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TED: A challenge was made...
and accepted.
Fierce celebrity competitors,
your favorite Food Network stars,
and our judges
battle it out to win $50,000 for their favorite charity.
This is "Chopped All-Stars."
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
Can you stand the anticipation?
Four "Chopped All-Stars" champions --
Laila Ali...
Scott Conant...
Gavin Kaysen...
Sunny Anderson.
But just who will win this finale fight?
Let us see.
LAILA: I've never lost a fight,
and I'm definitely not about to start now.
If I can win this competition against professional chefs,
what's there not to brag about? Come on.
I always want the bragging rights.
Don't ever get that twisted. [ Laughs ]
Everybody better bring their "A" game today,
'cause the champ is in the house.
I'm the champ.
That's all there is to it.
I'm a "Chopped" judge.
But after today, I'm gonna be known as
the "Chopped All-Star" grand champion.
For people who think that I'm overly confident or cocky,
I'm here really to show them that I do know how to cook
and I can back up whatever I say.
No one's gonna stand in my way.
It's pretty much that simple. I'm the chef to beat today.
GAVIN: I'm the "Chopped All-Stars" grand champion.
All three of the competitors are in my way, but I'll move them.
There's no fear. There's no boundaries.
There's one thing that I have to capture today.
It's a $50,000 check.
I am gonna become the grand champion
for "Chopped All-Stars."
Let's just give me the check and go home.
It's a wrap.
SUNNY: The competition is fierce,
but I am going to take them down today.
Who says that against Gavin and Scott?
I sound crazy! I sound crazy!
[ Laughs ]
I'm gonna sweat blood and tears until I win this sucker.
I hope my competitors fumble, because I'm ready to rumble.
Game on.
TED: Welcome back, all-stars.
You know the rules from last time.
They remain the same.
Three rounds. Mandatory mystery ingredients.
If your dish doesn't cut it, you will be chopped,
but if you win,
$50,000 will go to a charity that's near and dear to you.
Please open your baskets for the first round
of the "All-Stars" finale.
And you must use...
20 minutes on the clock and not one second more.
Time starts now.
So, judges, how great is this?
We have four all-star champions in the finale.
MARCUS: $50,000 at stake, bragging rights,
and also competing for charity.
SCOTT: There is $50,000 riding on this.
My charity, Keep Memory Alive, is counting on me.
All right.
Right away, I decide that I'm gonna make soft-shell crab pasta
with a coconut peanut sauce.
I rip out the gills, cut off its face.
I rip its tail off.
There's an inherent acid to a soft-shell crab,
and sake is gonna compliment that really well.
I have my wife and my daughter rooting for me.
Having a child, it's made me look at charities differently.
Keep Memory Alive helps people with brain-related diseases
and the patients' families,
and that's really important to me.
LAILA: I'm always gonna be Muhammad Ali's daughter.
I am a true competitor.
That's where I find motivation.
The feeling of winning inspires me,
but I don't have as much cooking experience.
Most people would look at me as the underdog,
but not today, baby.
I'm gonna do an Asian-inspired soft-shell crab.
I've never cooked soft-shell crab,
but I immediately grab a Dutch oven,
because I want to immerse it
in a little butter and some seasonings,
and I'm just gonna add enough sake to give flavor to the crab.
GAVIN: The pressure's on. The heat's on.
This is the "Chopped All-Star" finale.
It's everything you got -- all or nothing.
My food is French in foundation,
but I'm also very inspired by other cultures and spices.
Right when I see the chunky peanut butter,
I think, "Now I'm going Thai."
I'm gonna make panko-crusted soft-shell crab, rice noodles,
and coconut and peanut sauce.
I'm fighting for $50,000 for the Children's Cancer Research Fund.
There has never been a doubt in my mind
that I will win this thing.
You want to know something funny?
Just last night, I had a soft-shell crab,
so when I saw it, I was like, "Seriously? Seriously?"
Okay, let's do this.
I'm gonna make cornmeal-dredged soft-shell crab.
I am trying my best, 100%,
because N Street Village is watching.
It's a group of women that are all helping each other
pull themselves up by the bootstraps,
and I understand that.
I drove cross-country to New York
to chase the dream to get on Food Network,
and a friend gave me a place to stay until I got on my feet,
and that's what N Street Village is.
It's about empowerment.
TED: And our judges are...
