[Tam] Bacon, make love to it
We want you to make innovative dishes
with a nod to BLT in all three rounds.
[Tam] My BLT twist is going to be a tomato vodka cream.
Oh, yeah.
[Lindsey] I'm kind of Hail Mary-ing at this point.
Lindsey's putting the pasta in the blender.
-Ooh, that's not a good idea. -What the hell?
Are you bringing in the BLT today?
-I'll try to. -[Brooke] All right.
The pressure is mounting, every second counts.
Oh, my word.
My son told me I better not lose.
That means kick butt and take names.
[Brooke] This dish embraces BLT.
[upbeat music playing]
I'm here to talk trash and whoop ass.
I prepare Cajun soul food all day long.
I bring all the soul that your mouth can handle.
All I know is I make a fried green tomato BLT
will make you wanna slap your mama.
I mean slap your mama.
I ain't slapping mine but you can slap yours.
[laughs]
I'm going to win
because I didn't come here to lose.
Losing is for suckers.
[Ben] I've always had a love affair with bacon.
You can get it sweet, you can get it smoky.
I run the kitchen for Mean Sandwich
in Seattle, Washington.
I tend to be creative.
I have a Korean version of a BLT
mixed with a French dip.
What do you want, we can make a BLT out of it
I'm the chef to beat
because I make a mean sandwich and a meaner BLT.
[Cole] I don't think I've ev really been on camera much,
besides people who sneak pictures.
The BLT is the perfect sandwich.
There's nothing more beautiful
than a freshly-picked heirloom tomato.
I love fine-dining.
I have worked at multiple Michelin-starred restaurants
I know that I can handle the heat
and the pressure of the kitchen.
[Lindsey] My food is rich.
I believe in cooking in butter.
My heart is in the fat. [laughs]
I love to make sandwiches.
You can pack a lot of punch in a few bites.
BLTs are so good.
I really love nice, thick, sliced bacon,
big, juicy tomato with lots of salts.
I have two small kids.
-That's for you. -I'm thirsty.
[Lindsey] I run a business.
I am at the eye of the stor all the time,
and that's my training for Chopped.
-Oh, my goodness. -[Tam] Oh, my God.
-Are you all ready? -[Lindsey laughs]
[Tam] This is it.
-Hi, chefs. -Hi, Ted.
-Hey, Ted. -How you feeling?
-Amazing. -Pretty nervous.
Your competition is a celebration
of an iconic flavor combo that just works,
bacon, lettuce, and tomato.
-Oh, yeah. -[Cole] Yes.
[Ted] We want you to make innovative dishes
with a nod to BLT in all three rounds.
-Cool with that? -Mmm-hmm.
-Absolutely. -[Lindsey] Yeah.
-Staying with sandwich. -[Lindsey] Sandwich.
Let's see if these appetizer ingredients appeal to you.
[suspenseful music playing]
Check 'em out.
[scoffs]
All right.
And no escaping the BLT theme here.
You got BLT mac and cheese.
I love it.
I make fried mac and cheese in my restaurant every day.
I see this mac and cheese and I'm like,
"Oh, winner, winner, chicken dinner."
[Ted] Colossal cut bacon.
[Lindsey] Colossal bacon?
Sign me up.
[Ted] Bibb lettuce.
Good bibb lettuce.
[Ted] And tomato jam.
Tomato jam.
That's my jam.
[upbeat music playing]
Twenty minutes.
-Clock stars now. -Oh, yes.
-[Brooke] Let's go chop. -[Marc] Let's go.
-[Justin] Let's go, guys. -Let's go.
[Justin] BLT time.
[suspenseful music playing]
Chef Marc, you are joined by two special guest judges,
both of them trendsetting restaurateurs,
Chef Justin Sutherland
and Chef Brooke Williamson.
I love this competition
where we're taking an iconic combination of flavors
that make up a BLT.
And challenging chefs to get those flavors
into different kinds of formats.
I think that's a lot of fun.
You know, bacon, tomatoes, lettuce,
there's so many avenues you can go using a BLT
and turning it into something else.
Totally.
[Broke] Acidity from tomato, you have richness from bacon,
you have freshness from that lettuce,
and like a little spread of mayo and some crunchy bread
it's perfection in one bite.
[Justin] I'm a no-mayo guy over here, so...
-[Marc] You are? -No?
Really? Wow.
[Justin] I put mustard on my BLTs.
What's wrong with you? What?
[Marc] The challenge in this basket right now is that
ginormous mac and cheese
which is sort of hard to incorporate sometimes,
already a cooked dish.
-Mmm-hmm. -[Brooke] Yeah.
I wanna get at this macaroni and cheese.
Mac and cheese is super difficult to incorporate.
I mean, it's already cooked,
but I love stuffed peppers.
I love deep-fried mac and cheese.
