Original subtitles

I'm Bobby Flay.

Each week, one brave chef will try to

take me down in my house.

This is my show.

Today it is.

Tomorrow, who knows?

Oh, crash talking.

This culinary battle is gonna shake down

in two rounds.

Round one, to get to me, two contenders

have to go through each other using an

ingredient of my choice.

It's do or die, Bobby.

Two people that know me well will decide

who's got the skills to beat me.

Yeah! Round two, I go head-to-head with

the winning contender.

Let's go! It's their turn to surprise me

with their signature dish.

What? Don't try this at home.

I know you did it, Bobby!

Bottom line, you're gonna run it in two!

Everyone's out to beat me.

All right, I need all the help I can get

tonight, because my co-hosts have it in

for me. Food Network's Sonny Anderson and

Amanda Freitag.

You need hips to do that, Bobby.

You need hips.

You don't have it?

Oh, Bobby. I like that patty cake thing

you guys got going on.

Excuse me? That's a secret handshake.

It's not patty cake.

I am so sick of you.

I love it.

I love the way she looks at you.

She's sick of me.

That's okay. I like you being sick of me.

Let me get caught in the spar here.

Amanda, please. You're the buffer.

I usually am.

Watch your mouth, Bobby.

All right, bring out some chefs.

I've had enough.

I heard you're pretty familiar with these

chefs, too. I'm very familiar with these

chefs. You are?

I'm very familiar with these chefs,

Bobby. Isn't that interesting?

Bobby, I scoured the earth, okay?

I found two formidable chefs.

And guess what?

You're gonna go down.

Get ready for our first contender.

He's a master of Portuguese flavor from

Harmony, New Jersey.

My neck of the woods, baby.

Chef Ed Oliveira.

Yeah! We

shall we.

Give us a spank.

Me, too. Aw.

Yeah. Our next contender is a former

Broadway audio engineer.

He's ready to crush you with his Cajun

and Creole flavors.

I've eaten both of you guys' food, and I

can honestly say I like his better.

From New York City, it's Chef Eric

McCree. Come on now.

Yeah! What?

You're going down.

I'm just letting you know.

Ed, Eric, you know Sunny?

Pretty well. Yes.

I know people, Bobby.

Who you rooting for?

This is hard.

She's not rooting for you.

No, she's never rooting for me.

That's right. Well, first, you must go

through each other.

I'm gonna give you an ingredient of my

choice, and you must be able to cook it.

You must make that ingredient the star of

your dish. And that ingredient is...

Niswas olives. Ooh.

That's dirty, Bobby.

Should I try something different?

I like olives.

These are my friends, Bobby.

You could have made it bacon.

I love niswas olives.

They're salty. That's it.

All right, Chef.

20 minutes on the clock.

Try not to get salty over these niswas

olives. Niswas

olives. I love making tapenade and stuff

like that with them.

This is what I was thinking.

It would have to be a tapenade something.

But then when you're making them the

star, like, what do you put it with?

Olives go really well with things that

are juicy, like tomatoes or creamy like

mozzarella. The worry is balancing the

saltiness of those olives.

Ed, is that ground beef or pork?

Pork for Portugal.

To highlight the flavor of the olives, a

tapenade is perfect.

You can spread it on anything, and when

you take a bite, there's going to be

olive present there.

So I'm making a Portuguese-inspired pork

sandwich with an olive tapenade and a

feta salad. I add the olives, anchovy,

and capers. Chef Ed is from where I live

in New Jersey, and he has a food truck.

People flock to him.

Really? I mean, that's how good food is.

I grew up in Newark, New Jersey.

Every celebration was surrounded by

really good food that was Portuguese.

I worked two decades in fine dining, but

found myself feeling disconnected from

what mattered to me.

So we opened the Angry Shredi Soup BBQ,

which focused on Portuguese cuisine.

Sonny's been eating my food for a few

years now, and she reached out because

she feels that my food can beat Bobby

Flay. And I'm not going to let her down.

Oh, look at Chef Eric.

Eric's chopping pancetta.

He is doing the right thing.

We need that.

Chef Eric, really what got me to his

restaurant was having his food at an

event, and I said, oh my God, I need more

than this, these small bites.

And so I went and I had brunch.

It was so, so good.

I'd been there.

It was good, wasn't it, Bobby?

Very good. I really want to make sure

that I can layer the olives throughout.

