- 6 weeks ago
Tournament Of Champions - Season 7 - Episode 03: Just Win
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00:00TOC 7 is in high gear.
00:00:03Let's go!
00:00:04TOC 7, baby!
00:00:06Last time, the baller chefs of the B Division
00:00:09squared off in the arena.
00:00:10The winner is Joe Sesto!
00:00:13Kevin Lee!
00:00:15Chef Brim Jacinto!
00:00:17Wow!
00:00:18And in the main event, the qualifying winner,
00:00:20Chef Katsuchi Tanabe.
00:00:22Chef, what you making?
00:00:23In an unforgettable showdown,
00:00:25with top-seeded culinary icon, Chef Lorena Garcia.
00:00:28Lorena Garcia!
00:00:30And tonight, the action continues
00:00:32as our C Division Daredevils begin the battle for the belt.
00:00:36First, Chef Dale Tallade challenges
00:00:38returning TOC quarter-finalist, Chef Shirley Chuck.
00:00:42I'm so excited to be back.
00:00:44I want to be one of them.
00:00:46The TOC all-star Christmas champion, Chef Brian Voltaggio.
00:00:50Whoa!
00:00:51Takes on five-time Food Network winner, Chef Carlos Anthony.
00:00:55Woo!
00:00:55Nothing fuels you more than beating somebody great.
00:00:59Then it's TOC 6 runner-up, Chef Sarah Bradley,
00:01:03versus top Chef runner-up, Chef Dan Jacobs.
00:01:06This is a fantastic dish.
00:01:08Maybe one day I'll get to be an icon.
00:01:10And finally, the C Division's top-seeded culinary icon
00:01:13will be revealed as they step into the arena
00:01:16to battle season competitor, Chef Viet Pham.
00:01:19It's definitely a David and Goliath.
00:01:20Who will win the title?
00:01:22The belt?
00:01:23The $150,000 bucks?
00:01:25This is Tournament of Champions 7.
00:01:31Are you ready to meet our first two gourmet gladiators?
00:01:36First, we have number five seed, Chef Shirley Chung.
00:01:40She's returning after taking a year off to tackle a real-life battle.
00:01:44I was diagnosed with stage four tongue cancer in 2024 in June.
00:01:50I haven't cooked or barely ate the last one and a half years.
00:01:54So now, not only I'm cooking, I eat tasting, compete.
00:02:00I'm super nervous.
00:02:01But I'm pretty nervous.
00:02:02Her opponent is the number four seed, Chef Dale Talday,
00:02:06who rebounded from last year's first-round loss
00:02:08to TOC heavyweight Sarah Bradley
00:02:10with an impressive showing in our recent All-Star Christmas competition.
00:02:16All right, Dale, tell me, how you feeling?
00:02:18Ready.
00:02:19You know, I think Shirley is an ultimate competitor.
00:02:22I think she has fought the most important fight of her life,
00:02:25and I respect her immensely.
00:02:27But, you know, that doesn't take anything away from what I need to do.
00:02:31I came here to win, and that's my goal.
00:02:34All right, Chef, they're ready for you.
00:02:36Okay.
00:02:49Are you ready to see these two pros go toe-to-toe?
00:02:52And let's line it up!
00:02:57She moved to the U.S. from China when she was 17
00:03:00and opened restaurants for culinary greats
00:03:03by the time she was 35 years old.
00:03:08And last year, she beat out eight other elite chefs
00:03:12to win Food Network's House of Knives.
00:03:14Now, after waging the fight of her life against tongue cancer,
00:03:18she's back to take on the randomizer one more time.
00:03:22Give it up for a true champion, the Mafia Dumpling Queen,
00:03:27Chef Shirley Charles!
00:03:40Chef, you have had probably one of the most challenging battles
00:03:45that anybody's ever seen.
00:03:47And I remember when you called me to tell me
00:03:49what you were getting ready to face,
00:03:51and you said,
00:03:53I'm just taking a year off.
00:03:54I will be back.
00:03:59I'm a woman of my word.
00:04:02I won.
00:04:02I beat my tongue cancer.
00:04:05Stage four.
00:04:06I never felt like a victim.
00:04:08I know.
00:04:10I'm here to fight.
00:04:11I am back.
00:04:12She is back, ladies and gentlemen.
00:04:15She is love in this circle.
00:04:18Well, Chef, good luck.
00:04:22He's the proud son of Filipino immigrants
00:04:25and has showcased his distinct Asian-American experience
00:04:29in over a dozen celebrated restaurants.
00:04:34His acclaimed Goose Feather was named Esquire's best new restaurant in 2020,
00:04:39and he was a 2022 James Beard nominee for Best Chef New York.
00:04:47And he recently teamed up with his friend Kevin Lee
00:04:50to reach the semifinals of TOC All-Star Christmas.
00:04:54Give it up for the boogeyman!
00:04:58Chef Dale Talday!
00:05:02Let's go!
00:05:04Come on!
00:05:13This is your third year coming back into the arena.
00:05:15Yes, sir.
00:05:16Why?
00:05:17Because I want to be one of them.
00:05:20I want to be one of them.
00:05:23So, Chefs, to the randomizer.
00:05:25Let's do this!
00:05:30As you know, Chefs, the randomizer will determine
00:05:33the mandatory details of your dish.
00:05:35The protein, the produce, the equipment, and the style,
00:05:39and finally, the wild card.
00:05:41Spin!
00:05:41Let's go with the spin.
00:05:42Here's our protein!
00:05:52Calamari flanking ground, calamari ground beef.
00:05:57Ground beef.
00:05:58And cremini mushroom.
00:06:00Blender, herbaceous.
00:06:03Herbaceous.
00:06:04Ha!
00:06:04An audience choice.
00:06:11The audience, you can pick one category
00:06:14that you would like to see re-spun.
00:06:17Protein!
00:06:20I would do protein.
00:06:23OK.
00:06:23Go for protein!
00:06:28Ground, calamari ground, calamari flanking ground, calamari.
00:06:34Calamari steak.
00:06:35Calamari steak.
00:06:35Go!
00:06:37The audience has spoken.
00:06:39So, it's calamari steaks, cremini mushrooms,
00:06:42must employ the use of the blender, and the style is herbaceous.
00:06:47Audience, you did a great job.
00:06:49Chefs, it's time for you to do your job.
00:06:51Go.
00:07:02Calamari is the Italian word for squid.
00:07:04So, these are larger portions of the squid flesh, cremini mushrooms.
00:07:09This, to me, is the everyday go-to mushroom.
00:07:12Blender.
00:07:12Boy, the judges are sure expecting a lot of the equipment use.
00:07:16It's an herbaceous.
00:07:16They're gonna be looking to see it.
00:07:18They're gonna be looking to taste it.
00:07:19I mean, basil, cilantro, parsley, oregano, sage, chive, dill, you name it.
00:07:24It's available.
00:07:25How are they gonna play it?
00:07:26Ooh!
00:07:27What a round this is gonna be.
00:07:29I love calamari steak.
