Tonight, it's our big game special.
One chef's gonna get seriously sauced with one of these.
I have $100,000
of cold hard cash in this case.
4 chefs get $25,000 each.
If they want to leave this kitchen
with any of the cash,
they have to survive three culinary challenges
and each other.
Don't hate the player. Hate the game.
Watch yourself.
In a game where sabotage is not only encouraged...
...forcing them to do their cooking
on the smallest cast-iron skillet I could find.
Oh, s--No way.
...it's for sale.
$3,000.$7,700.
$8,000.ALTON: It's a game we like to call...
[ Gasps ][ Laughs ]
..."Cutthroat Kitchen."
[ Whistle blows ]
I'm Chef Yaku, and I'm from San Francisco, California.
I take over the room just by my presence, and it's the big game.
It's big. It's special.
So, I'm gonna give them 100% of something
they never seen before -- a big, tall, handsome chef
that's gonna take over "Cutthroat Kitchen."
I'm Chef Kevin from Los Angeles, California.
I went to a top culinary school,
and I've always worked at fine Michelin-star restaurants.
And that's definitely gonna give me an advantage
over my opponents.
What's going on, buddy? How you doing?
[ Chuckles ]
I am Chef Luigi,
and I am an executive chef in Los Angeles, California.
My mom was the first executive chef I worked for.
Now I work with some of the best chefs in the world.
I have been in way tougher kitchens
than "Cutthroat Kitchen."
And what's your background?
Well, I worked for a Michelin-star restaurant
in Napa Valley.
And you get to pack those stars up
and take them home with you today, huh?
[ Chuckles ]
I'm Chef Jenny from Rhode Island.
I'm a true competitor.
I played on the men's soccer team.
When I put my mind to something,
there is absolutely no stopping me.
I have no culinary training, but I came to "Cutthroat Kitchen"
because I wanted to see if I have the culinary chops
to hang in with the chefs that have the training
and the Michelin stars.
It's a good thing my mom was an armchair quarterback.
Think fast.Ooh.
Yeah, watch yourself.
[ Marching band plays ]
It's game time, chefs!
[ Laughs ]
Whoo!
Chefs, welcome to our very special episode
celebrating the big football game.
I like to call it the Supper Bowl. Huh?
Now, football is America's favorite sport,
but my favorite sport
is watching chefs sabotage each other
in "Cutthroat Kitchen."
So, let the games begin.
You're about to take part in a culinary competition
composed of three rounds.
And the end of each round, one of you will be eliminated.
Sorry, that's just the way the game goes.
Before each round, I will assign a dish.
You will then have 60 seconds to shop
for everything you possibly could need
in the "Cutthroat Kitchen" pantry.
Then we have ourselves a little fun in the form of an auction.
Of course, if there's gonna be an auction,
you're gonna need some money,
and I have here $100,000 cold hard cash.
Oh, sorry.
How to break a few, you know, tackles coming down the stairs.
Anyway, each of you will be issued 25,000 of these dollars.
Yours to use throughout the competition.
But, listen, spend wisely, chefs,
because at the end of the day,
only one of you will walk out of here victorious.
And you will only walk out with the money you have remaining.
Chefs, take your money.
2 bundles apiece equals $25,000.
There you go. Load up.
CHEF YAKU: I get the $25,000 in my hand, and I'm thinking...
♪ We're going home, we're going home ♪
There you go. Two bundles, Chef.
Two bundles, two bundles.
The final two are for you.Thank you, good sir.
ALTON: Heft them, feel them, smell them,
but do not get used to them,
because most of that money will return to this case
by the end of the competition.
Round 1.
I'm gonna give you 30 minutes
to prepare the perfect...
sliders.
CHEF LUIGI: I never really made any sliders in my career,
but it's like making a meatball put between two pieces of bread
and you eat it, right?
It's like a meatball sandwich.
So, let's not waste time.
Your 60-second shopping period begins...now!
Please don't break the glass pickle jars.
CHEF YAKU: Right off the bat, I'm thinking I want to go Asian.
I want to go flavorful.
I want to do something different than my competition.
So I grab sirloin, sweet chili sauce, tomatoes, jalapeños,
and some Asian pear just to add a little sweetness to the flame.
Chefs, you have 30 seconds remaining.
CHEF KEVIN: Shopping with Chef Yaku
is like being stuck in an elevator with an elephant.
I couldn't move around this guy.
I went to grab something, he grabbed it from across the room.
It's a total circus.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
And this is why we can't have nice things.
Yeah, baby.
Now, we're gonna make things more interesting
with a few auction items, okay?
You know what I like best about game day?
Tailgating.
CHEF YAKU: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What is this for?
What -- Is somebody leaving? Already?
These are the, uh, keys to my special tailgating truck,
but I got something for you guys, too.
Bring it on it, fellas. Come on in. Park it in here.
Win this auction, and you can make two opponents
wear these tailgate prep stations,
forcing them to prep their food on the other chef's tailgate.
