All language subtitles for Chopped.S46E05.Terrine.Cuisine.iNTERNAL.WEB.h264-ROBOTS_track3_eng

It's time to show us
what you're made of.

Nemo: I'm going to win
because I'm a badass.

Mimi: I feel like
I'm going to be a threat.

Ted:
Open your baskets.

Whoa.
[ chuckles ]

nemo:
This is for $10,000.

Matt:
This is a wild card.

Think it's gonna trip up
a lot of the other chefs.

Let's go, let's go,
let's go, let's go.
Oh, no.

If the glove's
filled with blood,

then we know it's bad.

Scott:
This is very, uh...
Snotty.

Yes.
Why?!

Coming through.
Behind, behind.

Scott:
He's only working one-handed.

Ted:
Three, two, one.

Mimi:
Best food wins.

What you got?

Four new competitors
here to race the clock.

Nemo:
Being a chef is stressful,

so I like to box
as a way to decompress.

I'm nemo bolin.

I'm the chef at saint Monday
in providence, rhode island.

Can you grab
pea greens and parsley

to finish the claims?

My food is seasonal american.

A lot of salt, a lot of fat,
a lot of acid.

Once I step on the line
in the kitchen,

everything else washes away.

I'm going to win
by being aggressive.

"chopped" doesn't scare me.

I'm mimi weissenborn.

I'm the executive chef at
vinatería in harlem, new york.

We've got 25
on the books for tonight,

and I've got about
10 fresh bronzino.

Vinatería is a mediterranean-
inspired restaurant

with influences
from italian to spanish.

The food I make a super hardy
and evokes a lot of soul.

This is our sauce.
So this is for the bronzino.

I first stepped into the kitchen
when I was 15.

I still work the line. I'm ready
to literally throw down.

This is peruvian cuisine.

I'm jose luis chavez.

♪♪

for you,
my friend.

I'm the executive chef
and owner of mission ceviche

in the gansevoort market.

We serve the best
peruvians ceviche.

Spicy, fresh, crunchy.

It hits every note.

When I came to the u.S.,
I had to prove myself,

and I'm ready to prove again
who I am.

Dumpling,
short ribs.

I'm matt greiner.

I'm the executive chef

of mofu shoppe
in raleigh, north carolina.

We're serving pan-asian cuisine
executed as the highest level.

Big flavor, bold,

but also,
we try to keep it simple.

Every dish isn't
10 to 15 things.

I've always had the drive
to work cleaner, faster,

more efficient
than the guy next to me.

I'm going to bring that
to "chopped."

♪♪

hello, chefs.

So there are three rounds,

mandatory mystery ingredients
for each course.

If your dish doesn't cut it,
you will be "chopped."

no way.
Not me.

Alright, then.

Let's see what's in store
for the appetizer round.

♪♪

open your baskets.

Oh.
Ooh.

And you must use...

Look at
this baby right here.

...A rabbit terrine...

♪♪

...Guanciale.

Guanciale. Nice.

I see the guanciale
and flip out.

I've made it many times.

That I know how to approach
real fast.

Ted:
...Spring garlic...

Beautiful.

...And burger meal mix.

Yum.

Mimi: Burger meal mix --
I love you late at night

after a long day
when I don't feel like cooking,

but what are you doing
in my "chopped" basket?

Ted:
Only 20 minutes.

Do your best.

Clock starts now.

♪♪

think you know
what you're gonna do?

Feel good?
Feel good.
Yes.

Chris, scott, you are joined
by erik ramirez,

an executive chef specializing
in peruvian cuisine.

Welcome.
Thank you
for having me.

There are some
really beautiful flavors

in this basket --
tender spring garlic,

the gorgeous guanciale.

The luck
kind of runs out

when you get
to the burger meal.

Chris: There's actually
40 varieties of this stuff.

This one is
the salisbury steak flavor.

It's all in the manipulation
of the spices.

Lot of sugar in this.

Maybe use it
as, like, your salt.

But there's also plain pasta
in that box that they can use.

[ laughs ]

nemo just looked
at the pasta

and threw it all
in the garbage

and kept
the spice packet.

Alright.

This basket is a lot of meat,
it is a lot of savory.

So my approach for this basket

and for this round
is to lighten everything up.

I'm going to make
a frisée salad with rabbit,

guanciale,
and spring garlic vinaigrette.

The first thing I'm going to do
is dice up croutons,

add the burger meal
seasoning packet for umami,

salty, savory seasoning,
then throw them into an oven

and just forget about them
for a bit.

How you feel?
Good to go.

Chris: That rabbit terrine
looks beautiful.

This basically is
a savory approach to gelatin.

Yeah, a lot of fat.

