You don't get to play it safe. You have to go hard or you go home.
The adrenaline is insane.
There's no room for mistakes.
No idea what I'm doing over here.
I'm kinda panicking.
Only one chef can leave the casino with all the cash.
[Tiffani] The pot is large, kids!
My hands are just shaking!
And the title of Chopped grand champion.
[Grace] I am hoping luck is on my side again this time.
My strategy is to cook from my heart
because that's when I churn out the best food possible,
I'm ready to win this thing right now.
[Zoe] Being this close and knowing there's a chance
that I could go home is terrifying.
I need to execute flawlessly.
I don't think I've ever wanted anything as much as I wanna win.
[Kaleena] The first competition was...
Get it together.
It was a lot.
I can't lose this competition.
All that matters is you and the stovetop and the flavors.
I'm gonna go in there and kick some ass.
I need $25,000. I don't want it, I need it.
[Nichole] I have the passion and the skill to do it all.
I'm a sweet girl but watch out.
I'm ready to take these ladies down.
[Kaleena] All the chips in the middle, right now.
Why did I gamble?
These chefs are full on sprinting!
- Go, go, go! - It's a physical sport.
[Kaleena] There's a lot riding on this.
[grunts]
- Get it done, no matter what. - [exhales]
Is she done? Is she done? Is she done?
- Gonna be close! - This is the end!
- [Ted] Well, well, well. - [Zoe] Good luck everyone.
- [Zoe] Good luck, guys. - [Grace] Back again.
[Ted] Chef Nichole, Chef Kaleena, Chef Zoe, Chef Grace.
It's your triumphant return to the Casino Royale kitchen.
The same special house rules apply for this finale.
After opening your mystery basket,
you can decide to ditch any one ingredient
for a chance to pick another, by the roll of the dice.
- Yes! - Right!
The winner scores the jackpot, currently at $25,000
with the possibility to go even higher.
Yes! I need that!
More than $25,000, we're all kinda looking at each other, like this is insane!
[Ted] Please open your appetizer baskets!
[Nichole] Hell yeah!
[Kaleena] Oh, my God!
Dried something?
- Are you down with freeze-dried green peppers? - Sushi!
- [Ted] Chirashi. - Head cheese?
[Ted] Head cheese.
Is there supposed to be a fourth?
And... judges?
[suspenseful music playing]
[all cheering]
Here we are in the Casino Royale's VIP room
where our bottle service team has just provided you
with some delicious peach vodka.
[all cheering]
Not as bad as I thought!
[Ted] Okay, is there anything here you would like to gamble away?
You know what, Ted? I'm getting rid of the peach vodka.
[Ted] All right.
I think I'm gonna keep the basket.
Okay. Chef Zoe?
I'm gonna roll the dice I'm giving up the chirashi.
[Ted] Chef Grace?
You know, I'm good. I have a plan, I'm gonna go with this.
Okay. Let's see where the chips fall.
- [Ted] All right, guys. - [Zoe] Let's go!
All right, chefs, welcome to the Casino Royale: Table of Chance.
Chef Zoe, roll an even number and you'll get a lucky ingredient.
- [Ted] You ready? - Ready.
- [Tiffani] All right, here we go! - [Ted] Let it roll!
[all cheering]
[Ted] Six...
- [Ted] And three, nine! - [all exclaiming]
[Ted] Not so lucky.
- [Ted] Spicy chicken spread! - [exclaims]
[overlapping talk]
[Zoe] Fantastic!
[Ted] It's kinda like a chicken pate.
Fine.
All right, Nichole, here's your laughing bones.
- [Ted] See what you got. - [all cheering]
- [Ted] Come on, come on, come on. - Even numbers.
[Ted] And we have a seven.
[all exclaiming]
[Nichole] Nervous.
[Ted] Durian!
[all exclaiming]
[Amanda] Durian fruit...
is a delicacy in South East Asia.
And has a very strong aroma of blue cheese and garbage.
[Ted laughs]
[Amanda] This completely changes your basket.
You have a odiferous fruit to add in with your sushi.
[Ted] Before we get cooking, we're putting the prize amount
in your hands.
If you roll an even number,
we'll multiply it by 1000
and add it to the $25,000.
If you roll an odd,
we'll do the same thing in reverse.
- [Zoe] Oh, my God! - It's a lot!
Very risky!
Chef Grace, would you like to roll?
Heck yes, I'm rolling.
Jacking up the grand prize is exhilarating.
[all cheering]
Uh-oh.
Seven!
You rolled a seven that means the $25,000 pot
has now shrunk to $18,000.
- Unfortunately. - Does anybody else wanna roll?
