[Ted] Four killer grillers are back,
for the Playing with Fire Grand Finale.
[Nicole] Everything's at stake.
The money, the title, and the recognition.
I'm so excited.
[Zuri] Nobody wants to go home.
We are here to win.
[Nicole] I know how to manipulate fire
to get what I want from it.
You did something that harnesses the theme
in the simplest most primal way.
I said I wasn't gonna cry. [laughs]
The stakes have never been higher.
[Annisha] I don't let the fire control me.
I control the fire.
What are you making?
[woman] I'm making a beef tongue ice cream.
No, you are not.
The sauce is a knockout.
[Annisha] Watch out or you might get burned.
[Zuri] When the meat hits the fire
in that moment I become the master of the meat.
What are you doing with one minute left?
[Zuri] It's like a tornado, here, there, over there.
[Alex] I ate all of it.
I'd give you $25,000
out of Ted's bank account right now.
[Zuri] My food is the future of fire.
I am the maestro.
[Larissa] I'm an Amazonian warrior.
I got what it takes.
[Eric] Oh, look at that. That looks primal.
Larissa's entree was as close to perfect
as I've ever seen.
This is one of the most dramatic appetizers
I can remember having.
[Larissa] Wild like the fire, I'm not easily tamed.
[Eric] $25,000.
I need you to cook like you mean it.
[Ted] This is Chopped: Playing with Fire.
Incredible to see you again, champions.
- [woman] Nice to see you, Ted. - Hi, Ted.
Throughout this competition, we've asked you
to play with fire, innovate and impress.
But now we're asking the best of the best to be better.
- Uh, maestro of fire right there. - No big deal.
The chef who can rise above
will earn the title of Grand Champion
and walk away with a very impressive
$25,000.
- Oh, that money, man. - Yeah, that's mine.
Everybody's wondering what's inside
this finale appetizer basket?
[suspenseful music playing]
[Ted] Go on and find out.
[laughs]
What is this?
[Ted] And we have an epic barbecue burger.
That's different.
Beans, onions, cheese,
pastrami, like a heartburn.
[Ted] Camel tenderloin.
Oh.
[laughs] I've never seen
camel meat in my life.
- [Ted] Fire roasted poblano peppers. - Roasted peppers.
Okay. Poblanos.
- [Ted] And kiwis. - Yes.
Okay.
I can do this.
The app round is just 20 minutes.
And the clock starts now.
[tense music playing]
- All right. - [Alex] All right.
Let's get this finale started.
Let's do this!
Judges, four giants return
to our Playing with Fire kitchen.
And to say these young chefs have skills
would be the understatement of the century.
I mean, it's clear they all came in
with the intentions to win this competition.
$25,000 on the line.
- [Alex] I feel emotionally invested. - [Eric] Yeah.
I feel like I'm gonna be crying.
- [laughs] - I do.
We've had all these competitors
not win any prize money just win the right for a spot
and today's pay day.
$25,000,
there's also 25,000 different choices
you can make with this basket.
You have to figure out how you're going to utilize
this epic barbecue burger
while also figuring out how you're gonna cook
this camel tenderloin in 20 minutes.
I mean, this is a very difficult basket,
befitting a finale.
[groans]
Who chooses these ingredients?
I wanna kill them. [laughs]
Just an average day at the Chopped kitchen.
But I've tried camel meat before,
it's a pretty tasty meat.
It's lean, it's mild.
So, I think to myself, a taco.
I am making a grilled camel taco
with roasted poblano salsa.
Trying to make a tortilla out of napa cabbage.
I'm indigenous to the Brazilian Amazon.
I was born and raised in the jungle.
So, I grew up cooking with fire.
Add a little char please.
It's something that has been running through my veins.
It just is part of who I am.
- [Chris] Annisha? - [Annisha] Yeah?
- How are you feeling? - I'm, uh, feeling fine.
- [laughs] - You're gonna win this thing or what?
Uh, pretty sure.
I am the next generation of fire.
I'm not afraid of trying new things.
I'm not afraid of taking risks as a chef.
I'm from Tijuana.
And I grew up like eating quesadillas.
I'm gonna make a camel grilled quesadillas
and kiwi salsa.
I'm grilling the camel.
I'm also grilling the patties
from the epic burger.
I'm gonna mix it together
to put inside the quesadillas.
Fire roasted poblanos is like my culture.
I'm gonna mix it with a cheese
to have like different textures
inside of the quesadillas.
I know the camel is like
the kind of obvious centerpiece,
but that poblanos like speaks loudly.
[Chris] They have a little bit of a spice,
but they're more earthy, smoky.
