The house always wins, let's prove it wrong.
Ooh, yeah. He gonna like that.
[all exclaiming]
[Ted] Chopped has always been the ultimate culinary gamble.
Oh! Yeah, baby.
[Ted] But this tournament gives competitors
control of the game like never before.
[Corey] Hell yeah. If it sounds like
sweets out and roll the dice off, I'm gonna do it.
Big money, big money.
Need a new food truck, baby. Let's go.
[Ted] Let's see, what you've got.
- Boom, shaka laka. - [screams]
The lights are bright and the stakes are high.
Minimum of $25,000 for the winner.
You're telling us there could be more.
I am.
[all exclaiming]
It's still Chopped.
[exclaims]
[Ted] It's still brutal.
It is crazy good.
[Ted] It's harder than ever.
[woman] Go, go, go, go, go.
You're feeling lucky?
Yes, yes. [laughs]
[Ted] Let the good times roll.
[man] Oh, lord. Have mercy.
[Grace] In the kitchen, everyday is a gamble.
[Jenessa] You can't play it safe here.
[Andrew] Without risk, there's really no reward.
[Corey] I'm already winning.
I got tapped on my chest.
And that's where dreams come true right there.
I always say, you will see
my name in the lights of Vegas.
Beat that.
By day, I'm a computer engineer
and by night, I'm Batman.
[laughs]
My food point of view is bring you the soul food.
When I put that food down on a plate,
you're gonna taste my love, you're gonna taste my joy,
you're gonna taste my energy.
That's it, right there.
Oh, wee.
[Andrew] My fiance said,
she will not marry me unless I win Chopped.
She did say that.
Because I have this technique driven approach,
my food can sometimes come across
as being a little complex.
As a chef, I believe, really, you need to take chances.
Given an opportunity to take a risk,
I will take it.
[Jenessa] I am the co-owner and chef of Taurus Ox.
We cook east Asian food
with some American influence.
It's all about bridging the east and the west
using funky and fresh flavors.
I'm planning on serving food
that they don't taste everyday.
Unapologetically bold and flavorful.
It's so good.
[Grace] I have a Michelin star background.
My food is approachable
and just makes me feel good from the inside out.
Being a female in this world is not easy.
People walk in to the restaurant,
look me up and down and ask for my boss.
I am the boss.
[Andrew] I feel like I have everything in my arsenal
to win this and that's what I intend on doing.
[Jenessa] Chopped is definitely a place to take risks.
I came to play.
[Corey] I got my cleaver, boom.
And I got a prime rib roast, boom.
Come on, baby.
It's over.
Hello, chefs.
- Hey. - Hello, Ted.
Welcome to Chopped, Casino Royale.
Casino Royale, baby. Let's do it.
Quick question. Do you like to gamble?
Yes, sir.
[Ted] Well, that's good because after you open
your mystery baskets,
you do not have to accept the hand you've been dealt.
- Yes! - Bring it on.
You can ditch an ingredient
for a chance to pick another by the roll of the dice.
[Scott] That's pretty smooth, Ted. Well done, sir.
- Do we have any other judges? - [all laughing]
I'm not sure whether to think this is good or bad.
Appetizer baskets are in front of you.
Open 'em up.
- All right. - Okay.
What the heck is this?
Some cookie dough?
[Ted] And we are looking at cookie dough doughnuts.
Doughnuts, baby.
I got coconut.
- [Ted] Whole coconuts. - [Jenessa] Happy about that.
[Ted] Cocktail sauce.
Okay.
What in the world is this? Organs?
A little nervous about this one.
[Ted] And Cod milt.
My goodness.
Cod milt, which happens to be Cod sperm.
- Oh. - Bring on the challenge.
All right, chefs, time to rock and roll the dice.
- Let's go. - Let's do it.
[Corey] There's the crafts table over there.
The judges are looking good.
I'm in the zone, let's go.
All right, Chef Andrew, you're up first.
What ingredient are you getting rid of?
The cookie dough doughnuts, Ted. Too sweet.
[Ted] All right. Even numbers are good luck.
Odd, not so much.
Roll the dice.
-Here we go. -[Ted] Baby needs a new pair of shoes.
[all exclaiming]
- Oh! - [Ted] Not good.
Okay, nine, that is an odd number.
Well, I make my own luck, so.
[Ted] Haggis with lamb.
Oh, man.
You gotta take it and roll with it. It is what it is.
- [Ted] All right, Chef Grace. - I am saying goodbye to the cod milt.
- [Ted] All right, let her roll. - [Grace] All right, let's see.