00:07:30What's the plan with these, Chef?
00:07:32Mushroom calamari fried rice.
00:07:33And then I'll make a crispy, like a crispy rice.
00:07:35Got it.
00:07:36I am known for, I think, my modern Asian-American takes on cuisine.
00:07:40You know, I'm a classically French-trained chef, so I have, uh, I think all the tricks
00:07:45in the bag.
00:07:46I've gotta win this first round because it's all that matters right now.
00:07:49Win and move on.
00:07:52Tonight, I'm joined by my two indispensable culinary commentators, Michelin-recommended
00:07:56chef, with a brain-bursting with food knowledge, Chef Justin Morner, and renowned Boston restaurateur,
00:08:02and the TOC3 champ herself, Chef Tiffany Faison.
00:08:05Now, Justin and Tiffany will be closely following our chefs' every move so they can give a detailed
00:08:09description of their dishes to the judges during the blind tasting.
00:08:12And we'll also be joined by our roving reporter, the one and only Hunter Fieri, who'll be talking
00:08:17with our winners backstage.
00:08:18And culinary scholar Simon Jandar will get our judges' honest appraisal of the difficulty
00:08:23of each challenge.
00:08:24Hi, Chef.
00:08:25Hi.
00:08:25Happy to be back.
00:08:26We're thrilled to have you back.
00:08:28We have a blender as our equipment.
00:08:31As chefs, we blend everything, especially me.
00:08:35I've been using blenders to blend all my food for the last year.
00:08:40Making a coating?
00:08:41Um, no, I'm making porridge.
00:08:43Are you making congee?
00:08:44Yeah.
00:08:44Hell yeah.
00:08:46Yes.
00:08:47Chopping up some remaining mushrooms so I can blend them.
00:08:52I'm going to add the umami into my porridge.
00:08:56Ginger, onion, garlic.
00:08:58Yep.
00:08:59Chef Charlie's essentially using this like a food processor.
00:09:04Biting is necessary.
00:09:04Finally.
00:09:05Get it out of there.
00:09:06During my recovery, the moment that I can start eating a little bit food, instead of soup,
00:09:12it's actually rice hungries mixing with meat, with protein, with vegetables.
00:09:17So I feel like today, as my first battle back, it's the perfect stage for me to show everybody my
00:09:25past journey.
00:09:27Spin me, baby, one more time.
00:09:29Yeah.
00:09:30Uh, calamari steak.
00:09:31I think we're going to see a much more creative, unique.
00:09:34100%.
00:09:34With the calamari.
00:09:35Yeah, I agree.
00:09:36This is actually going to be a tough battle.
00:09:37I think this is going to be one of the best first round battles that we see.
00:09:41Shirley came to win this thing.
00:09:42I know that.
00:09:45Chef Shirley, Chef Dale, halfway point, 15 minutes to go.
00:09:4915.
00:09:52No one's happier to have Chef Shirley Chung back in the kitchen and on my side than me.
00:09:56I'm honored to be her voice in this competition.
00:09:59What's the broth for the congee?
00:10:01All the aromatics, so ginger, garlic, and onion, and then mushrooms, and butter made into a stock.
00:10:07My strategy is really use the randomizer multiple times.
00:10:11I already have minced mushroom in my country, but nothing beats a butter roasted mushroom.
00:10:18Tournament champions is the biggest culinary competition stage, and it is the most important competition for me.
00:10:28Throughout my treatments, I was still dreaming about coming back to compete and then back at it.
00:10:36What are you looking for in that?
00:10:37Just some, like, umami.
00:10:38What's inspiring this dish 100% is how I cook at home.
00:10:41I love crispy rice.
00:10:42I mean, look at the profile.
00:10:44This is body built by rice.
00:10:46There's a lot of pressure cooking for TOC because, you know, you want to make everybody proud.
00:10:49Yeah, also, you know, you come home to your wife and your family, and you want to tell them how
00:10:52well you did, and I'm blessed to do this.
00:10:55And I also want my kids to look at it and say, yo, my dad's a winner.
00:10:57That's something that's important to me.
00:10:59You've made fried rice before.
00:11:00A few times.
00:11:01I'm a little familiar with it.
00:11:02When you're cooking up against a juggernaut like Shirley, you know, you've got to cook everything perfectly.
00:11:11When I see all these ingredients, I'm, like, ingravitated towards, like, squid ink.
00:11:14What's the juice?
00:11:15Lime juice.
00:11:16Lemon juice.
00:11:17Because I think squid, squid ink, they go together.
00:11:20You're seeing the squid ink mayo get mixed in with that rice.
00:11:23Something tells me it's going to live on these little cast iron pans.
00:11:25That oil within the emulsion is going to crisp up the bottom.
00:11:30I think that's awesome.
00:11:31Going out in the first round last season, it just feels awful.
00:11:35I want this so bad because I've always come up short.
00:11:39I've never made it to the top.
00:11:41This is my time.
00:11:42I want to prove to my family, my kids, that when I'm away working, that daddy's coming home with the
00:11:48felt.
00:11:49And that check, baby.
00:11:50Chef Dale, Chef Shirley, 10 minutes, 10 to go.
00:11:52Now, our judges are currently sequestered in their trailers, so they don't know who's even competing.
00:11:56They'll be judging the dishes based on taste, the use of the items on the randomizer, and presentation.
00:12:02The chef with the highest total score heads to the second round.
00:12:05And the other chef thinks about next year.
00:12:09Chef, what's the plan for the calamari?
00:12:11Calamari, I'm really sensitive.
00:12:13Also, poach the small calamari into my porridge.
00:12:17We're going on this whole severity, Chef?
00:12:18Yep.
00:12:19Okay.
00:12:19Like she never left.
00:12:20So the salad is herbaceous.
00:12:23One of the first things that I would be able to taste were fresh herbs.
00:12:28A sauce I immediately went to is a salsa verde.
00:12:32So I have garlic, cilantro, lots of parsley, a touch of mint.
00:12:38The brightness of the mint makes your salsa verde extra herbaceous.
00:12:42If I'm going to guess, she's going to let those pans get screaming, screaming hot before that calamari goes into
00:12:47there.
00:12:47The minute it goes in, it's going to go up in flames.
00:12:50Careful.
00:12:53To saute my calamari, I'm going back to my sweet favorite sauces, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and black vinegar.
00:13:02This is the first cook of COC.
00:13:05I want to have a big dish herb.
00:13:09A little fat.
00:13:10A little familiar.
00:13:11Final five minutes.
00:13:12Five to be plated.
00:13:16This dish has to be really herbaceous.
00:13:18Basil, cilantro, chive?
00:13:19Yes, sir.
00:13:20What's that going to be when it's done, Chef?
00:13:22Marinade for the calamari.
00:13:23Smart play though, using the blender to make a super herbaceous marinade.
00:13:26Because that thing is already scored, it's going to work itself in every nook and cranny.
00:13:31I want to cook my calamari steaks on the grill because the key words I'm linking into is steak.
