[Ted] We're celebrating shakes and fries in every basket.
Milkshake with cheesecake.
[Ted] Let's see how well our chefs balance
these sweet and salty flavors.
There's a lot to play with inside this basket.
[Ted] And serve up craveable dishes from this beloved
creamy crunchy combo.
I love this entire dish.
The texture is incredible.
It's like the best of both worlds.
- You got this. - [Ted] Three, two, one.
I'm feeling the pressure.
Time's up.
Four strong contenders are ready to go.
[dramatic music playing]
[Alex] I'm a Cali boy at heart
but I know a thing or two about shakes and fries.
Anything can be a French fry.
I'm very particular with my milkshake.
No spoon.
Straw only.
Elevating classics is what I do.
I'm the chef owner of Bread Head
in Los Angeles, California.
I worked at a Michelin Star restaurant for four years.
I'm gonna take this one home.
[Jackie] Don't let my size fool you.
I am a sous chef at La Calenda in Napa Valley.
La Calenda is focused on all the regions of Mexico.
I was a pastry chef for almost 10 years.
Milkshakes and French fries means there's a lot of versatility
with what I can do with that sweet and salty combination.
Here we go.
I'm ready to win this thing.
[Nico] I'm ready to see these baskets.
Put the competition in the caskets. [laughs]
I'm a private chef at St. Louis, Missouri.
My food is fun, creative, looks great, like me.
My reputation is growing to St. Louis.
I've been recognized as Feast Magazine as rising stars.
This combination of shale and fries? Man, I'm ready.
Competition?
What competition?
Let's go.
[Emme] I'm somebody who thrives no matter what.
I am a private chef in Seattle, Washington.
I'm bringing to the table big soulful flavors.
That is my style, my Brazilian flavors.
I have three kids at home,
and my kids love shakes and fries.
And so I'm super excited about the shakes and fries theme.
Shakes and fries are like dinner at my house.
I've got so much practice back home that I got this.
- [Ted] Hello, Chefs. - Hey, Chef.
- [all] Hello, Ted. - Who's hungry for some
- milkshakes and French fries? - I'm starving.
[Emme] Definitely. I'm right here.
We're going to get shake and fry themed ingredients
- in every basket. - Yeah.
- Nice. - [Alex] Shakes and fries
is the best combination.
It's very nostalgic.
We've had a lot of milkshakes growing up.
The soda shop superstar and the king of comfort food
sides take the spotlight.
- What do you think? - I love it.
- Ready? - Let's do this thing.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Ted] Please open up your appetizer baskets.
You've got a strawberry cheesecake milkshake
and frozen French fries.
[chuckles] Super loaded.
Craziest milkshake that I ever seen. Yay.
Milkshakes and fries are just the dynamic duo.
Saltiness, sweet. Hot, cold.
What is there not to love?
Meatloaf mix?
[Ted] Thai basil and meatloaf mix
are the supporting players.
- [Alex chuckles] - Yo, this is crazy.
This is a tricky basket.
[Ted] Twenty minutes.
Time starts now.
[upbeat music playing]
Maneet and Scott, you are joined
by a very special guest judge,
a bonified king of comfort food,
Chef Darnell Ferguson.
Why do milkshakes and French fries go so great together?
Opposites attract in food.
And it's like the best of both worlds.
Sweet and savory, creamy and crunchy, go well together.
[Maneet] The fries are always on the edge of being too salty
and the milkshake is always on the edge
of being too sweet.
Milkshake with cheesecake?
My biggest challenge is just balancing the savory
and sweet elements. Too thick.
I put my frozen French fries in a pot with heavy cream
and milk and a nice dollop of that milkshake.
Meatloaf mix, it's ground beef and ground pork.
My first thought is meatball.
I'm making pan-fried meatball with a French fried potato
mousseline in a strawberry tomato sauce.
A mousseline is a French-style puree of vegetable.
Emme, how are you doing?
Just the time. Hoping I can get ahead
of this thing, but I got an idea in my head.
The textures, the temperatures,
the salty, the sweet. There's a lot to play with
inside this basket.
[Emme] I love the shake and fry themes
because it reminds me of my kids.
My youngest daughter actually asked for milkshakes every morning.
This is the craziest milkshake that I've ever seen.
I don't wanna make a sweet appetizer
so I decided that I'm going to make a kibbe frito
with a spicy milkshake crema.
