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00:00We're using all of that.
00:02I want to see bacon in every bite.
00:04You'll get bacon in every basket.
00:07Bacon? I'm obsessed.
00:09I need the chefs to actually transform the bacon.
00:12I want bacon, bacon, and more bacon.
00:15I'm a big, big bacon fan.
00:17Yes.
00:18The competition's gonna be really, really tough.
00:20Raw bacon, with eight minutes to go,
00:22there's no way this is gonna cook.
00:24Come on, chefs, bring home that bacon!
00:26There goes nothing.
00:28Oh, boy!
00:37Who doesn't love bacon?
00:39I've been in this industry for 30 years,
00:41and I can outcook and outsmart anyone.
00:43The only way that I'm not gonna win this competition
00:45is when pigs fly.
00:49I'm actually a butcher as well as a chef.
00:52I can actually take a whole pig and make it into bacon.
00:55I use bacon in almost everything I do.
00:58I use bacon fat instead of butters to make mac and cheese.
01:01Pepper-braised pork belly about to happen.
01:03My style of cooking is quintessentially Texan.
01:05It's super straightforward and honest with a huge personality.
01:08Out for the good stuff.
01:10Don't get in my way.
01:12I really fight and claw for what I want
01:14and what I know I can achieve.
01:16So don't underestimate me.
01:20Yeah, the thicker, the better.
01:22Will you taste my food?
01:24I'm bringing the fire, the flavor, and all the fried bacon.
01:29I'm the chef and owner of Crane Kitchens in Las Vegas, Nevada.
01:32Got some shrimp and some bacon.
01:34What?
01:36My passion for bacon comes from cooking in the kitchen
01:38with my grandparents.
01:40Pork was the center of all of our dishes.
01:42Oh, yeah.
01:44We're gonna take this to the next level.
01:46I've been working in this industry the last 15 years,
01:48and I don't take no BS,
01:50so I hope all of these chefs are ready for me.
01:54When it comes to bacon,
01:56I've done it all.
01:58Spicy bacon, sweet bacon, even chocolate-covered bacon.
02:00That's one of my favorites.
02:04I met a secular chef in Tampa, Florida.
02:06Being from Puerto Rico,
02:08when it comes to pork, it's all over this place.
02:10You can have it stew, you can have it in the rice, fry.
02:12I think that's why, naturally,
02:14my love for bacon is there.
02:16I've done multiple cuisines,
02:18different flavors around the globe.
02:20I like to throw in a little bit of molecular gastronomy.
02:22I set high goals
02:24because I want to be an inspiration for my kids.
02:26If they want it in life, go for it.
02:32I love bacon because you can candy it,
02:34you can jam it,
02:36you can slow cook it, you can roast it,
02:38you can do anything with bacon.
02:40I'm from Cincinnati.
02:42Cincinnati's nickname is Porkopolis.
02:44I'm literally made for this competition.
02:48I'm known for my bacon jam.
02:50I've watched people eat it off the burger with a spoon.
02:54Bacon in every nook and cranny,
02:56crack and crevice.
02:58I can throw down this competition
03:00harder than anyone because my body's
03:02built for bacon. At the end of the day,
03:04I'm ready to win.
03:08Hello, chefs.
03:10Hi, Chef.
03:12I've got some very good news for you.
03:14You've arrived for Battle Bacon.
03:16Three rounds.
03:18You'll get bacon in every
03:20basket. With that bacon,
03:22we want you to make big, bold
03:24flavors. If your dish
03:26doesn't cut it, you will be
03:28chopped.
03:30Let's see what bacon-y goodness
03:32you have in these first baskets.
03:34Open them up.
03:38What? There's the bacon.
03:40Heritage Berkshire bacon.
03:42Man, I can work with this.
03:44You also see hot mustard.
03:46Mustard's always good for everything.
03:48What is this?
03:50The cinnamon roll breakfast sandwich.
03:52Okay. As long as my yolk is runny,
03:54let's go. And snap peas.
03:56Gotta have vegetables, right?
03:58Okay.
04:0020 minutes to make bacon-forward
04:02appetizers.
04:04Clock starts now.
04:06Let's go.
04:10Chris, you have the honor of judging
04:12alongside ace private chef
04:14and memorable chopped champion
04:16Chef Martel Stone
04:18plus Food Network star winner
04:20Damaris Phillips. Welcome to you
04:22both. I'm so excited
04:24to be here. I'm a big, big,
04:26big bacon fan. Yes. Bacon
04:28all day. This is amazing.
04:30Judge's bacon, which is
04:32cured pork belly, dates back to
04:341500 B.C.,
04:36where cooks discovered that
04:38if they applied salt to the pork belly,
04:40it preserves it.
04:42You know bacon is one of my favorite ingredients.
04:44So excited to see what these chefs come up with today.
04:46This bacon is a heritage pork
04:48that is known for the high fat content.