Come on, Grace.
[all exclaiming]
[Ted] You got a six. We've got a six.
[all exclaiming]
[Ted] Wagyu ribeye steaks.
You wanna trade it for the haggis?
No, hell no.
[Ted] Okay, Chef Corey.
My plan is to get rid of the cocktail sauce.
But the Cod milt was a-okay.
[Corey] The Cod milt was different.
But I ain't come here to be no quitter.
Chef need a new food truck baby, let's go.
- [all exclaiming] - Eight.
Eight, let's go.
[Ted] All right, nice job, chef.
Let's go!
- Boom. - [all exclaiming]
Look at that.
All right, Jonah crab claws.
Delicious ingredients with little work.
I got big hands, I'm ready to crack them, let's go.
All right, Chef Jenessa.
Let's see how lucky you're gonna be today.
Hopefully, better than the milt.
[all exclaiming]
[all cheering]
Whoa!
Five.
- Natto. - Okay.
[Ted] Which is a fermented soybean product
that a lot of people find challenging, slimy.
All right, no matter how lucky or unlucky you were,
you got 20 minutes to make this work.
Clock starts now.
[all exclaiming]
Well, judges, it looks like I found a high roller table.
You all look casino chic.
I'm here for all the glitz and glam today. Clearly, yes.
[Ted] So, this is the first time in history
that we're allowing chefs to reject an ingredient.
I think the key is really
taking the right ingredient to switch out.
Cod milt is really, for me, the item that
everyone really should have thought
second, twice, three times about.
Smells so good.
[Tiffani] Not a lot of great flavor
and very challenging texture.
[Ted] The cod milt is actually,
I hate to say it, sperm.
I would imagine the best way to go about
this is to fry it.
[Ted] Chef Grace starts off with cod milt,
now Grace has beautiful, gorgeous wagyu beef.
I would say that gamble probably paid off.
This is like the luckiest of the lucky I think.
What you're thinking about?
- I'm gonna do some steak tartare. - [Andrew] Great.
[Grace] I'm making a wagyu beef ribeye tartare
with some beef fat-seared bread.
I'm adding the cocktail sauce to the tartare
with some mustard, soy sauce.
I'm excited to be playing the Chopped casino tournament.
I do like to take big risks
and let it push me and my adrenaline.
Behind.
Jenessa rolled odd and swapped out her cod milt,
so she got natto.
Natto is fermented soybean,
so when you're pulling it out of the jar
it would look like loose honey, stringy
with a little, yellow soybeans.
[Jenessa] I'm blanching this to try and get the slime off.
- [Tiffani] Jenessa. - Yes?
How's the luck with the natto?
Oh, it's not very lucky but I'm gonna make it happen.
Natto is a hard ingredient for me
just because of the texture
but my plan is to have it mimic,
like, a miso paste.
They're both fermented soybeans,
so I'm gonna do a play on the miso soup.
I'm making a natto and coconut soup
with cocktail sauce cookie dough puree.
Hopefully it works.
Chef, how you're doing down there?
- [Andrew] Couldn't be better. - [Corey] Couldn't be better.
[Scott] Andrew decided to rid himself
of the cookie dough doughnuts
and he got canned haggis with lamb.
The snake eyes of the kitchen.
[Ted] Haggis is ground meat and potatoes and rice
stuffed into the stomach of a lamb and baked.
[Christian] We're talking about intestines.
So, this is like, finding the gamiest part of that bubba
and put it in a can, you know.
I don't want to do a haggis.
I never knew what haggis was until today.
Not sure what I'm gonna do now
but set 'em off to the side.
I know I'm gonna make a dumpling out of this cod milt.
I'm looking for something I can incorporate
to like, actually create something substantial.
So, I see chorizo and I'm thinking it's perfect.
I'm making cod milt and chorizo dumplings
with a coconut milk cream.
All right.
Lady luck was on my side
coming into the top kitchen today.
I end up swapping out the cocktail sauce
and I get crab claws.
I'm like, "Hell, yeah."
What are you doing, Corey?
I'm going to stuff waffle.
Waffle it.
Yeah, I'mma waffle it real fast.
The inspiration behind this dish
is cooking breakfast for my kids.
Always come up with new ideas to make them for breakfast.
Behind.
[Grace] We got ten, guys.
Heard, heard, heard, heard.
Come on, waffle, I need you, baby.
[Andrew] My dumplings are finishing cooking
and at this point I haven't touched my haggis.
All right, here goes nothing, guys.
I wanna make my haggis crispy somehow.
