[Ted] Deep-fried deliciousness.
Woo, baby.
Fried chicken, fried catfish
I have an intimate relationship
with mozzarella sticks.
[Ted] Indulgent, sinfully crispy.
-Oh, yeah. -[Darian] I'm running, man.
I'm Jamaican, remember?
-You wanna taste? Woo. -This is hitting.
-If the shrimp is raw... -[Millie] Raw.
[Amanda] ...we can't eat tha
There's always a way to find positives.
I just can't find it here.
I didn't wanna say that, chef, I felt like
-they should know this. -[man] Whoa.
It's about to be real.
-[Scott] All right. -Woo!
[upbeat music playing]
I am a private chef out of Brooklyn, New York.
I am the fried queen.
Fried chicken, fried catfish
soul food all day.
You're looking at the next Chopped champ, baby.
Fresh hand-pulled mozzarella.
I am the deep-fried master.
I'm the founding partner of Big Mozz.
We specialize in giant fried mozzarella sticks.
I've created a frying empire
but I want to prove to the world
that just because I fry,
does not mean I can't cook.
I can cook anything.
-[claps] -♪ Yo, yo, yo ♪
♪ Your boy from the 915 ♪
[singer] ♪ Yeah, I'm back up In the kitchen ♪
♪ My OG Slim told me To get him and so I get him
[Alan] I am the Director of Research and Development
for Via Halcon Hospitality in Brooklyn, New York.
[singer] ♪ You don't Wanna feel the heat ♪
[Alan] The base of my food and the soul
is always Mexican.
[singer] ♪ I'm a stone cold ♪
[Alan] When I win this $10,000,
I'm gonna get more tattoos, and more food,
and pay my student loans off
You're gonna have to bring better than your best.
[singer] ♪ Rock and roll ♪
[Darian] I can fry anything, man.
I'm from Jamaica, you know what I mean,
so we fry anything that come our away.
[laughs]
[singer] ♪ Knockout, TKO ♪
[Darian] I'm a human ray of sunshine,
I can bring a little bit of Jamaica
everywhere I go.
[singer] ♪ No more Mr. Nice Guy ♪
[Darian] I gotta win for my mom,
my wife, my kids, everybody.
I'm doing it for them.
[singer] ♪ Whoa, whoa, Get up on my way ♪
[Darian] Competition? What competition?
I'm here to win. Let's go.
[bell rings]
[Ted] Welcome, chefs.
-[CATORE] Thank you. Yeah. -Rock on, Teddy.
You are here for our deep-fried battle.
-Well, let's fry. -[Ted] We want you to make
sinfully crispy, simply delicious food
that the judges will love.
You must deep-fry something in every round.
Whoo!
Let's go. I can't wait to see what's in it.
Your first set of ingredients is in these.
[intense music playing]
[Ted] Open them up.
-[Alan laughs] -Oh.
[Ted] What do you got?
Red hot mozzarella sticks.
I mean, I make good mozzarella sticks,
but I've never seen a red hot mozzarella stick before.
-[Ted] Shrimp. -[Jimmy] Shrimp? Love it.
[Ted] Romanesco cauliflower.
And what is this, man?
[Ted] Blue cheese flavored soda.
[Catore] What the [bleep] is blue cheese flavored soda?
Let's start off that.
Twenty minutes.
-Go time. -Let's do it.
Clock starts now.
-[Scott] Whoa. -[Amanda] Let's go.
Come on, chefs.
-[man] Let's get it. -Right behind.
[Ted] Amanda, Scott, you are joined by a very special guest judge,
private chef and caterer extraordinaire
Millie Peartree.
I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
What is it you're expecting in our fried foods battle?
I had a fish fry soul food restaurant,
so I'm expecting not heavy fried food,
and most importantly is how they're gonna balance
the flavor of something fried with something light.
Yes. And what we expect to see
is at least one fried component on their dish.
Fried tag day.
-[applauding] -A round of applause.
[laughs]
-I can make this work. -[Amanda] Shrimp in this
-basket is so great. -[Scott] Yeah.
Fried shrimp is so, so delicious
and a great way to keep shrimp tender and juicy,
because shrimp has a tendency to overcook.
[intense music playing]
All righty.
We're rolling.
[Darian] The first thing that stand out to me is the shrimp.
I know exactly what I wanna do with it.
I'm making a red hot shrimp
with Romanesco blue cheese sauce.
So, my tempura batter, I got some curry powder
because Jamaican cooking is my roots and my background.
And I'm using the breading from the mozzarella stick
because I want that to give the nice pop of colors.
Whenever I cook, I like to cook with the colors
of my island, red, gold, and green.
The key to make a really successful tempura batter,
the water gotta be ice cold
because it help the frying process
make the shrimp more crispier.
This is a frying competition,
you gotta have a perfect fry for the first round.
It's very important when you deep-fry something,
-you deep-fry it correctly. -[Scott] Yes. Agreed.