I'm thinking I can marry the two together.
I'm gonna make mac and chees stuffed chile relleno
with tomato, jam, and bacon salsa.
I kind of have an advantage over the other chefs
because I am part-owner of a sandwich shop.
I work with sandwiches every day.
To win this BLT competition would solidify my name
in the sandwich world throughout America.
[upbeat music playing]
The BLT mac and cheese actually has bacon, lettuce
and tomato in it, so this whole basket is screaming BLT.
Really, the challenge is
I've got to think outside the box.
And so I'm gonna go tacos
and make a bacon chorizo lettuce wrap taco.
I love BLTs.
My absolute favorite is to throw some fresh tomatoes
lettuce, and bacon on a croissant
and I'm a happy girl.
So this is right in my lane
[Marc] I just saw Lindsey
open up the tomato jam and taste it.
-It's pretty sweet. -[Brooke] Yeah.
I actually think a vinaigrette is the way to go
-with that tomato jam. -[Marc] Yeah, absolutely.
But we're talking appetizers here.
You're gonna have to use a lot of vinegar.
[Justin] Right.
[Cole] Tomato jam,
it's a rendered down version of tomatoes.
It's very sweet and I know right away
that I was gonna make a tomato vinaigrette.
I'm making a BLT lettuce tac
with a tomato vinaigrette.
I'd blend up the tomato jam with white wine vinegar
to make the vinaigrette.
[blender whirring]
[Marc] Cole, what's going on? How you feeling?
[Cole] I'm feeling good.
I feel real good.
I feel great about the BLT theme.
I think it's awesome to make something new
and exciting with that, so it's a lot of fun.
Making a BLT-themed appetizer?
Easy peasy.
My strategy is to go with what I know.
And the inspiration for this dish
is the mac and cheese balls
I make in Chef Tam's every day.
I'm gonna make fried mac and cheese
with tomato Sriracha sauce.
It would mean everything to me
to be the next Chopped Champion.
I'm an extremely proud mother
and I'm playing for my son, Dorian.
He's the light of my life.
My son told me I better not lose.
That means come here and kick butt and take names.
Less than 10 minutes to go, chefs.
I've never worked with tomato jam
but I know it's gonna be sweet.
Makes sense to me that's gonna go into a sauce.
I wanna get the bacon in there
rendering down a little bit
For acidity, I'm going to slice up my jalapenos
and my tomatillo, get those in the pan.
[pan sizzling]
I'm thinking, I definitely need some kind of
crema on top of this taco.
Coming through behind.
So I get the blender and I think
this is a great place to bury this mac and cheese
Guys, I think Lindsey's putting the pasta
-in the blender. -[Brooke] No, don't do that.
[Marc] Ooh, that's not a good idea.
-Like pasta smoothie? -No.
-[Marc] I don't know. -I don't want a pureed pasta.
Pasta gluey would make a wallpaper paste.
I just put way too much macaroni and cheese
in this blender.
It's protected.
So I keep trying to add more cream
and my nerves are a wreck.
Loosen this up.
-[Tam] Eight minutes, y'all. -Eight minutes?
Time is flying by.
I need to do something with that BLT mac and cheese.
So my first initial thought is to use the bread crumb
just to get a nice toast on it
and put it in my vinaigrette
I get my bacon going.
I grab fresh heirloom tomatoes and add that in
with cherry tomatoes,
and use that as the filling for the taco.
[Tam] The colossal cut bacon that's easy peasy.
It's big cut bacon.
Make love to it.
And then for the Sriracha sauce,
I'm using the tomato jam, some reduced bacon fat,
and some Sriracha.
[Ted] Okay, chefs, five minutes left on the clock.
We got five minutes.
I better get the mac and cheese balls directly in the fryer.
Behind, behind, behind.
[Ted] Tam is going into the fryer
with some baseball-sized fritters.
I'm worried about the size of those fritters, though.
[Brooke] That looks like a large fritter.
That looks like a large fritter
to get hot all the way inside.
[Tam] My only concern is if it's gonna be
heated all the way in the middle,
so I'm a little nervous.
I have a lot riding on this mac and cheese ball
[clock-ticking]
[suspenseful music playing]
I have a lot riding on this mac and cheese ball.
What I'm worried about
is if it's gonna be heated all the way in the middle.
Excuse me.
Tam, it does look like snowballs you got there.
Yeah, I'm from Texas,
everything's supposed to be big.
Okay. All right. I got you.
Chefs, calling the two-minute warning.
Now, does this feel like a friendly rivalry?
It seems to me that they're both making tacos.
I will say that what I don't wanna see
is people using this lettuce as a garnish.
I don't want the lettuce just there superfluously.
Lettuce is an important part of this equation.
Yeah.
I would like to think that I'm a mad scientist in the kitchen
just because I'm not afraid
to just do something crazy and wild.