So, Andrew took this can of haggis,
put it inside a fryer basket,
it's gonna shred off into bits.
Dropped a little bit in there, it kinda like, dissolves.
[Ted] Ooh, there it is.
[Andrew] I'm feeling that I was dealt a bad hand
with haggis and now that's not working out,
my nerves are like,
through the roof at this point in time.
Right behind.
Come on, man.
[Ted] Four minutes to go, chefs.
Andrew took his can of haggis,
put it inside a fryer, it shred off into bits.
[Andrew] All right, plan B.
So, I take the haggis,
get it in sautee pan with some olive oil
and panko bread crumbs.
[Corey] These waffles, they gotta have a great sauce
that goes on top.
I take a little cookie dough
and the coconut with a little maple syrup
to give it a sweetness.
But I'm still thinking, something's missing.
So, I decided to take this cod milt,
toast a little bit up for garnishing.
[Ted] Chefs, two minute warning.
- Two minutes. - Two minutes.
[Scott] Let's get it done, chefs. Let's go.
[Corey] Oh, lord, have mercy.
[Jenessa] Come on, guys, let's push.
I'm blending the cocktail sauce
with the cookie dough doughnuts
to make a dressing to garnish my soup with.
20, guys. You got this.
- 20, 20, 20. - Come on.
[all exclaiming]
[Ted] Ten, nine,
eight, seven, six,
five, four,
three, two, one,
- time's up. - All right.
[all applauding]
Good job. Y'all have some beautiful plates, I like that.
- That was crazy. - Good job, bro.
- Hey, nice plating. - Thank you.
[Grace] I do feel lucky,
I feel like I got a very positive ingredient
but sometimes that can hurt you
because you think it's too easy.
But by no means, was this easy.
[Ted] Chefs, you have arrived at the chopping block.
We gave you cookie dough doughnuts,
whole coconuts,
cocktail sauce and cod milt.
Then we gave you the chance to roll the dice
and replace one ingredient.
Chef Grace, we're starting with you.
I replaced the cod milt for some wagyu beef.
So, I made wagyu beef tartare
with some beef fat-seared bread.
When I'm having tartare,
there's two things I'm looking for,
one of them is bread and the other one
is like, some sort of mustard or acidity.
And I think that they're both here.
I'm struggling really though to find the cocktail sauce.
I didn't even realize it was there.
Yes, Chef.
I agree with Christian that it's just so faint,
it's almost hidden.
But I think you made some really good decisions.
Utilizing that fat from the wagyu beef
to toast a bread in, it was just really smart.
We asked you to bring the house down and I think
you robbed the casino here.
Thank you, chef.
Next up is Chef Jenessa.
I rejected the cod milt
and got natto.
I have a coconut natto soup for you
with a cocktail sauce and cookie puree on top.
You took the absolute right risk
trying to get rid of the cod milt.
Thought it would be a great risk,
- it was natto. - [Jenessa chuckles]
[Tiffani] But this is such a good idea.
The texture that you were able
to coax with the coconut water and the natto.
But then the cocktail sauce
the cookie dough doughnuts has kinda got
put into the blender and all muddled together.
That deep flavor of that natto is challenging here.
But I think you clearly have
a handle on Japanese ingredients.
I do like to influence my cooking
with eastern and southeast Asian ingredients.
I co-own a Laotian restaurant in Seattle with my fiance.
It's our first one and it's been a grind.
And $25,000
would mean new possibilities for my restaurant.
Next up, Chef Andrew.
Chefs, I've made a chorizo and cod milt dumpling
with a coconut cream.
[Tiffani] This is so interesting, right?
Like, we gave you cod milt,
you take it and then you get haggis on top of it.
I would bet everything I have in my bank account
that not one of us would be like,
"You know what I'm gonna do?
I'm gonna make a mousse and I'm gonna poach it."
But... it works.
Think of how many things are going on here,
the creamy coconut,
you got that light, airy quenelle milt
and then you got crispy funk
- on top. - [all chuckling]
Really well rounded and you took that haggis
and owned it, bro, 100 percent.
Thank you.
Finally, Chef Corey.
I chose to get rid of the cocktail sauce
and I got crab claws.
So, what I have in front of you chefs today
is a stuffed crab waffle
with a cookie dough maple syrup.
I like to cook waffles with my kids
when Mom's at work.
I just always try to give them something different.
Corey, are those your kids' drawings tattooed on your arm?
- [Corey] Yeah, it is. - [Tiffani] That is the cutest thing I've ever seen.
That's great, I was noticing that, that's awesome.
I am here for stuffed waffles.