GEOFFREY: Scott, he just took out pasta.
If anybody knows pasta in this kitchen, it's Mr. Scott Conant.
Aarón, Geoffrey, Marcus -- We're really good friends.
We have dinner with our wives together,
but they will 100% drop the hammer on me
if I do something wrong.
I know it has to be the best that I can do
because I want to leave here the "Chopped" grand champion.
I start working on the sauce.
I sauté the onions, garlic, and crushed red peppers.
I'm gonna make the coconut peanut sauce.
Ah!
I got to tell you, this is my favorite all-time product --
extra-chunky peanut butter.
Just don't screw it up.
[ Laughs ]
I love it.
So awesome.
I think about my daughter all the time.
It's an infinite pit of love.
It's made me look at life differently.
It's made me more selfless.
I want to win. I want her to be proud of me.
TED: Okay, all-stars, 10 minutes left.
MARCUS: I love watching Gavin work.
This is the fastest chef I've ever seen here.
He's developing a lot of flavors.
He has coconut milk. He has scallion.
Scott Conant is using coconut milk and using pasta.
Gavin Kaysen is using coconut milk and pasta.
TED: Interesting.
GAVIN: Coconut milk is so fatty and it's so rich,
and if I can introduce the peanut butter into that,
I know that it's gonna create the fatty sauce that I need.
And I deglaze the pan with the sake,
and then I add the coconut milk and the peanut butter
and just let it cook.
I was 27 when I took over as chef of Cafe Boulud.
It's a very iconic
and historical place in our culinary world,
but I know the mental game of competition.
I mean, I'm now competing professionally for nine years,
and being on "Chopped All-Stars" is much harder than you think.
LAILA: Gavin's from one of the top restaurants.
I may not have gone to culinary school,
but you don't have to be a high-end chef to make good food.
I decide that I'm going to make sea beans
sautéed in peanut-butter cream sauce.
When I make greens at home,
I put peanut butter in my greens for sweetness,
so I'm not intimidated by the peanut butter.
I'm representing all the moms out there.
We are fighting for $50,000 for Health Child Healthy World.
We focus on helping create a better environment
and healthier children.
It's about helping make this world a better place.
And, all-stars, you now have five minutes.
The sea beans -- It's just salty, briny crunch.
I'm boiling them with a little bit of apple-cider vinegar
and some sugar just to kind of, like,
do a quick, sweet pickle on them.
They're still gonna need some sweetness,
so my trick is always going for, like, fruits.
I start making sake sea-bean salsa.
I get a Granny Smith, nice and tart, and start to chop that up.
Oh!
Oh, hell, no!
Oh, oh!
TED: Oh, no. Sunny's cut herself.
That sounded like it really hurt.
You okay, Sunny?
SUNNY: Yep.
I'm good.
SUNNY: I'm not gonna let this stop me,
because I'm not a quitter, period.
And I can't quit on the N Street Village ladies.
Get back up. Get back up.
Watch out.
I've sliced into myself.
[ Sighs ]
Sunny cut her finger, but she's back.
I wrap up my finger and keep going.
Blood, sweat, and tears. Blood, sweat, and tears.
Peanut butter. Immediately, I think, "Jelly."
So, I put the peanut butter and jelly
and the sriracha in the bowl,
and I'm running my soft-shell crab through,
making sure it's fully coated and lush.
I feel like an all-star.
I really, really want to win.
I'll take that $50,000 check to N Street Village.
I'll do anything for those ladies.
TED: We got to talk about what Scott's doing right now,
because if you don't know how to cook pasta properly,
this is how you do it.
You parcook the pasta in very heavily salted water,
and you finish it in your sauce.
What that does is it makes your sauce permeate the noodle
and stick to the pasta, as well.
AARóN: Delicious.
Okay, all-stars, two-minute warning.
I have a few minutes left on the clock at this point.
I begin to arroser butter onto the soft-shell crabs,
flip them over, and pop them in for another minute.
They're called sea beans, pousse-pierre in French.
The texture can be very, very off-putting,
so I'm just going to sprinkle
a little bit of the sautéed sea beans on top of the dish.
I'm feeling like I'm doing really good at this point.
I know that I need to add a textural element.
I'm going to dust the crab in a little bit of flour
and brown the crab in the pan.
Oh [bleep] Fire.
That's okay.
Nothing's gonna stop me, not even a little kitchen fire.
