It's an all-out waffle war
tonight on "Cutthroat Kitchen."
Syrup will be spilled.
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
in the smallest cast-iron skillet I could find.
Oh, sh--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."
I'm Chef Irie from Jamaica,
so I'm an island boy from the Caribbean.
Being a Caribbean chef, it's all about love.
The love -- That is what makes our food sing.
I'm Chef Cindy from Marlborough, Connecticut.
I am a home chef and cookbook author.
I am coming to "Cutthroat Kitchen" today
after leaving corporate America for 20 years
and now becoming a cookbook author.
I want to prove that I made the right choice.
Where are you from?
I'm from Jamaica.
So you like to be a little spicy?
I am spicy.
Oh, we'll see.Yeah.
I'm Chef David from Austin, Texas.
I'm here to make my grandmother proud.
My grandmother's my inspiration.
For me to win a show like this
and for her to be able to show off to her friends, that's it.
There's nothing better in life.
I'm Chef Dean from Atlantic City, New Jersey.
I've won some really difficult competitions.
This should be a no-brainer.
I can't wait to kick everybody's butt.
Yeah, I've won a couple big competitions.
People I've won against were, quite frankly,
much better than you, probably,
so this gonna be a walk in the park.
It's gonna be a walk in the park.That's good.
Was that your best shot?I'm saving that for when I cook.
Oh, geez.
Hi, chefs.
Hey! How you doing?
Welcome to the culinary fun house
that I call "Cutthroat Kitchen."
Thank you.
Oh, you won't be thanking me.
[ Laughs ]
You're about to take part in a culinary competition
composed of three rounds.
At the end of each round, one of you will be eliminated.
Sorry. That's just the way the game is played.
At the beginning of each round,
I will announce a dish that you will prepare.
You will then have 60 nice long seconds
to shop for every ingredient you might need for said dish
in the "Cutthroat Kitchen" pantry.
After that, we're going to have ourselves a little auction.
If you're gonna be in an auction, you're gonna need some money.
I happen to have here $100,000 cold hard cash.
Each of you will receive 25,000 of said dollars,
yours to use as you wish in the auctions.
But, please, listen. Keep this in mind, chefs.
At the end of the day,
one of you will walk out of here victorious,
but you will only walk out
with the money you have remaining.
Chefs, take your money. Two bundles equals $25,000.
Chef Irie, two bundles, if you will, sir.
[ Grunts ]
CHEF IRIE: I never seen $25,000 before.
Not that close, anyway.
It was just screaming, "Jump into my pocket!"
And, Chef Dean, the final two are yours.
Come to daddy.
Feel it, caress it, smell it.
Heck, you can taste it if you want.
But don't get too used to having it.
Before the end of the day,
most of that money will be returning to this case.
Now, let's get down to business, shall we?
I'm gonna give you 30 minutes to make me a delicious, tasty...
waffle breakfast.
Awesome.
Elementary stuff.
You've done it thousands of times, I'm sure.
You don't need to think about it.
So let's get down to the shopping.
Your 60 seconds begins now.
CHEF DEAN: I really wanted to make it a real Mexican-style breakfast,
so I wanted to get some chorizo.
I got some serrano chili, some eggs.
Where are eggs? Where are eggs?
Cumin, some smoked paprika.
These gates will close abruptly and without mercy
in exactly 30 seconds.
Sorry.
CHEF DAVID: I'm grabbing flour, sugar, eggs.
Come on, come on, come on.
It's just wild.
Uhh!
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
So let's see if we can't shake things up a little bit
with our auction.
Here we go.
Ah. What do we have here?
Well, actually, what we have here is bad news.
See, there's only one waffle maker in the kitchen -- one.
The good news is, is I have provided some replacements.
We've got an ice-cube tray, a meat tenderizer,
and a waffle-fry cutter.
Win this auction, and you can assign one of these options
to each of your opponents
as their only device to cook their waffles with.
Let's go $5,000.
$5,000. Do I hear $5,100?
$5,100.
I have no idea how I would make a waffle
in any one of those items.
I need to win this.
Do I hear $5,200? These guys are out.
If I get them, I can work with it.
$6,100.
I have $6,100. Do I hear $6,200?
$6,200.Do I hear $6,300?
$6,700.$7,300.
How about $7,400?$7,400.
$7,500? Looking for $7,500.
$7,500.$8,000.
Let her have it.
I don't see her as a threat. Give her the waffle iron.
$8,100? Going once. Going twice.
Sold to Chef Cindy for $8,000.
Ma'am, bring me my money.
Right here.
Make her spend her money.
Now I'm gonna make your change.
Take this tray and slowly, thoughtfully deliver the doom.
Girl, you know you like me. You know you like me.
Don't give me that waffle-fry cutter.
I know you can do this.
CHEF CINDY: I give Dean the waffle-fry cutter.
He's my biggest competition today.
So, so nice.
I give Chef David the meat mallet
'cause I don't even think he knows what a meat mallet is.