A kibbe is a beef croquette that we eat a lot in Brazil.
I'm gonna use my frozen French fries
so that it can be like a binding agent.
Staying true to my Brazilian flavors.
Trying to make sure that really shines in here.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Nico] Strawberry cheesecake milkshake.
What?
The shake has like whipped cream,
strawberry, cheesecake.
How do I use this? I have no clue.
All I know is I'm just gonna turn these frozen potatoes
into a gnocchi. Get it going fast.
But I'm noticing that they're still chunks, you know,
and I'm like, "Hey, I don't have time.
Let me just work with it."
My first memories of having shakes and fries
really have to do with me coming to the United States.
They obviously have shakes and fries in Mexico,
but coming here, it's a whole new ballpark.
[whirring]
- I see you're doing gnocchi. - Are you?
- [Nico] I'm trying. - Oh, same thing.
So with the French fries, I think gnocchi
would be an amazing little appetizer
with a Thai basil pesto and some seared meatballs.
So, for my Thai basil sauce, I'm adding the cheesecake
on top of that milkshake.
You got this, Jack. You got this, Jack.
[tense music playing]
[Alex] The clock is ticking.
I grab an iSi canister
and I pour that potato mixture into it.
So Alex is doing something that I think could be
a competition mistake, which is to rely
on the whipped cream canister.
[Emme] This is my first round. I want it to represent me.
I love spice. I love big flavors.
I take just the milkshake part from the strawberry cake milkshake,
and I add in some Mexican crema and mix it all together.
- Chef Nico, how's it going on over? - [Nico] What's up?
I am struggling.
But we're gonna get there.
This is not coming together.
My gnocchi is not coming together.
I gotta think of something quick.
Now, I think I'mma just gonna drop them.
Doing like a play on tot maybe.
Boom. I can take this, shape it,
and make potato tots.
So I'm doing potato tots.
And it's like, boom, burgers.
Now, I can make sliders that go well with the potato tots.
And I'm like, "This would be great because every time
I have a shake and fries, I'm eating a burger."
Boom.
I look over at Jackie station.
It looks like she's struggling.
[Jackie] Getting a little goopy here.
The gnocchi dough, it's just not coming together.
But I think, "Let me just see if I can scoop it
with an ice cream scoop and see if it boils."
And it just starts falling apart.
Jackie is really making me worried.
I mean, like her meatballs, as you can see, are raw.
I really don't know how she'll manage to finish.
[suspenseful music playing]
[upbeat music playing]
[Scott] Jackie, how are you, Chef?
- You doing all right? - Uh, yeah.
I'm gonna make stuff happen.
I don't have that much time left on the clock,
and the gnocchi dough it's not binding
so I'm stressing.
It's a little goopy but I have to make it happen.
- So I throw it in the fire... - Watch out.
and I'm gonna call it hush puppies
'cause that's all the options I have really. [laughs]
Oh, my God. I have no idea
if Jackie will be able to finish on time.
Alex, Chef, do you like milkshakes?
I love milkshakes, man.
What do you do about the sweetness problem of that shake?
The Thai basil for sure can help out with bringing
different notes of flavor besides just sweetness to the dish.
[Alex] For my strawberry tomato sauce,
I grab strawberry compote
from that strawberry cheesecake milkshake.
Chop up some tomatoes and add in Thai basil.
[upbeat music playing]
[Emme] I love Thai basil.
It has a little bit of like liquorish, anise taste to it.
I get arugula,
and I toss it with a little olive oil, cilantro.
You're under two minutes, folks.
- Get this stuff on a plate. - Heard.
[suspenseful music playing]
The time is flying.
I'm looking at the shake and I'm like,
"I'm not gonna use the shake instead I'll use
the strawberry sauce," and I start messing it up.
And then I work in some basil.
Also, a little bit of the whipped cream.
And I cut that with some sour cream
to make like a nice crema situation.
Make sure whatever you put on the plate is what you want us to eat.
- Push it. - Oh, my God.
-[Darnell] Let's get it done, Chefs. -[Jackie] I have hush puppies
on the fryer, and I'm just praying that they aren't raw
because I'm not gonna go out on the first round.
Chefs, we are looking for beautiful tempting plates.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one.
Time's up. Please step back.
