Original subtitles

How do you all feel about yesterday's cook?

Survived.

Yeah.

- It's a good day to cook. - It is.

- Oh my God! - Hello.

- Dang! - That's a lot of beer!

- Good morning, everyone. - Good morning!

Nothing like a couple of brewskies in the morning to set your day right.

That's what I'm talking about.

'Cause today is all about using the secret weapon in barbecue.

- Beer! - Yes!

I'm lookin' at the truck, like, "They brought Mardi Gras into the pits?"

We about to have a party.

Today, we're joined by a true legend in the barbecue world.

He's a six-time barbecue world champion.

He's also a classically trained chef.

He's even got a nickname! The Professor.

Please meet Tuffy Stone.

- All right! - Yes.

It is such a pleasure to be here.

Y'all are amazing cooks and pitmasters,

and I can't wait to see how y'all interpret today's challenge.

I don't drink beer, period.

So the fact that Tuffy Stone,

iconic figure in barbecue, is the third judge in this competition...

I just don't wanna be eliminated because of beer.

So today we're having a celebration of all things beer.

You'll each be preparing

a full barbecue meal in four hours,

and every single item on your plate

must feature beer or beer technique.

That's two proteins, two sides,

each with a different application of beer.

There's so much that you can do

when it comes to cooking and making barbecue utilizing beer.

It's an incredible tool if handled properly.

We can put it in a braise. We can make a brine.

We can make an injection, a baste, a mop, a spritz.

Not only do we want it to taste good, obviously,

but it's gonna be about the technique that you use

and how you incorporate beer into the dishes

that you're gonna cook today.

Now, Kevin and I know that you can do beer can chicken,

but we need to see more.

I want you to pick unexpected proteins,

give us innovative techniques that show your range of knowledge,

and give us deep, complex flavors that showcase the beers that you chose.

This might feel like a party.

-Y'all know I'm not here to play. -Uh-uh. Not at all.

Y'all have four hours to cook. Everything on this truck is yours to use.

We got everything from lagers to stouts and IPAs.

Each beer brings a different flavor, so be smart about the beers you pick,

then go out and cook us something worth toasting to.

I don't know about you guys. I'm feeling tipsy already. You guys ready?

- Yes! - All right!

In three, two, one! Get smokin'!

Hey, excuse me. Excuse me.

Ah! Y'all got my ass running!

I think that they learned from yesterday,

"I want that X, Y, Z."

- "So I'm running to the meat locker." - Smart.

I haven't seen that many people run with beer since college.

God dawg it. Trying to get meat.

What you got?

Some lamb.

Cornish hens.

So I'm gonna go with wet brine, and I'm gonna use the Blue Moon.

The quick brine on my meat.

Blue Moon has an orange taste to it.

So I'm gonna add some additional oranges, some lemons,

and I'm gonna brine my Cornish hens.

Oh!

The sound of when you crack open a beer is amazing!

I'm doing it!

- Gerald, you cooking or drinking the beer? - I... I'm cooking.

I'm trying my best, at least.

So, Tuffy, you are a classically trained chef.

You got a PhD in cooking with beer.

Is it cooking with beer or drinking beer? I can't remember.

Either way, you're working with it.

So what are you really expecting from these cooks today?

First of all, think about beer as, like, a liquid.

They only got four hours.

So if any of these cooks today decide to make a brine,

what they're gonna have to do is, they're gonna have to make it really fast.

When you go in that meat locker and pick a protein,

we need to have something that's gonna cook fairly quick

because that wet brine is gonna be maybe two hours at the most.

Dry-brine some pork chops. We'll wet-brine some chicken.

In my beer brine, not only, I mean, is it just beer,

but also some lemon, too, to break that chicken down

because we're trying to get tenderness, and we have to do this quick.

This is not a 24-hour brine. This is a two-hour brine.

So what exactly is a perfectly brined meat?

A brine is used to infuse moisture in the meat

and also change its texture to be more tender.

Beer can add all kinds of delicious flavors

to your meats and sides.

And a brine, it does more than what the water can alone

because the alcohol is able to penetrate the meat

and carry the brine flavor along with it.

A perfect brine should give you a skin that's beautifully crispy,

and when you cut into it, it should be nicely colored,

and you'll see those clear juices running through it.

I'm excited about it because I like beer.

♪ Shine in the morning sun Feel so alive ♪

♪ Riding supercharged Baby, drive, drive, drive... ♪

When you brine,

a lot of salt and flavor and moisture is getting packed inside the meat.

The problem with that is that you have such a wet surface on the outside now,

so I'm making a beer-brined turkey breast, and I also peel the skin off

'cause I wanna make sure I get a nice flavor on the turkey,

and that skin, if it gets wet, it's just gonna be soggy.

- Anything with beer is better, isn't it? - That's right.

