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I have $100,000 of cold hard cash in this case.
Four chefs get $25,000 each.
Yeah, baby!
If they want to leave this kitchen with any of the cash,
they have to survive three culinary challenges...
and each other...
Women stick together.
No, they don't. [ Chuckles ]
...in a game where sabotage is not only encouraged...
You'll be able to force one of your opponents
to do all of their cooking on a camp stove.
...it's for sale.
$5,000.
[ Exhales sharply ]
It's a game we like to call...
[ Laughs ]
..."Cutthroat Kitchen."
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
CHEF BLANCKENBERG: My name Drew Blanckenberg, and I come from South Africa.
I work for a bazillionaire as a private chef.
When you come from South Africa,
it's a bit of an edgy country, you know?
It's got poisonous snakes, big animals, wild stuff,
so I'll roll with the punches.
CHEF ROCCO: Rocco Whalen. Chef and owner, baby.
Being a chef in Cleveland is really, you know,
nitty-gritty, roll your sleeves up.
It's in the Rust Belt.
If you're from Cleveland, you really don't like to lose.
I truly only like losing when it involves losing weight.
If I don't go home the winner, I will be very disappointed.
Yeah. Likewise.
CHEF TIFFANY: My name is Tiffany Derry.
I own Tiffany Derry Concepts, and I live in Dallas, Texas.
So, my style of food that I do is typically global.
I have studied all over the world,
and I want to cook whatever I want whenever I want,
and, so, this is how I do it.
CHEF ***: I'm Jimmy ***.
I'm originally from Taiwan. I moved here when I was 13.
I like to cook fusion cuisine,
fusing a little bit of Asian influence
with a little bit of French technique --
whatever it takes to win.
You ready to rock 'n' roll, Mr. ***?
The *** is in the house.
[ Chuckles ]
Hello, chefs.
Welcome to "Cutthroat Kitchen."
The rules are very, very simple.
There are gonna be three cooking rounds.
At the end of each, one of you will, regrettably,
be eliminated by a judge,
who is currently sequestered off-kitchen.
Before each cooking round,
I'm going to assign a dish to be prepared.
You will then have 60 seconds to shop for your dish
here in our cutthroat pantry.
And then, the fun part.
We're gonna have a little auction.
During this, you will be able to bid on some devices,
should you win, you could use
to cause your competition considerable consternation.
Of course, if you're gonna have an action,
you're gonna need some money,
and I happen to have here $100,000 of cold hard cash...
...which I will divide between you.
Each of you will receive $25,000
to spend throughout the competition.
But spend wisely, because at the end of the day,
when one of you is left standing,
you will only win the cash you have remaining.
Chef Blanckenberg, take your cash.
Chef Rocco, go ahead.
Two bundles I've pre-counted, pre-weighed.
Here you go. Two bundles.
And the last two are for you, Chef ***.
CHEF ***: All right.
When Alton gave me $25,000,
all I wanted to do was run out of the room.
If I win, I would love
to give my wife the honeymoon that we never had.
For the first round, I want something very simple.
What I want you to produce is a sandwich and a side.
CHEF TIFFANY: A sandwich and a side.
That's not too difficult, so there has to be something
in here that's gonna really trick us up.
You will have 30 minutes to produce this dish.
You will have 60 seconds to shop for your ingredients,
and that shopping time begins...now.
CHEF ROCCO: I want a tuna sandwich.
I see the tuna, grab it right out of Chef Blanckenberg's hands.
So I grab some mayo, I grab some Thai chili paste.
Also, I've got noodles --
I picked up some udon and some soba,
maybe a Thai-style udon-noodle salad
to go with the tuna.
My thought process, initially, was, "Don't forget the bread."
I'm looking for the corned beef or the Italian sausage.
It's gonna be African-style sandwich.
4, 3, 2...
Graceful.
We're now going to deal with our auction items.
So, let's see what we've got.
We call this "Choose Your Weapon."
I have here a chef's knife, a box cutter, a butter knife,
and my personal favorite, kids' scissors.
You win this stunning collection,
and you can choose one tool for yourself
and then assign the other three chefs their tools.
Keep in mind, all the other knives must be forfeited.
CHEF BLANCKENBERG: It's extremely important to have a kitchen knife.
You're gonna have a problem cutting proteins,
you're gonna have a problem cutting vegetables.
Everything is at stake here.
Bidding starts at $500.
$1,100.
$2,000.
$2,000 is the current high bid.
$3,500.
Chef Blanckenberg's in for $3,500.
$3,600, Chef Tiffany.
$5,000.
We have a $5,000 bid from Chef Rocco.
$5,200.
I have $5,200 from Chef Blanckenberg.
How about $5,300? $5,300? $5,300?
Going once for $5,200. Going twice for $5,200.
CHEF TIFFANY: In my head, I'm just --
I'm having a battle -- What do you spend?
