23:02
Each and every one of you are ready to freaking bring it. Yes. Check your ovens. Check your gas. Platform is on its way. Bring your aame. Everybody touching the elevator. Let's go. Chef as soon as you see the light turn green. Okay. When you get over there to the platform, you only got 30 seconds to grab those ingredients. It's your one and only time to grab ingredients, so choose them wisely. That platform is moving. Oh wow, that is beautiful.
30 seconds. Let's go. I can't run myself. Grab your ingredients. Grab what you need. Are there radishes over there? Time's running out again. Oh my god. I don't remember who I am anymore. The platform grab is way more aggressive than I actually thought it would be. Oh, duck breath. I see a duck breath. Grab it. Six. Five. Four. I have my mind set on some kind of potato puree. A don't see it.
One. Time's up. 30 seconds. It's gone. Platform's gone. Oh All right, chefs. When you see it turn green, go. 30 seconds. Oh my god. Need a bunch of ingredients. Grab everything that you can. Are you kidding me? Make some decisions. Grab some items. Oh my god. I panic and I'm starting to grab the first things I see rather than really look and evaluate everything that I have in front of me.
Three, two, one. If you are in that situation, that 30 seconds is 5 seconds, honey buns. All right, stand by. Oh my god. And let's go. Go, go, go. Come on. Grab, grab, grab. How did the chicken tenders? So, I see a cauliflower. Grab that cauliflower. I see some corn. I know I can work with corn. See a bell pepper. All right, let's grab a bell pepper. I don't see any proteins on there. Let's go. One protein each. Three. Two. One. Let's go. Come on. Let's go. Grab.
The platform goes up and that's when I realized the proteins were at the top. I just didn't see them. Chef, I forgot a protein. Then you have to make the best vegetarian dish you've ever made. There's no way he's going to pick me to be on his team. No one's going to pick me. I told you the surprise. What goes well with a steak? Steaks need heat. My team, we are strong. We're super strong. And I'm going to test these chefs in every way possible to really find out who is that next level chef. Each of you grab a chili and infuse it across your dish. You've got to use it. Let's go. 10 seconds.
Basically, I think it's a gift from the gods because I know what to do with this. Yes, we use a lot of pepper in Jamaican cuisine. So, I decide to grab a habanero pepper. Five. Four. I'm going to pickle these. Add a nice little element to my dish. Good. One and go. Well done, chilies. We need the heat. Let's get some chilies on the floor. Go get your chilies. Okay, let's go. All right. A next level chef knows how to adapt.
Anything can happen and it's happening. So, I grab what I think are Sichuan peppers. They're Diablo peppers, which I've never used. Steak needs some heat. It needs some spice. You have to grab a chili pepper. You have to use it in your dish. You can grab as many as you want. Huge curveball. I already got this dish going. This isn't good. I thought it was going to be steak. Oh, but it wasn't. Unfortunately, inside is actually raw because it's solid mass. Very hard to swallow.
Next one. This is a top round. Yes. So, plating looks a little bit dated. Yes. Very dated. Clearly, the elevator also stops in 1984. So, whoever cooked this, I don't know if you're a social media star, a home cook, or a restaurant chef. I don't give a because that right there is cooked beautifully. There's love on that plate. The final dish. We have a short rib. This person grabbed three ingredients. Petite onion, sweet potato, and short rib. and sesame seeds as a garnish. And those sesame seeds, they look like bird seeds that bottom my granddad's cage for his parrot. Wow. My grandmother, as a Korean immigrant, would be ashamed to see any sort of sesame not toasted. They just seem like an afterthought.
There's no seasoning there whatsoever. Chef Angie. Yes, Chef. Are you serving it out of the shell or in the shell? This in the shell. If you're serving the dish with pasta that I want to eat, it's going to be so hard to get out of. You know what I mean? Yes, ma'am. You're correct. I'm trying to get my thought process out of my hometown culture and go, "Okay, I've got to bring this next level." Why did I do lobster? Team Blaze cannot afford to lose another team member. No pressure. All right, how are we doing on the raviol? I just took the lamb out.
