Original subtitles

Mornin', y'all! Come on in.

- Y'all, come on. -All right.

-Hurry up. - Hey.

- Mornin'. - Mornin'.

- What's up? Mornin'! - Good mornin'!

-You ready for this? -Yeah! I sure am.

I haven't won a challenge, but I haven't lost a challenge.

The more I go, the more I learn,

the better my chances are of winnin' this thing.

That's why we're here.

If we didn't have competitive spirit, we might as well be

at Walmart shoppin' for shoes or somethin'.

Just, like, what's the point, you know?

I still feel like the underdog,

but I don't want my competitors to see me

and think that I'm someone that they can easily beat.

It's about proving to myself that I can compete at this level.

All right, y'all. So, today, we celebrate an American food institution.

-All right! -The barbecue sandwich. All right?

They're timeless, they're history and they're happiness.

Amen to that.

Thank you, ladies.

Ohhh!

Behold! Your sandwich showdown tournament bracket.

Oh, oh...

Today, you'll be competing in an epic tournament of sandwiches

where you'll be competing in three continuous rounds

of sandwich joy.

-Oh, my God!

All right!

All right.

I feel good about sandwiches.

One of my first jobs ever was, uh, at a local sandwich shop.

This is a good challenge for me.

I'm feelin' pretty confident about this one.

I keep thinkin' these challenges are gonna get easier,

and then we get a sandwich.

I'm like a...

raw baloney...

white bread.

The top three cookers from this round will be put into the winners bracket.

The bottom three will be put into the losers bracket,

where you'll be competing to not be eliminated.

Uh-oh.

Previous challenge, I was in the bottom two.

That's not a place I feel comfortable being,

so therefore, I've gotta step my game up.

It's very important to win the first round

in order to be safe throughout the-the tournament.

Phew!

I need to get into that winners bracket right away from the first challenge.

If not, this is gonna be a long day.

We designed this challenge to test your hot and fast skills,

and each round will be increasingly more difficult.

You'll need speed, creativity and, of course, great flavors.

We wanna test how you can combine those flavors,

and bring it all together in one perfect bite.

So, for round one, you'll be smokin' a chicken sandwich and a slaw.

I know it sounds easy, but it's not.

As you guys know, chicken can take on a gang of flavors

and a gang of smoke real quick.

-That's right. -Okay. All right.

Let's say the chicken...

We're gonna want that chicken sandwich in...

-two hours, 15 minutes? -Whoa.

-Yeah. -Wow!

Make a three-hour sandwich in two hours, 15 minutes. Got it.

Show us your full range

of barbecue sandwich makin' skills.

All right, go get smoking.

- Okay. - All right.

To a lot of people, the barbecue sandwich seems super simple.

- Yeah. -But it's also probably the easiest

barbecue dish to mess up.

It's a tough challenge for the cookers.

You're makin' a sandwich with different types of layers of flavor.

Everythin' on that sandwich has to be good, and it's a quick smoke.

-It's a quick cook. -Sure.

It can come down to time management.

Trying to think. When was the last time I made a barbecue-inspired sandwich?

Never.

I'mma give it a try.

For this first round, I'm gonna do a teriyaki chicken,

I'm gonna do an Asian-inspired coleslaw,

and then I'm gonna do a grilled pineapple,

and that's gonna go on the sandwich with the teriyaki sauce.

I've got some seasonings that I put together.

Salt, pepper, garlic, onion.

And then I've gotta get my chicken on the smoker in the pit

so I can get it cooked.

Hopefully, the judges will like it. Let's call it a redemption round.

This is do or die.

The chicken, I'm gonna smoke it.

I have it brining right now in a salt bath

uh, just to infuse a little flavor.

It's gonna be on a pretzel roll.

I'm gonna focus on a fried green tomato.

I love fried green tomatoes. My mom loves fried green tomatoes.

Uh, just feels like a nice accessory for a chicken sandwich.

I've never made fried green tomatoes before, but I mean...

can't be that hard, right?

-Hello, Ms. Georgia. -Oh, hello, guys!

-What are we doin'? -Uh, my chicken sandwich,

I'm gonna do, um, the spicy slaw

and I have a fried chicken skin,

and I'm contemplating a fried green tomato.