For you.Thank you.
I get this ice-cube tray, but this is cool.
All right. We can roll with this.
Good choice, Chef. Good choice.
Let's see what our second item is.
Oh, wonderful and delicious waffle cones.
You know, these are really perfect
for holding scoops of ice cream
but not so perfect to use as culinary vessels.
Win this auction, and you can force one opponent
to do all of their mixing in these waffle cones.
The cone may crumble [Gasps] and so might the competitor.
Oh, don't worry.
There are plenty more where these came from.
CHEF DAVID: I've already got this mallet.
I'm not gonna take these cones too.
$5,000.
ALTON: $5,000 from Chef David.
$5,500.Do I hear $5,600?
$6,400.
CHEF CINDY: I am not bidding on this.
It's a sabotage that I believe I can handle.
$6,700.ALTON: $6,700.
And now the high bid goes back to Chef Irie.
Who will give me the big 7-0? $7,000?
Chef David's in for $7,000.
$7,200!
$7,200, current high bid. $7,300?
I got a $7,300 bid from Chef David.Oh, my God.
CHEF DEAN: There is no way this sabotage is coming my way.
Give it to Cindy, even the playing field.
Going twice. Sold to Chef David for $7,300.
Bring me some money.Let's do this.
There you go. I will make the change.
Go ahead and take that and very slowly and deliberately
think through your decision.
CHEF DAVID: This is totally gonna ruin somebody's day.
This is gonna be great.
You did give me that little...
I did....meat tenderizer.
But it's going over here instead.
No!
This is for you, señor.No! No! No!
Chef Dean got the little waffle-fry cutter.
I'm giving him these waffle cones
to really just screw him over.
You have half an hour to make a magnificent waffle breakfast.
That 30 minutes begins, let's say, now.
All right, all right, all right.
Hey, guys, I get the waffle maker.
CHEF DAVID: Oh, that's cute.
That better be the best damn waffle you ever put out.
CHEF CINDY: I am loving the fact
that I am running through Cutthroat Kitchen
with the only waffle iron.
I make waffles every Sunday,
and I have a special Italian recipe that I use.
For my waffle batter, I add my flour, my eggs,
my ricotta cheese, my herbs, some salt.
Next, I chop up my pancetta, and I get that cooking
'cause I need to get that nice and crispy
to put into the batter.
I am going to make the perfect waffle.
What's going on down there, baby?
Everything irie. Everything irie.
Everything irie? Yes, sir.
So I got this ice-cube tray, and I'm just gonna rock it out.
Chef Cindy took away my waffle iron
and gave me this metal ice-cube tray,
so I'm thinking I'm gonna make a savory chicken and waffle.
So the batter --
flour, a little baking powder, a little baking soda.
Grab my eggs and then grab my milk, pour that in.
I'm not really thinking conventional.
So I add a little black pepper to make a savory waffle.
Then I start to make fried chicken.
So I save some of the flour,
and I'm gonna roll the chicken cutlets in it,
and I'm gonna fry those up.
I've got the little screw-over that Chef Cindy gave me.
I got this damn mallet, and I got to adapt.
Throw it on my range.
Crank up the heat.
Hopefully it heats up in time.
Okay, got to get this batter made.
Sugar, milk, eggs, baking powder, flour,
and a little bit of salt, and hope for the best.
So you got a waffle-fry cutter and you've got waffle cones.
So you're pretty much doomed.
Yeah, I'm in big trouble.Okay.
To make my waffle batter, I broke my egg in the waffle,
whisked that together,
and realized the waffle cone doesn't hold much of anything.
So I put a little tiny bit of everything.
And as I'm making it, it's absorbing into the waffle cone.
What else is possibly gonna go wrong at this point?
Hey, chefs, who's ready to mix things up a little bit?
Let's do it.
Win this auction item
and you can force two of your opponents
to immediately stop what they're doing, switch stations,
and complete that dish as their own.
And here's the cool thing -- Sabotages stay with the station,
which means that if you want to swap yourself out of
your current predicament, it's perfectly fine by me.
That's my chance to really make things better for myself.
Switch out two people. This is crazy.
CHEF DAVID: "Oh, hey, guys, by the way --
You're about to be screwed over again."
Whoo!
Win this auction item
and you can force two of your opponents
to immediately stop what they're doing,
switch stations, and complete that dish as their own.
And here's the cool thing -- Sabotages stay with the station.
Who's gonna give me $500?$3,000.
$3,000 -- current high bid. Looking for $3,100.
$3,600.Now the high bid is Chef David.
$3,700.And the high bid goes back to Chef Dean,
who wants it bad.
CHEF DEAN: I feel like this is my chance
to get out of the predicament that I'm in.
Looking for $3,800.Let's go.
$3,800. Who's gonna go?
$3,800.$4,100.
CHEF CINDY: I already paid for the waffle iron.
I didn't want to pay for the swap.
Why would I want to pay for something twice?