It's the whole point of frying.
-For that delicious exterior. -[Millie] Right.
[Amanda] Yes.
Get it going and then I'll be fine.
Sometimes I describe my foo as unconventional Mexican.
Growing up when we would go out in Juarez,
we would eat a lot of fried food because
it's in our culture. Whoo.
Our street food, and so for my appetizer,
I'm going to make a masa-fried shrimp
with guajillo salsa.
That sweet blue cheese flavored soda,
it has a tiny bit of blue cheese funkiness,
but not what you think.
I think the real opportunity is utilizing that soda
-in the tempura batter. -[Amanda] Yes.
[Alan] I see the blue cheese soda,
I think tempura batter.
Tempura is a really airy batter.
Usually has club soda, when you fry it,
all the bubbly water just kinda evaporates
and you end up with a very light and airy breading.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
[Ted] Chef Catore, what are you making?
I don't know
[laughing]
[Catore] Frying food is not an easy technique.
It's about time, it's about temperature.
I think the crunchiness of fried food...
-[Darian] Behind you. -In front of you...
Is what everybody loves.
And I do that better than anybody I know.
Let that oil heat up really quick.
For my appetizer,
I am making light fried shrimp
with cheesy Romanesco cauliflower.
I'm gonna do some of this onion powder.
My cooking is just very hig on flavor.
Flavor, flavor, flavor.
Good old fried shrimp,
real Southern simple style, perfect.
My mother fell on hard time
and I ended up in the foster care system.
That's when cooking came into play
as a coping mechanism.
Cooking was my belief.
Ooh, baby.
Hits to the money.
-How are you feeling, Jimmy? -Feeling good.
[Darian laughs]
We're doing it.
Whoo.
These red hot mozzarella sticks
are a regular mozzarella stick,
but the coating is made out
of flaming spice corn chips
that we all love so much.
It kinda looks like the color
-of your coat, Amanda. -I know.
And that mozzarella is your T-shirt, so...
-Red hot mozzarella. -We got a little
-mozzarella stick over here. -[laughs]
-[Scott] Chef Jimmy. -[Jimmy] Yo.
Do you like mozzarella sticks?
Yeah, I have... I have an intimate relationship
-with mozzarella sticks. -[Scott] Intimate, huh?
-Might be a different show. -[laughs]
I have fried over a hundred thousand orders
of mozzarella sticks.
But I can make more than just mozzarella sticks.
My plan is to take the shrim and mozzarella sticks,
and I can make a spicy shrimp fritter
with a Romanesco blue cheese cream sauce.
Growing up in Florida, I've had
my fair share of seafood fritters.
So, I'm pretty confident that I can make this amazin
and I...
I cut myself.
Uh, someone, cut.
Wait a minute, somebody cut themselves.
[Scott] Jeez Louise.
Any round is a bad round to get a cut
but the first round is the worst
because it's so short.
Oh, yeah.
Good start.
My mind is so frazzled.
[Darian] My man Jimmy back in the game.
-Let's go. -[laughs]
I forgot what step I'm on.
I don't know if I've seasoned my batter
and I'm just like, whatever, keep going.
You're down to nine minutes, chefs.
[Scott] Oh, nine minutes, boys and girls.
Alan, what's your thoughts on this basket, man?
This [bleep] is insane, man.
[Alan] I love the hot mozzarella. [laughs]
[Alan] To make my salsa, I'm inspired by this,
uh, red hot mozzarella.
I'm using the coating on the mozzarella sticks
for color, but also to thicken my sauce
A weird ingredient. [laughs]
Just gotta tie it all together.
[intense music playing]
[Darian] I wanna make a sauc for my shrimp,
so I take the Romanesco cauliflower,
cook it halfway through,
and add my blue cheese soda
My shrimp is looking nice, golden brown.
[Scott] That looks good, chef.
-[Darian] Thank you. -[Amanda] Yeah, beautiful.
Cut this bad boy up right here.
My basis for making the Romanesco cauliflower
is to keep it very simple.
Keep it real simple, real sexy.
Just throwing it in the pan
with the hot mozzarella sticks
for that hot kick.
Get these out.
[intense music playing]
I wish I didn't cut myself,
and I am running out of time
so quickly.
I need to get these fritter in the fryer.
Is there an ice cream scoop-scooper around?
-[man speaking] -At the ice cream machine.
This is a big concern. I think when he cut himself,
he threw himself off a little bit.
-[Amanda] Yeah. -And his timing is way off.
I don't know if this is gonna be done in time.
-[Amanda] The shrimp is raw... -[Millie] Raw.
-...we can't eat that. -[Scott] Oh, my God.
Oh, I got it, I got it.
[clock ticking]
[intense music playing]
-Four and a half minutes to go, chefs. -You should be plating.
[Scott] Jimmy, how you doing, man?
-You gonna make it? -[Jimmy] Doing good.