TED: 45 seconds, chefs.
MARCUS: Wow.
This is coming down to the wire.
SUNNY: When I taste my sake salsa, the sake isn't prevalent,
so I say, "Why not a quick drink?"
Slice up a strawberry,
little bit of lime, little bit of orange.
It's a palate cleanser.
TED: 10...
9...
8...
7...
6...
5...
4...
3...
2...
1. Time's up. Step back.
[ Applause ]
Nice job. Good job.
SUNNY: Yep.
Yeah, I'm good.
SUNNY: I look over at Gavin and I think, "Oh, Gavin's classy."
'Cause I don't even know what that is.
That's how classy it is.
I feel like an all-star looking down at my dish.
I am very proud of myself.
All-stars, you are back at the chopping block.
For the first round of this finale competition,
you had to make good use of soft-shell crabs, sake,
chunky peanut butter, and sea beans.
What do you have, Sunny?
We have PB&J soft-shell crab
over top a sake sea-bean salsa,
and on the side is a sake Sunny Sunrise.
GEOFFREY: The dish is very inventive and creative.
I really like the flavor of the crab and the peanut butter.
Thank you.
But as far as the cleaning of the crab,
some of the gills were not addressed.
The one flaw for me on this dish is this salsa.
The red onion is really "Wow."
With raw red onions,
I'll soak them in a little bit of salt water,
just to kind of take the bite off.
It just slipped my mind.
MARCUS: But the apple makes this dish bright,
Thank you.
Next up, Chef Gavin.
Hello. So, today I've made for you
panko-crusted soft-shell crab, rice noodles,
coconut peanut sauce, and sautéed sea beans.
AARóN: Gavin's competed in first season "Next Iron Chef".
We called him Johnny Neutron
'cause he was such a young and sophisticated chef,
and nothing has changed.
Thank you, Chef.
I'm just befuddled
why you chose to negate the crispiness of the crab,
that you put the sauce over it.
The legs are certainly crispy because I didn't sauce that,
but I can see your point.
MARCUS: What charity are you cooking for, Gavin?
I'm cooking for the Children's Cancer Research Fund
in honor of a little boy named Julian Golden.
Julian was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 3,
and he went through two weeks of treatment and then passed.
So, I'm here to fight for his parents and for his cause.
TED: Thank you, Chef Gavin.
Next up, Chef Scott.
You have penne with a coconut peanut-butter curry sauce
and soft-shell crab.
I really wanted to do something
that was gonna showcase a strength
but also really take me out of my comfort zone.
When I envision pasta from you, it's this.
It's perfectly cooked.
There's the right amount of spice.
There's the richness.
Having those pieces of crab chopped up,
it's sort of bold to do that, and it's hard to pull off,
so I applaud the fact that you did that.
But the balance of sea beans is a little bit off.
For me, it's too much sea beans.
TED: Chef Scott, thank you.
Thank you.
And, finally, Laila.
Today I have created sake soft-shell crab
with sea beans and a peanut-butter cream sauce.
Hats off for you.
This reminds me, really, of a crab bisque,
and you got this beautiful, crunchy outside
on the soft-shell crab.
I've never worked with soft-shell crab,
and I thought that I would roast it
'cause it would infuse the flavors into the meat
and not dry it out.
GEOFFREY: It was very smart to do that,
and I love the flavor you developed out of this sauce.
It's delicious.
My hit on this dish was the sea beans.
I would have liked to have seen a little less of a pile.
Laila, please tell us about the charity
that you're representing today.
I'm here for Healthy Child Healthy World
so that I can help other parents
create a healthier environment for their children.
Laila, thank you.
The judges will need a few minutes.
Thank you.
How's everybody feeling?
Stress.
Stress.
Even though I do this on TV,
SCOTT: I agree.
I signed up for happy stories and a well-lit kitchen.
[ Laughter ]
I know this judge speak, if you will.
They're splitting hairs on the most minute detail
as to why one of us is gonna go.
Well, that round made it pretty clear
these all-stars are here to cook their hearts out.
How about Laila?
GEOFFREY: Laila used sort of like a bisque method
to bake the crab in the oven.
It seeped out all this beautiful flavor
from the inside of the crab and cooked it,
but I thought the sea beans were way over-represented.
They were just piled on the bottom.
For me, the big star was Scott's penne.
Absolutely incredible.