04:50Yeah. And it means you have to
04:52cook it slow and render out that fat.
04:54What would you do? I would make a salad. I'm using
04:56the cinnamon roll for croutons. There'd be
04:58some little sugar snap peas on there and then a hot
05:00bacon vinaigrette. First round, I'd definitely
05:02go soup. Soup allows me to incorporate
05:04all those ingredients into something
05:06harmonious. I'll tell you what, one of the biggest
05:08things right now is that chefs forget
05:10that when you're given something like this cinnamon roll
05:12breakfast sandwich, you don't have to use all of it.
05:14You can use the cinnamon roll, you can use
05:16sausage patty, you can use bacon.
05:18I'm so ready to go.
05:20First thing that comes to my head
05:22with this giant cinnamon roll,
05:24eggs and all, cheese and all, put it
05:26all up to make the perfect fritter.
05:28I'm making cinnamon
05:30roll bacon fritters with a
05:32hot mustard chili sauce
05:34finished with a red pepper and
05:36snap pea salad.
05:38Cy is getting her fritters into the fryer.
05:40Fritters is an excellent idea.
05:42Tough on a 20 minute round. There's not like a lot of room
05:44to pivot. I'm a go big or go
05:46home type of chef. If I'm not
05:48taking any risks, I'm really not doing anything.
05:50Go bacon or go home.
05:54Back in Puerto Rico, we do this fritter that is
05:56like a cross of a funnel cake and a
05:58savory beignets type of deal.
06:00Throw in a bit of jalapenos in there,
06:02some chives, bacon fat and bacon
06:04itself. I'm making
06:06jalapeno chive fritter with a
06:08snap peas and frise warm salad
06:10and a hot mustard vinaigrette.
06:12I'm just going to set up my own little
06:14fry station. So in this
06:16cast iron skillet, I'm going to add canola oil
06:18and then this beautiful bird shard
06:20bacon to start flavoring the oil.
06:22I'm not necessarily going to be using the meat.
06:24I just want that flavor.
06:28My strategy for the appetizer round,
06:30get the yips out of the way,
06:32keep things simple, find ways to make
06:34bacon punch you in the face.
06:36Madeline, what's your plan?
06:38I'm going to make you a warm
06:40bacon frise salad with a
06:42bacon vinaigrette and fried
06:44snap peas. All right.
06:46I think you got your wish.
06:48I grab that sunny side up egg
06:50and use that for the base of my vinaigrette.
06:52I'm also using the hot mustard
06:54powder and I'm going to incorporate
06:56some of that Kirkshire bacon fat
06:58in this dressing.
07:00Snap peas,
07:02my mind immediately goes to
07:04bacon wrapped green beans. It's a way to
07:06make bacon the star of the plate.
07:08Hey Jess, whatcha making?
07:10I'm going to do a sugar snap peas
07:12stuffed with some goat cheese and chorizo
07:14wrapped in bacon. Points for creativity,
07:16points for risk. Go hard.
07:18I want to have a really great
07:20filling for this snap pea, goat cheese
07:22and chorizo. Chorizo can be a little bit
07:24soft and so can the goat cheese, so being able to
07:26complement that with some crunchy bacon
07:28is another element of surprise.
07:30Jess, you are down
07:32to 15 minutes. All right
07:34Ted.
07:36I get that bacon rendered
07:38in a pan, nice and sexy like
07:40and then I put it in a blender
07:42with the hot mustard powder,
07:44some sweet chili sauce and
07:46all of the delicious bacon fat.
07:48We're using all of that.
07:54Utilizing the cinnamon roll as a crouton
07:56is going to add a sweet element
07:58that the rest of the basket just
08:00doesn't offer. Come on, big heat brah.
08:02Let's go. Because they're sugar
08:04I have to make sure I pay extra attention.
08:06I really want to win
08:08the $10,000 so I can take my
08:10family to Spain
08:12to show them where my culinary passion
08:14was ignited. I am married to my best
08:16friend and I
08:18now have a 19 month old daughter and
08:20those are the lights of my life.
08:22Okay so those
08:24sugar snap peas have been stuffed
08:26with the chorizo and then they're wrapped in bacon.
08:28But that bacon hasn't even begun to cook yet.
08:30But now she's starting with raw bacon
08:32with eight minutes to go.
08:34There's no way this is going to cook.
08:36Chefs, eight minutes to go.
08:44Clean up on aisle chef
08:46apparently. There's a commotion
08:48in the kitchen. I'm trying to keep calm
08:50running around trying to get the spices.
08:54At this point I'm kind of
08:56freaking out. Right behind, behind,
08:58coming hot. Cast iron smoking.
09:00Yeah, we should turn that cast iron off
09:02before it combusts. I go back
09:04to the cast iron skillet. I think this oil
09:06is too hot. I don't know if I can
09:08use it. But I feel the clock
09:10is ticking and ticking. I need to
09:12get my fritters cooking.
09:18Beautiful.
