Tournament of Champions S06E00
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00:00Tournament of Champions 6 is around the corner.
00:03Yes!
00:05So I'm giving the claimed chefs a shot
00:07at cooking their way into the tournament.
00:09You're allowed to get messy.
00:10Six chefs have already claimed their qualifier spots.
00:13Chef Maria!
00:14Chef Sawyer!
00:15Chef Carlos Anthony!
00:16Chrisso!
00:17Chef Brittany!
00:18Pietta Spade!
00:19And only the final two available spots remain.
00:22Why do you do this?
00:23Bye!
00:24I've never worked this messy.
00:26Two chefs, chosen at random,
00:28will go head-to-head in a culinary battle.
00:31All y'all better be worried.
00:33The chef who wins is in the tournament.
00:35Thank you, beautiful people in the stands!
00:37I love you!
00:38The one that loses is out.
00:40With an invitation to the biggest stage in the food world on the line.
00:44When I think of TOC Ready, I think of dishes like this.
00:48Yes!
00:49And a shot at $150,000.
00:51Let's see how this goes.
00:53This is TOC 6 Qualifiers.
00:59Last four chefs!
01:04Oh, y'all going to stand right up front?
01:06Our roving reporter, Hunter Fieri.
01:08We are going to draw two names out,
01:10and you are going to go directly to competition.
01:13You win, you're in.
01:15You lose, you go home.
01:19The device.
01:20Right.
01:28Going up first,
01:30Chef Stephanie Boswell.
01:35Internationally acclaimed pastry chef,
01:37called one of the best up-and-coming female chefs in Los Angeles.
01:41Quite a big deal.
01:42Everybody knows your name.
01:43I love that you're from pastry.
01:45If you can do pastry, you can do anything.
01:47Basically, yeah.
01:48Hunter, give it a spin.
01:49All righty.
01:50This will determine a lot right here.
01:55Adriana Urbina!
01:58Not only Michelin-trained,
02:00but also CHOP Grand Champion.
02:02I'm looking forward to this battle coming up.
02:04You two are, without question, heavy hitters.
02:07So, David and Dara,
02:09you'll be going head-to-head in the final round.
02:11And you two, to the randomizer.
02:14Follow me.
02:15I'm an executive pastry chef.
02:16You might not know me in the savory world,
02:18but I definitely deserve to be here in the qualifiers.
02:20I've worked under the greatest chefs,
02:22five-star, five-diamond properties,
02:24and earned Michelin stars.
02:27I'm a three-time CHOP Champion
02:29and the first Latina CHOP Grand Champion.
02:33Stephanie, Adriana, you've seen a lot of battles.
02:36One of you is going to get a chance
02:38to go in and play Tournament of Champions VI.
02:40This is the randomizer.
02:42Protein, produce, equipment, style, and time.
02:45Here we go.
02:47Without further ado, let's get into the protein.
02:50Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:53It's your shoulder in there.
02:58All right, what's it going to be?
03:00Time would be nice.
03:03Buttery.
03:04Oh, yes!
03:0628 minutes.
03:07Okay.
03:09The ricer.
03:10Love the ricer.
03:14There we go.
03:17And if it goes tilapia, I'm leaving.
03:19Tilapia is basically pure protein.
03:21Very little flavor.
03:22There's not a lot to it.
03:24Oh, my God.
03:26Time, time, time.
03:30No!
03:31Bye!
03:33Okay, I got it.
03:34Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:37Oh, my God.
03:40When you shove that tilapia through that ricer,
03:43I'm going to go bananas.
03:47Okay.
03:48Tilapia, wax beans, ricer, buttery,
03:53and 28 glorious minutes.
03:56Any questions, chefs?
03:57Why do you do this?
03:59Well, you know what?
04:00I really thought long and hard about this.
04:02I don't really know this is me, okay?
04:04Channeling your energy right here to the randomizer.
04:08But you know what?
04:09You're so smiling, you're happy.
04:10Let's just end that right now and start.
04:13Go.
04:14Oh!
04:18All right, tilapia gets a bad rap.
04:20I agree, okay?
04:21There's not a ton of flavor.
04:22It is kind of a cheap fish.
04:24Wax beans.
04:25Wax beans are the same thing as green beans.
04:27They just don't have the chlorophyll.
04:28There you go.
04:29Ricer.
04:30The less you mess with the potato,
04:31the nice and lighter and fluffier the potato will be.
04:34And buttery, that should be easy to work with,
04:37but I think is going to be posing a little bit more challenge
04:40than people expect.
04:42I'm supposed to be cooking my way out of the qualifiers
04:46and I'm given tilapia and wax beans.
04:50The only thing that I loved in this randomizer was buttery
04:54because I can use brioche.
04:56That's something a little bit in my wheelhouse on the pastry side.
05:05I was here last season.
05:07It's tough.
05:08The randomizer makes it like,
05:10it's like another level of competition.
05:12You have to not only think about a technique,
05:15but also you have to utilize an equipment.