Do you get it? Do you wait? Do you hold off? What do I do?
ALTON: Sold for $5,200 to Chef Blanckenberg.
Come on up and bring me my money.
Choose which one of these tools
you would like to use for yourself.
This one.
Shock and surprise.
Chef Rocco, butter knife.
Chef Tiffany, kiddie scissors.
[ Chuckles ]
Chef ***, box cutter.
Enjoy, guys.
Man, I'm gonna get you next.
ALTON: Let's take a look at our second item --
the basket swap.
Buy this item, and you can force two of your opponents
to swap their shopping baskets.
[ Laughs ]
Hopefully, you didn't get too attached to anything.
CHEF TIFFANY: I'm getting into this action.
They're not gonna take my food!
Who'll give me $500 for this?
Got a $1,000 bid...
$2,000.
Got a $2,000 bid from Chef Rocco.
$2,600 -- Chef ***'s in.
I have $3,500.
CHEF BLANCKENBERG: I'm not afraid of getting somebody else's baskets.
I believe I have enough skill set.
I'll make whatever's needed.
$3,700.
I have $3,700 now, high bid.
$3,800.
$3,800, current high bid.
Going once for $3,800.
Going twice for $3,800.
Sold for $3,800 to Chef Tiffany.
Come on up and bring me your money, ma'am.
I want you to give some serious thought to this.
You can only exchange two of your opponents' baskets.
Chef *** -- It's not even worth taking,
so I'm gonna let him keep that basket
and deal with that on his own.
Chef Rocco has a plan,
because everything in his basket is cohesive.
Chef Blanckenberg, he has five different kinds of meat,
and I'm still salty about these scissors.
I'm switching these two.
Right out of the gate, she's firing off at me?
I see how she sets the tone.
ALTON: Gentlemen, exchange baskets, if you please.
So, let's move on to our third item for this round.
Leftover, soggy gas-station sandwiches.
Whoever wins this item will be able to confiscate
one chef's wonderful, fresh bread
and force them to delicately peel away the bread
from these soggy messes and use it.
Hilarious. Gas-station sandwiches, wet bread.
I'm taking this advantage.
$500 for this terrible disaster.
$2,000.
$2,000 bid from Chef ***!
CHEF ***: The sandwich looked like somebody sat on it.
I don't want nothing to do with it.
$4,000. 4 grand.
ALTON: $4,000 bid from Chef Rocco.
It is $4,400? $4,400?
I'm in for $4,400 over here.
Who's gonna go $4,500?
$4,500.
Going once for $4,500. Going twice for $4,500.
Sold to Chef Rocco for $4,500.
Too late on that one, Chef.
Come on over. Bring me my money -- $4,500.
Deliver this sandwich of goodness to whoever
and bring me back their bread.
Oh!
Chef Blanckenberg, I'll keep these rolls safe for you right down here.
Sandwich and a side.
Half an hour.
And that cooking time begins...now.
CHEF ***: I'm making sweet-and-sour vegetable pocket sandwich
with the pancetta arugula salad.
So I take my box cutter
and start shaving all my vegetable as thin as possible.
I added a little bit of sweet chili sauce,
and then I sautéed them.
Now I have to cut my pancetta.
It was almost like I'm sawing through a piece of meat.
22 minutes left, Chef, 22 minutes.
CHEF BLANCKENBERG: I've got my chef knife. I'm pleased with that.
We've got tuna here.
I'm gonna make the tunas into patties, you know?
I'm gonna chop it up fine, get that out of the way.
I have to use the gas-station bread.
It's awful.
I saw his bread at a gas station on 10 about two hours ago.
[ Laughs ]
Eat in the middle of Africa and see what happens.
Got some good udon.
I have this cool idea.
It's gonna be an udon noodle bun instead of a bread bun.
And then I'm gonna top it off with this gross bread.
So, I'm taking the sandwich bread,
and I'm gonna toast it --
kind of like get a little caramelization on it,
give it a little bit of body.
I'll put the udon through boil
and then take that out, strain it.
I want a fairly dry cooked noodle.
So, put it into the fryer.
I hope this works.
I come from the land of meat and pierogies,
so we'll be all right.
I have different sandwiches that I can make
with Chef Blanckenberg's protein basket.
I finally decided on
Italian-sausage roasted-pepper sandwich, Cleveland style.
I pop the Italian sausage in the oven.
And I fire-roast the peppers.
After I get the proteins in, that's really where
the butter knife starts weighing down on me.
Butter knives don't slice bread nicely.
[ Groans ] Butter knives are no fun!
[ Straining ] Butter knives are no fun!
You know, that clock starts at 30 and stops at zero,
and it's just "tick-tock, tick-tock."
I'm making a pressed ham-and-cheese sandwich.
Chef Blanckenberg gives me the scissors,
and I have a loaf of bread needs to get cut.
I start to use the kiddie scissors to cut the loaf.