00:13:35It's a really big piece of calamari.
00:13:37So how do I like steaks cooked right on the grill?
00:13:39There's a cross-linking of muscle fibers there that are basically used to propel a squid through water.
00:13:45So as they cook, they tend to curl.
00:13:48To counteract that, Chef Dale has placed a pan on top of the squid.
00:13:52And I'm going to make a salsa verde that goes on top.
00:13:55What's big in TOC is that if you can taste it, you also want to see it.
00:13:59Chef, you're doing the salsa verde by hand?
00:14:00Yes.
00:14:01The blender could be a trap in that case, right?
00:14:03I think so.
00:14:03Some people like to puree them down, and I don't want that.
00:14:06You lose that integrity, you lose that kind of mouthfeel, and I want the judges to really taste that.
00:14:11145!
00:14:12I have my umami bomb mushroom and calamari congee as my base.
00:14:18And I have the beautifully butter-roasted jamini mushroom.
00:14:23And followed by my perfectly rock-hard calamari steak.
00:14:28I'm putting my salsa verde into my calamari steak just to really emphasize herbaceousness.
00:14:37So amazing to be back cooking in TOC stage again.
00:14:41I cannot wait to get judged.
00:14:43Oh, wow.
00:14:44Did I just say that?
00:14:45Yeah, I cannot wait to get judged.
00:14:49I pull my calamari steaks off.
00:14:50They look fantastic.
00:14:52And I think the cook on them is perfect.
00:14:54I have my sliced calamari.
00:14:55I take dollops of my squid-y gaioli and dot that around.
00:14:59And then a little bit more salsa verde on top so they feel that herbaceousness.
00:15:03I love and adore Shirley Chong, but I'm the fourth seed, and I got to take down the fifth seed.
00:15:09And she's the fifth seed.
00:15:10Five.
00:15:11Four.
00:15:12Three.
00:15:13Two.
00:15:14One.
00:15:20Chef Dale Talday.
00:15:22Chef Shirley Chong.
00:15:23Great job, Chef.
00:15:25Thank you so much.
00:15:27Get those judges.
00:15:28It's their lucky day.
00:15:33Oh, my God.
00:15:36Everything goes through your head right now.
00:15:38It's like, what could I have done better?
00:15:39What could I have done different?
00:15:40It felt very good to put that fish in hand.
00:15:44I'm very proud of what I put up.
00:15:45Ladies and gentlemen, our DOC judges have been anxiously awaiting their first tasting of the
00:15:50evening.
00:15:50First up, we have the Michelin-starred chef with a restaurant empire that spans three continents.
00:15:55Who redefined American pizza, artisan bread, and high-end desserts.
00:16:00Chef Nancy Silverton.
00:16:04Of course.
00:16:05Of course.
00:16:06Oh, my God.
00:16:07The ice is melting.
00:16:09Next, we have eight-time James Beard Award winner and internationally acclaimed restaurateur,
00:16:15the fashion man himself, Chef Marcus Samuelsson.
00:16:20Another legend in the culinary world.
00:16:23It's amazing.
00:16:26And last, definitely not least, the James Beard Award-winning restaurateur who received
00:16:31a coveted three-star review for the New York Times.
00:16:34Chef Scott Conant!
00:16:36Oh, my God.
00:16:39Okay.
00:16:40Are Chef Scott ready?
00:16:42You ready to do this?
00:16:44It is good to see you, sir.
00:16:46Tonight, the randomizer determined the dish would have calamari steaks, cremini mushrooms,
00:16:50employ the use of a blender, style was herbaceous.
00:16:54Here to present the dish, Justin Warner.
00:16:56Judges, this is a herbed and charred squid with squid ink and cremini crispy rice.
00:17:02It's accompanied by a raw cremini salsa verde.
00:17:05Now, for the blender, we have marinade for the squid.
00:17:08The blender was also used to craft a squid ink mayo.
00:17:11In terms of herbaceous components, not only is there that blender marinade,
00:17:15but the salsa verde contained Thai basil, lemon juice, chives, cilantro, and Fresno chilies.
00:17:23This is delicious.
00:17:27I love the flavor development inside this dish.
00:17:30I love the textural contrast.
00:17:32I love the usage of the cremini as well.
00:17:34The rice itself with that squid ink aioli is wonderful.
00:17:39That great crispiness, real nice depth of flavor.
00:17:42It's not too much fishy flavor.
00:17:44A squid ink could be a real challenge sometimes.
00:17:47Whew!
00:17:48What I love about this dish is the balance, right?
00:17:52And there's many different techniques used here.
00:17:54Really well done.
00:17:54Chef, thank you.
00:17:55Marcus, you're the, you're the man.
00:17:57Well, this is delicious.
00:18:00The only thing that I think it lacks is I do not taste any bit of the randomizer in this
00:18:07dish.
00:18:09When I saw the word blender, I know that there was a blended aioli,
00:18:14and yet I guess I expected to see something more visual about that puree.
00:18:19I mean, Nancy is a very tough judge, and for a good reason.
00:18:22She has high standards because she has done so much in her career, so.
00:18:25In front of you are your scorecards.
00:18:2750 points available in taste.
00:18:2940 points in the use of the randomizer.
00:18:31And 10 points in presentation.
00:18:34Nancy made a very good point.
00:18:36Oh, here, here.
00:18:37Okay.
00:18:39Judges here to describe the second dish,
00:18:40TOC3 champ Tiffany Faison.
00:18:42In front of you, you have a melody of cremini and calamari congee,
00:18:45with wok-style roasted calamari steak, mushrooms,
00:18:49and an herbaceous salsa verde.
00:18:50The congee was constructed by jasmine rice being placed into the blender
00:18:53to then create the congee.
00:18:55Cremini mushrooms were also processed in the blender.
00:18:57As if we weren't finished with the blender,
00:18:59you'll get another blended sauce of salsa verde
00:19:00with the blender of parsley, mint, cilantro, chive, and dill
00:19:03that was then also tossed with the calamari steak on top.
00:19:09Fantastic cooking.
00:19:10How much of the dish is left?
00:19:11I know.
00:19:12Like, I did not just taste this.
00:19:14I really went in.
00:19:15Oh, yeah.
00:19:16Let's talk about textures in here.
00:19:18You have the soft congee, which has one texture.
00:19:21Then you have the cremini and the calamari,
00:19:23which has this kind of double texture,
00:19:26both from the wetness from the cremini,
00:19:28but it's seared and charred.
00:19:30And then on top of this,
00:19:31this kind of like casual salsa verde adds so much flavor.
00:19:36This is a fantastic dish.
00:19:37Oh, I love it.
00:19:39Thank you, Chef.
00:19:40But it might be a little bit too much congee ratio to calamari.
00:19:46Wow.
00:19:47Expert cooking.
00:19:49There is nothing missing in this dish.
00:19:52Thank you, Chef.
00:19:54Really, I cannot get over how everything is cooked so perfectly.
00:20:01Yes!
00:20:02Yes!
00:20:03I'm just really distracted by the guy at the end.