- [Darnell] Great job, Chefs. - [Scott] Good job.
That round went so fast, it's crazy.
I think I nailed it with the sweetness and saltiness.
I hope you ain't gone too simple.
Uh, well, I wish I could have added a little more
to the dish, but 20 minutes just flew by.
I have the crispy of my kibbe,
the creaminess of my crema, and it really complements
my spicy salty kibbe.
[suspenseful music playing]
Your first basket was a thing of beauty.
Strawberry cheesecake milkshake,
frozen French fries, Thai basil and meatloaf mix.
Chef Emme, what did you make?
I made a kibbe frito
with a spice strawberry crema and an arugula salad on top.
So this dish is really just inspired
by my Brazilian culture.
- Your family is from Brazil? - [Emme] Yeah.
I was born in Brazil.
I gotta tell you, I think it's delicious.
Thank you.
Texture is spectacular as well.
- [Emme] Thank you. - I really like the usage
of the French fry inside that kibbe.
[Emme] Thank you.
Very deft hand that you had with cooking.
- I really like the usage of the cumin in particular. - I appreciate it.
- Thank you. - As far as the plating goes,
I thought you did a great job of choosing
a very bright plate that made your simple plating
seem a little bit more elegant
and raise it up a little bit more.
You could have probably use the Thai basil
- a little bit more with the arugula... - I agree.
- 'cause they have the same kind of components to them. - Yeah.
The dressing to the arugula I think is the star
because it's bright and it lifts the entire dish up.
- The crema is good... - Uh-huh.
but I think it just seemed that you were trying to hide
the strawberry so you put in some raw chili.
- That's a no-no. - [Emme] Sorry, Chef.
- And you know that it's a no, no, right? - Yes. Mmm-hmm.
- Next up, Chef Alex. - So I made you a pan-seared
meatball with a French fried potato mousseline
and a strawberry tomato sauce with Thai basil.
I wonder how the milkshake could really play
into a savory appetizer, right?
And this is it.
The texture of this is very similar to the creaminess
that you would find like a milkshake.
The texture of this mousseline
that you've made is incredible.
Fresh strawberries and tomatoes
along with Thai basil.
The way you use the strawberry milkshake,
- that was inspired. - Thank you.
The highlight for me is hands down that mousseline.
Just a great flavor profile.
It's sexy.
I'm gonna give you a little bit of grief
on the meatball itself.
This is mostly meat.
You need more bread inside there.
It needed some fat, bacon in it or chorizo.
This is... It's slightly dry.
Next up, Chef Jackie. What do we have?
I have a French fry hush puppy and meatballs
with a sweet and spicy basil sauce.
[Scott] So you were gonna gnocchi?
[Jackie] Yeah. So that didn't work out.
Was that stressful at all?
I work in the kitchen, so it's not something
that I'm unfamiliar with. [chuckles]
Well, Chef, I gotta tell you that sauce is bananas.
- It's so good. - You were able to use Thai basil
in way that would make the Thai basil happy.
The flavors you develop, the acid,
it's taken this dish to a whole another place.
The fact that you used the cheesecake inside that puree
is really a masterful touch. It really is.
Thank you.
The hush puppies are not hush puppies.
They are undercook. They are gummy.
But, I mean, you could definitely cook food
and the flavors are there.
Finally, Chef Nico.
I made for you sliders with a strawberry basil cream
and some jumbo tater tots.
- Jumbo tater tots. - [Nico] They look big, you know? [chuckles]
- Chef Nico. - Yes, sir.
This strawberry cheese sauce. Good job, man.
This is so light. It's so airy.
And what is it about fries that people love?
It's the sauce. And the first thing I got off
for this is that sauce right on top.
That just wakes up everything.
The fact that you toasted the bread and butter,
that is such a pro move.
I love the direction that you were going in in the sauce,
but it needed more of the Thai basil.
It needed more of the jalapeño.
It needed more of the salt.
It needed more of the acidity.
- Okay. - [Maneet] Right?
I actually really like the tot itself.
I think it's missing a dipping sauce.
Even if you had taken of some of that milkshake,
use that to... That would have embraced the theme overall.
- Yes, Chef. - [Scott] Right?
[Ted] Chef Nico, thank you. Okay.
Who will get another chance with milkshakes
and French fries in the entree round?
I was the only a chef that did something really different.
