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TED: Four chefs, three courses...
...only one chance to win.
Good enough.
The challenge -- create an unforgettable meal...
...from the mystery items hidden in these baskets...
Aw, come on!
TED: ...before time runs out.
Our distinguished panel of chefs will critique their work...
It's a poor representation of an entire culture.
Just delicious.
TED: ...and one by one,
they must face the dreaded chopping block.
Who will win the $10,000 prize...
Bring it on!
...and who will be chopped?
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
Who's ready for breakfast, lunch and dinner?
The competitors don't know it yet,
but instead of the usual appetizer, entrée, and dessert,
they're gonna have to create a whole day's worth
of decadent dishes.
First, let's meet the chefs.
We welcome Chef Joe Wetherbee.
JOE: I'm the chef owner of Joe's Cafe
in Granada Hills, California.
Joe's Cafe is a breakfast-and-lunch joint
with a very seasonal twist.
The pressure is all around me every day,
owning my own restaurant with my name on the front of it.
Order up.
My fiancée and I work together seven days a week.
We are always at each other's side.
We live together. We have dogs together.
We have a big wedding coming up, so I need this $10,000.
I'm gonna do what I do best,
and I am the next "Chopped" champion.
Next, we have Chef Rose Kai.
I'm the executive chef at the Fresh Potato Factory
in Northridge, California.
The Fresh Potato Factory is a new outlook on fast food.
We have no freezers and no fryers.
Put it right on in and close the door.
Has to go all along.
My parents are from the Middle East.
They just wanted to see me be a doctor or a lawyer,
and after a few years of being in the business field,
one day, I just threw in the towel,
and I signed up for culinary school
without telling anybody.
[ Chuckles ] Thanks, Mom.
I had to move back home,
but you need sacrifices sometimes
in order to achieve your dreams, and I'm not giving up.
There's no way.
[ Growls ]
And then there's Chef Matt Lackey.
I'm the executive chef of Flyte World Dining & Wine
in Nashville, Tennessee.
Here at Flyte, we do eclectic American
with emphasis on local proteins and produce.
I do have my own farm. It's about two acres.
It was my grandfather's.
He taught me farming, cooking, and hard work.
I'm gonna win "Chopped" because I love food.
I live it, breathe it, farm it, cook it.
So let's do this.
And finally, Chef Brandon Frohne.
I'm the executive chef of Mason's restaurant
in Nashville, Tennessee.
Mason's is a Southern brasserie
built on classical Southern staples
that we elevate with traditional French technique.
We were super poor growing up.
I got into drugs.
A lot of my friends were going to jail
and just doing nothing with their lives.
I remember thinking, "I got to get out of here."
And food helped me transform my life.
And now, I really aspire to make my family happy and proud.
Winning would be phenomenal.
It would be the icing on my culinary cake.
Chefs, normally, right now I would explain
that there are three rounds --
appetizer, entrée, and dessert.
But that's not true this time.
The three rounds for your competition will be
breakfast, lunch, and dinner,
which, by the way, means no dessert.
Are you serious? I practiced so hard for dessert.
Each round comes with its own basket
of mystery ingredients,
and you must use every ingredient in the basket
in some way.
Also available to you -- our pantry and fridge.
Each round is timed.
When the clock runs out,
our judges will critique your work
on presentation, taste, and creativity.
If your dish doesn't cut it, you will be chopped.
Chefs, please open your baskets for the breakfast round.
And your breakfast must include...
You'll have 20 minutes.
Let's start the clock now.
JOE: I'm known for cooking breakfast every day at my restaurant,
so I feel like this competition is made for me.
I see my sausage, and I think biscuits and gravy.
I sear up the sausage with the shallots and garlic.
I add a little flour and heavy cream
and let it become beautiful gravy.
Winning "Chopped" would be huge for my restaurant.
I think it's only gonna bring more customers to our door.
I want to be one of the best chefs
in Los Angeles.
I want people to know who I am from L.A. to New York.
ROSE: Oh, my God.
I love breakfast
because it doesn't have to be so pretty and perfect.
I decided to crumble up my coffee cake
and throw it in a hot pan with some butter.
I'm making a coffee-cake hash with cheesy sausage eggs.
I'm adding mushrooms, cheddar cheese.
My parents worry a lot that the career choice I made
isn't the right one.