[Scott] His timing is way of
I don't know if this is gonna be done in time.
[Jimmy] I get my fritters in the fryer,
now it's the focus on this
Romanesco blue cheese cream sauce,
with the fieriness of the mozzarella sticks
and fried-ness of the fritter,
it'll balance out pretty good.
[Catore] Hoo.
[Alan] The Romanesco, I want to pickle it,
but my time is running out.
My other solution is to add it into the salsa
to add that texture.
You know, you only have two minutes.
-[Millie] All right, guys. -[Amanda] Hustle. Hustle.
[Darian] This may need something else,
so I make a arugula and apple salad
with some lemon juice that would give balance
to the plate.
The color was just so gorgeous on this soda.
So, if I let it marinate
at the bottom of my plate,
it'll definitely have a good play.
[Amanda] Catore has taken her crispy fried shrimp
and plated it in blue cheese soda.
[Millie] Why? It's gonna be a mess,
a hot bubbly mess. You don't want that.
One minute left, chefs.
We got a minute. We're good.
[Amanda] Last minute.
Make sure everything is seasoned.
Seconds away from the end of round one, chefs.
-Ten, nine, eight... -[Scott] Get it on.
-Let's get it. Let's get it. -[Ted] ...seven, six...
-[Amanda] Come on, chefs. Put it on the plate. -[Ted] ...five, four, three...
[Ted] ...two, one.
Time's up. Please step back.
-[Amanda] All right. -Woo.
[intense music playing]
That 20 minutes went fast, man, real fast.
Man, that was strenuous.
I lost track of time a little bit
when I cut myself,
but these fritters came out
nice and golden brown.
So, I'm feeling pretty confident.
I'm not worried about that guy
and I'm not worried about that guy.
I got the winner, winner fried shrimp dinner.
We'll see.
[intense music playing]
Chefs, you have arrived at the Chopping Block.
For the first round of our deep-fried
deliciousness competition, you've got
red hot mozzarella sticks,
shrimp,
Romanesco cauliflower,
and blue cheese flavored soda.
Chef Alan, please tell us what you made.
Uh, in front of you, there's a masa-fried shrimp
sitting on top of some, uh, sauteed Romanesco
and guajillo salsa.
[suspenseful music playing]
How did you use the mozzarella stick?
I just took the breading off and I threw that in the salsa,
so it thickened it up a bit.
-This is hitting. -[laughs]
[Millie] This is delicious. Spicy...
-[Amanda] Mmm-hmm. -[Millie] ...sweet,
perfectly cooked shrimp.
I guess I gotta find something wrong.
Maybe a different plate, I don't know.
[laughs]
[Millie] But you killed this. That's it.
Thank you. Appreciate it.
[Amanda] It's really beautiful, great flavors.
And that batter is really on point.
The soda as a batter really has a nice balance
-and I can actually taste the sweetness. -[Scott] Yeah.
[Amanda] It's just the Romanesco just feels heavy.
It just doesn't seem to fit
with this beautiful light tempura shrimp.
[Scott] Flavor development is great in a short amount of time.
I always think that's super impressive.
If I have to nitpick, that Romanesco
does need to be cooked a little bit more.
-It's a little too crunchy. -Thank you. Thank you.
Next up, Chef Darian,
please tell us about your dish, sir.
So today, I make a red hot tempura shrimp,
Romanesco blue cheese sauce and a light salad,
just to balance the sweetness out.
Chef, the breading on the shrimp
is delicious and crispy.
[Millie] Delicious. Absolutely delicious.
And it was like the sweet with the salty
of the shrimp is very well balanced.
If you could have incorporated that extra hit of spice...
it would have taken it over the top.
[Amanda] I don't think that breading on the red hot
mozzarella is as spicy as everybody
may have thought it was gonna be.
-Good job, chef. -Thank you so much. Thank you.
Yeah, I love the flavor on the shrimp.
I love the addition of the curry.
You made that shrimp speak your language,
which is the point of cooking, right?
Thank you so much. Appreciate that.
[Scott] The Romanesco puree
it was a little bit too sweet.
If you had sauteed some onions initially
and then deglazed it with less soda,
you would've had a more natural sweetness.
Chef, what would winning Chopped mean to you?
[Darian] I grew up in a big family.
My mom raised six of us as a single parent, man,
and, you know, she hustled each and every day
just so we can eat.
So, it's like coming here, it's just a blessing,
you know what I mean. I came here nine years ago.
I've been watching Chopped from ever since.
Mean a lot to my family,
my career, so it would mean everything to me
-to win Chopped. -It's just...
-it's just inspiring. -Thank you.
Chef Catore, what have you made?
I have something that I call the color of love.
A lightly battered, fried shrimp,
and I did a cheesy Romanesco.
Why do you wanna win Chopped?
Um, I was a foster child.
As a foster child, I know how important
having somewhere to go and learning a skill is.