$4,200.ALTON: I have $4,200 bid.
$5,000.$5,000 to Chef Dean.
$6,100.
I want to stick with my fried chicken.
I don't want to move.
$7,100.$7,100 to Chef David.
$8,000.$8,000, Chef Irie.
Who wants to go 8-1? Looking for $8,100.
As I'm bidding, I realize that there's a possibility
that somebody else is gonna switch my stuff
with someone else's.
So I decided to give up.
ALTON: Looking for $8,900.$8,900.
$9,000.$8,900.
Then $9,000 to Chef Irie.
I have a current high bid. I'm going once at $9,000.
I stopped bidding because it was just going too high.
Going twice at $9,000.
I can't blow it all in this first round.
Sold to Chef Irie for $9,000. Who switches, sir?
CHEF IRIE: Yes!
So I'm thinking, "Switch Cindy
'cause she's just having it too easy right now."
Chef Cindy,
um, and, uh, Chef David.
Right now, switch.
Remember, the sabotages stay with the station.
You must complete that dish as your own.
Hey, thank you, Chef Irie.
That was probably the perfect thing to do.
Free waffle iron. I am all about it.
Chef Cindy's got some, like, rustic potatoes going.
I do really like this ricotta mixture you have here for me.
She's already got her little batter mixed up.
Had a little bit of blueberry.
I spun that down with a little immersion blender.
Now we have a nice blueberry maple syrup
to go down on the bottom of the plate.
Got the first round in the bag.
Chef Cindy, how you liking everything I got you over there?
I'm not liking it so much.
I get to Chef David's station. He has a batter.
I have no idea what he put in the batter.
I am hoping and praying that his batter is decent.
Then he had bacon. I get that sautéing.
Now I am in deep trouble.
How am I going to use a meat tenderizer to make a waffle?
Really?
I'm [Laughs] not prepared for this.
I oil the tenderizer, and I add his batter on top of it.
This challenge went from "waffle" to "awful" really fast.
Mr. Dean, are you feeling comfortable over there?
No, I'm not one bit. This is terrible.
So I'm in a bad situation here.
The waffle -- I can't get it to be a waffle.
It's burning.
I'm trying to blow-torch the top to kind of get it just to cook.
I know at this point I'm not gonna get
a crispy, delicious, light waffle.
I know that for a fact.
So I'm gonna try to make up for that with my chorizo scramble.
So I dice up some chorizo. I brown it up nice.
Some serrano chili for some heat.
All mixed in with a scrambled egg.
It's gonna be delicious.
ALTON: Five minutes.
I heard.
So I get the ice-cube tray.
I pour the batter in, and I just fling it in the oven.
For whatever reason, I'm thinking I need a fried egg.
And so now I'm frying my eggs.
Right now I'm not thinking logically.
Agh!
I'm just thinking, "It's there. Use it."
Fruit compote --
strawberries, raspberries, a little butter,
and just let it simmer on the stove.
ALTON: Chefs, you now have 60 seconds.
Mr. Dean, what's going on with your waffle situation there?
Hey, don't talk to me, man.
Don't talk to you? Oh!
Me and you aren't buddies right now.
CHEF DEAN: My waffles are small,
so I'm gonna put a little bit of everything else on there
so the waffles don't seem so small.
Then I decide I'm gonna make, like, a little pile
of my chorizo scramble.
And then I do a little fan of some apple for garnish,
and I do the syrup drizzled around.
A little bit of crema on top of that.
Those little waffles are karma right there.
My waffle is looking crispy on one side
and not so crispy in the inside.
But it looks like a waffle cup.
So I put my poached egg on the waffle
and add the arugula onto the eggs
and then sprinkle the bacon.
I have a really nice plate,
so I'm hoping that gets me through this round.
Oh, my God.
So I start putting the plate together.
I put the chicken on. I put the egg on.
Then I start to pop
these squares out of the ice-cube tray.
That's what I got, and that's what I'm going with.
We got waffle cubes.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Time is up. The challenge is over.
Back away from the board.
Hi, Antonia.Hi, Alton.
How are you?Good. How are you?
Chefs, listen up. This is your judge for the day.
You may know her from one of her L.A. eateries,
such as Scopa Italian Roots in Venice Beach.
Yes.
So, Antonia, first challenge --
waffle breakfast.
Okay, well, I believe that waffles are great
any time of day, but breakfast especially.
Most important meal of the day.Yes.
Keep in mind, Antonia's been locked away
in a soundproof chamber.
She doesn't know anything about the sabotages
you may or may not have endured, and she does not care.
In fact, she only cares about three things.
Tell them.
First and foremost, taste.
Second would be presentation.
And third, does it remind me of a waffle breakfast?
Well, let's find out if these do.
Come on.
Antonia, please say hello to Chef Irie.
Hi, Chef. How are you?
Chef, good to meet you.
Tell Antonia here about your take
on the waffle breakfast.
So I have savory chicken and waffles
with a nice fried egg,
and we have a little fruit compote on the side.