09:20Hot behind and I ain't talking
09:22about the food. Hot behind.
09:24I think this oil is too
09:26hot, but I see the time
09:28so I'm like, you know what, Jake? You don't have
09:30any other options. Alright, gotta commit.
09:32I'm just gonna turn the temperature down
09:34and just hope the fritters will fry
09:36well. Okay, chefs, coming
09:38up on four minutes. Fat, fat, fat.
09:40I need fat.
09:42Time is ticking. I've turned around
09:44and look, my croutons are burning.
09:46Now I'm basically in survival
09:48mode. I want to make sure no chef
09:50ends up with burnt croutons.
09:52So I need to get this hot
09:54mustard vinaigrette done. I'm using
09:56just the yolk of the sunny side up egg
09:58in the breakfast sandwich. And I'm also
10:00gonna add a little bit of the cinnamon
10:02bun itself. There goes nothing.
10:04I want to
10:06go ahead and blanch my snap peas
10:08and I mix them up with some diced
10:10red peppers and some lemon juice.
10:12Molasses gives a really beautiful texture to sauces
10:14because it is so thick. I'm combining
10:16molasses, whole grain mustard, and some
10:18hot mustard. That's a really quick, tasty sauce.
10:20Alright, chefs, you're
10:22creeping up on one minute here.
10:24Get it done.
10:26Let's do it.
10:28Here we go.
10:30I'm sweating.
10:32Come on, y'all. Come on, come on,
10:34come on. Come on, chefs.
10:36Bring home that bacon.
10:38Ten, nine,
10:40eight,
10:42seven, six,
10:44five, four,
10:46three, two,
10:48one.
10:50Time's up.
10:52That
10:54time is not playing. It went out
10:56so fast. Might be a little
10:58worried, you know, if the fritter crossed the fingers
11:00that it cooked. Ty,
11:02you know, her fritters, man,
11:04they're coming for me.
11:06♪♪♪♪
11:08♪♪♪♪
11:10♪♪♪♪
11:12♪♪♪♪
11:14Chefs,
11:16you've arrived at the chopping block
11:18following the first cooking round
11:20of our bacon battle.
11:22In the appetizer basket, you found
11:24Heritage Berkshire bacon and a
11:26cinnamon roll breakfast sandwich,
11:28plus hot mustard
11:30and snap peas.
11:32Chef Sai, please tell us
11:34your appetizer. So in front of you, you have a cinnamon roll bacon fritter
11:38finished with a hot mustard chili sauce with a green pea and red pepper salad.
11:45Okay. How do you feel about bacon? I love bacon. I grew up going back home to
11:51Kansas City with my grandparents. I know everybody has their way of barbecue, but
11:56Kansas City's the best, okay? Okay. And my grandparents used to cook a lot of pork.
12:02Pork butts, pork shoulder, you name it. Yes, I. The fry on the fritters is
12:08delightful. There's a nice crisp on the outside. You could have used a little bit
12:12of the sugar snap pea and that red pepper inside of your fritter. Hmm, gotcha.
12:17My favorite is the hot mustard Berkshire pork sauce. Yes. That eats like country
12:23ham pate. Very well done. Thank you, I appreciate it. The one thing that I'm
12:28screaming for on this plate is something to kind of break up the sweetness. The
12:32plate hit and I didn't really get as much bacon, but in 20 minutes, I think the
12:38dish was executed well. Thank you. Who knew you could put a cinnamon roll
12:43breakfast sandwich, the entire thing, and make a fritter like this. I mean, for a
12:4720-minute round, it's very, very good. Thank you, Chef. You know, it's a little
12:50mealy, it's a little dense, but I don't care because it's delicious. Thank you,
12:52Chef Sy. Next up, Chef Jess. So what I did was a bacon-wrapped snap pea that I
12:57stuffed with some goat cheese and chorizo, and I finished it off with a
13:00really nice molasses mustard sauce. How do you feel about bacon? One of my food
13:05writer friends called me the queen of pork. There aren't that many female
13:09butchers in general, and there sure aren't that many female butchers in
13:11Houston, and what we really focused on was raising heritage pigs, and when I saw
13:16that this was Berkshire bacon, it really made me happy because it's that heritage
13:18animal as well. Curious question. With bacon in the basket two ways, why go
13:26for chorizo as well? I just love this pairing of chorizo and goat cheese, and I
13:30really thought that it was really gonna add another layer of flavor. Well, I also
13:33love the combination of chorizo and goat cheese, but you can't look past the basket
13:37ingredients. This beautiful bacon that's nice and caramelized on one side is still
13:42very, very raw on the other, and it's a bummer because I really like the
13:45molasses mustard sauce that you made. But I feel like the chorizo is outshining
13:49the bacon. Understood. It works really well. I like the play on a wrapped green
13:53bean. This reminds me of a Thanksgiving morning, and one of the best ways, while
13:58delicious, if you had just maybe five extra minutes, I think it would have been
14:02a much more successful dish, but I do commend you on going for it, Chef. Thank
14:07you. Next up, Chef Jacob. Growing up in the isle of Puerto Rico, you know, we used to
14:12do this fritter almost like a savory funnel cake. We eat it by the beach, so
14:16for you, I prepared a bacon chive jalapeno fritter. It has a snap peas and
14:21frisee warm salad and a hot mustard vinaigrette. Chef, this salad was so good.