It might be interesting to actually add poblano
and that kiwi, kind of make a interesting,
maybe, salsa verde.
[Alex] Nicole, what is it you're making?
Crostini with a kiwi relish and some poblano.
- [Alex] Oh, nice. - [Alex] Yeah, high?
It's really nice to see the kiwi
because it reminds me so much of my daughter
because it's one of her favorite fruits.
I'm making a grilled camel crostini
with a kiwi and poblano sweet
and spicy relish.
I'm not a typical griller.
I specialize in soul food and Caribbean cuisine.
I use lots of fresh fruits.
There's newer, younger chefs changing the face
of grilling and I'm one of them.
[Zuri] Have you ever cooked with camel before?
- [Nicole] Never. First time. - Yeah, right.
Oh, it's the first time for something, right?
[Nicole] Yeah.
[Zuri] I never worked with camel in my life.
But I'm able to get this every single day at work, so why not?
So, I'm going to make a grilled camel bruschetta
and a kiwi pico de gallo.
My background is Mexican. And we work
with wood fire all day every day.
It's that's $25,000
out of my pocket to be honest.
I have to win.
[Chris] Chef Zuri, feeling confident?
I feel confident but I feel the pressure as well.
It's Chopped kitchen. Who doesn't feel the pressure?
[Chris] You got just under 10 minutes left, Chefs.
Feeling the heat.
Watching all four of these new faces of fire,
I mean, you could just see the energy.
They clearly have the chops to be here.
So, they have to keep that level of consistency
and really quality super, super high.
The tension is high.
[Zuri] Hey, can I borrow your bread knife?
[Larissa] Please, go for it.
I can see the intensity in Zuri's face.
I see the seriousness in Nicole's face.
I look at Annisha and she's literally springing
like a gazelle across the kitchen.
It's madness in here.
Behind.
[Annisha] I'm so, so into making killer salsa
to complement my quesadilla.
I'm gonna grill the kiwis,
throw it with some tomato, and some red onion.
[Larissa] Every good taco has onions
and cilantro diced up on top.
So, I'm doing a cilantro and kiwi relish
and roasted poblano salsa
with some chipotle paste.
[Chris] Chef Larissa, are you feeling
the pressure of the stakes or what?
Making tacos alongside two Mexicans,
so a little scared.
Look at this epic barbecue burger.
It's got the bun, barbecue baked beans,
pastrami, and burger patty.
It's the works.
[Nicole] There is so much
on this epic barbecue burger.
I'm picking the beans because I know I can make
a really nice spread with it.
I add feta cheese and a tad bit of lime juice.
[Eric] I'm really impressed by Nicole right now.
She just seems completely cool, calm, like a swan.
Like she's in the zone, which is great.
[Nicole] I came into this competition
to prove to my daughter
and also to little girls that look like me
that they can literally get behind the grill
and crush anything that they do.
[Zuri] Epic barbecue burger.
I wanna use the baked beans and the onion rings.
I'm thinking puree.
So, I start by caramelizing some onions,
I put some agave for sweetness.
I put them on the blender with my beans,
my onion rings.
I'm grilling my sourdough, because that's what bruschetta means
like burned over fire.
It's a fire championship.
You need to play with fire.
[Ted] Less than five minutes to go, Chefs.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Chris] Guys, Zuri has not put his,
uh, camel tenderloin on the grill.
If I don't get this camel on the grill soon, I am chopped.
And he's got to cook that to at least a medium rare,
I don't know if he's gonna have time.
[Alex] I am profoundly worried on a nuclear level.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Zuri] It is the final minutes of the round.
I haven't even cooked my camel.
He sliced it really thin and then it obviously
doesn't need too long to actually be on the grill.
Uh, so hopefully he has a really nice grill.
[Nicole] I go check on the camel tenderloin
and it's...
pretty rare inside.
But I don't have time
to put it back on the grill.
[Chris] Less than two minutes.
Concentrate on presentation, please.
[Larissa] Time is ticking. Oh, my God.
Now, I don't know what the hell to do
with this freaking burger.
Something going down on the grill now
- with so little time left on Larissa's station. - [Ted] No.
I'm just hoping that
the cured aspect of the pastrami
will complement the freshness of the camel.
One minute to go, Chefs.
I'm chopping really, really fast, right,
trying to.
Respect to Annisha
for taking the time to hand chop that salsa.
That's time well spent to me
even if it's precious.
[Chris] Thirty seconds, thirty, 3-0.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Ted] Get it done, champs. Get it done.
Do not forget about presentation.
[Larissa] Oh, my God, my heart is pounding.
The stress is real.