So, I want to open up a safe space for kids
to teach them how to cook.
So, you're paying it forward for...
-Oh, most definitely. -[Ted] ...other foster kids.
-Have to pay it forward. -[Millie] I like that.
I'm adopted. So, thank you for sharing that.
-Thank you so much. -Chef, you are sweet
and so is your dish. [laughs]
The sweetness level is high.
Really high because of that blue cheese soda
but I have to say, the shrimp is delicious.
-Thank you so much. -Luckily, it was
sitting on top of the ocean here.
You know, it stayed crispy.
I have a tremendous amount of liquid here, Chef.
I mean, there's a lot of that blue cheese soda.
It is more of a soup, I would say,
and it is really sweet.
That sweetness kind of overwhelms
the other nuances inside the plate.
The Romanesco is cooked perfectly
but you didn't do anything with the mozzarella stick.
It's just sitting in this liquid.
It's just not what I was looking for.
[Ted] Chef Catore, thank you.
-Finally, Chef Jimmy. -[Jimmy] So, you have a red
hot mozzarella and shrimp fritter
over creamy Romanesco
and blue cheese soda sauce.
[Scott] Did you taste this by any chance?
I did not taste it,
um, because I was plating them
right when they were coming out.
All right. So, beautiful,
like pulled out at the right time, beautiful.
-Thank you. -But it's not good.
-It's not good. -[Millie] It's not good at all.
It's very dense.
It needs salt.
Um, it's just very heavy.
[Scott] It's a beautiful presentation.
But one of the challenges is the fritter itself
could have been a lot smaller.
It's so dense. I don't think the oil was able
to permeate the center, so it's doughy.
Too dense, yeah.
[Amanda] Um, yeah. It didn't taste good,
a lot of mistakes here on just the basics of frying.
-It's a very dense fritter. -Got it.
And it feels like a wet ball of cotton.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay. Elimination is coming up.
Will it be an easy choice or a tough call?
Leave that up to the judges.
Thank you, chefs.
[intense music playing]
-Somebody got to go. -[Scott] It's true.
So, I'm definitely worried about this round.
[Catore] I think... I really think I'm super worried.
I talked a big game about big flavors
-and I did not season those fritters. -Yeah.
I cannot believe how dense it is.
I cannot believe that it has no seasoning.
Yeah. The shrimp is supposed to be
the star of the dish and we got dough.
-[Jimmy] It's dough. -My mind totally went blank
and I just... I think
I just got stuck at the soda part.
[Amanda] And Chef Catore had some issues here
with sweetness and, um, moisture.
I mean, it's just... I hate to say
it's just poor cooking.
There's always a way to find positives.
I just can't find it here.
[intense music playing]
For one chef, the appetizer round
was the last round.
So, whose dish is on the Chopping Block?
[suspense music playing]
[Ted] Chef Jimmy, you've been Chopped.
-Judges. -[Amanda] Chef Jimmy,
we know that you know how to fry
but this first round just didn't work out for you.
And I don't... I don't know what happened
but flavor wasn't there, the seasoning was off.
Yeah, definitely know about deep-frying
but unfortunately I missed the mark,
I guess, on this one.
-[Ted] Pleasure having you. -[Jimmy] Great.
[dramatic music playing]
[Jimmy] I definitely didn't accomplish everything
I wanted to accomplish today
If you're not really on top of it,
you skip simple steps like tasting your food.
But, you know, that's how it is.
Chef Darian, Chef Catore, and Chef Alan,
sure you're trying to size up your competition.
What do you think so far?
What competition? There's no competition here at all.
All light work, all light work.
Light work, light work, light work.
[Ted] Okay. It's time to fry, fry again.
Open it up.
Oh my goodness. [laughs]
[Ted] And you'll be making main dishes
with deep-fried-pizza.
Deep-fried pizza.
[Darian] Come on, man.
-[Ted] Catfish. -Catfish, Southern favorite.
Might take forever to [indistinct] over here.
-[Ted] Kohlrabi. -[Darian] Ooh, that's pretty.
You know, I love colors.
Grits.
[Ted] And grits.
Thirty minutes to complete your plates,
-clock starts now. -[Scott] Whoo!
-[Amanda] Whoo, come on chefs! -[Scott] Come on, chefs.
-Get it. -[Ted] Beautiful.
Which one of y'all got cornmeal, nobody?
[Darian] Behind you. Coming around.
Judges, pizza is already perfect.
-Why deep-fry it? -My question with this
deep-fried pizza is what do you do with it?
This is a tough component to utilize.
I think I would just grind it up
and then combine it with the grits
to make a breading for the catfish.
I think I got this one in the bag.
I'm not even worried about it.
Catfish and grits go great together.
I know these ingredients.
I can work very well with them.
I am going to make deep-frie pepperoni pizza catfish,
parmesan grits and super crispy kohlrabi.
Which is definitely my specialty.