- Absolutely! - [all cheering]
[all exclaiming]
- Five. - [Kaleena] Go for 12!
12!
[Ted] Ten! Ten! Ten!
We're back up to $23,000.
- Chef Nichole? - [all cheering]
Four!
- [all applauding] - Nice!
All right chefs, 20 minutes to cook appetizers with finale flare!
Clock starts now!
[Christian] Come on, guys! Good luck, good luck!
[intense music playing]
[Ted] Judges, it's a big night at Chopped Casino Royale.
The jackpot is up to $27,000.
The vibe in the kitchen is intense.
[Christian] This is it. The cream of the crop
They mowed through over a dozen of their very own colleagues
and the stakes cannot be higher.
[all exclaiming excitedly]
Whoo! Okay.
Zoe, always a risk-taker. Happy with the risk?
- I'm happy with the risk. - Yeah?
Who wouldn't want to trade chirashi for this!
Spicy chicken spread, it's not that bad.
It tastes kinda like a pate, it's got a little heat
and I'm gonna leave it as it is and spread it on toast.
And use that as a crouton in my French onion soup.
I'm making French onion soup
with spicy chicken spread toast.
I get some beef stock going with the dehydrated green pepper
and shitake mushrooms as well.
We got this, we got this.
I freaking love sushi.
And my plan is to make a chirashi ceviche
with a tea made out of the freeze-dried green pepper
and a peach vodka ponzu sauce.
Behind, behind, behind.
Chef Nichole, you got Durian. How are you feeling?
[Nichole] I'm about to crack it open. So we shall see.
I have absolutely no clue what to do with this durian.
But it's pretty sweet. So I think I can easily blend that into some goat cheese.
And slap it on some bread.
What was I worried about!
Chirashi is basically deconstructed sushi.
It's a beautiful fish.
So I'm making a chirashi cioppino
with goat cheese and durian toast.
Winning this competition means a lot to me.
I'm trying to show my son that it's not about luck in life.
It's about skill, determination and will power.
[Kaleena] I love to eat Thai food
and one of my favorite things is curry.
So I'm making a green pepper curry
with a crispy fish and head cheese rice cake.
Sometimes I let my nerves get the best of me.
I'm definitely a lil' queasy, definitely have the knots.
Go, go, go!
But winning the last competition really gave me a huge boost of confidence.
I know that I can bring it just as hard as the other competitors.
Chefs, ten minutes remain on the clock.
[chopping]
Woo!
[Christian] I'm most excited to see what is done with this head cheese.
It's essentially a pork head
and they slowly, uh, simmer it in a very aromatic broth.
What people don't realize is some of the best meat
is in the cheeks and in the face.
[Nichole] Head cheese! It looks unattractive
but I think it's a pretty easy ingredient.
Oh, it's not horrible.
It will add depth to the cioppino.
You guys, we're at Casino Royale where the players are playing.
They're clearly all here to go hard
risk big, roll high and win.
[grunts] Come on!
[Grace] Behind, behind. Coming hot, behind, behind.
The intensity, honestly, is nothing like I've seen.
[Ted] This is the most intense I think I've ever seen the Chopped kitchen.
Get yourself together. Get it together.
Compared to the preliminary competition,
there's a lot more pressure today.
But I absolutely have what it takes to win.
The peach vodka, I'm using it
to flame off my onions and the head cheese.
[sizzling]
[Zoe] How's that for TV?
For my chirashi ceviche, I'm putting in jalapeño, cilantro, green onion.
And I'm gonna render out the head cheese
to give the ponzu some body.
Five minutes on the clock, chefs!
[intense music playing]
[Kaleena] Time's ticking down
but I haven't even started my fishcakes.
[Tiffani] Kaleena's making a fish cake.
It's five minutes left. You should have cooked it already.
[Tiffani] Cook your food!
- [Christian] Come on, guys! - [Kaleena] Behind!
I'm thinking, okay, Kaleena you gotta move.
Kaleena, you gotta hustle!
[intense music playing]
[Kaleena] I'm running outta time.
I haven't even started cooking my fishcakes.
[Christian] Just figure it out!
-Get it done, no matter what! You can do this. -Go, go, go!
[Kaleena] I combined the head cheese,
some bread crumbs with the rice, octopus,
and the Hamachi from the chirashi.
Gonna be close!
And I get them in the pan.
Two-minute warning, chefs!
$27,000, guys!
[Grace] The money going up definitely gets my heart pumping.
I know I need texture on my dish.
So I decide just to fry the rice.
- I'm coming down, coming down. - You got this, you got this.
[Ted] One minute on the clock, chefs!