I love the idea of using a lettuce as the bread
and just kind of trying to take a weird approach to the BLT.
One minute on the clock, chefs.
Come on, Ben. Hurry up.
Hurry up.
Ben's just getting plates with one minute left.
The pressure is mounting.
I mean, every second counts.
It is intense.
Poblanos come out, they look awesome.
It seems like Ben hasn't touched that lettuce,
so how does that get incorporated
into a whole dish?
I mean, that's at this point gonna be a garnish, right?
Right.
[Ben] For the lettuce, I'm just gonna shred it
then I'm gonna lay it down as the base of my dish.
[Tam] I take my mac and cheese balls right out of the fryer.
They're the right color.
Behind. Behind.
[Ted] They worked. Tam's snow balls worked.
Wow.
[Brooke] Oh, my God.
Remember, if everything doesn't make it on the plate,
we can't try it, guys.
[Cole] All right.
Show us what you can do in these last seconds, chefs.
[Brooke] Oh, my God, 10 seconds.
-[Ted] Ten, nine... -[Brooke] Come on, Ben.
[Ted] eight, seven...
-[Justin] Cole, let's go buddy. -[Ted] six, five, four
-three, two... -Oh.
[Ted] one. Time's up.
[applause]
Woo!
[Justin] Good job y'all.
[Lindsay] Yay!
That was beautiful.
It went amazing.
Nerve-racking as heck, but it went amazing.
Man, that time goes quick.
Goes real quick.
I hope this dish get me to the next round.
I think it will.
[suspenseful music playing]
Chefs, you have arrived at the chopping block.
Your round one mission
appetizers from a BLT mac and cheese,
colossal cut bacon,
bibb lettuce, and tomato jam
All right, we're starting with Chef Tam.
I made a big Tex fried mac and cheese
and wilted lettuce, tomato, and Sriracha sauce.
I'm from Texas, and so we do everything big.
Nothing small.
I mean who wants to eat something small?
-Heard chef. -I was worried.
I was excited because I'm like, "Oh, no, what's she doing?"
But I love the crispiness.
I love the crunch.
And what really works,
ties this all together, is the sauce.
-The sauce is delicious. -[Tam] Thank you.
I love the heat.
I can tell that you're not very excited about lettuce.
You just stuck it on the bottom.
But, I mean, for the basket we gave you,
this is pretty damn good.
Thank you, Chef.
I think, you really, really, hit a homerun
with that tomato jam.
The wrong with your baseball fritter here,
is it a little too large?
Maybe.
But you're from Texas so you know, do what you do.
I would've loved this lettuce to be chopped up a little bit.
But I'm just kinda nit-picking
because it's a really tasty plate of food.
[Marc] Yeah, you really honored the whole BLT concept here.
I... We have the... I mean, all the flavors are there.
When did you get inspired to get in the kitchen
-and start cooking? -My father owned a restaurant.
His mother was a professional baker.
My mom's dad owned a barbecue restaurant.
And so I've been inspired
to be in the kitchen a really long time.
Until three years ago,
I was a single mom raising one son.
And it was just he and I.
And I literally started at my house making $10 plates.
And the goal was 10 plates a day for $10 a plate.
And if I did that we'd be okay.
And here we are now.
Well, your story is fantastic and you definitely have put
your story and your heart on the plate here.
Thank you, Chef Tam.
Next up is Chef Ben.
What I have prepared for you
is a mac and cheese BLT chile relleno
over bibb lettuce with a nice tomato jam,
bacon, salsa on top.
Bacon is a sort of a candy for myself
that's one I cannot walk by without stealing a piece of.
My father was in the refrigeration
when I was younger, so I always go to work with him.
And I'd find a tray of cooked bacon
and I would take a piece.
So you stole bacon from your father's clients?
[Ben] I borrowed bacon and I give back
to the community later. My life it looks like...
[Ted laughing]
I'm just gonna go ahead and say this is a really creative,
really innovative way
to perceive the ingredients in your basket.
Thank you, Chef.
One of my favorite things in this plate is this poblano.
I think you did a really nic job frying it.
Unfortunately, the mac and cheese inside,
I don't think got cooked all the way through.
So it feels a little bit eggy and while the tomato jam sauce
is a little bit sweet for me, I do get the bacon.
The bibb lettuce,
like, you didn't know what to do with it,
so you threw it on the bottom.
I would've loved to see that lettuce incorporated
into the dish a little bit more.
But I saw you stuffing peppers with mac and cheese.
I was really excited
for the direction that you were going.
But the flavors were awesome.
Um, you know, I agree with Brooke,
that I think the egg kinda took over a little bit.
[Marc] I'm gonna agree with my colleagues.
The filling could've been dealt with
a little bit more lovingly.
Thank you, Chef Ben.