I'd love to have a fried green tomato, but needs to be crunchy.

Okay, I could do that.

Good luck to you, Georgia.

-Thank you very much. -Good luck, Ms. Georgia.

Hope to see you in the winners bracket.

Two hours, 15 minutes isn't a ton of time

to really get a ton of flavor inside a chicken,

so I plan on doin' it two ways.

I'll get one goin' on the smoker, and I'm quick broiling one.

That brine, that broil, is full of turmeric, cumin, salt, garlic, onions.

So, that way, I can make sure I've got very, very tender,

rich chicken with a very, very smoky chicken as well.

A nice little mix of the two. Shred 'em together:

some dark and white meat

so the judges have a depth of flavor.

I'm making Caribbean pulled curry sandwich,

a bed of sweet plantains

and a nice purple cabbage, green cabbage and radicchio slaw,

uh, with a Mexican crema.

Jamaica's not known for sandwiches,

but if it did have a sandwich,

I hope that this would be a really strong, positive representation of it.

Stand back.

I'm gonna marinate the chicken in pickle juice.

Breakfast.

Should give it a... like, a tang, and tenderize it,

'cause there's not a lot of time to make it.

-Smells good. - Does it?

I'm makin' a Southern-style

Vietnamese banh mi,

but I'm not gonna use pâté,

which is traditional in a Vietnamese banh mi,

'cause I don't really like regular pâté.

Let me tell you what I'm using. Southern pâté, baloney.

Have you done this before?

No.

-Keep up with your time on that chicken. -Thanks, y'all.

To do a chicken sandwich in two hours and 15 minutes,

I need to get this thing on right now.

I'm gonna have to bump the temperatures up that I'd normally use

and, uh, go a little faster and hotter today.

I'm gonna spatchcock my chicken.

It's gonna help it cook a little faster, a little more even,

and, uh, get the dark meat done a little quicker.

I wanna make sure I nail this chicken.

I would love to take this chicken sandwich and get into that winners bracket.

Whoo! I'm excited about makin' sandwiches today.

Where I come from, S-A-M-M-I-C-H. "Sammich."

I traded my sandwiches to my dentist to have my teeth cleaned and filed.

He broke in there with some heavy-duty floss, took out all the coffee stains.

Didn't even charge me for it. I'm like, "Damn, that's what it's all about."

So, goal's to tenderize it,

throw it in a Ziploc bag with my fajita marinade.

The hardest part's getting the flavor into the chicken.

First thing to do is get that stuff marinatin'.

I'm doing one I call South of the Border,

because it's gonna be highlighted with Mexican flavors.

Pepper jack cheese on top, a little pico de gallo on there,

a little Mexican slaw, sriracha aioli over the top of the layers.

This chicken's gonna be good.

Someone will be crowned the Sultan of Sammiches today.

Never been called "sultan," but I'll take it.

It's a beautiful day to make some sammiches.

I sort of did a quick-cook brine with it on the stove.

Uh, a brine is essential.

If you're ever makin' chicken and you have the time,

put it in a salt water and sugar brine or,

you know, garlic, onion and rosemary brine,

leave it in overnight if possible, at least six hours.

It just helps keep the chicken moist.

It imposes so much flavor into the meat that every little bite is juicy.

It is hard to do this in makeup.

Let me tell you, I think my eyelashes are meltin'.

Hour left, folks!

I wanna fry up these plantains.

I wanna get them goin' and let them sit

because, as they sit, they get softer and even sweeter.

I know the judges loved the sweet plantains,

so I'm makin' some sweet plantains to counteract the saltiness

of the pulled curry chicken.

I know when I had one of those sandwiches, it had, like, carrots, and...

I think some kind of radish

and maybe used one of these.

Whoo! Hah!

That's hot.

I've been workin' on my teriyaki sauce,

which is a very important component of this dish.

This is so salty.

Um... I'm thinkin', I'm thinkin', I'm thinkin'.

Why is it so salty?

My tongue is numb.

It's too salty. I can't take the salt away.

So I need to possibly make another one.

Fifteen minutes!

No, no, no! No! Shh!

Why am I always running?

Hm. I'm not sure what's happening with these fried green tomatoes.

