I'm Bobby Flay. Each week, one brave chef
will try to take me down in my house.
-This is my show. -Today it is.
Tomorrow, who knows?
-Ooh. -Trash talking.
This culinary battle is gonna shake down in two rounds.
-[bell dings] -Round one, to get to me,
two contenders have to go
through each other using an ingredient of my choice.
It's do or die, Bobby.
[Bobby] Two people that know me well will decide who's got
the skills to beat me. -Yeah!
-[bell dings] -[Bobby] Round two, I go head-to-head
with the winning contender. -Let's go!
It's their turn to surprise me with their signature dish.
-What? -Ah!
Don't try this at home.
I know you didn't Bobby!
[Bobby] Bottom line...
You're gonna run out of time!
Everyone's out to beat me.
-[audience cheers] -[bell dings]
Y'all ready for a good time? Let's go.
[audience cheers]
Here to tease, distract, and throw me off,
it's Food Network's Damaris Phillips
and Christian Petroni.
Five, six, seven, eight. And ha, ha, ha.
-[upbeat music playing] -[audience cheers]
-Nailed it. -What is that move?
We're still workshopping it.
In my defense, I didn't get the choreography
till this morning.
[Damaris and Bobby laugh]
So, Christian and I were thinking that we might do
a little Bobby re-brand. -Really?
We're gonna start with, like, nicknames.
What about Bobbo?
-No, that's what you... -What's up, Bobbo?
-That's what you call me. -OK, OK, OK, OK.
-How about Robbie? -No.
OK, OK. What about Flayer?
Like player, but with Flay? He's a flayer!
-It works! -I'm always gonna be Bobby.
-We'll see. -[audience cheers]
You've got some very stiff competition tonight,
so don't get flazy.
[laughs] That got me.
That was good.
Our first contender is a proud Native American chef,
and she's ready to put indigenous cuisine on the map.
From Los Angeles, California, Chef Pyet Despain.
-[audience cheers] -Yeah!
[upbeat music playing]
Our next contender has mastered Korean cuisine
under your friend, Esther Choi. -[Christian] Legend.
Legend.
Tonight, she's ready to step out of her mentor's shadow
and take you down herself. From New York City,
Chef Ilji Chung.
[audience cheers]
You're going down, Bobby.
[audience laughs]
Pyet, Ilji, how you guys doing?
-Great. -[Bobby] Nice to see you.
Here's the way it's gonna work.
I'm gonna put 20 minutes on the clock.
I'm gonna give you an ingredient of my choice,
and you must make that ingredient the star
of your dish. And that ingredient is...
-rainbow trout. -All right.
-[audience] Ooh. -[audience applauds]
That's a great ingredient.
[Pyet] I actually don't work with trout at all.
I'm a prairie native, so we actually use a lot
of bison, venison.
All right, guys, 20 minutes on the clock.
Don't pout over the rainbow trout.
-[bell dings] -[audience cheers]
Rainbow trout. What would you do here?
You know, my favorite is smoked trout.
[Bobby] It's so thin, it would cook very quickly.
And the texture's so flaky and tender.
I love the way she's prior roasting
the corn and the peppers.
With that being said, why don't I head in there?
-[Christian] Chef! -[Pyet] Hello!
-How you doing? -I'm good, how are you?
It's already smelling good over here.
You're roasting some peppers.
Pyet is using ingredients that I'm used to using.
There's a lot of Southwest America there.
My strategy is to bring both of my cultural heritages --
Native American and Mexican-American
and fusing them together.
So I'm gonna do a pescado zarandeado.
It's made with a bunch of chiles.
It has a nice little punch to it.
The arbol is gonna give it that nice spice that you need,
and the guajillo and ancho are gonna give it that really
nice smokiness.
We cook with our hands around here.
I'm a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation tribe.
My goal is to always highlight my culture first and foremost.
After I graduated culinary school, I started
my private-chef business.
I worked my way up to being named the top 25 private chefs
in Los Angeles by Entrepreneur Magazine.
Tonight, I'm here to represent indigenous and Mexican-American
female chefs.
Bobby, buckle up, buttercup,
because I'm on my way to beat your butt.
-Hello, young lady. -Hello.
Ilji is Esther Choi's chef de cuisine.
Esther's already competed in this arena a few times,
so now she's sending in her disciples.
[chuckles]
They're very strong women
and amazing chefs. -[Damaris] Yeah.
[Ilji] After I worked in Korea, I moved to the States
and worked as executive chef with Esther Choi, and then
I became culinary director of her team.
I'm always a behind-the-scenes chef.
I never got to show who really I am, not as a team, so beating
Chef Bobby is gonna be a big turning point for me, so...
Yay!
What are you working with?
I'm making crispy-skin trout, with soy-gochujang
braised potato with a kimchi gremolata.