Everybody else had similar like meatball dishes.
[Jackie] So the judges weren't so happy with my hush puppies.
I'm a little concerned about that.
[suspenseful music playing]
So the dish on the chopping block.
[suspenseful music playing]
Chef Nico, you've been chopped.
- Judges. - Nico, we really loved
that you served us a slider,
but what the dish really lack was a dipping sauce.
And that made that tot really, really dry.
For these reasons, we have to chop you.
- Thank you. Good luck, guys. - [Emme] Thank you.
Shakes and fries like this that's tough ask,
and I put up something
that I thought it was really solid,
and unfortunately this wasn't enough, so...
[upbeat music playing]
Chef Emme, Chef Alex, Chef Jackie. All right.
Gotta get into these baskets, get you back to work.
I'm looking down at the basket
and I'm feeling the pressure
because I did so well the previous round.
[Ted] Open your entree baskets.
- What? - [Ted] Yum.
Corn ice cream and russet potatoes
a nod to our shakes and fries theme.
What the heck is this?
I actually love corn ice cream.
We eat a lot of that in Brazil.
[Ted] You also got boneless chicken thighs
and Cincinnati chili.
Chili.
Okay.
Thirty minutes to crank out main dishes.
[sighs]
Clocks starts...
- Woo-hoo. - Woo.
[Ted] All right, Chef.
[Ted] Cincinnati chili is a signature city dish.
It's something that they're very well-known for
and would go perfectly with fries alongside
and a shake to wash it down.
Cincinnati chili is a thinner chili
but it has a lot more flavor.
It traditionally is served with the pasta.
- It is the worst part yet. - That's the worst part.
[Darnel laughs]
The challenge is to come up with a cohesive dish
with checks both the milkshake
- and the fry boxes. - Yeah.
The sweet, the salty, the crunchy,
the smooth, or even hot and cold.
That is going to be the most important thing.
So for my entree, I really wanna make sure
that I embrace the theme of shakes and fries.
And I really wanna make sure that I continue
to incorporate my Latin flavors.
I'm making a chicken saltado
with the Cincinnati chili salsa.
A lomo saltado is a stir fry of meat with French fries.
I season the boneless chicken thighs with ginger,
garlic, salt, and pepper and crisp it up.
When I see that corn ice cream
and the chicken thighs, I immediately think
I'm gonna do Fried chicken and grits
in a Cincinnati chili maple sauce.
So grits are gonna take forever to cook
so I go to that instant polenta
and I'm gonna call it grits.
I'm gonna deep fry that chicken.
I dredge in a mixture of flour,
smoked paprika, and onion powder.
There's no better way to get that crispy
crunchy texture other than deep fry.
Well, a couple of things in these baskets are real gifts.
Not just chicken thighs but boneless chicken thighs.
Thigh being the most tasty,
most flavorful part of the whole chicken.
The chicken thigh is very forgiving
so it gives a little bit more room for error this time.
And then also russet potato.
[Ted] We got a shakes and fries theme going here.
It shouldn't be rocket science to figure out
what to do with those potatoes.
Chicken, where you at?
I'm so happy to see
these boneless chicken thighs.
You can fry it. You can sear it.
You can bake it.
I'm making a smothered fried chicken
with corn ice cream gravy some pomme puree.
So pomme is the French word for potatoes,
so it's just a fancy way of saying mashed potatoes,
but it's also a lot velvetier
than regular mashed potatoes.
So for my corn ice cream gravy,
I get the ice cream. I get some butter, chives.
The cheese from the chili, heavy cream,
and a little chipotle
just to counterbalance all that sweetness.
Mmm. Much better.
Lucky 13 minutes left.
Yeah. That Cincinnati chili is like really...
I take the ground meat from the Cincinnati chili.
I add in a bowl with some tomato,
cilantro, jalapeño, lime juice
to make it into a salsa.
I wanna make sure that I have a nice crunch
to my dish so I cut my russet potato into chips.
I take my potatoes and just make some chips.
For my maple sauce, I really wanna embrace
that shakes and fries theme,
so I put the chili in a sauce pot
along with some maple syrup.
Let's see if this works. I have a little idea.
Cincinnati chili is not the type of chili
that I'm used to.
I'm gonna see what happens when I fry the noodles.
Love the fact that Jackie took the spaghetti...
[Scott] And fried it. Great move.