Rabbit, mushrooms,
of course, gelatin.

That's gonna be super,
super rich and creamy

on the palate.

My food philosophy
is keep it simple.

This food doesn't need
to be more complicated

than it already is.

So I'm going to make
a warm rabbit terrine

with spring garlic
and glazed guanciale.

First thing I want to do
is render out my guanciale...

And then I add
the spring garlic.

I'm assuming you're
a big fan of guanciale.

I am a big fan
of the guanciale.

"guancia" is "jaw"
in italian,

so the guanciale
is that cured jowls of the pig.

It is really,
really flavorful.

Is guanciale smoked
or not smoked?

Not smoked.

Matt:
Burger meal mix is the wildcard.

I think it's gonna trip up
a lot of the other chefs.

I know it's way overpowering
and way too salty.

I'm gonna try to stick
to the noodles.

Alright,
so matt took his pasta,

coated the terrene.

Now he's trying
to fry it.

That's gonna melt.

♪♪

mimi: I work
in a mediterranean restaurant,

so I do a lot of flatbreads.

I'll do an occasional
flatbread pizza.

I'm making grilled flatbread
with a rabbit terrine,

guanciale ragu.

Combine good ingredients,
grill a flatbread, home run.

Easy for me.

I'm going to get started
on my ragu.

I pick out the rabbit.

Guanciale.

Gonna throw a dash
of that burger mix

to add a little bit of salt,

and then I take the pasta
from the burger meal mix

and throw it in the fryer.

Adds a nice crunch element.

Chris: Mimi is grilling
pizza dough.

You gotta make sure
that it's cooked,

and it's got to be thin.

And that's the other thing
is it looks a little thick.

♪♪

jose luis: This basket
is a little bit crazy for me,

and I want to play it safe.

I'm making a spinach salad

with white truffled braised
guanciale.

The burger mix thing,

I didn't grow with this
in my culture.

So I decide just play safety.

I'm gonna blanch the pasta

to add
the soft texture to the salad.

Then I get sweet potato,

and it's going to bring
crunchiness to the plate.

So it looks like jose luis
is frying sweet potatoes.

Erik:
There's actually

over 3,000 varieties
of potatoes in peru.

He's actually cooking at
a peruvian restaurant, as well.

We'll see how
he measures up to you, sir.

[ chuckles ]

so, like, what's interesting
about peru, right,

it's the biodiversity
of coast,

sierra,
which is the andes.

You have forest,
then rainforest.

You have all these
different microclimates,

so the result of that

is all these
amazing ingredients.

You're making me want
to go to peru.
It's interesting.

It's a great country.

Ted: Alright, chefs,
10 minutes on that clock.

♪♪

nemo: For the rabbit, guanciale,
and spring onion vinaigrette,

I take mustard
and sherry vinegar

for a bright note.

Before I was the chef
at saint Monday,

I had my own restaurant,
and unfortunately,

about a year ago,
I got very sick.

I was hospitalized for weeks
and out of work for months,

and I ended up making the
decision to sell the restaurant.

So I definitely
want to win today to show

that I'm back cooking
at a high level.

♪♪

matt: Rabbit terrine starts to
break down in the pan.

The gelatin is dissolving.

A terrine soup, if you will.

As long as I keep the chunks
of rabbit meat solid and tender,

I can just serve it rustically.

♪♪

whoo!

Mimi: I want to add a sweet
element to this flatbread,

so I take the blueberries.

I cook them down with
a little bit of lemon juice.

I decide to go ahead
and build my flatbread.

I would argue
that pizza dough

is one of those ingredients
in this kitchen

that you think is
going to be easy to work with.

Yeah.
And it isn't.

Mimi: For me, cooking really
brings out passion.

I like to really kind of, like,
make love to my food,

just like I do my people.

[ laughs ] whoo!

Behind, behind,
chef.

Less than five minutes
remaining.

Jose luis:
The spring garlic,

I decide to give
a very nice julienne.

♪♪

I cut myself.

Jose luis cut himself.
Ted: Oh, boy.

Here?
Yeah.

Chris: And apparently hasn't
used his rabbit terrine yet.

So now here's what happens
on 20-minute round, right?

Even if you lose
one minute,

you've lost
5% of your time.

Oh, my gosh. Let's go.
Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

♪♪

♪♪

oh, my god.

Perfect.
Ready to go, chef.

Jose luis
is back in action.

It doesn't look like
it was a very serious cut.

But that was still almost
a minute of his time lost.

Jose luis:
At this point,

I didn't even touch
my rabbit terrine.

This is not good.

Scott: Jose luis just took some
of the rabbit out of the terrine

and put it
inside the blender.

So we have
a rabbit vinaigrette.