I am infusing all the flavor in the potato
because I don't wanna overpower the fish
with any other ingredient.
So I'm making my soy-braised liquid with scallion,
onion, ginger, gochujang, brown sugar, and mirin.
And then I'm gonna serve it with kimchi gremolata.
It's chopped kimchi, parsley, lemon zest.
Gonna bring crunch and acidity for my plate.
Love it. You gonna make Bob cry?
[both laugh]
[Christian] I know you got this, Chef.
We got 13 minutes left?
♪♪
[Pyet] I take a look at my chiles,
and I see that they are all very soft.
I'm adding some fresh garlic and charred onion.
What I need is a nice, spreadable chile paste.
I just need four good pieces.
I wanna be very wary of all of those little pin bones,
so I slice them off as cleanly as I possibly can.
Ilji has out her little tweezers.
I need to see what's going on in there, gentlemen.
-Ten minutes left. -[audience applauds]
Wow, I see you with those little pin bones.
-That's the scariest part. -[Ilji] Yeah.
[Damaris] And probably the most time consuming.
I don't wanna give you guys any pin bones.
How do you feel about Pyet?
I never heard about her before.
[audience] Oh!
You finna find out today, sweetheart.
-Oh! -All right.
[audience] Oh.
Pyet, how's it going over here?
It's good.
[Damaris] In here, you have dried chilies.
I have a little bit of acid, honey, salt, garlic.
[Damaris] Oh. This is lovely.
And this just caramelizes right on there.
Yep.
And how are you feeling about Ilji?
She's got some big names behind her, and I'm really
happy that she's here, but I'll be even happier
when I beat her. -Oh!
[audience] Ooh.
[Christian] Just under five minutes.
[audience applauds]
[Ilji] I'm pan-searing the trout skin side down
to make the skin perfectly crispy.
[Pyet] I really enjoy cooking over open fire.
It just adds a nice smokiness.
[Bobby] Forty seconds.
My bell pepper and my corn are nice and cooled.
I can get them cut up and into my hydro crisp salad.
[Ilji] I put down soy-gochujang braise, potato first,
then put the trout.
[all] Ten, nine, eight, seven...
[Ilji] I top with the kimchi gremolata.
-...five, four, -Go, go, go.
Three, two, one.
-[bell dings] -[audience cheers]
[Bobby] Good job.
Good job.
-Way to go, Chef. -[Damaris] Whoo!
That was fun.
I am so excited for them to try this dish, but also feeling
a little nervous.
It looks so sloppy, but I know flavor is there.
To see who gets to school you tonight, Bobby,
it all comes down to the rainbow trout.
Chef Ilji, what'd you make?
I made crispy skin trout, soy and gochujang-braised potato,
and kimchi gremolata.
There's a ton of flavor here, and you manage to get
a gorgeous shatter on the skin.
And the kimchi gremolata is very nicely done,
but the dish itself is reading pretty sweet.
It really needs some salt to balance it.
Overall flavors, you wanna keep going back in and spearing
a piece of fish with some of that kimchi gremolata
and into a potato. It makes for a great bite.
Pyet, what did you make?
I made a pescado zarandeado with a hydro-crisp salad
with some charred peppers and corn.
Pyet, this dish is lovely.
The sauce on there, that cooked on rub, it's the right sauce
to kinda elevate that real earthy flavor of trout.
And carrying that grill and char flavor sort of all
the way through, very smart. -I have a couple of pin bones.
It's 20 minutes and it's a whole fish, it's hard.
Christian and I have a tough decision on our hands.
If you'll give us a moment.
[Pyet] Although there are a few pin bones that are still stuck
in the fillets, I'm really feeling confident
because they liked the rainbow trout that I made.
The chef moving forward tonight is...
[tense music playing]
Chef Ilji.
[audience cheers]
No!
I was looking forward to beating Bobby.
Beat him!
-I'm happy for Ilji. -Good job, Chef.
I hope that she beats him.
Ilji, in 20 minutes, you were able to deliver
a plate of food that feels like you spent hours on it.
The layers of flavor are what are gonna be required
to beat, you know,
Robbie O.
♪♪
[Bobby] Congratulations on round one.
Thank you.
How do you feel about standing here now?
Esther gave a message.
"Good luck, 'cause you're gonna need it."
-Really? -[Damaris and Christian laugh]
[audience] Ooh.
All right, so what are we cooking tonight?
-What is your signature dish? -So my signature dish is...
[suspenseful music builds]
-Kimbap. -Kimbap.
[audience] Ooh.
Bob's gonna have a hard time with that one.
Ilji, Bobby has never been challenged to this dish before.
It's like you already lost.
[audience laughs]
-No, I have that feeling. -45 minutes on the clock.
Time starts now!