[Eric] Focus on those plates, guys.
- You can do this. - [Eric] Come on now.
[Ted] Ten, nine, eight,
- seven... - [Alex] You can do it.
-[Eric] Let's go guys. Finish strong, come on. -[Ted] ...six, five,
four, three, two, one.
Come on Larissa, finish, finish, finish.
[Ted] Time's up!
[sighs]
I'm very nervous right now.
I'm very, very nervous. I hope that
what I did is enough.
[Nicole] I'm feeling nervous.
But, I mean, it's Playing with Fire.
So, I flared it up. Hopefully the judges like it.
[tense music playing]
[Ted] Chefs, in the appetizer basket you got
an epic barbecue burger,
camel tenderloin,
fire roasted poblano peppers,
kiwis.
- Chef Larissa. - I made for you, Chefs,
a grilled camel taco
with fire roasted poblano
and chipotle salsa
and kiwi relish.
The wrap that you used, is that cabbage?
Yeah, that is a napa cabbage taco.
Chef Larissa, it's pretty bold and, uh, inventive
to grill some cabbage.
I like the direction.
I got some of the smoke from the poblanos
- and the chilies that you used. - Thank you, Chef.
Really a lot of good work here.
The very first bite I got was perfect.
Kiwi, there's not a lot of it, but you get little pops of it.
It makes for a really nice light appetizer.
I love the cabbage
- as tortilla it makes so much sense. - Yup.
[Alex] Unfortunately my camel is really undercooked
and that for me made it problematic to eat.
[Ted] Who you're playing for, Larissa?
This is all for my grandma. She was my queen.
She's the one who raised me
and I grew up in a village
of 40 people by the Amazon River.
She cooked every meal for a whole village
and I was her little assistant.
So, this is my dedication
and hopefully she'll be proud.
Beautiful. I'm sure she is.
Next up, Chef Zuri.
Hello, Chefs, uh, what I did today
is a grilled camel bruschetta and right on top of it
is, uh, my version of, uh, green pico de gallo,
but instead of the tomatillos
I used the kiwi for sweetness and acidity.
I see the beans, right away
I know I had to puree them, and I caramelized some onion
- to add some more sweetness... - Did you add sugar to that?
- No, I add agave. - I think that you put
a little bit too much agave in.
But I think your saving grace
is that really, really nice poblano relish
that you added in the kiwis.
You get that fieriness and I love that pickle.
- Thank you, Chef. - I love the flavors here.
There's a real, nice, acidic tang.
The problem though
is your camel tenderloin.
You got it on the grill so late that you didn't allow
for the camel to get nice grill marks.
Oh, I'll use the fire next time more, you know.
You cook meat on the fly all day long
and you thought you could pull it off.
But careful you don't undercook it.
Chef Zuri, what would winning mean to you?
It means a lot, you know, I'm here for my mom.
I think I wouldn't be the chef that I am
without the instructions of my mom.
I want her to feel proud of me.
I want her to be happy.
And at the same time, I'm here to prove
- that I'm a badass chef. - Thank you, Chef Zuri.
Next up, Chef Nicole.
So, today I have made
a grilled camel crostini
with a bean and feta spread
and a kiwi poblano relish.
Chef Nicole, who at home
is going to be so proud to see you here?
Definitely my daughter.
It's really important for her to see me
get behind the grill and really dominate.
The way you constructed this, you took a vehicle
and you spread all your layers neatly on top
and every bite I get all your flavors together.
I also get a nice char from the bread.
- Thank you. - The crust on that crostini
gave us that playing with fire we were looking for
and that kiwi sauce is really, really delicious.
But everything needs to have the perfect amount of salt,
perfect amount of acid, and I'm not getting that.
My camel's really, really undercooked.
My camel's really undercooked too.
As is mine, yeah.
[speaking Spanish] Chef Annisha.
I made a grilled camel quesadilla
with grilled kiwi salsa.
[whimsical music playing]
This salsa is by far
my favorite thing of the entire round.
Best thing I've tasted in this entire round,
really delicious. I also think the quesadilla
is a brilliant vehicle and it was grilled perfectly.
I think you did a great job playing with fire.
- Thank you. - I agree with the salsa.
And this is probably the best preparation of the camel
as far as it being easy to eat.
It is a little bit under seasoned,
- but all in all really good. - Thank you.
Just be careful that the reason your camel use
was the best is because you barely used it.
But can you cook, man.
[Ted] Chef, what's motivating you to be here?
My entire family lives in, uh, Tijuana.
And this is to show them that I'm doing okay.
Especially, like, my brother, me and my brother,
we're very, very tight and he's, like, my biggest fan.