So I'm going to make a collard greens

salad with olive, vinaigrette, with

crispy pancetta, and pecans.

So I'm going to use the olives in the

vinaigrette, and also as a topping.

I've never had raw collard greens, I'll

be honest. I love them.

Really? I rarely eat raw collard greens.

Yeah. He brings the flavor, so I'm not

worried. As an audio engineer, I've

toured all over the world, but I always

knew that I wanted to open up a

restaurant. So I started to work as a

private chef. And then in 2022, I opened

Filet Gumbo Bar to honor my grandfather

for his love of Cajun Creole food.

Like four months in, Bobby walks in.

So I just cook all of this great food for

him, and he was blown away.

I have to make sure that it's not just a

one-time food.

I think that I could go toe-to-toe with

him. 14 minutes to go.

What's going on, Chef Eric?

Hey. OK, I'll see some greens out.

I think the collard greens salad, put

some bacon pat in it with olives.

I love the olives over top.

Thank you. I just want to tell everyone

that your food is delicious.

Thank you very much.

I'm going to get out of your way, because

I want you to have time.

Taste as you go, get it on the plate, OK?

Y'all give it up for Chef Eric.

Thank you.

OK, Chef Ann.

I like you doing a tester patty.

I added some parsley, salt, pepper.

I don't want it to be too flavored,

because I want the salt from the olives

to work with it.

I like it.

Y'all give it up for the Chef!

What I like about what Chef Ann is doing

is he's made that sausage patty, but not

too heavy on the salt.

So he can allow the olives to come in and

play around with that.

That's really smart.

These are two completely different

dishes. Yeah. Like you have salad and a

sandwich. The collard greens are

marinating, so I start chopping up the

cums and more olives to make sure that

the olives are really layered throughout.

Coming up on 8 Minutes,

these patties look so interesting.

Is this something you do?

It's not something I do all the time, but

I'm taking a play on, like, the

Portuguese street sandwich kind of thing,

because it's a lot of what we do.

I put together the salad with cucumber,

feta cheese, and the anise olives.

I think you're on a good track.

Thank you. OK!

So this is unique, because we don't

usually make salad from collard greens.

No. Is this something you...

It's truly in it, really thin.

Really, really fine, and you marinate it.

Yep, the acid is in there.

Wow. I just got to add some texture.

There's some garlic in there.

Lots of garlic.

Totally. That's got some kick.

OK, we got three minutes.

Woo! A lot of flavor.

The thing I like about what Eric's doing

is, he's taking some of the ingredients

that he knows from Louisiana, the pecan,

et cetera, and he's mixing them with the

olives. It seems really interesting.

Can you tell your friend Ed to hurry up,

because he's really making it in her

face. Ed is 40 seconds.

Get it on the plate, baby!

Stop yelling. OK.

35 seconds. You sound like me.

25 seconds. Oh my God.

You're down to the wire.

15 seconds. Eric, you done?

Yes. Wow. Dude.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5,

4, 3, 2, 1.

Woo! Sunny! Wow!

Looking at Ed's dish, I just blown away

that he's been able to get that far in 20

minutes. But I feel like I've created

something that shows olives as a star.

Ay, ay, ay!

I feel relief.

I believe I hit a home run.

I have goosebumps for you guys!

I'm getting the flavor of the tapenade

right away. You also have anchovy in here

too? That's all good, but your pork

needed some seasoning on its own.

OK. I think there was a missed moment

with the pork patty.

But wow, that tapenade is so good.

I get the olive flavor in there, and it's

not overpowered by the feta cheese.

Thank you. Chef Eric, what did you make

us? I made a collard greens salad with

olive and garlic vinaigrette with crispy

pancetta and pecans.

Good thing we're on this date together.

We both smell like garlic.

Keeping the vampires away on this one.

I love the creativity, the collard salad.

The thing for me, it feels a little

imbalanced. I'm tasting pancetta, I'm

tasting garlic, but the olive is a little

lost. Yeah, but I can taste the pecans

and the collards.

I just think they work so well together.

Really good. This stuff one.

So Amanda and I are going to need a

moment to discuss.

Both of them are blown away by the amount

of garlic, but it was a very creative

dish that was executed well.

The chef moving forward is...

Chef Ed. Oh!

I learned that I can think on my toes

better than I thought.

It was great.

You paid them, and don't use so much

garlic. Back and neck, man!

Back and neck!