[ Laughs ]
Guys, just leave those, uh, right there on the floor
while I deal with these stunned individuals.
CHEF YAKU: Who made those?
Whoever came up with that idea needs to get checked out.
$1,000.
Chef Yaku's in for $1,000.
$1,500.$1,500 to Chef Luigi.
I'm very visual, and I got to have a stable place to look at
when I prep, so I can't have this.
$2,000.ALTON: $2,000.
CHEF KEVIN: I decide not to bid on this
because I think if I receive this, I can do it.
$2,500.ALTON: $2,500 to Chef Luigi.
Do I hear $2,600?
CHEF JENNY: I'm not bidding on this
because I started seeing the price go up,
and it's the first thing out of the gate.
I don't want to spend all my money.
$2,700.$2,700. It goes back to Chef Luigi.
How about $2,800?
It's too rich for my blood at this point.
Going once, twice.
Sold to Chef Luigi for $2,700.
Bring me my money, sir.
[ Chuckles ]
I'm thinking, "Who's gonna get this?"
So I see Chef Yaku being super tall
and Chef Jenny being shorter.
So I'm like, "Bang!"
Good luck.
For you, darling.
Blue's my color, baby.
Chef Jenny, Chef Yaku,
if you don't like the, uh, feel of that, don't worry.
There's plenty of room here for retribution.
Item two.
[ Chuckles ]
This is another one of my, uh, infamous culinary inventions.
Ah.
Huh? Nice, huh?
It's a slider grill.
Get it? A slider grill?
Win this auction and you can force one chef
to do all of their cooking on my special grill.
It's angled for maximum frustration
and potential elimination.
CHEF YAKU: I've seen this thing on TV before,
and I know it's nothing to play with.
$2,000.
I got a $2,000 bid from Chef Yaku right off the bat.
$2,200.$2,200 to Chef Jenny. Who wants to go for $2,300?
$2,300.$2,300 to Chef Yaku.
CHEF LUIGI: This is not gonna kill me if I get this,
so I'm gonna save my money.
$2,300 high.
Going once. Going twice.
Sold for $2,300 to Chef Yaku.
I can't believe it.
Bring me some money.
CHEF KEVIN: I'm not concerned about this
because I'm for sure thinking
that he's gonna give it to Luigi.
Luigi just put a backpack on him.
I see lamb.
Oh, you'd do me like that?
[Bleep] bag.
All right, chefs. Remember, sliders.
30 minutes.
Time starts...
[ Whistle blows ]
Chef Jenny, I need you.
CHEF YAKU: So, thanks to Chef Luigi taking away
me and Chef Jenny's prep station,
I'm trying to wonder how can I make great, bold sliders
in the space small enough to only cut onions?
You better hurry.Gonna do my shallots real quick, onions, and then it's all yours.
We can go to your side.You got two more minutes.
I can see your, uh, license plate, Yaku.
Luigi's going down, dude.
So, my plan for my dish is to go Asian,
so I wanted to go ahead
and get some spices and flavors into my meat,
and a nice amount of sweet chili sauce.
Ready?I'm good. Yep.
Let's go. We're moving.Can I mix?
We're moving, we're moving.Right off the bat,
Jenny from the block turned into Sergeant Jenny.
Throw those things on as we pass.
Let's go, baby.
Back to my station now, now, now.
We're going. I'm meeting you. I'm going.
I'll meet you over there. Let's go.
I love to tailgate, but on somebody's back?
No bueno. [ Chuckles ]
Down. Go down. Go down.
I've got this car hanging off the back of my tuchus,
and I've got Chef Yaku, who's 6'9".
Seriously.
Hey, get down, get down, get down, get down.
Yep, I'm down. Can't go any lower.
We're gonna do a Spanish-inspired pork slider.
I have fresh jalapeño.
I put a little bit of garlic powder in there,
a little bit of mustard in there,
put a little bit of milk in there
to give it a little bit of that fattiness.
And I think I'm on the right course.
Hey, Luigi, you making pasta over there?
I'm making the pasta.
I'm fortunate enough to have all the ingredients.
My idea today for the dish
is to make an Italian version of a slider.
So, to make my patty, I add ricotta cheese, salt, pepper.
I add shallots.
Then I press it.
Then it become a beautiful round slider.
I'm like, "That's it. Got it."
ALTON: Chef Luigi has decided
to try to go kind of an Italian route.
He's using veal.
I think this is a very, very big mistake,
because veal, in and of itself,
just doesn't really have enough fat
or even connective tissue to make a really juicy slider.
If he was gonna use veal,
he needed to cut it with something like pork,
and he didn't and he should have.
Chef Kevin, how you doing?
CHEF KEVIN: Yeah, I'm, uh -- I don't know.
We'll see what happens.
Thanks to Chef Yaku,
I got to cook on this 45-degree-angled grill.
So I have to prop a pot up
to try to keep food from sliding off my slider grill.
So, I'm feeling a little -- a little discombobulated.
Just trying to just get things going, you know?
