I would say so, and then the challenge
for these chefs for me, is to tap into their roots.
I was born in beautiful vibrant Brooklyn, New York,
and I'm all about that Caribbean soul food
on the grill.
I'm going to be making a Caribbean taco
with a smoked watermelon and pineapple salsa.
Ramps, I've never worked with them before.
The ramp or a wild onion comes almost,
like, with a garlicky note.
[Nicole] I hope ramps go good on the grill
because I'm grilling them today.
I know how to manipulate fire to get what I want from it.
[Stacy] There is not that much Filipino chefs
grilling out there, and I wanna prove
to the world that we are just as bad asses
as everybody else.
So for my appetizer, I'm gonna make
a grilled New York Strip, grilled ramp salsa verde,
and an Italian arugula tomato salad.
[upbeat music playing]
Cooking over fire is, it's just like so basic,
like, this is humans, like, you know, like,
this is what we are supposed to do.
I like to keep my steaks pretty simple.
So, I am making a grilled strip steak salad
with a smoked watermelon and sauteed ramp vinaigrette.
Watching Franco start using that smoked
watermelon in a blender, beautiful.
[Tiffani] To make a vinaigrette,
you bring out the sweetness of it
to really balance smokiness with the bacon.
[Franco] I'm adding sesame oil,
rice vinegar, red pepper flakes.
Not your traditional pit master.
I fabricated my own smoker and grill
on the back of a 1966 Chevy pickup truck.
I taught myself how to cook barbecue.
I've turned it into a business.
I'm all about the hustle and getting my hands dirty.
So I know what it takes to win.
[Ted] Ten minutes to go, chefs.
[upbeat music playing]
[Bret] These ramps, I wanna chop them nicely
and fold them in at the end to really hope
that the ramps shine through the Salsa Verde.
I think barbecue and grilling is changing a little bit.
I think it's becoming more inclusive.
It's not just big old white cis,
a hetero man's world.
I am a gay man.
I cook, grill, smoke, barbecue.
And I wanna push myself as far as I can go.
Nicole, how are we doing over there?
Doing good. Doing the best I can.
Pineapple is Caribbean.
It's Island, it's sweet, and it goes really well
with the fat from that bacon.
I'm bringing big boss energy to the grill,
and winning will show you can look good
and win money doing it.
[laughs]
I wanna make a salsa verde using the grilled ramps
and the bacon fat.
I am incorporating my Filipino background
by using soy sauce.
My plan for the smoked watermelon ham
is to pickle it.
[suspenseful music playing]
Stacy, how are you doing?
[Eduardo] You got this, chef.
I'm burning my towel, chefs.
Okay. Well, let's get a char
on the basket ingredients, not the towel.
[Ted] Stacy's using an inverted bowl to create...
- [Eduardo] Yes. - [Ted] ...kind of an oven.
That's money.
[Stacy] You're getting action from the fire
and you're also getting steam.
You got about two minutes left.
I don't think that they believe
the clock's gonna run out.
I have the ramps in a pan and I decide
that I can just add that to the vinaigrette.
I think I'm doing pretty well,
but then I touched the steak and they're not even close.
Franco just sliced his steak, they're raw.
[Franco] I'm looking at the clock.
I have just a big piece of raw steak.
[Alex] You should start plating.
Get your plates if you don't have 'em.
My blood is definitely boiling.
If I don't come up with a quick plan here,
I'm definitely gonna be the one who gets chopped.
[clock ticking]
[suspenseful music playing]
Franco just sliced his steak, they're raw.
[Franco] I throw them back on.
At this point, I'm like, how is this gonna play out?
[Alex] We're a little bit worried now.
Get it done, chefs.
I don't wanna be the person who didn't finish the dish.
One minute to go, chefs.
Got to get this done. Get it done.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Bret] I'm looking at the steak,
it's a little rare.
If I cut the strip just a little bit thinner,
hopefully it will melt in the judges' mouths.
[Stacy] My steak looks perfect,
drizzled my salsa verde.
I put crispy thick and crumble on top.
You're at 30 seconds.
I'm really struggling to get everything on the dish,
but I won't relent until I win.
Taste everything. Beautiful plates.
[Ted] Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five...
- This is it. - [Ted] ...four, three,
two, one. Time's up!
[Alex] All right. Woo!
[suspenseful music playing]
It just turned out way better than
I could have possibly imagined.