I blend in a bit of
pistachio oil...

To add a little nuttiness.

Nuttiness -- nut -- nuttiness.

I'm using words
I never used before,

so that's why it's so hard.

♪♪

nemo:
For the salad,

having a runny egg yolk
is such a great way

to tie
dishes like this together.

Got beautiful
sunny-side eggs.

Chris: Yes,
a nice-looking egg!

[ laughs ]
a little bit of excitement.

We got an egg!

Mimi: I'm going to serve
a raw brussel salad

on top this flatbread.

Just have a little bit acidity

to tone down the heaviness
of the ragu and the meat.

I check on my flatbread.

It seems right, but I'm really
not sure about that center.

So I just got to get
this flatbread

back into this 500-degree oven.

Two minutes
on the clock.

Chefs, make sure you use
all four ingredients.

Coming through.
Behind. Behind.

♪♪

20 minutes go by
like it's nothing.

I see apple, which I know
is going to bring some crunch

that it definitely needs.

Ted:
One minute to go, chefs.

I'm concerned about
jose luis.

Yes.

Ted: Maybe his cut
was worse than we thought.

He's only working
one-handed.

Erik:
Look at the glove.

The glove's filled with blood,
then we know it's bad.

Got to hurry up, chefs.

Hit the gas pedal here.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Time's up.

♪♪

mimi: I'm pretty happy
with my flatbread.

I'm just praying
that this baby's

cooked all the way through.

Jose luis: I feel sad

because this is a moment to show
who I am as a chef,

and it's not special to look at,

but I hope
the judges like the flavor.

♪♪

chefs, mystery ingredients
you got for round 1 --

rabbit terrine, spring garlic,
guanciale, and burger meal mix.

Chef mimi, please tell us about
your appetizer.

Today,
I've prepared for you

grilled flatbread
with rabbit guanciale ragu

and a little bit
of a shaved brussel slaw on top.

♪♪

I love that you went with
a grilled flatbread.

I think
that was a great idea.

The mascarpone
works really wonderfully

with the flavors
from the terrine.

The rosemary
is a really great touch.

It's delicious.

Scott:
I agree with chris.

I think the flavor profiles
that you created are fantastic.

Even the little pot with
the blueberry really works well

because it's like
a pop of bright acidity

that cleans the palate.

Erik: I do like the crunchy
pasta from the burger meal mix.

That added a nice contrast,

because the pizza dough
is pretty raw.

It's delicious,
but it's raw dough.

I can demonstrate.

Chef mimi, thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, chef matt.

Just did
a warm rabbit terrine...

With a guanciale
and spring-onion glaze.

Figure, like, the burger meal
powder mix was in your sauce.

It actually wasn't.

I just wanted to use
the pasta.

The pasta buzzed up,

and then it started
to dissolve in the pan, so...

Alright.
So I'll just take that.

Got it. So that's what's
thickened up your
sauce a little bit.

Pretty much.

It is definitely
pretty delicious.

I really like how you could
taste the layers of flavor.

Scott:
I think your flavors are great.

You get the spring onions,
you get the guanciale.

I think gently warming
that rabbit was a good move.

Big challenge for me is

did you really think that
you'd be able to fry gelatin?

This is very, uh...

Snotty.
Yes.

I mean, it has
that mucus-like texture to it,

which even though
it's delicious,

it's still mucous-like.

I mean...

Chris: I really love the apple
and the mint.

I think it works really well.

But yes, the texture is
really difficult to get around.

Chef,
do you think you have

any sort of an edge here
over your competition?

I would say
the fact that I've cooked

french, italian, german.

Now I cook
pan-asian food,

my determining factor
is just my...

Range.

...Range, my array
of different food

that I've cooked
in my career.

As long as you're cooking
all of those well.

Yeah, they don't turn
to mucous.

[ laughter ]

that's a good point.

Next up, chef nemo.

I made
a frisée aux lardons

with a warm rabbit
spring-onion vinaigrette.

♪♪

scott: You're clearly
a very thoughtful chef.

Everything that's going on here,

it's just like
the perfect lunch salad.

Thank you.

I love the contrast
between the braised rabbit

and the salad and the croutons.

Perfectly cooked eggs.

Great run on the yolk.

You'd be surprised
how many bad eggs we get here.

That's the difference
between good and great.

It's those little things.

I do like the idea
of the rabbit,

spring garlic vinaigrette
with the salad,

but you have olive,
capers, mustard.

There was just a couple bites

that I just thought were, like,
aggressively seasoned.

Yeah.

But if you do
eat the egg yolk,

it mellows it out
a little bit, which is nice.

Yeah,
that was part of the goal.