Time's gonna fly. I think I'll get my burger going.
That's gonna take the longest.
Then I can work on the garnishes.
I decided to make a lamb burger.
I'm gonna use the ground lamb with some black olives in there,
some salt, some lemon zest.
And meanwhile, Jenny and Yaku are running around.
They're yelling at each other.
Come on.
Aren't you, like, a football or a basketball?
You guys all right over there?
There's food flying everywhere.
I'm ducking from this tailgate thing.
This is getting real cutthroat.
Come on.
Chefs, who wants to play a game of catch?
Or should I say a game of hold?
Win this auction and you can force one chef
to hold this football for the remainder of the challenge,
and if they fumble, there will be fines.
CHEF KEVIN: I'm behind.
There's no way I can handle this.
This is crazy.
No. I can't do this right now. I'm not ready for this.
Who will give me $500 to watch somebody hold this ball?
[ Whistle blows ]
Win this auction and you can force one chef
to hold this football for the remainder of the challenge,
and if they fumble, there will be fines.
Who will give me a $500 bid
for someone to have to hold on this football?
CHEF LUIGI: I do not want a football in my hands.
I'm not doing that.
$800.$1,000.
$1,000 bid from Chef Kevin.
Who will give me $1,100? $1,100?
All I hear is, "Football, blah, blah, blah.
Auctioning, yah, yah, yah."
I don't know what's going on because I'm chasing Chef Jenny.
$1,000. Looking for $1,100.
Fine. Going once. Going twice.
Go down.
CHEF LUIGI: I stop bidding on this
because I can do something with it if they give it to me.
Sold to Chef Kevin for $1,000.
Fine. Catch, Chef.
Who's gonna hold that ball for the rest of the challenge?
I look around the kitchen, and you know what?
Chef Yaku looks like he is a football team,
so I'm just gonna put a nail in the coffin for him.
Yaku.
You got to hold on to that ball with at least one hand
for the remainder of the challenge.No problem.
Chef Kevin really has it out for me,
because he sees how bad I'm struggling
chasing General Jenny.
Now he wants to give me a football?!
I got some tomatoes on the grill
and I also have some jalapeños.
I'm getting perfect, beautiful grill marks
on the tomatoes.
I give my Asian pears a little fry.
They don't need any batter or anything.
They're perfectly sweet by themselves.
Kevin, peep these hands.
You think I'm really gonna fumble this thing, man?
I gave you that ball to keep those hands off my head.
CHEF JENNY: I need you back here, Chef! You got 30 seconds.
Yaku and I, right now, are not really communicating too well.
Go. Down. Come on. Turn around.
Turn around. Go. Turn around and go.
Let's go.
So, I definitely took the lead.
All right. Let's go back. Let's go back.
So, let's go, baby. Let's go.
I have corn here, so I'm gonna take it off the cob.
Don't move.
I'm gonna throw it into the cast-iron skillet.
I need to get my Manchego cheese melted.
I feel really good right now where I am.
Lean forward.
Do not drop that cheese.Don't drop the cheese.
CHEF LUIGI: So, I see Chef Jenny and Chef Yaku
running around the kitchen,
and the only thing we can hear is Chef Jenny say,
"Yaku! Yaku! Yaku! Yaku!"
Yaku! Yaku! Yaku.
I need Chef Yaku.
[ Laughs ]
I am making a sauce
with peppers, tomatoes, shallots, parsley.
I want to do something a little more fancy,
so I'm gonna create a little bit of a giardiniera.
So, I chop up the vegetable, add some mustard,
some seasoning, mix it all together, taste it.
Perfect. Bang.
ALTON: Five minutes. Five minutes remaining.
CHEF KEVIN: The grill is actually --
Um, it's not as hot as I would like it to be.
Five minutes out, and I can't get a good sear on my burger.
I'm not sure if it's gonna even be cooked in time.
Oh [bleep]
Kevin, are you loving the slider?
Gravity is not my friend.
I take a portobello mushroom. I start slicing it thinly.
I soak it in balsamic vinegar, some garlic, some oil,
and I throw it on the grill
just to possibly be a topping for my little lamb burger.
Oh, God. That looks like so much fun.
Five-star Chef Kevin,
are you having a hard time on that slider grill?
[ Laughs ]
Two minutes. Two minutes remaining.
Chef Yaku's in another world.
I need Chef Yaku!
My buns are falling all over the place, baby.
Come here.
CHEF YAKU: Walk with me, walk with me.
So, my rolls are done, my burger's beautifully grilled.
Now it's time to call General Jenny over.
I'm about to cut on your back.Go.
And try to have her stand still
so I can plate these lovely burgers.
Turn around. I need to get behind you right now.
Hold on, hold on, hold on.No. I need --
Let's go both.
What? We both got to go.
I need yours, too.
You --
Turn around. Dude.
There you go.
I think you dropped something right there.
I'm all done.
CHEF KEVIN: What's going on?
My sliders were totally done, and now I'm looking at them
smashed all over the kitchen floor.