That's not working.
And so I think, "Okay, what in the kitchen can we use?"
And there was a dough scraper.
I take the dough scraper back to my station.
That's not working.
Freakin' Black-en-berg, Black-and-blue --
whatever the heck his name is -- gave me these.
Finally, I just have to pull this thing apart
and then start to, you know, assemble my sandwich.
I have my fontina cheese,
some prosciutto, ham, grilled onions,
char those on the grill.
We're good to go.
I'm still a little salty about these scissors.
Chefs!
I have one final item for sale today --
a TV-tray table.
If you buy this, you'll be able to force one of your competitors
to replace their entire workstation --
That's that big metal thing in front of you --
with this.
Got to be 3'x2' -- small. That's really bad.
And they'll have to do the rest of their work on this table
for the rest of the challenge.
It's low. You're gonna be cooking on your knees.
I don't want this teeny table.
You know who really needs this station?
I have one final item for sale today -- a TV-tray table.
You'll be able to force one of your competitors
to replace their entire workstation with this.
Who will give me $500 for this table?
$500 for this TV-tray table?
I'll give you $1,000.
$1,400!
I got a $1,400 bid from Chef Tiffany for the little table.
I've got a $1,700 bid from Chef Blanckenberg.
$2,000 right here!
I've got a $2,000 bid from Chef Tiffany for the little table.
$2,000. Chef Tiffany's taking this.
Once. going twice. Sold for $2,000 to Chef Tiffany.
Thank you very much, ma'am.
Now, tell me right now, who gets the little table?
He gets the little table.
Chef Blanckenberg gets the little table!
I'm remembering these, buddy! I'm remembering them!
ALTON: Ahh, don't you worry, Chef.
We're gonna work this all out for you.
You are gonna be so comfortable
with this extra workspace around you.
So, here's the deal.
I'm gonna give you 30 seconds
to move whatever you want to continue working with. Go!
CHEF BLANCKENBERG: This is the third attack I'm getting of four auctions.
Life is like this.
You get thrown a couple of blows, you got to get up.
3, 2, 1.
Gentlemen, please take this table away.
I love you, man.
I've got about 10-inches-by-12-inches table
to work on.
But I said, "I'd better just keep going, keep plugging."
I get the tuna patties,
and I just stick them in the Frialator quickly,
just to get enough oil around it,
and put that in the pan.
That worked perfectly.
Finished searing that off, took it off.
My potatoes are getting ready. I'm moving forward.
Come on.
Chefs, you have five minutes. Five minutes remaining.
I'm decorating, I'm garnishing.
I bundle up my arugula onto the plate,
and I added some crispy pancetta,
and then, I stuffed the sandwich
with a mixture of all the sautéed vegetable
with the chili sauce
so that every bite you have, you get that moisture.
What you got over here?
I got, you know, Chef Blank-en-stangs,
whatever his last name is...
...I got his leftover basket.
I really would have preferred
Chef Blanckenberg grabbing maybe some mayonnaise or some lettuce.
So I do a nice petite salad of arugula,
shaved carrots and radishes, shaved vegetables,
because I couldn't use any other tools
besides a butter knife, peeler.
That's it. Improvise.
Little bit of a peeler, colorful salad.
Looks like Ponderosa.
CHEF TIFFANY: [ Sighs ]
Started to, you know, assemble my sandwich.
I'm going to give it a nice crust on the grill.
I've got to get some kind of grill flavor.
My side is a pickled veg.
So I shave with my peeler all of the radishes, celery.
I take the dough scraper and cut the cucumbers with that.
Marinate it all, let it sit, and put them in little mason jars.
Chef, there is a minute fifteen remaining.
CHEF BLANCKENBERG: My udon-noodle cake was ready.
I took that out.
ALTON: You keep a very clean station, Chef Blanckenberg,
considering that you've got approximately 27 square inches
to work. [ Laughs ]
Place my udon noodle at the bottom,
put my tuna patty on top of that.
I get the gross sandwich bread, and I circle that out,
just to fit cleanly, neatly on top.
Making it work.
ALTON: 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Put it down. Step away. Challenge is now over.
And everyone survived, even Chef Little-Table.
CHEF BLANCKENBERG: I prevailed.
I made my sandwich, got it out on time.
Under the circumstances, I am ecstatic on how my plate works.
Here comes the judge.
Good to see you, chef.
Thank you very much. Good to see you.
Chefs, this is Chef Jet Tila.
Nice to meet you all.
Sandwich and a side.
Oh, nice!
Open to interpretation?
Jinx.
All right, Chef, let's go taste some --
taste some sandwiches and sides.
Chef Tila, this is Chef Blanckenberg.
Hey, Chef. How are you?
Chef Blanckenberg, please present your dish.
We have the ahi crunch,
with a side of potatoes and spicy remoulade sauce.