I used to sneak my grandpa's beer a bit when he used to fall asleep on the sofa.

I really didn't like it back then. I mean, beer is good now.

Everybody drinks it when we getting together.

My name is Gerald Vinnett, 37 years old.

I'm from a small town outside of New Orleans

called Saint Rose, Louisiana.

Uh, I'm actually gonna do a brine of beer, and then, uh, then some apple juice.

Saint Rose is a small town. God's country.

Growing up there was all about family. We grew up together.

People always getting together and doing barbecues.

Get this in the refrigerator.

Four hours. I'm gonna be pushing it.

Airflow open. That's going.

So I'm a backyard barbecuer.

So I don't have these big, huge rigs

or these fancy things that all these other people have.

So I really just got it out the mud. Trial by fire until you get it right.

My barbecue is very New Orleans-based.

I like bold flavors. I like sweet. I like heat.

So I like to find ways to incorporate my Creole Cajun background

and bringing it to barbecue.

Today, I'm making spare ribs with a terrapin beer mop sauce,

baby back ribs with a Miller Lite and apple juice brine,

beer batter cheese curds,

IPA beer-infused sweet potatoes, and a beer brownie.

To the smoker.

Winning this competition is more than just a win for me.

It's a win for everybody back at home.

My wife and my kids, they are the reason why I do what I do.

They are, uh, everything to me. Literally everything to me.

I didn't know what it was to worry until I had those two kids.

What could go wrong with beer?

People don't always stick to that mantra of, "Less is sometimes better."

Mm-hmm.

So if you're using a really dark beer

and you're not getting your temperatures up high enough

or cooking for a long time,

it's still really heavy taste of beer.

You doing all right, Kent? What you got working over there?

You've been mighty quiet.

I don't have no idea yet.

Oh, okay. Keeping it secret.

I just learned this from yesterday. I gotta keep my fire up all day.

'Cause you never know when you're gonna need it.

So I'm doing a mixture of hickory and apple.

So I'm trying to get that nice and hot so I can get a nice char on 'em.

I'm Melissa. I'm 36 years old.

I'm from Orlando, Florida, and I'm a single mom to two awesome boys.

My boys are my entire world.

I took a leap of faith, you know, this year,

and stepped away from corporate world to really pour into doing my own thing.

I'm doing content creation and recipe development.

It's another way for us to come together as a family,

and I really love and appreciate those moments.

But barbecue scared me

because it was, you know,

you can throw me in a kitchen with any ingredient,

and I'll whip you something up no problem,

but barbecue is such a craft and such an art,

and I had such a profound respect for it.

I'm using a Miller Lite for my brine

just to get some light beer flavor in there.

Once I sort of got the basics down,

then I got into, "How can I take things that I would normally do in my kitchen,

and how can I translate that over the open flame?"

My favorite thing to do.

- Is it? - Playing with fire.

My sons call me "The Barbecue Hippie"

because I like to light fires in the backyard in a safe way.

I might look like a girlie girl, but I am not afraid to do what it takes

to prove that I deserve to be here.

So if that means getting down and dirty, that's what I'm gonna do.

This is my pork tenderloin.

So I have it wet-brined in some apple juice, some Miller Lite.

For this challenge, I'm making a wet-brined pork loin

with a red ale beer and apple barbecue sauce,

beer-brined flank steak with an amber ale,

roasted poblanos with a beer cream sauce,

an old English beer corn risotto,

and a cinnamon panna cotta with a salted beer caramel.

Anywhere I can put beer, I'm putting beer.

How you doing, papi?

- Doing good, my love. How are you? - I'm hoping for the best.

So I'm starting the competition where I already feel I'm at a disadvantage

'cause I know nothing about beer.

I've picked George Killian's Irish Red, and I'll be honest with you,

I'm an absolute illiterate when it comes to beer.

So I went with something that I think I had a taste of before,

and it seemed fruity.

Brining the chicken, and ultimately, this should accentuate the juiciness of it

and create a really tasty chicken.

So today I'm making a beer-spritzed rib

with a beer-infused sauce to glaze with.

Beer-brined chicken.

I'm gonna do a beer-battered onion ring,

and I'm gonna do something I haven't done, and that's a beer bread.

I really didn't wanna take off and do things that I hadn't done before,

but I guess that's the spirit of a challenge, right?

-You gotta step up to the plate. -Challenge your skill set.

- Bottom of the ninth. Almost there. - There we go.

- What you making, Luis? - I'm doing two-way-style ribs.

Uh-huh. What... what cut?

I'm doing baby backs.

Baby back. Heard that. Save me a rib, okay?

Oh, you know I got you.

So in the last challenge, I'm looking back at the things that I did wrong

and the things that I did right,

and one of them is time management.

I need to be quick on my feet.