Good thing I made extra.
ALTON: Chefs, you got 60 seconds.
CHEF JENNY: The only patty I have left right now
is a patty that fell apart in the moments
when Yaku was running around the kitchen.
I can't toast my buns how I had them.
Right now, I just have to pray
that somebody else made a bigger mistake.
Thanks, Yaku. Appreciate it, buddy.
ALTON: 10, 9, 8, 7,
6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
[ Whistle blows ]
Challenge is over.
Time's up. Step away from the food.
ALTON: All right, chefs.
This is our judge for the day, Antonia Lofaso.
She's a restaurateur and executive chef
here in Los Angeles, California.
What's more important is she is a veteran of this place
and has served on both sides of the counter.
So, this round -- sliders.
CHEF LOFASO: Perfect for game day.
I think that they are
on every American, like, sports-bar menu.
So, we'll see who's got "game."
She knows nothing
of the sabotages you may have dosed out
or endured, and she does not care.
She only cares, in fact, about three things.
Tell them.First -- taste.
Second -- presentation.
And third -- it better remind me of a slider.
Let's find out if they do.
Antonia, this is Chef Yaku.
Hello, Chef.
Chef Yaku, tell her all about your slider.
So, Chef, what I have for you is an Asian-themed slider,
perfect for the big game.
We have grilled jalapeños with tomato on a grilled bun.
If I got this on game day, I'd be very happy.
I think the ratio of bun to meat to topping is perfect.
I think the heat is perfect, and I love the choice of the bun.
I love the kind of sweet, soft bun.
Little bit of crispness on the outside, so well done.
Thank you, Chef.
We're gonna move on down the line.
Chef Kevin, please tell Antonia about your slider.
CHEF KEVIN: Today, I made a lamb slider
topped with a balsamic aioli, portobello mushroom,
and brioche bun.
I do love all the flavors that you have going on here.
Um, I really feel like the lamb
is a really beautiful thought in here.
There's a nice kind of caramelization on the outside.
So, I think it's all really nice.
Thank you, Chef.
CHEF YAKU: He was able to produce
a perfectly cooked lamb slider on that grill?
I'd give him a high five if he could reach it.
Antonia, this is Chef Luigi.
Pleasure.CHEF LOFASO: Pleasure.
Chef Luigi, please tell Antonia
about your take on the slider.
Yes. Today, I have prepared for you
a two-bite Italian-style slider
made with veal, ricotta spread,
and giardiniera on the side.
Um, so it is a slider challenge,
and I really feel like the meat here
reminds me more of, like, a meatball or a meatloaf.
It's, like, the perfect amount of pickling.
I just wish that you had put the giardiniera vegetable
onto the burger itself.
Thank you, Chef.
Let's move on down to, uh, number four, please.
Chef Jenny, tell your tale.
CHEF JENNY: So, we have a pork slider.
Put a little bit of jalapeño for that heat,
and then put a little bit of corn on top of it,
and with Manchego cheese
to give it that creaminess feel in your mouth.
Uh, it's kind of falling apart.
It's not really holding up all that well.
Mm.
I think your biggest problem here, obviously -- you can see.
It's just kind of falling apart.
But on a positive note, I really do like the meat.
I think there's a nice flavor.
I just kind of wish it all held together.
Thank you, Chef. Antonia, step over here.
CHEF JENNY: I want to tell her
that the fabulous slider she would have tried
was smeared across the floor.
It's under Chef Yaku's foot.
All right, Antonia, it's time for you to decide
which one of these chefs is gonna slide on out of here.
So, we had two chefs whose sliders I thoroughly enjoyed.
And I had two chefs that had issues with their sliders.
Chef Luigi, your slider meat was more like a meatball.
Chef Jenny, there was an issue
with the structure of your slider.
In the end, I need to eliminate Chef...
[ Whistle blows ]
So, we had two chefs whose sliders I thoroughly enjoyed.
And I had two chefs that had issues with their sliders.
In the end, I need to eliminate Chef...
...Luigi.
I'm sorry.
At the end of the day,
the meat is the most important part of the slider,
and your meat wasn't there.
Chef Luigi, sorry to see you go, sir,
but that means I'm gonna need that cash back in this case.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you.
CHEF LUIGI: I don't agree.
I don't think she judge it the right way,
but she was the judge, so...
I can't really compete with that.
Enough with this big game. I'm going back to soccer.
Well, chefs, congratulations on surviving to this,
the second round of "Cutthroat Kitchen."
For you, the competition continues immediately.
I'm feeling like I could win this, go on to further rounds,
and take this money home now.
ALTON: We're gonna switch gears a little bit,
but we're gonna stay game friendly.
I'm gonna give you 30 minutes to make your best chicken wings.
Yes.
Classic American stuff, especially on game day.
We're talking about, you know, some wings.
Nice and crispy and wonderful in some kind of sauce,
put together.
It couldn't be any more simple.
But the 60-second shopping time starts now.