I grew up eating grits.
Nobody can touch me in this.
I feel like I was given a second chance,
so I definitely have to redeem myself.
Catore looks so much more controlled
than she did in round one.
[Millie] I think that she's very confident
in these ingredients. So this round,
she should definitely knock it out of the park.
[Catore] My grits is going nice and clean.
Nice and seasoned.
I'm feeling good over here.
Come on, grits.
Being from Jamaica, I love to cook fresh seafood.
Ooh, I love me some crispy fried catfish.
I'm making pizza crusted catfish,
creamy grits, and my famous coconut curry sauce.
I make a mean grits, nice and creamy and delicious.
[Amanda] Darian has a coconu curry sauce working.
[Millie] He's giving us curry again.
Are you okay with that? [laughs]
-She's not okay with that. -You know,
we always stay true to what you know,
however, there's different flavors if he wants to go
-the island route. -Right.
[Darian] My one concern is curry again,
but it's outstanding,
so I'm pretty confident about it.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Alan] I see this basket and I'm thinking
I'm in trouble.
Catfish and grits, I don't know
what to do with them exactly
The only thing I know is that South,
catfish is filleted super thin and fried.
For my entree, I am cooking grit-crusted catfish
with tomatillo and kohlrabi salsa,
and raw kohlrabi salad.
I grab the kohlrabi greens, put them into the sauce
to add a little bit of bitterness.
Sauces are a staple in Mexican cuisine.
So for me, when it comes to sauce,
I feel very comfortable.
Chefs, 13 minutes on the clock.
[Alan] Behind you.
[Darian] Behind you.
[Ted] Millie, you used to sell soul food.
What's tricky about frying catfish?
Well, you know, one thing about catfish,
it has like this metallic taste to it.
You have to cook it all the way through.
We need some kind of liquid seasoned batter.
You wanna make sure it sticks.
The worst thing in the world you can do
is deep-fry a piece of fish and all the batter comes off.
[Catore] The goal for the catfish is to be covere
in pepperoni pizza.
I probably ran through 200, 300 catfish.
I know how to batter it,
how long to keep it in that oil.
Catfish is my thing.
Nine minutes on the clock, chefs.
[Darian] Catfish fry real well, it can take that heat
and I wanna use the crust from the deep-fried pizza
to give that fish the extra flavor.
[Millie] Darian, what you got going on over there?
I see you dredging that fish, right?
Yeah, breading the fish.
What was that dark seasoning you add,
-was that pepper? -Yeah, black Pepper.
Right. It looked like a lot.
The sauce is gonna balance it out.
Oh, okay. Yes.
Well, come on, balance, come through.
So I decided to make a slaw with my kohlrabi...
because I know the grits can be heavy
and the curry sauce is heavy
so I need something to lighten it up.
[Amanda] Kohlrabi can go many different ways.
It can be a crispy crunchy salad.
It can be pickled, which I think
-would be great here. -Yeah.
Catfish and grits are making me nervous
because I haven't cooked them enough times.
Hence, I decided to bread my catfish with grits
just for texture for a nice crunchiness.
But also to put two negatives together
to hopefully make a positive.
Less than five minutes to go, folks.
[Scott] Catore is pulling that catfish out of the fryer right now.
It looks delicious.
[Amanda] I wanna eat it right now.
[Scott] Look at that.
I hope she just hits that
with like a handful of salt.
-There you go. -[Amanda] Yeah.
-Yeah. There you go. -[Scott] Boom.
Chef Catore, how's it going?
You feeling better this round?
Feeling good over here, judge.
You wanna taste?
-Woo! -I will. I can't wait.
[Catore] My plan for the kohlrabi
is to keep a fried theme going.
Chop them up and crispy them up.
What's the time?
[Ted] Two minutes to go, chefs.
[Darian] I want them golden.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Alan] I'm very happy with the look of my catfish
Anytime you have a fried fish, there's always hot sauce.
To make my hot sauce, I removed the pepperoni
from the fried pizza, rendered the fat
with jalapeno and onion.
That's a whole lot of vinegar you're putting in there now.
Millie doesn't know that I'm a sexy boy.
We love our vinegar base hot sauce.
Chefs, let's get it on the plate.
-Let's go. Let's go, move it. -[Amanda] This is it.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Scott] Let's go, chefs, get it done.
[Ted] Running out of time.
Ten, nine, eight, seven,
six, five, four,
three, two, one.
Time's up. Beautiful.
Good job.
[suspenseful music playing]
I feel pretty confident,
the grits are nice and creamy and cheesy,
the catfish is crispy, and the curry sauce
is gonna tie it all together.
[Catore] I feel great.
This dish is a winner.
I'm gonna be the last standing.
[suspenseful music playing]
Chefs, you are back at the Chopping Block.
Your entree baskets contained deep-fried pizza,
catfish, kohlrabi, and grits
Darian, please tell us about your dish.