It's like a medium rare right now,
so I feel really confident.
[Stacy] I'm looking at my plate,
I realized that I forgot my pickled
watermelon vinaigrette.
What a disaster.
I am very, very scared.
[suspenseful music playing]
Chefs, you have arrived at the Chopping Block.
We've asked you to innovate with steaks
in every basket starting with New York strip steaks,
you've also got a smoked watermelon ham,
ramps, and butcher cut bacon.
Chef Franco.
I made a grilled strip steak salad
with a smoked watermelon and sauteed ramp vinaigrette
with grilled bacon bits.
I think the vinaigrette
is really smart with the smoked watermelon ham,
like that makes so much sense, but this is Playing With Fire.
We want all of the things we crave about flames
and smoke and char.
Like this gorgeous New York strip,
what you don't want is raw fat, right?
[Alex] Yeah.
This is not cooked...
but this is very buttoned-up.
Pretty presentation, light plate,
and actually Spinach probably the green I would
be less likely to pick.
I love it here.
You took that wild card of a, "Smoked, what?
Watermelon?"
And you turn it into a vinaigrette, it's brilliant.
And then all that beautiful bacon fat
is a beautiful move.
Thank you.
What you gonna do with the money?
You know you want it.
I, uh, had to close my restaurant.
At which point, we, uh, bought an old pickup truck.
So, I built a smoker and grill on the back of it.
The plan would be, you know, to eventually open
a new restaurant indoors, and that money will definitely
go a long way into doing that.
Next up. Chef Nicole,
please tell us about your dish.
So, chefs I made for you a strip taco with a,
uh, smoked watermelon and pineapple salsa
with some charred ramps.
Why Pineapple?
I have a Caribbean background,
so fruit salsas are big in the island.
But Pineapple's not in the basket.
If you wanna win $25,000, lean into the basket more.
That's what I was gonna say, there's some ramp on here,
celebrate it, let it have more surface area
than the tortilla itself.
But other than that, I love tacos
and I think the cooking temperature
on the New York is perfect.
Um, I keep eating eat.
Steak's cooked really nicely.
The bacon fat and the little Jalapeno,
like, that's where I'm living.
Why is it important for you to win?
So, that money can actually help hire
some people to help me.
I'm a private chef and caterer.
Um, I do everything on my own, all of the cooking,
all of the set up and serving the food by myself.
All by yourself?
[Nicole] Everything.
Let me give you my number.
- I'm gonna come help you, so. - [laughter]
Next up, Chef Stacy.
We have a Grilled New York strip,
a grilled ramp salsa verde,
and a nice arugula with tomato salad
with a bacon crumble.
I wanted to do a pickled watermelon
dressing on that.
- Is it here? - [Stacy] It's not.
Or, is it a phantom vinaigrette?
- What happened? - [Stacy laughs]
It didn't make it on the plate, chefs,
and I apologize for that.
[Eduardo] Yeah, I feel your pain...
- I know. - [Eduardo] ...you know what I'm saying?
-Coming once on here. -[Stacy] I... My heart is just...
However, the flavor on the steak is great.
- [Stacy] Thank you so much. - Yeah.
The knife skills for your onion
and your bacon are so beautiful and elegant.
This is, "I'm a bad ass cook, and I know what's going on."
You know what's brilliant?
The salsa verde. Love the soy.
It's great.
Thank you.
It's really just a matter of the deciding whether
the error of leaving the watermelon off
doesn't put you in the position
where you're gonna have to go home.
- Finally, Chef Bret. - Hello, chefs.
Uh, I made y'all a backyard-grilled
carne asada taco.
I used the ramps in salsa verde.
And then I wanted to incorporate that watermelon
with a bacon fat. And I was like "Okay.
How do we make the watermelon a little bit more,
like, porky?"
[Tiffani] I'm sorry, a little more, what?
A little more, you know, a little porky,
- so. [laughs] - [Tiffani laughs]
Your steak, it's a little rare
but it's fine because you sliced it so thinly.
Love that you took the ramps,
and you threw them as an onion component
to the salsa.
This tastes like what you would actually eat,
like, where you would sit at and be like,
"It's good taco." You know.
Thank you.
If you cook like this, you're gonna win.
But just because you don't like slimy weird
creepy watermelon in your basket,
there's no reason to bury it.
You decided to open a pepper farm
and put it all on your plate.
