The house always wins. Let's prove it wrong.
Oh yeah, you don't 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.
[man] Hell yeah, if it's something I can switch out and roll the dice on,
I'm gonna do it.
[all cheering] Big money.
Need a new food truck, baby. Let's go.
[Ted] Let's see what you've got?
Boom shakalaka!
The lights are bright and the stakes are high.
Minimum of $25,000 to the winner.
Telling us there could be more.
I am.
Come on, lady luck!
It's still Chopped! It's still brutal.
[softly] It's crazy good.
[Ted] It's harder than ever.
Go, go, go, go, go!
- Are you feeling lucky? - Yes.
[Ted] Let the good times roll!
[man] Ooh, Lord have mercy.
[Ted] Here are the chefs.
[Tajahi] I believe in luck.
I know what risks to take and what risk I should not take.
[Raquel] What drives me is passion.
Keep pushing beyond what people expect to see.
[Zoe] I love to compete. It's not just the winning, it's that whole process.
[Nick] I believe in luck, but it works out a little better
when you've got the talent to go with it.
I'm the executive chef at Bardot Brasserie in Las Vegas, Nevada.
My restaurant is located inside the casino.
My culinary point of view is a French technique-driven with the best ingredients.
They say, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas
and what happens in this tournament
I'm looking forward to telling everybody back home.
[Tajahi] My last name is Cooke.
Ya mon, that looks good.
[Tajahi] I'm just trying to live up to it.
I'm the chef-owner of Miss Betty's supper club in Denver, Colorado.
Miss Betsy is my grandmother.
She taught me how to appreciate the ingredients
and appreciate family.
I like to fuse Africa, and the Caribbean.
I love this.
I know where I come from.
I came to whoop some tail.
[Raquel] I cook all kinds of food,
but my background is southern soul food with a Cajun flair.
Oh yes, perfect. Time to roll.
I am the executive chef of Panoptic in Birmingham, Alabama.
Panoptic means all inclusive.
It's not just one style of cooking.
Oh yeah, order ready.
Just like I've achieved many of my other goals,
it's in me to win Chopped today.
[Zoe] I'm definitely a risk-taker.
I own a restaurant in Chicago.
The competition there is hugely fierce.
The first year, after we opened,
I was nominated for a James Beard award,
I make classic American comfort food, reimagined.
Things that you're familiar with or comfortable with,
with a little bit of a twist.
I'm very competitive. So, I like the thrill of playing a high stakes game.
[Tajahi] It's cold.
- It is so cold. - Seriously.
It's gonna feel really different watching it on TV.
I'll tell you that for sure.
[Zoe] I noticed right away
this giant craps table and a bunch of golden cloches.
It looks like we might have a chance to play some games today.
- Hello, chefs. - Hello, Ted.
Welcome to our culinary casino.
- Thank you. - Glad to be here.
[Ted] Here are the house rules for this special tournament.
After you open your mystery basket,
you can choose to ditch an ingredient
and choose another one by the roll of the dice.
What?
Wow.
Roll an even number and you'll get a lucky new ingredient.
Roll an odd number,
you'll get a bad one.
Oh.
And trust me, there are some very bad ingredients
under those golden cloches.
The winner advances to the grand finale.
Final jackpot there, $25,000 minimum.
Gotta open these baskets.
Go for it.
And you've been given
champagne gummy bears,
radishes,
creamed sliced beef.
No.
This is not good.
And pork bung.
I looked down and Pow! I am hit in the nose.
- Oh! - What is this?
Pork bung tastes like, butt.
I don't even know if I'm willing to taste it.
Does anybody want to gamble on swapping something out.
The pork! The Porky Pig.
- No kidding. - It smells like your rear end.
- I think I'll do the same. - I think I'll be swapping out the pork bung.
Chef, you're ditching the radishes?
No, no, the pork bung.
Let's go to the craps table.
I like to gamble. I'm looking forward to getting to roll the dice.
[Ted] Let's do this thing.
Anything's gotta be better than pork bung.
[all cheering]
No!
[Ted] Zoe, you have rolled an unlucky number
and now we have to see what you are cooking with.
Chili dogs!
[Raquel] All right, that's not that bad.
That's not bad at all. Chef Nick.
- Rolling bones. - [Tiffani] Here we go!
Oh wow! Lucky you.
Nick, you rolled a four.
Kohlrabi.
I'll take it.
- Who's next? - Thank you sir.