AARóN: He's a maestro when it comes to pasta,
but the sake, for me, was really not present.
I know he doused the crab meat,
and what I tasted was a little bit assertive.
I really enjoyed Sunny's PB&J soft-shell crab.
I thought also that her sake drink cut the peanut butter,
which was coating the crab.
You want to go in there with your hands and eat it.
She had fun with the dish.
But the crab itself
wasn't cooked all the way through.
I was a little disappointed --
Gavin made pretty sort of rudimentary mistakes --
saucing this crispy crab with the coconut broth on top,
and he didn't dress the noodles properly.
But Gavin's sauce was spectacular.
To develop that much flavor in 20 minutes is just remarkable.
All right, judges. Are you ready to move ahead?
This is very serious.
This is 50,000 bucks for a charity
that they've killed themselves to work for,
so I don't want to take it lightly.
[ Dramatic music plays ]
SUNNY: Right now, people are watching like,
"Girl, don't gas yourself up.
"Don't gas yourself up.
Look at who you are competing against."
And, trust me, I know.
But I'm actually very pleased with myself.
SCOTT: 16 competitors narrowed down to four.
This is the final four.
This is the heavyweight championship of the world.
I want to win this thing.
TED: One amazing all-star champ
will not be returning to the kitchen for another round.
[ Dramatic music plays ]
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Sunny.
You've been chopped.
GEOFFREY: I mean, what can I say?
Just to have you here is just a blessing,
and N Street Village is blessed
to have you as their spokesperson.
Thank you so much.
Your dish was delicious.
However, the crab was both
cleaned a little too little and cooked a little too little,
and the salsa was a bit too acidic,
so, for those reasons, we had to chop you.
Thank you guys so much.
If you guys could just say "N Street Village"
a couple times when I'm gone, I'd appreciate it.
[ Laughter ]
Thanks, guys.
We'll see y'all later.
SCOTT: She's taking that.
[ Laughter ]
I've never seen that before.
TED: NO. Sunny's gonna go have some lunch.
SUNNY: Listen, I went up against some really tough competitors.
I might not be walking out of here a champion of "Chopped,"
but I am definitely walking out a champion
of the women of N Street Village.
N Street Village!
[ Laughs ]
TED: All-Star Gavin, All-Star Scott, All-Star Laila,
please open your entrée baskets.
And you must use...
You will get a generous 40 minutes for this round,
and clock starts now.
I see suckling goat, and I feel a blessing.
I've never cooked a goat that small, though.
Holy...
This is a goat, not a rabbit?
But I love goat. It's something I grew up on.
It's been on my menus in different restaurants
for the past 20 years.
TED: Goat is a terrific ingredient.
AARóN: Really, the goat is gonna take the most manipulation.
It has a very sort of assertive, gamey flavor.
MARCUS: The key thing with goat is it's not fatty at all.
I'm gonna take this goat with white wine, garlic,
crushed red pepper, rosemary, and it's moist-roasting.
It's the very high temperature, very little liquid
that's allowing for the caramelization
of the meat itself.
This isn't even for me. This is something much bigger than me.
Every 70 seconds,
someone's diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
That's a staggering number.
It would be awesome to take home a check to Keep Memory Alive.
At stake today is more than being called
the "Chopped" grand champion of all-stars.
I'm motivated to win it for Julian.
I'm motivated to win it for the Children's Cancer Research Fund.
So, I'm thinking I'm going to make a sausage,
because it'd be a great way to keep the moisture,
because there is clearly no fat on this animal.
I mix that meat with some bacon, onions, garlic,
herbs, and yogurt.
I'm gonna use the pretzel as kind of a binding agent.
To beat Sunny in the first round is a little icing on my cake.
Some people just aren't cut out for competition,
and that's where I'm very strong.
I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.
I've never eaten goat. I've never handled goat.
So, to see that whole baby goat, I was in shock.
Baby cow. Baby cow.
AARóN: I think Laila's not too psyched on the goat situation.
It probably looks like her dog, Muffy.
I had a dog named Muffy!
Muffy!
But then I'm like, "Laila, it's just like a whole chicken.
Just chop it up. You know how to do that."
I decided to use the legs
because it has a lot of meat on it.
I use thyme, salt and pepper, a little lemon.
I get it into the pan with hot olive oil to get a nice searing.
TED: All-stars, 30 minutes left on the clock.