I agree that this is
just on the edge of being salty,

but other than that,
I think it's great.

I think it's great.

Thank you.

Okay. Finally,
we go to chef jose luis.

I decided to create
something very simple,

so I create spinach salad
with guanciale glaze

with white truffle
and rabbit vinaigrette.

So first of all,
it sounds delicious.

It sounds like you made
some very nuanced choices

from the pantry.

Um...

But you cut yourself.

And I am looking, and I do see
a spatter of blood

on the inside of my bowl.

♪♪

there's some blood on the
exterior of this bowl, as well.

♪♪

jose luis:
This is not good.

The worst thing can happen
is just put blood on my dish.

Not good.

♪♪

♪♪

so sounds delicious.

It sounds like you made

some very nuanced choices
from the pantry.

Um...

But you cut yourself.

And I am looking,

and I do see a spatter of blood
on the inside of my bowl.

♪♪

so we can't eat this
is really the bottom line,

and so we had to chop you.

You dish sounded delicious.

Had you not gotten blood
on our dishes,

chances are you'd be moving on

due to the raw state
of mimi's pizza dough.

I'm sorry to say, mimi.

You were on the chopping block,
but unfortunately,

we never even got that far
with you, jose luis,

because we just
couldn't taste your food.

And so we had to chop you.

I understand,

and I just want to say
being here is a privilege.

Six years ago,
I moved to new york,

and my first job
was selling pizza for $1.

It was great.

Right now,
I own mission ceviche.

I got two locations
and a pop-up in brooklyn.

I've actually been
to mission ceviche.

The ceviche
is really good there.

Thank you, chef.
Life is beautiful.

I've got my baby daughter,
four months.

Congratulations.
Congratulations.
Congratulations.

So you came here six years ago,
you didn't speak english,

and you worked at
a dollar pizza store,

and now you own
four restaurants

and a brand-new baby,
is what you're saying?

Yes,
that's me right now.

Half a finger.
[ laughter ]

hopefully,
we'll see you back here.

Absolutely.
Hope to see you soon, guys.

Thank you.
Ted: Thank you.

This for me has been
an amazing experience.

So I'm positive right now
because I'm growing.

You just have to work really
hard and follow your dream.

♪♪

chef mimi,
chef matt, chef nemo,

it's time to shake out
the nerves

and show us
what you're made of.

♪♪

open up
your entree baskets.

Whoa.
Oh, nice.

And you'll be making main dishes
with beer ramen...

What the...?

...Sablefish...

Corn on the cob...
Nice.

...And lemon cake mix.

♪♪

[ groans ]

nemo:
Looking at all four ingredients,

the sweet fake lemon cake mix
feels like the most difficult.

Countdown clock is set
at 30 minutes,

and it starts...Now.

♪♪

behind, behind.

Ted: So the beer ramen
really looks like

a glass of beer
filled with noodles,

but it's actually not beer
at all.

Scott: It's a broth
with ramen inside

and an egg-white froth
on top of that.

It didn't really
taste that good.

[ laughter ]

I would probably
just use the broth.

Maybe get some dashi
or sesame oil and garlic.

That might be
right up matt's alley

because he is into
the pan-asian cooking.

Matt:
When I taste the beer ramen,

it just tastes
like a nice pan-asian broth.

Now I just want to add
some dashi.

And then I add the cob,
which is nice and sweet,

and that'll give a nice burst
of freshness to the dish.

For my entree, I'm going to make
pan-seared sablefish,

lemon piccata bread, and then
my corn and beer ramen broth.

For the lemon piccata bread,
I grab the capers.

I seed a jalapeño
to add some heat to it

to knock out the sweetness
of this damn cake mix.

Ted: Matt is preparing to bake
in a muffin tin.

Hopefully,
it can get done.

Erik: Hopefully,
he's not pouring too much

in those tin molds because
it might not cook in time.

Yeah.

♪♪

scott: I am a lover
of sablefish.

I love the texture.
It has great fat content.

It's really hard
to screw this fish up.

You know,
just totally delicious.

But that lemon cake mix.
What do you do with that?

I think
I'd approach that

as, like,
my better for sablefish.

I love that idea
of battered fish.

Mimi: I have no idea
what sablefish is,

but I'm thinking
fry this baby up.

I'm making beer ramen and
lemon cake battered sablefish.

To make the batter for my fish,
I'm taking the lemon cake mix

and I'm taking the beer brine
from the ramen.

Chris told me
I could have been chopped

from that raw pizza dough,

so I know I got to bring
my a game this round.

♪♪

nemo:
Corn makes me think of summer

in martha's vineyard,
where I grew up.

We sat down most nights together
as a family, grandparents,

aunts and uncles were there.