Roll them up. Let's go, let's go, let's go.
Whoa!
- Seven. - Oh!
Let's see what you've got.
Pork brains in gravy.
It's okay. I feel very optimistic compared to the bung.
[Ted] Raquel, I just have to warn you
you're rolling at your own risk here.
All right.
Come on Raquel! Let's do this.
[Ted] Lucky number six.
Let's see what's under the clothe.
- [Ted] Black Garlic! - [Raquel] Yes!
- [Chris] That's a good one. - [Ted] Great work.
I'm excited.
All right, happy or not, 20 minutes.
Time starts now!
- Right behind, chef? - Right behind, right behind.
Casino Royale is a high stakes tournament.
Minimum of $25,000 for the winner.
[Tiffani] All four chefs chose to get rid of the pork bung.
They all gambled.
[Raquel] My nose just got a dose.
My favorite cuisine is Asian food.
So, my plan is to make a spring roll.
I realized I can use creamed beef as a sauce for sauteed vegetables.
Got the black garlic in my radishes.
I'm making my filling.
I go ahead and add my black garlic and those radishes.
To be able to exchange an ingredient that was absolutely awful
for black garlic was a lot better.
I know how to make garlic work.
It's delicious.
[Tiffani] Black garlic, is not raw garlic,
it's essentially been cooked by fermentation.
Yeah, and it doesn't have the sharpness of raw garlic.
[Chris] I think Raquel, is the big winner here.
But Tajahi,
went for pork bung to pork brains in gravy.
[Christian] Did you taste those pork brains?
- How is it? - It could be worse.
Okay.
I'm happy, that I got dealt pork brains.
Brains should always make you smarter.
At least, that's what my dad said.
It's because I can use it in the dish that I'm hoping to make.
This is a Jamaican festival.
Festival, it's in the family of Johnny cake,
something that we normally have on the beaches in Jamaica.
I actually grew up eating Johnny cake.
- It's more like a pancake or cornmeal. - Cornmeal.
[Tajahi] As a kid, I used to make
fresh curry powder with my grandmother.
So, I take curry powder, Juniper Berries, allspice
and I create a beautiful curry.
I then add the creamed sliced beef
to these amazing spices that are being toasted and let it cook down.
I'm feeling very confident with what I'm making.
Chef Nick.
How are you feeling about your chances here?
[Nick] I'm feeling good.
Very pleased with the kohlrabi over the pork bung.
What are you making?
[Nick] This is a warm salad of kohlrabi and radish,
with the bacon and creamed beef vinaigrette.
Cream beef vinaigrette.
- Very Frenchy. - Oh, my favorite.
Who would buy a can that said creamed sliced beef on it?
The entire military.
- Oh, it's a military thing? - My father's in the military.
Yeah. They get it at the mess all the time.
[Nick] I'm really happy that I've rolled the dice this round
and thank God no pork bung.
The inspiration for this dish is Classic French salad frisee lardon.
This shaved creamed beef is gonna offer creaminess to my bacon vinaigrette.
Chef Zoe, how are you feeling?
A little nervous right now.
Work through the nerves, work past the nerves.
[Zoe] Chili dogs.
At first, I'm like, totally dismayed.
But the more I think about it the more I feel like
there's a lot of components to work with here.
It's definitely better than the pork bung.
I have a lot of fond memories of the foods of the Jewish culture.
My strategy is just wherever I can find touchpoints that I'm comfortable with
that's what I'm going to go for.
Sure.
So, I'm gonna make a potato latke and put on top of it.
This sort of hot chili dog and sliced chipped beef ragu
and finish it with a little salad of radish.
For this tournament, we're seeing people come in here with major chops.
[Chris] This is Chopped Casino Royale
and we want to encourage them to gamble.
There's definitely luck.
But every ingredient matters.
[Ted] 10 minutes on the clock, chefs.
[Raquel] So, now, it's time to build my sauce.
I add sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar
and Champagne gummy bears.
[Tajahi] My next step is to get flour to make a festival dough.
[Ted] Tajahi, you have time to make those Johnny cakes?
[Tajahi] I think so.
[Nick] Combining champagne vinegar,
champagne gummy bears, a couple of sprigs of thyme,
reducing that low and slow.
Everything's moving together really well.
It seems like I'm moving a little faster than some of the other competitors
and I'm feeling really good at this point.