Okay, let me see. It's rare. I am concerned about the lamb. And I cook lamb all the time. All the I'm sticking to my guns. This is what I want to do. The other chop is smaller, so I'm hoping that it's cooked perfectly. 3 minutes left. In 1 minute, we're plating. Jonathan, I'm worried about your pasta now. Yeah, I'm really worried about my pasta. Y'all right? Y'all right now. Feeling pretty good. Let's go, guys. Dang it. These ovens in the basement suck. I just don't want to send out raw freaking pizza, though.
2 and 1/2 minutes, guys. Turn on those turbo engines. When I go back to check on it, it doesn't look done. This is going to come down to the wire. Let's start plating. Yes, chef. I'm just going to keep my flatbread until the absolute last second. The platform is coming. Let's go. Platform's here. Platform's here, guys. Let's go. On the bottom. We're on the bottom. Heard Steph coming right now. Seth. Zack. Five. Go. Zack. Come on, baby. You got it. You got it, dude.
Two. YES, SIR. ONE. YES. Good job, guys. [screaming] Please. I think Let's go, guys. Let's go. Devony, get on there, girl. Five. Four. Three. I'm on your back. Two. One. Well done. Platform is on its way. Here it is, guys. You got to get the food on the platform. Come on, y'all. You only have a couple seconds to play. Three, two, one, LAST. I'm nervous because I struggled in the kitchen today.
I turned that off and didn't mean to. And when I dropped my pasta and it wasn't boiling, I know that I made something that tastes great, but I just hope that pasta cooked through. If not, I may be going into elimination today. There he is. All right, chefs. All right, team waves. Thank you. We're team trailblazers. We're innovative. We're creative. If my chefs can elevate their dishes from the middle level, we will keep team trailblazers for strong. Hi chef. Hi team. How are we feeling? Spicy. My team has gone into the elimination twice and I'm still standing here strong with five. I want to keep it that way.
Team Nisha's on top. Oh, she hasn't lost anybody yet. We're not going to lose anyone today, chef. We need to get someone off of Chef Daisha's team. Here we go. Here we go, guys. First pick. First picks, guys. Go, go, go, go. We're on top. Let's stay Poultry sounds very simple and benign, but it could be anything with wings, odds and ends, organs, really iron dense, tough meats. 20 seconds left. I need a pepper. I don't know what to do on pancakes. Oh, what am I going to cook that's going to Wow. None of this to me is wow factor. But then I see an ostrich loin. It's a great protein. It's different than every other protein up
there. And I'm going to make this amazing. Four teeth. Two. One. Let's go, guys. Grab what you need while it's still here. Come on, guys. Nice. Good job. Hustle. Good job. We got this. Trailblazers. Go. All right. They are grabbing like no other. Thank grab your protein. Hey, leave us some ingredients, please. Oh my god. And I see these little chicken looking things and I pick it up. Okay, I have quill. I've never cooked quail before.
How do I go about this? 4 3 2 one. Last grab. Anything else you need? You got it. Careful. All right, back to your stations. Let's go. Let's get organized. Here we go, guys. Go. Let's go. Grab something. Come on, Trish. I got the fidget pigeon. Grab. Come on. Oh my gosh. She almost made me grab my bird. 15 seconds gone. Either someone on my team or the other kitchens has already grabbed anything that I could possibly use. Like, this is the worst case scenario right now.
5 4 3 2 1. Watch out. Quick, quick, quick. Well done. Trisha, you got a pigeon. I did. How did that pigeon fly down here? I don't know. Chef girl, this is it. Thank you, chef. I want the best dish of the day. Yes, chef. You have the Rolls-Royce of poultry. I don't even know what I have. What did you grab? It has nothing on it. Chicken livers. Okay. Chicken freaking livers. Okay.
I've never cooked with chicken livers. I've never eaten chicken livers. And they're sitting in a pool of blood. Yuck. I'm worried. What am I going to make? Basket of potatoes. Let's go. Fries, tater tots, smashed potatoes, chips, crisps, you name it. Excellent. Well done. Do we have mandolins down here? Did you ask for a mandolin? Yes, chef. There's no basement kitchen anywhere in the US tonight with a mandolin. Let me tell you.
Yes, chef. You've been spoiled, haven't you? A top floor girl. Roel. Yeah, chef. You got the ostrich. Yes. Um, between you and I and all three floors, quite possibly the toughest protein. So, we need fries. What'd you get, Ros? An amazing potato for fries. Yes. What are you going to do? Right now, I'm thinking I'm going to incorporate it into my leak rings. So, leak rings almost like the onion ring. Yes, chef. Okay. The secret here is to stay out that elimination. I'm going to make it. Good. What did you get? I'm honestly not too sure, chef. It's purple.