14:29You know, frisee, snap peas, bacon. Martel, this is a bacon competition. Are you
14:35tasting bacon? I can see the bacon in the actual donut, but as I'm eating through
14:40it, not as much. I think that this is a very successful fritter. It's a very,
14:45very big fritter. It's really bouncy on the inside, but I absolutely love the
14:50cinnamon roll added to that hot mustard that you transformed into kind of like a
14:54bread sauce, but they go really well together and bring a level of
14:58complexity that I wasn't expecting from just this bacon dish. Thank you, Chef. You
15:03used the word bouncy, and it's exactly right. That cinnamon roll sandwich,
15:08you didn't have to use all of it. I wish you had left the cinnamon roll out. I
15:12feel like you were taking the rest of this dish in a much more savory
15:14direction, because the cinnamon roll, for me, feels artificially sweet compared to the
15:19rest of the dish. Thanks, Chef. I appreciate it. Finally, Chef Madeline. In front of you,
15:23you have a warm bacon frisee salad. This is the first dish of the round,
15:30respectfully. That is like, all right, there's bacon in every bite because of
15:34the way you made the vinaigrette. It's all that layering, all the different ways
15:37that you prepared the bacon. It's a home-run dish, but the only thing is I've
15:42got these really burnt croutons. I tried so hard to get them out.
15:46Unfortunately, you made the decision to include these, and it could come back to
15:49hurt you. I think that sautéing up the little peas, so they're slippery and
15:54tender, and then giving us that pop of crunch on the top, kind of showcased the
15:58best way to eat a sugar snap pea. I think this is the first time we're really
16:02getting a lot of hot mustard in a dish, and I love it. I love that you took the
16:06egg from the sandwich and used that in your vinaigrette. I think that's very,
16:10very smart. I just need a little sweet balance because it's just bitter.
16:16Simplicity is beautiful. For me with this, I just need more of the croutons. I need
16:21more of the mustard. Sugar snap peas, two ways. I see it. Great. Give me more.
16:26Heard. I couldn't help but notice the tattoo that you have put in a place
16:30that's very noticeable. This is my warrior tattoo. It's my knife.
16:34Damascus steel. I'm a cancer survivor, and upon my anniversary of, I guess it would be
16:3911 years of cancer surviving and 10 years in the industry. That's a lot to go
16:43through when you're 27 years old. Yeah. I chose to jump into a career that
16:49everyone told me I was too old for, and I've worked my way tooth and nail to be
16:52where I am. You chose to fight. I will always choose to fight. Chef Madeline,
16:56thank you. All right, more bacon on the horizon if you make it to round two. My
17:03bacon was a little bit undercooked, but compared to what, you know, some of the
17:07other comments from the other dishes, I feel like that's a minor mishap. When I
17:11heard that some of the judges didn't get a lot of the bacon, man, I was extremely
17:14disappointed, but don't worry. Second round, I'm gonna put a lot of bacon in
17:18there. So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
17:26So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
17:38Chef Jess, you've been chopped. Judges? Jess, you made a delicious dish.
17:44Goat cheese and chorizo are delightful together, but we also needed to taste
17:49more of the basket ingredients. Those flavors outshone the bacon, and so we had
17:54to chop you. Understood. I feel like I really made a great dish. I can walk
18:00away from this with my head held high.
18:04Chef Sai, Chef Jacob, Chef Madeline, another basket, another chance to
18:10celebrate bacon. Check out what's inside these. What is this? Caramel apple? And
18:19you'll be working with bacon-wrapped candy apples. All right. Pork cheeks. Cheeks.
18:25I was just talking about these. Oh, beautiful. Rainbow carrots. Pork brains
18:32on gravy. Oh, my God. Pork brains in gravy. Brains, yum. Less than enthused
18:40about that little guy. You'll have 30 minutes to make beautiful bacon-y entrees.
18:48Clock starts now. Good job. Come on. Let's go. All right, go on. Ooh, tough basket,
18:56y'all. And I'm not just talking about those pork cheeks when you cook them
19:00wrong. Ooh. Well, you're not gonna believe this, but I don't think the chefs
19:06were very excited about the pork brains and gravy. I couldn't imagine. But it's
19:10also an opportunity to show what you can do with an ingredient that's not super
19:14desirable. Pork cheeks for a long time weren't the desirable cut, but we found
19:18a way to make it work. They're delicious when you braise them slow and low, but
19:22they don't have that luxury. That's how I feel about pork brains. That's exactly
19:28how I feel, Chef. Jacob is pounding the heck out of pork cheeks. By pounding it
19:34thin at least, you have a fighting chance to be able to sear this really quickly.