This is fun, this is whimsical.
I love the natural salinity from the crab
that's poking through that sweet waffle.
I mean, really nice.
With that being said,
that sauce is pretty gosh darn sweet.
What's making this super sweet
- is that cookie dough doughnut. - Yeah.
You're used to the cod milt.
Let's be honest, it's really, really brave.
Sauteing it and putting it on top.
It almost has this like,
kinda like, bacon fat kinda texture
that you get when you're eating waffles.
As an appetizer this is like, the first course of more,
maybe, breakfast but sometimes at a casino
dinner turns into breakfast, so here we are.
[Jenessa] So, I took a risk in switching out the cod milt.
I probably wouldn't have done it if I knew
what my replacement ingredient was.
But I did the best that I could.
[Corey] It's cod milt, I didn't wanna run from it.
I'm not afraid of taking risks.
I feel like I have what it takes to represent
Chopped and be their champion.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Jenessa, you've been chopped. Judges.
Jenessa, while you transformed the texture
of the natto really well,
natto flavor was just way too assertive.
And I would have really loved to see more transformation
in that cocktail sauce and the cookie dough doughnut.
Thank you, chef.
Thank you.
[Jenessa] Sometimes, luck is in your favor,
today it was not in my favor.
The ingredients got the best of me for sure.
Chef Corey, Chef Andrew, Chef Grace,
maybe you'll think these baskets
are already just perfect.
[Corey] Let's see what we got.
Go ahead and open them up.
- I love these. - What in the heck is this?
[Ted] And you got cherry wax lips.
Definitely, exhilarating.
Okay, it's fitting for the casino night.
[Ted] Chinese okra.
- Wow. - All right.
We got some cheesy, eggy thing.
[Ted] A bologna breakfast bowl.
[Andrew] I remember that.
Okay.
Is it moving? [chuckles nervously]
[Ted] And sea cucumber.
What the--
[Grace] The sea cucumber is a little clam like.
It's dense, it's chewy, it's tough.
Yikes.
Lord have mercy.
Anybody wanna kick one of these ingredients to the curb
and go for the gusto in the casino?
- For sure. - Yes.
Yes.
All right, let's do this, I'm feeling good. I feel it.
Here we go.
[Ted] All right, chefs, which ingredient goes?
[Grace] Cherry wax lips.
[all cheering]
[all exclaiming]
- It's a seven. - Oh.
Not so lucky this round.
Oh. Fish heads.
- All right. - Actually that's not bad at all.
Pretty good.
[Grace] Not too bad, not as bad as I thought it would be.
[Ted] All right, next up, Andrew.
[all cheering]
[Scott] Need an even number here, let's go.
[Ted] Five and four, nine.
- Oh! - He got nine last time.
[Scott] He did get a nine last time.
Hey, nine could be a lucky number.
[Scott] What are you swapping out, Chef?
- Sea cucumber. - Sea cucumber for what's under number nine.
Oh! Alligator ribs.
Finally, Chef Corey.
You got an idea which one you're gonna get rid of?
The Bologna breakfast bowl.
-[Ted] Three. Five.
Bittermelon, my friend.
Bittermelon, looks a lot like the Chinese okra,
just in smaller form.
It is extremely bitter, has a very hard outer texture.
Needs to be cooked.
I'm feeling great. I'm feeling good, let's get it.
Okay, 30 minutes to make main dishes.
- Time starts now. - All right, let's do this.
[all applauding]
So, it's crazy to me that all three of these chefs
rolled an unlucky odd number.
You guys down to having fun with it yet?
I'm always having fun, baby. How about you?
Oh, man.
[Tiffani] Chef Corey literally has
bittermelon, Chinese okra,
red wax lips and sea cucumber.
The sea cucumber is actually a marine animal,
so it's prized in Asian cookings.
It's softer than a clam. Really, really chewy.
[Corey] Ooh, it's juicy.
I grabbed that sea cucumber
and I get some salt, pepper
and a little garlic powder down on it.
I'm making a seared sea cucumber
with a carrot, tomato succotash
and cherry wax lips, bittermelon sauce.
Succotash pairs well with seafood.
What are you doing?
I'm gonna do a little Nashville hot sea clam
and some grits
cooked in a kinda fish fumet type thing.
I think Grace made out really well there at the crabs table
because she got fish head.
Grace is on a roll, even her bad roll went good.
[Grace] Fish heads are better than wax lips
because I can just throw them into
a stock and kinda refortify that stock.
I am making a Nashville hot sea cucumber
with a fish head polenta.