And so I want to take
that experience

and put it on a plate
for the judges.

For my entree,
I'm making corn succotash

and a lemon-cake-crusted
sablefish.

So nemo just poured a little bit
of that lemon cake mix

right next to his fish.

Looks like he's going to just
go straight dredge.

I'm not sure how
that's going to work out.

The lemon cake mix
is definitely sweet,

but I think the fish should
balance out the sweetness.

Alright, chefs,
15 minutes on the clock.

Matt: The piccata cornbread
is going to be rich,

so I'm thinking I need a relish

with shallots and some corn
and dill.

It's gonna bring brightness

to cut through
all that richness.

My food point of view
is three ingredients

and the truth.

Keep it simple.
Showcase the food.

Showcase the produce
that you're bring in.

♪♪

mimi: I'm gonna make
a corn salsa

with fresh chopped red onion,

fresh cilantro,
a little bit of lemon zest.

It is a nice, fresh take

to cut the fat of the fish
and of that fried food.

♪♪

10 minutes to go, folks.

♪♪

nemo: For the succotash,
I want the corn to caramelize

to bring out the sweetness,

but also, to that,
I add orange bell pepper,

cherry tomatoes, and tomatillos.

I deglaze the pan
with white wine,

and I add some of the beer ramen
broth to finish it.

I definitely want to win today

because it took a long time
to get back to full health,

and it would be a great feeling
to show my family that I'm back.

Five minutes left, chefs.

A sauce is always nice
with fish,

so I'm making a red pepper
puree with heavy cream.

Whoo!

Nemo -- he's a hell of
a competitor,

and chef matt
definitely has skill.

But I have 15 years
of experience in a restaurant,

two years as an executive chef.

I feel like
I'm going to be a threat.

Mimi has a concoction
in her blender.

Erik:
It's actually fine.

Like, one of my go-to sauces
for my grandmother

is roasted red pepper,

heavy cream,
and cream cheese.

That doesn't sound
that good to me.

No, it's actually
pretty good.
Oh, it is?

Insulting
his grandmother.

Scott:
Insulting his grandmother.

♪♪

nemo: I want to make
a lemon cake beurre blanc

to go with my sablefish.

I reduce white wine and shallots
together with basil,

and then I add lemon cake mix
with extra lemon juice

to control the sweetness
and begin to incorporate butter.

Hey, guys, you're coming up
on one minute.

Let's move fast,
chefs.

Matt:
I pull out the bread.

So of the seven that I made,
four came out really well.

And now I'm gonna start thinking
about how to plate this dish.

Scott: He's pouring broth
over the muffin?

Come on, man.

Ever get, like, soup
with, like, bread,

and, like, the bread
just sits in there too long

and it's, like, really soggy
and, like, kind of --

yes. We're about
to have it again, my friend.

Ted:
Finish strong, chef.

Come on, guys.
10 seconds.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3...

Almost there.
...2, 1.

Time's up.

[ applause ]

good job, chefs.

♪♪

matt:
I look down my plate,

and all I can think about
is this bread might get soggy.

I'm regretting my decision.

What's the sauce?
It's a red pepper.

Mimi: I'm happy, but jose luis
got chopped on a technicality.

We all kind of got a free pass,
essentially,

so now it's like, "okay,
best food wins. What you got?"

♪♪

♪♪

chefs, another intriguing
combination of ingredients

in that entree basket --
beer ramen, sablefish,

corn on the cob,
and lemon cake mix.

What do we have,
chef matt?

Today, we have
a pan-seared sablefish

with a piccata cornbread

and a corn
and beer ramen broth.

♪♪

I really like the broth.

I like the dill
you put in there.
Thank you.

So it's like a dashi dill
kind of thing on, right?

And the fish
is perfectly cooked.

Thank you,
chef.

Yeah, it just don't get cooked
better than this.

Thank you.

But...The muffins
aren't working for me.

♪♪

at all.

And at least in my case,
I got a bath sponge.

I wasn't gonna say it,
but...

♪♪

I mean, listen, I don't want
to make light of your food.

Your food is very good.
The muffin's not successful.

The rest of the dish is.

Scott: Yeah,
you're a fantastic cook, matt.

But as impressive
as your fish cooking is,

is as bad as the muffin is.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.
Chef mimi.

I prepared today a beer battered
lemon cake sablefish

and corn salsa
and a red-pepper puree.

I like the usage of this
lemon cake mix on this dish.

You not only solved
the processed sweetness flavor,

but it's a great batter.

Erik: It kind of has,
like, this, like,

you ever have, like,
a fried, like, oreo,

and, like, the exterior
of the fried oreo

is, like, that cakey sweet.