[Zoe] As my binder for potato latke,
I decided I'm gonna scrape everything off the buns
and grate those up for my bread crumb component.
I see some golden raisins.
Start to heat up some vinegar to pickle my raisins.
I'm just gonna use the gummy bears and put that into the ragu.
Right behind, right behind.
I'm very focused on getting my dish ready to go.
I moved my vegetables over to the side,
I pulled the black garlic chunks out of it
and then I noticed I don't have enough stuffing for my spring roll.
Five minutes to go, chefs!
[Raquel] It's not gonna be enough.
[Tiffani] Chef Raquel seems to have a hard time
just making enough filling to fill her rolls.
[Raquel] I haven't made enough stuffing for my spring roll
and I start a second batch.
That beautiful black garlic that Raquel was able to win at the table.
She was sauteing it with radish, just starting all over again.
And she has three minutes left. She does not have time.
[Tajahi] My eyes are always on time.
Tajahi, just looked up at the clock and gave it the most incredible smirk.
- He's like, what? All right. - Time means nothing to me.
[Tajahi] I take the radishes with red wine vinegar, agave,
and the champagne gummies and get that boiling.
To add acid and a little bit of sweetness to the dish.
[Nick] As the clock is ticking I'm tasting through the ingredients.
I'm feeling really good about that
and I just have to make sure that the food looks beautiful.
[Zoe] Time is starting to get away from me.
I'm not even sure if I'm able to get these latkes done.
Her chili dog bun is in the latke.
If she doesn't get those latkes completed, she's left off an ingredient.
If I don't have latkes on the plate, I'm going home for sure.
- All right, chefs, let's go. - Come on! Come on!
Do not leave it up to luck.
- Are those Johnny cakes gonna get all soggy... - Soggy, I know.
the way he is plating on it?
[Zoe] I taste this weird chipped beef thing.
Honestly, it's not bad.
This dish could work as long as these latkes
can come out of the pan in time.
- [Ted] Come on, chefs, get it done. You got this. - Come one guys, let's go!
The house always wins. Let's prove it wrong.
[Ted] Get it done, chefs get it done.
- Let's go! Let's go! - [Ted] Ten!
[Ted] Nine, eight, seven,
six, five,
four, three, two, one.
Time's up!
[Zoe] I made one of the weirdest plates of food,
I've ever made.
Though for 20 minutes,
it tastes good.
Who's going to care, right?
Chefs, your original Casino Royale basket,
Champagne gummy bears,
radishes,
creamed sliced beef and pork bung.
Then we gave you the opportunity to change out one ingredient
and for some reason all four of you did.
Chef Nick, how was that round for you?
Fast.
I rejected the pork bung
and luckily ended up with some nice kohlrabi.
This is a warm salad of kohlrabi and radish
with a bacon and creamed beef vinaigrette and a little gummy bear gastrique.
The salad is tasty as hell.
The radishes are crisp.
They play the right role, but a boudin would have been nice.
This is very almost classic frisee lardon.
The cream sliced beef made it very creamy.
It sort of eliminates the need for that egg.
The sliced kohlrabi makes all the sense in the world.
I think it's dressed really nicely.
You have the kohlrabi, you don't need the apples.
[Chris] I personally like the apples.
I'm wishing for some nuts maybe or some goat cheese,
but overall, I really like the salad.
Next up, Chef Raquel, what did you opt for instead of the pork.
[Raquel] Black garlic.
What I have for you today is creamed beef spring roll
with a gummy bear sesame sauce.
We were nervous, not gonna lie.
- You were nervous? - To the last 10 seconds.
I like my spring roll.
I dipped it into that gummy bear sauce.
Well, it tastes like hoisin.
Yeah, it does.
[Chris] This sauce is really strangely delicious.
You should bottle this.
The rest of it's a struggle for me.
This needs herbs, cilantro, or basil, or scallion
or all of the above.
I agree with Chris. I just want veggies and I want herbs
and I want that wrapped in something crispy.
[Christian] And then, I'm really looking for that cream sliced beef.
A real missed opportunity.
Next up, is Chef Zoe.
How would this read on the menu?
This would read as a crispy potato Latke
with chili dog and chipped beef ragu.
The radish and green apple salad on top.
Felt pretty good about the chili dogs after the pork bung.
My roots are in Jewish cooking
and so latkes are on our brunch menu all the time.
We were really stressed out about the latke.
And to be honest with you, it's my favorite thing on the dish.