MARCUS: Great basket. Tough basket but great basket.
You know, what I love about farro is that it's nutty.
It has this nutty texture and flavor.
TED: It's chewy. It's earthy.
SCOTT: Farro is this ancient grain.
Geoffrey Zakarian actually cultivated it
3,000, 4,000 years ago.
Farro is gonna take at least 25 minutes to cook.
I know that. I cook it all the time.
Then I decide I'm gonna take some potatoes
and I'm gonna make a grostl.
It's gonna be the most delicious thing
these chef judges have ever tasted.
GAVIN: At first, I'm a little nervous
that I don't get the farro on soon enough.
I'm hoping it's gonna cook down to where I want it to be.
I grab an onion, some carrots, beef stock,
and then I add some tomatoes.
After I get the farro going, I grind the goat,
and I wrap it in Bibb lettuce.
It's like a really sexy hamburger.
I won the James Beard Rising Star Chef
and placed in the Bocuse d'Or
international cooking competition.
I won all of these awards and these accolades,
and I'm gonna win this competition.
TED: All-stars, 15 minutes left on the clock.
15.
LAILA: So, the farro is on the stove, cooking in water.
So, I put a little chicken broth in, a little cream, butter,
parmesan cheese, because I'm thinking in the risotto family.
[ Sighs ]
Oh! [Bleep]
TED: Scott burned his potatoes,
and he is clearly not happy about it.
MARCUS: But it really shows, you know,
the stakes are really high.
Even a superstar chef like Scott can make a mistake.
Pressure gets to you.
SCOTT: I'm gonna change directions completely.
Wouldn't it be fun to be able to really take a Bavarian slant
and add some pretzels directly to that farro and to sausage
and call it a streusel?
My family is really excited that I'm here.
My wife just texted me a picture
of my daughter saying, "Go, Dada."
It's very cute. It's very sweet.
TED: All-stars, you have five minutes on the clock.
LAILA: I do like greens,
but I've never worked with broccoli rabe.
It tastes bitter.
So, now I'm gonna get some curry,
I'm gonna get some carrots, and get a good flavor going on that.
Once I'm done cooking my meat,
I'm gonna deglaze the pan with a little bit of wine,
and then I add a little cream to it.
I decide to throw my cheesy pretzels in the sauce
to thicken it.
One minute left on the clock, chefs.
Got to wrap this up in 60 seconds.
GAVIN: I finish my farro in the style of a risotto,
so with some mascarpone cheese and parmesan cheese and butter.
And I create a whole-grain mustard Chantilly swipe
on the side of the plate.
Keep it very clean, keep it very simple.
TED: 10...9...
8...7...6...
5...4...
3...
2...
1. Time's up. Step back.
[ Applause ]
SCOTT: I have big chunks of rosemary stems,
whole pieces of garlic, but you know what?
For me, at this point, it's all about flavor,
and this goat tastes amazing.
I'm a chef, bro.
Who are the two all-star champs
that have cooked their way into the final round
of this $50,000 finale competition
from suckling goat, broccoli rabe, farro,
and cheddar-stuffed pretzels?
Chef Gavin.
So, I have for you today a suckling goat crépinette
with a little farro risotto in the bottom.
There's some sautéed broccoli rabe on top
and a whole-grain mustard Chantilly.
This is a dish that's cooked with a lot of soul.
It's rustic and yet elegant.
And it tastes absolutely delicious.
GEOFFREY: The goat is delicious.
The crépinette is wondrous.
AARóN: I like this little mustard cream sauce on the side.
It's very creative, but my farro's a little underdone.
Yeah, I'm getting, like, really chewy pieces
that are a little bit off.
Chef Gavin, thank you.
Thank you very much.
Next up, Chef Scott.
You have moist-roasted baby goat
with sausage-farro-pretzel streusel and broccoli di ***.
AARóN: What you were able to create here
really reminds me of spit-roasted goat.
Yours adds another level of seasoning to the goat itself
in a very different way than, say, Gavin's was.
And I think the doneness of the farro is perfect.
It's warm, rustic.
I applaud this effort,
and the pretzel and the sausage and the farro --
It's just amazing.
MARCUS: But you stayed 100% within the basket,
and in doing so, it becomes a little bit one-noted.
The sausage is not in the basket.
Yeah.
TED: Chef Scott, thank you.
And, finally, what do we have, Laila?