05:20I think there are two things that I'm a little worried about
05:23is we have tilapia.
05:25I hate tilapia.
05:26And the ricer.
05:29Because last time they wanted to see more use of the equipment.
05:35What are we thinking, chef?
05:36What's the menu going to be?
05:38The game plan.
05:39I'm going to make fried tilapia
05:43with brown buttered mayor lemon sauce.
05:46Okay.
05:47So I'm making a nutritional yeast panko crust.
05:52Ooh, nutritional yeast.
05:54I mean, it is flavor.
05:56It's not just vegetarian.
05:57It is the bomb of food.
05:59I'll let you go.
06:00Okay.
06:01Tonight, I'm joined again by two amazing culinary commentators,
06:04Hunter Fieri and Justin Warner.
06:06Hunter and Justin will closely follow our chef's progress
06:09so they can present them to the judges
06:11during the blind tasting.
06:13All right, what's the menu going to be, chef?
06:15Well, I'm going to make a churched up filet-o-fish.
06:18Churched up, which is a culinary term,
06:21but I'm going to take something very simple and basic
06:23and I'm going to make it a little extra fancy.
06:26I want to do the kind of food that I like to eat.
06:31I like to eat those, you know, drive-through fish sandwiches
06:36that are so bad, they're good.
06:39I'm going to do a beautiful, bright wax bean salad.
06:44Both chefs are going to fry fish with the tilapia.
06:46No dummies there. They got it.
06:48How they're going to treat the ricer,
06:50because I don't see anybody talking about the ricer right now.
06:53And if they were doing potatoes
06:55or they were doing any kind of root vegetable.
06:57How do you think you want to use the ricer?
07:00Honestly, I kind of have no idea right now.
07:03I think I'm just going to figure it out.
07:05If they're going to be ricing it,
07:07they would want to be getting it cooked right now.
07:1120 minutes, chef. 20 to go.
07:14I feel like this whole thing is about not having any idea.
07:17No idea.
07:19But for now, I'm going to make an aioli
07:23to go on my churched up fish sandwich.
07:26I like it.
07:28Get all that Japanese mayonnaise in there.
07:34I wanted to add a little bit of botarga,
07:37which is a preserved roe.
07:40Here's the great thing that she's doing,
07:42is that she's fortifying that tartar sauce
07:45or whatever she's going to make,
07:47fortifying it with all this extra bomb fish.
07:49You make me sound so good.
07:51Sister, you're the one that's doing it.
07:53I'm just sitting here watching you play the music.
07:55I'm just explaining to you how you play a heavy metal violin.
07:58I like the way you read the music, though.
08:00Well, let's get some Sabbath playing in the background.
08:06What do you think, chef?
08:08Very tasty.
08:10It needs a little longer.
08:12How you doing, chef?
08:14I'm feeling good.
08:16Tasting is critical.
08:18Why would you put anything on a plate
08:20that you don't know what it tastes like?
08:22I wanted to make sure
08:24that I add the butter two ways.
08:27The first thing that comes to my mind is brown butter.
08:31I can use it in a sauce and a puree.
08:34Are we ricing the cauliflower or ricing the potato?
08:37I haven't seen it yet.
08:39There's a chance those two could be combined
08:41into some sort of puree.
08:43I'm going to combine cauliflower
08:45with potatoes and the wax beans.
08:48An essential part of the TOC match-up is the blind judging.
08:53Our judges are waiting in their trailers to get the call.
08:56Their scores will be based solely on what is on the plate.
09:03Chefs, we are officially at the halfway point.
09:06You've got 14 minutes left, 14.
09:09Lord almighty, these are huge.
09:11I'm kind of wanting to treat the fish
09:14a little bit like a filet of sole.
09:16So pan-fried with a lot of butter
09:18and let it go while I work on everything else.
09:21Whew, going big with those.
09:25I know, they're enormous, aren't they?
09:28Talk about churched up.
09:31I may be known for pastry, but I love to cook.
09:34I also think it's really important
09:36to do the thing that scares you the most in life.
09:39And if you can get out there
09:41and do something scary and challenging,
09:43I think it's always a good character-building exercise to do it.
09:51Last season, I was super nervous.
09:54I was not ready.
09:56I really wanted to come back
09:58because I knew I have what it takes to win this competition.
10:04I want to try and use the ricer as much as possible,
10:08so I'm going to smash the cauliflower,
10:11the wax beans, and the potatoes.
10:17So for the wax beans and the puree as well?
10:19Yes.
10:21So this was cauliflower.
10:23Cauliflower and wax beans that had been boiled and shocked,
10:27and then the potatoes were passed through the ricer.
10:307 minutes, 7 to go!
10:35So what do you think you're going to do
10:37for the wax beans and the salad?
10:39I'm going to dress them
10:41with a really bright fene herb dressing.
10:45Hunter, do we have a ricer being used in one yet?
10:48We do not have a ricer being used in one yet.
10:51What is the game plan with the ricer, Chef?