So in front of you, you got pizza-crusted catfish
with coconut curry sauce and a kohlrabi slaw.
Are the flavors in this sauce different from those
-in your first round? -[Darian] Definitely.
The curry sauce is a little bit more on the sweet side.
So we eat it all at once.
Get those beautiful flavors of the island
popping in your mouth.
Um, the sauce is a little too sweet
for my liking with the fish,
but the fish is cooked perfectly,
it's nice and crispy
-and it's moist. -Okay.
Chef, I'm glad you made the sauce, it's delicious.
And I also like the deep-fried pizza in the fish.
I do think grits is usually a vehicle for other flavors,
so because the curry was there, it really worked.
I'm happy you made the sauce, too, because it adds
a tremendous amount of flavor.
I like the addition of the kohlrabi salad,
but don't put it directly on top of the fried fish
because it takes all that beautiful crispiness
-that you have away. -Yeah.
And if you win, you'll get $10,000.
-Do you have plans for that? -[Darian] Oh, yeah.
I'm sending my mama on a one week vacation.
I'm like, there you go,
this is for all your hard work.
Thank you for getting me here
so I can start a life for myself.
And she's not gonna go to Jamaica
for her vacation, right?
-Somewhere else. -I hope not.
Somewhere new and exciting.
Chef Darian, thank you.
Next up, Chef Alan.
For my entree, there's a corn grit-crusted catfish,
tomatillos and kohlrabi green salsa,
and then we finish it off with a kohlrabi salad
as well as a pepperoni hot sauce.
[Amanda] Well, chef, this is a beautiful plate.
I like these with the kohlrabi and the sauce.
Sauce is great. I'm not detecting pepperoni.
But if you say it's in there,
-I believe you. -Yeah.
My fish is slightly undercooked.
But on the end, it's cooked well.
And it's a little gritty for me.
I would have hoped that you put the grits
-in the food processor. -[Scott] I agree.
I think the fish is a little undercooked.
-You could've hit it a little bit harder. -Okay.
[Scott] But it's a beautiful presentation.
Technique is very sound.
You have very sound technique, chef.
I mean, it's really impressive.
[Ted] All right, Chef Alan, thank you.
-Thank you. -Finally, Chef Catore.
So judges, today I have for you
my redemption dish.
Deep-fried pepperoni crusted catfish
with a sauteed kohlrabi.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Scott] Chef, I feel like this is a real departure
from your first round.
Fantastic fried fish in this round,
really delicious stuff.
Um, I like the usage of the pepperoni.
The fish taste like pepperoni
and it's perfectly cooked all the way through.
The kohlrabi on the other hand,
I just taste oil.
So we need something to kind of counterbalance
-all of the fat. -Thank you, chef.
I appreciate you.
I think the grits needed some more liquid.
They're a little tight.
I want that creamy, beautiful, fatty, grit texture.
But I love this catfish.
I think that was such a great flavor.
Thank you so much.
[suspenseful music playing]
All right, we saw some improvements
and some steps backward in that second round.
I just missed the mark on a couple
of cooking techniques, but I think I deserve
to be here because my flavor profiles are on point.
[Catore] Alan was in his hea this round.
His catfish was undercooked, so I think
he's on the Chopping Block this round.
So, who has earned the right to move on to dessert?
Let's do it.
Yes, sir.
[dramatic music playing]
So whose dish is on the Chopping Block?
[dramatic music playing]
Aah.
Chef Catore, you've been chopped.
-Judges. -Chef Catore,
that fish was cooked perfectly.
However, the kohlrabi, it was greasy, it was oily,
the grits were a little bit on the dense side,
and so you've been chopped.
Thank you so much, each of you.
-Appreciate you. -But on a positive note,
you're doing wonderful things.
And, oh gosh, I'm getting emotional.
[Amanda] I know. I do, too. It's hard not to.
Just know that you're doing amazing things
and you just inspired me so much.
And you're gonna go a very long way.
Thank you so much.
[Millie] Thank you.
-[dramatic music playing] -Thank you, chef.
Thank you.
That was just like very intense,
but the experience is actually probably
just gonna help me to thrive and push me even more.
[Alan] All I can think abou is crushing Chef Darian.
But judging from the last round,
I didn't do that great, he did phenomenal.
And if I don't succeed in desserts, I'm going home.
One chef away from being the Chopped champion.
Man, it's either me or him.
I can smell the money in my hand already.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Ted] Open them up.
-Ooh. -[Ted] You are staring down
a deep-fried banana split.
This is beautiful. I'm gonna eat this myself.
-[Ted] Blackberries. -All right.
All right. I'm loving these.
[Ted] Rainbow marshmallows.
Beautiful, look at all these colors.
[Ted] And puff pastry.
Puff pastry?
I'm excited.
You have 30 minutes and remember,
as in previous rounds,
you must fry something for your dessert.