Talk about fries. That could work.
That's a good play on it.
With the pomme puree, I'm blending it
because I don't know if I have enough time
to mill it, so I think a blender
will make it smooth and velvety.
I've never made mashed potatoes in a blender.
For my apple salad, I get some green apples,
romaine lettuce, strawberries.
Emme has made potato chips one of my many weaknesses.
- So awesome. - Love those things.
I did not come to play around.
I came to play this competition.
And it's a shakes and fries competition.
So with the corn ice cream,
I'm gonna make a corn coconut milkshake.
We're actually gonna make a milkshake in a milkshake
and fry battle, so glad to see that.
Alex's polenta looks pretty good.
[Alex] I'm happy with how my grits are looking.
I feel like the pressure is on because my competitor, Jackie,
is also doing fried chicken.
Looks a little, uh...
Fry it some more.
Jackie, she just cut the chicken.
It was raw in the center.
Now, she's throwing it back in the fryer,
which could result in the chicken
- becoming really dry. - Yes.
That is major setback for Jackie.
- [Darnell] Let's go, Chefs. - [Scott] There you go, Chefs.
- Finish strong. - [Darnell] Let's go.
We're about one minute left.
Let's get it done.
I pull that chicken out of the fryer
and pray that it's done.
I'm getting nervous because everybody else made
really nice elevated dishes
and I made a milkshake.
Oh, my gosh.
- [Ted] Get it done, Chefs. - Come on.
[Darnell] Finish strong. Finish strong.
[Ted] Get the plates as pretty as possible.
- [Scott] Final touches. - [Ted] Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five, four,
three, two, one. Time's up.
[Darnell] Got it. [indistinct]
[applause]
[sighs] Ciao. That was tough.
[upbeat music playing]
[Alex] I feel pretty good after this one.
You know, that extra 10 minutes,
it definitely helps.
So I've put together a winning dish here.
I do feel like there's a lot going on on my plate,
but I did try to add different layers
of like acidity to try to balance all the creaminess.
So hopefully, the judges enjoy my dish.
Chefs, in that second shakes and fries basket,
you got corn ice cream,
russet potatoes, boneless chicken thighs,
and Cincinnati chili.
Chef Jackie, what do we have?
I made smothered fried chicken
with some pomme puree at the bottom.
I took the spaghetti and fried it.
- That was a good idea. - We'll see.
What was this on the bottom you said?
[Jackie] Pomme puree. So just like a mashed potato.
I did it on the blender to make it really smooth.
- Is it really smooth? - Almost smooth as Darnell.
- Almost. - Smooth as a baby's bottom.
Unless you have eight kids like me.
Eight kids? God bless you, man.
This is night and day compared to your first round on the plating.
The fact that you were able to do this style
of fried chicken in that amount of time,
it just says a lot.
And the way that you use that corn ice cream
for that gravy on top of it.
If I had to say anything,
I don't know if you needed strawberries.
- Thank you. - Yeah. That's the balance
of knowing what's important and what is superfluous.
Good example. The strawberries that Darnell mentioned,
they're not necessary here.
A little bit of self-editing as far as things
you don't really need to have on the plate.
[Maneet] The chicken, you have worked beautifully.
In terms of presentation, this looks so inviting.
To me, the pomme puree
is a little bit more of an issue, right?
What happens when you put starch in blenders?
[Jackie] It's gives starchy and gummy.
- [chuckles] - Thank you.
Should've learned the first round.
So right now this is pasty.
And the spaghetti, if you have tossed it in cornstarch
and put in the fryer, really crunchy.
But overall such a far cry from the first round.
- Good job. - Thank you.
Yes, Chef, I think you have a lot of really good stuff here.
But for me the star of this is the chicken
and that really, really good sauce.
- Thank you. - [Ted] Okay.
Next up, Chef Alex.
I made you fried chicken
and a corn ice cream grit
with a Cincinnati chili maple sauce.
Enjoy.
- This dish is bad and boujee. - [laughs]
You know, this is...
This makes me wanna smile, man.
- Thank you, Chef. - When you think about fry,
this is the fry at the bottom of the bag.
You know that... This is the one
that is so good that you want the little crispy pieces
that's floating around the bottom.
The flavors a very deep, very rich.
But the grits can have a little bit more moisture.
I really love the idea of this entire dish.