CHEF TILA: Very interesting dish.
I've got a giant noodle basket on the bottom,
seems like a seafood cake in the middle,
and then, I'm not sure what that is.
It's naan bread, or it's flattened piece of starch,
or something like that.
It's not really seasoned one way or the other.
The issue I have with the potato crisps is they're cut so thin,
all I'm getting is that crispy outside.
When you said ahi crunch, that's all I'm getting is crunch,
from the sandwich and the side, okay?
Thank you, chef.
Thank you. Let's move on down the line.
CHEF ROCCO: I don't understand what Chef Black-en-berg's doing,
because I see a noodle cake, I see bread, I see a tuna cake.
It's not really a sandwich, you know?
Chef Rocco, why don't you describe your sandwich and side?
I created the Cleveland sausage sandwich with roasted peppers
and an arugula salad with handpicked carrots and radishes.
CHEF TILA: Mm.
As a sandwich, this works for me, right?
It's sausage, it's peppers,
the bread is crisp, the outside, it's soft in the middle.
You didn't over-toast it.
Usually, with a sandwich, you know,
one wants something inside that bonds it together,
'cause I'm really getting dry over dry over dry.
I don't have that kind of creamy savior
that binds it all together.
CHEF BLANCKENBERG: Rocco's sandwich, I thought, was a bit of a boring sandwich.
I knew what was in that basket.
He missed the freaking fried egg!
Chef Tiffany, this is Chef Tila.
Hello. Very nice to meet you.
Please take a moment and describe your sandwich and side.
I did a pressed sandwich that had a little bit of ham,
some grilled green onions, a harissa mustard,
and then a pickled vegetable salad.
Chef, I like your sandwich and side concept here, right?
'Cause it's actually telling me a story.
Every component is there,
and you have really, kind of, nice ingredients happening.
Your side also works for me.
It's very thoughtfully presented.
The issues I have are this --
Because the piece of bread is so large,
it just becomes like a desert in my mouth,
and I think the bread maybe got the better of you.
I do know my bread is too much.
I could be going home.
Chef ***, please tell Chef Tila about your sandwich and side.
So, my idea was to reverse the role a little bit.
I made a vegetarian
sweet-and-sour vegetable pocket sandwich,
and then a pancetta and horseradish vinaigrette
over some arugula.
CHEF TILA: Very fun spin for me.
Usually you expect meat to kind of be the center of the plate,
which would be the center of the sandwich.
Even though there's vegetables,
it does still feel like there's a lot of flavor.
The side dish is really well-balanced.
The issue I have is it's really wet,
to the point where it's kind of falling apart.
It almost feels like there's an execution misstep there.
Thank you, chef. Chef Tila, let's step over here.
CHEF ***: The vegetables in the sandwich made the bread soggy and soft,
so I think that might be my downfall.
I have one too many chefs here.
Whose money goes back in the case?
All right, Alton.
The chef that's gonna be going home will be...
I have one too many chefs here.
Whose money goes back in the case?
CHEF TILA: All right, Alton.
I have three chefs who gave me a sandwich and a side,
and I have a chef that gave me a noodle nest, a fish cake,
and none of the components were cooked well.
I'm sorry, Chef Blanckenberg.
While interesting, the concept was not a sandwich and a side.
Ah, Chef Blanckenberg, I'm sorry.
I'm gonna need that cash back, sir.
Terribly sorry.
Thank you, chef. Sorry about that.
Pleasure.
CHEF BLANCKENBERG: I feel very disappointed.
I had three auctions put up against me,
and I still came out with a sandwich,
and I thought a bloody good one, at that.
ALTON: And then there were three.
Congratulations on making it to round 2
here on "Cutthroat Kitchen."
What I want you to make...
is a barbecue dinner --
your take on a barbecue dinner.
I'm gonna still give you 30 minutes to do it,
which I think you'll agree is...
[Laughing] not actually enough time at all, is it?
CHEF TIFFANY: Course I can do barbecue!
Where am I from? Texas, baby.
I will, however, give you 60 seconds to shop,
and that shopping time begins now.
First thing I have to do is pick up what I need for the sauce.
I need my ketchup.
I grab a little hoisin
to kind of change the flavor a little bit.
And then I see lamb.
Hm! Let's go with lamb!
CHEF ROCCO: I grab some nice, fresh heirloom tomatoes,
I grab some nice, ripe avocados.
I grab some pinto beans and all the fixings --
the brown sugar, the mustard.
And I got strong proteins.
I'm going back with everything I need
to knock out some good barbecue.
I want to do a grilled vegetable barbecue sauce
but infuse a little bit of Asian flair to it
by adding a little bit of Sriracha for heat
and also a little bit of soy sauce.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Cutting it rather close, aren't we, Chef Tiffany?
[ Laughing ] I'm getting it all!
I got all the ingredients I need,
so I'm pretty excited about this.