10:54Ooh, I have no idea yet.
10:56Okay, good talk.
10:58My plan for the ricer was I would just figure it out on the fly.
11:03I needed to do something with it,
11:06so I just pushed my tartare through it
11:08and tried to refine some of the texture
11:10so it wasn't quite as, you know, big and choppy.
11:14I wanted it to be a little bit more refined.
11:17She's ricing her aioli.
11:23You heard it right.
11:25Wax bean salad, Chef.
11:27I'm going to add a bunch of herbs.
11:30Everyone loves butter,
11:32but I need to cut that fad with the fresh salad.
11:35We're seeing a second use of the wax beans and of the ricer.
11:41It's going to be my vinaigrette for the fish.
11:44Three minutes!
11:46I worked in multiple Michelin star restaurants,
11:49and I know how to plate.
11:51So one of the things that I really wanted to take time
11:55and do well was my plating.
11:58So I'm going to put the cauliflower, wax bean,
12:01potato puree in the bottom,
12:03and then I'm going to put the fried tilapia on top,
12:09the salad on top of the tilapia.
12:14I'm going to sprinkle the brown butter,
12:16mayo, lemon sauce on top.
12:19Yeah, more butter in the mix.
12:22And I'm going to finish it with the rice crackers.
12:24They add texture.
12:26I feel very confident.
12:28The flavors are there,
12:30and I just have to continue cooking like this,
12:33believing in myself.
12:3590 seconds. 90 seconds to go.
12:41I put the cheese on the fish, and it's such thick slices,
12:45so I have to put it under the salamander
12:47in order to try and just melt the cheese
12:50as much as humanly possible before I put it on the sandwich.
12:53It's got to be buttery brioche.
12:56Super buttery, and then, you know,
12:59if you just take bread and pan-fry it a little bit
13:02with more butter...
13:04Perfect.
13:0630 seconds.
13:10Then I add in the wax bean salad with fene herb dressing.
13:17Then I put the botarga tartar sauce on there.
13:19Y'all got this!
13:21And then, finally, I add my fish.
13:24My biggest fear right now is that I haven't edited enough,
13:28and it's not beautiful.
13:315, 4, 3, 2, 1.
13:36That's it. Stop working.
13:39I'm super happy.
13:41All right, chefs. Quite the battle.
13:44Judges will be in a minute to check it out.
13:46Thank you very much. See you in a bit.
13:48Well done. Let's bring the judges in.
13:52Ah!
13:54The ricer, I definitely don't feel like I used enough,
13:57because I just, I kind of went blank on that.
14:00It's buttery, it's creative.
14:03I think it's delicious. I hope they like it.
14:09So exciting and so fun and so weird and so challenging.
14:13It's great.
14:15Which is crazy to just get one chance to get to the main bracket.
14:19Let's welcome back our incredible qualifier judges.
14:22The only two-time TOC winner, the reigning champ,
14:25Chef Monique Chauhan.
14:27Oh, Monique!
14:29Woo! I love her!
14:32And TOC four-champ, Chef Mei Lin.
14:35Oh, Mei Lin!
14:37Mei Lin is the best.
14:39And the one and only Chef Tiffany Faison.
14:41Hey!
14:43Oh, my gosh. I love them so much.
14:45I'm so happy to just be feeding them.
14:47Here we have it, the randomizer dished out.
14:50Bum, bum, bum!
14:52Tilapia.
14:54Some wax beans.
14:56Use of the ricer.
14:58We asked for it to be buttery.
15:00So, first dish to be presented by Hunter.
15:03Hunter, please tell us what they have.
15:05Ah!
15:07Judges, the chef has prepared for you a churched-up fish sandwich
15:11with a botarga tartare and a fene herb salad.
15:14The aioli, it was done in the food processor
15:16and then finished in the ricer.
15:18In the salad, we have our wax beans,
15:22parsley, chives, dill.
15:24Enjoy.
15:26Oh, Mei Lin gave a little, a little winky nod.
15:30That's good.
15:32Well, I didn't know that I needed a tilapia sandwich
15:35with American cheese, but now I do.
15:37Get the heck out!
15:39The wax beans, I would eat that alone.
15:41This is a tale of two cities.
15:43This is like me when people are watching,
15:45me at home, alone.
15:47Word.
15:49I like this a lot.
15:51Cool. I'll take it.
15:53So, first of all, seeing the sandwich,
15:55it is ginormous.
15:57I wish it was a little bit more handheld.
16:00Oh, no.
16:02I love the wax bean salad, though.
16:04I really love the acid that it really gives
16:07to the rest of the dish.
16:10But I want a little bit more butter.
16:12I am totally getting buttery from the brioche,
16:14but that's exactly where it stops.
16:16Wow.
16:18The way the tilapia has been cooked,
16:20it almost reminds me of blackened fish,
16:22which works very well.
16:24To me, I think the ricer
16:26could have been used in a better way,
16:28because when you're using a ricer,
16:30you want that lusciousness, you know,
16:32you want that butteriness.