So, this is mostly for him, I guess.
All right, we'll call you back soon.
Thank you, Chefs.
[tense music playing]
Sorry.
She just wanted to cry so much,
instead I cried.
I just feel, like, we are trying to prove
something to our family, your daughter, your brother,
my mom, your whole family, and your village.
I don't remember the time where all four chefs
were so deeply connected. They're winning...
- [Eric] Really well. - [Chris]...to their family.
It's, like, it's a personal thing
and the more personal it becomes
the challenge gets bigger, you know?
Yeah. All of them wanna win so much it's just...
I know. There's a lot on the line for sure.
[suspenseful music playing]
To be honest, I really am almost positive
that I'm going home.
So, it's really bummer to feel like that...
Those $25,000 are slipping through my hands.
The judges said that my camel was undercooked.
I'm just praying that the judges don't chop me
and if they don't I have to bring my A game.
[suspenseful music playing]
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
[Ted] Chef Nicole, you've been chopped. Judges.
Chef Nicole, you served us a really, really
beautiful dish today.
Unfortunately though, the camel was undercooked
- and we had to chop you. - Thank you.
Y'all better kick ass for real.
- [laughter] - [Nicole] Thank you.
- Can I just say something? - Of course.
Chef, you are the most intimidating man
- I've ever met in my life. - [laughter]
I was praying before I got here.
I said, "He's gonna rip me."
But I'm glad you tasted my food.
All of you. It's been an honor.
- And he's a teddy bear. - [laughter]
- [Ted] He really is. - [Nicole] Thank you.
It's a pleasure watching you cook.
- Thank you. Thank you so much. - [Eric] Good job.
[Chris] Best of luck. Thank you, Chef.
[Ted] Thank you for being with us, Chef.
[Eric] Okay.
Chef Larissa, Chef Zuri, Chef Annisha.
Let's see what ingredients you'll have to conquer next.
[tense music playing]
Yes.
Oh, these are beautiful?
[Ted] You'll be working with octopus.
I love octopus, all day long, baby.
I think octopus is king of the ocean.
I love it.
Dragon beans.
[Ted] Dragon's tongue beans, prime rib roast.
Right up my alley.
[Zuri] The octopus is the king of the ocean.
The prime rib roast is the king of the earth.
[Ted] And a bucket of frozen fruit pops.
All right.
[Ted] Thirty minutes.
[tense music playing]
The clock starts now.
- [Eric] Let's go, guys. - All right.
- Let's go, let's go. - [Chris] Two rounds to go,
two rounds to go.
Judges, this is a pivotal moment.
What are you expecting from these talented chefs?
This is called Playing with Fire.
We really wanna see these chefs
utilize that grill as much as possible.
I think Playing with Fire is also about risk.
I totally agree with you. Show us better techniques,
show us better knife skills.
There really shouldn't be much mistakes, right?
Everything should be fine tuned.
On the first round, I didn't char my camel properly.
On this round, they have to see
that I'm the grill master.
I wanna make grilled octopus with grilled prime rib roast,
and a fruit pop grilled red pepper puree.
Dragon tongue beans, I never seen them.
They look, like, fava beans,
but they are a little bit harder.
So, my first thought is to blanch them
to make them soft.
[Ted] Those dragon's tongue beans are beautiful.
It's gonna take a little while to shuck them.
They need to be shelled and then, Ted,
you need to cook the beans a little bit
so that's time consuming.
And then prime rib roast which is usually a cut of meat
that you're going to roast for some period of time,
so you got to take short cuts here with this big cut.
I'm actually slicing that steak quite thin
because this is never gonna cook
if I make a big fat roast.
I am grilling my octopus and I think
that this is a good way to go for a salad.
I'm making a prime rib steak with a grilled octopus salad
topped with a fruit pop raspberry vinaigrette.
In this appetizer round, Annisha did
a beautiful job in her quesadilla.
She's definitely my biggest competition here.
I really feel like I have to elevate my game.
I like octopus. I like dragon beans.
I like prime rib roast.
And I'm Mexican so I'm gonna marry
all these ingredients in a taco.
I'm gonna make baja grilled taco
with octopus and carne asada.
For the octopus, I grill it, I'm pouring beer
just to give it a little bit more flavor.
Twenty minutes on the clock, Chefs.
I know for a fact that I can make a badass sauce.
So, I'm thinking salsa verde
with basil, tarragon, and parsley.
I put some vinegar in there, anchovies,
and start blending all together.
Prime rib roast, I need to butcher it
to make some big steaks out of it
and I'll throw them on the grill.