CHEF KEVIN: If I could take a chicken wing
and elevate it to being a fancy chicken wing,
then I'd be happy with that.
My idea for a chicken wing is a nice buttery vinegar hot sauce
glazed on top of a crispy chicken wing.
Chefs, these gates will close in 30 seconds.
Behind, behind, behind, behind.
The boys are kind of pinning me up against the meat locker,
so I had to duck and roll
and kind of get the rest of my ingredients.
I know I want to make a harissa sauce, so I grab that.
I've got to get onion.
I got to get my garlic and some spices
so the flavors infuse deep into the meat.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
All right, chefs.
It looks like everybody's got a firm plan in mind.
Excellent. I'll see if I can't mess that up.
Let's see what our first item is, shall we?
Look! It's tickets to the big game!
[ Chuckles ] Hey! I wonder where you'll be sitting.
[ Laughs ]
What is this?
What do they expect us to do with this?
[ Chuckles ]
So, you win this auction, you can force both of your opponents
to prep and cook their entire dish on these bleachers.
And to make matters worse,
they'll have to give up everything in their baskets,
except for their chicken wings,
and they'll have to use the ingredients they find up here.
CHEF KEVIN: There's cotton candy crumpled up.
There's a cold hot dog.
These are not Michelin-star bleachers.
$500.
Chef Yaku's in for $500. Do I hear $600?
$2,500.$2,500 to Chef Jenny.
$3,000. $6,000.
$10,000.
Chef Yaku's in for 10 large.
CHEF KEVIN: It gets crazy with the bidding war.
I know I can make a soda reduction.
There's some kettle corn that maybe, if I grind up,
I can make a nice little crust of sorts.
It's doable.
$10,100? $10,100? Chef Jenny says, "Yes."
Going once.$10,200.
At $10,200. Who wants to go $10,300?
$10,300.
Got the $10,300 from Chef Jenny.
Chef Jenny is down to spend whatever she needs
to give this sabotage to us.
I might as well embrace it.
ALTON: Going once. Going twice.
Sold at $10,300 to Chef Jenny.
Come here, ma'am. Bring me some money.
[ Chuckles ]
Spectacular.
[ Laughs ]
Gentlemen, in case you're feeling
a little bit, uh, blitzed
by Chef Jenny there, don't worry.
There's good stuff a-comin'.
Ah. It is a beer helmet.
The ultimate protection from alcohol depravation.
Win this auction, and you can force one chef
to wear this handsome helmet
and do all of their mixing in these attached containers.
Who will give me $500?
Yeah, daddy wants this one.
$500.
Chef Yaku's in for $500.
Do I hear $600?CHEF KEVIN: I'm not gonna bid on this.
What am I gonna mix with?
I see a soda on the ground and I see some ketchup.
Not too much mixing to be had.
Looking for $600. Do I hear $600? Nobody?
CHEF JENNY: I just spent a pretty good chunk of change.
I'm thinking that this is a sabotage I can probably handle.
Going once. Going twice. Sold for $500.
Come on up, Chef Yaku.
Did I not explain this thing correctly, Chef Yaku?
Do they understand that they're gonna have to wear it
and do all their mixing in it while they're wearing it?
They will soon.They will soon.
Take your time.
Decide which one of these fine individuals
is gonna get this.
CHEF KEVIN: So, Chef Yaku gets the helmet.
He's walking around between me and Jenny.
It's got me thinking, "You know what?
This could be harder than I thought it would be."
So now I'm at this fork in the road.
Give Chef Kevin more sabotages and maybe send him home
or to slay the dragon and get Chef Jenny out of here.
[ Whistle blows ]
Chef Jenny is really enjoying the fact
that she put us on the bleachers,
so now it's about get back at this point.
Thank you, baby.
There you go, friend.
I would take a beer helmet any day of the week
versus the bleachers.
The subject is chicken wings.
The time is 30 minutes. It starts now.
CHEF KEVIN: So, Jenny sabotages me and Chef Yaku
with the bleachers.
I have only 30 minutes to salvage ingredients
from any of these items on these bleachers.
Finding some nachos here.
Citrus. This is crazy.
i see a half of a burger.
I pull the bacon off of that.
I see a chow mein salad.
I take the soy sauce and the duck sauce out of that.
So, for the second round in a row,
I'm working without a station.
And it's all thanks to Chef who?
Yeah? Loving it?
Um, I'm gonna use this popcorn,
'cause I think it'll be a great breading.
I'm thinking sweet and sour popcorn chicken.
It sounds good.
So, I start to collect popcorn and caramel corn
and a empty hot-dog bun.
Started to mix that all up
so I can make some kind of breading for my chicken wings.
But then the little kid in me saw some cotton candy and said,
"Hey, let's throw that in, too, and get a little sweet."
Kevin, how you doing over there, bro?
I'm literally winging it.
Starting this cook, have my killer new headgear.
It's different than a tiara, but it works.
Totally love it. Thank you, Chef Yaku.
I am making pressure-cooked wings.
So, right now, I'm chopping up jalapeño.
