You know, bacon is one of the major food groups here at Flavortown Market.
And tonight, three bodacious bacon masters are ready to bring the heat and sizzle
in a Flavortown Market bacon brawl.
Now, the winner of round one
will win an instant $10,000 bucks.
Yeah!
But then the real bacon battle begins.
To earn another $10,000,
the winning chef will have to beat one of the all-star judges.
Who will they choose?
And whose final dish will bring home the bacon?
It's Beat the Judges Bacon, tonight on Guy's Grocery Games.
I'll take one of each.
So let's meet our bacon masters.
Now, first up we have Jonathan Hicks,
the Executive Chef and Maryland Bacon Fest winner
who says bacon jam is his jam.
The Restaurant Association of Maryland had a Bacon Fest and I took first place
with a bacon wrapped prawn.
I love bacon, from bacon jams to just our standard smoked apple with bacon.
Bacon is just so versatile.
-Sup, Guy. -Running the game.
Next, we have Cameron Grant, the Executive Chef from Chicago
who specializes in Italian cuisine
and has made several Chicago skylines out of bacon and pork.
True. In Chicago I competed multiple times in Bacon Fest,
and I did walk away over time with three golden pig trophies.
I can create architectural marvels with bacon.
The pig is a magical animal.
And finally, Nina Madsen, the Executive Chef from Illinois
who loves making bacon ice cream, bacon foams,
and even bacon cotton candy.
I have made award-winning dishes with bacon.
There are absolutely no boundaries when it comes to me and bacon.
I've even made noodles out of bacon.
I have bacon for every meal of the day.
I was even born on National Bacon Day.
I'm gonna nerd out on bacon here in Flavortown.
Bring it in with the tie-dye.
Time to get the bacon on.
Chefs, it is all about makin' bacon today, huh.
-Yes, sir. -Yes.
[Guy] Here at Flavortown Market it isn't just a type of meat.
To us, in Flavortown Market, it's more like a...
[inhales] ...it's like a lifestyle, right?
-So, we jumped at the chance to have a bacon battle. -Yeah.
Especially when we have bacon masters of your caliber here to compete.
But we're gonna do things in a whole new way today.
The round one battle is a winner take all.
The chef that wins will win $10,000.
-You serious? -Oh.
You win this round, you get $10,000 bucks, that's it.
And for the winning chef,
you'll get a chance to double down your money
if you can beat one of those bacon-loving judges back there...
-Oh, my gosh. -...in a one-on-one battle.
Whoever wins gets to choose which judge they would like to battle.
-Wow. -Absolutely. Okay.
So to be the best, you have to beat the best
which means you have to go big in this round or you go home.
So let's get started.
I want you to make the judges a knockout bacon dish.
A dish good enough to knock out your competition.
Ba-dum-bum. I'll be here all week.
Not a shining example, but a shining sample.
Shining sample.
Oh, that's right, 'cause this is Keep it Sample.
That's right. We have four sample tables set up around Flavortown market here,
and you'll go around and check those sample tables.
You must use two of those sample table ingredients in your dish.
What are they?
Okay. I like you guys. You're new.
Bacon caramel corn,
bacon jerky,
bacon hot chocolate,
and bacon canned ham.
Who's the giver? I'm the giver.
30 minutes to shop, prepare,
and plate your knockout bacon dish.
You know that when we start this,
you take off and you run to aisle eight.
From eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one,
you can't go to those first.
-You have to go to... -Didn't he say...
Thought I had them.
-Thank you. -[Cameron] When Guy said knockout bacon dish,
I know that I gotta use bacon as many ways as I possibly can.
All right, we need a lot of bacon.
I grab black pepper bacon, pork belly,
pancetta, and guanciale.
Here we go.
One of my favorite pasta dishes is carbonara,
and it has a lot of bacon in it.
But I have these sample ingredients.
Come on now! Hickory-smoked bacon jerky.
Mmm-mmm.
Smell that smoke. It will change your dish.
[Cameron] Jerky, it is chewy.
It is salty.
I know I can top the pasta with the jerky.
Next, Brian has bacon-flavored canned ham.
Bacon in a can.
Open it, crisp it, fry it.
It's got fat. It's got everything, all right.
[Cameron] I'm gonna pass on that one.
Bacon hot chocolate.
Delicious, sweet, and salty.
[Cameron] Maneet has bacon hot chocolate.
I didn't know how liquid chocolate would work in my sauce,
so I passed on that one.
Knockout bacon dish can't go without bacon caramel corn.
-Come on. This will crush the competition all day. -I don't know.
[Cameron] Hunter is a good salesman,
and he got me to use the bacon caramel popcorn.
I blend up the corn and use it in my carbonara sauce.
Need some bucatini.
Need some parmesan.
I know that I'm going up against experts in bacon.
This is the pressure of Triple G.
I'm hoping to get through to the next round so I can take on one of these judges.
Oh, Lordy, Lordy, Lordy.
[Cameron] All right, now it's time to cook.