Next up, Chef Lindsey.
Well, I made for you a bacon chorizo lettuce wrap taco.
And then I used the macaroni and cheese with some cream
to do, like, a lime crema sauce.
The sauce was interesting.
Um, it's a little cloying
and I think it's probably because of the pasta in there.
[Lindsey] Mmm-hmm. Gotcha.
Especially because the chorizo, bacon, tomatoes
-is very rich as well. -[Lindsey] Mmm-hmm.
There's a lot of rich going on here.
I'm not as mad about the crema as Marc is down there.
After watching you I was like,
"Wow, she just put mac and cheese in a blender?"
Like, where is this going?
[blender whirring]
And I kinda like it.
Like, it's almost, like, this ranch dressing-esque,
good egg flavor that I'm getting,
so I thought it was a very creative and unique way
-to use the mac and cheese. -Thanks.
I would've loved some salt in there, maybe some...
some shallots or some garlic,
so that it actually tasted more like ranch dressing.
But this dish embraces BLT.
I like the fact that you made a lettuce wrap.
I think it's fun.
And I really like the fact that you used that tomato jam
to sort of give it a candied bacon feel.
Cool.
Thank you, Chef Lindsey. Finally, Chef Cole.
I made a BLT lettuce taco with seasoned tomatoes,
some cooked bacon in there
and then I made a tomato vinaigrette.
So it's essentially a BLT without bread?
Yeah, essentially.
[suspenseful music playing]
Cole, what did you do with the mac and cheese?
I put it in the dressing to kind of create
a chunkiness to the dressing.
I mean it's, um, it's a BLT.
Instead of the mayonnaise
you've put a vinaigrette on it.
I mean, this is refreshing.
It's good.
I just... For me, one of the basket ingredients
feels like it's missing.
You know, that mac and cheese.
I... I'm not really finding it.
Okay.
Chef Cole, I didn't even think about the mac and cheese
until Marc just brought it up,
because it's virtually non-existent,
but I wanna keep eating.
It's delicious.
-Thank you. -Yeah, Chef, I think it was.
I mean we had three fairly heavy dishes
and, you know, I picked this up and took a bite.
And it was fresh.
Those flavors popped in my mouth.
Tomatoes tasted awesome.
That vinaigrette,
I thought you did a beautiful job on them.
-It tastes great. -Thank you.
Okay.
-Chef Cole, thank you. -Thank you.
[Ted] Now, the judges must decide
who will be moving on.
I should've done something
little more creative with the lettuce.
But I should stay so that I could show them
what this Southern girl is really all about.
The crema was just real heavy.
But I think Cole should be chopped
because the macaroni and cheese
wasn't reading to the judges.
[suspenseful music playing]
[clock-ticking]
[suspenseful music playing]
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
[dramatic music playing]
Chef Ben, you've been chopped.
Judges?
Chef Ben, from a creativity standpoint
we thought this was phenomenal.
Unfortunately that stuffing with the mac and cheese
wasn't cooked all the way through.
The bibb lettuce
it just felt like it was kind of an afterthought.
Then that tomato jam
was just a little bit too sweet.
And so we had to chop you.
-Thank you Chefs. -[Marc] Thank you, man.
[Ted] We really appreciate you.
-[Marc] Keep up the good work. -[Ben] Thank you.
-[Justin] It's an honor. -[Ben] Thank you so much.
[Marc] Cheers, man.
[dramatic music playing]
I don't think I should've been chopped
if we were judging on creativity,
but I'm glad I competed,
it was more fun than I could imagine
and, like, just happy to be here.
Chef Tam, Chef Cole, Chef Lindsey,
let's tackle the second basket.
Check it out.
Hmm, okay.
[Ted] And you've got pork belly.
Pork belly?
Beautiful.
[Ted] A lettuce bouquet.
-This is for me? -[Ted] Tomato vodka.
Nice.
I'm thinking do I make a bloody Mary for myself?
[Ted] And beets.
[suspenseful music playing]
Oh.
Thirty minutes to take a simple sandwich
and turn it into a perfectly composed entree.
-Okay. -Clock starts now.
-[Justin] All right. -[Justin] Let's go guys.
[Marc] Oh, right into the pantry.
[Justin] Woo!
Judges, I love this competition
where we're taking an iconic combination of flavors
that make up a BLT
and challenging chefs to get those flavors
into different kinds of formats, like, entree.
I think Lindsey, actually is doing pasta.
I think that's a really smart route.
With tomato vodka, you can easily do a vodka sauce
with tomato and a little cream and add the pork belly,
like, you would, bacon.
I like a vodka sauce carbonara
with your pork belly, some crispy kale garnish on top.
[Brooke] It sounds great.
[Ted] That's a really good idea.
[Lindsey] Ooh.
This tomato vodka has a flavor of tomato.