They're just not... They're not, like, fried fried.

Never done this before.

It's good to experiment 15 minutes before the end of a competition.

I think I'm a pretty good cooker. Just having the...

gumption to get out there and try something new, that's what makes it fun.

A fried green tomato has to be...

perfectly seasoned,

as well as it has to be fried correctly.

If it is not fried correctly, the batter will not stay on,

it will not stay crispy,

and she will have trouble keeping it crispy on her sandwich.

Nothin' worse than a mushy fried green tomato.

-Am I right? -I don't want no soft, wilted-ass tomato.

No.

-Some nasty-ass fried tomatoes. -Pisses me off just thinking about it.

Damn, that's good!

I'm done with these. I gotta get the bread ready.

Sometimes, people overthink it.

You can't throw the kitchen sink in there.

Some things just don't go together.

I'm cutting this pineapple to go on my teriyaki chicken...

Do not put a piece of cold cheese... in front of me.

Jalapeño cheese, baby.

It's got a Mexican flavor.

The layers have to be in the correct order

and it has to be timely.

Bam! Get you some of that.

I'm one of the first ones done.

I'mma put mine together.

If you build it too soon, you might end up with a soggy bun.

This is no easy feat.

Ten more minutes would've did it.

You've got five minutes left.

Oh, God! The chicken's gonna be so hot,

I'm not gonna be able to pull it apart.

Everybody plating yet?

Oh... Hallelujah!

Get your sandwiches tight!

Gotta love that pressure. Gotta love that pressure.

- Ten, nine, eight...

seven, six...

five, four...

three, two, one...

Show me the meats!

Whoo!

Judging a sandwich is different than judging a plate of food.

There's a lot more flavors in a sandwich than there is in one bite of meat.

- Ms. Georgia! -Hello!

We have a mixture of white and dark meat, smoked.

Uh, you have a pretzel bun, a spicy slaw, a... fried green tomato.

I just tasted the chicken. It's real good.

The chicken itself does have good flavor,

but it's got a whole lot of different flavors

that are not really melding for me.

You see this?

This is what happens if you don't get it fried hard,

you end up losin' all your breading.

This is the first time that I've made fried green tomatoes.

That turned out to be a poor decision.

-What you got, Ash? -I know you guys like mayonnaise,

so I wanted to go with a white sauce on my first round.

It's got a blue cheese, red cabbage slaw and, uh, some pulled chicken.

That chicken is good. It's real good.

Nice and moist.

-Thank you. - And you piled it up higher

and gave us a lot of it, and it is spot on.

-Thank you. Absolutely. -Good job on that.

I got some sweet plantains, I got coleslaw two ways,

curry sauce and curry mayo on top as well.

I was worried-- Worried about that curry gettin' to the bottom of the bun,

so I actually put my sauce and then put the sweet plantains

at the base to lift up the curry chicken.

I think I could've used a little bit more chicken on mine.

When I bit it, I got more flavor of the, uh... plantain.

Really, I'm not getting my usual Rasheed...

flavor explosion that I usually like.

Normally, whatever it is you're puttin' on a plate...

is genius.

-Thank you. -Next time, put more chicken on mine.

-Yes, sir. -Big man likes more chicken.

I understand. Yes, ma'am.

I didn't use pâté, which is traditional on it.

So I fried up some baloney.

I could taste the brine on that when I bit it.

I am not a big fan of baloney.

Oh.

What I've made for you here

is a teriyaki chicken pineapple sandwich,

with a Asian coleslaw to go with it.

Sylvie, you either love teriyaki and pineapple, or you don't.

-Okay. -You have to be very careful

-when you serve big...

...big chunks of pineapple and teriyaki to people.

I-- I happen to like it.

-Oh, thank God!

But...

I'm missin' a little bit of a salt component.

Really? You won't believe it.

I was gonna throw away the teriyaki sauce 'cause I thought it was too salty.

Got a South of the Border sandwich for you, and my chicken didn't dry.

Got a fajita-marinated chicken and pepper jack cheese on top of that,

fresh tomato salsa on top, and I drizzled my sriracha aioli

over the top of the layers instead of on the bun.

You might wanna think about buildin' it just a little bit differently.