[tense music playing]
I'm pan frying my dragon beans
with olive oil, and smoked salt,
and really flambeing it. This is a fire competition.
It makes perfect sense.
I'm a ball of nerves but I'm an Amazonian warrior
I got what it takes.
Less than nine minutes on the clock, Chefs.
[Eric] Guys, do you know how much money is on the line?
- $25,000, guys. - $25,000.
I need you to cook like you mean it.
[tense music playing]
Right now, I have all my cards on the table.
I need to show the best.
I'm gonna make dragon tongue bean romesco.
Romesco is a traditional sauce from Spain.
It's roasted tomatoes, roasted onions, roasted garlic.
And I'm also gonna add some cashews
to the dragon tongue beans
and some chile de arbol.
[Chris] What do you think about these frozen fruit pops?
I used to eat when I was a kid, but I don't anymore.
- Last week... - Yeah, right.
- [laughs] - eat these types
of frozen ice pops.
You got to pick one flavor and go with that one flavor.
Yeah. I totally agree.
Try to amplify that flavor whatever
ice pop that you chose.
I'm making a roasted bell pepper puree,
I know the orange fruit pops
is gonna be excellent for that.
So, once my pepper start to grill,
I put them on the face top to boil
and then I add the fruit pop and I started
blending everything away.
Sauces are not easy.
You need some time to develop that flavor
so I'm taking a big risk right here.
Three and a half minutes on that clock, Chefs.
[tense music playing]
This gigantic room has become
such a gigantic pressure cooker.
I'm concerned that my steak is not gonna get, uh,
the char that I hoped for,
then I turned around and my steaks are on fire.
I wonder if this is a gift from my grandma
honing in her fire spirits into me.
[tense music playing]
I'm gonna make a radicchio slaw
and I'm gonna use this fruit pop as a dressing,
and I add some cilantro, and some jalapenos,
and adding mayo will help with the bitterness.
Oh, my God, we're coming up on one minute.
- [Alex] Finish that now. - Finish strong. Finish strong.
Does it taste good? Does it look good?
[tense music playing]
Dragon beans. Once they're soft,
I toss them with potatoes, with the butter,
sage and some rosemary.
[tense music playing]
[Larissa] I wanna add some raspberry in last minute
to go with my raspberry lemon vinaigrette.
- [Chris] Ten seconds. - [Eric] Come on, Chefs.
[Ted] Make those plates clean and perfect, Chefs.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five...
- Come on Larissa. - four, three, two, one.
Time's up. Please step back.
Larissa, again down to the absolute wire
just like in the last round.
[applause]
Good job, guys.
[suspenseful music playing]
I'm pumping right now. I think I'm gonna have
a heart attack. Hopefully not, but yes,
I feel great man.
It's a $25,000 dish.
[Larissa] This level of competition is really high.
These are very experienced talented chefs
and it's making me a little worried honestly.
I might be going home, huh?
[suspenseful music playing]
Chefs, the entree round saw you working with octopus,
dragon's tongue beans, prime rib roast,
and a bucket of frozen fruit pops.
So, what's up here, Chef Larissa?
So, today for you, Chefs, I have grilled octopus salad
with prime rib steak.
Tell me a little bit about the vinaigrette
that you used for the salad.
Yeah. So, it's a raspberry pop vinaigrette.
Okay. I'll be frank.
I'm not a big fan of raspberries...
- Okay. - um, and you've actually
converted me a little bit.
This is a really, really sharp dressing.
The steak, nicely prepared.
My hiccup though is how thinly sliced the octopus is,
- so I'm not getting much char. - Mmm-hmm.
Obviously you wanna play with fire, right?
So, you wanna bring a little bit of that char,
you wanna bring a little bit of that smoke.
- Thank you, Chef. - Of course.
Um...
You don't look, like, a salad kind of guy,
- so I'm a little afraid. - [laughter]
Wow.
Well, that's gonna skew my comments then.
No. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.
- I'm just kidding. - Come on, salad man.
- Um... - [laughter]
It's light, it eats well, great cook on the steak.
I just feel, like, you made a good steak
then you made a good octopus salad,
but I'm just not sure it's one dish.
You got it, Chef. Thank you.
Loved that you went to the pantry
and got fresh raspberries to tamp down
the artificial flavor of your fruit pop.
But I don't think the octopus and the steak
are talking to each other enough.
So, right now it's, uh, steak versus octopus.
Okay. Good feedback.
Next up, Chef Zuri.
What I did today is a, uh, fruit pop grilled
red bell pepper puree with a grilled prime rib roast
finished with a salsa verde.
I think you really did bring the fire here
with your sauce and I think the octopus
is a knockout, just really good cooking.