00:20:09This is the type of heartfelt, emotional cooking
00:20:12that really deeply resonates with me.
00:20:15It's not just the flavors.
00:20:16This is a point of view.
00:20:18This is a nod to heritage.
00:20:19It makes me emotional.
00:20:21This is a person opening their chest
00:20:24and showing you their heart.
00:20:26That's what this dish is.
00:20:27It is that good.
00:20:28Wow!
00:20:30All right, judges, thank you very much.
00:20:32And again, your scorecard,
00:20:3450 points available in taste,
00:20:3640 in the use of the randomizer,
00:20:38and 10 in the presentation.
00:20:41I was really cooking with all my heart and soul.
00:20:45You know, you don't want to go home.
00:20:46You just want to keep going forward.
00:20:47So hopefully I did enough to go forward.
00:20:50Whew!
00:20:52Now I just need to win.
00:20:53Thank you so much.
00:20:55We'll see you shortly.
00:20:56Chef, we're ready for you.
00:20:58Someone's ready.
00:21:01Hey!
00:21:03Let's bring our chefs back in.
00:21:05I'm gonna choose.
00:21:06Chef Dale Talday!
00:21:08Chef Shirley Child!
00:21:16Chef, these are extremely high scores.
00:21:20One chef scored a 87.
00:21:25Outstanding.
00:21:26The other chef scored a 94.
00:21:30Wow!
00:21:32That is the high score of TOC 7 so far with a 94.
00:21:36Ladies and gentlemen,
00:21:37the winner of the first C-Division battle
00:21:39between Chef Dale Talday and Chef Shirley Chung is...
00:21:55Shirley Chung, congratulations.
00:22:06You're the best.
00:22:07You desert this and more.
00:22:09This women is the ultimate fighter.
00:22:12She fought for her life and now she's here two years later to do this. She deserves all
00:22:34I'm not holding my head down at all about this
00:22:38You just run into a juggernaut like Shirley
00:22:40Ninety-four ultimately something never changed. It's cooking from my heart and that was my heart on the plate
00:22:53How do you feel so emotional so excited
00:23:02I'm so proud of myself and I won my first battle with the highest score
00:23:10I
00:23:15Chilled squid crispy rice with squidic aioli and raw cromini salsa bedding
00:23:21It was a spectacular dish any other given day that dish would have won its round the cooking was that
00:23:29good
00:23:29But then the second dish hit and once we took that bite
00:23:32It was over that dish sets the bar of TOC these next two TOC prize fighters
00:23:40I'm telling you what they will bring the energy. They will bring the heat
00:23:43We have the number six seed chef carlos anthony has scored first round victories two years in a row and
00:23:51is looking to make it even further this year
00:23:53I mean, I'm slowly just crawling up this bracket it all starts with brian voltagio
00:23:59I am ready for this his opponent chef brian voltagio has struggled in this arena despite his years of
00:24:06Competition experience, but thanks to an impressive performance. He and his brother did at the Christmas competition
00:24:15Voltagio is a number three seed. I just came off of a TOC holiday win, you know
00:24:20So that's a that's a big deal, but my history TOC is not that great both times. I was here
00:24:25previously
00:24:25I went home in the first round. I am not planning to do that this time
00:24:28I have a little bit more experience under my belt and I want to prove that you know
00:24:33I have what it takes to get all the way through and what the title of tournament champion seven chef
00:24:37chef brian they're ready for you
00:24:38All right, let's go
00:24:44Let's do this
00:24:47Folks are you ready to meet these culinary contenders?
00:24:52He has helped open more than a dozen restaurants. It was named best chef San Diego in 2023
00:25:03And he is now garnering rave reviews for his ranch-to-table cooking as executive chef of Oregon Hawkeye and
00:25:10Huckleberry Lounge
00:25:13Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome
00:25:18Carlitos chef Carlos Anthony
00:25:38Now your opponent
00:25:42Your opponent is a two-time James Beard nominee who has opened more than a dozen restaurants over his distinguished
00:25:49career
00:25:52The Washington Post called his latest venture Y Oaks Tavern a divine restaurant
00:26:01He is a three-time top chef finalist and in December he scored his first major competition victory when he
00:26:10and his brother Michael
00:26:11Cleared a 16-team field to become the first T.O.C. all-star Christmas champions ladies and gentlemen the
00:26:19bolts of the East
00:26:20The one and only chef Brian
00:26:35Where has brian voltagio been and thank goodness we get him i've been saving up for this moment
00:26:41This is this is why this is time gentlemen honor and a pleasure to have you. Let's take it to
00:26:46the randomizer. Let's go
00:26:57Chefs the randomizer will determine the mandatory details of your dish. Let's talk about proteins. We have never had eggs
00:27:05As the protein. Yeah, we had it one season, but I through therapy have been able to forget that
00:27:12Let's get after it. Here we go go for protein
00:27:19Oh god, I can't ever look at it. You gotta look at it at some point. I understand
00:27:31That's just what I want is a bunch of eggs getting cooked in my dojo eggs swiss chard microwave breaded
00:27:40Wild card equipment and style respin equipment or style
00:27:44What do you think we getting rid of the microwave or we get rid of breaded? I say we get
00:27:48breaded
00:27:49I know the microwave doesn't work for him and that's why I do not want it to change
00:27:55You can't bread something and cook it in a microwave. It doesn't work. It's just a little rochambeau what's gonna
00:28:01happen
00:28:01Rochambeau one two three paper covers rock if it was best of seven
00:28:06I bet you the rock would have worked. I'm going uh, I'm going equipment. Come on back, baby
00:28:11Come on back, baby
00:28:15Come on, baby
00:28:18Digital steamer
00:28:21Eggs swiss chard
00:28:23Digital steamer breaded that's odd anyway upside down or over easy. You're probably a little bit scrambled right now
00:28:33Go
00:28:37Three parts to an egg
00:28:38I don't like any of them
00:28:40Shell the yolk and the white I love to cook with them don't get me wrong
00:28:43This is actually gonna be one of the most exciting
00:28:46TOC rounds having this all be egg centric swiss chard
00:28:50This is one of my favorite vegetables super versatile. These digital steamers are great because they get hot really fast
00:28:56We all know what bread it is. This really should be an exciting one. Sorry, chef. Sorry, chef
00:29:03This is probably the most difficult protein that I've ever used
00:29:09Not the first time I've used it in this arena, but the first time where it's the star
00:29:14We definitely have some eggs. I'm gonna make a
00:29:18perfectly steamed egg breaded and fried with a steamed charred and that swiss chard
00:29:25I think this is a really a winning dish one protein that I know loves to be steamed is an
00:29:31egg
00:29:32However, I've never used a digital steamer
00:29:34I'm gonna have to figure out how long it takes to make a six minute egg inside a digital steamer
00:29:41Do you have a digital steamer?