You got this, you got this!
[Zoe] Time's running out. So to plate I'm using,
the only bowls that look like they're the right size.
And I take the toast and I put that on top.
All four ingredients on those plates, chefs!
- [Ted] Ten, nine, eight... - [Tiffani] Come on, guys!
- [Ted] Seven, six... - Come on, come on, come on!
[Ted] Five, four, three...
- [Ted] Two, one... - [Christian] Get it! Get it!
- [Ted] Time's up! - [all cheering]
I'm not sure if this tastes good at all!
[Zoe] I don't feel as confident about my flavors as I usually do.
I feel like somebody else has to make a mistake
or else I think, there's a good chance I might be chopped.
[Nichole] I was really worried about that durian.
But hopefully, I'll be the first successful person to use it on Chopped.
[suspenseful music playing]
Chefs, you have arrived at the Chopping Block.
We gave you a choice.
Make appetizers from freeze-dried green peppers,
Chirashi, head cheese,
and peach vodka.
Or ditch an ingredient for a lucky or unlucky replacement.
Chef Zoe?
I rolled a nine, unfortunately.
And the ingredient I got was spicy chicken spread.
So I've made a head cheese and onion soup
with a spicy chicken spread toast
on top for your enjoyment.
This French onion soup plate,
it's really good!
- Thank you, chef. - It is really, really good.
Like, the freeze-dried peppers
I think gave some depth of flavor to your broth.
Thank you, chef.
You got some good flavors in here.
And the ingredient that you swapped out,
the spicy chicken spread
um, works really well on the crouton.
Zoe, you're a player. You're a gambler, risk taker. And it paid off.
But the dish
is wrong.
I would never put something hot in a glass dish.
It shows every flaw. And you gotta melt your cheese.
I'm just gonna give you the real deal.
Like, you've gotten a lot of compliments and it is good,
but everyone here is a player,
right, so move on to the next round, like,
those details are going to matter.
Thank you, Chef.
Next up, Chef Kaleena.
I have made for you
a green pepper and coconut milk red curry,
with a crispy rice head cheese
fish cake on top.
So you feel good about your decision to not roll the dice?
Yeah, there wasn't anything that I felt
too uncomfortable with.
Yeah, well, your gamble really paid off.
The spice is my favorite thing.
This is like the absolute, uh, perfect amount of heat.
- Really good. - Thank you.
The fish cake, whatever you bound it with,
kind of taken over a little bit.
[Kaleena] I didn't want it to fall apart in the pan,
so I ended up using a little bit of corn starch.
Yeah, I think this just adds a weight to it that it didn't need.
Understood, thank you.
I agree with Amanda.
I think the fish gets lost in the cake.
And all the flavors are really good,
I just think the details really matter.
Thank you.
What would winning Chopped mean to you?
I went to culinary school right after high school
and my parents were super supportive
and unfortunately I lost them after culinary school.
And, uh, they would've really loved to see this.
Win or lose they would've been really, really proud of me.
I'm sure they were anyway.
Next up, Chef Nichole.
So, I got rid of the peach vodka,
and I got durian as my unlucky roll.
So, I kinda made, uh,
cioppino, if you will. And then a little bit of durian goat cheese baguette.
When this is put in front of me,
I am taken back to growing up
and my mother would make the most fantastic minestrone soup
and it's so heartwarming.
Whoa, I'll take that.
Christian took the words out of my mouth
I just feel like I'm eating minestrone.
That some fish happened to fall into.
Yeah.
And the fish was overcooked.
[Tiffani] So, cioppino is shell fish, specifically.
For me this is more of like a vegetable bean soup,
with some cooked fish.
But the crostini with the goat cheese and the durian,
that no one has ever made in the history of all food,
in the world.
I think that worked out for you, gives that little sweetness
to the goat cheese and the goat cheese
gave a little depth to the durian.
Are you playing for anyone today?
Absolutely, you know, my family is a huge inspiration for me.
You know, my husband and most of all my little one-year old baby.
He's really the one that always pushes me forward
and you know, we tried a long time for him,
so, it's definitely motivational.
Thank you, Chef Nichole.
And finally, Chef Grace.
So I made for you,
chirashi ceviche with dried green bell pepper tea,
and then it's dressed with a ponzu made from
the peach vodka and the head cheese.
And what is it that I hear Amanda crunching on?
There is some of that rice in there
that I fried up to get nice and crispy.
Grace, we give you beautiful fish,
and not enough of it.
Right, and so I think slicing it into a ceviche makes a lot of sense.
The dehydrated green pepper tea is a really interesting way to go.
And then you give me head cheese ponzu?