The idea of the dish does embrace
the entire milkshake and fries theme.
And then just to put those potato chips on top of it
along with the chicken skin,
I think that was just such an inspired move.
But I am not so much in love
with this Cincinnati chili maple sauce on top.
The grits at the bottom are sweet already,
so what you're doing is sweet, salty, sweet, right?
Even if you would've just kept it tart.
I think that building of flavors might have been
a little bit more impactful.
Yeah. I agree with Maneet that this needs spice.
The chili maple sauce, it's just sweet.
If you added spice in that mixture and miso,
I think it would have taken it to a different level.
- Yes. - Next up, Chef Emme.
My dish is a chicken saltado with a Cincinnati chili salsa.
And I also did a coconut corn milkshake.
[Ted] Chicken saltado?
- A Brazilian dish? - So it's actually Peruvian.
- [Ted] Okay. - So I'm keeping with my Latin American roots.
Emme, how did you get started cooking?
Food has been a part of my life forever.
My mom is a chef.
My grandma was a Chef.
My parents opened up
the first Brazilian restaurant in Seattle,
so I literally grow up in the restaurant industry,
and food have always been a passion.
I like the little resistance on the rice itself.
It's not overcooked.
There's a touch of texture to it.
And these flavors are deep and their soulful,
like it's been cooking for hours.
- Thank you. - [Scott] But the chicken is not overcooked.
It's not stringy. And I get the coconut milk.
It's really assertive. It's great.
I get your spices inside there.
Fries and milkshake.
You made it very easy to identify those things.
This is more like an eggnog to me.
And it reminds me of a Caribbean eggnog...
- Mmm-hmm. - because of all the warming spices in there.
But I thought it was smart that you wanted to play
the warming spices that were also in the chili.
- So I get where you were going with that. - Yeah.
Just the coconut, just threw it
to a whole another genre of food.
Thank you.
With the chicken, you took the time to sear it,
but now the skin is all soggy.
But the deep fried potato, great idea.
It's nice and crispy.
So some really good moves.
Thank you. Thank you, Chef.
[Alex] The competition is really tough.
But Darnell told me my dish was bad
and boujee which is good.
The other chefs had amazing dishes,
so I'm not gonna lie, I am a little concerned.
[upbeat music playing]
Just two chefs will be making a third and final course.
So the dish on the chopping block...
[intense music playing]
Chef Alex, you've been chopped.
- Judges. - Chef Alex, this was tough.
It was the grits, they needed a little bit
more fat and moisture.
And it was the maple syrup mixed with the Cincinnati
chili that really was a little bit overwhelming.
For those reasons, you've been chopped.
Thank you, Chefs.
Thank you for the opportunity.
I'm feeling very disappointed, you know?
I really wanted to show off
my skills to the very end.
You know, I didn't win but at least Scott
called my food sexy.
Absolutely.
[intense music playing]
[Ted] Chef Jackie, Chef Emme.
What's on your minds?
Victory.
I wanna finish out strong.
[Ted] All right. Open them up.
[chuckles] Oh.
[Ted] And check out this shake and fry combo.
Milkshake-flavored toaster pastries
and sweet potato waffle fries.
[Jakie] Sweet potato waffle fries?
I don't know about that one.
Ooh.
Yes.
[Ted] You also have frozen cherries
and cacao nibs.
Make it work.
Thirty-minute last round starts now.
- [Maneet] Yay. Go, Chefs. - [Scott] Woo. Let's go, Chefs.
[Darnell] Woo-hoo! Last chance.
You can do it.
Judges, what works in this basket,
and what do you wish wasn't in there?
[Darnell] The cherries and the cacao nibs,
they work very well together.
It's the sweet potato waffle fries
that really throw me off.
[Ted] Well, when you have a processed
waffle fry, you gotta turn it into something...
- [Scott] Yeah. - [Ted] ...new.
[intense music playing]
I know I can bring it with this dessert round.
I worked in pastries
for almost 10 years.
I'm making a sweet potato waffle fry ice cream
and some bourbon cherries.
Bourbon.
I'm really just adding bourbon because desserts
with a little alcohol in them
are very tasty when done right.
All right.
[intense music playing]
[Emme] I don't have too much dessert experience.
There are maybe five good dessert recipes
that I have in the bag.
So I am a little worried.