00:29:42Uh, yeah, believe it or not
00:29:43We hold our dumplings in a digital steamer what I do like about this is the continuous and monitorable water
00:29:49flow
00:29:49The randomizer also gave a swiss chard which is an incredible ingredient and you can use every bit of it
00:29:56So I'm gonna do this for two things. I'm gonna do like a really nice
00:29:58Simple just charred with a little bit of preserved lemon and then i'm also gonna do some to put into
00:30:04my bernese steam it shock it
00:30:07Use some of it fresh shocking shocking you're good oftentimes at home
00:30:12We take the charred stems and we throw them out, but these are incredibly flavorful
00:30:18So I immediately know I want to get a pickle on them
00:30:20Let's go
00:30:23What it really comes down to is this first round and now to go up against somebody like brian voltagio
00:30:28Nothing fuels you more than beating somebody great in the first round
00:30:35Hi chef these chicken eggs eggs
00:30:38It's the one ingredient that guy hates the most so I can't even believe it's on the randomizer
00:30:42I'm very versed in cooking eggs. Um, it's something I do all the time. I hope I can knock it
00:30:46out of the park
00:30:47You have a pen. I got a plan an open heart and open mind. Let's go. What do you got?
00:30:51All right, so i'm gonna braise down some greens garlic
00:30:54obviously some onion a little bit of uh
00:30:57tomato i'm not doing like shakshuka by any means
00:31:00But kind of like cleaning into the base of that eggs i'm gonna steam i'm gonna bread i'm gonna fry
00:31:05I want to put an egg sauce in there too
00:31:07The char i'm gonna do two ways it'll be in the braise i'm also gonna do super light tempera with
00:31:12some char leaves
00:31:13So steamed and breaded steamed breaded and fried swiss char is a great green
00:31:18I love cooking with it once the swiss char starts to wilt down
00:31:21Then i'm gonna add some of the strained tomatoes to that and just put the lid on and let it
00:31:25braise
00:31:25You know every day I get ready for this competition and to get beyond this sort of black clubs
00:31:30I've been kind of hanging over my head of getting through the first round coc would be an immense win
00:31:34i'm ready for this
00:31:3720 minutes 20 left in competition you guys having fun out there
00:31:43Right at six minutes and 37 seconds on this digital steamer i check my eggs normally it takes six minutes
00:31:50but
00:31:52This
00:31:53Raw not even a little bit cooked raw still needs a little bit more time i'm gonna go
00:31:57I'm gonna push that down to the wire oh my god that's still undercooked
00:32:02I don't know when it will be done. I have to keep cooking going out in this first round would
00:32:08be devastating
00:32:09I'm gonna work on like a bernese so infusing the
00:32:12White wine vinegar with tarragon. Yes, sir. If there's one thing i'm very good at is making a delicious sauce
00:32:18A bernese is screaming to me. It's a classic french egg sauce you hear to hear first made with eggs
00:32:25But I want to do something to really elevate this i'm going to add fresh steamed herbs and that steam
00:32:32char to give it a wonderful
00:32:33herbaceous and earthy flavor
00:32:37Oh my god
00:32:43All right, I'll take these out i'm gonna let them shock quickly
00:32:46So to add another element to the dish that's breaded and using the digital steamer again
00:32:50I'm going to take some tender leaves to make a crispy tempera swiss char leaf
00:32:54AP trisol soda. Yeah baking soda, yeah, or baking powder
00:32:59I've always been competitive nature. I grew up next to michael voltaggio. So
00:33:02Obviously, there's no lack of competition there who can get down the hill faster on a big wheel
00:33:07That was definitely the games we played. So yes, would it be nice to sit down over a holiday dinner
00:33:12and be able to brag a little bit to michael
00:33:14That I finally won a competition by myself. Yes
00:33:17But I think a lot of people have watched me over the years competing
00:33:20They want to see me win make a little quick salad too of like swiss char leaves
00:33:24I'm gonna do a fine julienne like lots of herbs
00:33:27I want to make sure that I crush a randomizer. That's something that I feel like I go home on
00:33:30a lot
00:33:31So I'm mentally creating a checklist. I'm using the swiss char in three or more ways
00:33:37I'm gonna use egg in two or more ways. Nobody could say I did not
00:33:42Respect the randomizer 13 minutes chef 13
00:33:48Let's work on my breading station the salads breaded
00:33:51I can make a crusty crumbly crust that will taste delicious a little chicken bouillon
00:33:57I just want to give it a little bit more like depth of flavor. I come back to the eggs
00:34:01It is now been a total of
00:34:04Twelve and a half minutes that I've had these eggs in this digital steamer
00:34:08I know because it's got a timer on there and it's yelling at me 10 minutes to go
00:34:16They're good. They're good. They're good. It was probably should have been pulled out at 11 and a half minutes
00:34:21I think they might be over. My heart is absolutely breaking inside
00:34:26I do not have time to start new eggs in term of the champions with that timer going
00:34:31You have to put something on the plate and it's got to be something that can win
00:34:35As far as I can tell as long as these eggs get breaded and fried
00:34:38We'll be in the clear, but all those eggs are in one basket
00:34:43You want to just put your clipboard down and just do a walk of shame? No of applause. I mean
00:34:47that's pretty massive
00:34:53The biggest challenge that I have right now is the digital steamer just because I haven't used it before personally
00:34:59And then there's tons of opinions on how people like their eggs cooked
00:35:02That's why this one is an incredibly hard challenge
00:35:06That's where you want
00:35:07Perfect
00:35:08Soft center
00:35:08You have to be very careful and make sure I get four perfect eggs
00:35:12We have a peel off going on in the TOC arena right now
00:35:21On the list of things that I've done in competition and never want to do again and chefs generally don't
00:35:24want to do
00:35:25It is peeling eggs time-consuming and needing to focus your time in one
00:35:29Specific area with one specific ingredient while everything else is cooking around you nerve-wracking
00:35:35It's working!