I've got peppers. I've got smashed garlic.
I have harissa sauce.
I have an ear of corn for a little bit of sweetness.
I just have to wait for that pressure pot to finish up,
and I know exactly which direction I'm gonna go.
ALTON: Chefs, you have 22 minutes.
How you doing over in that grease there?
I'm five minutes out for you to get in.
Five minutes out. Appreciate it, bro.
So, me and Kevin decided that he'll have fryer duty first
while I go ahead
and get the mise en place ready for my sauce.
So, I grab some of the onions and peppers off of the sausage,
add them to my pot, add a little bit of cola,
'cause who don't like cola for the big game?
While Kevin was hogging the fryer,
I was coming up with a nice sauce.
Ooh.
See, you won't find this at those five-star Michelin places
that Kevin's used to, so he's a fish out of water over here.
Coming up, coming up, coming up.
Trying to make a nice dish on these bleachers is hard enough.
Enjoy that long line.
The plan is to make a bacon glaze out of soda and jalapeños,
some soy sauce, some orange sauce from a chow mein packet.
I'm gonna put some orange in here.
And then toss my crispy wings in it and then coat them
with a little bit of caramelized popcorn.
Come on. Give me a prize.
Give me a prize!
But working around this big guy...
I-I'm on standby, huh, Chef?
Chef Yaku is this huge giant.
What else you got over there, Chef Kevin?
And then, to make things worse...
What's up, guys?
Do you want to do the wave? Let's do the wave.
Killing me.
Whoo!Whoo!
Oh, hell.
12 minutes remaining, chefs.
CHEF JENNY: I've dried off my wings.
I'm blindly, hopefully, coating my wings
to get them into the deep fryer.
Come on. Go on there, you little bugger.
So, I'm just gonna whip together a little sauce here.
I'm taking a little bit of chicken stock
and the flavoring from my pressure pot.
And then I add my flour.
I'm gonna make a little bit of a roux.
It's starting out real thick, but I know that I have to add
more of the liquid from the pressure pot.
I've got my sauce, which is screaming hot,
that I'm mixing on the side of my head,
basically burning my ear as it's slopping out the sides.
I don't think I ever want to drink wing sauce
out of a straw again.
Holy...poo-poo.
CHEF YAKU: I'll poke a couple holes in my chicken
to cut the frying time down.
As I start to pull the chicken wings out of the batter,
I notice that they're coated perfectly.
So, I drop them in the grease, and I start moving on
to see what other components I can add to my plate.
You're doing a salad?!
With wings?!
A salad?!
It's taking place of the crudité.
Oh, my gosh. You said "crudité."
I can't believe it.
We're up here in the bleachers,
game-day chicken wings, and you're making cru-ditty.
60 seconds.
Oh, my touchdown dance.
First I spike it, then I give it a moonwalk, right?
Then, after the moonwalk, show them the mike,
then I wave to my mama.
Oh!
That's a Herky for you, baby.
10, 9, 8, 7,
6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
[ Whistle blows ]
I keep forgetting about the whistle.
ALTON: Well, it's game day. Come on.
I know, I know. All right.
Antonia, the challenge -- chicken wings.
You know that I make the best chicken wings in town.
Do you now?Yes, I do.
How do you know that? Somebody told you that.
Many have told me, actually. Have they?
Well, keep in mind, chefs,
that Chef Antonia here has no idea
what you have endured here, and she doesn't care.
Come on, Chef.Okay.
Chef Jenny, tell your tale.
CHEF JENNY: My dish
is a traditional spicy chicken wing
and a harissa dipping sauce.
CHEF LOFASO: Let me start with the chicken wing.
I think that there's a really beautiful spice to them.
They're seasoned really well.
The inside is nice and moist.
But I'm a little confused by the sauce.
It comes off more as a soup.
Okay, thank you, Chef. Let's move on down the line.
CHEF YAKU: Did I not hear we had to make a soup
or did she not hear we had to make a sauce?
Yaku, tell your tale.
Um, so, basically, this is my interpretation
of not missing any part of the game.
I breaded the chicken with garlic bread, popcorn,
and it's also tossed with sweet cola fiery hot sauce,
and hopefully the blue cheese from the salad on the bottom
gives you something to cut the spice with.
CHEF LOFASO: Let me start with the chicken wing.
Really beautiful crispness to the outside,
but I'm not feeling the crispiness in my mouth.
Surprisingly, I like the salad. [ Chuckles ]
Thank you, Chef Yaku. Let's move on down the line.
Chef Kevin, please tell Antonia about your wings.
So, what I did was I have a crispy chicken lollipop
with a bit of a cola bacon glaze.
I really do like the flavors. The chicken's well-cooked.
But the glaze seems to have a very strong flavor of orange.
It's a little overwhelming.
Thank you, Chef Kevin. Antonia, let's step over here.
This was crazy.
People out there watching, they think it's not that hard.
It is hard.All right, Antonia.
I hope you have enjoyed your wings.