I gotta knock you for, for the radishes.
Keep in mind the rest of the basket ingredients
need to be given the same amount of love and respect
as whatever you get from rolling the dice.
Christian is right. You have to pay attention to like other ingredients.
I love onions. It's like, my gravestone will say here lies chilies and onions
- but these are still too big. - Understood.
- It gets too much. - Yes, chef.
This radish, apple, and red onion.
I want that really chopped up really small and put on, put on top.
You got the right components, but you didn't put them together
in the best way possible.
Finally, Chef Tajahi!
What ingredient did you end up with?
I received pork brains in a cream sauce in a can.
I made for you canned beef Jamaican curry.
I'm a big fan of curry.
My grandmother traveled by boat from India to Jamaica when she was around 12.
Wow!
We have a curry recipe that is within our family that's over 400 years old.
I've manipulated a little bit, of course.
What I really like about this is your use of the charred jalapeño.
It's delicious.
- Thank you, chef. - Really delicious that way.
[Tiffani] With like the pork brains
in the can and the cream beef in the can,
it's not easy to make a complicated sophisticated curry in 20 minutes
and you have.
Just think about plating a little bit more.
The festival is a little chewy.
I would have kept the festival completely away from the curry
to keep that crispy.
Growing up in the Bronx,
we were the only Italian family in a Jamaican neighborhood.
One of my neighbors would sell jerk chicken
and sitting here, it brings me home.
You got the pickled radishes
and you're getting that back spice from the curry.
Just lovely. I really enjoy it.
Yes, chef, thank you.
[Nick] Salad was a little bit safe,
but given the kohlrabi and the radishes,
I kind of felt like, I was cornered it a little bit.
The vision in my head wasn't on the plate, the dish, it was a little messy.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
[Tiffani] Oh, Chef Raquel.
None of us wanted you to go.
We just couldn't find the creamed chip beef in that spring roll.
Not enough black garlic and so we had to chop you.
Okay, thank you.
I knew it. I knew it. I knew it.
I took the most risk versus a salad.
Something that's a little bit less involved.
Chef Nick, Chef Zoe, Chef Tajahi,
you think luck is on your side?
- Yes. - Absolutely.
Definitely.
We'll start with this basket.
Please open them up.
And your next take it or leave it combo is truffle-honey,
- artichokes. - Okay.
[Tajahi] This will be my second time in my career cooking with artichokes.
Monkfish.
Holy.
Wow!
[Ted] It's not the prettiest fish.
And spaghetti ring deviled eggs.
Who wants to stick with the basket?
Who would like to roll the dice?
I'm staying with it.
I'm sticking with the basket.
You're sticking with the basket.
Spaghetti ring, deviled eggs look kind of disgusting.
Yeah, I think I'm gonna lose the spaghetti ring eggs.
[Tajahi] Chef Nick and I decided to hold back
and Chef Zoe decided to take a risk again.
All right Zoe, let's roll the dice.
[Zoe] I'm nervous because the last time I did this
I got an odd number.
- [Tiffani] All right guys. - All righty, here we go.
- Alright! - [all cheering] Let's go!
[Tiffani] Even!
- [Ted] Four. - Yes!
- [Ted] Four! - [Tiffany] Yes, there we go.
- Good Job! - Here we go!
[Ted] Let's see, what you've got?
Broccoli rabe.
Okay.
[Chris] Broccoli rabe, it's slightly bitter, it's delicious sauteed,
you can't lose with this ingredient.
[Tajahi] After seeing, Zoe's broccoli rabe,
I feel as though I should have taken that risk.
All right, it's time to take another chance in the Chopped kitchen,
you'll have 30 minutes to make your entrees.
Clock starts now.
- All right, guys. - Let's go.
[Tiffani] Let's go.
[Nick] My confidence is sky high.
And this round, I'm gonna throw all my cards on the table.
I'm gonna make a pan-roasted monkfish
with truffle-honey crust.
Potatoes, a deviled egg gribiche and boiled artichokes.
I kinda wish I got rid of these damn artichokes.
To get those artichokes clean, that's gonna be time-consuming.
I'm worried.
So, judges, do these ingredients even work well together?
[Tiffani] That's the job of a Chopped chef.
I am really surprised that all three chefs
didn't gamble with the monkfish and the artichokes.
Both of those ingredients take a lot of time to prepare properly.
[Zoe] Never touched one of these in my life.