You killed it.

Chef Ed, you won because the tapenade was

so good. We wanted way more.

Now kick, Bobby's butt.

That's the plan.

All right, chef.

Way to go.

What's your signature dish?

My signature dish is...

Salt Cod Fritters.

Oh! When was the last time you even

played with Salt Cod, Bobby?

I've had Mediterranean restaurants my

whole life. I've made Salt Cod Fritters

many times. Portuguese blood's running in

my veins, my friend.

I can't say the same for you.

Okay, 45 minutes on the clock, and your

time starts now.

Oh! Yes! Come on!

Salt Cod Fritters!

It's such a unique challenge!

Right. Salt Cod, which I call bacalao.

Yeah, bacalao. Which is just salt cod in

Spanish, was made to preserve the fish

when there was no refrigeration.

So then there were many dishes made from

it. This dish, think about your favorite

fried sort of croquette, right?

Yeah, like a hush puppy.

It's like that.

And it has a beautiful, salty, fishy

flavor. But it's usually mixed with

potato. Here's what I'm concerned about.

What if we have two identical fritters?

Impossible, okay? Because you know Bobby

doesn't know authentic Portuguese salt

cod fritters, and that, I think, is going

to be the difference.

They call me the cod father.

Ah! You ready for this one?

My father was a professional cod

fisherman in Portugal.

Here's the thing.

They have to cook the potatoes.

They have to chill it down.

They have to form the fritters.

They have to fry the fritters.

You're right. It's a lot.

Man, that clock moves fast.

Why salt cod fritters?

These cod fritters were at every family

gathering, and I've learned to make them

from my mother, my grandmother.

So I just wanted to bring something that

was true to who I am.

Chef Ed, ladies and gentlemen.

I'm making a classic version of a salt

cod fritter, which is salt cod, potatoes,

eggs, parsley, garlic, and sauteed

onions. I'm adding my beady-beady garlic

aioli. It's going to bring spice and a

roasted chickpea and chorizo salad.

I throw chunks of the cod into the

boiling water with the potatoes.

Bobby, he's got the cod and milk to take

a little bit of that salt off, because it

is very salty.

I'm doing a version of something I used

to have in my restaurant, Bolo.

I combine mashed potatoes with salt cod,

and then I also put some shrimp in there

as well. Why is Bobby having a shrimp?

Continue to do what you're doing, Bobby.

How do we feel about that?

That could throw the judges off with

authenticity. Getting the balance of the

salt cod and the potato right is really

key. So I want to put the filling in the

blast chiller, because if it's too warm,

it's going to be really hard to shape it

into a fritter.

I'm going to make a shrimp and harissa

aioli. So it's shrimp stock that I'm

reducing all the way down.

I'm adding some mayonnaise.

I want this dish to have an underlying

shrimp flavor. Bobby, is the time moving

as fast for you as it is for me?

Always. Wow. When I scoop the fish and

the potatoes, I have to bring out as much

moisture as I can, and I'm burning my

hands, because time is not again my

friend. So I throw the pan in the blast

chiller. I know I have to get the roasted

chickpea component started, so I julienne

my chorizo sausage, and then I move on to

components of the salad.

It seems like Chef Ed is doing so much.

He now has doing a lot.

Pepper's roasting. He's making a salad.

Hey, you're up there.

You're by the clock.

Can you stop it for me?

I still have the chickpeas roasting in

the oven, a salad that's kind of halfway

made, and aioli that isn't blended.

Am I going to have enough time to even

put something together on the plate?

There's no option to fail here.

You need a job?

Nope. It's important to have a contrast

of texture, so I'm going to create a

relish using pequilla peppers, some of

these swaz black olives from round one,

and then I'm going to add some colabri

chiles to it.

Just want a little bit of bite.

15 minutes, Chef.

It's time to form the fritters.

It's very important the Portuguese

version is blended by hand.

The first round, I under-season the pork,

so this round, I go in full force.

You got this.

Look at that.

He's cannelling for his life, baby.

Bang! It's time to spoon and fry, spoon

and fry. Please work.

Let's go see what's happening.

Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh.

Okay, how did your sauce come out?

Spicy and lemony, garlic.

Yeah? It's got a toasty, roasty garlic

flavor. Yes. Wow.

I'm going to get a closer look at these

fritters. You can taste it if you want.

Ooh. Look at that texture.

But this 11 minutes is not good for me.