I have made for you pan-sautéed baby goat
with butter-Parmesan farro and curry broccoli rabe.
You know, this is like eating at your house.
This is a beautiful, home-cooked,
incredible, yummy, tasty meal.
I love how you roasted the leg.
Lots of spices on it.
AARóN: But I have to say, the farro, while it be delicious,
is a little one-dimensional.
I think this dish needs a little acidity.
GEOFFREY: I sort of disagree with Aarón.
I think the farro works because this dish has so many flavors,
it needs, like, a sort of simple, plain grain
to just, like, say, "Stop. Take a break here."
But I think the goat here is undercooked.
It's kind of tough.
You know, I feel like I came in the underdog,
and I feel like I've held my own,
and I'm bringing it home for the mamas.
So, who will be competing in the final final round
of this $50,000 all-stars tournament?
Thank you, chefs.
When I saw that baby goat, I couldn't believe it.
GAVIN: It's your first time.
[ Laughs ]
You're a *** goat-handler.
I think I achieved, from a flavor perspective,
exactly what I wanted it to be.
Yeah. I have to be in dessert.
No offense. I mean, I love you both,
but I just want to win the competition.
There are three distinct people here and personalities here,
which is really great to see.
MARCUS: Gavin, when he plates,
it's elegant, three-star Michelin dish.
Gavin was incredibly successful with the goat sausage.
Brilliant idea.
But he kind of fell down with the farro.
I enjoyed Laila's farro more than Gavin's.
It was fluffy and kind of cheesy.
AARóN: Laila had some real successes on her dish.
That farro and that broccoli rabe
was so delicious and compelling.
Laila's presentation, it didn't look that great,
but it was so delicious.
But she undercooked the goat.
I think that Scott won this.
That goat, with the crust
he developed from the pretzel and the sausage,
was just wonderful.
The farro and the sausage, for me, tasted good,
but it was a little bit one-noted.
This is for $50,000. This is "All-Stars."
We know who we have to chop.
Yep.
[ Dramatic music plays ]
GAVIN: I had undercooked farro,
but Laila's dish had undercooked goat.
That's like...to me.
I want to win it.
And I have to get that check for Julian.
LAILA: I belong at "Chopped All-Stars."
I've been holding my ground.
I was a champion in the ring,
and now I want to be a champion in the kitchen.
Somebody cannot continue on
to the "All-Stars" finale's final round.
[ Dramatic music plays ]
TED: Chef Scott, Chef Gavin, Laila.
Whose dish is on the chopping block?
Laila, you've been chopped.
Judges.
Laila, you are such a fierce competitor,
but there was the issue of the goat leg being underdone.
I'm out of my weight class right now.
It's just been an honor to be here.
I've learned so much, and may the best man win.
You're lucky I'm not in that dessert round, though.
TED: Be well.
Thanks for being with us.
[ Applause ]
LAILA: In my DNA, I'm used to winning.
It doesn't feel good to lose.
It's like a squirmy feeling,
but I was here for Healthy Child Healthy World,
and I know that I'm helping create healthier children
because I took the chance.
Chef Gavin, Chef Scott.
Feeling confident? Feeling strong?
Feeling good.
Don't trip on the way to the pantry.
SCOTT: Gavin thinks that he's better than I am,
but it's the last round, and I'm ahead in the cards.
I just need to keep focused.
Please open your baskets.
And we have...
30 minutes to conceive and create delectable desserts.
Time starts now.
GEOFFREY: Holy cannoli.
TED: Judges, so, it is the 15th and final round
of our "All-Stars" tournament.
$50,000 on the line.
AARóN: Unbelievable.
And marrow bones at the end.
Absolutely.
Any recipe that calls for a lard, you can use that.
SCOTT: I had this cake in mind,
this brown-butter, almond, bone-marrow cake
with a chocolate olive-oil mousse.
I grab confectionery sugar, flour.
Got brown butter melting.
Bone marrow needs to go in the oven.
Gavin is a phenomenal chef.
He was trained personally by the best chefs in the United States.
A guy like Gavin doesn't make mistakes,
so I can't make a mistake, or else I won't win this thing.
GAVIN: I can't say I've ever made a dessert with marrow bone before.
However, it's like shortening.
I've never seen a freeze-dried grape in my life,
but it had a lot sugar on it,
so I think I can create a crumble
with marcona almonds, the freeze-dried grapes,
ladyfingers, and the rendered bone-marrow fat.