It has, like,
that thing going on.

Yeah. I mean, it's crispy.
It's light.

The fish is really moist
and beautifully cooked.

Just stellar work.

But the corn needs
a little love.

It needs some spices,
need some seasoning,

some olive oil, even.

Scott: [ sighs ] those onions --
I always say this.

I feel like a broken record.

You got to do something
with the onions.

It's like
an onion farm on the plate.

Otherwise,
your flavors are great.

That texture of the batter
on the fish is, like --

I mean, it's still crispy.
It's still crunchy.

All that being said,
too many damn onions.

Okay.
Chef mimi, thank you.

Thank you all.

Finally, chef nemo,
tell us about your dish.

I made
a lemon-cake-crusted sablefish

with a corn succotash

and a citrus
and lemon cake beurre blanc.

The old citrus and lemon cake
beurre blanc trick.

[ chuckles ]

erik: I like every component
of the dish.

Really like the freshness
of the peppers,

the corn, the tomatoes.

Kind of like
winter meets summer

with the citrus
and the tomatoes.

That was nice.

Yeah.

Chris:
Great side accoutrements.

Your fish is cooked wonderfully.

It's melting in my mouth.

But this lemon cake mix,
when it hits your palate,

you get that beurre blanc.

But there is just this
unmistakable, weird aftertaste

that I've been struggling
to find a word for

other than just, like,
processed sweet taste.

Scott:
Yeah, I agree.

I think the key
to utilizing those products

is you want them there,
but if you embrace it too much,

it throws
the rest of the dish off.

Great cooking, though,
otherwise.

Thank you.

Feel nervous, not gonna lie.

That lemon cake mix --

really kind of shot myself
in the foot there with that.

Hopefully, they'll take
the fish cookery itself

to kind of edge me over
the other two guys.

I felt proud of my
cooking so far,

but my lemon cake
beurre blanc was brutal.

♪♪

so whose dish is on
the chopping block?

♪♪

♪♪

chef matt, you've been chopped.
Judges?

Matt, unfortunately,
the risk that you took

with your lemon muffin
made it mushy and unappetizing,

and so we had to chop you.

Thank you.

I'm feeling disappointed myself.

I knew that lemon cake
is the downfall of the dish.

Sucks to be right. [ chuckles ]

you win some. You lose some.

But at the end of the day,
you move on.

♪♪

chef mimi, chef nemo.

Let's check out
this final basket.

Mimi: I'm feeling good about
going against nemo.

There's no pastry chef
in my restaurant.

I'm the sole person
teaching desserts to staff,

so I feel like I've got a handle
on things, essentially.

Dessert -- it's something

that I always have made
my cooks and chefs do,

so I'm looking forward
to the challenge.

Ted: Open up.

♪♪

whoa.

And your desserts must feature
feta cheese ice cream...

Interesting.

I'm intrigued,
but also slightly horrified.

Ted: ...Pears...

This is awesome.

...Blueberry ketchup...

Oh, my god. Please stop.

Please stop doing really weird
things that ketchup.

Why?!

Ted: ...Chocolate-covered
espresso beans.

Interesting.

30 minutes.

Time starts now.

So, judges, many times
we've talked about how delicious

salty things can be
with sweet things,

and I think that
the feta ice cream,

obviously very salty cheese,
you could turn it into

with feta, like,
anglaise sauce of some kind.

Erik:
A little sweet,

but you definitely get
the feta flavor.

It's not as strong as I thought
it was going to be,

which is actually nice.

Nemo:
Feta ice cream and the pears

have me sort of thinking of
this tradition

in new England
of serving apple pie

with a slice of cheddar cheese,
and so for my dessert,

I make caramelized pear tartlet
with blueberry coulis

and a salted chocolate
espresso mousse.

I'm taking a risk
making this pear tartlet.

I have to get
in the oven quickly

or it's not going to bake
all the way.

So I crank up the heat.

I need to figure out
the blueberry ketchup up.

Weird.

It's very acidic, and it needs
a little bit of brightness.

It needs some freshness.

Let's talk about
blueberry ketchup, shall we?

It has maybe
the texture of ketchup,

and that's about
as ketchup-is-y --

ketchup-y --
ketchup-is-y.

[ laughter ]

chris:
Yeah, I'll take it.

Ted: Chris.

Save us, chris.

Let's talking about
blueberry ketchup.

It doesn't taste like ketchup.

It does, however,
have some vinegar,

so it's much more savory.

Taking my lines
and he's using it better.

Yeah.
I noticed.

Mimi: No matter what was
in that basket,

I already made a decision that
I was going to make zeppole.

It's comfortable.
I've done it before.

And they're going to be
delicious.