Yellow bell peppers, red bell peppers.
Is there a jalapeño or just poblano?
A little jalapeño as well.
If you don't cook what's inside that little box,
then you don't get a big stack of cash.
Thank you, Chef Bret.
Um, so I just wanna say thank you.
Growing up, there weren't a lot of voices
in the LGBTQ community, especially in the food scene,
but there was one and that was your voice.
I had someone to look up to, and, um,
me being here says that you can be
a barbeque pit master.
Even if you're a little gay boy from Mississippi,
-it's perfectly fine. -You sure can. You sure can.
[Bret chuckles]
- [Ted] Um, thank you. - Thank you, chef.
- It means a lot to me. - [Bret] Thank you.
It really does. Okay.
In a few minutes, we'll let you know
who stays and who goes.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Alex] Four peppers, eh?
As a guy with one hand, I hate cutting peppers now.
I would have totally left the peppers.
That's like a funny thing to say.
As a one-handed guy I hate to cut peppers.
[suspenseful music playing]
I feel safe because I did utilize
all the basket ingredients, and Stacy missed
that smoked watermelon ham.
[Stacy] This is a steak competition
and my steak was cooked perfectly.
But I feel like my heart is gonna burst out
of my chest.
[suspenseful music playing]
So, whose dish is on the Chopping Block?
Chef Franco, you've been chopped.
- Judges. - Chef Franco,
the obvious question is,
why are you being eliminated if someone else
forgot a basket ingredient?
But the big slices of undercooked steak
were problematic to eat,
even though the presentation was stunning.
So, we had to chop you.
Thank you very much.
The nature of this competition
with the nerves and, like, surprise ingredients,
there's so many variables.
But my three competitors are really,
really good chefs.
So I'm okay.
I just wanna let you know that you're here
because of about a teaspoon of soy sauce
and a table spoon of sherry vinegar.
- Yes, chef. - Literal food for thought.
Thank you, chef.
Chef Stacy, Chef Bret,
Chef Nicole. What's in these?
Please, open your entree baskets.
[chuckles]
- Oh, my goodness. - [laughs]
As promised, more steak in this high stakes battle.
Long-bone ribeyes.
Brontosaurus steaks.
[Ted] You also have summer truffles.
- Very classy. - Oh, my God, I love that.
- [Ted] Okra. - Love okra.
[Ted] And jalapeño popper grilled cheese sandwiches.
This is crazy.
[laughs]
- 30 minutes. - It is what it is.
Time starts now.
- [Alex] All right. - [Tiffani] Let's go, guys.
Go chefs.
Start that fire up. Let go.
Judges, this long-bone ribeye
is the marvel of the steak world.
[Eduardo] Yeah.
It is the king cut of the bovine beast.
It's, like, a ribeye meets consistency of a fillet mignon.
You got enough fat to make that grill
really bring it to life.
[Eduardo] If there isn't fire leaping off these plates,
I'm gonna be very disappointed.
Cooking meat over fire is a huge part
of Filipino culture.
But I also want to show my classical French training.
For my entree, I'm gonna make a ribeye
with grilled okra and truffle gremolata.
There's less fat in this bone, so I'm making a beef fat
demi-glace with garlic, shallots and stock.
I feel like I need to add mashed potatoes
to this dish because it's the classic steak
and mashed potatoes, yeah. [laughs]
I'm gonna kill this round.
Okra is my favorite food, period.
- [Ted] Okay. - I have okra tattoos on my arm.
A lot of people think it's a great vegetable,
- but it's not. - Uh-oh.
I know. It has a very slimy texture.
One of the best place to get that slimy texture out,
cut it in half lengthwise, grill it on the seed part.
Grill it on the seed part.
What are you doing with that okra, Bret?
I'm gonna break it down home.
So, I'm gonna do it and bring it home
- to granny's kitchen. - Yes.
My love of cooking was heavily influenced by my granny,
and there's nothing more southern
than some okra and tomato.
I'm gonna make a grilled ribeye with polenta
and a grilled and stewed summer vegetables.
I wanna get these long-bone ribeyes
the most respect I can.
Base it with butter and herbs
and let the fire sing this piece of meat.
Bret is brushing his steaks with an herb brush.
Nice one.
- What do you got there? - Rosemary, Sage, Thyme.
- The whole family is here. - Wow.
You know what I like that I'm seeing on this round
that I didn't on the last round,
I see a lot more fire.