I need to stay organized because I don't wanna come up short today.

Feeling the time crunch today. It's gonna be a lot faster cook,

and I got meats that you usually wanna do, um, in a longer-style cook.

I'm doing a coffee-rub baby back rib,

and then I'm gonna brine another set of ribs in a light beer

so then I can finish it also in the smoker

with a beer-based mole barbecue sauce.

I'm also doing a Mexican-inspired bean chili

with a Miller Lite tri-tip,

and a beer honey bread.

♪ Every day is a new day to find my... ♪

Three and a half hours, everyone. Three and a half hours!

Big energy.

- ♪ Big energy ♪ - Whoo!

- Whoo, baby! Whoo! - Yeah, baby!

- Melissa, Melissa. - Hello, hello!

- What's on the menu today? - On the menu today?

So I'm gonna do a smoked pork tenderloin.

I even threw wood in the smoker for you this time.

I have a dry-brined flank steak

that I'm gonna cook caveman over the wood right there.

So what beer are you using in which dish?

So I'm calling it "The Rainbow of Beer." So I used, like, pretty much everything.

I used the Miller Lite for my wet brine.

I'm going with the red for my barbecue sauce,

and then with the caramel,

I'm either gonna go with the amber or the red in that one.

That's a really creative idea, taking the beer to the caramel like that.

Thank you.

A lot of times, it would be water or cream or butter.

Yes, yes.

- Using the beer for your liquid's good. - Thank you very much.

- You got a lot of items, Melissa. - A lot of items.

-How are you on your time management? -I feel good right now.

Maybe in another hour, I might be running back and forth.

- Thank you. - Thank you, all.

That is a big menu.

Big, creative menu with a lot of moving parts and pieces.

- I'm worried about cohesion. - Yeah.

A lot of different moving parts.

And sometimes, when you get too many parts moving all in the same direction,

there ends up being a big crash in the middle with flavor.

She mentioned she's gonna take that flank steak,

which I think was a good protein to grab, but she's gonna cook it caveman-style.

And I've tried that a lot,

and I always have mixed opinions of my results that I get when I try it.

So it'll be interesting to see how it chews and tastes.

- Ticka! - What's up, boo?

-They had any more lamb chops in there? -Did I hear somebody say "lamb chops"?

I got 'em.

Yeah. So I know where the lamb chops went.

My name is Staci. I'm 46 years old.

I'm from the very small town of Brooksville, Kentucky.

It is so small, we don't even have a traffic light in town.

I'm a butcher, number one, and a caterer, number two.

Learning to butcher came from Dad.

I guess you could say I was born and had butchering in my blood.

I've been butchering since I was a teenager, over half my life.

Get this off. It's a hard fat,

and get more flavor on this meat.

What I love about butchering is, well, the pride.

I love to be able to take it whole, break it down, stand back and look at it,

and be like, "I did that."

Today, I'm preparing a Blue Moon-marinated pork tenderloin,

rack of lamb with a soy and ginger beer glaze,

beer hummus, beer bread,

beer cheese with garlic Parm potato wedges,

and a white chocolate Blue Moon bread pudding

with a pomegranate molasses drizzle.

Competing makes me feel like, hey, it validates.

The last time I competed was actually 2021 at the World Food Championships,

where I became, oh, yeah,

Reserve Grand Champion in the world,

in bacon, of all things.

But I hadn't been competing for many years. That part worries me.

It's just getting the nerves out of the way.

Three hours, everyone.

You've got three hours left.

All right, it's time for the lamb leg to go on.

We about to put two wet ribs on the smoker.

I love barbecue and the whole process of it.

When I'm doing barbecue, I wanna listen to the blues.

Oh, that's fire.

It's the perfect background music

for smoking meat and just enjoying your weekend.

You got songs that'll move you like the flames.

Fantastic.

You also have songs that'll cool you off

like the smoke coming out the top of the stack.

Like a ballerina dance. You gotta tiptoe around

and make sure that it gets done, gets bark, but doesn't get burnt.

Blues is the perfect soundtrack to barbecue.

Just threw my pork tenderloin in there.

So what are some of the techniques that you expect to see with beer?

In any competition,

I think you really wanna stick as close to what you know as possible,

even when you're thrown that curveball.

But a mop or a spritz, there are several different ways

that you can incorporate beer into your cooking.

All barbecue sauces are gonna have some liquid in there,

whether it be water or apple juice, and beer would be good for that.

I love cooking with beer just because this is what my dad and my uncle did.

We would sit out, have us a beer, and make mop sauce and, you know, barbecue.

I'm going to make a bougie mop sauce,

and it's gonna have all these flavors

that I'm gonna be able to mop on to both of the Cornish hen

and on the lamb chops.

That's just tomatoes.