Yeah, the purple potatoes. I'm going to fry the avocados into fries and then pickle the cucumbers. You're doing avocado fries. Yes, chef. You got pork, right? Pork, chef. Now, that's a tough one, but it could be delicious. Last time I had best dish and I saved my team, so that's a lot of pressure. I'm just trying to get this burger cooked perfectly. We got to go, guys. We are not losing. Let's go. Green fire. Oh my god. Fire in the basement. Hi. Come on, get that fire out of there.
Watch your hands. What is happening? We are already in hell, baby. We don't need any more fire down here. Watch out. When Chef Ramsey picked me, it was probably one of the happiest moments of my life. And I'm like, damn, Chef Ramsey, how much do you regret it right now? Hate it when people use a peeler like that. I know. Amber, use your peeler both ways. Scrub it and get close to the stem. Make it beautiful. We want immaculate. I want Amber to knock Mariah off of the competition. Mariah is a machine. She is a threat to all of us. 10 minutes gone, 20 minutes remaining.
Right. How's it going? It's good, chef. What's that in there? Red gravy. Just don't get it too gloopy. Okay. You need to add any sugar to your sauce. Spicy as hell. Okay, this sauce is hot, y'all. Like real hot. So, what I do know I need is something creamy and velvety to stand against bold spicy flavors. Oil, oil, salt, pepper. I've never made a cauliflower puree, but in my mind, that would be lovely. Here, check. See how tender it is. Feel it. Is it tender?
No. So, it needs to keep going. So, I'm going to do my darnest to create one now. All right. Good. What's the garnish in there? What is that? Uh I have some uh coffee dusted fried onions. So just touch them. We want a touch more crispy. Okay. The judges are going to absolutely spread that out behind you. We're down to 4 minutes remaining. B strong ladies. Nice. Back up on here. Good. Beautiful. So not quite cooked back in. Try and test them when they're in the oven still. There you go.
Mariah's getting brown. Mariah is very selective hearing. Uh, yes, you can slice it. Don't slice it too hot. She needs to get those things. I yell at her like, "Mariah, the onion rings. This is going to burn." Mariah, they're dark. Mariah, you're on the onion. Yes. Okay, Courtney, you got to bring the veg together. Looks like succashach vibes. Yeah. And I'm going to make a curry. A curry from scratch. Is that something you turn to often? Um, yeah. Make curry often. And then how are you going to cook the fish? This is about to go in the deep fryer. That is such a smart decision. Who
doesn't love fried catfish? I'm headed to the fryer. I've had two top dishes for my team already. So, I want to make sure that this dish shows that I'm continuing to grow. We want it to be literally perfect. Okay, guys. We're not going home today. Team Trailblazer is taking big swings from the middle kitchen. Courtney's making a curry from scratch and A is using flavors from home. Trailblazers are not losing anyone today. That elimination challenge got me ready. How you feeling, chef? Like, this has to be the best freaking soul anyone's ever ate.
Yes, chef. I'm really racking my brain about how to cook this fish. It's so hard to get an even cook in that basement. This lends itself well to very slow, elegant cooking. Yes, ma'am. Soul loves a sauce. Maybe poaching butter. Yeah, I love that. So, I finally have a direction. I'm gonna make perfectly poached soul buttery yummy sauce and then purple potatoes. Don't look so worried. Yes, chef. I believe in you. The reality is this seafood challenge is bringing absolute excellence out of these chefs and I'm excited to taste these dishes.
Richard and Gordon should definitely be nervous. You guys got this. 20 minutes remain. Team heard chef. What goes well with seafoods? Uh, the finest garnishes in the world. Why are you going to shoot me in the foot now? Oh, I already had a perfect dish. Platform is on his way. Look at that. What's happening? Oh, yes. Here it comes. On the move. Mid drop. Caviar and seaweed. 15 seconds. Either caviar or a seaweed.