Let's see what Hunter's got.
It's salty. It's crunchy.
Best of all, it's fricking bacony.
It's delicious, actually.
-It is delicious. -It's really good.
[Jonathan] For my knockout bacon dish,
I'm thinking I'm gonna do a play on shrimp and grits,
but make the bacon the star.
I grab thick slab cut bacon, smoked bacon,
then jalapeno bacon,
and then now I got the curveball of two more things I gotta add into it.
Bacon hot chocolate!
Jonathan, you can use this. It's yummy.
[Jonathan] Chef Maneet had the bacon hot chocolate.
-No, that's not gonna do it. -Oh.
[Jonathan] That was too much of a curveball.
Popcorn. It's sweet. It's salty. it's crunchy.
And it's bacony.
[Guy] I'd just get a bag to snack on.
All right, knockout bacon dish, this is it right here.
-Right. -There you go.
-Well done. Good choice. -Advice taken sir.
We'll use it as a breading full of rice flour
that I'm gonna fry the polenta in.
Jonathan, take a can, my friend.
Look at it. Oh, this is good.
-Okay, let's do it. -You tell me, yeah!
[Jonathan] Bacon ham was an easy decision to dice up and render down.
Give us some nice fat off of that and make some nice crispy lardons.
[laughing] Whoo!
-Oh, the rest is for me! -We have him on a no sugar, no caffeine diet,
and it's not doing us any good.
-Bacon jerky. -So we've got bacon jerky.
-How is it? -It's good.
It is, it's really good.
Nice smoke, nice salt, balanced.
-It's like bacon in a bag. -[laughing]
-It's like shelves table cooked bacon. -Exactly.
That... I won't give that out.
-What have you got, Maneet? -Bacon hot chocolate.
-Thank you. -[laughing]
[Nina] I need to make a bacon dish so good that I just knock out my competitors,
so then I can beat a judge!
Bacon's gonna be everywhere.
It's gonna be everything that you taste.
I grab jalapeno bacon, pork belly,
thick-cut bacon, flat bacon.
If it had B and it said bacon on it, I took it.
I'm gonna make bacon sopes.
Traditionally, sopes are fried masa with whatever you wanna put on top.
In this case, I'm gonna do bacon.
If you're going savory, oh, yeah.
Sorry, Brian Malarkey, big, big, fan,
but not of the canned ham.
-You don't want the cocoa. -You know you don't get any points for selling.
I'm selling it all. I win, win, win.
[Nina] Chris Cosentino has bacon jerky,
and I get to chop it up and put it in the sopes dough.
Bacon hot chocolate.
Come on. Sweet and bacony.
-[indistinct] Oh, good. -I'll try it. I'll try it.
I really don't want the bacon hot chocolate,
but it's Maneet, so I trust her and I take it.
I could use it in some kind of sauce.
Sopes gonna be super salty and savory,
so I need something bright and sweet.
A berry compote's gonna go really, really well.
I really want something acidic to compliment the warm, homey flavors,
so I figured pineapple salsa.
I need cilantro, scallions, and onions.
Bacon and pineapple are like a match made in heaven.
I'm ready to knock the judges off their feet with my knockout bacon dish.
I need to get gloves.
[Guy] So let's meet the judges who'll be critiquing
and possibly competing in tonight's bacon competition.
Santiago restaurant mogul whose bacon hash is a customer favorite.
Shenanigans himself, Chef Brian Malarkey.
Whoa!
Acclaimed restaurateur and Top Chef Masters winner
who knows how to use every part of the pig and then some.
-The great one, Chef Chris Cosentino. -[laughing]
TOC Two champ
and the head of the national restaurant empire,
bacon is also her signature spicep.
The one and only Chef Maneet Chauhan.
What's incredible is we get to watch the person
that one of us is gonna be taking on right here.
We get to see their strengths, their weaknesses.
I love it, but I'm a little bit scared.
[Maneet] They will get to decide who they compete against.
Did you put on your cooking shoes today?
-Are you all ready for this? -I live in my cooking shoes.
Let's see them. I wanna see them.
-Put them up here. -Her sparklies.
-Yes, there we go. -Whoo.
Always, always ready.
[Guy] 25 minutes!
[Nina] I'm gonna try to make a bacon stock.
-[Guy] Chef Nina, what's on the menu? -A sope.
-[Nina] Yeah.
Fantastic.
[Nina] I'm gonna make bacon sope with a warm berry compote
and a bright pineapple salsa.
[Guy] Okay, so far so good.
I have no shame in stating that I am a bacon nerd.
I have won countless awards for it
and set out to reach my goal of becoming the Executive Chef by 25.
And if bacon never gave me that chance,
I wouldn't be sitting here today.
Here we go.
I need this.
I'm gonna put bacon grease and bacon fat in my premade masa.
I am so obsessed with bacon.
I have bacon socks and stuffed animal bacons.
-I had a dog named Bacon. -[dog barks]
The bacon jerky.