19:37Chef Jacob, what you got on the menu? I'm just gonna do a quick little marinade.
19:43I'm just gonna throw it on the plancha. So I'm making pork cheeks a la plancha
19:47with candied bourbon carrots and carrot top salsa verde. I love what Jacob is
19:52doing over there marinating the pork. That will quickly start to break down
19:55some of those muscles, too, especially since he pounded it out and couldn't get
19:59into the meat. The first thing I'm gonna do is open that can of pork brain. It's
20:04claimed that pork brains and gravy is a southern delicacy. If you ground those
20:09pork brains up, it doesn't taste any different than liver because the flavor
20:13is like irony and delicious. If you strain those out and fry them, you
20:19almost kind of get like a sweet bread-y system. I'm making a gravy marinated
20:24pork cheek with candied bacon chutney and a hot honey carrot, finished with a
20:28rainbow carrot slaw. For my pork cheeks, it is really important that I let them
20:32sit in that marinade because I need the acid to help tenderize it before I do.
20:36Save a piece of that for me, chef, please. Yes, chef. What would you do with that
20:41caramel apple? I would get rid of the caramel, for starters. Use the bacon, yeah.
20:46Now I'm making my candied bacon chutney. I want the apple flavor, but I want the
20:51sweetness off the caramel and the smoky savory off the bacon. Whoa, I never had
20:59so much garlic, I guess. So what's inspiring this dish is my stepdad from
21:03Kingston, Jamaica. I grew up eating all of those good curries, so I'm gonna bring
21:07it home with something near and dear to my heart.
21:09Chef Sai, what you making over there? I'm making a pork cheek curry. Okay, okay.
21:15Once I get my pork cheeks and some extra bacon in all that curry goodness, I
21:20start to add all of my ingredients. Y'all can keep the pork brains. I'm gonna take
21:25the gravy because it looks very milky, and I'm gonna add that along with my
21:29coconut milk. I add my caramel apple, and the carrot is gonna bring that
21:35earthiness and that good texture to a curry. Chefs, you're coming up on the 15-
21:41minute mark.
21:46I make a salsa verde with carrot tops. This is gonna be the perfect opportunity
21:51to hide this pork brain and gravy. I like the use of the carrot top to make like a
21:57pesto or a chimichurri. All right, bro, it's my turn. I think Madeline got the
22:03memo, or maybe she knew already, that that pork cheek is tough. Now I am putting my
22:08tenderized and marinated pork cheeks into my rendered bacon pan with lardons
22:14for flavor. As I'm focusing on my curry, I can't help but hear all of the banging
22:21going on, and I automatically get worried because I definitely didn't tenderize
22:25this pork cheeks. I just threw it in this curry pot. I gotta tell you that size
22:29curry is the only thing you smell in this kitchen now, and it smells good. It
22:33smells good. For my hot honey rainbow carrots, I am going to put a quick blanch
22:41before I throw them into a bacon pan to saute. I'm using red pepper flake, cayenne,
22:47some more of that ancho, and then chili de arbol, all of the elements that make
22:51hot honey great. So next, I get the remaining of that pork brain gravy in
22:58with some beef stock, and I get my rice going. Just four and a half minutes to go.
23:06I want to put something with this pork cheek. I'm just gonna throw everything in
23:11a pot from this candied apple, blanch my carrots real quick, and then just fold it
23:15in the apples and the candy and the bacon. Once everything is sauteed, I'm
23:20adding this bourbon and boom. Whoa, boys. They are determined to set this kitchen
23:25on fire. Behind, behind, behind. For the carrot top slaw, I'm going to take some
23:31of that pork brain gravy, and I'm going to incorporate that in this dressing. I
23:36have rendered extra bacon down to make this dressing. I want bacon in every
23:41bite, and I want bacon to be the highlight of this dish. Bacon. I run to
23:47the pantry and grab me some fresh bacon, and I get it diced up and seasoned with
23:51the same flavors that are in my curry. Oh, yeah. I'm also cooking my baguette and
23:57bacon set. I'm gonna make sure that I bring them more bacon, more bacon, and
24:03more bacon. Final minute, chefs. Come on, chefs. I mean, I...
24:12Science will make it pretty. I check my rice, and it's not quite done yet.
24:17Come on, Cy. I'm gonna cook this rice until the last millisecond. Let's go, let's go, let's go.
24:23Use every tick of that clock wisely, chefs. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
24:39Time's up. Good job, y'all. My plan was to make love in a bowl, and I feel like I did that.
24:49Regardless of if I get dinged on the 14 not being tender enough, I know the
24:53flavors are there. My flavors are gonna smack you in the face, so I'm gonna stand
24:57behind my dish regardless, good, bad, or ugly.