I love the idea that you have here.
One of my favorite breakfast meals are chicken and waffles.
The chicken -- There's a nice softness to it.
It's really seasoned well.
But I don't think this is a waffle.
It's definitely more of a biscuit.
But I do actually like the idea
of using a little black pepper in the waffle,
giving that kind of savory aspect.
Thank you, Chef.Thank you.
Antonia, let's move on down the line.
Chef David, please tell Antonia about your waffle breakfast.
CHEF DAVID: I've got a nice Italian ricotta waffle
with some blueberry-infused maple syrup,
a little crisp pancetta, a little egg yolk,
and some nice country potatoes.
I really love all the flavors
that you have going on in the dish.
I love how the egg yolk just broke perfectly over the waffle.
I love that the waffle has a little bit
of salt and fresh herbs.
It's all the beautiful elements of a breakfast.
Cool. Thanks.
Thank you, Chef.
CHEF CINDY: He's taking all the credit
for this waffle.
I wanted to scratch his eyes out.
That's my waffle!
Chef Cindy, tell your tale.
CHEF CINDY: So I made mini waffle cups and a poached egg.
And then to give it some green,
some arugula with some crispy bacon.
The eggs and bacon are delicious.
A little bit of the herb in the syrup,
so that kind of makes me happy.
But I'm judging this on waffle,
and the waffle is just very flat and very spongy
and not very good.
Thank you, Chef. Let's move on down the line, shall we?
I felt absolutely no guilt at all.
This is "Cutthroat Kitchen."
Chef Dean, please explain your food to Chef Antonia.
CHEF DEAN: I shall.
Today I made a Mexican-style waffle breakfast
with a spicy chorizo scrambled egg.
I'm gonna mix everything together.
It tastes delicious.
I love the use of the chorizo, the apple.
There's something spicy and something sweet.
Definitely not resembling a waffle,
but I guess there are some fragments
of waffle pieces in there.
But, honestly, I think all the other elements are delicious.
Thank you, Chef.Thank you.
Antonia, come with me.
Against, all odds, she actually likes my dish.
There might be a little bit of hope for me
to not go home at this point.
Antonia, I know that you are familiar with my dilemma.
I can only take three
of these fine individuals into the next round,
so you have to decide whose waffle
did not quite make the grade.
CHEF LOFASO: Yes.
So, Alton, two chiefs just had a couple of elements missing.
I need to stay. I have so much more to prove.
I can't go home right now.
I need to eliminate... Chef...
Antonia, I know that you are familiar with my dilemma.
I can only take three of these fine individuals into the next round,
so you have to decide whose waffle
did not quite make the grade.
In the end, I need to eliminate...
Chef Cindy.
I'm sorry. The waffle was a complete miss.
Oh, Chef Cindy, sorry to see you go, ma'am,
but I'm afraid I'm gonna need that money back in this case.
Thank you.Thank you.
I just got eliminated,
and I know it's because I had to switch with Chef David.
And he got the credit,
and he got to the next round because of my batter.
As far as I'm concerned,
my waffle made it to the next round.
Congratulations on surviving to this,
the second round of "Cutthroat Kitchen."
For you, the competition continues immediately.
For this round, I'm gonna give you
45 nice long, juicy minutes to prepare
a perfect empanada.
This, of course, is a Latin hand pie
stuffed with a savory filling.
Don't look like you've never heard of it before.
All right, here we go, gentlemen.
You've got 60 seconds to shop, and that time begins now.
An empanada is a savory turnover or pastry
that's filled, usually, with meat and cheese or vegetables.
It's either fried or baked.
Chefs, you have 30 seconds.
My empanada is gonna have
some onions, some peppers, some shallots, some chorizo.
And then I'm gonna make curried sauce,
and I'm gonna put a little bit of Caribbean flair
into this dish.
8, 7, 6,
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Let us see what we have in store, shall we?
Ah, it's my infamous "Cutthroat Kitchen" sabotage notebook.
Yeah. You know what?
I think I'm gonna bring back a "Cutthroat" classic
that just keeps people crying no matter what.
It's this little item right here,
and I think you'll understand its significance in a moment.
Bring it on in, boys. This is a good one.
Oh, my God.
Thank you, gentlemen, very, very much.
It is my stuffed station.
Win this auction, and you can force both of your opponents
to prep and cook the entire challenge
stuffed into this little kitchen.
Stuffed, like an empanada. Get it?
$5,000.
ALTON: Chef David just jumps to 5 large.
I don't want to be dancing with no big dude.
$6,800.$6,800.
What's that?$6,800.
$6,800.
Let's go 10 grand.ALTON: 10 grand.
Chef David's not messing around. $10,000 is current high bid.
No matter what -- you could tie one hand behind my leg,
I could hop the whole time, whatever --
I'm gonna make a great empanada no matter what.
$10,100.ALTON: $10,100.
$10,200.
ALTON: $10,200.