My kids and I make a lot of doughnuts.
They love sweets like their mom.
So I'm making sweet potato doughnuts
with a mole sugar
with a milkshake-flavored toasted pastry whipped cream.
I grab some fresh sweet potatoes
and I throw it in my boiling water.
Once that starts getting a little tender,
I add my waffle fries to it.
You doing all right, Emme?
[Emmy] I'm doing great.
I'm making some doughnuts.
You gonna fry the doughnut
or you're gonna bake the doughnut?
- Gotta fry the doughnut. - I agree.
The people who do the best at the Chopped
dessert round are the parents of children.
[laughter]
People who have to come up with dessert
on the fly when they didn't plan for one
and they got a screaming,
- say, eight kids. - Yes.
Screaming for a sweet treat.
But they love fries. They love milkshake.
This is a good episode for them to watch.
Chef Emme, how are you doing over there?
I am doing well.
How about you, Jackie?
Coming along.
Cacao nibs are very bitter, but I love to use them
in desserts to add some balance
to the overall dish.
I blanch them to get that initial bitterness off.
Is there powdered sugar around here?
And then I toss them in powdered sugar
and fry them.
Just be careful 'cause this got excess liquid.
The tart cherries and the cocoa nibs,
they don't bring any sweetness
to the party, so you're gonna have
to figure out a balance of sweetness with those two.
[Emme] I wanna make a cherry salsa.
So I add some lime juice,
mint, and agave.
My doughnut batter is looking amazing,
and now I just gotta get them
in the deep fryer.
But Jackie is already using
both baskets of the deep fryer.
[Ted] Seven minutes remaining, Chefs.
Heard. The clock is ticking.
I need to get the doughnut batter
in the fryer like right now.
[Scott] It's gonna take at least six to seven minutes
to fry that doughnut, right?
I mean, she... She's gotta get in there.
[upbeat music playing]
It's that clock.
I can like literally feel
this slipping away from my fingers.
I need to get my doughnuts in the fryer,
but Jackie is using both baskets.
I decided that I'm gonna fry my doughnuts
at my station.
It's not ideal,
because with the fryer,
they'd be so much more stable,
but I don't have time to wait.
[Scott] These two chefs, it's too close to call.
The winner is gonna win because of this round.
It's that tight right now.
Five minutes left to go, chefs.
[Jakie] Let me check my ice cream.
Looking great. Looking great.
It looks beautiful, velvety, perfect.
So now I start folding in my sweet potato fries
to add some texture.
I wanna incorporate my Latin American flavors
into my doughnut, so I grab my cacao nibs
and grind them with some chilis
to toss with cinnamon and sugar,
and then I'm gonna toss and coat my doughnuts in that.
I'm calling it a mole sugar 'cause it reminds me
of the Mexican mole.
We're under two minutes on the clock, Chefs.
A little chili 'cause I love chili.
I have to bring the heat, so I grab the cayenne pepper
but I realize I don't wanna overdo it.
I'm taking notes from the judges
and I am editing myself,
so leave that aside.
This will be for my ice cream.
I decide to make a really great raspberry
toaster pastry coulis.
I do want the toaster pastry chunks in there,
so I just use a hand blender.
Come on. Let's finish strong.
[Maneet] Feeling the pressure?
I'm feeling the pressure.
I take the toaster pastry
and I blend it with some cream,
and then I fold it
into some fresh whipped cream.
Come on, guys.
[Scott] Let's go, Chefs.
Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six,
five, four,
three, two, one.
Time's up.
- Good finish. - [applause]
[Scott] Good job, Chefs.
[Jakie] Overall, I'm really happy with my ice cream.
That was like my main thing, I really wanted to make sure
it tasted good.
So we'll see what happens.
I think I've been able to bring that love of fries
and shake, that like crunchy and creamy,
sweet and salty
throughout the whole competition,
including the dessert.
[intense music playing]
Chef Emme and Chef Jackie,
in the dessert round,
we challenged you with milkshake-flavored
toaster pastries,
sweet potato waffle fries,
frozen cherries, and cacao nibs.
Chef Jackie, take it away.
Hi, Judges.
I made for you sweet potato
waffle fry ice cream,
raspberry, and breakfast pastry coulis,
candied, salted cacao nibs,
and a little bit of bourbon cherries
on the side.