I know they're scared.
I'm their only daughter.
Winning "Chopped" would prove to my parents
that being a chef is a actual career.
I was born with three fingers on my right hand,
but I figured out a way to hold things,
to grip things, and it hasn't slowed me down
in the kitchen.
[ Humming ]
I decide to do a sformato,
which is this really airy, Italian, custard-style soufflé.
I add the chocolate cream eggs in there
for a little bit of chocolate flavor.
I see the sausage, and I'm like,
"Let's do a classical potato hash with it."
Cooking next to Matt is exciting.
Both of us being from Nashville, it's a huge opportunity
for us to represent the city,
but only one of us really can win "Chopped."
And so I want to put him out.
I think Brandon's new to the scene in Nashville.
I'm not worried about him.
What I do I do well, and I don't find too many people
that do it any better than I do.
I decide to make a crunchy, salty coffee cake
with a bittered chocolate-cream-egg sauce.
I need multiple textures of crispiness,
so I'm deep-frying the sausage.
This is definitely a challenge due to the fact
that I don't buy processed foods at home,
much less cook with them, but I have to today.
I'll tell you, these guys are moving at hyper speed.
Looks like Rose could be making some kind of a hash.
AARON: And hash is a good idea.
You know, I would love to see a plate of huevos rancheros here.
SCOTT: But what does that have to do with the ingredients
Well --
You're not at the diner, Aarón, all right?
[ Laughter ]
I really, really don't want
to incorporate chocolate into my dish.
I only want to use the creamy center of these eggs.
I think it might make a nice sauce,
so I bring the mimosa to a boil,
and then I fold in the creamed egg.
I think Brandon's trying to make bread pudding
with 13 minutes to go.
AARON: Oh, my God.
Forget about it.
It's never gonna set in time.
BRANDON: Come on, please work.
There's 12 minutes left,
and I know in my heart that it takes 15 minutes
to make these bad boys rise, but I want to take a risk.
I'm gonna do it.
And, chefs, we are looking at the 10-minute mark.
I'm working on the chocolate sauce,
and I want to be able to add
some of the orange from the mimosa to it.
Next, I go to grab the smoking gun,
because it's gonna set the dish apart.
I really want the smoke component to pair that
in the coffee cake.
ROSE: I realized, like, everything is just a blah color.
So I grab some chives and some jalapeños.
I toss in some strawberries
to cut through all the fat
from the eggs and the cheese and the sausage.
Perfect. Cook.
JOE: I'm searing coffee cake in butter.
I turn around for maybe two seconds,
and then I turn back, and it's black and smoking.
[ Bleep ]
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
TED: Something on fire over there?
What is going on above Joe's station?
What is all that smoke?
And five minutes remaining, folks.
JOE: I'm definitely panicking right now.
That's it. You burnt your ingredient.
If I can't salvage this coffee cake,
I think that's gonna be the end of the road for me.
[ Clock ticking ]
JOE: I'm nervous. I'm panicked.
Am I gonna have to serve burnt cake?
Luckily, I'm able to break it down
and still have some nice pieces out of it.
My sauce is coming together
with my mimosa and my creamy egg.
It looks great, and it's tasting great.
I immediately think creamed spinach,
so I start sautéing that down.
I add a little bit of my orange-cream sauce to it.
It really does look nice.
ROSE: I'm looking at all my components,
and I need something to bring this all together.
So I run to the pantry, and I see mascarpone cheese.
Mix it together with some orange juice
and the shavings from the chocolate.
You know, all those flavors,
I'm hoping they're gonna be amazing.
Oh.
MATT: I'm looking at the smoking gun, and I don't smell any smoke.
CHRIS: He has not actually lit it.
I don't think he's getting any smoke.
MATT: This is not working,
but I don't have time to be worrying about it.
I want to make a mimosa cream.
It's gonna go in
with the chocolate-cream-egg sauce.
All right, chefs, I have to call the two-minute warning.
BRANDON: I have two minutes left.
I pull the ramekins out of the oven,
and I see that my sformatos are, like,
cooked 1/3 of the way.
[Bleep]
So I freak out.
I just don't see how Brandon is gonna finish.
Help me, Jesus.
It's time for backup plan.
So, I'm, like, scramble up the mixture
into the sauté pan to do a play on pudding,
and I'm gonna do a little bit of honey-whipped ricotta.