00:35:36This is my fifth year of tournament of champions and motivation comes in a lot of different ways
00:35:41I have a mom who is a fighter my mother has had breast cancer for over 20 years and she
00:35:46has fought and
00:35:48Survived and and come out with this fire, but I always think about her I think about how
00:35:53She fights every day. This is something where I get to fight and prove myself. I want to win not
00:36:00next year or five years from now
00:36:02I want to win right now for her. I think that's really fueling me to be great. Okay, eight and
00:36:09a half minutes
00:36:12Egg dip and breaded eggs. Yep, and then I'm going to work out a sauce here
00:36:16Eggs and oil, aioli
00:36:18So I want there to be a punch of acid on a dish. QP, yogurt, acidity, eggs, gonna throw some
00:36:25herbs in that
00:36:29Look at those fried eggs chef, little golden nuggets. The eggs come out of the fryer
00:36:33They're crispy on the outside elder shape. They look great. Seven minutes chef seven to go. I've got parsley
00:36:39Tarragon and dill. Okay, you're steaming getting a lot of use out of the steamer. I just want to do
00:36:45kind of like the steamed
00:36:46Swiss chard to kind of hold the egg up. Yeah, I'm gonna put it with a little bit of preserved
00:36:50lemon and lemon juice
00:36:52Just under six chef
00:36:54Six minutes. Yeah. Oh god, let's plate this dish
00:36:57I set down that beautiful
00:37:00Steamed chard and some of those pickled chard stems. I want to put this like a beautiful nest
00:37:05It's chicken egg sitting right in there pour the sauce. I'm more motivated than i've ever been
00:37:10There's nothing more powerful than belief in yourself to show
00:37:15Why you're great and to do it amongst the best chefs in the country
00:37:20I want to win to prove it to my peers two minutes
00:37:24This is the way i'm going to plate this i'm doing it with intent for sure
00:37:26I'm gonna put the braised greens down in the center of the plate
00:37:29But then i'm not gonna put the egg directly on top
00:37:31I'm gonna kind of like lean it off to the side and i'm gonna place the salad over the top
00:37:35Then i'm going to take the tempura leaf and just drape that off the salad to the edge of the
00:37:40bowl
00:37:40So it's going to remain crispy plate looks great. I feel really good about what i've done
00:37:45Five, four, three, two, one
00:37:49We're done
00:37:52Brian Votaggio, Carlos Anthony
00:37:56Let's bring in the judges great job guys
00:38:01Excellent
00:38:06All right ladies and gentlemen let's welcome back our judges oh god here we go
00:38:11Three legendary restaurateurs the one and only chef nancy silverton chef marcus eggerson and chef scott connick
00:38:21What oh my god
00:38:25Wow
00:38:26We
00:38:26Oh
00:38:27The randomizer well sure laid an egg on this one
00:38:32Protein offered up tonight is going to be eggs produce the swiss chard equipment digital steamer style was breaded
00:38:39And those are just all the nicknames of justin warner go ahead chef
00:38:44This is green eggs and steamed fried eggs
00:38:48Firstly eggs were separated uh putting in the blender to make a sauce it was treated with a medley of
00:38:54Digital steamer steamed herbs and digital steamer steamed shard
00:38:58We have the egg in the very center. So that was steamed was then peeled breaded and fried
00:39:04In terms of the shard more of those digital steamer leaves were added to the sauce with digitally steamed herbs
00:39:09They are digging into this thing
00:39:12Say something please just say you love it. Just say you love it
00:39:15So I think one of the best compliments that you can give a dish is that it reminds you or
00:39:20harkens back to a memory of your childhood
00:39:22And there's a little bit of my mother's egg salad inside here that I really love
00:39:26And that's kind of drawing me in again and again. I like the wilted greens on here
00:39:31I think the one challenge is that the egg doesn't have that beautiful runny yolk. That's a lost opportunity
00:39:39Yep. Yeah, I agree
00:39:41No, you're right Scott. That is not an overcooked egg. That is a perfectly cooked hard-cooked egg
00:39:48Come on, baby
00:39:50Come on, baby
00:39:52It's creamy
00:39:53Plus it's not crumbly
00:39:55Yes, chef
00:39:56Thank you, Nancy
00:39:57If I had my challenge
00:39:59It would be that it's a little bit difficult to cut the swiss chard. I agree with nancy that
00:40:06Big piece of swiss chard just makes it a harder dish to eat. The most successful thing is this sauce
00:40:14Come on, baby
00:40:15Absolutely delicious. It almost a creamy beurre blanc
00:40:18It's getting a lot of positive comments. All right, judges. Thank you very much
00:40:2150 points available in taste 40 points in the use of the randomizer and 10 points in plating
00:40:54That went well
00:40:55With a little bit of tomato product
00:40:57We then had digitally steamed chard leaves that were tempura breaded and fried crispy to accentuate the crispy egg on
00:41:03the side
00:41:03Well, I bet the chef quickly took the egg out of the steamer when they heard your comment on the
00:41:11last egg
00:41:11Which doesn't necessarily make it a better egg. It's a different egg
00:41:16You're talking to me
00:41:17A perfectly cooked jammy egg
00:41:20Difficult difficult challenge
00:41:23But I think for me the dominance of the tomato
00:41:26That's the one part that I could just push aside and I would be
00:41:31Happier with eating everything else
00:41:34What? Oh my gosh
00:41:37Okay, we got nancy on our side. You know what I want to honor first of all effort
00:41:42Think about the ambition of this cook first of all the tempura
00:41:48How fun how that crunch is just
00:41:51Really delicious aesthetically how chef plated this dish just really the next level plating. Thank you marcus bring it around
00:41:59man
00:42:00Bring it around chef. I like this dish a lot as well. I like the usage of yogurt
00:42:04I think that brightness with the cilantro and the vinegar inside there is really beautiful
00:42:08All in all, it's a really flavorful delicious plate of food
00:42:12There's a lot of similarities here between these these plates for good cooking judges. Thank you very much
00:42:17Let's go to the scorecard
00:42:20I feel pretty strongly I did the right thing. There's definitely a lot of flavor on that dish
00:42:25Did I do enough? I have no idea egg center of the plate. I'm telling you they did a fantastic
00:42:31job, right?
00:42:32Let's bring it back out
00:42:34Here are the scores one chef scored a 82 the other chef scored a
00:42:4879 the winner of the second battle between chef Brian voltagio and chef carlos anthony is
00:43:02Oh
00:43:11Chef incredibly competitive dish all right so much ladies and gentlemen carlitos carlos anthony
00:43:22Oh
00:43:22my gosh, there's one door oh
00:43:26It hurts always just
00:43:29You put so much into it you you really give your all to be here and you think about it
00:43:35to go out in the first round. It's just
00:43:38devastating so
00:43:39We've never had a chance to do this. We've never had a chance to let's talk about the uh the
00:43:44road ahead that leaves you
00:43:46to battle the runner-up from last year sarah bradley
00:43:50Or dan jacobs. Congratulations. Brian voltagio
00:43:53first win at
00:44:05What I feel I feel amazing
00:44:07Um, I feel like a huge weight is off my shoulders now
00:44:10You did great and uh, you're continuing that winning streak from to see holiday, right?
00:44:14So we're starting out pretty good here. Uh, it means nothing but up means uh, one bracket to the next
00:44:18and keep on going
00:44:19We've seen so much already, but are you ready to see two culinary masters go mano a mano
00:44:28Now we have the number seven seed chef dan jacobs who defeated top chef winner joe flam in the toc
00:44:35qualifiers
00:44:36To earn his spot in this year's tournament i'm ready to take sarah
00:44:40I already fought through the qualifiers which gave me a ton of confidence going into this first trip against sarah
00:44:45I feel calm. I feel ready for the moment
00:44:48And number two seed chef sarah bradley made it all the way to the final battle of last year despite
00:44:55being a toc first timer
00:44:57last season
00:44:58I came in as a rookie and I made it all the way to the finale
00:45:02Where I sadly lost to antonia la faso
00:45:06It was a wild ride big letdown, but I learned a lot from it
00:45:10I keep telling myself it's technically a one seed right because the icons are gonna get the ones i'm playing
00:45:15For you know all those people that think they can't do something. I was diagnosed with a rare neuromuscular disease
00:45:22known as kennedy's disease
00:45:23And eventually i'm gonna lose the ability to you know move around the way
00:45:27I do I refuse to back down I refuse to let people tell me what I can and can't do
00:45:31And I feel like that message isn't given enough. Let's go
00:45:35All right, let's go
00:45:38Ladies and gentlemen, you ready to meet these kitchen combatants
00:45:45He worked his way up the ranks of michelin-starred chicago restaurants before taking the executive chef job in milwaukee
00:45:53that landed him on several best restaurant lists
00:45:59Now as the head chef and co-owner of two acclaimed milwaukee restaurants
00:46:04He was a 2024 james beard award nominee for best chef midwest
00:46:12Ladies and gentlemen chef dan jacobs
00:46:25What an amazing story you're battling so much more in life yet?