It's going in this bad boy.
I take my bacon jerky sample and I chop it up
and put that inside my masa as well.
Everything is bacon related and I'll probably go eat bacon after this. [chuckles]
I wanna get through round one so I can go up against Maneet.
I am, like, a total fan girl.
When I walked in and I saw her,
I just... it blew my mind.
That bacon is gonna get me this crown.
Do you hear how bacon-centric this dish is?
What happens is a lot of times people take a dish that has bacon in it,
but there's so many other elements to the dish,
the bacon is kind of like a participant.
This is going to be how much bacon on bacon on bacon can you make.
[Guy] 23 minutes. 23 to go.
I would be cooking bacon any way I can get it.
I'd be frying it. I'd be boiling it.
I'd be sauteing it. I'd be...
I'd be... anything I can do with it.
A full-on bacon dish is a challenge.
Either you just have the bacon by itself,
or it's added as a flavor enhancer.
-To have a full-on bacon dish... -It's not the potatoes.
-...it's definitely going to be a problem. -It's on top of the potato.
-Exactly. -[Chris laughing]
[Cameron] I'm gonna render this down.
For my knockout bacon dish I'm gonna make bucatini carbonara.
It's one my favorite dishes.
It's a great Italian classic using bacon and pork belly.
And I gotta figure out how to use those secret ingredients in there too.
So I gotta start building my sauce.
You need to develop flavors,
so I've added multiple kinds of pork.
Pork belly, bacon, pancetta.
All three judges are extremely talented,
and it'd be really fun to test my skills
and take on one of these judges.
So I'm hoping this is is bacony enough.
I'm making a crazy play on shrimp and grits.
I should probably call it bacon and grits.
Polenta be fried.
There'll be a char corn salsa.
Put bacon in there too.
And then instead of the traditional tomato type sauce that would be in there,
there's gonna be a Thai red curry barbecue.
First thing I get started on,
obviously it's bacon.
I wanna get it crispy, and I have plans for that fat later on.
The bacon, in and of itself, will go in the corn relish.
Bacon canned ham going into the pan.
I'm gonna marrow two types of bacon into the corn relish.
The canned bacon ham and the bacon jerky
are adding two different textural components.
My family is Southern by nature.
I remember cookouts, and someone's on the grill,
and you're always smelling ribs, pork belly.
From Saturday mornings to waking up
to smelling the bacon cooking in the kitchen,
it's just always been a big part of who we are.
Next, I'm gonna work on my shrimp.
Ideally, I would wrap the shrimp in bacon,
but there's not a lot of time,
so I'm gonna season it with a little bit of the chipotle powder,
the smoked paprika,
onion and garlic.
And then I wanna get it right in that pan with that bacon fat
to kind of get that bacon flavor into the shrimp.
Shrimp and bacon are definitely a good combo.
Chefs, we've got 15 minutes. 15 minutes to be plated!
[Nina] I'm making, like, a pineapple salsa,
like, a Hawaiian pineapple salsa that I put on nachos
to balance out the smoky, and salty, and fattiness of the pork,
and bring acidity to the dish.
Now I'm gonna work on my berry compote.
I add the bacon hot chocolate because it's one of my samples and I have to use it.
Thinking that'll be good.
I wanna be part of the culinary revolution.
I wanna use the $20,000 to help the young and up and coming chefs.
Whether that means paying for knives,
helping with culinary school,
I wanna be the mentor I never had.
Chef, do you have your samples in play yet?
No.
-Okay, -I'm doing it now.
All right. Where you going?
I'm gonna blitz this.
-[Guy] Okay. -Corn, I think it goes well. It can go into the sauce.
[Guy] Okay.
[Cameron] And add a little more bacon to it.
Bacon into the corn.
The ability of popcorn to absorb moisture is really high.
The popcorn is absolutely incredible.
It can add a great crunch to something.
[Cameron] I'm hoping this corn isn't too sweet for the sauce.
Try some of that.
Now, I also have this other sample ingredient, bacon jerky.
This will add a nice texture to the dish and more bacon.
Fully going in.
I wanna get some pork belly in the fryer
so that I have some garnishing options for my dish.
The doctor said I was addicted to bacon,
but it's okay, he thinks I can be cured.
[Guy] Seven minutes! Seven to go!
-Big man, how you feeling? -[Jonathan] Feeling good, feeling good.
-Got our corn relish working real good. -All right.
[Jonathan] Then I got two types of bacon in that pan.
-Got it. -I got the shrimp cooking, bacon.
-Okay. -Yeah, bacon will be everywhere.
Bacon's gonna be everywhere, good.
So, I need to get started on my fried polenta.
They need to be golden brown and delicious on the outside.
The bacon caramel corn is for flavor and texture.
Got the rice flour to dredge the polenta,
fry it onto the polenta, so,
hopefully some of that bacon and sweetness
will stick with the dish.
Now it's time to focus on my sauce.
Red curry paste and coconut,
vinegar, the sugar.