I think it all works as a dressing.
Thank you.
Great game play.
I can taste almost everything from your basket.
I love the crispy rice.
And I'm kind of, like, upset and annoyed about it.
Don't just speckle a couple on there.
Just really, really give us the goods.
Okay.
[Amanda] Yeah, I so appreciate the texture of the crispy rice.
Mm-hmm.
And I get what Christian is saying, you know, he just wanted more of that.
I agree with you as well.
No champion wants to hear the words, "you've been chopped."
But that is an inevitable outcome after this round.
[Nichole] This round was tough, I think it's between
me and Chef Zoe, to be on the chopping block.
[Zoe] The judges did not care for the vessel I chose.
Ultimately I feel like it's anyone's game still
and anyone could go home.
[exhales]
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Nichole, you've been chopped, judges?
[Amanda] Chef Nichole,
we felt that the fish from the chirashi
was overcooked
and you didn't have shellfish,
you couldn't develop that flavor to the broth.
And so, we had to chop you.
Thank you, thank you.
[all judges] Thank you.
[Nichole] Being the first one hurts a little bit.
But I'm still a Chopped champion,
and at least I still proved that this mama's still got it.
Kaleena, Zoe, Grace.
Second baskets are here.
Open 'em up.
Oh, okay.
[Ted] You are looking at vegan lobster.
What in the hell? Vegan lobster?
[Ted] Fuzzy squash.
A little crunch is what I'm thinking.
[Ted] Rack of lamb.
Looks great.
[Ted] And camel milk cheese.
No idea what that's gonna taste like.
Who's gambling?
I think I'm gonna keep these ingredients.
Uh, I'm gonna get rid of the camel milk cheese,
'cause everybody knows camel milk cheese and vegan lobster
don't go together.
A-ha!
I'm gonna get rid of this vegan lobster thing.
Okay. Let's go to the table.
[Grace] Let's do it.
All right, Chef Grace.
[all cheering]
[Ted] And a four, good job.
Mushroom ravioli.
Oh, solid, okay.
- [all cheering] - [Ted] Chef Zoe.
Five and one.
[all cheering]
[Ted] Blood oranges.
[all exclaiming excitedly]
Now let's see what's going to happen to our jackpot.
Chef Kaleena, would you like to roll?
I would.
[Ted] Do it, all right.
[all cheering]
[Ted] And a four!
[all cheering]
[Ted] That takes your prize to $31,000.
Anybody else wanna roll?
[Zoe] I'll roll.
All right, here we go.
[all cheering]
[Ted] Eight.
[all cheering]
[Ted] Seven.
[All disappointingly] Oh.
Unfortunately, Grace, you have reduced the prize down to 32.
But it's still more than 25.
- It is. - Yes.
[Ted] All right, everybody ready?
Thirty minutes, round starts now.
[all cheering]
All right, guys, let's go.
[Kaleena in sing-song voice] 32!
Judges, we are getting so close
to selecting the final two competitors
in this Casino Royale tournament.
Who would you say is looking the most determined?
[Tiffani] I don't think we can pick one.
[Amanda] I have to say, I love watching Kaleena cook.
It's a physical sport for her.
You don't wanna get in her way.
We just rolled the money up to $32,000.
And that's life-changing kind of money.
I want to own a house one day,
I still have student loans from culinary school.
So, I can't lose this competition.
Rack of lamb,
I think we got lucky to have such a great product.
I just kind of wanna let it showcase itself.
So my plan is to make a spice-crusted rack of lamb.
With an herbed fuzzy squash couscous.
I'm one round away from the final round,
and I'm up against some really talented chefs.
It's really nerve-wracking.
But my parents raised me to be a fighter
and I need to give it everything I have.
[Grace] Competing against Zoe and Kaleena,
this is gonna be a challenge.
Coming up behind, behind, behind.
I'm a mid-west girl, I have some grit to me.
I push and I push hard.
I love, love, love lamb.
So my plan is lamb schnitzel,
and then a salad with that fuzzy squash.
So I took the lamb off the bone, I bread it.
And after that, I throw it in the fryer.
[Zoe] I'm making a coffee and spiced rubbed roast lamb.
And I've decided I want to make
hash of the fuzzy squash and the vegan lobster.
As a queer female chef,
I think it's so important to come out and represent.
Kitchens have historically been a pretty unfriendly place
for people who are not in the straight white male world.
So if I can win Chopped, I can really show that everyone
has a place in the kitchen.
Nineteen minutes on the clock, chefs.
[Amanda] If I had that vegan lobster,
I would use it to thicken the sauce or make a puree with.