My biggest concern is how to break down this fish,
which I've never even worked with before.
Oh my God, this basket is not gonna be easy.
My plan for the entree round is to pan-roast the monkfish and serve it with rice.
With the truffle-honey artichokes in it
and broccoli rabe over the top.
I'm still glad I got this broccoli rabe and not the deviled eggs,
but I'm also nervous about getting it on the plate in a way that it feels
a little bit more integral than the radishes did in the last round.
[Tajahi] I'm going up against great chefs,
but at the same time I know that I can extract flavors
from this monkfish
and turn it into a beautiful broth.
Tajahi looks like he knows what he's doing.
[Tajahi] I'm making a Jamaican fish tea, which is a soup.
I take hot smoked paprika, dried cumin, dried thyme
to make sure that my monkfish is coated well.
Having an Indian grandmother Basmati and Jasmine rice live in your house.
So, my next thought is I need to get the rice on immediately.
One of the few fish I wouldn't have been glad to see you know what I mean.
[Christian] I love monkfish.
The flesh mimics that of lobster.
- Right, they call it the poor man's lobster. - [Ted] Yes.
[Christian] It's a fish that it's telling you I'm very hard to butcher.
[Tiffani] You have not fabricated or broken a monkfish,
that would intimidate me in 30 minutes.
20 minutes on the clock, chefs.
[Nick] I got a cut.
[Chris] It's not a bad cut.
He still had to take a minute to go and get it bandaged up.
And he's still dealing with those artichokes.
[Nick] I'm really regretting keeping these artichokes around,
they're a thorn in my side.
[Tajahi] I add the truffle-honey to this monkfish broth.
I add green onions. I add soy, I add sesame.
Spaghetti ring deviled eggs.
I scooped out the tomato sauce as an umami flavor.
I got to say to Tajahi, he's motoring through all these ingredients
like he's done it 10 million times.
Oh, holy cow.
Taste that honey.
Time is ticking down.
I've got the broccoli rabe trying to get a little color on it.
I know I want to fold those artichokes into the rice.
And then really want to hit them with a little bit of that truffle-honey.
Chefs, less than 10 minutes to go.
I've got a lot left to do and not a lot of time to do it.
The artichokes are finally cooking.
I've worked with monkfish, the only concern with it
is going to be the cooking time.
It's kind of a slower cooking item.
Sauce gribiche will always have a hard-boiled egg.
I saw some anchovies in the pantry.
Cornichons, a little lemon and dill
and you've got yourself a nice French sauce for this fish.
[Ted] Look at how Tajahi is handling that artichoke.
[Chris] Yo, Tajahi, looks like you've never seen an artichoke before.
This is my second time working with artichokes.
So, I quickly decided to do something plain and simple.
Artichoke chips.
I shave them down and drop them in the fryer.
Okay.
Two minutes left, this is it.
[Nick] We've got the fish in the pan, I've got my sauce,
gribiche made, artichokes and potatoes are not fully cooked yet.
I'm feeling a little nerve kicking in.
- Time? - 108.
- Thank you, 108.
I know, I'm going straight from the pan to the plate with the monkfish.
So, I have to just kinda decide
how the rest of the plate is gonna come together.
[Ted] Plate it up, chefs, plate it up.
- Come on. - [Ted] You're running out of time.
[Ted] Ten, nine,
eight, seven,
six,
five, four, three,
two, one.
Time's up.
[Nick] The plates are complete.
Food is seasoned, cooked properly. I'm happy with it.
[Zoe] I'm absolutely glad
I got rid of the spaghetti ring deviled eggs
and the broccoli rabe's gonna taste good.
Hey!
[Tiffani] Tajahi put his artichoke chips into his broth.
They don't stand a shot of staying crispy.
Chefs, for your Casino Royale entree round
we presented you with a basket of
truffle-honey, artichokes,
monkfish and spaghetti ring deviled eggs.
Then we gave you the option to ditch one ingredient and roll for something else.
Chef Zoe, did you enjoy working with the broccoli rabe?
I liked it better than deviled eggs. Yes.
Would you please tell us about your entree?
[Zoe] It's pan-roasted monkfish. Underneath is jasmine rice
that has truffle-honey, artichokes in it.
And then sauteed broccoli rabe on top.
I'm absolutely glad I took the gamble
and got rid of the spaghetti ring, deviled eggs.
Zoe using the truffle-honey in the rice,
very smart.