Money doesn't matter at this point.
I'm not going into that little cage.
$10,200 is the current high bid.
Going once at $10,200. Going twice.
I stopped bidding 'cause I figure if I get this challenge,
I can make it work.
Sold for $10,200 to Chef David.
Bring me my money, sir.Yes, sir.
What?
Me and you in that thing?
We're gonna be bosom buddies.
I'll make your change here.
Oh, gentlemen, could you come in
and help out Chef Irie and Chef Dean
with their new station.
[ Chuckles ]
Killing two birds with one stone.
That's awesome.
Gentlemen, I have one more item up for bid.
Let's have a look.
One last item.
Why, look, it's a giant jar of stuffed olives.
I was up all night
stuffing these olives with various ingredients.
Look, we've got all kinds of stuff in here.
There's chicken. There's ground meat.
I see some pie dough
that I've actually shoved into some of these.
Some red peppers.
There's herbs, spices, all kinds of things in here.
Win this auction item,
and you can force one opponent to give up their entire basket
and use whatever they can find stuffed inside my olives.
CHEF DEAN: You know what?
If I have to, like, go through
and pull all the ingredients out of these olives,
it's just gonna make me crazy,
and there's no way I can feel like
I'm gonna do a good job with that.
Evil. That's just evil.
CHEF IRIE: All caution goes out the window.
Whatever it is, I'm bidding.
I have to.
Win this auction item,
and you can force one opponent to give up their entire basket
and use whatever they can find stuffed inside my olives.
$7,000.$7,000.
I will go $8,000.
$8,000 -- current high bid.$8,100.
$10,000.$10,000.
$10,100.How about $10,200, Chef Irie?
I don't know. Maybe I don't have to win this.
Going once at $10,100. Going twice.
Sold at $10,100.
Bring me a bunch of money.
What in the hell was I thinking?
Whoever you give this to will have to harvest
everything they cook with for this entire challenge
from this jar.
Go on your way.
Well, well, well, huh?
Chef David -- I don't feel very confident
in his ability to make a great empanada.
So Chef Irie is going to get the jar of olives.
Money well spent, I think.
There you go.
[ Groans ]
There it is.
Oh, I think that's gonna make things
just a little bit more interesting.
It was really too simple, wasn't it?
Empanadas, 45 minutes.
Make it good, make it fast, make it now.
CHEF DEAN: So despite the fact that I'm crammed
in this tiny little kitchen with another grown man by Chef David,
I still am following my plan.
I'm gonna do my crust.
I take flour and salt, oil, and then ice water, that's it.
I'm not sure I'm gonna work like this.
I should have lost weight before I came.
Yeah, you should have, man. You should have.
My one and only plan --
Get olives, just start cutting them open.
I got a little pepper.
I think I found a little meat -- whatever that meat is.
What the hell is this?
These are teeny-weeny, man.
And I got big hands, and it's cumbersome, so it was crazy.
How am I gonna get this done?
Eh!
So Chef Irie may be irate
about being stuck with those stuffed olives.
But the truth is, is we made sure
there was everything in those olives
to actually successfully make an empanada.
Just got to have the patience to harvest it.
He's got to have fast fingers.
This just blows.
Wow, that's a beautiful sight over there, gents.
I am free right now. This is great.
You see this wonderful vast amount of space
that I have over here?
Step 1 is to get the pie dough made.
Little bit of ice water, some A.P. flour, and some lard.
Then I got to make my filling.
It's gonna be ground beef, dried chili,
a little bit of sweated-down kale,
and then some charred kale stems.
Chef Irie, he's trying to unstuff olives.
Wow. This is insane.
Chef Dean's battling for cutting-board space.
I'm a little claustrophobic, but I'm gonna work through it.
They just look like sardines in a crushed tin box.
ALTON: 30 minutes. 30 minutes remaining, gentlemen.
CHEF DEAN: You know, obviously, with limited space,
you have to kind of make do and kind of improvise a little bit,
'cause I haven't cut anything yet.
Can I get over there soon?Oh, my God.
How much time you need over there?
He had to do a little chopping. I had to do a little cooking.
So I actually had some sausage that was raw,
and I cooked it down with some crema
and some Monterey Jack cheese and some chipotle puree.
Bring it all together.
I rendered off, dumped the fat off,
added the seasonings and all of that,
and it actually tastes really, really good.
Chef Irie, how you feeling with your product over there?
I'm feeling swell, buddy.
Are you?What do you think?
I don't think I believe you.
The filling is really simple.
Why simple?
'Cause I can only use what I have --
olives, pimentón,
and whatever meat source I found in the olives.
Are you ready?I think so.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
I finally make it over to the cook top.
I started to sauté. I just put everything in there.
And I just season it up as best I could.
This is the most tiny,
ridiculous kitchen I've ever been in.
ALTON: Chefs, you've got 19 minutes.
19 minutes remaining.
So as I'm putting together these empanadas,
the dough is just -- It's cracking in certain places.