It's made with yam flour, it is a thickening agent.
[Kaleena] So I'm looking at the vegan lobster
and see that it's made of yams.
So I think that I could incorporate that into a sauce.
So, I'm gonna cook it down with a little bit of heavy cream.
I've never worked with a fuzzy squash before
but it's kind of soft and spongey,
so I know I want to add it to the couscous, to give it some texture.
Fifteen minutes to go, chefs.
[Grace] Fuzzy squash is in the cucumber family,
so I'm making a little salad with some parsley and apples.
And my plan for the camel cheese
is to make it into spaetzle.
So I blend the cheese into the milk
and then I put some eggs, the flour,
and use that mushroom ravioli as filling.
And then, I want to pass it through holes,
that it cooks kind of like pasta.
[Tiffani] Okay, Grace is pushing her spaetzle batter
through the colander right now
and she's having a hard time getting it through.
The holes on the colander are too small for the spaetzle.
[Christian] Oh, no.
[Grace] I know I need to keep my cool
and figure out a way to do this.
Thirteen minutes on the clock, chefs.
[Zoe] So I realized I haven't even started my lamb
and that feels like a really big problem.
So, after dusting the lamb,
I get it searing right away.
Chefs, 11 minutes to go.
[Kaleena] I need to move.
I start pureeing the vegan lobster
and I add a little bit of lemon juice.
And then I decide to add some of
the camel milk cheese to it, just to give it a little bit of funk.
You've got less than five minutes to go here.
[Grace] The spaetzle is, in my opinion, atrocious.
So, I'm running around the kitchen,
I can't find anything with a bigger hole.
[exclaiming in panic]
So, I'm going to put the batter in the ricer
and hopefully that'll come out in longer strings
or the texture's nicer.
- [Christian] Come on, guys. - [Tiffani] Come on you guys.
Come on, this is it, you're under 2 minutes.
[Zoe] I'm adding some of the blood orange juice
to the saute of vegetables and vegan lobster.
And then I pull my lamb out of the oven
and it's undercooked.
I know that I have to get it back into the pan
and somehow that makes the nerves so much worse.
[Christian] I like that Zoe's kissing one side of the lamb chop
to bring the heat up a little bit, a little bit under.
Smart move.
[Christian] Make sure you've got everything.
Every detail matters, $32,000.
One minute on the clock, chefs.
[Christian] You got this, you got this.
[Amanda] Guys, Grace isn't even plating yet.
-[Tiffani] Come on, Grace. Come on, you guys. -This is it.
[Grace] The judges are yelling at me to plate
and this spaetzle has not turned out
the way that I cook spaetzle.
But I have to get something on the plate.
The adrenalin is insane.
[Ted] Seconds to go, chefs, no time for panic.
Ten seconds!
[Ted] Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four,
three, two, one.
[all exclaiming]
[Ted] Times up!
[judges applauding]
[Zoe] That was not the plate that I wanted to serve.
The lamb, it's undercooked.
I'm definitely worried this lamb could get me chopped.
Y'all that colander effed me up.
[Grace] If that spaetzle would've turned out
the way I intended it to be, I would be feeling a lot better.
I think that spaetzle's gonna ruin me.
Chefs, you opened the Casino Royale finale
entree basket and discovered,
vegan lobster, fuzzy squash, rack of lamb,
and camel milk cheese.
Grace, we gave you the option of swapping out an ingredient,
remind us whether you did that.
I swapped out the vegan lobster for mushroom ravioli.
So, we are eating lamb schnitzel
with a camel milk cheese, ravioli filling spaetzle.
And a fuzzy squash little salad on top.
Your schnitzel, it's breaded so perfectly.
It's seasoned so perfectly
and I love the way you cooked it.
Thank you.
And that salad was the right amount of refreshment
that I needed to cut through that fried crispiness.
[Tiffani] So, you have the mushroom ravioli,
and we thought it was very smart for you to put that in a spaetzle.
And then you also put the camel's milk cheese in the spaetzle, right?
Um...
- I don't get the cheese, and I don't get the mushroom. - Okay. Okay.
You might see me picking the crust off of the schnitzel
because it's my favorite part, really,
but I think the missing piece here is brown butter all around.
Yes.
Brown butter would have just helped the schnitzel, helped the spaetzle.
[Grace] Mm-hmm.
So, who are you playing for? What's going on?
[Grace] I'm playing for my mom.
My mom's a businesswoman. She is the most badass fierce person,
and she really pushed me to be here.
So, I'm playing for her.
-Smart lady. She sees your talent. -[Christian] Oh, yeah.
[Ted] Thank you, Chef Grace.