Here comes the fun part. We're gonna have that little auction.
CHEF ROCCO: I've got $20,500. I feel real good about that.
I can do some damage in the next round.
ALTON: Let's see what we have.
A pocketknife.
Such a versatile little tool.
Whoever wins this item
will be able to force one of their competitors
to forfeit all knives and hand-tools
in exchange for this amazing device.
$500.
Chef Tiffany sees the future.
Do I get a $600 bid? Chef *** will give me $600.
I'll take it for $700.
I have a current bid of $700. Who will give me $800?
People don't use a lot of fancy gadgets when they barbecue.
So, I don't really know
if it's worth it for me to bid that high.
So, going once for $700. Twice for $700.
Sold to Chef Rocco for $700 measly little dollars.
Come over here, Chef,
and bring me that very small stack of money.
CHEF ROCCO: Dude, that's a great auction for me.
700 bucks -- Peel it off for me, Alton, no problem.
Right away.
That's to make up for the basket switch last round.
CHEF TIFFANY: I've never used a pocketknife before.
Don't know what to expect.
ALTON: Ahh.
This is always one of my favorites.
It is, in fact, an empty shopping basket.
If you win it, you get to fill it
with one item from each of your opponents' baskets.
The only thing I'm not gonna let you take is their main protein.
CHEF TIFFANY: This is worth my attention.
If you pick the perfect item,
then you can kind of mess with your competitors.
$1,500.
$1,500.
$2,500.
$2,500.
$2,800.
Chef Tiffany will give me $2,800.
$3,000 bid from Chef Rocco.
Does anybody want to go $3,100?
I think it's just way too much.
Going once. Going twice.
Sold to Chef Rocco for $3,000.
Come on up, sir, and bring me that cash.
I'm crippling them both to the knees
because I want to go on to the next round.
I want to win this competition.
Soy sauce.
I'm taking any Korean barbecue he's got up his sleeve
out of the equation right now.
Chef Tiffany the same thing.
I think if you know barbecue,
you know exactly what the elements are to a good sauce.
ALTON: Ouch.
That's got to hurt.
The dish for this round is a barbecue dinner.
You have half an hour to prepare it.
And that half an hour begins now.
CHEF ROCCO: First thing I do after I empty my basket,
I take to the proteins.
A little sauté, a little bacon skewer, Cleveland style --
That's what we're trying to do here.
I've got pancetta on the stove,
about ready to *** out some croutons for a panzanella,
and I'm rocking and rolling on chicken ***, steaks.
I can't do barbecue in just one dish.
I'm sorry. I can't.
Chef ***, I'm using your soy sauce
for a couple different things,
a couple different, like, Korean barbecue...
The soy sauce was my umami flavor for my barbecue sauce,
but now I just got to pick it up from somewhere else.
Right away went to cut up all my fruits and vegetables
and threw them on the open flame and grill.
Charring everything that I have to kind of create that smokiness
and also that extra sweetness that we're looking for.
I'm not exactly doing the traditional barbecue.
I combine all the ingredients together,
put it in a blender,
and season them up with salt and pepper and begin to puree them.
And then, we're gonna put that over some shrimp
and grill the shrimp along with the sauce,
because all the acid and all the crunch component
is gonna go well with the shrimp.
You know what? You shouldn't take my soy sauce.
You know, that's the advantage.
I believe we were here to play the game,
and that's what I'm trying to do, guys.
CHEF TIFFANY: Oh, I'm-a play it, all right.
When you're making barbecue,
ketchup is one of the main components of a sauce.
I don't have ketchup anymore,
so I'm looking through my ingredients.
What do I have?
I have hoisin, I have molasses,
I have vinegar, I have some tomatoes.
I put everything in a pressure cooker and just get it going.
ALTON: Chef, you have 21 minutes and 15 seconds.
CHEF ROCCO: I start hatching my avocados and my tomatoes.
I've got this wonderful sherry-vinaigrette reduction
with my tomato panzanella salad,
and then, I've got the pinto beans.
You know, what's better with pinto beans than barbecue?
So I take a molasses-based barbecue sauce
and scratch with peppers and molasses,
Tiffany's ketchup, and Chef ***'s soy sauce.
I typically try to incorporate all the flavors of my barbecue
into my meat.
So, now it's time to get my lamb going.
I need to French [Laughs] my lambs with a pocketknife.
This pocketknife, it's supposed to cut, ideally.
I don't think even Boy Scouts are Frenching lamb chops
with a pocketknife.
ALTON: Listen up, chefs.
I have one more item up for sale.
It is a time-share.
Buy this, and you can force both of your competitors
to share the next 10 minutes of cook time.
One chef cooks for two and a half minutes
while the other one waits for two and a half minutes.
And that will go for 10 minutes.
Time-share? Time-share is vacation! Fun!
No, he means sharing of the time.
And I'm like, "Huh?"