It's not what I wanted, but it's something.
One minute to go. Got to get it on the plate.
CHRIS: Get it on the plates, guys.
ROSE: I have no idea how to plate this.
I just figure I could stack it all together,
and I'm hoping that's gonna work.
[Bleep]
And breakfast must be served in seconds, chefs.
10, 9, 8...
CHRIS: Finish up, finish up.
TED: ...seven, six, five, four,
three, two, one.
Time is up. Please step back.
ROSE: That's not the way I present food.
Everything tastes good.
I just don't know if they're gonna taste good together.
BRANDON: I look over at Matt's plate,
and it looks like a little amuse-bouche.
What the heck was he thinking?
That's not breakfast.
Chefs, after the first cooking round
of our breakfast, lunch, and dinner competition,
you have arrived at the chopping block.
The judges are hoping for a glorious morning meal
made from coffee cake, mimosas, breakfast sausages,
and cream-filled chocolate eggs.
Chef Joe.
I presented to you a coffee-cake biscuits and gravy
and then an orange-creamed spinach.
And where is the cream-filled chocolate?
I used the inside cream filling,
and I made the creamed spinach out of that.
Those chocolate-covered eggs --
that's a tough ingredient in general.
I think it was really smart
to take the cream out of the center, though.
And I think the sausage gravy is awesome.
This is wildly inventive but also very classic,
but I think the coffee cake's a little big.
It's a lot of coffee cake to get through.
If you were to win today, what would you do?
I just got engaged. My fiancée's name is Alison.
I'm definitely gonna put the money towards our wedding.
I don't think it's gonna be hard to spend it.
Yeah. [ Chuckles ]
That's great.
Next up, we have Chef Rose.
Hello, chefs.
Today, I prepared for you a coffee-cake hash
topped with cheesy sausage eggs,
and on top is strawberries with olive oil and scallions.
The crispy bits of the coffee cake
that you were able to brown,
I think it's very enjoyable.
There's certain people that know how to make yummy,
and this is just yummy.
CHRIS: There's jalapeño in here too, right?
Which I really like,
and I do agree with Mr. Sánchez here
that it is very yummy.
I'm just wondering if it all really goes together.
SCOTT: I think we're having a similar experience.
The eggs and the sausage work very well.
The mascarpone and the orange works very well,
but all together, stacked up inside a ring mold,
I'm not sure if that's exactly the perfect place
Yeah.
All right, Chef Rose, thank you.
Thank you.
Next, we have Chef Matt.
So, what I have today is
a crunchy, salted coffee cake
with a bittered chocolate-cream-egg sauce.
I love the idea of re-creating
the actual cream-filled chocolate.
I got to applaud you for taking that approach,
because clearly, you thought about it.
Awesome.
I appreciate how you stuck true to the basket.
Like, I can really detect all the elements here,
but I don't think breakfast should be so cerebral.
Breakfast, to me, is supposed to be satisfying.
It should be hearty.
This is just really small, to your point,
and it's also very sweet.
Yeah.
I think the smoked element would have definitely brought
a few bitter notes,
but the smoking gun was not performing.
Did you light it?
Yeah, this one, you have to light it.
I was under the impression
that it had a heating element in it.
Thank you.
Finally, Chef Brandon.
I've prepared for you
a chocolate-cream-egg- and-coffee-cake pudding
along with sausage and potato hash.
AARON: I like this a lot.
The potatoes, I think, bring it all together.
It works really well with the sausage,
but this pudding is a little hard to understand.
I'm just not certain
how it's registering in my palate.
It just really didn't hold together well.
I just scrambled it, and it was a last resort.
CHRIS: You did get it cooked to some degree.
The problem is this is so sweet.
You put so much sugar in that pudding.
SCOTT: I find it very sweet, as well,
but I love the idea of shifting gears the way you did,
and then just finally scrambling the damn thing.
Where'd you get your love of food and cooking?
I had a lot of adversities growing up.
I spent most of my teenage years in foster homes,
addicted to drugs, selling drugs.
[ Voice breaking ] And so --
[ Sniffles ] Sorry.
[ Normal voice ] I wanted to grab onto something.
So, being a chef helped me to overcome it, you know?