We've gotta do a vodka sauce in here.
I'm making a vodka sauce orecchiette
with some pork belly and side salad with kale.
My competitors, Tam and Cole are fantastic.
And Tam, after her appetizer
I feel like the judges really liked her flavor.
And I have a feeling
that she's got a few tricks up her sleeve.
[suspenseful music playing]
To turn this entree around into an elevated BLT,
my spin is gonna be a play on shrimp and grits.
So I'm gonna make cheddar kale grits.
My BLT twist is going to be a tomato vodka cream
with the kale from the lettuce bouquet
topped with a crispy pork belly.
I put the hot water butter and polenta
and let it cook down.
Then I'm adding the heavy cream
and the grated cheese.
[Cole] Tomato vodka has a surprising amount
of tomato flavor.
I know that's gonna make a really vibrant, tasty,
tomato sauce.
I'm making seared pork bell with a tomato sauce.
I breakdown the pork belly
and start getting that cooking
and then I start cutting up some nice fresh tomatoes
and start cooking that down.
Twenty minutes left on that clock.
[Brooke] Beets are kind of a love or hate ingredient...
-[Justin] Right. -I think.
But I will say I love them. I think they're...
They taste like earth but like sweet earth.
I mean, you can fry them into chips,
you can roast them, you can boil them,
-dice 'em. -[Brooke] Yeah.
It's all gonna come down to the time with beets, though.
There's a lot of beet processes
-that take a lot of time. -Yeah.
It takes a long time to roast beets.
So I'm going to shred these.
And I want a bacon crispy element in the sauce,
so I'm trying to render the fat on the pork belly
and I'm adding cream, tomatoes, and tomato vodka.
So my house is very active, a little bit like a zoo.
I have two little boys and we have two dogs,
a cat, a goldfish,
and my husband is a nurse and he works nights.
So $10,000 looks like a really nice vacation
for my family.
-Has a lot of vodka. -Ten minutes remain
in this round, chefs.
[Tam] So for my cream sauce
I'm gonna saute down some of my pork belly,
my kale, add some beets,
then I'm gonna deglaze the pan
with the tomato vodka.
[pan sizzling]
[Tam] Add cream, some parmesan,
some fresh cherry tomatoes,
and let it reduce all down together.
Perfect.
I crisp the pork belly
just to start getting that nice carmelization on it.
And then I'm going to deglaz my tomatoes with the vodka,
and then just blend that with some more
fresh tomatoes.
My background is French fine dining.
The restaurant that I started at
was a two Michelin star restaurant.
I also jumped around in a fe different Michelin kitchens
With the Michelin circuit,
everybody's trying to be the best,
so you have to be the best.
-Y'all all right? -[Cole] Oh, yeah.
-How you doing? -Nervous.
Five minutes to go, chefs.
-[Lindsey] Five, heard. -Five minutes.
[Tam] I'm thinking, this dish is really soft,
it doesn't have enough texture.
So I take the kale and run down to the deep fryer
to make some kale chips.
[sizzling]
My plan with the kale is to make a salad.
So I'm getting that blanching.
I love sherry vinegar with beets,
so I immediately start making just a quick
sherry vinaigrette.
Cole, what are you doing over there?
-How you feeling? -Oh, I'm feeling good.
-[Brooke] Yeah? -I'm making a little
vinaigrette over here.
Are you bringing in the BLT today?
-Trying to. -All right.
Two minutes to go.
[suspenseful music playing]
I opened up the bouquet.
There's a little bit of kal sitting on top of
a lot of romaine. [laughs]
It's enough kale to make a nice side salad.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Brooke] All right. Cole, get that food on the plate.
Cole, you got 30 seconds, man.
[Brooke] Get it on the plate.
The clock in the Chopped kitchen is never your friend.
It's nerve-racking.
[Ted] Need this count, Chefs.
Ten, nine, eight...
[Justin] Oh, let's go buddy!
[Ted] seven, six, five, four,
three, two, one.
-Time's up. -[Brooke] Time's up.
-[Justin] Nice work, guys. -[applause]
Can I have some more vodka now?
I'm really nervous. I'm like,
"Did I just give them a bowl of breakfast grits?"
-Woo! -What'd you got?
-I mean, it's... -[Cole] Oh, looks great.
pasta and salad.
This kitchen is very intense, but I'm proud of it.
I'm confident that I'll make it
to the dessert round.
[suspenseful music playing]
Chefs, in the entree basket, you got pork belly,
a lettuce bouquet, tomato vodka,
and beets.
Chef Tam, you're up first.
I have a cheddar kale grit
with a tomato vodka beet cream topped with a fried kale chip
and crispy pork belly.
What kind of food do you serve at your restaurant?
So I every day make shrimp and grits,
Cajun soul food is my thing.