This is basically going to act as my base to the dessert.
It's gonna add a lot of texture to the dish.
And, chefs, 20 minutes left on the clock.
SCOTT: I'm one step away
from bringing $50,000 to Keep Memory Alive.
I start to separate my eggs.
For the chocolate olive-oil mousse,
I need three egg whites whipped.
For the cake, I need eight.
But first thing I do
is I drop the egg yolk into the egg whites.
Ah!
If you have egg yolk in your egg whites, it's not gonna whip.
I have to start over.
I start to get a little bit frazzled.
I need to stay inside my game,
and it really dawns on me at that point, like, "Focus."
I'm gonna start the chocolate olive-oil mousse
with the three egg yolks that I have,
and I have the chocolate melting already.
It's off to the races.
TED: And, chefs, 15 minutes on the clock.
Half your time gone.
GAVIN: How do I counterbalance the fatty bone marrow?
And I'm thinking I'm gonna make lemon curd semifreddo.
Semifreddo is anything semi-frozen.
The lemon curd tastes good.
It's exactly where I want it to be.
I believe the reason I'm here is to tell the story of Julian
and the Children's Cancer Research Fund,
and that's the thing
that I'm just not gonna let myself forget,
and it's the thing that I'm actually inspired by.
SCOTT: Now I'm gonna start to focus on the cake.
I have egg whites whipped.
It's a very simple cake --
egg whites, flour, confectionery sugar.
I grab the bone-marrow bones, I scoop them out,
I throw it in the butter.
I need to get this cake in the oven
because the clock is ticking away.
TED: If Scott hopes to cook a cake,
obviously, he's gonna have to make it very small.
SCOTT: Look at these little pans I have them in.
I know I need to reconstitute those freeze-dried grapes.
So I put them in a pot, I add some sugar and water,
take some fresh blueberries and orange liqueur.
This is gonna be my sauce.
GAVIN: So, I take the cannoli cream out,
and I realize chocolate is in there,
so I don't want chocolate in my dish.
So, I spread it through the tamis,
and I just take, simply, the cream.
The product is good as it is.
I don't want to waste time changing it.
Next, I'm gonna make a meringue.
I take egg whites and I begin to beat those at a high speed,
adding powdered sugar.
I'm going to pipe this meringue onto the plate
and then give it a quick brûlée with the torch.
And then I put the cannoli cream as dots on the plate.
TED: And, chefs, five minutes left on the clock.
SCOTT: I don't know what to do with the cannoli cream,
so I need to wing it.
I add mascarpone to it,
take the marrow that I used in the cake,
chop it up really fine,
and I just mix it in the cannoli cream.
I'm making quenelles on the plate,
but this plate is not looking as sexy as I wanted it to,
and I still don't have my cake on the plate.
Oh, my God. He hasn't taken the cakes out.
I'm starting to freak out.
So, the cakes -- They're not quite there yet.
I have no other choice
but to finish the plate with chunks of cake.
The good news is, these cakes are delicious.
MARCUS: This is really neck-to-neck right now.
Let's go, guys. Let's finish it.
TED: And you owned it, all-stars.
10...
9...
8...
7...6...
5...4...
3...
2...1.
Time's up. Step back.
[ Applause ]
That was awesome.
Thank you. That was fun.
GAVIN: I see Scott's dessert. I know I beat him.
I know I nailed it out of the park.
SCOTT: I look over at Gavin's dish,
and I see this pretty, pristine, beautiful presentation.
My heart sinks, and I want to throw up.
I feel like I just lost this whole thing.
And the mystery ingredients
for the final round of the "All-Stars" tournament --
freeze-dried grapes, marrow bones, marcona almonds,
and cannoli cream.
Chef Scott.
[ Sighs ]
So, I made a bone-marrow brown-butter almond torn cake
with a mascarpone bone-marrow cannoli cream,
with a chocolate olive-oil mousse,
and grape-blueberry puree.
So, you had trouble with the cake.
What do you think went on?
I don't think there was necessarily trouble.
I think a whole cake would have been too much.
GEOFFREY: I don't mind that it's, like, mangled a bit.
To make an almond cake with bone-marrow fat,
that's a very yummy thing.
AARóN: I love the sauce.
I love the mousse. I think it's extremely rich.
At the same time, very balanced.