16:34Well, I mean, that's accurate.
16:36I did not use it enough.
16:38Okay, thank you very much.
16:40The scorecards are in front of you.
16:4250 points available in taste,
16:4440 for the use of the randomizer,
16:46and 10 in plating.
16:48The feedback being like,
16:50I wish it was more buttery,
16:52I would have been way harsher.
16:54Like, I look at that plate,
16:56and it's like so much editing could have happened.
16:58Let's move over to the second dish.
17:00Chef Justin.
17:02Judges, this is a nutritional yeast-breaded tilapia.
17:04It's done with brown butter
17:06and Meyer lemon,
17:08and a waxed bean salad.
17:10That waxed bean salad was done with a brown butter vinaigrette.
17:12The citrus used there was lemon
17:14and Meyer lemon,
17:16and both of those were extracted using the ricer,
17:18and then a riced potato.
17:20As always, judges,
17:22if you have questions, I have the answers.
17:24I'm getting nervous.
17:26I feel super nervous.
17:28When I think of TOC Ready,
17:30I think of dishes like this.
17:32No, I'm gonna cry.
17:34Like, this is
17:36more of what we're looking for.
17:38You take two things, tilapia and waxed beans,
17:40kind of nothing ingredients that don't have a lot of flavor,
17:42and you put them with
17:44the other components that you wouldn't necessarily
17:46want to have to deal with buttery and ricer,
17:48and all of a sudden this makes sense.
17:50It looks like this dish was constructed
17:52intentionally as its own,
17:54and then the randomizer
17:56happened afterwards.
17:58I have goosebumps.
18:00The fact that you have 28 minutes
18:02and you can present a plate this pretty
18:04is pretty amazing,
18:06and you're in TOC,
18:08and I think that this is a TOC-worthy dish.
18:10I really like
18:12the way that this looks.
18:14I don't think any chef likes tilapia.
18:16I don't like tilapia, but I like this tilapia.
18:18I like that
18:20it has texture.
18:22Smart moves, like the use
18:24of the nutritional yeast along with the panko.
18:26To me, I do need
18:28more of the brown butter.
18:30More.
18:32You want that butteriness.
18:34They love my dish, everything that they said,
18:36that it was elevated.
18:38They saw how hard I worked in the
18:40plating, like thinking about the dish
18:42without words.
18:44Judges, thank you very much.
18:46Scorecard, 50-40-10.
18:48This is nerve-wracking.
18:50I'm always nervous. You never know
18:52when you're ready to be made.
18:54Okay.
18:56Ready. Okay, let's go.
18:58All right, let's invite our chefs back in,
19:00please. Chef Stephanie,
19:02Chef Adriana.
19:04Chef,
19:06what's that old saying?
19:08I give you lemons, make lemonade.
19:10I give you tilapia,
19:12you make a pretty darn good dish.
19:14One chef
19:16scored a 77.
19:18Good score. The other chef
19:20scored a 84.
19:22Which, ladies and gentlemen,
19:24is the highest score thus
19:26far in the play-ins?
19:28In the winner,
19:30in the battle between
19:32Chef Stephanie and Chef Adriana,
19:34the winner is...
19:38In the winner,
19:40in the battle between
19:42Chef Stephanie and Chef Adriana,
19:44the winner is...
19:50Adriana Urbina!
19:52Congratulations.
19:54Chef Stephanie,
19:56I really think the only thing that held you back
19:58on this, the randomizer
20:00is what hit you. Steph, you're awesome.
20:02Thank you. There we go. Thank you.
20:04Chef Stephanie, thank you.
20:12I got my first competition
20:14under my belt, and it was TOC.
20:16So,
20:18be on the lookout,
20:20because if I can do that,
20:22all y'all better be worried.
20:24That was not only the highest
20:26scoring dish, but they all
20:28made the comment,
20:30this is TOC-level
20:32competition food.
20:34That's a big deal.
20:36Great job. Congratulations.
20:38Tournament of champions! Right there.
20:44I'm so excited, happy.
20:46I'm just thinking about, like,
20:48how I'm gonna prepare
20:50for the next round, because
20:52I'm gonna compete with the best.
20:54So, so excited.
20:56There's two chefs that have been up there making more noise,
20:58clapping, getting so excited,
21:00but you've had a chance to watch everybody compete.
21:02And now is your time.
21:04Let's go.
21:06Well, and then there were two.
21:08All right, David Vianna,
21:102023 James Beard-nominated
21:12Best Chef Mid-Atlantic
21:14was also nominated
21:16in 2024 for Best New Restaurant.
21:20Daryu, youngest MasterChef
21:22winner ever?
21:24And competed at the age of 20?
21:26Yeah, and 12.
21:28Okay, let's just quit showing off.
21:30This final battle tonight to determine
21:32which one of you will be the eighth person
21:34to enter the last position
21:36in Tournament of Champions 6.
21:38Okay, here we go.