25:02Chefs, your second basket was another bacon bomb. It contained bacon-wrapped
25:08candy apples, pork cheeks, rainbow carrots, and pork brains and gravy.
25:14Chef Madeline, please tell us about your dish. All you have in front of you is gravy
25:18marinated pork cheek with candied bacon chutney, hot honey carrot, and rainbow
25:25top slaw. You know, there's a lot of good stuff here. The bacon chutney, it's just
25:30got such deep flavor. I love the hot honey with the carrots, but the big
25:34problem here, however, is the pork cheeks. They're just really tough. The carrot
25:39tops needed to be treated more like a tabbouleh so that you're not getting
25:43that chew, and it's just accentuating the chew that we get from the pork. But
25:48that pork brain milk gravy vinaigrette is delightful. Those flavors work really
25:56nicely together. When the plate hit and I tasted it, I didn't really get as much
26:00bacon, but what I really enjoy is the carrots. That hot honey, it really offered
26:06me the heat that I really love in dishes, and never thought I would love pork
26:11brain marinade, but here I am. Next up, Chef Jacob, please tell us about your
26:15main course. I prepare a a la planche of pork cheek, candied bourbon carrots, and
26:21also a carrot top pork brain salsa verde. Judges, is the dish bacon-y? Bacon is
26:29there. I see it. I get bites. I just feel like in the dishes, they're sort of like
26:35teasing bacon, right? Super good use of your pork brain. It is hidden, but
26:42actually adding something. The meat is a little chewy, but there's a ton of flavor
26:46in there. There's a gorgeous char on the outside, and the bourbon has absolutely
26:51tied your bacon-wrapped candied apple to your pork. Heard that. Man, this carrot top
26:57salsa verde is unbelievable. Like, best thing I've had all day by far.
27:01Appreciate it. Thank you. Having said that, those carrots, you've got basically three
27:06different temperatures. You've got tender, al dente, and you've got raw. Pick one.
27:10Bacon is there. I see it. I get bites, but what I will tell you, I'm hoping the next
27:15round is like a bacon forward, damn near give me a slab of bacon, right? Jacob, why
27:21do you want to win this competition? I got three beautiful little kids back at
27:25the house. You know, they're rooting for me. Winning this will show the kids, you
27:28know, if you're going for something and you put your heart and soul into it, make
27:33them proud, and I want them to succeed in life. Thank you, Chef Jacob. Finally,
27:37Chef Side. Judges, so you have a curry pork pot cooked with pork cheeks, bacon,
27:43caramel apple. I use the gravy to cook my rice. Chefs, are you getting the bacon
27:48that you crave? I mean, there are chunks of pork belly that are adding a ton of
27:54fattiness. I'm missing the crunch that we think of as bacon, but that might just
27:59be the way I like bacon. It's hard. To use pork brains in milk gravy and turn it
28:03into something this craveable is very, very well done. Thank you. The carrots are
28:09tender and have soaked up all the flavor of the curry, too. Those are the best
28:14cooked carrots of this round. I think the curry base is nice. It's flavorful. It's
28:19spicy. What you did with the caramel apple in there for a little sweetness, I
28:23thought that's very, very smart. Heard, Chef. Downside. Yep. The rice, a little under.
28:30Heard. I agree with you. The rice is undercooked and the pork cheek is tough.
28:34Heard. I receive it. Thank you, Chef. I am feeling good about my flavors, but I am
28:40nervous. The pork was tough and my rice was a bit undercooked. I overcooked my
28:46pork cheeks. I am feeling energetic and extremely nervous. Which two chefs are
28:52dessert round bound?
29:01Each dish is on the chopping block.
29:14Chef Madeleine, you've been chopped. Judges? Chef Madeleine, we love having you
29:20here and we really enjoyed your energy. The rainbow carrots were delicious, but
29:24your carrot tops just needed just a little bit more treatment. And everyone
29:28struggled with the pork cheeks, but your pork cheeks, unfortunately, were overcooked
29:32and very chewy. And so, we had to chop you. Thank you very much. I came here to
29:37highlight my skills. I'm good at what I do. I'm just so mad that my protein cook
29:44was what got me down.
29:50There's only one more chef down to go. I can taste it. All day, I've been bringing
29:57my both flavors. So, you know that dessert, I'm gonna go harder than ever.
30:01Chef Jacob, Chef Sai, this round could be make or break. Let's see what you got.
30:09Open them up. A bacon cake. Smells good. Pork belly. I don't know if it's raw or
30:19cooked. Pomegranates. Buttermilk. One of my favorites. 30 minutes to tackle
30:25dessert. Clock starts now. Here we go. Get that money, man. Judges, bacon for dessert?