Next up is Chef Zoe.
I decided to swap out the camel's milk cheese.
I got a lucky ingredient which was the blood orange.
So, it's a coffee and spice-rubbed rack of lamb with a saute of fuzzy squash,
the vegan lobster and some potato underneath.
Zoe, I think the potatoes and the vegan lobster cut together are really smart.
Take this ingredient that's kind of got some interesting texture,
and you fold them into the potatoes.
That makes a lot of sense.
The lamb chops are a little bit under,
but I think that you saved it a little bit
by getting it back in the pan, and getting one side down.
- So, it definitely helped the cook. - Thank you, Chef.
Chef, the plate.
- I'm just gonna start there. - Please.
You put the lamb chops in a bowl.
- It's hard to eat. - Okay.
But the hash with the potatoes and the lobster,
you get the chewiness of that lobster,
and your potatoes are cooked perfectly...
- Okay. - but I can't find the squash.
[Amanda] I agree with Christian,
like, it's definitely hard to eat out of this bowl.
Like, you guys are cooking at a higher level.
So, we're judging you at a higher level.
Thank you, Chef.
[Ted] Thank you, Chef Zoe.
Chef Kaleena.
I've made for you a spice oven-roasted rack of lamb,
with an herbed fuzzy squash couscous.
And I've made a cream sauce
out of the camel milk cheese and the vegan lobster.
[Christian] So, Chef, the vegan lobster, camel thing.
The texture is silky.
I'd like to order an extra side of it, it's so good.
[whispers] Thank you.
And then, I'm really happy with the couscous,
because when you get a large dice of the squash,
It almost, like, pops in your mouth.
And it's really refreshing, and a respite from the lamb and all that richness.
Thank you.
The sauce to me is miraculous and really wonderful,
but your lamb is definitely undercooked.
Kaleena, I hate everything on this plate.
I hate camel milk cheese, I personally hate lamb, and this is delicious.
Oh, oh, oh.
- Tiffani, while that was cruel... - I have to tell you. I know.
- It was quite good. - Sorry.
- [Ted] It's okay. - [Tiffani] 'Cause this is just super smart.
Thank you, Chef.
We are almost ready to trim this field down to two.
[Kaleena] I think that, unfortunately, both of my competitors
didn't have the best feedback,
so, I'm confident that I will at least make it until the next round.
[Zoe] It seems like it's very clear it's coming down to me or Chef Grace.
Being this close and knowing there's a chance that I could go home, is terrifying.
Whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Grace, you've been chopped.
Thank you so much.
Grace, you had two basket ingredients inside that spaetzle,
and it didn't have the camel milk cheese,
it didn't have the mushrooms as much as we wanted it to,
and it just needed some butter.
And so, we had to chop you.
Definitely disappointed, but I'm proud of myself for getting this far.
I'm gonna be back. This is not the last of me.
Chef Zoe, Chef Kaleena, the prize currently stands at $32,000.
We're gonna give you one more chance to increase it.
But first, please turn to these.
Please open your baskets.
Oh.
[Ted] And here are the ingredients you've been dealt.
Chocolate casino chips...
[Zoe] We can deal with that.
Guava.
What in the hell?
[Ted] Pickled pork skin...
I don't... I don't think that's good.
[Ted] And black chili habanero hot sauce.
[whispers] Brother!
I'd like to gamble the pickled pork skins.
I'm gonna join Kaleena, and gamble the pickled pork skins away.
Go girl!
All right. Let's go to the table.
Last time at this table!
Roll up, Zoe.
[all cheering]
- [Ted] Five. - [all exclaim]
Not lucky. Let's see what you've got.
[all groan]
Yeast extract spread.
Sorry, Zoe. Good luck.
Even though it's an unlucky ingredient,
- it's way better than pickled pork skins. - Yeah, for sure.
[Ted] All right, Chef Kaleena.
[all cheering]
Please.
- [Ted] Ten. That is an even number. - Yes!
Here we are.
Cape gooseberries.
- Yum. - Oh, yeah.
My favorite.
Cape gooseberries have this delicious kiwi grape berry flavor to them.
I'm ecstatic.
Back to that grand prize cash jackpot.
It's currently at $32,000, and this is your last chance to change it.
-Here we go. -You got this. You got this. Come on.
[cheering and yelling]
[Ted] All right, Kaleena, you have rolled an eight.
Now you've got 40 grand.
The pie is $40,000. We're freaking out.
Chef Zoe, do you wanna stay, you wanna roll?
I'm gonna stay.
It's important to know when to walk away.
- Walk away. - Yes.
Dessert round starts...
Now!