Muddy mac and cheese is our number one selling side
and we only let the people with mac and cheese arms
make the mac and cheese.
What does that mean mac and cheese arm?
Never trust a skinny cook ever.
-[Brooke] Mac and cheese arms? -Yeah, mac and cheese arms.
Grandma arms, cafeteria lady arms,
however you need it.
[laughs]
Let's start with flavor because the flavor I like...
I like it a lot.
I think your tomato sauce is good.
There's plenty of cheese in the polenta,
they taste good.
I just feel like there was one tomato in here
that just needed to be plated differently.
-Okay. -Because there's too much
sauce, too many...
Too much polenta and there's not enough
of the other substances that were in that basket.
-Yes, sir. -Yeah, I agree.
It's kind of a big bowl of soft.
I got two of these tomatoes
and that was kind of a highlight
because I felt like I needed that fresh acidity.
And although it has all the elements of a BLT,
I don't get a lot of smoke from that pork belly,
so it doesn't really read like bacon to me.
Got you. Yes, Chef.
Although I don't have macaroni arms,
I do have a... One of a...
A soul food restaurant and I mean it did remind me
of shrimp and grits, which sometimes
is a big bowl of soft which I was kind of okay with.
And the crispy fried kale chips on top
were my favorite part.
That was the texture and the salt that I needed.
So I thought it was a... it was a...
-it was a good dish. -Thank you.
Thank you, Chef Tam.
Next up is Chef Cole.
I just did a seared pork belly,
kale, beet, tomato salad on the side
and then I used the tomato vodka
as a tomato sauce.
It's a beautiful plate of food
and, you know, the acidity and everything in the salad
I thought was delicious.
I'm personally not generally a fan of raw beets
and you made me like these.
I thought they were delicious.
The texture of your... of your pork belly is great.
I just want salt.
This pork belly, you seared it beautifully,
but it needed to be glazed or something.
It needed something to go along with it.
You know the pork belly, it really... It...
The crispiness was amazing, but it just...
Other than that, it was just fat
that coated my mouth. I didn't get any salt,
just very, very under seasoned, so...
-Thank you. -Thank you, Chef Cole.
Finally, Chef Lindsey.
Well, I made for you vodka sauce orecchiette
with some pork belly and a side salad with kale,
raw shredded beets
as well as some fresh tomatoes in there as well.
The salad is delicious.
The vinaigrette is delicious.
The BLT theme was well respected,
but you made me a little appetizer salad
and you made me a bowl of pasta.
So that, to me, is a bit of a disconnect.
These aren't talking to each other.
-They're not unified. -Okay.
The pasta and the sauce that I got on top of that
I really enjoyed that flavor. I thought it was developed.
I thought there was porkiness.
I thought there was salt in the sauce,
but I would've loved to have that sauce
mixed throughout and just... and just very evenly coated.
I agree.
I wholeheartedly feel like you should've tossed the pasta
with the sauce,
especially since this sauce has so much flavor.
Hmm, thanks.
-Chef Lindsey, thank you. -Thank you so much.
Appreciate it.
Woo.
I totally should've tossed the pasta.
[laughs] I feel like people are gonna be teasing me
about that.
But I love sweets.
If I move on to the dessert round,
I'm going home with the $10,000 for sure.
I'm feeling like this might be the round
that I get chopped.
I had a big bowl of soft according to the judges
and I'm kind of nervous about that.
[suspenseful music playing]
[clock-ticking]
[suspenseful music playing]
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Cole, you've been chopped.
Judges.
Chef Cole, we actually all really loved
your shaved raw beet salad, but your pork belly
really suffered from a complete lack of seasoning
and needed salt and so we had to chop you.
Thank you.
We appreciate you being here, Cole.
I agree with the judges.
I should've known to season it.
But it's like they say, you never really lose,
you just either win or you learn, so...
Chef Tam, Chef Lindsey, last baskets are right here.
See what's in there.
All right.
[Ted] BLT for dessert?
You know it.
You've got bacon grease.
Bacon grease. [laughs]
Hilarious.
[Ted] Lettuce-flavored ice cream.
What the heck is this?
-Got some... -[Ted] Roasted tomatoes.
[Lindsey] Some roasted tomatoes.
[Ted] And strawberry milk powder.
Ooh, goodness.
Thirty minutes to make something incredible.
Clock starts now.
[Justin] All right. Here we go.
-[Justin] Good luck, guys. -I am ready...
-I am ready for dessert. -Hmm.
I'll come back for the sugar.
Well, Judges, I think this BLT dessert basket
is pretty brilliant, don't you?
It's a brilliant puzzle. Let's put it that way, Ted.
I think if you took those tomatoes
with strawberry powder and try to make
-something with that. -[Brooke] Yeah,
I feel like that strawberry milk powder
could go a couple of different ways.