The sea cucumber has really dense texture
which I think will lend itself well to being deep fried.
What are you gonna do?
- I'm not sure how I'm gonna do the Alligator yet. - Yeah.
[Andrew] So, I'm getting the sauce started.
First thing I need to do to get moving,
what I think about this Alligator,
start developing some sauce.
I know I want to mimic a sauce
that's been cooking for, like, a really long time.
I throw in the Bologna from the Bologna breakfast bowl.
Fennel seeds marsala, tomato.
My Chinese okra will be stewed in here
and it will be like, very gently cooked
and have like, a really nice texture. Right behind.
[Scott] I'm a little concerned about Andrew.
- The Alligator ribs, it's something wild. - Prehistoric.
[Scott] It's similar to frog's legs, I would say.
There's a light, a very light salinity to it.
[Ted] All right, chefs, you're down to 19 minutes.
[Grace] Time's going by fast.
[Corey] I cut the Chinese okra
and then I take it over to the deep fryer
to get a nice crisp on it.
This is all about building my legacy.
Today, I'm playing for me, my children, my wife.
I want them to understand that with hard work and dedication,
you can go out there and you can do anything.
[Scott] There's something different but I'm not sure.
- I can't pinpoint it. - [Christian] Something seems different about you.
It's the quietness that you don't recognize.
[all laughing]
I was gonna say, wait a minute.
[Andrew] I'm butchering this Alligator
to the best of my ability.
But I'm running out of time.
I get the meat grinder and I'm gonna make meatballs.
Next up, I take these red cherry wax lips,
render out the sweetness and that way I can use a nice,
simple salsa verde on top of this dish.
[Scott] Guys, keep an eye on that clock.
Guys, we have seven.
Seven minutes, woo!
[Grace] I'm sauteing the Chinese okra
with some onion, green pepper
and some Bologna from the Bologna breakfast bowl.
I gotta check on my polenta
and it just like, like a sponge,
just soaked that liquid up.
[screams]
This polenta has my fish head in it,
so I have to get it on the plate.
I mix the polenta with a little sour cream and butter
to try to loosen it up.
We got this, guys.
Chef Andrew, how are you doing, brother?
I'm behind, Chef. But you know what, I'm gonna do it.
Keep going, man, keep going.
You got this, bro, you got this.
[Andrew] This Alligator is still like,
sitting right here, I need to get this done.
I'm going to get this done.
Fryer is open if you guys need it.
Wait, right, behind, right behind, right behind.
How much time is left?
[Grace] Uh, we got three. Three and a half.
My man is taking every second he has left.
[Ted] I'm a little worried.
This is crazy.
Ooh, yeah.
Oh, you better like that, you're gonna like that.
- Coming, right behind you. - 30 seconds.
Behind, behind, behind, behind, behind.
Come on.
- [Ted] Gotta get this done. - Take that home, guys.
[Ted] Time flies in the Chopped Casino Royale, chefs.
Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five,
four, three,
two, one, time.
- I can't do this. - Wow.
[Andrew sighs]
I feel like I took the appropriate risk.
I didn't wanna mess around with sea cucumber
but not finessed the way I would like it to be.
I think I just could have performed better.
Chefs, for your second Casino Royale round,
you opened up a basket of cherry wax lips,
Chinese okra,
a Bologna breakfast bowl and sea cucumber.
Then we let you gamble for the chance to swap out ingredients
if you dare.
Chef Andrew.
So, I swapped out the sea cucumber
and got the Alligator ribs.
I made Alligator meatballs with stewed Chinese okra.
The texture of the Alligator meatball
is lovely.
Crispy, beautiful.
And as much as I loved
the olive oil with the Chinese okra,
I got a pretty decent slick of oil in my plate.
But it tastes absolutely great.
The Chinese okra is cooked very nicely.
The meatballs are tasty and delicious.
You took a huge risk, man
and it's paid off for you.
I'm getting the Alligator meatball
that is soft and has really great flavor.
With the salsa verde, with like this little touch
of red cherry wax lips.
Considering incredibly bad luck,
an incredibly good dish.
Thank you, Chef.
Chef, what would it mean to you to win?
I would love 25k.
So, I'm actually getting married in a week
and six days from today.
Wow, congrats.
[Andrew] Having $25,000 would help pay for the wedding
but it would also help plan for our future.
Next up, Chef Corey.
- [exclaims] - [all laughing]
We all felt the same.
I swapped out the Bologna breakfast bowl
and I ended up with bittermelon.
What you have in front of you is a seared sea cucumber
with a carrot, tomato succotash
and a bittermelon wax lip sauce.