30:34This is what I've been waiting for all day. I love dessert. I want to see bacon
30:38overload. I want a lot of bacon. Oh boy. These chefs, they're very close. Does
30:43anyone think that one may have an edge or are we talking about a horse race
30:47here? I think Jacob has a little bit of an edge. They both made like a fritter
30:50type thing in the first round and I think his was better. In my opinion, they
30:54are close score-wise. So, what's going to differentiate them from each other is for
30:59each of the chefs to actually transform the ingredients, right? Like really show
31:03some technique in this dessert. What do you think about this bacon cake? Into it.
31:07Yellow cake with bacon lardons. You could make an amazing buttermilk ice cream and
31:12fold in bacon. Yum. Love that. I love making custard-based ice creams. Hey, Si, what are
31:19you making? I'm making a bacon cake ice cream. Yes, she is. Exactly what I asked for. I get my
31:25egg yolks in a bowl and I whisk in some brown sugar and then I take my bacon
31:29cake cream and I temper it in slowly. I think maybe I can take this cake and
31:35turn them into an ice cream. Are they both trying to make ice cream? I'm
31:39definitely gonna beat him to the ice cream machine. Ice cream's going in. Very
31:46exciting. Si is also gonna do an ice cream. So, I'm like, alright, back to square one. I'm
31:51gonna make a cake. What do we got here? It looks like a cake. Hey, Jacob. Yes. What are
31:57you making? Kind of like a gooey warm cake type of deal and then a pork belly
32:02salted caramel. I feel like I would have leaned into like a tres leches style.
32:08So, like a buttermilk tres leches. Jacob getting his cakes into the oven with 20
32:13minutes to go, that's pretty good, but he filled muffin tins and he filled them
32:16pretty high. Yeah. Just 20 minutes on the clock.
32:25This stupid pomegranate has so many baby seeds. Is that pomegranate that she's cutting up
32:33that way? Why would you put all the pith in? I threw the pomegranate in a pot
32:37hoping that it'd be cooked down and it'll cook down the rest of that husk. Then I'll
32:41add some more berries just to give it some more body with some citrus and some
32:46orange liqueur. I see where this is going. Like a little chutney or something.
32:51Bacon berry jam? Yep. I'm confused, but I'm excited. Because there is a cake in the
32:57basket, I don't want to make another cake, so I decided to go puff pastry. Behind.
33:07What do you think about this fully cooked pork belly? I would do a pork fat caramel.
33:10Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna take the sugar and start building my caramel.
33:14Chef, are you still keeping up with me? Hell yeah. Let's go. I take the fat of the
33:20pork belly so it can play the role of like butter and caramel. I usually fold
33:24some heavy cream into my salted caramel, so I'm gonna infuse the heavy cream with
33:29this cake. Ooh, his cakes are out. I see the cakes, they're looking great. At this
33:35point, I just want to get them out of the mold to cool them off a little bit.
33:38Right now, Jacob is trying to unmold those cakes. Soft hands, Chef. Soft hands.
33:45The cakes, you know, they were nicely inflated. Ooh, ooh, ooh. They look a little...
33:51Then when I take them out of the mold, they just deflated. I mean, at this point, I'm
33:56super stressed. You have to let it rest for a little bit before you can unmold.
34:02I'm very concerned about that. What did I just do?
34:07I don't like the look on his face.
34:14Go gentle. They look soft. They look soft. I should have let the cakes rest a little bit,
34:18but time is gone, so the cake is going on the plate. All right, Chefs, we're down to four minutes.
34:25I take the pomegranate seeds, I put it in the pot with a little bit of orange juice
34:30and strawberry preserve because that's going to help thicken up a little bit.
34:35I grab additional pork belly and head back to the fryer
34:38because I need some other texture on my dish.
34:42Many people have taken a fall at that ice cream machine.
34:46Well, it looks like it hasn't gotten side.
34:48Looking at my ice cream, it's velvety. I smell the bacon. I'm just so excited for
34:53the judges to taste this ice cream. She's putting hot berry compote, which also has,
34:58I think, pomegranate skin. That puff pastry can get so soggy.
35:04So I'm tasting this pomegranate sauce and I'm like,
35:06you know what? I'm going to try it. I'm going to try it. I'm going to try it.
35:10So I'm tasting this pomegranate sauce and I'm like, you know what? This is not going to cut it.
35:17I'm grabbing this mascarpone cheese and I'm just going to whip it all together.
35:22What is Jacob doing? What is he doing?
35:23Can you whip cream in less than a minute? We're about to find out. 30 seconds, Chefs.
35:30Come on, you got to go. You got to go. You got to go. Got to finish it up.
35:33Make sure your basket ingredients are on there. No faking with bacon. Final seconds of the final
35:42round. Chefs, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Time's up. Wow. That was just right down to the wire.
36:00Whoa, man. I'm about to cry, but good cry. The ice cream came out perfect. It's velvety,
36:08custardy, like I like. Should be a win. Fighting for my kids, man. I really want
36:13to take that family vacation. If you want something, you fight for it, you go for it, and you win.