I'm gonna create a barbecue sauce

that's gonna be infused with Killian Irish Red,

and I'm gonna use that to glaze my ribs at the end.

I liked the flavor of the beer when I sipped it,

and I feel confident with that.

You know a mistake that I made once upon a time?

I handled chilies without gloves on, and I went to the bathroom.

I'm taking all these seeds out

because the judges don't really like spicy food.

So I'm trying to tame down the heat by deveining and cleaning up a little bit.

So I married into a Mexican family. My wife is from Guadalajara, Mexico.

I started seeing how her mom cooks, how her family cooks.

I'm like, "I can incorporate that in a lot of my dishes."

Whoo! Oh yeah. Look at the color on these things.

But it's gonna be a bit tricky

'cause mole is actually a longer-style sauce.

It takes a few hours to do.

So what I did is that I'm incorporating it into a barbecue sauce.

- Luis, Luis. - How you doing, sir?

So what's on the menu today, Luis?

So today I'm doing two-way ribs.

Um, I'm doing a dry rub and a coffee rub style of ribs.

I mean, the first thing I did was, I got my ribs on the smoker.

- What you cooking 'em on? - I did two sets of ribs on the Egg.

And I did two sets of ribs on the, uh, on the offset smoker.

What temperature?

Right now, I'm hovering around 275 to 300.

I'm doing a barbecue mole sauce for you to be able to dip your ribs in.

I'm also gonna be serving it on a traditional mole sauce.

A mole sauce has a lot of ingredients and typically takes a long time to make.

You're right. It's about 20 ingredients of different chiles, seeds,

peanuts, even peanut butter in it. There's Mexican chocolate, cinnamon.

You guys wanted flavor. I'm giving you all I got.

How do you intend to get all this done in the amount of time that we have?

You know, we had some time management issues yesterday.

I actually sat with Tung yesterday, and he was helping me.

Pretty much gave me some guidance as far as what I can do

to be organized a little bit better

and do things in stages.

Luis, listen to yourself.

- You had time management issues. - Yes, sir.

- You listen to Tung. - Yes, sir.

Tung is gone.

-And you added more to your menu. -Yes, sir.

Making this mole barbecue sauce, it's a huge risk. There's no denying that.

But I also wanna show

that I can bring that to the table in a short time span.

I wanna show my skills that, while they may not be classically trained,

a backyard barbecuer can pull it off.

I start doing math in my head. So he's cooking at 275.

It's cool out here, and when he does open the doors,

he's gonna introduce some cool air into there.

That's gonna be his big thing.

You know, you can spend four hours working on perfection

and ruin it in two minutes.

As we know, Luis struggles with his time management,

and he has added even more to his plate today.

♪ Give it everything we got... ♪

Y'all, two hours 30 minutes left!

- Going quick. - Staci Lou, how you doing, sugar?

I'm doing good. I'm trying to get my sauces going

so then I can worry about everything else.

♪ Taking off like a slingshot ♪

What sides do you think would really be fun infusing beer

that would be a smart move?

That's where it's gonna get tricky.

You can hide some beer bitterness with the smoke.

You ain't gonna be able to hide it with them sides.

I'm using Miller Lite today for my arroz borracho

because it's a light beer.

I don't want the flavor of beer to be pronounced in my food.

You could sweat vegetables and deglaze that pot with beer.

I think it would go good with greens.

So I'm gonna cut a hole into the core in the cabbage

and just stick a can of IPA up there.

IPA has a higher level of alcohol in it.

I'm hoping that it imparts some flavor into the cabbage.

Some beers are salty. Some beers are fruity.

I'm making beer hummus as one of my sides.

Normally, you add lemon juice or something like that.

I'm using the Summer Shandy

in place of lemon 'cause it's got a citrusy flavor.

And then, of course, you have to have olive oil

anytime you make hummus.

I'm about to get that going, too, my dessert.

So panna cotta is not challenging to make.

I'm just steeping some cream and then stirring in gelatin,

but it's really the setting time.

Okay, y'all do your thing in there.

If it doesn't set,

you just have, like, sweet cream soup, so...

So I'm doing some beer-infused sweet potatoes.

- Those are two of my favorite words. - Yeah?

But as opposed to boiling 'em, I'm gonna put 'em directly on the coals.

So normally, to get sweet potatoes tender, you boil them,

but I plan on doing 'em caveman-style, 'cause in the last challenge,

the judges talked about this being a barbecue competition,

not necessarily a cooking competition.

It'll be imperative for me to make sure that I keep this fire going.

There is a risk in doing it this way.

Uh, if I lose track of time,

the fire will eventually burn those sweet potatoes.

It's not as forgiving as boiling them in water.

So sweet potato was something my grandmother always made for me

growing up back in Saint Rose.

The beer-infused part comes from my grandfather.