- Chef, you've developed some really good flavors here. - Thank you.
[Scott] The sauce is delicious,
it's a great extraction of flavor
from the vegetables that you have.
It's working with the melon.
But the cook on the actual sea cucumber,
it's really tough.
Makes it a little bit difficult to chew.
You never worked with sea cucumbers before, right?
Never have worked with it.
So, obviously it's tough
and that comes down to just sort of
tasting as you go.
Had you have cut off a piece and tried it
you would have said, "Oh, no, this is never gonna happen."
While I really like the Chinese okra
and I like the al dente carrot
and sweetness that popped out of those tomatoes
all worked into that sauce.
I can't imagine a harder basket.
Really good use of what was put in front of you.
And you totally soldiered through this,
so it says a lot about you.
Thank you, Chef.
Finally, Chef Grace.
I did the lips for the fish heads.
So, I have buttermilk fried
Nashville hot honey sea cucumber
with a fish head polenta
and a Chinese okra Bologna trinity.
I got three words for you.
Bologna lardons.
[Scott] Is that three words?
He doesn't know if the first one is two words
or the last one is two.
[all laughing]
But you needed to keep that polenta in the pot,
add more milk
and just continue to work it a little bit.
I agree with you, the one thing
that polenta needs is fat.
But it was really smart to utilize the fish head
for the polenta itself.
And I think that coating on the sea cucumber,
it's bananas, it is just so good.
Particularly, with that
Nashville hot honey sauce that you have on there
- it's just working. - Thanks.
Chef, are you playing for anybody here today?
My Mom has always been my biggest, biggest fan.
She actually currently
is halfway through her battle with Lymphoma.
So, I'm playing for her, she actually
really urged me to be here today.
I would not be standing here without her.
[Corey] I think Andrew is my biggest competition right now.
Going into the next round,
I would have to definitely bring the heat
to beat him and go to the next level and get the $25,000.
[Grace] I'm a little nervous.
I knew that polenta wasn't where it needed to be
but I needed to get it on the plate.
I am worried that the polenta
will cost the competition for me.
[Ted] Who gets to make desserts?
And whose dish is on the chopping block?
[sighs]
Chef Corey, you've been Chopped.
- Judges. - Chef Corey.
I speak for all of us when I say
you're just a love of a human being.
You took a risk by swapping out the Bologna breakfast bowl
but I really think you should have swapped the sea cucumber.
Unfortunately, this sea cucumber
is just really tough and chewy.
And so, we had to chop you.
Thank you, chefs, I appreciate it. Thank you, guys.
- Love this. - Chef, keep smiling, man.
- Will do. - Keep that positive attitude going.
[Corey] Even though I got Chopped,
I've no regrets, you know, I'll go home,
I'm gonna go practice and who knows
Chopped may see me again.
[Scott] I have to go out on a limb on this one
and say, you guys are really close.
Whoever is gonna take this needs to take this round.
I thought I was gone. [chuckles] Last round.
[Ted] Chef Andrew, Chef Grace,
dessert is suddenly the only game in town.
- Game on. - Let's go.
Final baskets.
Check 'em out.
- Okay. - Okay.
[Ted] And we're looking at bottarga.
This is actually kind of a treat.
Bottarga is a cured fish roe,
it's so delicious and so flavorful.
- [Ted] Finger limes. - Okay.
Finger limes.
- Ketchup seasoning. - [Ted] Ketchup seasoning.
Love me some ketchup.
It's like a, biscuits?
Little almond biscuits.
[Ted] And fat rascals.
- [sighs] - All right.
Who wants to gamble?
- I'm in. - I'd like to gamble.
- All right, guys. - Ooh la la.
- I'm ready. - Final rolls.
Grace, we're starting with you.
I'm getting rid of the bottarga because
I have not worked with it very often.
- Roll away, Grace. - All right, let's do this.
$25,000 roll.
- [all exclaiming] - Ten!
[all cheering]
[Ted] You got a ten, that's an even number.
- Ah. - [all exclaiming]
[Ted] Pear brandy.
All right, Chef Andrew.
I want that ketchup seasoning out.
I just don't see a logical way of using that.
Okay, the dice are yours, Chef.
[all cheering]
I can feel a three.
- Three. - You got a three.
Wacky flavored jelly beans.
[Andrew] I can do wacky flavored jelly beans.
- [Ted] Really? Okay. - Sure.
30 minutes to test your luck with the dessert baskets
you ended up with.
Clock starts now.