Time now for someone to fly away.
[ Chef Lofaso chuckles ]
Um, I have to say all three of you guys
gave me really nice wings.
So, I'm basing this decision
on the overall composition of the dish.
So, for that reason, I need to eliminate Chef...
[ Whistle blows ]
I need to eliminate Chef...
...Jenny.
I'm sorry.
It was really crispy chicken wings and a side of soup.
ALTON: Chef Jenny, ma'am,
that means I'm gonna need that money back in my case.
Sorry to see you go.
CHEF JENNY: I definitely think
I thinned out my sauce a little too much.
Pleasure meeting you.Nice to meet you.
CHEF JENNY: It's really disappointing to make such a silly mistake.
Little sad, but proud of what I've created.
Chefs, congratulations on surviving to this,
the final round of "Cutthroat Kitchen."
One of you is gonna walk out of here with some money.
CHEF YAKU: This is the big game.
Everything else was preseason.
It's what I knew it would be --
me versus Chef Kevin, mano a mano, for all the chips.
Fight to the death. The big showdown.
The rumble in the jungle. The Thrilla in Manila.
This is for all the marbles.
I'm gonna take this little stone-faced guy out.
Now, what to cook?
I'm gonna give you 30 minutes to make brownies.
Don't look too stunned, Chef.
They're square and kind of flattish,
dark brown, chocolaty usually.
I know them, I know them.Okay, good.
'Cause you -- you looked kind of scared there for a second.
I was a chubby kid. I love brownies.
You don't need to think about it,
so your 60-second shopping time begins now!
CHEF KEVIN: I want to take this home.
I figured by making a restaurant-quality dish,
that'd be the key to my success.
I grab sugar, I grab butter, I grab eggs,
I get some tapioca maltodextrin.
30 seconds.
I knew off the bat
Chef Kevin's gonna go with this white-tablecloth,
so I wanted to keep it more basic and simple.
What's the perfect brownie?
Fudgy, gooey, not some cake-like substance.
And honestly, what would you guys want?
4, 3, 2, 1.
And your 30-minute cooking time begins now.
CHEF KEVIN: I get back to my station.
I have 30 minutes to make a brownie.
A brownie takes about 20, 25 minutes to cook, cool,
and cut out, so I need to put it in the oven in five minutes.
Chefs, look what I have here.
This is just a plain, ordinary brown lunch bag.
Win this auction, and you can force your opponent to mix
and cook their brownies in brown paper lunch bags.
No!
ALTON: So, who's gonna give me $500...
[ Pops ]...for the brown bag, him?
If I had to cook in a brown bag, I would fail so hard.
$1,500.
I'd rather see Chef Yaku try it out.
[ High-pitched ] Will you give me $2,100?
CHEF YAKU: $2,100.[ Normal voice ] $2,100.
$2,500.[ High-pitched ] $2,500.
[ Normal voice ] I got $2,500. Do I get $2,600? $2,600?
CHEF YAKU: So, I'm bidding on this item.
I'll go $3,000.
But I didn't necessarily want to win the auction.
I just wanted to make him spend some money.
$8,000.ALTON: $8,000.
Once, twice, sold to Chef Kevin for $8,000.
All your mixing will be done in these bags. I'll bring you more.
How bad could this be?
Oh, and your baking as well.
So after I get my chocolate and my butter in the microwave,
I have the task of mixing eggs, sugar, and salt
with a touch of orange essence in a paper bag.
And off top, there's a problem.
I have egg dripping out of the bag,
so I'm constantly adding paper bags to the bottom of my bag,
because I'm leaking product.
CHEF YAKU: Thank you so much, Chef Kevin.
I really appreciate this.
That's what you get.
To make my brownie, I first melt some butter,
I whip up some eggs and some sugar,
I add my flour and my cocoa powder and my baking powder.
I sift it all, and then I slowly mix it all together.
Then I spread it out on a baking pan, and I put them in the oven.
ALTON: 25 minutes.
Yaku, I'm in the oven with my brownies already, buddy.
Oh, that's cool.
So, Chef Kevin's over there talking smack.
Ha!
The last thing I want to hear from Alton is...
Chefs, you are making brownies.
Brown knees. Get it? See?
"Bag" your pardon? [ Chuckles ]
You win this auction,
and your opponent will be working on their knees
for the remainder of the challenge. No!
[ Laughs ]
Talk about knocking somebody down to size.
$500!All right. Chef Kevin's in for $500.
Do I hear $600? How about you, Chef?
Won't bother you at all, because you can do this on your knees
and still be taller than everybody else.I'll be the same height as him.
I don't even need to bid on this.
I'm gonna keep my cash right where it needs to be.
Fine. Sold to Chef Kevin for $500.
Here you go, sir.
You may have to adjust the, uh, straps a little bit
considering your legs
are three times larger around than mine.
Not that that makes me feel inadequate.
Me having to be on my knees in the kitchen
just brought me down to Chef Kevin's height.
And he's still taller than me.