And once I get those empanadas in the fryer,
they quite literally just start deteriorating before my eyes.
And I think, okay, now it's time to deconstruct this thing,
roll all the remaining dough out,
and get it into a sauté pan,
get a somewhat golden crust going.
And this was my absolute last resort.
You enjoying your time over there together?
Oh, yeah, it's great.
You're gonna need to shut up.
CHEF DEAN: I cut my dough out.
I put the filling inside, and I crimp the edges.
Now I get my empanadas to the cooking area.
Ehh, go.
Squeeze me, baby. Squeeze me.
CHEF DEAN: I drop them in the fryer.
I'm gonna do a little sauce.
I roasted up the corn in the pan.
in a little bit of oil.
I tossed it with some mayonnaise with avocado.
It's gonna be great.
All right. Go ahead.
Okay.Five minutes, chefs.
You have five minutes to get it on the plate,
sauced, garnished, ready to go.
CHEF IRIE: Time's running, and I'm looking at a dough.
This is all the dough I have,
and I'm gonna make it work for me.
I started to spoon the filling in the empanada.
Start to form it over and then try to form it
into an empanada style.
Go, go, go, go.
I fry the empanadas up.
No muss, no fuss.
ALTON: 6, 5, 4,
3, 2, 1.
Put it down. Back away from the board.
Thank you very much. Challenge is over.
Antonia, nice to see you again.Alton.
So, empanadas.
I actually recently just made about 300 of them
for a premiere party.
Were they delicious?
They were delicious,
but I have to say it is very easy to make them not delicious.
Well, hopefully, they'll all be delicious here.
Let's go try.Okay.
Antonia, you remember Chef Irie. Chef, tell your tale.
CHEF IRIE: Here we have tapas empanada with olive emulsion
Is there a protein in there?There's some protein.
There's a little bacon,
and I think there's some, probably, chicken.
He said, "I think."
"I think there may be some protein in there."
I just grab. I just don't remember what I was making.
Are you laughing at him, Chef Dean?No. No.
There's a kind of really nice buttery flakiness to it,
but it's not really filled.
That's what I love about the empanada.
You bite into it, and it's the surprise of a filling.
Exactly.
I think the olives are really nice.
I think, actually, this would have been most successful
had you taken the olives and the proteins
and actually just stuffed it in there
and made, like, a traditional empanada that way.
But the flavors are really nice,
and I do like the texture of the outside of the dough.
Appreciate it.
Thank you, Chef.Thanks.
CHEF DAVID: Irie's dish is comical.
I'm feeling actually like I might go to the next round.
Antonia, Chef Dean, you remember.
I remember.Tell your tale.
So this is a straightforward sausage-and-cheese empanada.
On top is like an elote roasted corn with mayonnaise,
lime juice, of course, and a little crushed avocado.
My favorite part about this dish is the filling.
I think it has a really nice flavor.
I think it's really nicely seasoned.
I love the creaminess of the cheese.
My biggest complaint is going to be the actual dough.
It's just not cooked all the way.
It's a little thick.
Thank you.Thank you very much, Chef. Let's move on down the line.
CHEF DEAN: I was stuck in this little tiny kitchen.
I make great empanadas. I make no excuses for them.
Chef David, what you got going on?
CHEF DAVID: It's a little deconstructed beef empanada
with a little bit of plantain and some charred tomatillo.
A little bit of kale and some charred kale stems,
along with a little chipotle and cilantro puree
down on the bottom.
I think there's a nice kind of mixture
of what would have been the filling.
The smoky flavor of the chipotle is really, really nice.
The ground beef is nice.
There's kind of a nice little caramelization and crisp to it.
A lot of really good flavor.
The crust is a failure.
I don't know if there's any fat in it.
It's really just kind of crumbling,
like it's almost just flour and water.
Thank you, Chef. Thanks.
Thank you very much, Chef. Antonia, walk this way.
The challenge was to make an empanada.
He didn't make an empanada. Pbbt!
Antonia, one of these chefs has got to move on down the line.
I've only got room for two in the final.
Who's it gonna be?
The chef I'm going to eliminate is...
Chef...
Irie.
I'm sorry.
The filling was just really uninspired.
ALTON: Chef Irie, sorry, sir.
That means I'm gonna need that bundle of cash
back in this case.
CHEF IRIE: Appreciate it. It was a pleasure meeting you guys.
You worked hard for the money.
Thank you, sir. Pleasure meeting you.
I will leave here with a smile and I'm not gonna cry
because I put something on the plate, and that's damn good.
Gentlemen, congratulations on surviving to this,
the final round of "Cutthroat Kitchen."
Me and Chef David -- mano y mano.
I knew it was gonna happen. Let's dance, baby, me and you.
CHEF DAVID: The only person that can defeat me now is me.
I just got to make sure that that doesn't happen.
I got to take this home.
ALTON: So for this final round,
I'm gonna give you 30 minutes
to make lemon meringue pie.