[all cheering]
25 Gs.
- [Andrew] Here we go. - [Grace] We got this.
[Andrew] Here we go.
Wish I had more hands.
[Ted] So, one of these chefs is on their way
to $25,000 Casino Royale finale.
Between these two chefs, we have some
really good cooking happening.
Both of these chefs have gambled
to get different ingredients
- They just went for it all day long. - [Tiffani] All day long.
Grace, who has been cooking with her heart.
It's really cool that she's cooking
with her Mom on her shoulders,
just like, crushing through the day.
[Christian] And on the outside of it,
we have Andrew, every time he rolled,
he rolled an odd number.
And he's been showing up every time consistently.
Andrew, why don't you tell us
what you have on your station, sir.
[Andrew] We have some fresh strawberries and puff pastry
so I'm gonna bake some
strawberries in the puff pastry.
Kinda like a tart.
Then we're gonna hit that with a little fish sauce caramel.
Hit it with a little bottarga on top of that.
You're right at my alley. Fish sauce caramel is my jam.
Andrew's doubling down on fish in dessert.
We got bottarga and now we have fish sauce.
[Andrew] Bottarga is very concentrated salt.
You think of salted caramel on anything,
it's like delicious.
The only ingredient that I don't really have
a plan for right now is the jelly beans.
But I'm happier that I had jelly beans over
ketchup seasoning.
I am not scared of ketchup seasoning.
The flavor profile and the acidity
of the tomato go well in desserts.
This dish is inspired by
a book my Mom and I read when I was younger
and it had this cake in it that was made
from tomatoes and chocolate and you would bake that cake
when there were thunderstorms coming.
I'm making a chocolate and ketchup seasoning funnel cake
with a pear brandy and finger lime strawberries.
I know I don't have time to bake a cake,
so I'm gonna try to speed up that process a little bit
and do a funnel cake.
[Ted] Less than 20 minutes on the clock, chefs.
[Andrew] 20 minutes.
I really need to make sure that
this puff pastry cooks.
So, I crank up the heat on the oven.
Where's that convection setting,
is this it right here?
A touch easy on me.
[Tiffani] Andrew is just chopping
jelly beans everywhere.
Watch out, guys, there's jelly beans flying everywhere, guys.
[Scott] These jelly beans can be anything,
you can get baby diaper flavor
barf flavored, cut lawn, all kinds of different flavors
that don't necessarily lend themselves
to delicious desserts.
He's gotta get all those basket ingredients
in his dish in a meaningful way.
Oh, my God.
[Christian] Oh, God, something's on fire.
I smell smoke and I realize
it's coming from Andrew's oven.
It is bellowing smoke out of it.
Oh, sh...
You got it, Andrew.
- Oh! - Oh, man.
They were just scorched.
I mean, black.
I put it on broil, that's why--
- [Christian] Tart's done, bro. - [sighs]
- [Andrew] Time. - Chef, you got 7:13.
- [Andrew] 7:13. - Yup.
[Andrew] What can I possibly do
to make up for this mistake?
Oh, man!
Andrew has pulled his tarts out of the oven.
They are completely incinerated
on top, like, black.
[Andrew] My initial plan of using this puff pastry
to have this crispy component is not working out.
I know what I'm gonna do.
Oh, there's wontons in the cooler.
Is there two fryers?
Yeah, there's one right there, Chef.
[Christian] You got this, bro.
[Andrew] This crispy wonton will give me that same
type of crispiness, that readiness to the dish.
Four minutes to go, chefs.
- Four minutes. - You got it, Andrew.
Right behind. Behind.
[Grace] I making a whipped mascarpone
to kinda counter balance all that sweetness that comes
form the pear brandy and the strawberries.
I'm using the almonds from the fat rascals,
to add a little bit of nuttiness to the dish.
- Time? - [Grace] 1:47.
- You got this, Chef. - [Andrew] Hell, yeah.
- Andrew, he's gambling. - [Scott] Less than two minutes, chefs.
- Less than two. - You know what, he's not quitting.
[Tiffani] He's not quitting.
[Andrew] I decide to make a little like, fruit salad
with some finger limes
and strawberries from the puff pastry.
[Ted] 30 seconds, chefs.
[Andrew] I know, I'm gonna need
every last second.
- Let's go, let's go. - This is it, guys.
Closer to 25k.
[Ted] All right, chefs, final seconds of the final round.
Ten, nine,
eight, seven, six,
five, four, three.
- Yes, yes! - [Ted] Two, one, time.
- Yes. - [all exclaiming]
[Tiffani] Great recovery, that's impressive.