It could enhance the tomato and sort of make
a really beautiful tomato jam.
[Justin] And they still have to cook with bacon grease.
Yes. I'm expecting some actual baked desserts here
because I think that that's the best direction
to go with that bacon fat.
Bacon grease.
This is not an unfamiliar product to me.
And I think it's pretty Americana to do a doughnut.
So I'm going to do a tomato bacon jam
and bacon grease cruller
with a basil lettuce ice cream.
I think I have a chance at winning this round
because I used to work as a pastry chef.
So I understand dessert.
[upbeat music playing]
I'm nervous as a basket case.
I've got to make a BLT-themed dessert out of this basket?
Really?
But I make a peach cobbler French toast
at my restaurant,
so I'm thinking I may as wel
make stuffed French toast BL
with candied bacon sprinkles
So for the filling, I use my roasted tomatoes,
strawberry, strawberry preserves,
strawberry milk powder, and sugar.
It is so crazy.
I am one victory away from $10,000.
I just wanna prove what tenacity looks like.
If you open the dictionary,
I want you to see my face next to that word.
Twenty minutes left on that clock.
[upbeat music playing]
Hmm.
The lettuce ice cream is really gritty.
Oh, my God.
-[Tam] It's horrible? -[Lindsey] Yeah.
Oh. [Tam laughs]
[Lindsey] I need to change the texture
and I get my egg yolks in there,
put some more cream, I get it in the machine.
Okay.
So we're gonna go to production.
And then my plan for the roasted tomato
is to cook them down into a sauce,
add some sugar, some maple syrup,
and make a glaze for my crullers.
I'm playing for my awesome husband and my kids.
I want my family to see that mom is a go-getter,
and so this one would be really cool to bring home.
Fifteen minutes on the clock. You're half way in.
Fifteen minutes left on the clock,
I'm like, oh, my gosh.
I need to go ahead and get this bread
soaked in the egg.
I cook it off in the bacon grease.
So for the sauce,
I'm using the roasted tomatoes,
strawberries, sugar, bourbon, and bacon fat.
And then a good BLT is gonna need
some candied bacon.
It would mean everything to me
to be the next Chopped Champion.
My son is my biggest supporter.
I wanna win to show him
that you could do anything you put your mind to.
Chef's, 10 minutes on the clock.
[suspenseful music playing]
My plan is to put these crullers
into the fryer with the parchment paper.
What are you gonna do? Are you gonna fry those?
I'm gonna fry them. I'm dropping them in
-right now. -[Marc] Oh, okay.
-[Marc] Okay. -Yes, here we go.
I've never seen anybody fry on...
-[Justin] On the paper. -the parchment.
-You? -[Justin] On the paper.
I just learned something today.
[suspenseful music playing]
What the hell?
I tasted the lettuce ice cream
and it was like a whole can of oh no.
And I don't know what I'm gonna do.
What is in there?
Then it comes to me,
may as well make a lettuce whip cream.
So I add heavy whipping cream, sugar, bourbon,
and the lettuce ice cream.
All right. Chef's, five minutes on the clock.
[Tam] Oh, my goodness.
[upbeat music playing]
I'm grabbing the ice cream out of the machine.
And then I take a taste of it.
Ugh, to my horror,
I don't think this ice cream is sweet enough really.
Lindsey, just tasted her ice cream
and it looks as though she feels that
it's not sweet enough.
This is coming down to the wire.
I mean, we need all four ingredients on the plate,
I can feel like they're neck and neck.
This definitely needs a little more love.
This could be the $10,000 right here.
[suspenseful music playing]
[clock-ticking]
[suspenseful music playing]
My nerves are a wreck.
I'm just gonna do something else on there.
My ice cream has no sweetness in it.
What about this?
Why not use the strawberry milk powder.
I'm kind of Hail Mary-ing at this point.
I'm doing it.
Two minute warning, Chefs.
The pressure, oh my goodness
That 30 minutes feels like you're literally being bullied
on a playground.
[Justin] Tam, you're looking real cool
and collected down there, you feel good?
I'm not cool and collected trust me.
[Justin laughs]
[suspenseful music playing]
[Ted] All right Chefs, final seconds
of the final round.
-Ten... -Every ingredient
on the plate? [Ted] nine, eight, seven,
six, five, four,
three, two, one.
Time's up.
-[applause] -[Ted] Nice job, Chefs.
Oh, man I didn't think I was gonna make it.
[laughs] You know.
[suspenseful music playing]
I think that I pulled off a really good dish
making a BLT French toast,
nobody's probably ever heard of
and I think I would be so crushed
to get this far and lose.
That was wild.
I was struggling with the ice cream.
It just didn't have enough sugar in it.
I'm definitely feeling nervous.
Everything is riding on this round.