So my grandfather, he loved his beer. My grandmother did not.

So, uh, it's kind of a... a play on their relationship.

Two cups of flour.

Right now, I'm working on my beer bread with bacon and cheddar.

I don't drink beer, I don't make bread, but I'm making a beer bread, right?

So hopefully, it works.

Okay.

God dawg it. I don't know what's going on.

I'm not feeling well.

I'm nauseous. I'm starting to sweat.

I'm feeling extremely hot, and it's, like, 40 degrees outside.

So I know that I'm fixing to go down like a ton of bricks.

Want somebody to check on you?

Yeah, maybe so.

There's four hours in this challenge, so you cannot waste ten, 15 minutes.

I'm panic-stricken.

So I'm not a beer drinker. I'm not feeling well.

I'm very concerned... ...today is not my day. So...

Yeah, I'm gonna be okay.

Two hours, everyone! Two hours!

Everybody, two hours! We got two hours! Two hours!

Heard! Two hours! Thank you!

It's crunch time. You stressing. I'm stressing.

You said it. You said it right there.

My caramel is not darkening the way I want it to.

Come on, baby.

So my beer caramel for my panna cotta

is not caramelizing.

I mean, the sugar has melted, but it's not getting...

It's supposed to get that amber color, and it's not caramelizing.

Bringing it down to the line, as usual.

I'm remaking my caramel 'cause I messed up the first one.

Okay, is it me, or does Melissa look a little stressed?

It's like your brain goes into overdrive, and you plan all these different elements,

and... and you realize that you just don't have the time.

Uh, what'd I come back here for?

Could be interesting to see out of all those dishes that she started out with,

did she cook 'em all, and did she execute 'em all well?

Oh, sis! Your pot!

Yep. That was the sign I needed. It's not meant to be.

So now I'm kind of panicking

because it's still not getting caramelized.

So now the whole dessert situation is looking really shifty.

What you got there?

That? Burnt caramel.

I'm not gonna have a caramel to put on my panna cotta.

As much as I want to give it to them, I've gotta focus on the things

that I'm required to have on my plate.

- You okay, Sloan? - Yes, much better. Thank you.

All of a sudden, man, out of nowhere, I got really, really nauseous.

Nothing's gonna stop me. Period.

No matter how bad I feel, I'm gonna pick myself up,

and I'm gonna get through this.

I lost a little time, so I've gotta really make up for that.

Every minute counts, you know?

There's no way I'm giving up.

I'll melt some butter. I'm melting butter for the beer bread.

I'm gonna pour it over the top and then, uh, get it in the oven.

I'm just trying to do the best that I can do every day.

You know, in anything that I do, I'm gonna do the best I possibly can do.

And I'm gonna do it with something I've never done before.

All right, so we got that going. That's progress.

One hour, everybody! One hour!

Yeah, I'm about to wrap 'em.

I do wanna get my lamb chops on.

I'm not crying. Yeah, I'm not.

My eyes are just a little smoky.

Oh, those are not set at all.

That's terrifying.

I go and check my panna cotta. It's still not set in the fridge.

So I try popping it in the freezer

just to see if I can at least salvage that part of it.

I hope I don't have to scrap it,

but my, uh, panna cotta is not as set up as I would like,

but it does take a long time.

We gonna get these eggs

in this heavy cream, butter, sugar, vanilla,

pour it over the hot dog buns that have been soaked in a light beer,

and it'll have a beer chocolate sauce to go with it. It'll be good.

Time. Anybody got time?

Time!

Thirty minutes, guys! Thirty minutes!

I think we're there. I think we're there.

OMG!

♪ Cutting it to the wire ♪

Change your mind from the skirt steak?

No, I gotta throw that on caveman, still.

Oh no.

Ideally, I wanted the Green Egg anywhere between 250 to 275.

And right now, I'm at 300,

and it starts creeping up to 350 degrees.

So it looks like Luis has a lot of ribs over there.

We don't have a lot of time left in this cook.

He's cooking baby back ribs.

Baby backs, they should be done 'cause I'm sure the Egg is more than 275.

The Green Egg, it got hot really fast,

and the mole barbecue sauce that I'm lathering one of these ribs with

can turn it bitter because too much heat can end up over-charring the sauce.

But I'm gonna let it ride for a little bit longer

'cause I wanna get that mole sauce flavor to come through.

Luis went from the offset to the Egg to them baby backs is grown up now.

They're mature.

How much time we got left?

We got ten minutes, crew! We got ten minutes!

I just need to make sure that my little hens are up to temp.

So I'm just rotating 'em so I don't char them up too much.

You okay, baby?

Girl, I am struggling.

We gonna give 'em a little hot sear over here.

So I'm down to the wire,

and I have to throw my flank steak on the coals,

you know, couple of minutes each side.