So, just more flavor building.
When the polenta comes out the fryer...
Whoo.
...it's looking GBD, golden, brown and delicious.
My son, he's a bacon fan, he would love this dish.
That's perfect the way it is.
My son is actually in Rhode Island
and I work in Baltimore,
so I sacrifice a lot of time with him
to pursue my dreams.
If I happen to win Guy's Grocery Games today,
I'm just gonna take a break
and go give some of that time back to my son.
[Nina] All right, four minutes. I gotta get plates.
All right, well, that's not good.
I dropped one on the ground.
-Oh, my God. -Nina dropped her sopes.
She dropped one of the four sopes. She only made four.
And three minutes left.
[Nina] I only have three and I need four to cut them up.
So, now I'm making sope tots.
Three minutes. Three to go.
[Cameron] My pasta, looks perfect.
Now I'm gonna begin plating my carbonara.
I put a piece of deep fried pork belly on top.
I'm feeling okay about my dish.
I'm not sure if this is bacony enough.
[Guy] Sixty seconds to plate.
[Jonathan] First thing I wanna do
is put the coconut curry cream down on the plate.
Crispy polenta cakes.
That way, you've got a little bit of the Colby Jack cheese on top.
After you get that bacon corn relish down,
you put two of those big succulent shrimp on top.
When the judges taste my dish,
I know I have a lot of moving parts,
I'm still hoping that bacon is still the star.
Forty five seconds.
So, I'm running out of time.
So, I realize I need to start plating.
So, first I put down my sope tots.
Next, I top it with my bacon berry compote
and then I add my pineapple salsa.
Five, four,
three, two, one.
That's it, Chefs. Stop working.
Yeah.
[Guy] Fast and furious.
Oh, my gosh.
[Guy] All right, chefs. Let's find out
whose knockout bacon dish packs a punch.
Take it to the judges. Right this way.
All right, judges. This is it.
Game one of our beat the judges bacon special.
Our chefs had to make a knockout bacon dish
that included at least two of our awesome sample items.
First up, it's chef Jonathan.
Tell us what you made, Chef.
I made my play on, uh, shrimp and grits.
So, it's actually bacon and grits.
Bacon, corn and tomato relish.
You have the canned bacon ham.
You have the bacon jerky.
The shrimp is cooked in bacon fat
from the jalapeno bacon.
And the fried polenta was also fried with the caramel bacon corn.
Jonathan, this is a beautiful presentation.
What a sophisticated way to present shrimp and grits.
Overall, it is delicious.
It's got the sweetness. It's got the spice.
It's fresh, it's vibrant.
The shrimp is cooked perfectly.
I applaud you using the bacon fat to cook the shrimp.
It is there. You do get a bit of that smoke.
But, it could've been more bacon for me.
Your utilization of the caramel bacon popcorn sample,
I think that's genius,
just to go ahead and make a crumble off it
and put it on the polenta cakes.
Also, your utilization of the bacon in a can.
To go ahead and saute it along with the corn
and the tomatoes, I think that's a great move.
But I'm going to echo what was said.
This is not a bacon forward dish.
Maybe a simple thing like wrapping the shrimp with bacon,
bacon would have been the star.
Thank you.
Up next, Chef Cameron.
I did a buccatini carbonara.
I've used five kinds of bacon.
We've got pancetta. There's guanciale in there.
I deep fried a little pork belly to garnish on top.
Bacon corn, crumbled those up
and then I added them into the sauce at the end.
And I deep fried a little of the bacon jerky
and I crumbled that up and put it on as a garnish.
I think the pork belly on the top that's fried,
has great texture and it's really inviting.
I'm just gonna tell you, the gentleman that was selling
the, uh, bacon canned ham,
I think that was an epic product
and I'm just not seeing it here.
I should've used it.
[Chris] The sauce is really balanced.
The pasta is cooked perfectly.
-And you used the jerky that I sold you. -[chuckles]
-Yes. -[judges laugh]
[Chris] So, it's... [chuckles]
I don't understand. They're, like, four year old's over there.
-[all laugh] -Okay, I like both of your color in's
and they're both on the refrigerator, okay?
Enough.
[Chris] I definitely would say
having some restraint with that caramel corn.
The sugar from that caramel corn came forward.
-That was your Achilles heel on this dish. -Okay.
Just saying I gave it to you.
[all laugh]
-Right? -[laughter continues]
[Chris] So, you tanked it.
No, it worked. It works.
The flavors are really, really good.
My favorite part of this dish
is how you used the bacon jerky.
To go ahead and fry that and put on top.
The textural contrast is fantastic.
But, when you described the dish,
there was so much of pork, so much of bacon in it
and I'm not getting the representation
-in the bites that I'm getting. -Well, thank you.
And not to be outdone,
before Hunter storms the stage again, Chef Nina.
So, I made sope tots.
There is bacon inside of the masa itself,
inside of the sope
and then also inside of each salsa's.