This is not cool.
If I can screw with them with the time,
they will not finish.
CHEF ROCCO: Guess what, guys.
We got 30 minutes, and they're cutting into our time even more.
Time-shares suck.
Pbht.
I have one more item up for sale.
It is a time-share.
One chef cooks for two and a half minutes
while the other one waits for two and a half minutes,
and that will go for 10 minutes.
And who will pay me $500 for this fabulous sabotage?
CHEF ***: They're already struggling.
I'm almost done with my dish,
and I'm willing to throw a lot of money at it.
$7,000!
ALTON: $7,000 from Chef ***.
Oh, this is too much money for me!
I'm out. I'm doing no $7,000.
CHEF ROCCO: I had four or five proteins I need to put out,
and I kind of lost focus of what the amount was,
and I think, "It's not that bad. I can deal with this."
Going once for $7,000. Twice for $7,000.
Sold for $7,000 to Chef ***.
Chef Rocco, you are cooking now.
You're doing nothing. Put the food down.
I will be timing you.
CHEF ROCCO: I'm cooking my brains out.
I've got meat all over the place.
I've got chicken in the oven.
It's really starting to stress me out.
And I'm running out of time.
[ Whistle blows ]
CHEF TIFFANY: Two and a half minutes is nothing.
I have my barbecue sauce going,
my sweet potatoes, my rolls with my Swiss chard.
Like, there is too many things I haven't done!
[ Sighs ]
I'm watching Chef Rocco and Chef Tiffany sharing time.
I can see in their eyes they're hating me.
[ Chuckles ] You know, it's what I got to do.
[ Whistle blows ]
ALTON: Chefs, you have two and a half minutes remaining.
At that point, it's got to be on the plate.
Chef Rocco, you will begin cooking in 30 seconds.
It's very difficult...to not be able to cook your food.
I know.
I'm watching it go down in flames!
[ Whistle blows ]
CHEF ROCCO: The final whistle blows.
I'm back into cook mode.
I don't have anything plated. I don't have any plates.
I've got all this wonderful food ready to go. But guess what.
It's still on the grill, it's still in the oven. Time's running out.
[ Sighs ]
Hating me yet?
CHEF TIFFANY: Oh, yeah.
Five minutes ago.
Chefs, you have 10, 9, 8...
7, 6, 5, 4, 3...
2, 1.
I needed 10 seconds 10 seconds ago.
I'm out of time, and I think I'm going home.
Put it down. Step away. Challenge is over.
[ Sighs ]
ALTON: And look, here comes the judge!
Welcome back.
The challenge -- barbecue dinner.
Very nice.
Are you ready to consume mass quantities?
Let's go.
CHEF ROCCO: I'm absolutely stunned
that I have not plated all my ingredients.
My big-bash barbecue really kind of got rained on.
CHEF TIFFANY: He has like a buffet of items over there,
and I start to go, "Huh!
Maybe I'm all right!
Somebody maybe did worse than me!"
Chef Rocco, you can only describe
what made it to a plate,
which is this -- apparently panzanella --
and these beans.
Please tell him about your dish.
Avocado-toasted-bread panzanella,
the finest California heirlooms,
and then pinto beans
with just a bell-pepper molasses barbecue --
house-made.
CHEF TILA: Going by what's on the plate, everything's delicious.
Tomatoes, the panzanella, everything's well-seasoned.
You have a really nice balance in your dressing,
and I'm really liking the baked beans.
There's smokiness,
there's a balance between sugar and salt here.
But I'm looking at all this barbecue and grilled meat,
and it's really a shame
that none of it made it onto the plate.
Thank you, Chef. Sorry that had to go that way.
Let's move on down the line.
CHEF ROCCO: And there it is.
I may have cut my own throat.
Hi.
Chef Tiffany, please tell Chef Tila
about your take on barbecue dinner.
I prepared a lamb that has an ancho-chilies barbecue sauce,
with sweet potatoes and a grilled peach-and-bacon roll.
I like where you're going with this plate, right?
The lamb is well-seasoned.
I see that you've Frenched the lamb,
meaning cleaning off the bone.
It shows a lot of technique there.
The puree -- It seems like a sweet-potato or a yam puree --
very, very nice.
The issues I have with this plate is,
you made this amazing sauce,
yet you didn't get enough on the plate,
and when I get sauce, I want a bite of protein
smeared in sauce to really bring it all together.
Mm-hmm.
Let's move on down the line.
He actually said that he wanted more sauce!
And I'm like, "If I had a spoon to give you some, I sure would!"
CHEF ***: Yes.
Please tell Chef Tila what you have done here.
So, what I did was
I did a chunky-vegetable barbecue sauce grilled shrimp.
On the bottom is cream of potato corn,
and I topped it off
with a little bit of grilled peach relish.
Oh, snaps!
Something is not working over there.
I'm immediately getting a lot of acid somewhere here.