Chef kissed my dish. The seaweed drop is perfect. Yes. Seaweed. Good. I am lacking the crunchy element, but roasted seaweed enhances my textures. I can actually fry some and put some on top. Locked up today. It's perfect. Lift that. Yes. I want to get the best dish today. Chef, you got this. The platform's on the way. Grab some seaweed and caviar right now. You got to go grab it. Seaweed and caviar. Damn. Caviar. Okay. Four, three, two, one. All right. There we go. Remember, it's salt. Potatoes love salt.
Caviar and potatoes are like the Paris and Nicole of the food world of scale, but still best friends. You know what I mean? You have like the prime draft. You have a top floor caviar. Okay. Platforms coming team. Seaweed and caviar. Yes. I don't even know what this is. I'm making a fried mahi taco. I need to find something that's going to add some flavor. I grabbed the seaweed. I don't know how that's going to pan out. What's the plan here? I'm going to put it on top of the taco. I'm thinking maybe fry it, too. But that's not a bad idea. Texture.
Let's go. You have to get those in your dishes. How we feel and chef dish coming together? I hope so, chef. You have to think elegance. I'm picturing something in my mind with the potatoes making it beautiful with that red caviar. Make sure those potatoes are cooked through and moist. Yes, chef. There's only 10 of us and two of us are going home. Oh, that's wrong. Being a home chef, this is a lot of pressure. I feel like my soul has escaped and replaced it with some panicky girl. Something burning.
I ripped my potatoes. I feel really bad for Angie. Damn it. I don't understand where the lack of confidence is coming from. I did that wrong, too. Angie Reagan. Ground pork because it's actually very commonly used in Chinese cuisine. Anybody super hate? I saw ground pork. That's the first thing I grabbed. It is perfect. Plus, I didn't want Trisha to get that ground pork either. Okay, excuse me.
Oh my god. Pia is in front of me playing like goalie, making sure I don't touch anything. And now the ground pork is gone. So I grab pork tenderloin. It's the leanest freaking cut. It has like no fat. You got to want this. Bring it to life. Platform's still here. Grab what you need. Let's go. Still here. Grab what you need. Well done. Totally execute. Let's go. All right, go. All right, there we go. What do you need for your dish? I do cook this delicious pork belly stir fry. So, lo and behold, I see the pork belly. Thanks, Buddha.
20 seconds left. Only 20 seconds. Oh my gosh, all these plates are empty. I see two proteins on the platform. They both were super thin, no fat. I grabbed thinly sliced pork loin. Oh my gosh, what am I going to make with this? There we go. Way to make it happen. Five, four, three, two, one. If you can grab it, it's yours. We'll figure out what to do with the extra. All right, back to your station. Let's figure it out. A can barely hold on to that stuff. LOOK AT THAT. A looking at all the ingredients. All the ingredients are great for stir fry, but what does stir fry need?
I should have grabbed some rice. Man, I have no rice. That is the problem. At this point, I don't even know what I'm going to do or how I'm going to do it. I just feel very insecure. I'm freaking out. So, you woke up and you choose to be this way today. I see. Guys, we have 10 minutes. That's why I didn't see the potatoes. They're over at church station. In my mind, I have this idea of these potatoes that I've made in the past. It cooks down and crisps to the point where you can actually see through the potato because of how thin it's cut. These potatoes are what's going to bring this dish to life. You check your pork.
Make sure you're rotating that. Yes, chef. It's clear to me that Piet is a strong force. She has a relentless will to get better. Make sure it's cooked thoroughly. Woo! Oh my god. Fire in the basement. Oh my god. You got a little fire over here. Okay, you keep going. So many fires down here. Basement. We're plating very soon, right? Yes. Look, 2 minutes to go, guys. Boy oh boy. You should see the dishes downstairs.
Start plating. Now the finishing magic comes in. Please, Courtney. Yes. Good girl. Take your time. Take your Hone it in. Bring it home. Beautiful. Yes. Excellent. She's too thin. They were too thin. I pulled out my potatoes. I can't even pull the parchment paper apart off of it to even put it on the dish. Piet, if you keep on forgetting your dish and you mess around with the garnish, I'm get really, really frustrated. Kch, I don't have much time left. I have to completely just get rid of the potatoes. I have to revert to the carrot, corn, and then the stupid broccoli. My excitement for this dish is dying.