-Clock starts now. -[Amanda] Woo! Come on, chefs.
Come on, chefs.
Alan has come back to his station
with pretty much all the dairy,
all the cream, all the milks,
so obviously that triggers ice cream.
-Ice cream. -Ice cream.
Chef Alan, what are you building?
No idea.
-[laughs] -Sounds delicious, chef.
Ice cream for sure.
I know that if I have a creamy ice cream,
I have a great opportunity at winning Chopped,
and so I'm putting all my marbles into ice cream
with blackberry and tequila sauce
and deep-fried churros.
So my puff pastry, I deep-fry it
and I will fold it into my ice cream.
Instead of using sugar for my ice cream base,
I am using rainbow marshmallows
and fried bananas from the banana split
to add a little more sweetness
and also creaminess to my ice cream base.
Rum.
[Ted] Judges, do you think that puff pastry
was put in the basket with the intention
-that they fry it? -[Scott] Yes.
I think everybody is gonna fry it
and I think they have to be very, very, very, very careful
because it's really hard to keep it
from getting greasy or heavy or soggy.
Darian has his puff pastry rolled out
and inside of it is the deep-fried banana
-and the rainbow marshmallow. -[Mille] Right.
Chef Darian, what are you building?
A fried banana and rainbow marshmallow wonton.
When I saw puff pastry, I'm like, hmm,
I can make, like, sort of a wonton
with all those good stuff inside,
so when they cut it, all of that deliciousness
-run out. -Nineteen minutes
on the clock, chefs.
[Scott] Let's talk about these two chefs.
So we have Chef Alan,
nontraditional Mexican as he calls it
and he's created some pretty good flavors
-for us today. -[Amanda] Yeah.
And Chef Darian,
-he brought curry in both... -[Millie] He did.
...the first and the second round.
Honestly, I have to tell you guys, like,
both these chefs going into the dessert round
are neck and neck.
-They're really... -Yes.
...truly head to head.
-But I do like Alan's... -[Ted] Look at the way...
...strips of puff pastry, they look great.
-They look gorgeous, right? -[Amanda] Yup.
-Hey, chef. How are you doing? -I'm running, man. I'm Jamaican, remember?
[Alan] I don't want the ice cream to be too swee
and so this blackberry and tequila sauce,
as you're eating it with the ice cream,
it's supposed to be a perfect balanced bite.
It's time for me to check on my ice cream.
This is either gonna be successful or I lose.
Chef Alan's ice cream is out
and it looks silky and smooth and beautiful.
[Alan] My ice cream is beautiful.
The sauce is ready to go.
All I have to do is make churros.
[suspenseful music playing]
Seven minutes to go, chefs.
[Scott] So Darian is taking little pieces
of that puff pastry and plugging the holes.
[Amanda] Hmm.
I can't get the puff pastry to seal.
I have three basket ingredients
and $10,000 on the line and I have to get this right.
So I decided to form them in croquettes and bread it,
like, twice to fill up hole
I'm very concerned about Chef Darian's wontons.
He double battered them and we did see
-some overfills. -[Scott] I agree with you.
For the heat to permeate that dough
-that's in the center... -[Amanda] Right.
...takes a tremendous amount of time.
-[Ted] Oh. -But then we run the risk
of it being too greasy.
It's never gonna make it.
[suspenseful music playing]
Less than five minutes to go, chefs.
[Amanda] Come on, chefs, get it together now. This is it.
Start getting them plates ready.
[Darian] I have three basket ingredients
in these croquettes, I need them to work.
I'm hoping that the extra flour and panko
will seal it inside and it can cook
all the way through.
Next, I'll make a nice compote
with the blackberries to complement my dessert.
Being from Jamaica, I got to have a little rum
for my dessert.
Watch your eyebrows, chef.
[laughs]
[Ted] Less than two minutes left, chefs.
[Amanda] Last minute decision,
Chef Darian's using the melted ice cream
from the banana split.
-Yum. -[Ted] Yum.
[Darian] I wanna add another element on my dish.
So I used the ice cream from my banana split,
some cornstarch to thicken it up
to make an anglaise.
So I'm now gonna make churros,
they're falling apart.
Well, they're not churros.
They're not gonna have that nice doughy center.
[Darian] Chef, you good?
-We'll see. -[Darian] Okay.
[Alan] And so I'm gonna pivo and turn it
into cinnamon crisp.
[dramatic music playing]
[Amanda] Chef Alan, you gotta finish up.
[Scott] He just laughs at you.
[Amanda] You know what, I am going there
and kick his [bleep].
I have no problem doing that.
All right, chefs, final seconds
of the final round here.
Ten, nine, eight, seven,
six, five, four,
three, two, one.
-Time's up. -[Amanda] Good job.
Well done, chef.
What did you make?
Like a puff pastry ball.
-You stuffed it and rolled it? -Yeah, yeah.