Yeah, you know, kitchens are havens
for people that have had tough times,
so I'm happy that you found sanctuary in kitchens,
'cause I share a lot of that story, as well.
As do I.
Thank you. Thank you, guys.
One chef's breakfast plate has not earned them a spot
in the lunch round.
We'll have to wait and see whose.
Thank you.
I think that they were not super happy
with the elegant breakfast.
[ Laughter ]
Yeah, it's so hard to read them, man.
Yeah.
I thought a couple of the chefs, especially Matt,
chefed up what breakfast is too much.
It was very precious.
SCOTT: But I think it was very creative.
I love the way Matt thought about
re-creating that cream-filled egg.
I really loved the potatoes and the onions
on Brandon's plate.
He was really smart to adjust that pudding,
but, end of the day, it was too sweet.
Right, yeah.
What do you guys think about Rose's dish?
Don't know how to describe it,
but I did enjoy the overall flavor.
Yeah, it's hard to describe it,
'cause it didn't really belong together.
I liked the mimosa element with the mascarpone,
but it really did need to be compartmentalized
onto different dishes.
I think Joe's sausage-and-biscuit
kind of rendition was the most satisfying dish of the round.
It was just delicious.
It was a very simple, straightforward approach
that was all about extraction of flavor.
MATT: I have no idea who's gonna get chopped,
but I'm not worried that it's me.
I really want to prove that my creativity is
backed up by execution.
I want to impress them, man.
[ Clock ticking ]
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Rose, you've been chopped.
Judges?
Chef Rose, we absolutely felt that you embraced
the breakfast concept today.
It just didn't come together
in a dish that we could really enjoy
because your individual components don't belong
stacked on top of each other.
So, unfortunately, we have to let you go today.
Thank you so much, you guys. It was an honor.
ROSE: I could've done better,
but I really proved to my parents
that I'm capable of being a great chef.
You know, just because I fall down,
I'm not gonna stay down.
There is no way.
TED: Chef Joe, Chef Matt, Chef Brandon, we want you
to take the ingredients you're about to see
and turn them into delicious midday meals made to amaze.
[ Chuckles ]
Please open your baskets for the lunch round.
And you must use...
You get 30 minutes for this round.
Clock starts now.
I'm thinking that lunch should be light,
but I still want it to be really fresh.
So I decide to make
***-and-pâté-spiced bouillabaisse.
Usually, I use pork belly in my bouillabaisse.
Instead, I'm gonna use the pork pâté,
and hopefully it turns out with the same taste.
MATT: John Dory, it's a very delicate fish.
You have to be very careful when cooking it.
I'm just going to kind of let it speak for itself.
I decide to do a seared John Dory
with a warm mushroom-and-arugula salad.
Behind.
The Nashville food scene got put in a slingshot
and just sent out.
I'm fairly well-known in Nashville, for sure,
and I do not want to represent it poorly.
I tasted the *** martini, and the first thing I think is
a citrus-grilled John Dory
topped with a *** beurre blanc.
A beurre blanc is a vinegar-and-citrus reduction
topped with mounted butter to give it a creaminess.
I know grilling the fish is a big risk,
but if I can pull it off, it's gonna put me ahead.
Well, I'll tell you what I'm excited about --
the return of the martini lunch.
AARON: [ Chuckles ]
They have a very beautiful fish here -- the John Dory --
reminiscent of sole or flounder.
TED: All right, chefs, you're down to 20 minutes.
I've never worked with John Dory before,
but I've got some butchery experience.
I take the fillets off of it.
I use the head and the rest of the fish for my stock.
Normally, for lunch, I have a seared piece of fish
with a warm salad of mushrooms.
I never work with dried mushrooms
'cause I have plenty of local mushrooms
that I can forage for.
So, I want to force flavor in.
I take soy sauce, Sriracha, and rice-wine vinegar...
Vacuum-seal bags.
...vacuum seal that with the dehydrated mushrooms
so that they will begin soaking up all the good flavors,
and get them in a circulator bath.
Yes.
JOE: Pâté. Pâté is disgusting.
I know that I want to kind of treat it like a bacon,
kind of crisp it up and utilize the saltiness that it has
and use it so that it's a different texture
than my nice, flaky fish.
MATT: I regret putting the pâté in my mouth.
It tastes horrible --
just overly spiced and, like, weird meat.