75 seconds go. Fresh herbs. I don't want anything else. Keep it up there. Keep it all the way up there. I'm still trying to figure out my dish. Flat leaf parsley, fresh mint, oregano. Be smart. Thai basil. Come on. And it's gone. Say goodbye. Hurry up. Damn it. Ladies, platform's here. Fresh herbs. Grab your fresh herbs. So, the mid round drop is herbs. Sounds easy, but this being a fusion challenge, you have to choose your herb based on the region that you're cooking. Is this terrible? I want that fragrance in the dishes, ladies. If you choose the wrong herb, it's going to throw your dish off completely.
Ah, this is a good one. All right, everyone. Here comes a drop. You got to grab some herbs. Fresh herbs. Take what you need for your dish. You got to grab at least one. I'm so happy because every single challenge I somehow forget to grab an herb. Three, two, one. Thank goodness. I was really happy about that. Cilantro. You knew that was coming. I got some Thai basil. You got some uh you got some basil. Okay. 25 minutes left. Only 25 minutes.
Mentally, we're editing. What's the game plan, Chef? I grabbed India and I grabbed Vietnam. So, I'm going to do a chicken curry. I'm pretty sure some kind of puree. This is the second time we're seeing curry, but different type of curry. How so? Because I have fresher ingredients. Yes. Versus just the spices. Excellent. I'm going to pull your butter off. It's ready to go. Okay. Oh, yeah. Chef the clarified butter is also for my bernese. So, you are making a beret sauce.
Yes, chef. I don't know if it's because I'm not Trisha's original mentor that she's not taking my advice, but I want to see her do her best. Trisha is cooking from a place of fear and it's going to end up in the death of a dish. Don't over complicate. You don't need too many components. Okay? Talking gas streak, you're talking Bernese, you're talking a lot of flavors. Make sure it makes sense and that you're tasting everything together. Okay? Stop. Leave it there. Sorry, chef. Trisha. Chef Arrington would like the hair on her arms. Okay. Thank you, Courtney. Not again. Trisha, we're in the basement.
Watch out. What is wrong with me? You are really determined to light these fires in this kitchen, aren't you? I'm done. I'm frustrated with Trisha because she's not rising to her full potential. Yes, chef. Trisha. Yes, chef. Let's go. This is Yeah, chef. Cook better. Focus. This is not next level cooking. Do you understand? Yes, chef. Not a game. This is not about pretty photos. Chef, what? Let's go. So, lobster, how are we doing? We're doing good, chef. Good. I've decided to make a butter poached lobster with a kumqua agro doce sauce.
Nice. Like a sweet sour. Mhm. Goes well with a lobster. Yeah. Yep. Throughout this competition, I have grown tremendously as a chef. And for this challenge, I want to step outside of my comfort zone and showcase that I can do more than just Native American food. If it's cooking too far, you just take it out. It's good. I think it's good. Chef, I'm a little nervous about how this is going to go, but I have faith in myself. So, Courtney, scallops. Where are we going with this? What are we thinking? So, I'm making a panser scallop with a ginger glaze sauteed radikio. And I'm going to do a uh creamy mashed potato puree.
I tried this extremely bitter. So, no, that's the ridiculio lettuce. Very bitter. These are like squash, right? So, they're a bit of a no garnish. They don't They sort of look better than they taste, those zucchinis. I'm rethinking all of my life choices at this moment. It is the finale that is on the line. We're going to elevate this, chef. We're going to elevate this. There really is no room for error. You got your potatoes?
Potatoes over here. I'm going to take them out of there and put them in here. Good. Don't get them too watery. Okay. Yep. Okay. You got 30 more seconds. Going to get that reduced down. Can you get to the next level presentationwise so that you're going to get a spot in the finale? Mariah, you're on the top here. How are we going to cook the lamb? I'm going to grill it. Okay. What are you going to do with the peaches and the tomatoes? I'm going to do like a salad. So, the peaches are going to work with lamb cuz lamb's so gy. It's okay with that sweetness.
Okay. I'm super excited to work with Lamb. I want to be fancy. This is my opportunity to be fancy. Yes, people call me bougie every once in a while. So, okay, I'll give you bougie and it's on my plate. So, there's nothing about me that's bougie, but I can razle dazzle some things. Honey and peaches. Again, big flavors always over here. All right, chefs, listen. Here comes the platform. We are sending down some exotic plate wear. Each plate comes with a special ingredient. You got to grab that plate, grab that ingredient, and make this dish a showstopper.