I used the jerky inside of the sope
and then also, I used the hot chocolate
inside of the warm berry compote.
You described this bacon and bacon and bacon
and if I'm reading the menu, I'm buying this dish.
I mean, it's screaming bacon
but I'm just hearing a whisper right now.
I think the berry compote is the best thing I had.
The cocoa comes through.
I love the sweet element. Bacon loves sweet.
And if there was just more bacon, as advertised,
this dish would be a sure fire winner.
Great choice for the bacon hot chocolate.
-I just had to say it. -[all laugh]
The way you have brought acidity to this plate
is incredible.
Bacon has this fattiness, the saltiness
and that acid really helps in cutting it.
The sopes are too thick.
Because they are too thick,
and then the masa has this really overpowering flavor to it,
I do not get any of the bacon jerky in that.
[Chris] Nina, you have to always make extra.
-Always make sure you cover your back. -Understood.
Plating wise, I definitely think
bacon could've been a bigger star here.
I would've liked to have seen
a nice big piece in the middle.
All right, judges. Thank you very much.
Chefs, for whichever one of you
has the opportunity to go forward,
this is a bacon challenge.
You gave me everything but bacon.
I wanted there to be over, I wanted bacon OD.
We're gonna send you back to the kitchens.
We'll call you when we have a decision. Thank you.
All right, judges.
Just remember, we have 20 points available in gameplay,
twenty points available in taste
and ten points for plating
for a possible of 50 points.
I think that they all have the talent.
I think that they all have the insight.
But I think they just got beaten by bacon.
It's only the first round of competition,
for one of you.
The chef that wins
will win $10,000
and gets to choose
which judge they would like to battle.
Let's take a look at the scores.
Chef Nina.
Twelve out of 20 in gameplay,
thirteen out of 20 in taste,
seven out of 10 in plating,
for a score of 32.
Chef Cameron.
Fourteen out of 20 in gameplay,
fifteen out of 20 in taste,
eight out of 10 in plating for a 37.
Nice five point lead.
Chef Jonathan, gotta beat the 37.
Gameplay 14,
taste, 16,
plating, eight,
for a total of 38.
One point win for Jonathan. Congratulations.
Thanks, guys.
[Guy] To Cameron and Nina,
I think you made great flavors,
I think you made inventive dishes,
just didn't get as much bacon on them as they needed.
Thank you for coming out here and competing
and giving it your all.
-Thank you very much. -[Cameron and Nina] Congratulations.
[Cameron] This whole experience was unbelievable.
Next time, I might need to make
a Flavortown made out of bacon.
[Nina] I feel like I really, really let down bacon.
Please forgive me bacon.
Chef, first let's talk about this.
You just won $10,000.
-[judges scream] -[Guy] Congratulations.
Very happy for you.
What are you gonna do with 10,000 bucks?
Take a break and go see my son.
-I like that. Where's your son? -Providence, Rhode Island.
[Guy] Love Providence, Rhode Island.
All right, Chef. Here is the moment of truth.
You won 10,000 bucks.
You have a chance at another 10,000 bucks.
I have three fantastic chefs.
Now is your moment of truth.
Let's talk about chef Chris Cosentino.
He wrote the modern definition guide
to cooking with every part of the animal
and he is a top chef master.
Chef Maneet Chauhan.
Her culinary empire
includes an ale house, a modern diner,
a Chinese restaurant,
an Indian street food concept.
Um, I think she's also probably a doctor.
-[laughs] -Um, and she won this little thing.
What was it? It was called the, it was the...
The kid's campsite tournament of champions.
Season two champion.
So, that's just, kind of, a minor deal.
And then Chef Shenanigans
created, uh, 450,000 successful restaurants,
three time Triple G winner,
Top Chef all-star.
Chef, what are you thinking?
Who's the one that's not getting Stanford?
I'm not gonna take Chef Maneet.
-[all laugh] -Come on.
[Guy] Good job. That's the one I wouldn't pick either.
And then, to be honest with you,
I remember watching his episodes of Top Chef, so.
It's gonna be Chef Malarkey.
-[Guy] You're going against Shenanigans? -Oh, he wants me.
[Guy] "He wants me."
-Cool, calm and collected... -[Chris] Good choice.
...and completely out of their mind.
-[all chuckle] -[exhales heavily]
-Oh, my gosh. -Yeah.
Yeah. Oh.
I wanted to do this.
[all laugh]
So, that will leave us a, uh, judging seat available.
Uh, Hunter Fieri, you did not get called in.
Grab your seat. You'll be judging on this round.
$10,000 on the line
and chefs, to your carts. Good luck.
[Maneet] Whoa!
Chef Jonathan, you already beat out two bacon chefs.
You got 10,000 bucks.
You have a chance at winning another 10,000 bucks.
Only thing is, you gotta go up against
one of the real legends here of Triple G.
The one and only, Chef Shenanigans, Brian Malarkey.
Ah.
Good choice, though. Good choice.