00:46:31You choose to come and put yourself in the epicenter of the most difficult culinary competition that exists
00:46:37Yep, there's no way but forward and i'm just willing to push push push
00:46:41The great thing about it is is you're doing it amongst the greats and speaking of the greats your opponent
00:46:49This michelin trained chef returned to her kentucky hometown
00:46:53To open her award-winning restaurant bourbon and bar that celebrates her southern jewish and appalachian roots
00:47:03She was a james beard semi-finalist for best chef 2025
00:47:08She is twice competed in the final battle of top chef and in her first appearance in this arena
00:47:14She won four battles in a row become the toc six runner-up
00:47:22Ladies and gentlemen chef sarah bradley
00:47:39Welcome back. Thank you. It was so amazing to watch your wins and your trajectory in your first season four
00:47:48wins in a row
00:47:49It was a major accomplishment and congratulations
00:47:52And it's time to take it to the randomizer. Let's go
00:48:01Ready let's get after it go for protein
00:48:14Pork blade steak and celery root toaster buttery and low seed re-spin
00:48:24All right, let's go protein pork blade steak never used it before not familiar with it. You sure you want
00:48:28to go protein?
00:48:29Yeah, let's do it. Let's spin it go for protein
00:48:36And ground beef all right oh here we are ground beef celery root toaster and buttery
00:48:44I can't wait to see this concoction. Good luck time to go
00:48:51All right, they're going
00:48:56Ground beef there's a million things they can do with this and we're going to be giving them prime black
00:49:01angus beef kansas the best of the best
00:49:03celery root one of my all-time favorites but a little troublesome in
00:49:07Manipulating because it's so gnarled and bold it takes a little bit of time and maintenance
00:49:13We all know what a toaster is question is how are we gonna get the toasted flavor and the toasted
00:49:18presentation buttery buttery can come from
00:49:20A lot of things they're gonna need to be creative with this seeing it and tasting
00:49:25Man i'm from wisconsin
00:49:29And so buttery this is great
00:49:32I'm thinking like luscious i'm thinking something elevated i'm thinking luxury
00:49:37Where is the deal i am comfortable in southeast asian cuisine i'm gonna go full in
00:49:43But the challenge here with ground beef how do you make it elevated and how do you make it beautiful
00:49:49Let's go
00:49:50Fill me in start off with like a celery root and butter curry okay and then a southeast asian style
00:49:58seared meatball
00:50:00The toaster is gonna be the rough one, but we'll get there great
00:50:06Buttery i'm thinking of style so i'm immediately thinking butter burgers on a brioche bun which is all butter
00:50:14I'm gonna make a oh no hi we can't hi hey how are you hi
00:50:19Thank you so i'm gonna make a better burger that's it so we run a lot to go on the
00:50:25burger i'm gonna have like a little celery apple slaw
00:50:27Glad we talked about it
00:50:31I
00:50:32I love celery root me too
00:50:34I want to do something that's completely different
00:50:37I think the magic of tournament of champions is those dishes that nobody would have thought of
00:50:42For my celery root and butter curry i'm gonna add some kombu this is basically gonna be our base
00:50:48And then i'm gonna add some green curry paste just to really reinforce that southeast asian style of cuisine
00:50:53What i love more than anything is seeing somebody use kombu instead of msg boy it gets me going this
00:51:00is my morning coffee
00:51:04So i'm gonna toast a little celery seed and a little fennel pollen to go into my celery root slaw
00:51:10okay
00:51:11Stop this Sarah
00:51:14Thanks y'all
00:51:16Obviously i want to prove that you know getting to the end the last time is something that i can
00:51:21do again
00:51:21i'm a restaurant owner a business owner a mother who wants to create a good life for her family and
00:51:26children
00:51:27I think all of those are motivators to get back to that finale and push me towards winning tournament champions
00:51:34damn watch out
00:51:40i can smell this toasting it smells good it's working y'all yes Sarah kept in 20 minutes left
00:51:49oh shucky ducky
00:51:51you can touch on peppercorns five spice we're gonna do some chili flakes now we're gonna do some peanut
00:51:56i know where it's going i know what you're up to the toaster is not my favorite thing i've ever
00:51:59had on the randomizer but i'm gonna use it to toast my spices and my peanuts oh yeah yes we
00:52:06got
00:52:06i mean you can smell it that's what we wanted there the sort of warming spice that's really
00:52:10gonna kind of bring everything together i'm gonna add that powder filling from my meatball i'm also
00:52:14going to use it in my sauce i think this is what's going to really kind of pop these both
00:52:18off where's
00:52:20our butter oh you just wait oh you just wait dan says this curry this is gonna be my big
00:52:25component
00:52:26for buttery i'm gonna substitute coconut milk we're just gonna use the butter to be that fat it's gonna
00:52:32create this lusciousness on this curry and this fat that you would get from coconut milk but i don't need
00:52:37it butter instead of coconut milk c-o-c-7 baby this is a celery root remoulade for my burger
00:52:47it has celery
00:52:48seed celery root celery stem i'm gonna add toasted spices in there little mayonnaise i'm gonna add chopped
00:52:55capers also i'm gonna make celery root and apple slaw so i'm gonna put a little salt and sugar on
00:53:02the celery root now to kind of cure it a little bit and get some of that moisture out right
00:53:07now in
00:53:07the wayfarer screening room chef brian voltaggio is spectating this battle he will face the winner
00:53:12in his second round so it looks like she's making some sort of a slaw with the celery which is
00:53:16a
00:53:16smart play too absolutely there's a million little things that chef sarah is doing that are smart from
00:53:21julienne in the father she's making to like the little bruno of the celery root in the remoulade
00:53:26those are all indications to the judges that the chef knows what they're doing
00:53:3416 minutes chefs i'm gonna add some butter okay key good meatball is keeping that moist ball and so i'm
00:53:42going to start to create what's going to be the meatball base in the blender goes some oil lime leaves
00:53:47little garlic shallots galangal is a root vegetable basically what i'm doing here is getting that
00:53:53galangal as small as possible so it doesn't get stuck in the judge's teeth whoa i put a good amount
00:54:00of butter in here and i realized these are not going to hold shape these are not going to be
00:54:04meatballs
00:54:04well i like the smell of it chef i feel like we're going to kill the flavor maybe not so
00:54:08pretty i'm
00:54:09going to pivot here and go to almost like a seared meat patty what's the plan now the celery root
00:54:14i'm
00:54:15actually going to mandolin it i'm going to try to use these guys a little bit like noodles i think
00:54:19this will work we're actually going to poach these once those are pretty much cooked all the way through
00:54:23i'm going to transfer that to a pan and finish the cooking in the butter just like you would pasta
00:54:29when i do feel pressure i think i put it on myself i often feel that pressure is a privilege