CHEF DEAN: Yeah! I love doing pastries.
As soon as he announced the lemon meringue pie,
I got the win.
I'm sure you've made it thousands of times.
The recipe's already clear in your head,
so let's get to business.
Your 60-second shopping time begins...now.
CHEF DEAN: There's certain things I have to get.
Lemons. I have butter.
I picked up some dairy just in case.
I'm getting pie crust.
Everything I need to make a delicious,
supergood lemon meringue pie.
ALTON: You have 30 seconds remaining.
30 seconds.
I don't want to do anything too traditional.
That's not who I am. I want to deconstruct it.
Grabbing lemons, eggs, sugar, pie dough.
I'm thinking I can make this all work.
ALTON: 6, 5, 4,
3, 2, 1.
And your cooking time begins now.
CHEF DEAN: So instead of making the pie,
I felt like the best strategy for me was to have
maybe an updated version of the lemon meringue pie.
So, for me, I'm gonna cut the dough smaller.
I want to have differing textures.
So I put one half in the fryer and one half in the oven.
I can just set it and forget it, you know?
You get a plan yet over there?
Oh, yeah.
I think I'm gonna do a little lemon sorbet.
I'm gonna do a more progressive spin on lemon meringue pie.
I got to get the pie crust working,
so I'm gonna toss that in the oven.
So instead of a lemon curd, I'm gonna do a lemon sorbet.
So I've got water and sugar
and a little bit of lemon juice in the pot.
Just making sure that that sugar dissolves.
And then I'm gonna get that over into the ice-cream maker.
Chefs, although you know I try to watch my figure,
I also really love dessert.
So let me show you my latest invention --
my weighted workout whisk.
Win this auction, your opponent will have to do
all of their whisking with this.
Oh, my God.
The perfect lemon meringue pie has to be fluffy.
You have to add air to those egg whites.
You can't do that whisking slow. That's not the way it works.
Who wants to give me $500?
Let's go! $1,500.$1,500.
How much does that thing weigh?
I'm not gonna tell you.$2,200.
$2,200. How about $2,300?
Let's go $2,300.
I can handle this.
Let's just jack up that price so he wastes all his money.
$3,000.ALTON: $3,000 even. How about $3,100?
$3,100.Looking for $3,200.
$3,200.The high bid goes back to Chef Dean at $3,200.
Yeah, let him have it.
Sold to Chef Dean for $3,200.
I'll let you give it to him.
All right.Thank you.
All whisking must be done with that.
Wow. That is gonna be a workout.
Well, you know, I'msweating. Why shouldn't you be?
Hey, whatever. Still not gonna change anything.
In order to make a meringue,
you have to beat egg whites really, really fast.
I've got my giant dumbbell-whisk contraption
and just beating these eggs.
I am just pushing as hard as I can.
[ Grunting ]
How is that going?
I needed to get a little workout this morning anyway.
Chef David is making these crazy noises.
He sounded like Monica Seles when she played tennis.
[ Grunting ] Come on!
It was awful and disturbing.
I thought I was watching some sort of, like,
X-rated movie at that point.
[ Grunts ]
ALTON: Chefs, you have 15 minutes.
So I make my lemon curd filling.
It's, you know, fairly classic.
It's water, sugar, cornstarch all whisked together.
It makes like a thick gel.
And then fresh lemon juice and butter,
a little pinch of salt, and I chill it.
For my meringue toping, I add egg whites.
I put a little bit of cream of tartar in the eggs,
which helps them fluff and maintain their texture.
I whisked those together really nicely, and it was done.
Chefs! Can I have your attention, please?
You know, you want the meringue
the exact right stiffness of peaks.
Peaks are very important.
And what better way can you conquer peaks
than when you're wearing quality ski boots.
[ Groans ]
Win this auction,
and you can force your opponent to wear these boots
for the remainder of the challenge.
Oh, my God! These things are awesome.
I'm totally gonna win these
and strap these onto big boy Mr. Dean over here.
Let's go a grand on that, Alton.
I got a grand on that because you don't want to
have to wear those and do that, do you?
$1,000 bid for the ski boots. $1,100 for the ski boots?
It doesn't matter what he's gonna do to me at this point.
I'm going to be able to put together a pie.
No? Fine. Sold to Chef David for $1,000.
Chef Dean, come on over here.
Have a seat and strap these bad boys on.
This is gonna be fun.
Yeah, it's gonna be fun watching you.
Ever put on ski boots?No.
Then it's gonna take even longer than you would think.
CHEF DEAN: I have no idea how a ski boot works.
So there's, you know, 25 clasps and belts
and Velcro things all over it,
and it's like you can't move your ankle.
It's like you're just kind of stuck there.
You can't make any movement.
So here I am. I'm clumping around the kitchen.
Jesus [bleep]
How you liking those boots, Mr. Dean?
Oh, you know what?
It's all part of the "Cutthroat Kitchen" workout program.
Yeah, I know all about that workout program.