Nice recovery.
I can't believe I got anything on the plate.
[Ted] Chef Grace, Chef Andrew.
Third basket you opened contained bottarga.
Finger limes, ketchup seasoning and fat rascals.
Chef Andrew.
I swapped out my ketchup seasoning
for wacky flavored jelly beans.
So, this here in front of you
is a finger lime and citrus salad
with a wacky jelly bean and bottarga caramel.
I think you put a great foot forward
considering the obstacles of the round for you.
I love the pivot, the wontons, really smart choice.
The caramel works with the fish sauce
but the jelly beans are rough.
They were just chunky, on the plate
and some of those wacky flavors came through.
But you are like, the king of the last ten minutes.
You were like, "All right, I'm gonna fry some wontons.
I'm gonna make this work."
Like, just watching the sheer tenacity and heart
- was really inspiring. - I appreciate that.
Finally, Chef Grace.
I got rid of the bottarga
and I received the pear brandy.
I cooked for you today,
a ketchup seasoning and chocolate funnel cake
with a pear brandy
and finger lime macerated strawberries.
And there's some whipped mascarpone in there as well.
The chocolate funnel cake with the ketchup seasoning
inside of it, it's just,
it's just smart.
The pear brandy doesn't have a lot of flavor to it
but I do get just a little bit of it
in the macerated strawberries, so I think that's great.
[Christian] The mascarpone,
the fact that you didn't sweeten it,
it reminds me of one of those dishes where like,
the cheese course is actually a dessert.
Right? And I love that.
Well, despite the house edge,
one chef is about to advance to the Casino Royale finale.
- Thank you, chefs. - Thank you.
Judges, how did these two chefs do?
They played this game really well.
[Tiffani] Truly, Andrew succeeding as much as he did
in the first round was proof that
it does not come down to luck.
He cooked his way out of it, like, 100 percent.
[Christian] The haggis crumble
was like, seasoning with funk
and it was just the right amount.
He created something
shockingly craveable.
Grace took a gamble as well.
She chose to give up her cod milt
and pulled wagyu ribeyes,
busted out a technically sound,
almost perfect, delicious steak tartare.
Chef Andrew swapped his sea cucumber
and got the Alligator ribs.
And those meatballs were delicious.
[Christian] That punchy salsa verde
was just kinda, just like, woke everything right up.
Grace swapped out her waxed cherry lips
and ended up getting fish heads.
Makes a fumet, turns out into her polenta.
The truth is the polenta was so clunky,
it was hard to get past that
to even understand any other nuance that was happening.
But that Nashville hot honey sauce was a game changer.
[Tiffani] Two really, really strong cooks.
Each round Grace comes in with a really solid idea about
what she wants to do and executes that.
I think Andrew comes in to each round
not really knowing where it's going to land
and then kinda working his way out of it.
So, then we have this sort of neck and neck situation.
But what do we do, I'm so conflicted.
[Grace] Andrew blew it out of the park
in the first two rounds but I think that the dessert
really came from my soul
and, you know, I think that showed.
[Andrew] I deserve to win this.
I was able to persevere the whole day.
It's not about the luck,
it's not about drawing bad ingredients,
it's about what you do with it.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Andrew, you've been Chopped.
- Judges. - Chef.
You cooked great today.
In your appetizer round, you mixed up great textures
and some good flavor combinations
that were ping-ponging off of each other.
In your dessert round, the jelly beans
were your real downfall there.
They just weren't utilized in a way that made sense overall.
And so, we had to chop you.
I understand. It was an absolute pleasure being here.
I had a blast.
Even though I lost today, I feel like I accomplished
what I set out to do.
I have zero regrets today.
Everything I did, I put it all out there.
That means, Chef Grace Goudie, you are the Chopped champion
for knocking out the other players
in our Casino Royale tournament.
You are headed to the finale, congratulations.
[all cheering]
I'm looking forward to applying what I learnt today
and just doing better in the next round.
[Tiffani] Grace, don't go into the finale
trying to get past the first round.
Go to crush.
I am pumped to go into the finale.
I am excited to just win this thing.
[woman] There's just so much on the line for this.
Get it together.
This is the most exciting Chopped I've ever seen.
- You got this, you got this. - Oh, my God.
Players are playing.
Come on, come on, come on, this is it.
You don't look stressed.
I never look stressed,
I'm just primal screaming on the inside.
[Ted] They're putting it all on the line.
I need my anxiety medications.
[Ted] It's always a gamble.
- Five, four. - [exclaims]
[Ted] Three, two, one,
it's Casino Royale.