[dramatic music playing]
Chef Lindsey, Chef Tam,
the dessert round saw you flaunting your talent
with bacon grease, lettuce-flavored ice cream,
roasted tomatoes, and strawberry milk powder.
All right. Chef Lindsey, you're up first.
All right. So I made a cruller
with a tomato bacon jam.
And a lettuce basil strawberry milk dip
for your doughnut.
Conceptually it was... it was a super fun dish.
That strawberry powder I think really masked
that lettuce ice cream for me.
So I actually really like this.
I mean, if... I thought you could put
some whip cream on top and give it a straw
and it was like a nice little milkshake.
Thank you.
Lettuce ice cream, tomato jam,
bacon in the tomato jam, I mean it's all the elements
that I want in a BLT.
The cruller is where I'm having my issues,
well, the outside of it is, like, light and crispy.
-[Lindsey] Mmm-hmm. -The inside of it
is totally undercooked it's like raw dough
-at the middle. -That's unfortunate.
Yeah, 'cause it's definitely...
I mean where it's thinner, it's almost okay but in...
The inside is very... It's just... It's just raw.
Yeah. But every component on this plate
really tasted good.
It's literally just a matter of cooking that dough further.
[Ted] Thank you, Chef Lindsey. Next up to Chef Tam.
I made for you a stuffed French toast BLT
with a lettuce cream and candied bacon.
[suspenseful music playing]
I love the candied bacon,
the jam you made on top here is good,
the strawberries and the tomatoes.
I thought it was great. Thank you, Chef.
I don't taste the bitterness of that ice cream.
I think the candied bacon is lovely.
I love the cream cheese filling
and that strawberry mixed with the tomato jam.
I really, really love this dessert.
-So... -Thank you, Chef.
[Justin] nice work.
I felt like there was some great flavors in here,
but for me the cream is way too sweet.
Okay.
Especially when you're pairing it
with all the candied stuff.
I just feel like you could've tamed the sweetness level
-on this entire plate. -Okay.
Chef Tam, thank you.
Final deliberation happens now.
[suspenseful music playing]
Judges, bacon, lettuce, tomato,
did it all add up to memorable meals?
Well, Tam came out of the gates swinging
with that huge ball of fried mac and cheese.
The soccer ball of mac and cheese?
We were completely blown away when she went into the fryer
like that dish worked.
It was probably one of the best dishes of the day.
[Justin] But you can really tell
that the lettuce was an afterthought.
I like the way that Lindsey executed her lettuce wrap.
That lettuce formed a nice little cup.
The bacon flavor really came out
that she mixed with that chorizo.
Well, Lindsey made that pureed mac and cheese sauce,
I didn't think it was very good at all.
And then when you look at Lindsey's main course,
she didn't mix the sauce with the pasta.
I totally agree.
But I also feel like Lindsey gave us
some of the best flavors of the day.
Lindsey's salad was light and refreshing,
I also feel like there were some really delicious flavors
-in that vodka sauce. -Oh, yeah,
it punched and if it coated that pasta...
-correctly... -Yeah.
It could have been a home run.
Yeah.
And I think the main course
on Tam's side as well suffered.
It's a lot of soft food on one plate.
There needs to be more tomato,
and more of the greens from the basket in there.
It was a little soft, I mean,
the flavors that she was able to develop
I thought were pretty stellar.
-We have a decision. -Excellent.
[suspenseful music playing]
Winning to me right now would mean the world.
I could literally show my so
that you could do anything you put your mind to.
[suspenseful music playing]
I am so close to winning this thing.
I want it so badly.
I can't wait to celebrate.
So whose dish is on the chopping block?
[suspenseful music playing]
[Ted] Chef Lindsey, you've been chopped.
Judges.
Chef Lindsey, you really did a great job
developing some flavors.
But in the first round, you've made that sauce
with the mac and cheese and it just wasn't
what a crema would've done for that dish,
it didn't lighten it up.
In the main course, you didn't mix the sauce
with the pasta.
And then in the dessert,
unfortunately your pate a choux
did not really cook all the way through.
-And so we had to chop you. -Thank you so much.
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
The hardest part about being chopped
is being chopped in the third round.
I was so close. Thanks, Ted.
So much fun. Glad to meet you too.
Thank You.
That means Chef Tam Patterson, you are the Chopped Champio.
Woo!
You have conquered our very difficult BLT battle
and you're going home with $10,000.
-Congratulations. -Thank you.
-[cheers and applause] -[Justin] Congrats Chef.
-[Brooke] Congrats. -Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.
I cannot wait to share this with my son.
I didn't just come to Choppe I came to Chopped
-and kicked tail. -[Brooke] Yeah, you did.
-That's amazing. -[Justin] Yes, you did.
Yes, you did. It feels amazing to win this.
-Thank you so much. -Great job. Great job.
Where's my mic, so I can drop it, boom.
Chopped Champion.