I just don't know where we goin' with this cheese.

I don't know if these are supposed to melt.

Yeah, my bun is-is-is a little soggy.

- I see that. - Everything's fallin' off.

- Hey. -Hey.

Hi.

All right, y'all, so who's movin' on to the winners bracket

and who is movin' on to the losers bracket?

Ashley...

Sylvie...

and Tina.

You are all now in the winners bracket.

-Congratulations. -Thank God!

-All right! - You're safe from elimination.

-Whoo!

I'm in the top three. Whoo! I'm safe and I'm okay.

Phew.

So that means Grubbs,

Georgia and Rasheed.

You are now in the losers bracket.

One of you will be goin' home today.

I'm once again in the elimination bracket, fightin' for my spot.

It's quite humbling to me.

It really is, because I truly do the best I can do,

but I also know that I'm competin' against the best there is around.

I might not beat them on this challenge,

but there's gonna be one I can beat them on, I guarantee you.

All right, guys, round two. Barbecue pork sandwiches.

I'm the pork queen. I want somethin' a little bit different, though.

Somethin' that is sexy, that is sweet, that is scrumptious,

that will make me stand up and take note,

because you know that I know my pork.

I wanna taste some good, smoky,

spicy, tender, good-ass pork.

Good-ass pork sandwiches.

All right, cookers, you have two and a half hours

to serve up those pork sandwiches.

-You ready for it? -Yes, ma'am. Let's do it.

-Let's get smokin'. Let's go! -Good luck!

-Come on, let's go. -Whoo!

Ashley, Tina and Sylvie are in the winners bracket

and completely safe.

They're still competing to see

who will be the champion of sandwiches.

♪ I'm still here, I'm still here ♪

As for Rasheed, Grubbs, and Georgia,

they're in the losers bracket, fighting for their competition lives.

-I'm feelin'...

I'm feelin' like I gotta fight, like I gotta put everything in there.

Being in the bottom three, that's a lot of pressure.

If I don't win this pork sandwich round,

I'm goin' to the elimination round, where I could possibly go home.

They want flavor. They want wow. I gotta come with it, and I--

And I got somethin' for pork that's definitely gonna surprise 'em.

I'm making a set of grilled cheese sandwiches

for the buns for my pork sandwich,

with smoked fried pork belly,

pickled onions and onion strings.

I'm actually boiling some pork belly,

some peppers, some basil, some garlic.

Boilin' out that fat, gettin' it out so I can then salt it and fry it.

I'm not ready to go home yet.

I'm gonna inject a little cherry cola

into my pork shoulder,

because it's gonna tenderize it.

It's also gonna have a really great, sweet underlying flavor.

So, I'm in the bottom bracket.

Any misstep can put me at risk

of-of not making it through this challenge.

Just putting a little, uh, brown sugar and kosher salt and garlic powder

on my shoulder.

The toppings I'm gonna go with are BBQ sauce, fried mac and cheese,

bacon on top and then pickled jalapeños for that kick.

My goal here is to...

get...

uh... pulled pork in a pretty short period of time.

This has gotta knock it outta the park.

The last place I wanna be

is in the last two in that bottom loser bracket.

I'm gonna use my Grubbecue flavors

that so far some of the judges have liked,

and I'm gonna impart them into this pork.

I used tenderloin because it cooks a little faster, but it's always tender.

It's everything you can get in the South: bacon...

pickled onions, homemade tater tots,

cheddar cheese, with my barbecue sauce, tomato and lettuce.

Tryin' to avoid bein' in the bottom two, so I gotta kick this pork up.

This is Rasheed's first time in the bottom so it's a wake-up call for him.

I'm sure he's bringin' his A-plus game here.

A, A, A!

I'm actually doin' sausage and double bacon.

It's gonna have a donut bun.

Melissa's restaurant has a burger on the menu...

that's donuts.

So that's strategy.

Hopefully.

What are you doin', Sylvie?

- Makin' it tender. - Hah!

For my pork sandwich, I'm making a pork tenderloin.

I'm going to butterfly it and put a strawberry jam inside.

I'm gonna do a cherry barbecue sauce pulled pork,

topped with my quick pickles, I call 'em quickles,

and a fried onion ring.