- Thanks. - You know, as usual,
your sauces are just amazing.
I don't think there's been a round
where you haven't made some kind of sauce or salsa
that hasn't really delivered.
But, man, this prime rib roast,
80% is this un-rendered fat and undercooked beef.
I can't eat most of the steak.
I love the cook on the, um, octopus,
but my steak is, like, still alive.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
[Eric] It's very, very raw.
What did you do to the dragon tongue bean?
Uh, I mean I blanched it, but I, uh,
I should have tried them, maybe a little bit...
Yeah, yeah, these are just way too raw.
They're very, very starchy.
Heard, Chef. Thank you.
Finally, Chef Annisha.
What you guys have in front of you is, uh,
baja grilled taco.
On top, we have a slaw that I made with a radicchio
and then I use the beans for a romesco sauce.
Please, I invite everyone to eat it with your hands
and give it a big bite.
[tense music playing]
Visually it's a really, really beautiful plate.
You get the chew from the octopus.
You get the crunch from the radicchio that I really love.
It makes you want to, you know, eat the next bite.
You said, you know, I invite you to eat it with your hands,
but I literally couldn't because all the food
that you have in here plus the amount of sauce,
the flour tortilla just fell apart.
I do think that the steak is cooked really nicely.
The octopus is also cooked nicely.
I just wish you maybe had divided this into two tacos.
Got it.
I really like the puree of dragon tongue beans.
I just think you needed to chop everything up more...
- Okay. - because it's hard
to take a bite of a taco and collect
this much protein in one bite,
not one of your strongest dishes.
- I understand. - Okay. Thank you, Chefs.
Yeah, I'm going home.
- Chin up, man. - [Larissa] Can you look at me?
I'm cheering for you too. Okay?
I'm honestly, like, really sad
and I'm, like, really disappointed,
the taco it just fell short.
I was hoping to see a little bit more push from Annisha.
It felt a little bit clumsy.
Chef Zuri, just wasn't cooked all the way through.
[Chris] Well, that's the thing right?
Playing with Fire.
This didn't touch fire at all.
I'm not arguing.
[suspenseful music playing]
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Zuri, you've been chopped. Judges.
Chef Zuri, the reality is this. None of the chefs
in that round really cracked the code.
We did love the way you grilled the octopus,
but your prime rib roast, the pieces that you gave us
were either undercooked or really fatty.
And also the dragon tongue beans were just raw
and didn't integrate with the dish well,
and so we had to chop you.
- You did amazing. - You're amazing.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[Zuri] I'm sad, but at the end I put my soul in it
and I wanna keep mixing those flavor,
get crazy with it, keep making sexy food.
[dramatic music playing]
Are you two surprised that it's gonna be between you two?
- [Larissa] For sure. - Yeah.
But it is really awesome to see
two Latin women in the end.
There's not a lot of Latin women doing what we're doing.
- Best of luck. - Yes.
You're my toughest competitor.
[suspenseful music playing]
Chef Larissa, Chef Annisha.
25 grand, you know, what that amount of cash looks like?
No.
It looks, like, this.
Wow.
[Larissa] Oh, my God.
That's a lot of cash.
The most cash I've ever seen.
[singer] ♪ Big, old bag of money ♪
[laughs]
Inhale, exhale, open them up.
- Whoa. - It's a basque cheesecake?
The stars of your plates should be
basque burnt cheesecake.
- [Annisha] Basque cheesecake. - Yes. Sweet.
What is this thing that is fried?
- [Ted] Chicken fried bacon. - Bacon?
That's an interesting one.
- [Ted] Flame grapes. - Wow.
- [Ted] Corn on the cob. - Beautiful corn.
Corn. All right.
Thirty minutes to take down one last competitor.
Clock starts now.
- Let's go guys, go! - This is it!
Final round guys. Push strong, push strong.
Last round, guys.
[Alex] Excuse me. Step aside, salad man,
because I have been here the whole time.
This is my house.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Annisha] Chef, I'm gonna take some of your sugar, okay?
No worries.
[Ted] What is the texture of the basque cheesecake?
Is it just like regular cheesecake texture?
No, it's like gooey, creamy,
as opposed to like cheesecake is firm,
this is like melt in your mouth.
I mean, the obvious interpretation is just
to literally blend it with some cream
and pour that into the ice cream machine.
[Annisha] I'm gonna do ice cream with a big chunk
of basque burnt cheesecake. You have the texture,
you have the creaminess.
[Chris] Annisha, what's your $25,000 dessert?
[Annisha] Can we talk in like 15 minutes?