There are some nerves. It's my first time ever doing anything like this.

Melissa and Luis have really bitten off more than they could chew, I think,

and have these huge menus.

Sometimes, less is more. She's over here doing the, uh, flank steak caveman-style.

Once you put that steak on the hot coals like that, you need to stick with it.

That's a... that's a very good point.

So I insert my thermometer to check the temp

'cause I want it at a nice medium.

It tells me it's over. So I pull it off.

Let those rest for a minute.

And then I need to get moving on my pork and my sauce and everything else

because I need all of my elements on the plate. It's go time.

Brownies!

Go, Gerald, go!

Run, Forrest, run!

I can't run that fast.

When I pulled my chicken, I had perfect crispiness,

but when I went to slice it,

too much juice had actually touched the skin.

That, uh, compromised the crispiness.

Oh man!

And I was concerned that I was butchering it.

So now I'm not only scared about the fact that it looks ugly,

but my skin may not be crispy enough.

That's... Golly.

So I'm really freaking out, man.

Oh God!

My biggest concern right now

is what these proteins are gonna look like when I cut into 'em.

I cut into my pork tenderloin, and it looks a little undercooked to me.

Crap! Some pieces are a little under.

Time is winding down. I need to cover up this undercooked pork.

My beer mustard barbecue sauce is hot,

so I smear the beer mustard barbecue sauce on there,

hoping it will also bring my temperature up.

I'm not going home for raw pork.

If they don't like this, I'm gonna cry.

When I was pulling my flank,

my thermometer told me it was at a perfect medium,

and I just cut it open, and it is not,

so I threw it back on the coals for a little bit

and, hopefully, it'll at least get it up... I mean, it's, you know...

I'm hoping with a couple minutes, it'll do something for me.

The steak is still not cooked,

and I need every second on the heat.

Just hoping for the best at this point.

Let's see if I can flip this over a little bit.

There we go.

Yeah, that's gonna be... that's gonna be last minute, but...

I need the steak to be on the heat every last second that I can possibly get.

See if I can make everything else look nice, at least.

Do you have a backup plan?

Not for this part. Not for this part.

I mean, those are my two proteins,

so, um, I just need to get that one to cook a little bit more

and then hope for the best.

Where's my glaze?

How much time?

Three minutes, guys! Three minutes!

- Let's go! - Go, Melissa!

You got this!

I don't know what she got, but she got three minutes.

That's what she got.

♪ Evil on your mind ♪

♪ Trouble at your feet ♪

♪ Living by the gun ♪

♪ The devil's got you beat ♪

♪ Evil on your mind... ♪

God, I made a mess. I hate that.

Damn. These got overdone.

So one of my ribs went a little bit too far.

So I'm just pivoting at this point.

I'm gonna just toss it in some of the mole sauce,

and it's gonna be like a carne frita with mole.

This is the only option I have at this point.

On the outside, I'm calm and collected.

Inside, I was shaking, crying, shivering.

But I can't let the judges see that. I gotta let 'em know I'm a pro.

One minute, everybody.

One minute!

You get it plated, Kent?

Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am, I mean. Pardon me, sugar.

Stressed.

Nephew, you all right?

- I'm stressing. - Take a deep breath.

- Do I have everything on the plate? - I'm busy, busy for real.

Bring her home!

Oh my God. Why is he running with a pot?

Get that steak!

Ten,

nine, eight,

seven, six, five,

four,

three,

two,

one!

Time's up!

- Yes! - Show me the meat!

My beer caramel didn't get on.

The panna cotta is maybe set. My flank steak is way undercooked.

Not what I wanna be presenting to the judges on day two.

This is an ugly plate.

I do not expect to win this challenge,

but as long as it tastes good, I'm hoping that saves me.

- Hey. - Hey! What's up, y'all?

- How are you doing? - It's time for dinner.

Fantastic!

Yum-yum!

This is an amazing meal! I mean, thank you guys so much.

- Cheers. - Cheers.

- Cheers! - Cheers.

Mmm.

Now that the party's over, let's get down to business.

If you wanna succeed,

you have to be your own harshest critic.

In addition to Kevin, Tuffy, and I,

there will be one more opinion that matters.

Yours.

What?

You're gonna taste your own food tonight.

And after you judge it,

we're gonna judge it.

-Wow. -Ooh, I love a plot twist!

Okay, Gerald.

-My love. -Tell us what you made.

I made a baby back and a St. Louis-style rib,

sweet potatoes infused with beer,

beer batter cheese curds, and a beer-infused brownie.

- How do you think you did? - I tried a bunch of things.

I'm actually happy with the product that I put out.

I think I could have did better on probably the dry ribs,

but I really think it's solid.

I'm gonna go with B.

G?

- Sir? - Your ribs...

You good Louisiana gumbo-eating, swamped New Orleans Saint fan.