I'm making a ricotta zeppole
with a blueberry crème anglaise

and a chocolate espresso bean
topping.

To make my zeppole batter,

I'm going to take the pear
and I'm going to microplane it

to create a nice lightness.

I'm taking a risk

cooking these zeppoles
bigger than I normally do.

I don't know if they are going
to be cooked in the center,

but I really wanted to just
put one on a plate and just...

"here you are, judges."

my one ball.

Scott: I love chocolate-covered
espresso beans.

Mmm.

I mean, something as simple
and delicious

as chocolate and coffee,
right?

It just works.

Chris I threw down
a couple of handfuls of those,

so we're gonna be doing
push-ups and pull-ups

in a couple of minutes.

Ted:
Those things are delicious.

Alright, chefs,
15 minutes on the clock.

I wonder if pear flavor
would infuse into an anglaise.

Such a heavy, thick
thing already.

Kind of hard to see
what she's doing.

Gonna go check out what they got
going on over there.

♪♪

what's going on?
Hey, how are you?

So what's
the concept of your dish?

It's a little bit sweet,
a little bit savory.

So I'm making,
like, a chocolate mousse

with those espresso beans
that were covered in chocolate

and then
feta ice cream.

Well, I wish you
the best of luck.

Thank you.

Okay, mimi,
how's it going over here?

It's going good.
How are you doing?

Good.
Curious to know

how you're gonna use
that feta-cheese ice cream.

Basically, what I'm making
is a crème anglaise

because I thought it was kind of
already the flavor line.

Don't you typically use, like,
yeast for zeppole?

So you got to
kind of let it --
you can, yeah.

I'm going to say
a good prayer here today.

[ both chuckle ]

see, what happens.
Yeah.

I wish you
the best of luck.
Thank you.

Mimi:
To make my crème anglaise,

I'm going to combine
the feta-cheese ice cream

with the blueberry ketchup.

Adding that blueberry ketchup

is going to add
the right amount of tartness

into that feta ice cream
to tone it down a little bit.

Ted: Mimi has definitely
befriended the fryer.

I have a feeling she leans
a little heavily on it, but...

Three rounds of frying food
is way too much.

♪♪

ooh.

I give nemo a side eye,
and I realize he's doing tarts.

And I'm like, "okay, nemo,

pulling out all the stops,
my man."

also a very hard thing to make

in a short amount
of time and under pressure.

Nemo: I pulled the pear tarts
out of the oven.

The edges are maybe
a little bit darker than I want.

Oh, whoa, hold on.

Two of them
are a little dark.

That's okay.
He only needs four.

Dark everywhere,
actually.

Less than
five minutes to go, chefs.

Mimi:
Heard that?

This is for $10,000.

I'm definitely thinking back to
mimi's grilled pizza dough.

If I make a mistake like that,

I'm definitely
going to get chopped.

♪♪

♪♪

nemo:
I look at the pear tarts.

They're a little burnt
on the edges,

but it's definitely better

than having a soggy, raw dough,
like mimi's raw-dough situation.

I have to just go with it.

Okay, chefs,
two-minute warning right now.

♪♪

mimi:
I taste a zeppole.

I don't really taste the pear,

so I'm going to create
a raspberry-pear compote

to really highlight
the pear ingredient.

Nemo, what do you got
in that food processor?

Almonds, and then I had the
espresso beans in there already.

Yeah, I love that.
Yeah.

This round feels a little bit
more hectic cooking desserts.

It's not my day-to-day activity.

Here we go, chefs. Final seconds
of the final round.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Time's up.

[ applause ]

nice job.

What did you make?
Beignets?

No.
Like a zeppole.

Mimi: Everything's there.
Zeppoles look crispy.

Maybe not my best dish
aesthetically plated,

but I know my flavors are --
pow, they're there.

Nemo:
I'm happy with it.

I wanted to push it a little bit
and show the judges

that I could cook
all the way through

and that this dessert
is definitely worth $10,000.

♪♪

♪♪

ted:
Chef mimi and chef nemo,

for your final faceoff
in the "chopped" kitchen,

you made desserts with
feta-cheese ice cream, pears,

blueberry ketchup, and chocolate
covered espresso beans.

Chef nemo,
what do we have?

So we have
a caramelized pear tartlet

with a
blueberry ketchup coulis

salted chocolate
and espresso mousse.

♪♪

first of all, lot of good,
delicious things happening here.

The mousse specifically
is just really well-done.

I never would know or guess

that there was
any feta involved in here,

but there's a really pronounced
saltiness to it

that works beautifully.

But here, you've got to take
four basket ingredients

and make a cohesive dish,

and I feel like you gave
two finished desserts.