21:40Protein.
21:42Produce.
21:44Equipment.
21:46Style.
21:48And time.
21:50No whammy, no whammy, no whammy.
21:52Come on.
21:54Oh, 32.
21:56Wow.
21:58Sauté.
22:00Panini press.
22:02Okay, okay.
22:04White cauliflower shows up.
22:06And...
22:08Oh.
22:10Okay, okay.
22:12Ground pork.
22:14White cauliflower.
22:16Panini press.
22:18Sautéed.
22:20And you get a whopping
22:2232 minutes.
22:2431 chefs in the bracket.
22:26One spot remains.
22:28Who's gonna take it?
22:30Go show me.
22:32They're off!
22:34All right, ground pork,
22:36one of my all-time faves.
22:38Love ground pork.
22:40It's loved all over the world.
22:42Panini press.
22:44Panini means sandwich in Italian.
22:46Sautéed means jumped in French.
22:48So you're sautéing something
22:50and it's kind of snapping and popping and crackling.
22:52But everybody knows how to do that.
22:54Hopefully.
22:56Sitting through every single round of these qualifiers
22:58has been a bit torturous.
23:00At a certain point, you're like,
23:02let me just cook.
23:04I'm definitely no stranger to the competition world.
23:06I started competing
23:08when I was just 12 years old.
23:10Now 23 years old,
23:12coming into T.O.C.,
23:14and I'm up for the challenge.
23:16The initial thing that comes to mind
23:18is lettuce cups.
23:20Ground pork, lettuce cups.
23:22I know I can cook the meat on this panini press.
23:24Excuse me.
23:26I'm ready to just show these chefs
23:28that the next generation is to be a little bit feared.
23:30Hello.
23:32How are you?
23:34Good, how are you?
23:36Oh, lovely.
23:38I work in hospitality.
23:40That includes James Beard-nominated
23:42Best New Restaurant Lido in Aberdeen, New Jersey.
23:44I worked at a restaurant where I changed the menu
23:46every single week,
23:48so for almost five years straight,
23:50I committed myself to coming up with new dishes
23:52and never repeating a dish.
23:54I think that makes me pretty uniquely qualified.
23:56Thinking tortilla, making a homemade tortilla.
23:58Um, pork,
24:00a little salsa macha,
24:02cauliflower, pureed, so basically a taco.
24:04Okay.
24:06I just don't love panini press and sautéed together,
24:08and then it hits me.
24:10What if I made a tortilla?
24:12Panini press is like
24:14a two-sided plancha,
24:16and then I can sauté the pork
24:18and put it on my taco.
24:20Nope. Pork.
24:2225 minutes.
24:24What are we making?
24:26Um, I think I'm gonna do a lettuce wrap.
24:28I'm gonna do kind of a larb-style
24:30pork filling. I'm gonna do
24:32curry cauliflower puree sauce.
24:34We got a lot going on here.
24:36We're gonna see. We're gonna see.
24:38You know what's weird?
24:40The stands look empty.
24:42These two cheered everybody on.
24:44I think they need a little support.
24:46Send the qualifiers in!
24:48There you go, folks.
24:50Yes!
24:52Oh, my gosh.
24:56And you thought I was gonna leave you hanging by yourself.
24:58I bring in the crew.
25:00Everybody's here.
25:02Once I commit to
25:04making this taco and sautéing this pork,
25:06I really wanted to bring flavor to the table.
25:08And one of my favorite sauces
25:10in the Mexican culture is salsa
25:12macha. Macha is
25:14like a really deep, rich sauce.
25:16So I'm sautéing the jalapeno
25:18and the garlic that's gonna go in my salsa macha.
25:20I'm gonna fry the peppers
25:22and fry the peanuts.
25:26That sauté sound.
25:28Music. Yeah, what is the game plan?
25:30I think we're gonna see a taco.
25:32That is if we can make our own tortilla.
25:34That is if we can make our own tortilla.
25:36Correct. Feeling good?
25:38I have a good plan.
25:40So she's gonna do a lettuce wrap,
25:42lard filling, do a curry,
25:44cauliflower puree.
25:46Where's that panini press coming into play?
25:48I'm gonna panini press the pork and the cauliflower.
25:50Got it.
25:52Is that the cauliflower that you're gonna...
25:54I'm gonna sauté this cauliflower as well.
25:56So there'll be a cauliflower crema,
25:58a curry crema, and then
26:00there'll also be a sautéed kind of
26:02crispy, spicy cauliflower that
26:04also goes in with the filling. Okay.
26:06I think watching all the battles,
26:08I know I have to
26:10use the randomizer.
26:12Let's see how this goes.
26:14I'm like, okay, I know
26:16I can cook the cauliflower on this
26:18panini press and get a nice char
26:20on it.
26:22My mind
26:24is going blank.
26:26A little
26:28baking powder. Will this be your tortilla?
26:30This will be my tortilla.
26:32Duck fat? Yeah.
26:34Who wants a tortilla without duck fat?