-[audience cheers] -[upbeat music playing]
A lot of times people call kimbap Korean sushi.
It is a roll and the ingredients
on the inside are usually cooked or preserved instead of raw,
like you see in like a sushi roll.
[Christian] The rice is usually a little denser than typical sushi
and with sesame oil in it, so it's got a little bit of
fatness to it. Really great.
Ilji, Why'd you choose this dish?
[Ilji] It brings me my childhood.
My mom made for breakfast a lot.
I've eaten kimbap since I was a baby,
so I've eaten probably 100,000 rolls.
I'm gonna serve three different kimbap today.
Bulgogi kimbap, spicy pork, and egg on egg roll.
Beating Chef Bobby means achieve another level for life
and career, so I'm so excited.
I suspect that Bobby is going
to accidentally make it too fancy.
[Bobby] I've never done this dish before.
It's not something I've ever eaten before.
I've heard about it.
[Christian] Bobby's already pulled out Wagyu filet mignon over here.
It's like, "What are you doing?" Is caviar coming out next?
[Bobby] I'm making two flavors.
The first is bulgogi, which is beef, asparagus,
and shiitake mushrooms.
And then I'm making one with crab, avocado,
kimchi, and salmon caviar.
So the beef tenderloin has a marinade of sake and soy
and sesame oil, honey, and gochujang.
All right, guys, 35 minutes.
[audience cheers]
-Ilji, Ilji. -Hello, hello.
So excited.
What are the different ones you're doing?
Bulgogi stuffed one, spicy pork, and egg kimbap.
The one that's classic with the ham.
Beautiful.
[Ilji] After I slice my bulgogi, I put it in a bulgogi marinade.
Soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, mirin.
I'm also slicing pork tenderloin so it can
start marinating.
And garlic, sugar, mirin, and also gochujang,
so it has a little kick to it.
All right, Chef, keep going.
-Little bulgogi? -[Bobby] Yeah.
So are you doing one and having different aspects into it,
or are you gonna do multiple bulgogi?
[Bobby] I'm gonna try -- I'm gonna try to do two.
What else going on? Everything good with you?
When we hanging out, we don't hang out no more.
I keep calling you.
-Can you finish -- -Did you change your number?
Oh. Oh, no.
-Oh! -[audience] Oh.
OK, I dropped an egg. It's gonna be fine.
[Christian] You see how nervous I make this guy?
[audience laughs]
-Get out of here. -All right, guys,
make some noise if you want Ilji to take this today.
[audience cheers]
If you want Bobby to take it, make some noise.
[crickets chirping]
Oh, my God, that's embarrassing.
[both laugh]
All right, Bob, I love you either way, babe.
[Damaris] You have 20 minutes to go.
[audience cheers]
[Christian] You know, Ilji's sort of putting up, like,
the greatest hits of kimbap. -Yeah, exactly.
[Christian] Bobby's kimbap sort of reminds me of, like,
a kimbap that you would get at, like, a country club
in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Filet mignon, mushrooms, asparagus, like...
It does feel a little French-inspired.
[Christian] Hey, Ilji, what's that white liquid in those containers?
[Ilji] Oh, I blended garlic with mirin.
Are you making a dipping sauce?
[Ilji] Yes. So I'm starting
my dipping sauces -- spicy gochujang sauce for pork,
mustard vinaigrette for egg kimbap,
and gochujang mayo for bulgogi kimbap.
And then it's time to cook my proteins.
[Damaris] Ilji, Ilji, Ilji.
I'm dying to see what's happening.
Your rice, is it OK if I try this?
Yes, of course.
Mm, it's delicious.
So all of your food is cooked, pretty much.
-You're ready to roll. -Yes.
First, I lay down my nori and a little bit of rice.
I love to have my rice really thin, so all other
stuffing can shine.
I'm going to add pickled daikon, cucumber,
eggs, and carrots for base of every single kimbap.
And I'm sealing the kimbap with the water
so two nori sticks together.
[Bobby] So I'm making a dipping sauce.
It has gochujang, sesame oil, soy sauce, honey,
toasted sesame seeds, and some Dijon mustard.
Well, how's it going over here, Bobby?
OK, good talking.
You can always tell when Bobby's in, like,
a little bit of trouble because he will not talk.
Even when I'm like, "Bobby, what are we doing?
Do you wanna be friends?" How's your, how -- [stutters]?
I need to get the rolls rolled.
There's the beef, the shiitake, and the asparagus.
OK, I'll be Bobby right now.
[as Bobby] OK, guys, I don't wanna look bad, especially
because Damaris and Petroni are here.
They're, like, so cool
and I just really wanna be friends with them.
[audience laughs]
[as Bobby] Also, Ilji's a sick chef.
[Bobby] Damaris is definitely being distracting, but I'm not
actually paying attention to her because I can't.
It's all here. You can do this.