I like the way Nicole is turning the meat on the side
and cooking that layer of fat on the side.
That's super important.
I'm definitely embracing the flame
by getting a really good sear on the steak,
really locking the juices.
I'm making a grilled coriander ribeye
with grilled okra and red wine steak sauce.
I see the truffles sitting inside
of a little ramekin of rice,
so I immediately think Risotto.
And I think that the cheeses
from the Jalapeno grilled cheese
will add a really good kick.
My biggest concern right now is time.
Less than 10 minutes to go chefs.
I feel like I still have a lot things to do.
I quickly put that Okra right on the grill.
I'm using the bread from the sandwich
to make my Gremolata,
grind it up, and then I add lemon zest,
parsley, and garlic, and truffle shavings.
- Stacy, what's happening? - I have everything.
I'm just waiting on the mashed potatoes to cook.
[Alex] Mashed potatoes.
They actually all added
another whole obstacle.
Let me distract myself with polenta
and mashed potatoes, and this, and that.
- I know. - [Alex] Is that gonna be why you get Chopped?
- Eight minutes. - Bret, how you feeling?
I'm feeling okay.
So, I've got this monstrosity of a sandwich looking at me.
I'm growling right back at it.
Can I get this out?
I decide to use just the grilled Jalapeno Poppers
with the cream cheese, and put them into my polenta.
And I'm micro playing this truffle into it.
Five minutes to go, chefs.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Bret] Way too under.
Bret sliced that bone off the steak, it's raw.
Stop cutting it, stop cutting it, stop cutting it.
[Alex] Think for a minute, think about what you're doing.
You got five minutes, it's not over.
What are you doing? Stop.
Unless you don't wanna win.
I think I need to hit these steaks
on the grill one more time.
I'm little scared they are slightly under.
After you sliced them?
- Yeah. - [speaking in Spanish]
[Alex] You can dry out your steak.
In any other world, I would have definitely
put it back to the oven to cook it properly,
but I am trying to make the best bad decision.
[upbeat music playing]
At this point, I'm concerned about my Risotto
because I have to make sure the rice is cooked all the way through.
So, I'm shaving the truffle into it for depth and flavor.
[Alex] These are summer truffles.
They're a little delicate, they're earthy, hazelnutty.
I think you should wrap them in foil and roast them whole.
Ooh, I have never had enough dollars in my bank account
to know what a whole roasted truffle taste like.
[Nicole] As the time went down, I realize
I have to move really quickly
and make sure that I get all of my dishes done.
I have so many worries about Nicole right now.
This is an entree round with a giant bone in ribeye, we...
We're going to bowls?
[Nicole] I'm always a little bit risky.
Being an entrepreneur was risky.
I wanna prove that you could get this far
being unconventional.
One and a half minutes.
Taste a little bite of the potatoes,
and they were still under.
I used a whisk just to, like,
pound it out to make it edible.
If it's not on the plate, we can't eat it, now.
- [Ted] Dig deep, chefs. - [Stacy] Yes, chef.
- [Alex] You can do it. - [Bret] [bleep]-damn, it worked.
- [Tiffani] Come on, guys. - All right. Let's go.
[Ted] And the entree round will be complete
in ten, nine, eight, seven,
six, five, four, three...
[Alex] Now, now, now, now, now.
[Ted] ...two, one. Hands up.
- Please step back. - [applause]
Nervous, but I got everything on the plate.
I'm looking down at my dish and I'm thinking
did I meet the mark?
Hmm, I'm not too sure.
I'm happy with my dish. I can't breathe right now,
but I'm happy with my dish.
[suspenseful music playing]
Chefs, for the Playing With Fire entree round.
We gave you long-bone ribeyes,
summer truffles, okra,
and jalapeño popper grilled cheese sandwiches.
What do we have, Chef Stacy?
So, chef, here we have
a bone-in ribeye, smashed mashed potato,
grilled okra and a truffle gremolata.
- I saw all kinds of fire... - Yeah.
...on your grill, and it made my heart sing.
- I was like, "Yes. Fire." - [Stacy] Yeah.
"Bring it in."
It reminded me of everything I know
about Filipino cooking. You know, and then,
you went with the western kind of twist on this.
If you told me you'd only had 30 minutes
to cook this steak, I would have said you lying.
I think you got great flavor.
It's beautifully cooked.