You get just the hint
of truffle which is plenty.
I love, love, love the rice artichokes and truffle-honey.
It's easily the most delicious thing on the plate.
The biggest thing that's bumming me out on this is the broccoli rabe.
It's kind of bland. It's just sauteed broccoli rabe.
I wanted to stay really simple with the things that I knew well.
I need to see more transformation of the basket ingredients.
I think I speak for all of us.
The fish is under, your monkfish is under.
But you've got a really nice sear on the top of it.
Maybe one more thing, a little parsley.
Something else that would bring this to the next level.
Next up, Chef Tajahi.
Judges, I have a honey-truffle monkfish tea
with a basmati rice.
Fish tea is a Jamaican thing, it's basically fish soup.
But in Jamaica, we drink it out of a teacup.
They call it fish tea.
Honey, this is the tea.
This is delicious.
I'm an artichoke fanatic.
There's a little bit of leaf in here and it makes it tough and it's tannic.
I'm sorry Chef.
But overall, the flavor of this is spectacular.
I love the spice rub on the outside of the fish.
I think there's a really good composed bite here.
What stops it from being a complete home run
is the fish is just overcooked.
Just presents a little problem.
- [Tajahi] Thank you. - The flavor on the outside of that fish though
- is dynamite. - Thank you.
Here, Tajahi, listen, the broth is so good.
Taking the spaghetti rings and you put it in your broth with your warm spices.
- This is very delicious. - Thank you.
- Chef Tajahi, thank you. - Thank you.
Finally, Chef Nick.
Do you think you made the right call in not rolling the dice?
I probably should have rolled the dice and got rid of those artichokes.
This is a pan-roasted monkfish with a truffle-honey, herb crust.
Artichoke and sauce gribiche with spaghetti ring deviled eggs.
So smart to use the eggs in the gribiche
and create this creamy, delicious tartar sauce kind of vibe on the bottom.
The potatoes are in addition,
I would rather have seen you spend more time on your artichokes.
I have the leaves of the artichoke on the outside
and those leaves are so bitter and tannic.
[Chris] This is a really ambitious plate of food,
but it's just the scallion and the truffle-honey
I'm having a really hard time with.
I'd say I wish you'd left the scallions off completely.
Like Chef said, get rid of potatoes
and focus more on specific basket ingredients.
But it's tough because I just want to keep eating it though.
You guys, all three of you are really, really, strong chefs.
And there's $25,000 on the line. This is no joke.
So, if it feels like we're going a little hard, it's because we are.
The problem now, three chefs want to make dessert
but only two chefs get that chance.
This is gonna be a tough call.
[Nick] The third of the round on cleaning artichokes.
That really screwed me up.
[Tajahi] I'm a little concerned.
I'm very concerned. Who likes overcooked fish?
[Ted] Who's moving on to the dessert round
and whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Nick, you've been chopped.
Judges.
Nick, it's just unfortunate that you didn't gamble away those artichokes
because that's exactly what is sending you home right now.
Some of our artichokes weren't trimmed properly.
We had to chop you.
[Nick] Definitely bummed out. Between the artichoke and the monkfish,
I wish that I would have put one on the table and rolled the dice.
Chef Zoe, Chef Tajahi still here for dessert.
Which Chef should we bet on to win?
You're looking at him.
I think you'd be losing some money that way.
I want it more than I have this whole time.
I think we'll let you do the betting
after you open these.
[Tajahi] I feel excited.
All I want to do now is just hear the ingredients.
Check out your dessert baskets.
And you've been given a baked Alaska.
[Zoe] Wow.
Wow.
[Ted] Longan fruit.
Okay.
Okay, I'm not even sure what everything in here is.
- [Ted] Grenadine. - Okay.
The grenadine doesn't feel like a huge threat.
[Ted] And sweet relish.
And then I pull out the sweet relish.
What?
[Tajahi] Sweet relish, in the dessert round?
Why?
Chef, do you want to gamble?
I think I'm gonna get rid of the pickle relish.
- [Ted] Chef? - Pickle relish.
To the table.
Chef Zoe, Chef Tajahi, you are both switching out the sweet relish.
Let's roll 'em.
[Tiffani] All right, keep rolling. Let's go. Evens!
[Ted] You've rolled a three.
[all] Ooh.
[Ted] All right, Tajahi.
Voila.
Tomato soup.
- That's not that bad. - That's not terrible.