I get the pâté in a food processor
with some oil, some Dijon, some egg yolks.
I'm just trying to make some sauce
so that the fish has something to kind of pair with.
I want to do these awesome tapenade croutons
to go down into the bouillabaisse,
so I run to the fridge, and I grab the olives.
I look at that clock, and that time is just rolling.
Earlier, I cut the fish with my chef knife,
so I run over to the sink super quick
just to give it a little wash.
MAN: Don't run with the knife!
Somebody yells out, "Don't run with a knife!"
[Bleep] [Bleep] There it goes.
Oh. oh, no. We got a cut.
Brandon cut himself.
Oh, my God. Did that just happen?
I'm in pain.
Good one.
Oh [Bleep]
I'm really worried we might have a serious cut here with Brandon.
Oh, my God.
Our medic is taking care of him.
That's such a shame, man. Oh, God.
Oh, Jesus.
CHRIS: I think it's a very bad cut.
All right, chefs, we're now down to 10 minutes.
MATT: I got to wash my hands.
Holy cow.
I need someone to get out of my way
so I can wash my hands.
I don't care about Brandon's finger at the moment.
I care about getting my dish done.
Behind, behind, behind, behind.
I start to pan-sear the John Dory
and then baste it
with a small amount of butter and thyme.
JOE: I look over at Brandon, and I hope he's okay,
but at the same time, in a competition,
I'm looking at it as an outlet to pull ahead.
I'm making an arugula puree with my fish stock,
pine nuts, and goat cheese
to give it a little bit creaminess.
All right.
CHRIS: He's coming back.
He's back in the game. He's back in the game.
SCOTT: Come on, be strong, bro. Be strong.
Now, I'm pretty sure I lost a good five minutes.
Behind.
Half of my dish isn't even finished yet,
but I'm not giving up, man.
I mean, I came from Nashville to do this.
I throw all the ingredients that go into a tapenade
into the baguette, toss it up, throw it in the oven.
And I just get that fish in to sear.
TED: All right, chefs,
you're looking at five minutes left on the clock.
JOE: I'm pulling apples and my citrus again.
I grab a jalapeño,
and I create this really nice, citrusy, spicy slaw.
I definitely want to win for my fiancée, Alison.
She tells me I'm a great chef every day,
but to be able to say that, "Hey, 'Chopped' thinks
I'm a great chef too, and I won,"
that's just gonna be an amazing feeling.
MATT: I had my John Dory in two separate pans,
and one of the two pans is sticking horribly...
You mother [Bleep]
...whereas the other one's coming off perfectly.
I'm a little agitated.
All right, chefs, one minute left on the clock.
BRANDON: I need to get this bouillabaisse strained out,
but my left hand hurts so bad I can't lift the pot.
Aah.
And I can't really grip it with my right hand
because of my disability,
but then I'm like, push, push, push, push, push.
TED: The lunch round is nearing an end, chefs.
10, 9, 8, 7,
six, five, four,
three, two, one.
Time's up. Please step back.
[ Applause ]
Oh.
How's your hand, man?
That's pretty bloody.
BRANDON: Dish is good,
but it's something that I would cook at my house.
This is not going how I planned.
Okay, can we have the medic look at him, clean
him up one more time, please?
You know that the medic is recommending
that you get treatment.
I'm not giving up on this competition.
If I pass out, take me to the hospital.
[ Clock ticking ]
I just want to say, Brandon, you feeling all right?
Yeah.
If I pass out, somebody please catch me.
But other than that, I feel good, man.
Can I ask what happened? How'd you cut yourself?
So, I ran to the sink to wash fish off of my knife.
I ended up scooting down the line,
and then the tip of the knife just, like, sliced it, yeah.
Brutal.
You took the award for worst cut that I've seen.
Okay, chefs,
the three rounds for this competition --
breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
For lunch, you had to work with John Dory, arugula,
*** martini, and pâté.
Chef Brandon.
So, I made a ***- and-pâté-spiked bouillabaisse
with tapenade croutons and wilted arugula.
I have to tell you,
you got some really good flavor into this bouillabaisse.
Thank you.
It has that perfect whisper of the ocean,
which bouillabaisse should have.
And, I have to say, the fish is cooked well.
The pâté added a level of fat,
which is emulsified nicely into this,
which I think is a really great touch.