Boy, you killed it on both these ribs.

- Thank you. - You hear me?

You got the perfect cook, perfect bite.

I can taste the beer a little bit more, of course, on the wet one,

but, uh, you were spot-on on those ribs, brother.

The sweet potato, I taste the beer in that.

I love all the textures.

I taste the beer.

I see your grandmother and grandfather in this sweet potato dish.

It was a very smart choice to use an IPA.

The flavors are just singing in this.

Have you cooked cheese curds before?

No.

That batter's a keeper, you know.

It maintained its crispness, and I think you did a job well done there.

Thank you. Thank you.

- Melissa. - Hello.

So I have a beer and apple juice-brined pork tenderloin

with a beer and apple barbecue sauce. A flank steak.

Cooked it caveman-style

and brushed it with an amber ale beer glaze.

These are roasted poblanos in a beer cream sauce.

Charred sweet corn risotto.

And this was to be a panna cotta,

is now a crème anglaise, right?

What do you think, Melissa?

There are a few elements that would have tied it together

that I wasn't able to get done. So...

C.

- I think you're about right. - Yeah.

Your steak,

the seasoning was there, and the smoke was there.

You know, once that fat doesn't render, you almost can't mess with it.

- Yep. - You know?

- It's very hard to cook caveman-style. - Yeah.

Also, this looks like this was about this thick.

You ever thought about sending the thermometer through this way?

I did not. I did not. I was going top-down.

Um, I really enjoyed the tenderloin.

I thought it was a really good cook, and I kinda liked the sauce.

As far as this goes, um,

how many elements did you have to make?

I like to go big or go home, and sometimes I need to just bring that back a little.

- Two proteins, two sides. - Yeah. Yeah.

Focus.

Not saying you couldn't have done more, but what I am saying, if it's not perfect,

and you have additional elements, don't put it on the plate.

Heard. Thank you.

Shaticka.

I have a beer-brined Cornish hen,

lamb chop with some beer mint gastrique,

stout beer mac and cheese,

beer can cabbage,

and beer brownies.

Shaticka, what would you give yourself?

A B+.

I feel like the flavor's all the way throughout the meat.

I think the seasoning on the outside of the chicken is extremely good.

I taste the beer.

The cabbage.

Your use of beer in that was pretty spot-on.

I really, really enjoyed the cabbage.

For me, the chocolate cake?

-I wasn't a big fan of it. -Okay.

It's not the moist cake that it absolutely could have been.

Sloan.

I made a beer-brined, creole-rubbed smoked chicken.

Dry brine is the pork spare rib with also a creole rub,

a beer-battered onion ring, beer-infused barbecue sauce,

and a beer bread with bacon and cheddar.

What grade would you give?

Beer was a challenge for me.

I think I embraced it,

but at the same time, I don't feel like it's my best cook at all.

A D.

A D for sure.

Um, Sloan,

I don't think you and I have a lot of the same opinions

'cause this is delicious,

and this rib is spot-on.

The chicken is so flavorful.

I can taste the beer, and my skin is crispy.

I love your sauce,

so from now on, you probably need to let me stick to the judging part.

These fluffy-ass onion rings with the... What kind of beer did you use on these?

It's all the same beer, and it was Killian Red.

I don't drink beer at all, so it looked really cool in the box.

Okay?

"Really cool in the box."

The bread is too dense. A little dry for me.

Butter would have sat in them crevices till right now,

but, Sloan, clearly you know how to smoke some meat.

If you were to come back, keep knocking it out of the park.

Thank you. Thank you all very much.

Kareem.

Today, I made a Miller Lite beer-brined turkey breast,

lamb leg with a beer chimichurri.

For my sides, I made my version of Mexican rice.

Borracho beans.

I also made date and almond blondie.

What would you grade yourself?

I think I did not get my lamb leg on time.

I would probably give myself a B.

Kareem, the standout for me, the turkey,

because you brined it, the flavors that you brought out,

the nuance of the beer that you put in there was really pleasant.

Them Texas beans, bruh? That's all Texas right there.

It's my favorite thing on the plate!

Luis.

So today I paid homage to my wife's culture,

and I did a mole and coffee-rub ribs,

I did a beer chili, and when...

My ribs went a little bit over,

so I did pulled pork-slash-carne frita with a mole barbecue sauce.

And I took the first-time approach of making bread.

- What do you think of your dish? - Overall grade? I'd probably say a C.

Your ribs, you had good texture, to me, good smoke, good flavor,

but then you threw the mole on it,

and it blended with some of the charcoal and the wood,

it kind of threw a bitter taste to your rib.

But you got a perfect... bite on your rib.

I agree with your assessment.

I get just a little bit of bitter on the back of my palate.

Um, the coffee-rub ribs were much better.