The okra, I leave that to the okra police to dissect.
The okra's undercooked.
Um, and when you undercook okra, it's tannic.
- [Stacy] Yeah. - It has that quality of the...
of the banana peel.
It's super fibrous.
The potatoes, we all know they needed more cooking time.
[Alex] But I mean, honestly your gremolata
and 80 pounds of meat, I mean, lock me in a room
with this for two days.
Next up, Chef Bret.
I have made a grilled ribeye
with a jalapeño popper grit,
and a grilled and stewed summer vegetable.
My kind of style at cooking is I like to say,
like, coming down to granny's house,
but when she puts the good china out,
you know what I mean? I have a lot
of great memories with my granny in the kitchen.
The flavor of the okra, tomato, onion combination,
that taste like probably what it feels like
- to get a hug from your grandma. - That's right.
So, you channeled that one.
Everything about this is old school in form.
But in function, it's very new school,
um, and I think that's really innovative and cool.
Um, now, we get to the steak.
The cook turns out okay, like, it's medium rare.
- [Bret] Sure. - [Tiffani] I think what it does read is a little bit dry.
And that's what happen when you first slice it,
- and then, you got it back on. - Yup.
Finally, Chef Nicole.
I have made for you guys a grilled ribeye
with a creamy demi-glace
over a truffle Jasmine rice risotto.
I grilled the okra.
I also incorporated the cheeses
from the grilled cheese into the risotto.
You went all in. You're like, "Okay.
I'm getting the truffle plus the rice, here we go."
I listened to you guys' advice from the last round,
and I wanted to highlight the basket ingredients.
- Flattery. - Get you everywhere.
- It will get you everywhere. - [laughter]
[Ted] Your plating was extremely neat.
I agree but in no restaurant anywhere
does anybody say, "We're plating ribeyes,
"-go get the bowls" -[laughter]
- She did it. - I've never had one in a bowl either, chef.
What happened?
I just think that, you know,
the next generation needs to know
that you don't have to do a classic steak dish.
It works.
This is excellent.
It's the best cooked steak of this round.
This reminds of rice grits.
The cheese in it comes through
in a way that is unique.
I feel like that steak was cooked outside.
I taste the char, taste the fire, the okra,
I think a little more salt was needed,
and then the general acidity on the plate,
some citrus, fresh lemon zest would've made it just jump, right?
Chef Nicole cooked a great plate this...
Or bowl, this last round.
I very much feel like I'm gonna be Chopped.
Stacy knows how to cook a steak, like,
she's proven that in every round.
Honestly, it's anybody's game.
[suspenseful music playing]
Whose dish is on the Chopping Block?
Chef Stacy, you've been chopped.
Judges?
Chef, this one was really hard.
Well, I think that the steak was perfect.
Bringing in elements that were not
in the basket like the potatoes,
it distracted what you know to do blindfolded.
- Right. - And the okra was undercooked as well.
- And so, we had to chop you. - [Ted] Thank you, Chef.
- Thank you. - [Ted] Appreciate you being here.
Mmm-hmm. This dish, it just didn't cut it.
So, I think that the two chefs
deserve a place in the dessert round.
-Here we are. -[Ted] Right. Well, let's bring it
- in round three, shall we? - Let's do it.
To make it pass this round is just...
I said I wasn't gonna cry [laughs] but I did.
It's okay to feel the things. You should feel
so proud of yourself right now.
[suspenseful music playing]
Chef Nicole, Chef Bret, there's a spot
in the Playing With Fire finale
for just one of you.
Me. Duh.
Check out those baskets.
[suspenseful music playing]
- What? - [Ted] You've got steak sauce.
Wow. You guys would throw that in there?
[Ted] You also have kumquats.
Chocolate Brussels sprouts.
It's candy Brussels sprouts.
They are just white chocolate in a shape of
Brussels sprouts, and a pizza.
[Ted] And grilled dessert pizza.
Interesting.
[Ted] 30 minutes.
There's a lot going on right here.
Time starts now.
- [Tiffani] All right, guys. - Let's go, chefs.
25 Gs.
I'm a emotional wreck, they got me crying.
To make it this far, my nerves are shook.
I immediately go to the fruit that's on top of the pizza
and know that I can get a good char of these on the grill.
I'm making a dessert salsa
with some crispy grilled tortilla chips.
I've never worked with kumquats before,
but they look pretty citrusy.