And the portion size for lunch, obviously,
I think is spot on,
but it seems a little incomplete,
which, quite frankly, it should probably be incomplete,
considering you lost 20% of the round
tending to your wound.
All right, Chef Brandon, thank you.
And, next lunch, Chef Matt.
So, what we have here is seared John Dory
with a warm wood-ear-mushroom- and-arugula salad.
I think this is a perfect lunch plate.
A nice piece of fish, a little bit of a salad on top.
This sauce that you created is really good.
What I'm not crazy about is these mushrooms.
They just don't have a huge amount of flavor inside.
I threw it in some rice-wine vinegar
to try to really punch through,
but maybe it wasn't quite enough.
Let me just start with saying that I like it very much.
Awesome.
The fish is cooked perfectly.
It's so nice and moist,
but that illuminates my one problem --
that the skin --
it must have stuck to the pan or something,
'cause it's very soggy.
All right, and next lunch, Chef Joe.
I prepared for you a citrus-grilled John Dory
with an arugula purée, a *** beurre blanc,
and a spicy apple-jalapeño slaw.
AARON: The arugula puree --
great way of transforming that ingredient,
but the pâté is very challenging to eat.
You crisped it up, and it became kind of muddy.
I don't know that I agree with you.
Okay.
But there's a nice, little salt punch...
...that I like.
I just wish this fish was a little less cooked.
This is such a great, creative idea.
That makes it that much more infuriating
that the fish is so dry.
SCOTT: I wish you had grilled it, taken it off,
brushed it with fat, finished it slowly in the oven.
But I love the soupy, saucy component
that you have on the bottom.
And I know you used a lot of goat cheese in it.
Fish and cheese and meat,
well, we don't get along very well,
but this -- this works really, really well.
Thank you.
Okay, chefs. Got to wait again.
Please step out. Thank you.
They're tough. They're tough.
I'm slightly nervous. You know, who knows?
Everyone's dish looked great.
BRANDON: And I've never cooked John Dory.
Yeah.
Yeah, lesson learned.
All of them created really good flavors
in one way or another in this round,
but I think who captured the best spirit of lunch today,
for me, had to be Matt.
Beautiful sauce on the plate, little bit of a salad on top.
His fish was cooked perfectly.
CHRIS: Little bit of an issue
with the skin coming out of the pan,
but comparative to the other two chefs,
I think clearly, he made the best "lunch dish."
I really liked Joe's dish, as well.
The arugula puree he made was delicious,
but his fish was just overcooked.
There's just no two ways about it.
AARON: Yeah.
Brandon lost, you know,
four to five minutes from his cooking round,
and he still was able to develop a lot of flavor
in that bouillabaisse broth.
It was tomato-y. It was rich.
And I also thought using the ***
as his undertone of flavor was exceptional.
As well as using the pâté, as you pointed out,
to sort of thicken his sauce.
And the fish was cooked nicely,
but that dish seemed incomplete.
BRANDON: If I had, like, those five minutes,
I feel like I probably could have
pulled it all together fully.
So, naturally, yeah, I'm a little worried.
JOE: I don't want to go home at all.
[ Laughs ]
That's the last thing I want to do.
I'm here to win it.
[ Clock ticking ]
With the breakfast and lunch rounds finished,
one chef has to go before dinner.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Ooh.
Chef Brandon, you've been chopped.
Judges?
Chef, we love the perseverance
that you showed in this round.
You clearly have a history of persevering.
The broth was really spectacular.
Unfortunately, your dish was missing so many other elements
to kind of get it to the necessary level.
So we had to chop you today.
It's been awesome, man.
Thank you guys so much.
You're a good man.
Thank you.
[ Chuckles ]
It would've been so exciting to win today.
but it's been phenomenal -- like, a huge opportunity.
I'm just gonna take it, listen to what they have to say,
and hopefully become better.
Matt, Chef Joe, made it to the dinner round
of our breakfast, lunch, and dinner competition.
Ready to go?
Ready to win.
Please open these baskets.
And your dinners must include...
You'll have 30 minutes to create
an outrageously delicious dinner.
Time starts now.
What was that?
JOE: Opening the basket just made me happy.
Right off the bat, I think about a date
that I had with my fiancée.
I made prime rib with a strawberry balsamic sauce
and smashed potatoes,
so I want to re-create that dinner.