Two hours left.

Snap! Wood time.

This is a winning pork.

I've proven that at the World Food Championship last year.

Pecan and cherry are the woods that I'm using today.

Those are my go-to's, and I sort of stick to those.

I'm smokin' some pork tenderloin

marinated in my tangy barbecue sauce.

Fire's good. It's all good.

Just have to keep it alive. Don't want it to die out on me.

I wanna get some brown sugar on these.

I wanna put some butter on 'em. I wanna put some honey.

Get it up to about 350,

and I had my onions sittin' at room temperature,

so it wouldn't shock it down, for it to, uh... crisp up.

I am frying macaroni and cheese.

Try this total experiment here.

My husband told me to-to play it safe.

That's not really what I do.

Makin' some homemade tater tots for my pork sandwich.

This has gotta wow 'em. I want 'em to say, "Damn, Grubbs, that was good."

That's what I'm lookin'... That's my reaction I'm lookin' for.

I've got my pork butts in there.

I cut 'em up because the smaller portions will cook faster.

So I got 'em in a nice cast iron after I got my smoker up to temp.

I don't have a lot of time to make pulled pork,

so here I go again.

Hot and fast, figurin' out a way to make it happen.

I've got my water pan to deflect the heat

and so it bounces up and around the pork so it can cook faster.

This technique works. It gets a lot of flavor in,

but it gets 'em shredded really fast.

All right. That is lookin' good.

This is gonna be my pulled pork,

so, um, I'm gonna get it inside, pull it apart,

and, um, sauce it up a little bit.

I'm a little concerned that Georgia has pulled her pork off too soon.

Pork has a lot of intramuscular fat,

so rendering that fat is the key,

and pork needs to be cooked

to an internal temperature of around 200 degrees

to be very succulent, have moisture, but be nice and tender,

and, uh, be to a proper pulling texture.

We might have some chewy pork sandwiches.

Just checkin' on my pork ribs right now.

It's runnin'. I'll knock the Green Egg down just a bit.

You have 15 minutes!

- Out of the way! -I'm counting on a positive outcome.

This is smoked fried pork belly.

That's ready to shred, so I'm gonna bring this inside.

My chicken sandwich ended up with a soggy bun on the bottom.

Now I'm not gonna put too much somethin' in there, you know, but...

it's-it's a camo thing to me, it's like,

"Cover up the taste of the barbecue with sauce."

We don't want sauce. We wanna taste meat.

I like it. Will the pork queen like it?

I don't know.

- Ten... - Nine, eight...

seven, six, five...

four, three, two, one...

Show me the meat!

Whoo!

Show me the meats, please!

Phew.

I've got a pork loin sandwich.

I have tempura, yams and green beans,

and sauce is a combination

of strawberry jam mixed with some cheeky mayo.

I can't just take for granted because I'm safe that I'm okay.

I wanna win this overall.

This pork sandwich, I'm confident

that it's gonna be the one to get me over to the championship.

This pork tastes like a pork chop.

-It is so tender. -Thank you! Okay.

Ms. Tina-Tina.

- I've a donut burger on my menu. - You do.

This is gonna be my version.

It's got bacon jam with bourbon, pickled peaches, and then a fried egg.

-It was very good. -Thank you, y'all.

I've got a, uh... just a traditional pulled pork sandwich.

It's got a little pickle, a little bit of onion ring, sweet sauce.

That's just a good old barbecue sandwich.

Well, I appreciate it.

We have smoked pork tenderloin,

drizzled with my barbecue sauce, homemade pickled onions,

tater tots, cheddar cheese, tomato and lettuce.

There's so much pressure because, if I don't win this round,

I'll be in the bottom round of elimination. I don't wanna go home.

The pork is almost spot on, got a pretty good smoke flavor to it.

-What is this? -Homemade tater tots.

This right here was a, uh...

roadkill.

This big of a sandwich

could probably use more sauce on it.

What we got goin' on here?

We have pork, a little BBQ sauce,

fried macaroni and cheese,

bacon on top, on a brioche bun.

Did you get the consistency on the pork you wanted?

The pork needed a little more time.

Just needed to be more tender.