I decide to leave a juice out of them
to use in my salsa.
- [Bret] Nicole, how are you doing over there? - [Nicole] I'm doing good.
-What about you? -It's crazy basket. We're gonna make it happen.
- [Nicole] Yeah. - There's no meat in the basket,
but there is steak sauce,
and that's going to pose a challenge.
Super pungent.
I keep thinking about the kumquat
and that steak sauce going inside
- of, like, a pastry of some kind. - Ooh.
[Bret] This steak sauce is really in your face.
I'm trying to think what I can do with it.
Hmm. Let's get weird.
[laughs] Let's get weird. Let's make some mousse.
I wanna make a grilled dessert pizza fritter
filled with a kumquat curd on top of a steak sauce
and chocolate Brussels sprout mousse.
I grill up these kumquats, I can make a lemon curd,
and I can put these together.
Bret has that one, two double boilers
- working on his station right now. - Bret, what are you making?
I got a curd coming up. I'm trying to make some type of mousse
out of these delicious chocolate Brussels sprouts.
It's not like the best white chocolate, it's a little waxy.
I mean, dessert round, but it's Playing With Fire.
I'm expecting char,
I'm expecting roasted qualities,
I'm expecting caramelization, like,
all the things you can bring to sweetness through fire.
Less than 15 minutes to go chefs.
Fruit and fire work very well together.
I'm gonna use the steak sauce
in the salsa with balsamic vinegar.
For the crispy tortilla chips,
grill is really just to get some char marks,
I know that I have to get them in a deep fryer
to get that level of crispiness that I need.
I really wanna win this competition
and just show that you can be young,
Black, and a single mom,
and you can obtain anything in life.
I'm gonna go check out what's going on.
Do it. I'm very curious what they're doing
with the steak sauce.
- How are you doing? - Good.
Okay. So, chips and salsa,
like a plant and nacho platter.
- Kind of, yeah. - I like that.
Now, where did you use all these kumquats already?
The juice in the salsa.
Is there something you can do more elevated?
Yeah, maybe I could top this with a whipped cream.
Well, by the way, there's just $25,000.
I don't know how either of you are feeling about that.
- Yeah. No big deal. - I love kumquats.
Hmm, they're so good.
What's unique about a kumquat
is that the sweetness is on the outside
-and it's hard... it's hard in the middle. -Yeah.
Mmm-hmm, a hundred percent.
[Bret] I take a taste of my kumquat curd.
Okay. And I'm honestly surprised
by how much I kind of like it.
Let's see what happens. And then, on the grill,
I have some of the toppings from this dessert pizza.
Chop it up real quick, add it to my fritter batter,
and I fry them up.
Let's go. Let's go.
Less than five minutes to go chefs.
[Nicole] I'm adding cinnamon sugar to the chips
just to give them bit of sweetness.
It's all coming together.
But I go to make my whipped cream,
and it's really just not working out,
cannot get the whipped cream to come out.
What's in the iSi that's in the basket.
- Anything? - No. But it's...
- Eh? - ...sort of the fluff component,
like, she needs it to make her whole composition.
- Now, she's just behind. - [Tiffani] Right.
[Nicole] I'm freaked out.
[Nicole] As the clock is ticking down, I'm really struggling.
The whipped cream that Nicole put in the iSi,
is now stuck to the canister, it's not coming out.
Is there not enough content then?
There's not enough product in there.
Don't let it throw you off.
Like, okay. Ding. Let me try the mixer.
That's it. Go old school.
I have my fritters on the grill
to get a little bit of char mark on them.
You are down to your last minute.
I love both of these humans, but I'm profoundly worried
- about both desserts. - [Ted] Love hurts, doesn't it?
Yes. My therapist calls it the price of love, Ted.
[laughter]
I have to think of a way to get the white chocolate
Brussels sprouts on the plate.
So, I get the microplane
and shave it on top of the dish.
- Yup. Perfect. - I'm really feeling panic.
Come on, finish strong.
[Ted] All right. Final seconds to the final round chefs.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one.
- Time's up. - [Tiffani] All right.
[Alex] Wow.
- That's a day's work. - [Eduardo] Well done.
[Bret] This is the final moment. This is that last lap.
I sure hope this is a $25,000 dessert, yeah.
I want this really bad. Nervous.
Nerves are bad. So, hope the chefs like it.