We were actually able to look eye to eye at this point.
What a sight to be seen.
I can run, too.
My sabotage is totally paying off.
Good luck, big guy.
CHEF YAKU: So, my egg mixture's now into my chocolate.
So, now I got my flour mixed in,
hoping that everything gets smooth.
I peek into the bag.
It's all coming together,
but it's all leaking out at the same time.
So I got to cut down the ends of these bags
and hope for the best when they go into the oven.
Work with me.
ALTON: Gentlemen, you have 15 minutes. 15 minutes remaining.
I got sauces.
I got some, uh, Chantilly going.
I whip up some cream, I toast some peanuts off,
I take some caramels,
and I melt them down to make a caramel sauce.
I make a chocolate sauce.
I'm gonna make a peanut butter soil.
I got a little peanut butter in here.
I got a little tapioca maltodextrin.
See? You're adding too much already, brother.
Okay.I want brownies.
When I eat brownies, I want brownies.
I don't want [mockingly] Chantilly cream
and blah, blah, blah.
So, Chef Kevin's using this method of solidifying a fat
using something called tapioca maltodextrin,
which literally allows you to turn a fat --
in this case, peanut butter -- into powder.
CHEF YAKU: So, now I decided to make a little caramel,
so I whisk together, in my brown paper bag,
some brown sugar and melted butter,
and I'm thinking mint is gonna add a great flavor
but also give a little bit more texture
to the richness of the brownies.
ALTON: Two minutes.
I take my brownie out. I'm worried.
It's looking more like a chocolate cake than a brownie.
But I need to go with this.
I put a little chocolate sauce on the plate.
I take my brownie, I put a little powdered sugar on it.
I make a quenelle of Chantilly cream.
I put a little peanut butter dust on it.
My dish is coming together. It looks like a piece of art.
I'm gonna go.
So, I get these beautiful ramekins,
and I'm filling it with my spoonful of caramel
and a little bit of the chiffonade mint.
I'm pulling the brownies out.
It tastes absolutely wonderful.
It has an orange essence to it. It's brownie fudge.
In this showdown, my brownie got to win.
It's the all-American brownie.
ALTON: 4, 3, 2, 1.
[ Whistle blows ]
CHEF KEVIN: My dish is a touchdown.
I'm going the whole... 10 yards...into the end zone.
[ Whistle blows ]
At the end of a long day,
I always like you to have a little dessert.
Yay.
So, um...brownies.
Okay. You know,
there's a lot of different opinions on brownies.
Some people like them a little fudgier,
someone likes it a little cakier.
I just like them. [ Chuckles ]
Chefs, please bring your brownies forward.
Place them here and here
and then back away to a safe distance,
'cause she likes room to work.
So, I knew off bat Chef Kevin's gonna go with this
"I'm gonna use a paint brush and Chantilly cream."
But this is gonna come down to flavor,
and I know I got the flavor.
Chef Kevin, please tell Antonia about your brownies.
CHEF KEVIN: Today, I made brownies
with a little Chantilly with vanilla
and a peanut butter soil.
Chef, I have to say, I love the layering of flavor here.
The chocolate is nice and pronounced.
There is a really beautiful sense of peanut.
The thing I have to ding you on
is that it is a brownie challenge,
and this is definitely a little bit more like a cake
than it is a brownie.
You don't eat a brownie like that out of this big plate
with salted caramel and all this other stuff.
I want a fudgy brownie. He puts out a piece of cake.
Chef Yaku, please tell Antonia about your brownie.
CHEF YAKU: What I have for you is chocolate brownie fudge
with orange essence also served with a raw caramel sauce
and chiffonade of mint.
I love the flavors here.
The orange and the chocolate and the caramel --
They all work really well together.
The batter itself, though, is just a little undercooked.
But I do love the flavors of the caramel
and the chocolate and the orange.
CHEF KEVIN: I'm not worried.
How can I lose to this cup of batter?
Antonia, you've had your dessert.
You must decide which one of these chefs
is gonna march out of here with a big ol' stack of cash,
'cause they both have quite a bit.
I want this money.
I'm trying to open up a restaurant,
and I just want to represent fine-dining chefs.
This is the moment right here -- underdog, one by one,
knocks off these great chefs and stands victorious at the end.
Like, honestly, who would you guys rather see
do a victory dance -- me or Chef Kevin?
Well, chefs, you guys both gave me
very delicious brownies,
and today, I am basing this decision
on just the brownie
that I'd want to go back and eat again.
So the win today goes to Chef...
...Kevin.
Congratulations.Yes!
It was just a beautiful plate.Thank you.
I tried the Hail Mary pass to win it all,
and I just couldn't connect with it.
I just won "Cutthroat Kitchen!" Yes!
Trying to make fine-dining food in "Cutthroat Kitchen"
was a little hard,
but I think the fine-dining chefs put their hours in
and they have the chops,
and I did this today for the Michelin stars.
Whoo!
ALTON: Hungry for more "Cutthroat Kitchen"? Go to...