[laughs]
Chef Darian, I look at his dish
and it seems like a big ball so I don't know
if it's gonna be cooked through.
But I feel good, I mean the ice cream came out,
so I'm happy with that.
[upbeat music playing]
[Ted] Chef Darian, Chef Alan.
The final round, you got a dessert basket
packed with a deep-fried banana split,
blackberries, rainbow marshmallows,
and puff pastry.
Chef Darian.
We got a puff pastry croquette
and a anglaise sauce on the outside.
[dramatic music playing]
It's a fun idea because then when you open this up,
you have all these crazy colors
from the rainbow marshmallow
and you have the chocolate and bananas all good,
but this is delicate puff pastry
and it didn't spend enough time in the oil.
So the dough is raw inside of here.
[tense music playing]
Chef, respect, honestly,
because you cooked a beautiful exterior, right?
It's nice and golden brown,
and then the flavors are great, like,
I ate the chocolate with the banana,
it was beautiful.
Love the berries with the rum, great idea.
To Scott's point, I love the banana
and the chocolate and that mint
with the blackberries,
it's a delicious bite together.
You just missed the mark on the dough,
but other than that, delicious.
Job very well done.
Chef Darian, thank you.
Thank you so much.
[Ted] Finally, Chef Alan.
We have marshmallow and banana ice cream
with blueberry and mezcal sauce
and a cinnamon crisp.
[suspenseful music playing]
The ice cream is very creamy, the texture of it is nice
and smooth and velvety.
You got a little bit of sugar from the blackberry,
the bitterness, and then you get the creaminess
of the ice cream.
Really beautiful texture on the ice cream.
Your cinnamon crisp is a little bit oily
and, you know, the puff pastry folded into it
becomes unrecognizable because
-it doesn't stay crisp. -Yeah.
Yeah, at the end of the day, the flavor is good.
I like the banana, I like the marshmallow.
They're not overpowering at all, right?
The addition of the blackberries
adds a much needed acidity and sweetness
to the rest of the ice cream itself.
You created a really good ice cream.
[Ted] That's three courses done.
All that is left is for the judges
to select the champion.
-Thank you so much. -Thank you.
Well, judges, how well they did succeed
in making fried elements in each course?
In the first round, I think Chef Darian
did pretty well with his shrimp.
He gave us lots of flavor.
[Scott] But that Romanesco and blue cheese soda puree
was just too sweet.
I think that Chef Alan did a really good job,
the way that he incorporate the blue cheese soda
-into the tempura batter. -[Amanda] So smart.
But Chef Alan had a problem
-with his Romanesco. -[Scott] I agree with you,
it did need more cooking time.
Heading into the entree round,
Chef Darian prepared a really good bite.
[Amanda] Yeah, flavor bomb.
But he really lost the execution
of his fried fish with all of that stuff on top of it.
I actually disagree because I was able to eat
around the sauce and the salad.
-Unlike Chef Alan's fish... -Yeah.
...that was gritty and undercooked.
[Scott] Yeah. I agree with you, Millie.
Chef Darian did a better job frying his fish.
Chef Alan has had beautiful presentations all day...
-Mmm-hmm. -...very modern cooking.
You know, Chef Darian gave us a lot of amazing flavors
-and lots of spice. -[Millie] Mmm-hmm.
So, how are we gonna decide?
[suspenseful music playing]
[Darian] Dessert one was a little tricky.
So I'm just hoping that my appetizer
and my entree really give me this win.
I want to win this competition for me,
my family.
I just want it.
Hell, yeah, I'm nervous. [laughs]
I won't be as nervous after I win.
So whose dish is on the Chopping Block?
[suspenseful music playing]
Chef Darian, you've been chopped.
Judges.
Chef Darian, your appetizer round
we feel like was your probably your strongest round.
The only flaw was that puree of Romanesco
that you gave us, it was just too sweet
with the blue cheese soda.
But your real downfall frankly, chef,
was this dessert round, and so we had to chop you.
But chef, you have a such a bright future ahead of you.
[Darian] Thank you, appreciate it.
This is an honor, like, to be here,
you know what I mean, so it means a lot.
-[Millie] Thank you, chef. -Thank you.
[Scott] It's our honor, chef. Thank you.
-Thank you. -Congrats.
[upbeat music playing]
I feel like a winner even though I didn't win.
[laughs]
I'll be back, bigger and better too.
[laughs]
And that means Chef Alan Delgado,
you are the Chopped champi.
You've acquired some deep pockets
in our deep-fried deliciousness battle,
$10,000 is your prize.
-Congratulations. -Yeah.
-Congratulations, chef. -Thank you.
[Alan] Man, that just brings a lot of joy to me.
I mean, the $10,000 is great,
but I'm one of those people that doesn't process things
until a couple hours later.
I feel great, I just... Give me a minute. [laughs]
Now that I won Chopped,
my next tattoo is, uh, this.
[laughs]
[rock music playing]