But I think the two mousses
are a little bit too similar in texture.
'Cause when you have so much fat and flavors,
something should be a little bit lighter.
TED: Chef Scott, thank you.
[ Sighs ]
Last dessert, last round, end of the line.
Tell us about it, Chef Gavin.
So, what I have for you today is a lemon semifreddo,
a bone-marrow, freeze-dried grape,
and marcona almond crumble.
You also have the cannoli cream,
as well as a little bit of the meringue on the side.
AARóN: It's beautiful.
I love the texture from the marcona almonds,
the airiness of the meringue, and it's light on the palate.
Thank you, Chef.
The bone marrow and the lemon -- It's unusual, but it works.
I think it's a very successful marriage.
Really delicious.
But I don't think you picked the right plate.
There's a gap between the semifreddo and the ladyfinger.
It doesn't connect together. You taste the separation.
What an ending here.
Two very different desserts,
two very different meals for the judges to look back on.
Thank you, chefs.
And now we wait.
SCOTT: I think you got this, brother.
Seriously. I think you nailed the dessert course.
Yeah, but it's the whole meal.
You're a very elegant cook.
You're a technician. Your plating is perfect.
Yep.
Time will tell.
It's the moment of truth, guys.
We have to crown a "Chopped All-Star" grand champion.
Gavin did a wonderful job in the first course.
He did a beautiful broth
with curry and the peanut butter, the sake.
The saucing a crispy crab, not a good thing to do.
Scott delivered what we expect
of an Italian maestro like himself with the pasta.
It was loaded with flavor.
Scott's main course was out-of-bounds good.
Crusted these chunks of just perfectly cooked baby goat
with this juice that he's extracted.
Scott's main course was fantastic.
Gavin was extremely creative
making a sausage with that baby goat.
But I thought he failed the farro.
It was crunchy. It was half cooked, half uncooked.
It didn't work.
Yeah.
I think Scott failed in dessert.
He made a really good mousse, an almond tart with bone marrow.
However, the two together was, like, leaden.
I was just struggling and looking for that brightness.
It was so heavy.
Scott's dessert also had a lot of presentation issues.
Gavin took the dessert.
That kind of playbook is genius.
The lemon and the beautiful meringue.
It was delicate. It was light.
It was -- It was just like, "Wow."
The question that we need to ask each other is,
was Gavin's dessert that compelling
that it sways the vote in his favor?
Gavin created a better arch,
but on each course,
he actually failed a little bit with the execution.
It's painful. It's difficult.
That's right.
[ Dramatic music plays ]
SCOTT: I know Marcus and Aarón and Geoffrey so well.
They're good friends.
But they will not hesitate to get rid of me.
GAVIN: The hard part is just that I really don't think about
losing in my vocabulary.
I'm here to win it.
I mean, stars are there.
I'm just standing in the light.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
[ Sighs ]
SCOTT: I didn't see that coming, brother.
Chef Gavin, you've been chopped.
Judges.
Gavin, first of all, it was absolutely a privilege.
You're an amazing chef.
The appetizer round, you developed incredible sauce,
but you just didn't coat the noodles enough.
When it came to the main course,
your crépinette was absolutely delicious,
but the farro was just undercooked.
And these are the reasons why we have to chop you today.
Thank you.
I understand.
Good job, man.
Dude.
I loved working with you, man.
That was awesome.
Congratulations.
GAVIN: Competing on "Chopped All-Stars"
has made me reflect a little bit more.
Am I disappointed to lose?
Absolutely not.
I'm very proud of how I represented myself
and very proud of how I represented Julian.
I'm the ambassador of Julian's story.
That's all I can ask.
And that means, Chef Scott Conant,
that you are the "Chopped All-Stars" grand champion.
Congratulations.
[ Cheers and applause ]
$50,000 will now be going to Keep Memory Alive.
Awesome. Thank you.
That's what it's about. That's what it's about.
TED: Oh, look what the cat dragged in.
SCOTT: Hi, my love.
Dada!
WOMAN: That's Dada! Go to Dada!
Do you want a kiss?
[ Laughs ]
SCOTT: When my daughter walked in, I think...
[ Sighs ] I just love her so much.
She is so dang cute, I can't even take it.
I'm really proud to align myself with Keep Memory Alive.
To be able to really pull out the win
and bring them a check for $50,000,
it's amazing when things all line up like this.