Chef, sweet potatoes,
bourbon, and cherries,
they go together very well.
They playing a song.
But the sweet potato fries
kind of gave it that kind of wet moisture to it.
It's not really desirable when you eat something.
It was just one additional step
of either putting it back in the fryer
or in the oven
to get the additional crispiness, right?
But flavor-wise, I think you have
knocked it out of the park.
The cacao nibs, they are crunchy.
They give that texture that you want.
I'm definitely feeling the milkshake
and fries in this dish.
I mean, you've embraced that challenge.
They did get quite a bit of the milkshake flavor
toasted pastries inside the ice cream itself.
That worked really well.
It wasn't the frosted part, it was the end bits
which have a slight saltiness to them.
Finally, Chef Emme.
I made a sweet potato doughnut with mole sugar,
cherry salsa, and a milkshake
whipped cream for you all.
What do you mean by mole sugar?
I wanted to utilize the cacao nibs
and some dry chili pepper,
and I mixed it up with cinnamon and the sugar,
and that's what is covering the fried doughnut.
- The doughnut's wonderful. - Thank you.
[Scott] There's a great texture on the interior.
I mean, you really nurtured the cook on that doughnut,
- and you could see it. - Thank you.
So if my eyes were closed
and someone said, "Tell me what these flavors are."
I would say, "This is a vanilla milkshake."
You know, some sweet, sweet potato fries.
When it comes to the challenge
of milkshake and fries, it's there.
I love it.
The frozen cherries,
I think they are used beautifully.
The mint works very well.
You both have done an incredible job on this one.
Thank you.
You guys are cooking at such a great level
that we're gonna have to nitpick.
So I will say that the cream,
I feel like it's slightly overwhipped.
[Ted] Okay. You both brought a lot of talent to the table,
but the judges can pick only one champ.
Thank you, Chefs.
I have to say this was a really great competition
with two very strong chefs, both of them.
And that is the problem because it makes our job
so much tougher.
I think it really came down to the very tiny differences
- between the two. - Emme started off very strong.
Her kibbe was texturally delightful
but also the spices that she added in.
But the crema really could stand up next to the kibbe.
I would have liked her to see her
not be so afraid of that strawberry.
And Jackie's sauce was dynamite.
Her use of the Thai basil, like she was good
at always making sure that one of those ingredients
was really a superstar.
And that Thai basil
was that in the first round.
[Scott] I liked the pivot
from a gnocchi to a hushpuppy.
Unfortunately, they were completely undercooked.
And Chef Jackie, I think the biggest thing
that surprised us in the second round
was that it was like she got
her feet underneath her.
The way she fried that chicken,
it was perfectly fried.
The sauce she made with the corn ice cream,
with the chipotle, it's like that was beautiful,
smooth, and made sense.
There were some problems with the pureed potato.
She didn't have enough fat in it,
didn't have enough liquid.
So that was a little... a little pasty to your point,
like wallpaper paste.
I absolutely loved what Emme did.
Her chicken version of a lomo saltado.
Usually it is sauteed along with fries.
Given that it was milkshake and fries,
- it was incredible. - [Darnell] She gave us
the milkshake, but the question is
did she give us that milkshake too early?
But then the skin on the chicken,
it was so stringy, it was so uncrispy,
'cause she put the sauce on top of it.
Like, those were the mishaps that she had.
So you got this?
[intense music playing]
- I think we got this. - All right.
[intense music playing]
I really hope that the overall flavors
will triumph over technicalities
and I'll win.
[Emme] I'm super proud of myself for getting
through all three rounds.
I'm like so close, I can like smell it.
[intense music playing]
[Ted] Chef Jackie,
you've been chopped. Judges.
Chef Jackie, in your appetizer round,
you gave us a sauce that we absolutely loved,
but the gnocchi that turned into a hushpuppy
just was undercooked.
In your dessert round, the sweet potato
waffle fries got a little soggy
inside your ice cream.
And so we have to chop you.
Thank you, Chef.
- [applause] - Thank you.
I came on here to mainly challenge myself,
so I still feel like I'm a champion.
That means, Chef Emme Collins,
that you are the Chopped Champion.
You can celebrate by cashing
your $10,000 check.
- Congratulations. - [applause]
Thank you.
I'm so excited to tell my kids.
Staying true to myself, my roots,
really got me here as the Chopped Champion.