And they don't really complement
each other, either,

which is a big, big pet peeve.

Erik:
I agree with chris,

but I thought
the mousse was great.

I thought it was really decadent
and rich.

Loved the textures on top.

Surprised that the tart
came out as good as it did.

Mine was slightly burned,
but not in an off-putting way.

I really like the flavor

and the texture
of the blueberry ketchup.

By taking the fresh blueberries
and adding that to the ketchup,

I think that's a great way
to utilize that ingredient.

I like the usage of the pear.

I think it's smart,
but I think that

to their point,
it's not integrated.

Thank you.

Chef nemo, thank you.
Chef mimi, what do we have?

Today,
I have for you

a ricotta zeppole
with a blueberry ketchup

feta ice cream crème anglaise
with a pear-raspberry compote,

and then also shavings
of the espresso chocolate beans.

♪♪

erik: I was expecting, like,
a zeppole, zeppole,

but I really don't mind,
like, the texture.

It has a kind of,
like, a --

it's more like a ricotta.
Yeah, exactly.

The only thing I missed
was I wish

I could taste more of the pear.

I'm surprised.

Like, I saw the amount of
compote and I thought to myself,

"that's not going to be enough,"
but it is strong enough

that it gives you a nice
little zest, a little pop.

I'll simply tell you
that the ricotta fritter,

which I've I'm going to call it,
I think it's great.

I love it. I really do.

But I'm not getting
any pear anywhere.

I almost wish you'd taken
that ice cream

and added
some fresh blueberries,

some fresh pears,
maybe sauteed them quickly.

I agree, but I like
the texture of this a lot.

Fluffy, palatable --
really good move.

Ted:
Chef mimi, thank you.
Thank you.

As we said at the start,

presentation, taste,
and creativity --

the judges will consider
every plate you cooked.

Thank you, chefs.

♪♪

I really love
the cooking

that these two chefs
have done today.

Chris:
I really like nemo.

He started with that appetizer,
gave us, like,

a frisée aux lardons with
a perfect sunny-side-up egg.

Erik: I thought
nemo's salad was good,

but it wasn't balanced.

I thought it was
too sharp in flavor.

Very acidic.
Capers, olives.

Capers, a lot of vinegar
in the vinaigrette itself.

Right.

Actually, out of the two
first courses,

I actually
enjoyed mimi's better

because her pizza
tasted delicious.

But there's just no getting
around that dough was under.

You could still pull it and form
another pizza with it, you know?

In the entree round, nemo had a
perfectly cooked piece of fish.

Was flavor-forward.
The fish was beautiful.

And then he tried to make
the lemon cake beurre blanc.

Which he fell short on
because

it had, like, that lemon
artificial sweet flavor to it.

Mimi fried
a perfect piece of fish,

and she made an incredible
batter with that lemon cake mix.

Yeah, I thought it was
the best utilization

of that hard ingredient
in that box.

It was complete redemption,
as far as I'm concerned,

for that pizza dough,
but then she had the corn.

It was like she did
half the recipe.

It just needed more nuance.
It needed more love.

They were basically tied
going into the dessert round.

Then who's the winner here?

♪♪

nemo:
I mean, I'm definitely worried.

The judges told me
that my dessert wasn't cohesive,

but I think I outcooked mimi.

She had the raw-dough situation.

Overall, my cooking
really stood out.

♪♪

mimi:
I'm going to win "chopped."

it was a really close
competition today,

but I think throughout,
my flavors came together.

I came, I saw, I conquered.

Like, give me that money.

So whose dish
is on the chopping block?

♪♪

♪♪

chef mimi,
you've been chopped. Judges?

Chef, first of all,
it's a pleasure having you here.

You're a phenomenal cook,
and you showed it all day long.

In your appetizer round, the
pizza was really undercooked,

and in your main course,
that fish was so beautiful.

But the corn -- it just needed
more flavor, needed more love.

And then in the dessert,
ingredients that we really

couldn't identify,
like the pear.

And unfortunately,
those are the reasons

why we had to chop you.

Thank you.
Thank you so much.

I don't agree
with the judges' decision,

but it made all the way
to the final round.

There's still a lot of great
momentum to move forward on.

Ted: And that means,
chef nemo bolin,

you are the "chopped" champion.

You beat out three other
highly skilled chefs

to take home the $10,000 prize.

Congratulations.

[ applause ]

it's been a long road,
and from a year ago, you know,

I didn't necessarily expect
to be here at all.

So to come back
and then to persevere

and to win feels amazing,
really awesome.

Nemo:
Winning "chopped" feels amazing.

I wanted to prove to myself

that I could still cook
at a high level,

and I wanted to prove
to everybody else that I could.

And I did.

♪♪