Let's go. [claps hands] Come on, come on, come on!
All right, let's do this thing!
All right, all right.
Show judges, the cash prize has gone up to $40,000.
It is up there.
We have two chefs that are going head to head here.
And they couldn't be more different.
Kaleena is very technical. She is very focused.
Zoe's driven by her gut.
And who would have thought the whole thing
would come down to yeast spread and cape gooseberries?
Whoo!
[Zoe] Yeast extract spread. The fiber, while weird...
- You excited? - [laughs]
will really work in a dough.
So, I'm making yeast extract fritters,
with black chili habanero ice-cream.
I've never been in a situation like this
for such a huge amount of money.
My hands are just shaking.
And Kaleena is an incredible competitor.
I know that I need to bring an A game if I'm gonna beat her.
Whoop!
[groans]
My anxiety level is full on.
[groans] These coins are killing me.
Zoe's super fierce, and we're literally competing for $40,000.
$40,000!
Chocolate casino chip. It's milk chocolate.
I'm just turning that into a pudding, with a Chantilly cream on top.
[Tiffani] Chef Kaleena, how're you feeling?
Lucky? Not lucky?
If you're asking if I'm freaking out, yes, I'm freaking out.
Less than 20 minutes left in the final round!
[Zoe] I decided to make an ice-cream,
'cause I think it'll be a really good vessel for that hot sauce.
Never used one of these before in my life.
I'm that person on Chopped.
But we're here for the Casino tournament. Why wouldn't you gamble?
[Kaleena] I'm a huge hot sauce connoisseur. I put it on everything.
Oh, my God.
My plan is to turn the habanero sauce into a caramel.
My sugar is caramelized, I add cream, and I add a little bit of the hot sauce.
Guys, don't forget there's guava in this basket.
A lot of work to get a lot of flavor out of it.
Yeah, exactly, 'cause you gotta get all the seeds out of it.
So, it's tough.
Ten minutes, chefs.
This season's guava are definitely not something you wanna put in your mouth.
[breathlessly] Skin's fine. Don't use the seeds
[Zoe] I feel like the guava makes sense in the fritter batter.
It's a soft, sweet fruit. It's very ripe.
This money would be huge.
My partner and I would really like to go on a trip to Europe.
Neither of us have ever been.
I take the guava and the cape gooseberries,
and reduce them down in a little bit of simple syrup, vanilla and lemon.
Ugh!
My anxiety is definitely another level for this round.
If I make one mistake,
this is what could send me home.
- [Zoe] Whoa! - Sorry.
Five minutes to go, chefs.
The minutes are ticking by and I haven't even touched the chocolate casino chips.
I decided to make a chocolate raspberry sauce.
Two-minute warning, chefs!
Kaleena, watch your time. You have two minutes.
I grab parchment paper to sit on the plates,
because I don't wanna set the custard on the plate, just bare.
If it's not on the plate, you can't win anything!
[groans]
I'm so close to this 40 grand, but I'm running out of time. I'm freaking out.
I only have a couple of minutes left,
and I grab parchment paper,
but I'm just like, oh, my God!
I don't have time for this.
Kaleena, are you on the plate with your food?
I'm not gonna lose this $40,000, because of parchment paper,
so, I throw the parchment paper away.
[Tiffani] They are sprinting back and forth.
Zoe is like a cheetah running around.
Kaleena is like a gazelle.
This is insane!
They are track stars. Oh, my God.
[Zoe] The ice-cream looks great.
I feel really happy with the consistency, and know that it tastes good.
40 grand, guys! Check all your ingredients.
Twelve seconds in the final round, chefs.
Ten, nine...
Oh, my God.
- [Ted] ...eight, seven... - [Kaleena moans]
She's still going.
[Ted] ...six, five...
Is she done? Is she done?
- four, three... - You got it, Kaleena!
- two... - [strangled groan]
[Ted] Time's up!
- [applause] - [laughing]
- Anybody else? - Me.
[Zoe] Honestly, I think this was my best round.
I went hella ambitious, so, I think we're still I neck and neck for $40,000.
Cheers!
Dessert was insane, I almost had a heart attack,
but, um, I got everything on the plate, so, I'm feeling good.
The final basket of this Casino Royale tournament,
was chocolate casino chips, guava, black chili habanero,
and pickled pork skin.
Chef Kaleena.
I definitely wanted nothing to do with pickled pig skin, and I got gooseberries.
So, what I have for you is chocolate casino custard,
with vanilla Chantilly cream on top.
There is a habanero hot sauce caramel,
and then guava and gooseberry that I've reduced down in a little simple syrup.
This dessert is sublime.
Thank you.