The dish reads "fine dining." It's nice.
It's got a nice bed of corn, and the shrimp is well-executed,
but there's so much acid in this sauce.
This doesn't really feel very "barbecue dinner" to me.
Thank you, Chef.
Chef Tila, let's step over here.
CHEF ROCCO: Chef Tila thinks that there's a little bit of a disconnect
in Chef ***'s dish.
He really doesn't get the barbecue side of it,
and I'm kind of happy.
So, Chef Tila, you have tasted three barbecue dinners.
Who prepared your favorite?
Chef Tiffany executed a great barbecue dinner --
lamb was nice, her sides were nice.
That was really good.
Chef Tiffany, congratulations.
You'll definitely be moving into the final round.
Good for you.
I had this one in the bag.
So, it falls to you, sir, then,
to decide which of the two individuals
puts their money back in the case and departs.
[ Sighs ]
Not easy.
Beans and a tomato salad. I'm done.
I'm going home.
Which of the two individuals
puts their money back in the case and departs?
CHEF TILA: [ Sighs ] Not easy.
Chef Rocco, everything that you gave me was very tasty,
but I can only judge you based on what you gave me.
Chef ***, you gave me a really nicely-composed dish,
but when you think about barbecue,
there's a certain expectation of flavors and textures.
There was a lot of acid in your dish,
but, most of all, there was actually more barbecue
in Chef Rocco's beans than your entire dish,
so, for that reason, I'm sorry,
but I'm gonna have to eliminate you.
Chef ***, I'm sorry, sir. I'm going to need your cash back.
CHEF ***: I didn't think it was gonna be me.
Glad you could play.
Thanks very much.
Chef Rocco -- He didn't have protein.
He didn't have a complete plate,
and I thought that maybe because of that,
he should have been eliminated.
But, you know, I accept my defeat.
One day I will take my wife to the honeymoon.
ALTON: Chefs, congratulations on making it
to the final round of "Cutthroat Kitchen." Well done.
CHEF ROCCO: I don't know how this happened. I'm into the finals.
Let's go, Tiffany.
CHEF TIFFANY: I want to win bad.
When I think about all the stuff that I have gone through,
I deserve to win.
Our last round kind of got me nostalgic,
and I started thinking about...
s'mores.
CHEF ROCCO: S'mores? I mean, seriously.
Can't we make a brûlée? Can't we make a joconde cake?
Can we do something in the realm of more than s'mores?
CHEF TIFFANY: I'm going camping next month,
and I just finished having this conversation about,
"Oh, we have to make sure we have s'mores."
Really didn't think that I would be doing s'mores today.
But we're gonna do things a little bit different this time.
We're going to shop and then immediately go into the cooking,
and then we're gonna have the auction
while you're actually cooking.
One minute to shop,
and that one minute begins...now.
CHEF ROCCO: I immediately think, "What do I like?"
We deep-fry desserts in Cleveland,
so I'm gonna deep-fry these s'mores.
I grab grahams,
I grab the plumpest marshmallows I can find,
and I grab sugar, flour, and buttermilk for the batter.
ALTON: You have 30 seconds to complete your shopping
and be on the other side of this gate.
CHEF TIFFANY: I'm not sure what kind of s'mores I would like,
and so I'm just throwing crap in there --
mini marshmallows, large marshmallows,
whatever I see.
ALTON: 7, 6...
CHEF TIFFANY: All I hear is like, "5, 4."
I grab the can of fruit cocktail and run on out.
2, 1.
And your cooking time begins now.
I feel like I should do fried s'mores.
You know, fried, chocolaty marshmallows.
I mean, like, really, how can you go wrong?
CHEF ROCCO: The first thing I do is I get two packs of chips,
I put it on a rolling boil over a stainless-steel bowl,
and this chocolate sauce will be the base of my dish.
So, then, I skewer up the marshmallows,
I toast them nicely over the flame,
and I soften them up a little bit.
Come on.
I go back to my cutting board, and I build my sandwiches.
I decide, "Okay, let's do coconut ice cream."
Very simple.
It only requires three ingredients --
sugar, water, and coconut milk.
Ding, ding, ding. The bell's ringing.
"Chef Rocco, your opponent's making ice cream."
I'm going after ice cream.
So I throw six marshmallows into a pan
with a little bit of heavy cream,
with a little bit of buttermilk, and I start steeping it down.
ALTON: Ah, chefs, there's nothing better than enjoying a s'more
while sitting around a crackling campfire.
So, the winner of this item
will force their opponent to build their own fire
and use it as their only heat source
for the entire challenge.
[ Sighing ] Oh, Lordy, Lordy, Lordy.
I'm making fried s'mores, so I kind of need the fryer.
$3,000.
$3,000 is the current.
$5,000.
CHEF ROCCO: Chef Tiffany, whatever I could do to make it harder for you,
I'm going to do right now.