Brilliant choice. [laughs]
So, for the final battle, chefs,
I want you to prepare the judges
bacon two ways.
Double the bacon, double the fun.
We are giving away potentially 20,000 bucks.
So, if we're gonna give away that, kind of, money,
we need to have a competition
that's gonna be worthy of that.
So, this will be a bacon budget battle.
-Oh. -[Guy] That's right.
Now, Wendy's our cash register. She's right over here.
You have to pay for all your ingredients using...
Hunter, you got any money?
I've got a quarter.
Oh, wait a second. I've got some cash.
-Not a lot. -All right, I'll give you each $15.
There you go.
All right, you know what?
Both of you can have any bacon that you want, for free.
The other ingredients, you have to spend your $15 on.
Oh.
Jonathan, I've got one more thing that's gonna make you smile.
Something's not good.
-Oh, man. -Not good at all.
This is great.
Cosentino, tag team.
Tag team, tag it, man. Tag it.
-[laughs] -Now you don't wanna play.
Let's make this an ABC budget battle.
Yes.
I'm gonna pick a letter out of here
and any of the ingredients
that start with that letter
you could also shop for free. Here we go.
B.
-Beer. -Anything that starts with the letter B,
-you can get for free. -Okay.
-Shenanigans, that's his letter. -[Brian] Oh.
-[chuckles] -No, I already built the dish in my head.
-I'm ready to go. -[Guy] Your letter.
Oh, you are so mean. [laughs]
Shenanigans gets letter,
close to a B. It's a P.
-P, okay, yeah. -[Guy] You happy with that?
Chef Jonathan, anything that starts with a letter B,
you can get for free.
Chef Shenanigans, anything that starts with a letter D,
-you can get for free. -[Brian] No.
All right, let's do the whole grocery store with P.
-[laughs] -[Brian] Please, whoa.
I've used up all I got.
[Guy] Okay, I've given you three choices.
You don't like these two choices.
-I like P. -So, this is the one?
-This is the choice you wanna go with? -Yes.
This is the one?
-Do it. [laughs] -Really? [chuckles]
Not my first rodeo, cowboy.
-Shut up. -[Guy laughing]
[Brian] Ah.
That's the most fun I've had all week.
[Jonathan] Competing against a chef like Brian Malarkey,
I got the shakes a little bit.
[Brian] This Jonathan guy is next level,
but I came to win.
How am I gonna make $15 work
to beat a chef of this caliber?
I get to grab anything with a B for free
and I get all my bacon for free.
After hearing the critiques in the first round,
my strategy was to make sure
bacon was forefront and the star.
[Brian] Jonathan, this is the way it works.
When he says you can use whatever you want,
you just grab it all.
[Jonathan] I grab pork belly, slab bacon.
That jalapeno bacon was so good from the first round,
I had to use it again.
My bacon two ways, I'm thinking,
a big piece of pork belly and bacon and brussels sprouts.
And it starts with a B, so it's free.
[Guy] Brussel sprouts are great.
[indistinct]
[Jonathan] Purple cabbage.
Oh, you're buying that?
-I'm buying that. -Gotcha, gotcha. Excuse me.
Forgot I gave you money.
[Jonathan] Let's make a hash to go underneath this pork belly.
Something a little lighter
to kind of go with the fats of the bacon.
All right. We need...
...chipotle. Chipotle.
Brussel sprouts kind of need richness.
And I'm going to get chipotle mayo
and I had to grab some barbeque sauce.
'Cause barbeque sauce is free.
-I sense a theme with the whole bacon thing. -[chuckles]
You know, ultimately, I didn't need to spend the whole $15 dollars.
My cart is full of bacon.
I cannot lose.
So, Shenanigans got letter P and Jonathan got B.
I think B's gonna be better.
Be better, get it?
[Brian] Pork. Pork.
Bacon two ways? I can't do anything two ways, all right? I need it all.
There's so many great bacons in flavor town market.
This is going to be epic! All the bacon we want for free!
Oh, some pancetta, some pork belly.
I'm gonna do pork belly two ways.
Oh, yeah!
Glazed pork belly.
Alongside a fried pork belly.
You out of your mind!
I'm gonna make the most amazing cream and butter puree
with slab bacon.
I need some of the... [sighs]
I need something sweet,
so, I'm gonna spend a little money and get an apple.
Is there a P on a potato?
My strategy here is, I'm just gonna play the P's hard.
Potato.
Parsnip. Oh.
Parsley.
I want like a granola. Like a crunch.
Pistachios.
Parmesan, oh.
Pumpkin seeds.
If I can use all P's
then why do I even need this money?
Pomegranate concentrate. Pomegranate molasses.
I'm about to show you how you make bacon the superstar of your dish.
Peppercorns!
[Guy] 25 to go, boys!
[chuckling] What was that?
[Brian] Just some cream, please.
I had to buy the apple.
[Guy] Probably the most mellow guy we've seen on Triple G in a while
going against the most...
Against the craziest person we've ever seen in Triple G.