36:18Chef Jacob and Chef Sai, your challenge in the third round was to make desserts
36:22with a bacon cake, pork belly, pomegranates, and buttermilk. Chef Jacob, tell us about your
36:29dessert. We have a warm buttermilk cake. It has a pork belly salted caramel and then a pomegranate
36:36spread. What's in the jam? I'm going to put a little bit of salt in there. I'm going to put
36:41a pork belly salted caramel and then a pomegranate spread. What's in the jam? The
36:48pork fat itself, just a little bit of sugar. I think that was a really, really smart idea
36:53because you need something to break up the cake. Really, really worked out here. Thank you, Chef.
36:59You made a cake, a caramel, and you also made almost like a mousse. Your most successful is
37:04the caramel. You're getting all the notes of bacon, and then just the hints of the little
37:10pork belly, and it's a nice texture against the softness of the cake. You gave me a cake
37:16that if you had let it set in those silicone molds, you wouldn't have the deflation that
37:22you're seeing happen. It's a very good dessert. This feels like a bacon-forward dish. The
37:27mascarpone pomegranate tastes good, but visually looks curdled a little bit. I'm going to ding you
37:32a little bit on presentation points. Finally, Chef Sai. You have a puff pastry cooked with pork
37:39belly, raspberries, and pomegranate blueberry. Then you have bacon cake ice cream finished off
37:46with crispy pork belly tossed in coffee and cinnamon. This is outstanding. Thank you, Chef.
37:52The pork belly nuggets, love them. My pomegranates, while I absolutely love the flavor of this,
38:01there's actually some of the skin in that compote still, and it pulls me out of the like joy of this
38:07dish. Like all of your dishes today, this has got outrageous flavor. Thank you. Just everything here
38:13on this plate, it's just sweet enough. The berry compote that you made works really, really well
38:18with the bacon. This is very bacon-forward also. There is one issue. The puff pastry is raw in the
38:24center. I could readily identify each basket component. In the ice cream, I taste the cake.
38:33In the compote, I taste pomegranate. Thank you for overloading me with pork. I appreciate that.
38:38Thank you, Chef. You were really jamming in that round. What was motivating you? My grandfather,
38:45Oscar Williams, is the reason why I'm a chef today. His passing put a fire under me. I thanked him for
38:52pushing me to be a chef, and he told me to have fun and enjoy my career, so this is for him.
39:01Chef Sai, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, chefs. Thank you.
39:11Judges, bacon was the star of the baskets. What was the most brilliant move you saw either of
39:16these chefs make with bacon? In the appetizer round, they both basically made fritters with
39:21the bacon. I think that Jacob's plate felt more like a celebration of bacon. One thing I liked
39:27about Jacob's appetizer was he made it a savory fritter, whereas Sai, her cinnamon roll fritter
39:33tasted like a dessert or a brunch item. I think Sai bringing in the fresh elements,
39:37her vinaigrette, I think that was the most successful out of the two. Well, you know what?
39:41I didn't love Jacob's cinnamon roll sauce. It didn't go with the jalapeno in the fritter.
39:47Then into the entree round where we had the pork brains and gravy to deal with, Jacob really made
39:52us almost a perfect dish. He hid pork brain and gravy in it? Like, what? He was the only chef where
39:58the pork cheeks were somewhat tender. I think that Sai did an incredible job in the entree round,
40:04developing flavor and giving us a dish that felt like it had cooked for forever. Couldn't stop
40:08eating it. I didn't stop eating it, but the problem was I was eating around her pork cheeks.
40:12And the rice. They both did quite well. They really did, but we know who's going to be the
40:18next Chop Champion. I think we both received really good critiques and then some flaws in
40:27our dessert, so I am nervous about the results. I've been hearing my grandfather all day in my
40:33head like, that's enough. Not enough, so I'll put some more. I want this win so bad. Me and
40:38my grandfather, we're gonna take it home. Whose dish is on the chopping block?
40:52Chef Sai, you've been chopped. Judges? Chef Sai, in the first round we loved the fritter that you
41:00made, but it wasn't very sweet. It almost felt like a dessert or a brunch item. And then dessert round,
41:05the puff pastry, which was the anchor of your dessert, was undercooked and raw in the center.
41:09And so we had to chop you. Congratulations. Chef, good work. So close. That's where the
41:16mixed emotion come in. To be that close to winning, it's like, ah. But I'm very proud of myself.
41:24Be well. Even though I didn't get the win, I still feel like a winner,
41:27and I know my grandfather and my family are proud of me.
41:30And that means, Chef Jacob Rios, that you are the chopped champion. Congratulations, sir.
41:36Well done. Well done. The kids are gonna be ecstatic. The minute they find out,
41:41it's like, yes, we're going on vacation. Now that I won those $10,000, it's vacation time.
41:46Thank you very much. This competition means a lot for my kiddos. To see their little eyes
41:51when I go home and they can see that daddy won, that's gonna be the best prize ever.