I'm gonna make basque burnt cheesecake ice cream
with grilled corn custard.
I'm Mexican and we believe that corn is a gift from God.
I'm gonna saute it with cream to make a custard.
$25,000 is such a big deal.
- Excuse me. - I've been dreaming about
having like my little seafood shack on the beach,
making tostadas, ceviches all day long.
Your expectations must be sky high.
You know, both chefs today have brought
a ton of flavor, a ton of heart.
I think they're neck and neck.
[Alex] Larissa is more prone to this wacky flash of genius
and Annisha is more of that day-to-day grind.
So, I say you know, it's anyone's game.
The entree round was a big disappointment.
I'm back in this game.
And now all I care about is making a $25,000 dessert.
I wanna give back to my grandma.
You know, I wanna help her
build her house in the Amazon.
So she's a little bit more comfortable.
There's a lot on the line here.
What are you making over here?
I am making a chocolate and corn financier.
- [Alex] Okay. - An ode to the Yucatan
tradition, cacao, corn with a grilled grape reduction.
Take a deep breath. You're doing great. Okay?
[Larissa] Thank you, Chef. Thank you.
Think how much heart you're pouring in there.
[Annisha] Behind, behind. Coming through.
I'm going to the ice cream machine.
[Annisha] Behind, behind, behind, behind.
[Larissa] Annisha's very strong
and intense competitor.
But my heart is fully invested.
It would be really a huge bummer to go home
so close to the prize.
How does it look?
[Annisha] It looks good.
[upbeat music playing]
Nine minutes on the clock, Chefs.
So, judges, inside this final basket
they have chicken fried what?
- Bacon. - Bacon.
[Ted] You must cook the bacon first.
[Eric] Yeah, and batter it and then deep fry it again.
So, it's crispy, it's crunchy, it's salty.
[Annisha] Desserts have to have textures.
So, this chicken fried bacon,
I will make it into a crumble.
[Larissa] I decide to toss this chicken fried bacon
into the food processor to make a nice
little crumb with it.
Burnt basque cheesecake.
It's baked in the wood fire.
I whip it nice and fluffy.
I'm mixing in a little bit of the chicken fried bacon
for a little extra smokiness and hopefully
that's going to complement my financier.
Let us pray.
[Ted] Just over four minutes left on the clock, Chefs.
[Annisha] I'm grilling my grapes to break the skin
as much as possible and create a compote.
I'm gonna mix this with strawberries,
balsamic vinegar, and orange.
[Larissa] I'm doing a grilled grape reduction
because I know that it's gonna add sweetness
and acidity into the dish
and it's also a beautiful color
and then I pop my financiers out of the oven.
Please stay with me. Please stay with me.
Larissa is trying to get the cakes out of her mold.
Come on. They're not coming off.
I'm freaking out.
Are we gonna have a cake unmolding fiasco?
Oh God, it's a nail biter.
I'm gonna have to talk to my therapist.
[tense music playing]
- [Alex] I don't wanna look. - [Chris] This is a big moment.
- [Alex] I don't wanna look. - [Chris] Big moment.
[Larissa] One. So, I'm trying to get these financiers
out of the mold and I'm whacking them
and whacking them.
Two, three, four.
Yes! Success.
- [Chris] Hold on. It came out. - [Alex] Yay!
- All right. - [Ted] Yes. Yes.
They're beautiful.
[Ted] One minute to go, Chefs.
[Chris] One minute. Come on, guys.
One minute in this whole competition!
[Larissa] Let's push.
Pastry, so much work.
Annisha, how are you feeling?
Uh, I mean, I'm looking at your beautiful plating.
I'm kinda scared.
[Eric] Be strong, guys. Come on now.
Come on, you can do this. Finish strong!
[Ted] Here we go, Chefs. Final seconds of the final round.
- Ten, nine, eight... - [Alex] Let's go. Let's go.
- [Ted] ...seven... - [Eric] Come on, now.
[Ted] ...six, five, four, three, two, one.
[Chris] Come on, come on.
[Ted] That's it.
- [Alex] Wow. - Right.
- Nice job, guys. - [applause]
Good job with that plating of yours.
Right, right, like, your piping.
[Larissa] It's $25,000, we got to pipe.
- Can I see? - Yeah, of course...
Show me yours, I'll show you mine.
- Yeah. - [Larissa] Beautiful.
[Annisha] That looks beautiful.
[Larissa] You made ice cream.
- Yeah. - You're winning.
Yeah. You're winning.
You did piping and baking.
[upbeat music playing]
Chef Larissa, Chef Annisha,
you opened the last basket
in our Playing with Fire tournament
and found chicken fried bacon, corn on the cob,
flame grapes, and basque burnt cheesecake.