I really, really want to get a dark plate to contrast with that sliced wagon. You got only a couple seconds left. Right there is a beautiful dark plate with squash blossoms on it. This is great. There's a truffle on that plate over there. Oh my god. We have another little surprise. Do you know how to make these dishes stand out? Some exotic plate work. Okay, think about the plate. Oh, I locate a plate that has a golden ingredient. A black truffle.
You got the truffle? Yeah. Lovely. Well done. Like this is my plate. Five, four, three, two. What do you want? I got it. YOU GOT IT. OKAY, GOOD. WELL DONE. What are we doing? I'm bringing you some exotic plate wear. Okay. Each of them has a special ingredient on these plates. You have to pick a plate. Persia, down from the hammers comes that dish that I want that wood. You know, it's like a tree stump plate and it works perfectly for my dish. And it just happen to have strancher mushrooms on it.
Make sure it makes sense for your dish. Good job. I grabbed the carrot powder, the smoked salt, and the oonie. I know for a fact it's going to slap. What'd you grab, Ken? I got the wood board and I got some micro shell. Nice. I grabbed off some oonie. Yeah. Some salt and a little bit of carrot powder. Great. What plate did you grab? Um meaning What plate did you grab off the second drop? Oh, talk to me, Ru. What plate did you grab?
Chef, I did not grab a plate. What you get done first, chef? I'm going to get my sweet potatoes boiling. I am making a pan seared sea bass with a spiced sweet potato puree. What else are we incorporating into the sweet potato puree? I'm going to do some nice warm flavors with a chili oil. Excellent. You have 57 minutes left for two full dishes. Okay. So, please use your time wisely. Yes, chef. Be careful these chilies don't burn. Chef Ruell. Yes, chef. You have an hour and 10 minutes. This is an amazing time to truly conceptualize and create that vision in your mind.
I'm getting my peas and my subies together. Awesome. I need to add a little creaminess to that cod. I'm making pan seared cod with pea subis and summer vegetables. I came in with a very rich salt forward dish. This is more a bright taste of corn. Taste the sweetness of the peas. Okay. It's not a how fast can I cook competition. I'm a little bit happy with that. It's how fast can I develop flavor. And Ruell's dish seems pretty simplistic.
I'm just really hoping that there's more depth to this dish because Ruel has a lot to lose here. We've all been cooking for 23 minutes. Chef Piet, Chef Mariah, that means just under 40 minutes left in your entire cook. This time is like going super fast. Like I think it's going faster now than it ever has before. This is our first time together, Mariah. What a joy. Let's go. You're so amazing. Are you kidding me? You're inspiring with that ice flowing through your veins. Girl, I know this is timed, right?
What are we making here? Pan roasted snapper. And I'm going to get my corn going. A little bit of vegetable stock. Try to infuse some of this corn flavor into the broth. I started my courses with something fried, something heavy, and so I'm going to move into something that's light, elegant. Chef, this sounds delicious. What else are we adding to this broth? Um, I need some more flavor. I have some whole mustard here. Maybe some coriander. Love citrus. Some spices. Yes. So, I am trying to transport the mentors with every dish that I put out. And this dish is going to transport them
into a cafe and you're, you know, a nice little broth and a piece of fish and you're just enjoying life. Chef P. Chef Mariah, you're down to 35 minutes. Chef, thank you. Rule. Yes, ma'am. 44 minutes for you to take these seafood dishes to the next level. What we're looking for is authenticity and to let the product shine. $250,000 on the line. You better bring it. I'm pushing you because I'm trying to light a fire in your soul. Oh, that fire is lit. Come on, Ro. Mariah and Piet look like they kind of hustling.
Beautiful. Okay, let me go wrap this up. Rel's heading to the buzzard. [screaming] Well, you have 42 minutes on that last cook. Yes, chef. I don't even understand like how he did all that in such a short amount of time. This cook is way more stressful than the appetizer. This has to work. You're under 30 minutes. Okay, you have to push here. Still have that main COURSE TO BRING HOME. Look at the chili oil. Be careful.
It's burned. It's burnt. I don't have time to make another chili oil. If you're going to put a oil on it, it should be the most delicious oil ever. There's so much writing on the line right now. I'm screwed. Best dish of your life.