I'm doing it right now with you.
[ Grunts ]
[ Grunting ]
You can say that again, brother.
10 minutes to get it on the plate.
Let's go.
CHEF DAVID: I toasted up a little bit of cardamom,
and I'm introducing that into my meringue.
And I've got to get these onto the sheet pan
and into the oven fast.
Crank up the heat. Hopefully it heats up in time.
Got my sorbet out of the machine.
Flavor's on point. It's there. Texture's there.
I throw my blueberries in a sauté pan
with a little bit of olive oil, salt, and some sugar
just to give it another dimension.
ALTON: Five minutes!
I got a little lemon cream on the bottom,
a little napoleon, and away we go.
I like your 1980s fried phyllo-looking dough [bleep]
You like that?Yeah.
CHEF DEAN: I'm done with my dish.
It's traditional but not too traditional.
It doesn't look like a wedge of pie.
It's kind of stacked and layered.
But it has the elements of a traditional lemon meringue pie,
and I feel awesome.
Where you going there?
I don't see any lemon on that thing yet?
You know, the lemon is coming, sir.
You don't worry about what's going in my station.
I don't understand how you're done early.
I gave you ski boots.
I'm still flying all over this kitchen,
and you're just leaning on your counter.
[Bleep] [Bleep]
You are never happy.
Chef David was sweating like crazy.
He's running crazy.
Come on. [Bleep]
Still no lemon meringue over there.
I don't see any meringue or lemon.
That's like one of those magazine dishes
that looks beautiful but doesn't taste very good.
ALTON: You have 30 seconds to wrap this up.
Plate, Chef.I'm plating, Chef.
Better get on the plate. I don't want to win by default.
5, 4...Got to get it on there.
...3, 2, 1.I don't know if you're gonna make it.
Time is up. Challenge is over.
Please back away from the board.
Are you ready for dessert?I am.
I don't make any apologies
for loving dessert here on "Cutthroat Kitchen."
How about lemon meringue pie?
Okay. One of my favorites.
Gentlemen, bring it forward.
CHEF DAVID: At this point, it's two chefs.
Both have completely different styles.
But it's kind of anybody's game.
My sabotage for him paid off tenfold.
He has almost no meringue on that dish, so joke's on him.
Chef, I'll start with what's in front of me.
Fine. Chef David, please explain your dish.
CHEF DAVID: We got some lemon sorbet
with some pie crust crumble with toasted cardamom meringue,
fresh blueberries.
Top everything off, has a little micro-basil.
It's a deconstruction that I'm not mad at at all,
so congratulations.
All the elements of a lemon meringue pie are here.
The blueberries are a really nice addition.
Kind of mellows out the lemon so that it's not too overpowering.
I got excited at first about having basil.
I just think micro-basil can be very strong,
and I got a lot of large pieces in my mouth all at once.
It was a very strong basil flavor.
Thank you, Chef, very much.
I took a risk doing the whole composed,
deconstructed lemon sorbet, but, hey, I pulled it off.
Chef Dean, please tell Antonia
about your take on lemon meringue pie.
CHEF DEAN: Mine is more traditional
in that it's pastry, lemon curd, meringue,
a little lemon cream on the bottom, lemon zest.
Awesome. Lemon all day long.
All lemon, all the time.
Bravo. You did a really nice job.Thank you.
I love that you bruléed the top of the meringue.
I almost wish that there was more meringue.
There's a lot of curd.
But it's such a small complaint.
I feel 90% confident I'm gonna win this.
Oh, my God. I'm like right there.
This is mine! Mine!
Antonia, it's time for you to decide
which one of these fine individuals
marches out of here with some money
and who just, you know, marches out.
I have to say, this is really the hardest decision
I have ever made in "Cutthroat Kitchen."
There was just one thing about one of the dishes
that just took it over the top for me.
So the winner is...
Chef...
David.
[ Growls ]
Oh, my God.
It was the blueberries with the lemon
that just really worked so well.
Nice job.
And, honestly, that was the deciding factor.
Unfortunately, Chef Dean, that means I'm gonna need
the rest of that cash back in this case.
Thank you.
You fought well, sir. Thank you very much.
Thanks very much.It was beautiful.
How much does David win?
It was disappointing to have it be so close.
If I had to redo it again,
maybe I'd put a little more twist on it, a little spin,
but, you know, hindsight's 20/20.
Well, Chef David, that means you walk out of here with,
if my math is correct, $6,500.
That's not the biggest "Cutthroat Kitchen" win
of all time, but it is very respectable.
And you certainly worked very, very hard for it.
I just won "Cutthroat Kitchen"!
Grandma, you're my inspiration. This win is for you.
I came here,
this was mine to win, and I brought it home, baby.
I just won "Cutthroat Kitchen"! Yes!
Now it is time for Antonia to find out about
all the evilicious sabotages
that went into making today's dishes.
Check out my aftershow
at foodnetwork.com/cutthroat right now
because I'm about to tell her.