Chef Annisha, what do we have?
So, we have grilled corn custard
with gilled grape compote
and a burnt basque cheesecake ice cream
topped with a butter fried bacon.
I like the bourbon burnt
basque cheesecake ice cream quite a bit.
And I also like the corn custard underneath.
I like the crumble that you made on top.
Really, really smart concept but the grapes,
is just a random chew that feels awkward.
I wish maybe you had sliced them.
If you had cut up the grapes
and our tongue passed over a slice of grape
instead of crackling and having it burst
- and being really sour. - Okay.
Other than that the lick of fire,
- I get it loud and clear. - Thank you.
Thank you, Chef Annisha.
Finally, Chef Larissa.
I have a grilled corn and cacao financier
with a grilled grape reduction
and a basque mousse.
The burnt basque cheesecake,
it wasn't as pronounced as it was in your competitor's,
but it does come through.
I really like the mousse.
The flavors are good.
And I do like it with the financier.
Mmm-hmm.
What did you do with the grapes?
So, I did a grilled grape reduction.
As far as working with those grapes,
I thought you did it better than Annisha.
The financier, it feels like a lava cake
when you kind of cut into it.
But then it's just so chocolate forward.
Eating that chocolate really just blew out my palate
and I completely forgot about the basket ingredients.
I'm totally confused
because things don't really belong here.
And there's some really good cooking.
- I got it, Chef. - [Alex] I'm so confused.
It's gonna take me like a month to figure out who won.
We'll be having panic attacks for a month until you decide.
[Ted] Please give us some time.
Thank you.
[Larissa speaking]
[Annisha speaking]
- Two Latinas. - I know.
- Yes. - I'm so excited.
We've knocked all of these cliches out of the water.
I think you and I will show them that
we're here all the time. You guys like
- this is awesome. - Now, you can see us.
[Annisha] Exactly.
This is very, very close, and it's gonna come to...
Down to very small mistakes.
Starting with appetizer round, I really liked Larissa's taco.
It was a really nice light appetizer.
I loved Larissa's cabbage
but the camel was really undercooked and in big pieces.
- [Eric] Yeah. - [Chris] Annisha made
that quesadilla and then she made
that beautifully chopped salsa.
I just wish she had seasoned it a little bit.
Yeah, it was definitely under seasoned
but I thought the use of the camel was really smart.
Annisha came out so strong
but then she gave us a taco in the second round.
And I don't think her ratios were right.
She had too much of the sauce on the bottom,
her octopus was cut too large pieces.
Aside from getting away from how wonky it was
the octopus I thought was really, really tasty.
- Yeah. - I really liked
Larissa's entree, the prime rib.
I got really beautiful medium rare slices
really nicely seasoned.
But I felt, like, she didn't put those
- basket ingredients together. - I totally agree with you.
This is gonna be such a tough decision.
- [Eric] Yeah. - It's been Larissa's
sort of unicorn sparks of creativity
versus Annisha's sort of axe to the grind stone cooking.
Great quality food from both of them.
- Yeah. - Hmm.
[tense music playing]
[Larissa] This is it.
I really wanna bring home this prize for my grandma.
It would really show her that what she taught me
was so valuable and special.
[Annisha] It's just, like, when you're running
that marathon that you want that glass of water,
that's how I feel right now.
I really feel, like, I deserve to win.
[Ted] So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
[tense music playing]
[Larissa] Congratulations.
Congratulations.
- Congratulations. - [laughs]
Chef Larissa, you've been chopped. Judges.
Larissa, right out of the gate,
you were playing with the fire,
we were getting that taste of the grill
but for your main course,
you didn't bring the steak and the octopus
into a cohesive plate.
And the driving force of your dessert was chocolate
and the basket ingredients just felt, like,
they weren't as good as your pantry choices.
Thank you, Chefs.
It's been a incredible experience.
- You're amazing. - You're amazing.
Hands down. You're amazing.
I couldn't... I couldn't choose to [indistinct].
Now, go be a champ. A grand champ.
Yeah, I'm really bummed but I was able to show
that I am just a new face of fire.
My grandma should be proud no matter what.
And that means, Chef Annisha Garcia,
you are the Chopped Grand Champion,
25 grand is your prize.
- Congratulations. - [applause]
[Annisha] Yes.
[Eric] How do you feel?
I feel so humbled to be here
to meet all of you guys,
to meet the competitors.
To be the last one standing
is just, like, such an honor.
It's just many feelings at the same time.
I can't even describe right now.
My family and my brother,
they will be really, really proud.