26:38Corn tortillas or flour?
26:40Flour. Flour tortillas.
26:42A little double-acting baking powder in there,
26:44duck fat to give it go.
26:46Duck fat's a nice call. This dish
26:48is what stands between me and being on the
26:50main bracket here on TOC, and I'm gonna
26:52make sure that it's flawless.
26:54Will this land on the panini press?
26:56It'll land on the panini press. That's the goal.
26:58Chef David
27:00thinks he wants to make his own tortillas,
27:02but time burns fast.
27:0432 minutes goes fast, doesn't it?
27:06It sure does.
27:12Doing great, Chef.
27:14You're doing awesome.
27:1619 minutes, 19 left.
27:18Last and final battle of the
27:20qualifiers coming down to a
27:22neck-and-neck race.
27:24Sauteed garlic,
27:26check.
27:28I want to get past these qualifiers.
27:30I'm gonna go big. I'm making my own tortilla.
27:32Making tortillas from scratch
27:34requires time. Whenever you make a dough,
27:36you have to let it rest. I'm gonna take my
27:38tortilla dough and throw it in the vacuum
27:40sealer. You do this vac sealing
27:42technique often? Yes,
27:44I do. For lots of doughs,
27:46it really decreases
27:48the resting time for them.
27:50She's got a cauliflower
27:52in the panini press right now that she had
27:54blanched. She's working on building her
27:56larb right now. She's gonna test out the mixture
27:58in the panini press once she's done mixing it.
28:00I think my strategy
28:02is just to, like, trust my gut.
28:04Cook what I know, and
28:06larb is one of my favorite dishes.
28:08Ginger? I put
28:10some dark soy in there. Dark soy.
28:12And a little bit of sesame oil.
28:14Got it.
28:16All right, I think that might work for ya.
28:20Yep.
28:22Okay. I've spent a few
28:24weeks now sitting in the stadium.
28:26Right there beside me has been Dara. When someone
28:28competes on MasterChef Junior at
28:30the age of, like, 12, they call that a prodigy.
28:32I'm not gonna underestimate her. That's the fastest
28:34way to get eliminated. Chef, where did the
28:36adobo go, or where is it going to go? It's going
28:38on the pork here that I'm gonna saute. I know that the
28:40pork is gonna cook rather quickly. I know that I
28:42can get wonderful caramelization
28:44in about five to six minutes.
28:46I'm gonna use this cauliflower puree to be
28:48the silky, creamy part
28:50of my taco.
28:56Ten minutes! Good to go!
29:00David has been
29:02an incredible friend at
29:04this point, sitting through all
29:06of these challenges. I know
29:08David's repertoire,
29:10his skill level, how passionate
29:12he is. It's gonna be a challenge.
29:14You do the cauliflower
29:16and the corn together? Um, yeah,
29:18probably. For the lettuce wrap,
29:20I grab corn. Sauteing
29:22corn is one of my favorite techniques
29:24to do.
29:26So is this gonna be a puree with
29:28that and cauliflower? So you're gonna do curry
29:30cauliflower puree? Yep. Okay.
29:34Yeah, so I panini
29:36pressed it, and I'm sauteing it. Got it.
29:38Feel good? Feeling good.
29:40Great.
29:42I don't make tortillas
29:44every day from scratch, but I think it's worth
29:46the risk here on TOC to come
29:48outside my comfort zone and
29:50attempt to make these tortillas. It's turning out
29:52to be a decent use of the randomizer,
29:54actually.
29:56How we looking? Oh, boy. Flour tortillas
29:58are going down in the panini press. We have
30:00baking flour tortillas, running them on
30:02the panini press.
30:04You gotta like that. That's a perfect way
30:06to use them. Salsa macha's
30:08cruising that contains two sauteed elements.
30:10What's in the salsa macha?
30:12Salsa macha, you've got guajillo,
30:14morita, and ancho chilies. They were fried.
30:16You then have the sauteed garlic and
30:18jalapeno, also known as the salsa seca.
30:20It's like a dry chili.
30:22Right.
30:24Space inside your thigh. Okay.
30:32You got this. You got this.
30:34Once I have that pork
30:36cooked on the panini press, if I throw it
30:38into the pan and then saute it,
30:40then I'm kind of like double whammying
30:42the randomizer.
30:46Put some chili crisp in there.
30:48Just kind of amp up that flavor and that spice.
30:52Steph, what are you making in the blender?
30:54That's gonna be the puree.
30:56This 32 minutes
30:58is going so quick.
31:00I felt like I'm late.
31:02We're in the spot zone over here. Yeah.
31:04Apologies.
31:06What do we have in there?
31:08So this is her green curry
31:10cauliflower puree.
31:12I'm so sorry.
31:14I never work this messy.
31:16Oh, really? It's a big kitchen.
31:18You're allowed to get messy.
31:20Five minutes.
31:22Less than five.
31:26Thank you, beautiful people in the stands.
31:28I love you.