I really want to take the potato gratin
and emphasize them with red bliss,
purple potatoes, and sweet potatoes.
Matt and I have completely polar-opposite personalities.
He's -- how do I politely say "cocky"?
Matt is a very overly confident chef,
but I think I'm gonna show him what's up.
MATT: Dinner's my thing.
This is definitely where I'll shine.
Every day, I wake up, and I get random products,
and I make dinner, and I make it good.
I'm looking at the rib eye,
and I can see that the eye is the true showcase.
I'm going to do an eye of rib eye
served with an Amarone beef jus.
I go get the pressure cooker
because I want to be able
to extract collagen from the bones
to give a little bit more flavor to the sauce.
I don't remember anyone getting
a basket this good, ever. Ever.
Yeah. Beautiful prime rib, beautiful Amarone wine.
It has such a beautiful, deep sweetness
on the back end of the palate.
All right, gentlemen, you got
20 minutes left on the clock.
Okay, I'll be back.
All righty, Chef Matt.
What's the pressure cooker for?
Hopefully to get a little bit of body
on some liquid that I can reduce down.
You got a plan for those potatoes?
Yeah, I think I do.
What's your plan?
What's your plan? Good question.
Come on. Share with everyone.
All right, Chef Joe, I'm really curious
where the maple syrup went.
The maple syrup went onto the rib eyes.
Okay, table rosemary, anything else?
Thyme, salt and pepper, olive oil.
Okay, so, what's the challenge for you here?
Time?
Behind you, Matt.
MATT: It's very agitating to me
that I have yet another processed product.
This gratin looks horrible,
but I know that I can make it taste completely different.
I want to get some of the potato gratin
in some milk so that I can make
a potato-gratin purée.
The rest of it, I get cubed up and ready for the deep fryer.
Shallot confit is basically shallots cooked down
in either butter or oil till they get
this sort of marmalade consistency, if you will.
JOE: I'm gonna make the shallot confit
the base to my sauce.
I'm roasting the bones from the rib eyes.
I'm gonna deglaze them with the Amarone wine.
I add that to my balsamic reduction,
then add to my strawberry puree.
I've never bought confited anything.
I confit everything myself,
but I want to make confited shallot butter
for the rib eye.
Then, I want to add a beef fat and whip it all together.
All right, chefs, 10 minutes left on the clock.
Really fun to see
couple of really ferocious chefs like this.
I mean, Joe's energy level is just off the charts.
SCOTT: We were all here at one point, right?
30 years old, fighting for your career.
I was anticipating from the beginning
that it was gonna be me and Joe at the end.
I have to do something that's really out there
to wow the judges.
I think Matt is really, really trying to be out of the box.
If you're gonna talk it up and say that you're the best,
then prove it.
MATT: I'm just throwing everything I've got at this.
JOE: He'll do whatever it takes,
just like I'll do whatever it takes.
TED: Gentlemen, here is the five-minute mark.
Unfortunately,
I'm having a little bit of trouble
getting the potatoes cooked through.
They're still a little bit hard.
So I cut them down a little bit smaller
and just keep boiling them.
At this point, I've got to get the sauce
out of the pressure cooker and get it reduced.
I'm adding xanthan gum to thicken
the beef-fat-potato-gratin purée.
TED: Almost down to two minutes, guys.
Got to plate.
Something's burning.
MATT: Oh, crap.
I'm now remembering
that my potato gratin is in the fryer.
I can't not put them on the plate.
One minute left, chefs.
JOE: The time's running out.
I incorporate my potato gratin,
my red, white, and sweet potatoes,
and give them a nice mash.
Get to plating, get to plating, get to plating.
TED: Counting it down now, chefs.
And 10, 9, 8,
seven, six, five,
Crap.
MATT: I got to get the shallot butter on the plate.
Time's up. Please step back.
MATT: I feel good.
I know that that's exactly what Joe wanted to put on a plate.
It's just not what I would have put on a plate.
JOE: I look over at Matt's dish,
and his dish looks a little bit more elegant,
but I'm confident that I cooked the steak dead-on.
So I don't know what to expect.
[ Clock ticking ]
Chef Matt, Chef Joe, you opened the dinner basket
to find prime rib, Amarone wine, potato gratin,
and shallot confit.
Chef Joe.