That mole, it probably could have used a little more simmer time.

I think you graded yourself, uh, fairly,

and I appreciate that.

This bread?

This bread is an A+.

Bliss on this bread. I can eat this all day.

-We could have beer bread carnitas. -Yeah. Yeah, let's do that!

- Kent. - Yes, ma'am.

I started off really like a Sunday dinner my mother used to serve.

The chicken was brined in a beer batter, and the pork chop is a dry-brined.

Sweet potatoes. Bacon and onions. Candied pecans. It's got beer in it.

We made more of a corn bread corn pudding,

and then my favorite dessert, bread pudding.

Tell us what you think of your dish.

A D was a passing grade for me till I was a senior, you know what I mean?

But, you know, I'd probably give it a B+.

All in all, ma'am, I'm happy with it.

What I can tell you is... you were finally listening.

The real Kent finally showed up to the party.

- This pork chop is on point. - Thank you.

The flavor, the texture, the juiciness,

the seasoning.

I really like the sauce.

When I taste the sauce, I'm picking up just a hint of that beer.

These sweet potatoes. I know you said you put onions and savory and all this,

but this, to me, is just missing on something.

- It's a little bland for me, you know. - Yeah.

This hamburger bun... hot dog bun bread pudding,

what kind of beer did you use on this? I'm gonna steal that recipe.

I mean, I just wanna know.

Miller Lite.

When you had it moistening up, was it sitting in beer?

Yeah, yeah.

-On point, bro. -Thank you, my friend, so much.

Staci!

I made a lamb with a dry brine,

beer-brined pork tenderloin,

beer hummus, roasted potatoes.

To bring my grandma into the meal,

I had to start with a homemade bread and end with a dessert.

What would you grade yourself?

A lot of the flavors are there in different flavors.

I would probably say a B.

The loin was cooked perfect, but the sauce takes away from it

'cause I taste beer-beer in that.

So the beer just totally overpowers the protein.

-Okay. -The cook on the lamb is really good.

Um, the beer flavor, for me,

was not quite as strong as it was with the pork tenderloin.

The hummus, I thought, was really good.

I'm amazed that you made bread and dessert,

which, you know, went above and beyond.

And bringing beer into that cheese sauce with the potatoes was a brilliant move.

You had four hours, and you made all this.

-Good job. -Thank you.

That's a wrap on Beerfest, honey.

You guys did that. Thank you so much for all your hard work.

Now, if you can go down to the pits, the judges have a lot to think about.

How y'all feeling about today?

Those ribs did not come out how I wanted to. That mole failed.

I had a dry-ass brownie. We don't know who's going home.

Glad it's over.

You guys showed us so many creative ways to work beer into barbecue,

and just like our special guest today, it was a toughie.

We tasted a lot of big beer flavors,

but one dish was the clear winner.

The dish that impressed us the most

and really worked the beer element in all of their dishes is...

From the Lone Star. Sloan, congratulations.

Yes!

You sure you guys got that right?

I'm so shocked that Kevin said my name.

Hard to get ahead in barbecue in Texas as a woman.

This is one of the best days of my life. Truly, one of the best days of my life.

Like I said, you kept it simple,

but your proteins today

were some of the best I ever had in the Showdown ever.

No! Come on, man!

And I'm like you.

Sometimes, I second-guess myself.

But at those moments,

I think we just have to pull ourselves up by the experience that we have.

And for you, tonight,

it was outstanding.

Thank you.

It was a very close second,

and I gotta give them their roses right now.

Bayou, Louisiana, Gerald.

- You get the co-MVP tonight, baby. - Way to go, Nephew!

I hate to kill the party vibes here tonight,

but unfortunately, someone does have to go home.

Melissa, who's in danger of going home tonight?

Luis...

...and Melissa.

Unfortunately, you had our two least favorite dishes tonight.

Luis, you had some things going on good and some things going on bad.

If you were to move on, like I keep saying, get it together.

Melissa, you had one great protein

and one not-so-great protein.

If you were to move on, too, dial it in, get control, and handle it.

The cook going home today is...

I'm so sorry, Luis, but this has been your last cook.

Good job, man. Good luck to you, baby.

Just beginning for you, all right? Remember that.

Man, I'm overwhelmed with emotion.

I mean, to say that it doesn't hurt... Obviously, my emotions show it does hurt.

But I'm joyful, you know? This opportunity doesn't come to a lot of people.

I gave it my all. It wasn't good enough, but... I left everything on the plate.

You guys grab some beers and meet me outside by the fire. Okay!

- I'll see you out there. - All right.

- Cheers, y'all. - Cheers.

- Cheers. - One more day.

One more day.

- Oh my God! - Michelle!

It's back!

It's The Trench, baby!

-Oh my God! -What?!

- Wow. - What is that?