It could be a little bit more tender. Uh, I agree with that.

So, this is probably the most worried I've been all day.

What I've got for you guys here, instead of regular bread,

it's a grilled cheese sandwich for your buns,

pork belly, pulled pork, some pickled onions,

with some nice fried plantain chips.

-Seasonin' on pork belly is good. -Thank you.

However, the pickled onions, for me...

are still really raw.

Tina, Sylvie and Ashley,

two of you will be moving on

towards that champion slide for a chance to win.

Judges?

Sylvie...

and Tina, your sandwiches were absolutely incredible.

Congratulations, you're moving on to the final winners bracket.

-Well done, ladies. - Girl power!

- Whew!

Grubbs, Georgia, and Rasheed,

only one of you will be safe from elimination.

Judges?

Grubbs...

and Georgia.

You both will be movin' on to the final losers bracket.

We had issues with your pork sandwiches today.

All right, sir.

-Okay. - Give 'em hell.

Give 'em hell.

Rasheed, congratulations.

-That means you're safe. -Way to go.

-Thank you, ma'am. -Ashley, Rasheed.

You cain't win, but you damn sure ain't losin'.

Sit this round out.

-I'm good with that. -All right.

Now, we are on to the godmother of all sandwiches,

a colossal five-layer sandwich

with beef and sausage.

-Ooh. -Wow.

They should include a sauce.

We wanna see these sandwiches stacked

at least five layers,

-to make them worthy of the final round. -That's a...

tall task.

It might sound ridiculous, because honestly, it is.

You'll have less than two hours

to complete your colossal five-layer

beef and sausage sandwich.

-Well, you ready? -I'm ready.

All right. Let's get smokin'. Let's go.

I'm going this way. Yeah!

Tina and Sylvie are in the championship round,

fighting to see who will be crowned the Queen of Sandwiches.

-Here we are again, Sylvie. -Here we are again.

As for Georgia and Grubbs, they're in the elimination round,

and one of them will be going home.

This is literally go big or go home.

They want a big sandwich, and if I don't deliver, I'm goin' to the cribs.

-Ooh, boy!

The beef and sausage sandwich should be stacked high,

because I'm not afraid.

I will dig in there, give me a big ol' face full of sandwich.

I wanna see it look like, "You wanna eat me, mm-hm.

'Cause I'm a big ol' bad barbecue sandwich."

I'm fixin' to stuff some sausage.

I think... No, I just cracked it.

Okay, come on. There we go.

I've decided to make patties of sausage.

It wasn't a specific rule that you had to case the sausage,

so I'm hopeful that it'll work out.

I have beef chuck and pork fat back,

about a 70/30 ratio.

I have ground it twice, so hopefully the texture will be up to snuff.

For the last round, I'm making a Baltimore field trip sandwich.

Got the beef sausage goin' on, pit beef and onions three ways,

and Tiger sauce.

I am fighting for my life right now. I'm in the bottom again.

I'm pretty disappointed.

And that's not good enough.

I need to hit it out of the park,

because I'm goin' head to head with Grubbs

and I know that he has been chompin' at the bit

to get back in and make another sausage.

I just need to perform.

This sausage is gonna be deeper flavor right here. I can tell already.

Cookin' against Georgia in the bottom round's intimidatin'.

That young lady's got a lot of skills.

Takin' up too much real estate.

In the back of my little brain,

just sayin', "I bet she don't stuff her sausage,

so let me kick that sausage off the chart."

What I'm gonna do is I'mma use my Cajun flavors,

my techniques from Louisiana,

and I can redeem my sausage self

after my first round, the sausage wasn't so good.

I would not be stuffing sausage in cases for this round.

Just because we say the word "sausage"

doesn't mean you have to make a cased sausage.

What's wrong with makin'

-a nice country sausage patty? -Yes!

-Mm! -It goes well on a bun.

-Yes. -Hello!

- Yeah. -Yes.

Last time, I struggled with makin' sausage.

I didn't do the twice grind, the flavor wasn't as deep.

So I double ground it, and fine diced, got the flavor to it.

My sandwich started out with, uh...

Cajun-marinated skirt steak, Andouille sausage,

some crispy bacon on there, pimento cheese, tomatoes, pickles,

and the hot, sweet barbecue sauce drizzled over the meat.