Chefs, today I prepared for you
a grilled rib eye with a maple glaze,
Amarone-strawberry reduction sauce
and a smashed potato.
CHRIS: There's not really much to say about the steak,
other than it's perfect.
Thank you.
I am picking up the beautiful caramelization
that you were able to get with the grill pans.
I think your sauce works really well,
and especially when you have a bite
with a little bleu cheese, so perfect.
But I'm not crazy about these potatoes.
They feel really gummy to me.
As far as the presentation, this is, like,
a tremendous amount of food.
This is definitely dinner, though,
but it may be breakfast again the next day.
[ Chuckles ]
Chef Joe, thank you.
And finally, Chef Matt.
What we have here is the eye of the rib eye
served with a beef-fat-potato-gratin purée
and a confited-shallot butter.
AARON: The eye of the rib eye --
That's such a choice part of this particular cut of meat,
and I think the way that you cooked this is
nothing short of brilliant.
It's fabricated in the right length.
The seasoning is spot on.
That's the way to cook steak.
That puree is so great and so silky and so smooth,
I can't believe it came from a gratin.
Totally delicious,
but these potatoes are bitter.
And to the butter, you barely got any on Aarón's plate here.
I don't know how much you got.
Yeah, I got it on the side of my plate.
This has been a hell of a battle to watch.
Is this a winning dish for you?
I believe so.
I deserve to win today because, even with the time crunch,
I cooked how I would cook at my restaurant.
What about you, Joe?
I'm extremely happy how the whole day went today.
The L.A. chefs that have competed here are
guys that I look up to.
They've made a name for themselves,
and that's what I want to do.
I want people to know my name.
Thank you, Matt. Thank you, Joe.
Yeah, right?
[ Both laugh ]
It is, it is.
Just hope that fish doesn't come back to bite me.
[ Chuckles ]
Hope those potatoes don't come back to bite me.
Ultimately, the question is who cooked
the best breakfast, lunch, and dinner for us?
Right off the bat, I thought Joe did a great job
with that play on biscuits and gravy.
CHRIS: In terms of the theme of the day,
Yes.
As opposed to Matt, who didn't give us breakfast.
But re-creating that cream-filled egg,
I really liked.
I thought Joe's lunch course was very elevated.
I think we all really liked the arugula cream
that he made with goat cheese,
but the fish was a little bit overcooked.
I love the way Matt did his fish --
cooked it with brown butter, perfectly cooked --
but most of all, I think that sauce
that he made with the pâté made the lunch.
It comes down now to our dinner course.
I thought Joe's steak was delicious.
I really did.
Joe -- he's this kind of rustic cook --
big, bold flavors.
But there's a difference
between heavy-handed and rustic.
I think if he used a little bit of restraint,
he would've winded up with something much better.
Matt did a great job cooking his steak,
and I can't get over that purée he did.
I thought it was extremely creative.
But he fried these potatoes, and they're overcooked.
He wasted time plating those
when he could've gotten
that beautiful shallot butter onto the steak.
I can't even put into words how badly I want it.
If you asked me two days ago,
I would tell you that I was just happy to go compete.
Now I can taste that victory.
MATT: It's a really close battle.
I just feel like I care for ingredients
a little bit differently than he does.
I definitely want to bring the win home for Nashville.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Matt, you've been chopped.
Judges?
Chef Matt, your lunch course was almost beyond reproach,
but there were some errors on your breakfast and dinner plate
that led us to this decision.
But you're at a point in your career
where anything is within grasp,
and I think the sky's the limit for you.
All right.
MATT: Maybe I didn't want it as bad as him,
but I wanted to show them a representation of myself.
I take extreme pride in the slow process
of cooking something properly.
I still feel like I did a great job.
And that means, Chef Joe Wetherbee,
that you are the "Chopped" champion
of this breakfast, lunch, and dinner competition.
The prize -- $10,000. Congratulations.
Thank you very much, chefs.
Thank you.
You worked really hard, man.
That effort speaks to, you know, your future.
If you always bring that level of concentration,
of effort, hard work, that ethic,
Thank you.
Can't believe it happened.
I think I have proven that I'm not just someone
who just flips eggs in the morning.
I'm here to stay, and I'm here to make it big.
I don't feel like anything can stop me.
This is only the beginning. Yeah, this is the beginning.
Whoo!