[tense music playing]
Chef Nicole, Chef Bret,
your dessert round baskets contained steak sauce,
kumquats, chocolate Brussels sprouts,
and grilled dessert pizza.
- Chef Bret? - Chefs, I made you
a grilled dessert pizza donut
that's been filled with a grilled kumquat curd
on top of a chocolate Brussels sprout,
and steak sauce mousse.
Gosh. There's so much poetry to
what kind of love you have for food.
The curd with the grilled kumquats, I love.
And then, taking a donut
and throwing it onto the grill,
you're bringing fire back into this dessert
which is brilliant.
This crust on this fritter,
it's taking me to burn marshmallow
in a way that I accept.
And it's desperately needed in this dessert
- because you were like... - Mmm-hmm.
...burry everything in curds and mousses.
The chocolate mousse with the steak sauce
is so super smart.
- It's delicious. - Thank you.
The presentation is a little bless your heart
if we're in the South, you know what I'm saying?
Yes.
Chef Nicole, please tell us about your dessert.
All right, chefs. So, I made a grilled fruit salsa,
crispy grilled tortilla chips,
a whipped cream, and I use the shavings
of the white chocolate Brussels sprouts on top.
This is fun for me. I'm like playing,
like, how much cream, how much salsa
do I want to put on here.
The tortillas, fact that you grilled
the backs of them, I think that's a great nod
to the whole essence of this competition.
I love this.
It feels really thoughtful
at the end of a day full of steak.
Like, it's light, it's refreshing,
is it, like, the most composed dessert?
No.
Here's what I have to say, and it's pretty blunt.
Um, you...
This dessert's not sweet.
And normally, I don't like that.
In this case, I really like it
because it leaves room for the char
of the fruit and on the tortillas.
You did something with this salsa
that harnesses the theme
in the simplest most primal way.
Okay. Thank you, chefs.
Judges, what are some of your most mouthwatering
memories from those meals?
Right off the bat, the taco that Chef Bret made,
I felt like I was in his backyard,
the ramp salsa on top.
And it outta the gate, it had me.
Unfortunately, the watermelon ham on Bret's taco,
just was, like, right next to the red bell pepper,
and they didn't want anything to do with each other.
[Alex] Nicole made a very similar first course.
But she put pineapple in the mix
and it sort of burry the watermelon ham.
- It wasn't channeling the basket, though. - [Tiffani] Yeah.
[Alex] But the entree round put Nicole's name in lights.
Grilling those long-bone ribeyes,
holding them upright on their side
to char the fat on the edges.
But I was really seduced by all of the methodology
that Chef Bret was bringing to the table.
He was channeling grandma.
[Tiffani] That ribeye shouldn't be dry,
and that's what happened.
And then, I think, you know, in the dessert round,
what Nicole made, made sense.
I wanted to eat the whole thing.
And Bret did so much work in the dessert round,
and there were like a hundred good decisions made.
This is one of those days
where really either of these Chefs could win.
They both played hard with fire.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Nicole] I don't know who the judges are gonna pick.
We're neck and neck right now.
But if I win, that's gonna blow my own mind.
I can see it. I can see the cloche
on the plate opening up,
I can see it for myself,
I'm the Chopped champion.
So, whose dish is on the Chopping Block?
Chef Bret, you've been chopped.
Judges?
Chef Bret, so in the second round,
you worked so hard to cook the steaks so properly.
And then, it went back on the grill,
and it did get a little bit dry.
In the dessert round, the presentation was,
you know, not as appetizing as we wanted.
That dish is still good.
The problem, is the woman standing to your right.
Nicole is why we have to chop you.
I'm not bad at being Chopped by this woman right here.
- [Tiffani] Yeah. - She's incredible.
Thank you all so much. Congratulations.
Of course, there were some mistakes I made today,
it's gonna happen. But I'm gonna focus on the positives.
Nicole did amazing.
Everybody always wants to fight and argue
but there can be love, and you can lift each other up.
And that means, Chef Nicole Hicks,
you are the Chopped champion. You are advancing
to the Playing with Fire Grand Finale.
- Congratulations. - [Alex] Yes.
[Eduardo] Well done. Well done.
- [Alex] Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. - [applause]
[Tiffani] You have to do the whole thing again, you realize?
- I'm ready. I'm ready. - [Tiffani] There you go.
I am super excited to move to the finale.
I'm gonna embrace the fire.