[Tajahi] Tomato soup is better than relish.
We can manipulate a tomato soup better
whether it's in sorbet or a sauce.
You should be smiling bro.
All right Zoe, let's roll.
One odd, one even. Here we go, even!
[all cheering]
[Ted] You've rolled a six.
[cheering]
- [Tiffani] Yes. - [Chris] Nice.
[Tiffani] It's even.
Lucky Zoe, once again.
Let's see what it is.
Chocolate covered strawberry.
All right.
Definitely, better than relish.
30 minutes to shine in the dessert round.
- Clock starts now. - All right, let's go.
[Tiffani] Bring it on.
Open.
[Tajahi] I'm feeling nervous.
Chef Zoe is an amazing chef but at the same time I came here to win.
I'm going to make baked Alaska bread pudding and combine longan fruits,
grenadine and tomato soup to create a delicious sauce.
Now that I've gotten rid of the relish,
I feel as though I have a basket that I can work with.
I add some orange liqueur to create something fragrant.
Tajahi brought back a loaf of bread and muffin tins.
Interesting.
[Tajahi] I cube up the brioche,
and then I see the baked Alaska
and I know exactly what that is.
It's stuffed with ice cream and then they make a marshmallow topping
that the whole thing gets encapsulated in.
And then they toast it.
[Tajahi] I take the insides of the baked Alaska
and combine that down with some heavy cream
and then I add it to the bread pudding.
[Zoe] When I see the chocolate-covered strawberries,
I'm like, all right, that's cool, I can work with that.
And I really want to make a couple of different sauces.
So, I decided to make a buttermilk biscuit
soaked in a little chocolate and berry sauce
with macerated strawberries
and longan berries.
I think this dessert definitely speaks to me.
I mean the biscuit is something that I'm so familiar with
and comfortable with and love to make.
[Tiffani] We're going into the last round.
The stakes could not be higher.
I'm gonna go check and see what they're doing.
I think Tajahi has a bread pudding.
- Chef Tajahi. - Yes, ma'am.
Do we have a bread pudding working, what's going on?
That's what's in my mind.
What's the plan for the longan?
And have you worked with it before?
Longan is in that tomato sauce.
- Okay, it's already there. - [Tajahi] Yes.
- Chef Zoe. - Yes, Chef.
Did you taste the longan?
Remind you of anything?
- Melon and litchi. - [Tiffani] Exactly.
You gotta win this round to get into the finale
$25,000 and then there's potentially more.
[Zoe] 16 minutes, holy cow.
[Tiffani] Tajahi and Zoe got both of their items in
at around 16 minutes.
That may not be enough time to get biscuits and bread pudding fully baked.
[Tajahi] Knowing the size of the bread pudding,
I'm watching it closely.
[Chris] I see bread puddings that are not setting up quite yet.
He's just gonna have to wait.
[Zoe] This macerated fruit is gonna knock
three of my basket ingredients out.
Strawberries without the chocolate on them, the longan fruit
and I've got the grenadine in there.
For the chocolate sauce,
I add the cognac just to add a little bit of depth
and a little bit of bitterness.
Good job, chef, keep it going.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
[Tajahi] My bread pudding's in the oven.
This gives me time to find texture.
I've candied pistachios many times.
I grab some sugar, fresh mint
and I drop the pistachios in the fryer.
Five minutes to go, chefs.
[Zoe] I'm trying to get my biscuits out of the oven into the blast chiller.
I pull my bread pudding and I can see that it's scorched at the top.
My bread pudding may have been overcooked.
[Tajahi] I pull my bread pudding
and I can see that it's overcooked.
So, submerging it in the sauce,
adding some moisture.
Tajahi, how do you feel?
I want this win.
All right.
[Ted] All right, chefs, this is your final minute.
Come on, Zoe. You got this.
[Zoe] It's done. It's done. It's done.
After tasting baked Alaska,
I'm just gonna use the meringue topping
and get a little brulee on it.
[Tiffani] If she torches it, I'm kinda in.
Maybe.
[Christian] 30 seconds.
[Tajahi] I'm hoping that judges see the effort
and hopefully I out-cook Chef Zoe.
Hurry up, Zoe, whatever it is you're doing, do it.
[Zoe] It's not gonna work.
[Ted] Final seconds of the final round.
Chefs, ten, nine, eight, seven,
- six... - Come on, come on.
[Ted] ...five, four, three, two, one. Time's up.