[Brian] Hoo-yeah!
[Guy] 23 minutes! 23 to go!
Bacon two ways. Talk about a tough competition.
[Chris] We have Jonathan. He beat out two other bacon competitors
to choose Shenanigans.
Jonathan has the chance now to take his $10,000 to $20,000.
All he's gotta do is beat the guy that's running in circles right now.
Let's go, Jonathan!
[Jonathan] The challenge is to do bacon two ways.
I'm gonna step it up a little bit and do bacon three ways.
I'm gonna make barbeque grilled pork belly,
over top of bacon and brussels sprouts hash.
My main focus was to make sure that bacon was the star
and not questioned again this round.
Out of the fryer, you want your pork belly to be GBD.
Golden, brown and delicious.
Brush it in the barbeque and get it on the grill.
[Hunter] Jonathan is moving and grooving here.
He took the pork belly, threw it in the deep fryer
to accelerate the cooking process.
So not only will it give it the crispy skin on the outside,
but it will also keep it really tender and juicy in the inside.
It looks beautiful!
[Jonathan] If I get this win,
I get to go home and say, "I beat a Triple G at best."
Who doesn't wanna be able to say that?
[Brian] Gonna turn the slab bacon into pork belly.
Shenanigan, what's on your menu?
[Brian] Glazed pork belly alongside a fried pork belly.
Parsnip, potato puree,
pomegranate molasses vinaigrette.
You know, I just like to keep my dishes real simple.
That's you! Old, Captain Simple here.
[Brian] I also want to get some cream and butter boiling.
I'm going to finish the potatoes and the parsnips
in the cream and butter.
'Cause fat equals flavor.
And this is Flavortown
and it's a baking challenge.
And I'm here to win.
Looks like Malarkey is pulling pork belly out of boiling water.
He's rehydrating the bacon.
[Brian] Pull it out and fry it,
so it'll be crispy on the outside and soft in the middle.
I'm just throwing pork in every cooking apparatus I have,
let's see what happens.
I really like the direction that Jonathan's taking it.
[Jonathan] The work on my bacon brussels sprout hash.
Jonathan, he completed all of these really smart moves.
He's rendering the bacon,
making sure that there is that bacon fat
in which he's cooking the brussels sprouts.
I mean like, all of those steps,
they build layers of yumminess in the end.
So this is gonna be a brussels sprout bacon hash.
-Yes, sir. -Okay.
[Guy] You're gonna spice it up a little bit?
I see some chipotles over there. Got it.
14 minutes!
[Jonathan] As I'm playing this round,
I've already won $10,000 in bank time with my son.
But as I'm cooking, I'm like,
"If I can pull this round out too there's another $10,000."
That just means more time with my son.
I work hard. I've sacrificed a bunch by winning this round.
I can really just take some time off
and give it back to my son.
He's everything and I miss him a lot.
[Maneet] It's going to be tough for Malarkey,
because we saw the dish that Jonathan served us in the first round.
He is a very solid chef.
Bacon loves sweet, all right?
And I want more texture.
So, I wanna make this tart apple pancetta granola.
So Jonathan, I just judged his first round.
His dish was the bomb.
This guy knows how to cook.
He's a competitive chef.
And I have to bring my A game.
Can I buy a pea?
Malarkey is leaning very heavily on getting everything which is free.
Everything which starts with P.
[Brian] Buying the pancetta, papitas,
pistachios, parmesan crips, it is so epicly good.
If I win this challenge,
I'm gonna give $7,500 dollars to Golden Rule Charity.
And because Jonathan's story is so amazing
about him going and hanging out with his son.
I'm gonna give Jonathan $2,500 dollars also.
I love this guy.
We've got the pork belly and I take it out of the fryer.
I take a little pomegranate molasses
and pomegranate juice,
some chili pepper flakes that I had on my station
and I put slab bacon that's been boiled, fried into the glaze.
And absorb all that really spicy, sweet heat.
Amazing.
[Guy] Five minutes. Five to go.
[Jonathan] To start this plating process,
we put the brussels sprout cabbage and bacon hash.
And then on top we put those two pieces of beautifully grilled pork belly.
And we top that all off with brussels sprout leaves.
And I think I might have brought the bacon home on this one.
[Brian] Oh, my God.
It's time to play. I take the beautiful potato puree.
Deep fried pork belly. Pomegranate chilly glazed pork belly.
Put that next to it. So it's got the duo.
Now it's time to really put it all together
and that's what this beautiful apple, pancetta,
parsley, pistachio, parmesan,
pepita, granola on top of it.
And voila, my friends.
It's a pork party.
By Brian Malarkey 'Shenanigans.'
[Guy] Five. Four. Three.
Two. One.
That's it!
-Boom! -[all applauding]
[Guy] All right, Chefs. You made bacon two ways.
But there's only one way to win.
Let's take it to the judges. Right this way!
All right, judges,
this is the final battle of our Beat the Judges Bacon Special.