I can even tell the color's better than the last one.

So this sausage is a hundred times better than my first sausage.

This is the sausage right here, I'm hopin' will put me over the top.

To save myself,

I gotta make these judges' tongues slap 'em in the forehead.

Got a little pecan wood in here, and some lump charcoal

and my Cajun-marinated skirt steak.

All righty. As I sit here and relish in the perfume of the meat gods.

I've got some flap meat here.

I marinated it in red wine.

I've titled my dish Italian Swagger

after my husband...

'cause he's of Italian descent.

I'm gonna make Italian sausage,

then I'mma roll that up in some flap meat,

and then I'm gonna roast off some peppers,

I'm gonna make a marinara sauce,

put some provolone on top and then giardiniera.

I'm just gonna stack all that up.

I'm gonna have all sorts of breakfast-type items on this sandwich.

I call this Breakfast for Dinner.

So I have a layer of beef short ribs,

breakfast sausage, fried egg, bacon,

a fondue sauce.

The judges asked for a big sandwich.

I'm givin' 'em a big sandwich.

-One hour, people!

Mustard seeds.

Right now, I'm making fondue.

I got 'nara sauce.

I'm workin' on, uh, onions three ways.

Uh, so, first, I've got straws that I am frying up right now.

Some sautéed onions, some pickled onions.

When they said five layers, I thought, "What do I love? Onions."

Georgia, your egg's on fire.

I don't think it's supposed to do that.

Just gonna turn that over.

-Turn it over and close that up. - Before we get a flare-up.

That's not how you cook beef anywhere.

That's char to a whole new level.

Let me tell you what's gonna happen. We're gonna have char on the outside,

rare on the inside, which is not good at a barbecue competition.

How do I overcome that?

Okay, sauce.

Since I got a Cajun-themed sandwich, I'mma use a Cajun hot sauce.

I don't want to put too much sauce on the sandwich.

I don't want my bread gettin' soggy.

Man, that's good.

All right, ten minutes! You guys got ten minutes left in your cook!

Gotta taste that steak, though.

Damn, that's good.

Better watch out.

I'm-- I am really feeling the pressure... on this do or die sandwich.

I'm a little nervous.

I'm actually gonna serve the judges some of the sections

that are a little bit less rare.

I hope that it won't be as jarring.

A little drizzle of that sweet heat.

Dear God! I'm just prayin' my sausage is gonna be done.

Keep it lookin' pretty. Keep it lookin' pretty.

Please don't break. Oh!

Let's do our sauce.

Where did my skewers go?

Where's Georgia?

Still inside puttin' sandwiches together.

Please be done.

Ugly, ugly, ugly!

Whew!

- Ten, nine, eight...

seven, six, five...

four, three, two, one...

-Show me the meats! -Whoo!

I need a drink.

And this time I don't mean water.

When I'm judgin' the beef and sausage sandwich,

those two textures shouldn't be fightin' each other.

Succulent, mouth-watering meat,

sauce that just absolutely sends you over the top.

It's gotta be a flavor explosion

that makes your eyes roll back in your head

and you cannot wait to get another bite.

- Here we go. - Wowee.

Today, one of you will be crowned Ruler of Sandwiches,

and sadly, one of you will be going home.

All right. To our winners bracket, Sylvie.

Well, we start off with the bottom layer is short ribs.

From there, breakfast sausage, fried egg,

bacon, bacon bits and fondue sauce.

You need a bib for that one.

Just wanna point out,

don't get mad when people give you exactly what you asked for.

Okay.

The sausage is perfect.

The flavors are perfect.

The sauce is heaven.

I mean, this is a "shove it in your face, eat it,

enjoy it, just be happy" sandwich.

You gave us, as far as I'm concerned,

-exactly what we asked for. -Thank you.

I call my sandwich Italian Swagger.

I took some flap meat

and marinated it in a whole bottle of red wine,

Italian sausage in the middle,

marinara on the bottom,

a piece of provolone and then giardiniera on top.

Every time you cook somethin', you take us to...

Europe, you take us to everywhere.

This little pinwheel you have done here has so much flavor.