ALTON: $5,000.
$5,100.
$8,000.
Do you want to go $8,100, Chef?
$8,200.
I have an $8,200 bid from Chef Rocco.
No, I'm done. I'll take it, sir.
Sold to Chef Rocco for $8,200.
Madame, this is your sole source of heat
for the rest of the challenge.
Have a nice day.
All right, I'm coming over to take $8,200 from you, sir.
CHEF ROCCO: Please do.
I just paid like $9,000 for a campfire. That's so sweet.
[ Chuckles ]
I've ground some graham crackers up to put in the batter,
and if I get into the ice-cream machine,
I've got a mallow ice cream working,
but we're all gonna play that by ear.
Hopefully the mallow will be melted.
Come on, mallow. Melt!
CHEF TIFFANY: I'm not gonna sit here and hold s'mores over a campfire,
so I grab a cast-iron pot, put it on there,
and make sure that my s'mores are nicely starting to brown.
Ice cream comes out of the spinner.
Hm! Looks pretty good!
Okay, I'll keep that aside, and maybe I'll use it!
I opened the can of fruit cocktail
that I got from the pantry and decided to blend it.
CHEF ROCCO: I'm ready to start dipping my s'mores.
They're big, and they're awkward,
and they're just a mess, guys.
I'm trying to pull these things out of the fryer,
and you're well beyond pain at this point,
because all you want to do is have the clock strike zero
and have them say that you're the champion.
ALTON: Two minutes remaining.
I am not getting caught not plating now.
I did the chocolate sauce on the bottom,
I piled up two fried s'mores,
and I've got a wonderful marshmallow ice cream on top.
CHEF TIFFANY: Even though mine is composed,
there is one thing on this plate that is 100% real deal,
and that is the s'more.
ALTON: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Put it down. Step away. The challenge is over.
I look over at Chef Rocco's s'more,
and it doesn't really look like a s'more.
In fact, I really don't know what it is.
CHEF ROCCO: I've been the flavor king so far,
throughout the whole process.
I'm hoping that this deep-fried little deliciousness
gets me the victory.
The subject is s'mores.
Oh, nice!
I've come this far. Like, I cannot lose now.
Chefs, please bring your plates forward for Chef Tila.
CHEF ROCCO: I came here to win.
I want to take the heavyweight title back to Cleveland.
Chef Rocco, there, Chef Tiffany, there, please.
Chef Rocco, please tell Chef Tila about your s'mores.
We've got a tempura-fried s'more.
Two different types of chocolate --
the white on the inside, chocolate sauce on the outside.
And, then, on top is a soft mallow ice cream.
[ Exhales sharply ]
Really tasty dessert...
through a lot of fun interplay going on here.
The tempura really works.
It's kind of crisp,
and it doesn't have that overly oily flavor.
The marshmallow ice cream -- If I were to close my eyes
and you didn't tell me what it was,
I wouldn't know what kind of ice cream it was.
Completely respect it.
As far as the flavor profiles of the ice cream,
did I not steep the marshmallows enough?
He didn't get the mallow that I labeled it as,
and I'm nervous.
I don't know how it's gonna go.
Chef Tiffany, please tell Chef Tila about your dish.
So, we have a traditional s'mores
that was actually smoked over wood,
if you can smell it around,
and we have a tropical fruit salad
that has the pulp on the plate and the juice in the bowl --
if you could just pour a little bit of that on --
and coconut ice cream.
Chef, what I really love about this dish
is what sums up the s'more experience,
is that perfect moment
when that marshmallow pulls from the s'more,
and this hits that.
Overall, very fun adaptation of s'mores,
but I wasn't sure if you needed fruit to play with s'mores.
Thank you.
Honestly, I don't know if I'm gonna win.
I don't know if my dessert is enough.
Well, now that you've had your dessert, Chef Tila,
I have only one last question for you
and that is to decide which one of these chefs
puts their money back in the case.
When it's this close, I have to ask myself,
"Which one do I want another bite of?"
But in this case, I want a bite of both.
So it has to come down to the details.
And I've got one dish that has really nice elements,
well-executed,
and while delicious, this one's just a little bit clunky.
I'm sorry, Chef Rocco.
Chef Rocco, sorry, sir. I'm gonna need that money back.
That's the way it goes.
Thank you.
Chef, thank you.
CHEF ROCCO: It broke my heart in about 5,000 pieces,
but I'm gonna sweep those 5,000 pieces up,
I'm gonna put it into a dustbin,
and I'm gonna pour it back into my heart,
because that's what you do.
Whoo!
Congratulations!
Thank you!
Feels real good. It feels real good!
I either lose my utensils, or I'm losing my fire --
One of the ways -- and I still freaking won!
Ooh!
One, two, three, four...
ALTON: Hungry for more "Cutthroat Kitchen"?
Go to foodnetwork.com/cutthroat.