31:32Plating, to me, is kind of
31:34a process, and the last thing I want to do
31:36is wait until the very end to start.
31:38So let's get these tortillas on the plate,
31:40and let's start building our taco.
31:42Is this getting served as a tostada
31:44or a taco? Taco.
31:46Taco. Taco.
31:48The first thing I want to do is put down a bed
31:50of this cauliflower puree.
31:52It's silky, it's creamy, it's gonna
31:54provide luxury to this dish.
31:58Three and a half? Three and a half.
32:00Now I'm adding pork.
32:02I want to make sure that, again, we're getting
32:04the pork top to bottom on this tortilla.
32:06Next, I'm gonna add our salsa macha.
32:08This is the coup de gras of this dish.
32:10I want to make sure it's covering
32:12the pork from top to bottom as well.
32:14So we got the pork going on to
32:16the puree of the cauliflower.
32:18I've sauteed pork.
32:20Lastly, we're gonna add
32:22these beautiful, bright, pickled
32:24cauliflower. I'm proud of what
32:26I've created. I think it's
32:28a delicious bite that's worthy of
32:30going on to TOC. It's thoughtful,
32:32it's developed, it's got nuance,
32:34and I think that this is a winning dish.
32:36Two minutes!
32:38Two to go!
32:42I just really want to be able to
32:44just, like, get this food on the plate.
32:46I placed the lettuce down.
32:48I'm like, I'm already questioning
32:50this lettuce choice, but I'm like, I don't have
32:52time to go back.
32:56First thing I know is I need to get this pork mixture
32:58into this lettuce.
33:00You got this.
33:02You got this.
33:04I need to get this cauliflower curry sauce
33:06on top of there.
33:10The dish that I had in my mind that I set
33:12out to make is on this plate.
33:14I'm definitely proud of what I did.
33:16Six!
33:18Five! Four! Three!
33:20Two! One!
33:22That's it!
33:24Cauliflower's are over, folks!
33:26Two! One!
33:28I leave the best for last,
33:30is what you're telling me?
33:32Coming right?
33:34Great final round of the play-ins.
33:36Back to your trailers. Let's call in the judges.
33:38Gosh, this gets good.
33:42Phew. That was rough.
33:44Jeez.
33:50Look, I got food on the plate.
33:52All right, let's welcome back our esteemed
33:54qualifier judges, the TOC champs.
33:56Chef Monique Chauhan.
33:58Oh, my God.
34:00Are you kidding me?
34:02Chef Tiffany Faison.
34:04Holy moly.
34:06And Chef May Lin.
34:08May and I are both Asian
34:10ally sisters. This is the TOC
34:12royalty is judging our
34:14food? Are you kidding me?
34:16Well, chefs,
34:18someone is going to be the
34:2032nd chef
34:22entering the tournament.
34:24Tonight, the chefs for this final round
34:26were compounded with the opportunity
34:28of ground pork, white
34:30cauliflower, the use of the panini
34:32press, they had to have sauteed,
34:34and they had 32 minutes.
34:36Up first,
34:38Chef Warner.
34:40Judges, this is a ground pork and salsa
34:42macha taco. So, first up,
34:44you have the flour tortilla. That was
34:46crafted with baking powder,
34:48duck fat, hot water. It was then vac sealed
34:50to speed the resting. It was rolled
34:52and then pressed and cooked
34:54with the panini press.
34:56The cauliflower you have in the pickled
34:58and pureed form. The panini
35:00press was used to cook the
35:02tortilla. And for sauteed elements, you have
35:04the jalapeno and garlic that are
35:06in the salsa macha and the pork itself.
35:08Oh, man. They're, like,
35:10inspecting it and tearing it apart.
35:12There's no, like, smiling
35:14either. This is, like, rough.
35:16All the flavors are
35:18really well distributed
35:20on this. I love the salsa macha
35:22and all the umami that
35:24it brings to this dish.
35:26I love
35:28the use of the cauliflower in a
35:30puree, in a pickle.
35:32You know, sauteed pork, sure.
35:34I think that's probably the only
35:36use of saute that I,
35:38um, that is on this plate, correct?
35:40No.
35:42The jalapeno and garlic that is in the salsa
35:44macha was also sauteed. Got it.
35:46Chef Tiffany.
35:48This is a hard one, right? Like, sauteed
35:50as a style
35:52is tough. For me, I think sauteed,
35:54I think, like, something really jumping
35:56out of a pan together in a
35:58more of a luscious
36:00kind of mix. Points for making
36:02your own tortilla. I don't believe we've ever seen
36:04a flour tortilla made in TOC.
36:06I, like, it's pretty
36:08astounding. And then to, like, completely
36:10execute it on the panini press, like,
36:12check, check, check. Hats off.
36:14Yes! Yes!
36:1632 minutes.
36:18Well spent.
36:20This chef came ready
36:22to compete on TOC.
36:24Yes! The fact that
36:26the chef made tortillas
36:28from scratch, and all the smart moves
36:30of using the vacuum
36:32sealer to let it rest.