ABC budget battle chefs had to present bacon two different ways
with only $15 worth of ingredients.
B for Chef Jonathan. P for Chef Shenanigans.
Chef Jonathan, you're up first.
Tell us how you did bacon two ways.
I got a pork belly that I crisped in the fryer,
then based it in barbecue.
Then underneath you have a brussels sprout cabbage and shallot hash saute.
And there is two different types of bacon.
The slab bacon and the jalapeno bacon.
So, we got bacon three ways.
You told me to step the bacon up.
-I stepped the bacon up. -Yep.
You definitely stepped up the bacon on this one.
I'm really impressed with the tenderness
of the bacon right in the center.
The smoke comes through, the glaze on it is really lovely.
I think it's a really well balanced bite.
But part of gameplay was you had $15.
You are very thrifty shopper as you had $8 left over.
And you used only one letter with the letter B.
Thank you.
This is a very cohesive dish.
I think if like brussels sprouts and bacon,
kind of like we do brussels sprout in the oven, right?
Put some bacon on top, little lemon zest.
This all worked so well together.
That pork belly is really, really tender.
I don't need a knife for it, I just used my fork and it just comes right off.
The presentation is lovely.
It's very inviting.
And I love the fact that you put some fried brussels sprouts
on top also.
I think that is just the crowning glory on the dish.
In the hash there are some pieces of bacon which are not rendered properly.
So they almost have that very chewy quality.
So, I think it needed to be cut a little bit smaller,
rendered a little longer,
so that the fat would have gone much better with the entire hash.
Thank you.
All right. Up next. Chef Shenanigan.
Brian, what do you got for us?
Thank you Guy for the amazing opportunity to get all that bacon.
I just got it all.
I got the slab bacon belly and I got the pork belly also.
Parmesan potato puree,
on top of that we have the two different pork bellies.
One of them is glazed with pomegranate and chilies to give it some nice spice.
The other's just natural.
On top of that we made a pancetta vinaigrette
with tart apples
and pink peppercorns.
Because I got every P in the house.
Brian, you got so many of these P ingredients.
That the bacon challenge...
that got completely lost in this.
[chuckles]
Got you! Got you!
-Got you! -[all laughing]
There's so much bacon on that.
I'm having more fun with this
than I've had at a little kid's birthday party.
-This is awesome. Keep it up. -Whoo!
So, overall, I think this is absolutely delicious.
I love the fact that you have the potato and the parsnip puree at the bottom.
It's luscious and creamy.
And it almost balances the fattiness that you get from the pork belly.
And also the way you've rendered the bacon,
it's nice and crispy and crunchy.
The bacon two way.
The one which has the spice on it,
I think that is the one which I'm gravitating towards more
because it's got a lot of flavor.
The one which you boiled and then deep fried it,
I think that needs a lot more flavor on top of it
and a lot more seasoning on it.
Puree is very creamy.
I think you played the challenge of all the bacon
and incorporated it very well.
Texturally, I like the play off both of them
with that potato on the base.
But I do agree that you did need that heat
because of the richness.
Texturally though, it's really quite fun.
Thank you.
All right. Thank you very much.
Judges need to deliberate.
Chefs, you need to go back to the kitchen.
And we will call you back when we have a final score. Thank you very much.
All right, judges.
Remember, we have 20 points available in gameplay.
20 points available in taste and 10 points for plating.
For a possible of 50 points.
Which bacon master is going to enjoy the sweet taste of victory.
All right, judges. Thank you very much.
Let's go ahead and bring our chefs back in, please.
Let's get into this.
Chef Jonathan. We will start with you first.
Out of 20 points in gameplay.
14 for gameplay.
17 for taste.
8 for plating.
A score of 39.
Congratulations.
Shenanigans got to beat 39.
Out of 20.
15 in gameplay.
16 in taste
and going to plating, a seven
-for a score of 38. -[all cheering]
-Congratulations, Chef Jonathan! -[all applauding]
Congratulations!
Nice work. Nice work.
Nice work.
-What do you think of that? -[laughing]
[all laughing]
This is gonna take a minute.
[Jonathan] Beating Chef Malarkey,
I don't even know the words.
I actually can call myself
you know, the King of Bacon.
Like, that might be the next tattoo.
It's such a memorable experience.
I'll never forget this.
Thank you... Thank you.
Well, you don't thank us, my friend.
You are the one that just did this.
Ladies and gentlemen, congratulations!
You won $10,000 in the first round,
$10,000 in the second round
-for a total of $20,000! -[all cheering]
I think one of the things that you were talking about,
see if you won the money,
you're gonna go see your son, you got $20,000.
-What's your son's name? -Elias.
-Elias. And how old is he? -He's 11.
Elias, I gotta tell you what buddy,
you have gotta be so proud of your daddy.
He came here, he battled it out,
he beat a big time chef
and this is the baller bacon chef.
We'll see you next week.
Guy's Grocery Games.
-Adios! -[all cheering]