[Zoe] Win or lose.
I think luck has left the building.
I think this really comes down to skill and execution at this point.
Had this been a normal Chopped round,
you would have both made desserts with baked Alaska, longan fruit,
grenadine and sweet relish.
But you got to risk changing things up.
Chef Tajahi,
what did you opt for instead of the sweet relish?
[Tajahi] Tomato soup.
I have baked Alaska bread pudding,
brown sugar, tomato soup sauce with some candied pistachios.
You put together a very tasty well-seasoned bread pudding.
My favorite part, these toasted pistachios. This is great.
The shocker for me is that tomato grenadine sauce.
It tastes really bright.
It's almost like a blood orange.
Is it blood oranges in here?
There's fresh orange zest as again, island boy, it has to have citrus.
Each round you give us something that's really truly surprising
and in this case it's this tomato soup sauce.
I would eat a bowl of just that with these pistachios.
I'm going to when I finish talking. I'm gonna go back in.
The bread pudding though.
Give us some of that marshmallow,
give us some of that vanilla ice cream straight from the baked Alaska
because the baked Alaska seems kind of lost.
Cut this bread pudding in half, it is dry, it is dense
but the tomato sauce is so genius.
The addition of the orange liqueur and the orange zest
really transforms it into something spectacular.
Finally, Chef Zoe.
I prepared buttermilk biscuits soaked in a berry and chocolate sauce
with macerated strawberries and longan fruit
and whipped marshmallow.
I got the chocolate-covered strawberries for the relish.
[Chris] Some really great stuff going on here.
The biscuit, I think it's delicious
and it's paired really perfectly with that chocolate sauce
that you made with the strawberries.
That bite right there is perfect.
- The marshmallow that was on the... - Mm-hmm.
I wonder if you would have been better served
with vanilla ice cream because it's just not super flavorful.
And then the strawberries and the longan fruit on top
are a nice idea except the way you cut the basil.
- [Zoe] Heard. - A bite of it is just because
it starts to become very astringent.
This is a very good dessert with some technical errors.
[Tiffani] I agree with Chris entirely.
The biscuit is spectacular.
I think the strawberry chocolate sauce with the longan in it
is really interesting.
The longan lightens up the strawberry chocolate. Overall it's delicious.
It's delicious.
Thank you very much, chef.
All right, you gambled, you cooked.
Well done, both of you.
We'll name the winner very soon.
Great competition, high stakes.
Both chefs really brought it.
- Two high rollers. - Yes.
First round, we have Tajahi.
He makes this incredible curry.
- With pork brains? - Yeah.
And Johnny cake fritters.
The fritters were a little chewy.
[Chris] Yeah, totally agree.
[Chris] Okay, Zoe rolled the dice and got chili dogs.
Definitely, better than the pork bung.
I think we all really liked the flavor.
She did use a lot of red onion.
Thank God Scott Conant was not here today.
I think the first round is really a tossup.
It's hard to, it's really hard to pick a winner there.
Honestly, for me it's a draw.
Then let's get into entrees.
[Chris] That truffle-honey which I thought was gonna be a really difficult ingredient.
Zoe really nailed it by incorporating that into her artichokes
and then incorporating that into her rice.
As much as I, like, didn't super love
the treatment of the broccoli rabe,
that sweet honey truffle rice up against the bitterness of the broccoli rabe
was so smart.
I will say this, when it comes down monkfish to monkfish,
Tajahi's spice rub was spectacular.
That fish tea was one of the best things I've had in a long time.
But what do we do when the monkfish was so completely overcooked?
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Tajahi you've been chopped.
Judges.
Chef Tajahi, that monkfish tea that you made was delicious.
- Thank you, chef. - However, your rice was kinda bland
and your monkfish was very overcooked.
And then in the dessert round that bread pudding was really dry.
We had to chop you?
May I shake your hands?
The hardest part about being chopped is knowing
that I could have won.
I tried.
And that means Chef Zoe Schor,
you are the Chopped champion. Congratulations!
[Tiffani] Yes, she did! Yes!
Thank you so much.
[Ted] In the finale,
a minimum of $25,000 will be in play.
[Zoe] Right now, coming off this win,
I can't wait to go to the finale,
after I get maybe some sleep.
[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!
[Chris] 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 may need to up my anxiety medication.
[Ted] It's always a gamble.
Five, four, three, two, one.
It's Casino Royale.