36:36The cauliflower,
36:38I think that is amazing.
36:40I just wish that the proportion was more.
36:42Both from the sauce, because it would
36:44give it that almost
36:46sour, cream lusciousness.
36:48But I need more of that. I think that would
36:50have been a fantastic bite overall.
36:52Thank you very much, judges.
36:5450 points available in taste,
36:5640 points available in use of the randomizer,
36:58and 10 for the plating.
37:00Ah!
37:02I knew going into this it would
37:04be a challenge, like, a really big
37:06challenge for me. All right, to present the
37:08second dish, Hunter Fieri.
37:10Judges, in front of you, the chef
37:12has made a sautéed pork
37:14and cauliflower lettuce roll
37:16with corn, topped with a
37:18cauliflower curry crema,
37:20and then garnished with
37:22fried garlic, fried shallots, mint,
37:24and cilantro.
37:26The larb was put into the panini
37:28press. Then it was finished
37:30in a sauté pan with the
37:32cauliflower, corn, and sugar
37:34snap peas.
37:36Manit looks confused.
37:40I see the difference, especially
37:42in the pork, of the panini press
37:44being used. If this was sautéed,
37:46it would have been a lot more broken down.
37:48The fact that these are chunks and
37:50when you bite into it, it's not as dry,
37:52I think that was a smart use
37:54of the panini press.
37:56That's good.
37:58I love a lettuce wrap.
38:00All the ingredients in the lettuce wrap
38:02are really delicious.
38:04You have the ground pork, you have
38:06some chilies, you have
38:08the cauliflower.
38:10I feel like maybe this would have
38:12been a little bit harder to eat with
38:14bibb lettuce because all the
38:16components in the
38:18lettuce wrap are really
38:20heavy, so I feel like that bibb lettuce
38:22was probably a poor choice.
38:24Makes sense. I love the flavor
38:26of the Thai curry paste with the cauliflower.
38:28I think that's made to go together.
38:30There's a lot of canned ingredients
38:32in here, pre-made ingredients.
38:34Shallots, garlic, canned Thai
38:36curry paste.
38:38I wonder where the 32 minutes
38:40is in this, a little bit, for me,
38:42in terms of time allocation.
38:44If I had another 30 minutes, I'd do it all.
38:48Judges, scorecards,
38:5050, 40, 10.
38:54I was sitting there every single round being like,
38:56this is what I would make, this is, this is, this is,
38:58but it's such a different
39:00game once you're actually in it
39:02and cooking. A little unsettling,
39:04but optimistic
39:06that I think, you know, feeling confident
39:08in what I put out there and how delicious it was.
39:10All right, chef, they're ready for you. Let's do this.
39:12Awesome.
39:14All right, let's bring our chefs back in.
39:16Chef Gar, Chef David.
39:24Thank you, chefs.
39:26Battle Royale.
39:28I mean, the best for last.
39:30One chef scored
39:3272.
39:34The other chef
39:36scored 76.
39:40Two of you are going for the last spot of the
39:4232 spots in Tournament of Champions 6.
39:44The chef who has earned
39:46the final spot in the
39:48TOC 6 bracket is...
39:56Congratulations, Chef David.
39:58Well done.
40:02I think the food was fantastic.
40:04I gotta be honest,
40:06really difficult when you compete against somebody
40:08making a tortilla in the middle of competition.
40:10We know that you're a warrior,
40:12and this is not the last we will see of Chef.
40:16Thank you so much.
40:18Go kill it.
40:24Not the last that you're gonna see of me.
40:26I'm ready to, you know,
40:28just learn from what the judges said
40:30and become
40:32a better cook.
40:34That is the level that you will have to bring
40:36to win in TOC.
40:38That's what I'm here for, guys.
40:40Oh, it's very apparent.
40:42You just let an assassin into the competition.
40:44Is that what it is?
40:46That's what just happened.
40:48Coming up next week is Tournament of Champions.
40:50All 32. You're in the mix.
40:52Ladies and gentlemen, Chef David.
40:54Number 32.
40:56There you have it.
40:58The bracket is complete.
41:00Let's go, guys.
41:02This is the magic eight.
41:0424 other chefs are waiting for them.
41:06Next week, when we bring them all together,
41:08Tournament of Champions 6,
41:10the Super 32 going head-to-head.
41:12Where will they stand in the brackets?
41:14You're gonna have to tune in to find out.
41:16But you know what? Here's a little sneak peek.
41:20Good to be back.
41:22You thought it was gonna blow up, didn't you?
41:24Well done.
41:26Fire!
41:28Praise the Lord!
41:32Are you kidding me?
41:34Wow!
41:36My goosebumps.
41:38I've never seen anything like that in my life.
41:40I've never seen that in my life.
41:44It really is the ultimate food competition.
41:46I'm making sure I take
41:48all of this home this year.
41:52The winner
41:54of Tournament of Champions 6
41:56is...