I mean, you have incorporated the beef and the sausage here together

and it is a culinary masterpiece.

Oh, good.

All right, everybody. In the elimination bracket.

Let's start with Georgia.

We have a Baltimore pit beef,

a beef patty sausage,

onions three ways,

Tiger sauce on a kaiser roll.

- Mm. I hear some crunch.

The flavor in the sausage with the herbs and the wine,

compiled with the grind,

coupled with these little crunchy tidbits...

-is genius. -Thank you.

However...

the texture on your beef is...

underdone.

I've had Baltimore beef before.

-What kind of sauce is this on it? -Tiger sauce.

I just think this sauce here, it takes away from the smoke.

This one kinda gets messy,

and it's just real thick on my palate when I first eat it.

Okay.

Okay, Grubbs.

I started out with a Cajun-marinated skirt steak,

true Andouille sausage, some crispy bacon on there,

homemade pimento cheese,

and hot, sweet barbecue sauce drizzled over the meat.

My man Grub.

Do you feel this sandwich will keep you from elimination today?

I sure hope it does.

-It's a damn good sausage. -Thank you.

It was twice ground. I learned my lesson the first time.

You did a fine job on your sausage this trip.

The beef is a little dry for me.

What kind of sauce is this again?

I like to say it's my "sweet heat" sauce.

I don't have any sauce on this whole end of this sandwich.

It-- I drizzled it all across the sausage and the meat.

-I don't know where it went. -Just sayin'.

-Come here for a sec. -There's no sauce on this end

Look at mine and hers.

-See who has sauce here like she's sayin'? - Mm-hm.

I would've liked more sauce on my sandwich.

I put all my heart into this sandwich,

and maybe I didn't drizzle enough barbecue sauce on the meat,

but I was listenin' to her about soggy buns.

And so I let that override how much sauce I drizzled over the meat.

But this is my third time in the bottom two,

goin' up for elimination, and I'm just thinkin', "Lord have mercy."

All right, guys, this has been an epic tournament.

So, why don't y'all go ahead and hang out while the judges discuss?

-Okay. -Okay.

Strictly contemplating the judges' comments...

- Good job. - Good job.

...I do think it's probably neck and neck.

Grubbs was absolutely on point with his sausage.

Melissa said that my use of sausage was genius.

I think it's gonna be really close.

Sylvie and Tina,

your barbecue beef and sausage sandwiches were incredible.

But one of you really brought the smoke show today.

Melissa, who done it?

Today's best beef and sausage sandwich was smoked by...

Congratulations, Sylvie.

- All right!

-Congratulations. - Congratulations, Ms. Sylvie.

Ooh!

-Oh, look! - Oh, look at that!

I didn't know there was a trophy. Can we get a redo?

Aww!

-Ruler of Sandwiches. - Look at that.

I'm number one.

I have shown that I am a tough competitor.

I can't wait to also extend

my trophy list to overall best in the country.

Congratulations, Sylvie.

-Thank you, thank you! -The ruler!

Now, Georgia and Grubbs,

unfortunately, one of you has to go home.

Judges?

Today's elimination came down to two amazing barbecue sandwiches,

but for Melissa and I,

one was just slightly better than the other.

Georgia... the consistency of your beef was a little undercooked.

Just needed a little bit more time to be a little bit more tender.

Grubbs.

What about puttin' the sauce all the way across that sandwich?

Kind of wish you'd have thought about gettin' it from stem to stern.

I wish I'd have... just dumped a ladle on there.

So, judges, who is going home tonight?

Georgia, I'm sorry.

Your barbecue sandwich was the least favorite of ours,

so tonight, you'll be goin' home.

Let's-- Come on.

I wanted it to be girl power.

This was my-my first foray into a barbecue competition.

Um, and so I-I appreciate you guys showin' me the ropes,

and I-I can't thank you all enough.

-Been a pleasure to work with you. -We're gonna miss you.

Yes, indeed.

I have had such a great time in this competition.

I really came in feeling like an underdog.

The fact that I was able to hang

is-is one of the highlights in and of itself.

Here's to you. Cheers.

- Yes. - Cheers.

On the next episode, the competition gets wilder...

and wilder!

Oh, raccoon! Aieee!