Be gentle.
No, a little bit more pressure, a little pressure.
Show it who's boss, Bobby. Show it who's boss.
When I haven't done a dish like this before,
especially when it takes a technique like rolling,
I get very nervous about that.
A little bit squirting out, but that's to be expected.
-While you work on the, oh. -Poor Bobby.
I just, I'm gonna let you do you over there.
I'm gonna talk to the crowd.
We're coming up with Bobby's new nickname.
We're gonna vote, OK? Do we like Bert or Birdie?
[crickets chirping]
Neither, nobody liked that.
OK, let me hear it for Bobinator.
-Yeah! -[audience cheers]
-Let me hear it for Bobby Corn! -[audience cheers]
Ah, it's like, we gotta just kinda
keep working on it. -[Christian] Sixteen minutes.
♪♪
How's Bobby's Philly cheesesteak kimbap
coming along? -[audience laughs]
Um, you know, Bobby's having a little bit of trouble rolling.
There's a naturalness to Ilji's rolling of her kimbap.
[Ilji] I did the internship for three months.
Every single weekend, I was rolling hundreds of kimbap.
So I know how to do it.
I can sort of feel for Bob right now, right?
If the act of rolling is not something that you're doing
normally, if ever, it can be intimidating, right?
-Like, and it's so important. -We're under 10 minutes.
[Bobby] I feel like as I'm doing it,
I don't really think I'm getting better.
I mean, I'm completely outside of my comfort zone.
So Ilji is not using a mat, and I feel like outside
of the fact that she's probably made a million of these,
that it's actually easier to roll without having that sort
of bamboo mat. -That's what I think.
I've never used a mat.
[Christian] I think Bobby's feeling the pressure.
Bobby is in the weeds right now.
If I don't get these rolled, there's no dish.
-[Christian] Eight minutes. -[audience applauds]
Bobby is having a lot of struggle with the rolling.
[Bobby] The rolling part is hard.
I think I'm overstuffing the rolls.
Looks like it's gonna be a disaster, but I get it
to close. [chuckles]
For the crab, I have some cucumber, I have some avocado,
I put a little egg in there, some kimchi.
[Christian] You see that, right? Now she's just flexing.
[Damaris] A hundred percent.
[Christian] Just under five minutes.
[Ilji] So I'm going to plate first my bulgogi kimbap
next to my bulgogi mayo, and then my spicy pork,
and then the egg kimbap.
[Christian] There's a minute and 25 seconds left.
[Bobby] So I'm gonna slice up the rolls.
I take one of each one, put it on a plate.
I put some salmon caviar on top of the crab one, green onions
with the sesame seeds on top of the beef one.
[all] Ten, nine, eight, seven...
[Bobby] My dipping sauce next to it.
-...five, four, three, two, one.
[audience cheers]
Awesome. Look at that, man!
Beautiful.
I'm just happy that I got them done.
Like, to me, that's my victory.
Bobby, Ilji, we'd like to introduce you to the judges.
First up, James Beard Award winner and the chef owner
of Sly Fox Den Too, Sherry Pocknett.
Chef owner of Nowon Restaurants, Jae Lee.
James Beard nominated chef
and cookbook author, Adrienne Cheatham.
[audience applauds]
Judges, please start with the first kimbap
in front of you.
[soft music playing]
The bulgogi roll, the beef was really tender, and you get that
nice contrast of flavors and textures in both of them.
[Jae] I love the dipping sauce, the gochujang in there,
but the rice was under seasoned.
The sauce was a little on the spicy side,
but it was delicious. Would like to have another one.
Please switch your plates.
♪♪
[Adrienne] I really love the flavors of each one.
The rice is cooked perfectly. It's just past al dente.
[Jae] I love it.
They're very homey, traditional feel.
I think of my upbringing, my childhood.
However, if the beef had its own seasoning that really
stood out, the pork had its own seasoning that really
stood out, the egg as well should have had
its own seasoning that made the egg kimbap stand out.
All of these sauces were delicious.
The rice was perfectly cooked and the sauce matched very well
with it. -Judges, cast your votes.
[Ilji] Chef Bobby's dish was also really good, and they
wanted some more, so I'm a little nervous.
[softly] Good luck, Chef.
And the winner is...
[tense music builds]
Chef Ilji!
[audience cheers]
My proudest culinary moment is today.
I broke out of the shell, and you'll see me more often.
The technique was superb.
The rice was seasoned perfect. Amazing dish.
[Damaris] Bobby, Bobby, you tried so hard.
-Bobby, Bob. -It's kimbap, not King Bob.
-See you later, Bobinator. -[Christian] Bobinator.
-Bobby Reno. -Bumbaloney?
Bumbaloney is the best one.
I'm Ilji Chung. I just beat Bobby Flay!
[audience cheers]