[Tiffani] Using the habanero hot sauce in the caramel,
just gives it, like, a little bit of zing and heat
to pull it away from the chocolate. Chocolate loves heat.
As it turns out, cape gooseberries and guava love each other and chocolate.
This is spectacular.
Thank you, Chef. Oh, my God.
Yeah, the first thing that came to my mind
when I took that first spoonful
was molten chocolate cake, which is a good thing.
[coughs] I love it.
I agree, but your pudding is 75% set up.
Heard, Chef.
But flavor wise, I just can't stop eating it.
[Ted] Thank you, Chef Kaleena.
Next up, Chef Zoe.
I made a guava fritter.
The ice-cream is a black chili habanero.
Underneath the ice-cream,
it's a sauce of chocolate casino chips, and raspberry.
The yeast extract spread is in that guava fritter.
This ice-cream is absolutely divine.
The texture is everything that I want, and the fritters are perfect.
They've got nooks and crannies and then you get into the fritter,
and it's just so creamy, so good.
The raspberry cuts through like a knife.
- I'll stop now. I'm sorry. - Thank you, Chef.
If you had to say, this is an example of a perfect ice-cream,
this would be it.
[Tiffani] I'm gonna echo what they've said about the ice-cream.
It is so good.
And the yeast extract gives a lot of complexity to the fritters,
that they would not normally have.
It was an excellent dessert.
Thank you, Chef.
Someone is about to claim a great deal of money.
$40,000, and someone is about to earn the title of Chopped Grand Champion.
- Thank you. - Thank you, chefs.
Oh, my God. This is gonna be so hard.
I've never experienced anything like this.
It's a crime to have to chop anybody.
I really felt like that was my best round.
But then when they started saying how perfect your dessert was,
that's when I started feeling like I was losing ground.
She said yours was divine.
This is insane.
It's insane.
[Ted] Judges, did those chefs
take chances in this finale?
And did their chances pay off?
In the first round,
Zoe traded in her chirashi.
Rolled an odd number
and ended up with spicy chicken spread.
But turned that into something that none of us would've thought of.
And that French onion soup.
Was it perfect? No. Was it delicious?
Absolutely.
Let's talk about Chef Kaleena's appetizer.
The coconut curry broth, I liked it.
Thing that I liked the least though,
was that fish rice cake. It was pretty clunky.
So entree.
Yeah, so Zoe traded in her camel milk cheese,
and she got blood oranges.
And it was a much needed brightness
to that dish.
[Amanda] But the vessel that she chose
to put her lamb in was really wrong.
And it made it very difficult to eat.
[Tiffani] And the fuzzy squash didn't really stand out.
[Amanda] So I have to give it to Kaleena.
Her lamb was undercooked,
but she made this really wild sauce out of vegan lobster
and camel milk cheese and she made it
somehow feel like an elegant beurre blanc.
Well, the $40,000 question at hand.
Who cooked better?
Who gambled better?
Wow.
[Zoe] $40,000 is a life-changing amount of money.
And I've gone as far as I can. I've pushed as hard as I can.
I don't think I've ever wanted anything
as much as I wanna win.
[Kaleena] I personally have worked my ass off.
And I didn't beat out 14 other people to go home empty-handed today.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Zoe, you've been chopped. Judges?
[Tiffani] Chef Zoe, you should be very proud of yourself.
You came with so much heart.
Um, but in the first round, the French onion soup.
We wished that the cheese was melted more.
We hated the vessel.
Then we get to the second round.
And the fuzzy squash that never really showed up.
So then we get to dessert round.
It was an excellent dessert.
It just came down to Kaleena's dessert was nearly perfect.
And so we had to chop you.
Thank you, Chef.
[Zoe] I'm definitely disappointed, but at the same time,
I've pushed myself to my absolute limits.
I've met some of the most incredible chefs I've ever met.
And I think the experience has been extraordinary.
And I wouldn't trade it for anything.
And that means, Chef Kaleena Bliss,
you are the Chopped Grand Champion.
The $40,000 jackpot is all yours.
- Oh, God! - [judges cheering]
Wow!
Sorry.
I...
It just doesn't feel real.
My parents,
I'm just really bummed that they're not here to see this.
If there's a takeaway,
I just want my friends and family to know that
they raised a good kid, they raised a good human.
I'm really proud of myself.
- We're proud of you. - [Kaleena] Thank you.
So there's no way in the world that your parents aren't proud of you
and they are and they are with you.
It's definitely something I'm never gonna forget for the rest of my life.
I'm proud of myself for taking this step to get out of my comfort zone.
And cannot be more grateful or more proud or more happy.