You better get this on the plate.

I'm going. Okay,

I'm here at Warnier that Sunny's about to

come to your kitchen.

Yeah, great. What's going on, Bobby?

How you doing?

Good, how are you?

Ah! Here you go.

Yo, don't...

Sunny is doing whatever she can to really

mess me up.

Put the torch down.

Sunny, don't make me, Bobby.

Don't make me out burn this whole thing

down, Bobby. She really wants her friend

Ed to win, clearly.

I've never seen her race a sauce like

this in the can.

Chef Ed, Bobby's cooking from the can.

What is he doing?

That's spicy. Please add more.

Okay. What is this, fried herbs?

What? Bobby, did you salt these?

What, Sunny?

You didn't. I'm not even going to tell

you. It's trash, Bobby.

Nine minutes. Come on, y'all.

I am going to bread the fritter.

I want that really nice texture on the

outside, so it's flour, egg, panko

breadcrumbs for the crispiness.

His shape of them is more like a crab

cake. They're so thick.

If I were Bobby, I would cut those in

half. Okay, Bobby's just not dropping

those in the fryer, right?

And he has six minutes left.

Bobby, you look a little sweaty over

there. I'm behind.

I'm behind.

When you compete against a Portuguese

guy, you're always behind, my friend.

I love that.

How you doing, Chef Ed?

We're going to the plate, so we're good.

The whole town is proud of you right now.

Harmony's in the house.

Please don't make me cry.

I get the aioli on all the plates.

Oh, look at that sauce.

The salad component next.

Then my chickpea mixture.

I get the last batch of the fritters onto

the plate. They say in Portuguese, never

forget the wine.

Okay, where's that going in your mouth?

Yeah! I put some of the shrimp and

the harissa aioli on the bottom of the

plate. Look at that brown plate, Bobby.

I checked the fritters.

I want it to be golden brown.

Ten, nine, eight.

I put the crispy fritter on top.

Six, five, four, three, two, one.

The chio pepper and black olive relish.

Top the little fried basil.

Two, one. Good!

Good job, man.

That's awesome. I like my dish.

I think it looks like a nice restaurant

appetizer. I put myself on the plate.

I represented Portuguese cuisine.

And it's anybody's game now.

I love it for us.

Congratulations, both of you chefs.

And now we'd like to introduce you to

your judges. Chef, author, and

restaurateur, Chris Scott.

Cookbook author and founder of Mad

Hungry, Lucinda Scala Quinn, executive

director for Food & Society at the Aspen

Institute. Corbie Cumber.

Please start with the first salt cod

fritter in front of you.

I really appreciated the golden brown

crust and Portuguese flavors, but the

chickpeas and the fritter were all kind

of the same texture.

So Lucinda and I may not look like twins,

but she already stole my golden brown

line. When you look at these, you think,

wow, what a fabulous brown.

I can't wait to dig right into them.

They're big chunks of baklava and potato,

which are very comforting.

But the peppers got a little soggy,

whereas you want this crisp contrast with

the fritters. Deliciousness and

authenticity. This packs both.

You have that right amount of heat in

there, and that peary peary, it's lovely.

But the fritter starts to get a little

bit salty. All right, judges, we're going

to have you switch your plates, please.

This is a baseball-sized fritter, but I

love it. The outside is crispy.

I really love the way the shrimp balances

with the cod.

It's a perfect harmony.

The harissa, I love how it marries with

the croquette, but in my opinion, a

little bit too much potato.

There is lots of potato in it, but you

absolutely get the flavors.

I really knew I was having a cod fritter.

The pecchio pepper relish was a little

salty, but overall, a really lovely dish.

All right, thank you, judges.

It's time to vote.

Chef Bobby Flay.

Sorry, dude, it was an honor.

Thank you. Oh, no.

Oh, no. Chef, it might have just been the

salt in this dish that got you this time.

I agree, but I was true to myself and to

my Portuguese heritage, so I won.

I won. I won today.

Thanks, chef. Thanks for the glittering.

Thank you, chef.

Good job. Chef Ed!

Chef Ed! Bobby, here you come with your

inauthentic crab cake-looking salt cod

fritter. Congratulations, Bobby.

Thank you. I used to want you to come out

and hang out in Lehigh Valley.

Now I don't want you around me.

He's not welcome?

Yeah. Don't be salty, sonny.

The judges love my fritters.