00:54:34having
00:54:34getting these disease has really pushed me to do as much as i can and whenever i can i know
00:54:39that i have
00:54:40a finite amount of time that i'm going to be able to do stuff like this don't just sit on
00:54:44the
00:54:44sidelines like get out there do whatever you want to do like don't let anybody tell you no going into
00:54:49chef sarah bradley is a daunting task she understands how this kitchen works she understands how this
00:54:54game is played but every year there's lower seeds that take out the high seeds and i think i got
00:54:59a good
00:54:59this year five to go i feel like you've done this before i've made a few burgers in my life
00:55:07i'm no
00:55:07stranger to the burger game like i have the trophy for best burger for burger week in paducah maybe
00:55:13i'll take home another one butter burgers are like a midwest thing you stuff butter inside the burger
00:55:19and as it cooks it cooks out you see that butter coming up right off the back little butter geysers
00:55:27i go ahead and add some toasted spices on my burgers i grab my brioche buns to toast them
00:55:33three minutes three to go chefs that's not a lot of time seeing the drippings reserved i think we're
00:55:39going to see that as a finishing drizzle ground beef not necessarily the prettiest thing so we're actually
00:55:44going to hide this so you're going on top and i think this is one of those things that's kind
00:55:48of fun
00:55:48it really allows for that aha moment as you get into a dish this is not the most beautiful thing
00:55:54i've ever made this is very one color but i think there's so much flavor here this could be a
00:55:58winner
00:55:5960 seconds let's rock and roll ready for plating i start with the buns down put a really nice big
00:56:06dollop of the silver root remoulade i put some slaw i feel really good about this i think i just
00:56:12nailed the randomizer i want to show that last year wasn't just a fluke
00:56:17i want 150 000 i want a belt i want a ring sounds fabulous
00:56:22five four three two one we're done
00:56:29well done chef thank you thank you chef creative cooking i love it
00:56:37well it's over time to see what they say ladies and gentlemen welcome back our powerhouse panel of
00:56:43judges the one and only chef nancy silverton oh nancy nancy nancy chef marcus samuelson whoa oh
00:56:54and chef scott connor scott connor and i became the first ever chopped legends together for this
00:57:00next round the randomizer served up a delicious offering of ground beef celery root the use of the
00:57:07toaster and the style was buttery and here to present the dish justin warner
00:57:13esteem judges this is a celery root butter curry with seared ground beef the ground beef was emulsified
00:57:21in the stand mixer with butter it was seasoned with fish sauce and then celery root was added to it
00:57:27a foil packet filled with spices was toasted in the toaster and used to season both the curry and the
00:57:32meatball in terms of buttery components a pound of it was added to the curry sauce as always judges if
00:57:38you have any questions i have the answers how do you make ground beef sexy this is how you make
00:57:47ground
00:57:47beef sexy i don't think it's about the ground meat i think it is about the accompaniments thereof
00:57:52i think that this sauce is just steep and luscious yes i'll take that that green curry is really
00:57:59outstanding i want a vat of this and i want to swim in it good job chef good job
00:58:08the patty even though there's a nice amount of fat in it it's still not as much fat as i
00:58:13would
00:58:13or add to a patty and so all the additions that have been added to it really help that texture
00:58:22this is
00:58:22like a tasting menu idea but to do it in 30 minutes many people have thought about great dishes
00:58:29that might not taste great just to have the know-how well done chef yes that feels good thank you
00:58:37judges 50 points in the taste 40 points in the use of the randomizer and 10 points in the plating
00:58:42i
00:58:42think that i represent the celery root more i definitely think they're going to see ground beef
00:58:47online more up next toc champ tiffany we'll see if you were dreaming of a butter burger don't wake up
00:58:55in front of you we have a butter burger with celery root slaw and a bruno celery root remoulade butter
00:59:00lettuce and brie the ground beef was treated to a seasoning of toaster packet toasted celery seed fennel
00:59:06pollen and black pepper a generous knob of butter was packed and smacked into the middle of the ground
00:59:11beef ultimately creating a butter crust it does sound good like i'm not gonna lie it's a really really good
00:59:17burger and chef truly followed the randomizer it was celery three four different ways theme of butter
00:59:27everywhere yeah this is just a perfect dish to make given the randomizer toaster toasted the bun
00:59:35it's a great burger love it sounds like they like hers too i think a burger is a series of
00:59:42a bunch of
00:59:42different things done well don't bring my heart scott the flavors are wonderful but cook on the burger
00:59:48i think it could be a little less cooked it seems to be slightly over for me great thank you
00:59:54very much
00:59:54judges this is a little bit close here we go ladies and gentlemen great round of competition let's bring
01:00:05our chefs back in chef dand jacob's back in chef dand jacob's back in
01:00:17i think that the judges gave you fantastic compliments and your scores reflect
01:00:21for a score of 87 to 84 ladies and gentlemen in the first round battle between chef sarah bradley
01:00:30and dan jacob's and dan jacob's the winner is
01:00:40dan jacob's
01:00:52congratulations chef sarah i am sorry that you're going home but we know how great you are
01:00:57we have seen this from you i'll be back there's no question she'll be back
01:01:02bye y'all ladies and gentlemen it's sarah bradley
01:01:08boo but that's okay good for him i'm not upset about that i mean i still wanted to win congratulations
01:01:14chef dan first round win to oc seven huge let's take a look at where you're going my friend ryan
01:01:23bultaggio takes out carlos anthony dad jacobs takes out number two seed sarah bradley rock on man you got
01:01:33this ladies and gentlemen jim jacobs going to the second round wow
01:01:45that's crazy i mean whatever i feel great i feel i'm not cloud 10. cloud 10. just great you thought
01:01:53and this kind of stops it winning you said the burger is a little overcooked well taste is subjective
01:02:00that's why there's three of us and not one of us that burger would have been a winner had it
01:02:05not been
01:02:06up against the first dish yeah you're dealing with good and gooder that's what's really different
01:02:10it's time for the finale of the c division the big battle you've all been waiting for
01:02:16we have a qualifier winner going up against tonight's mystery icon here we are and there's no bracket
01:02:23because i'm going against an icon and i have no idea who i'm going against as iconic as this icon
01:02:30is the
01:02:31way that i see it is that this icon is going to be a distraction so it's going to zone
01:02:35out of the
01:02:36icon and just focus on my cook it's time
01:02:44are you ready to see two food world warriors take culinary competition to the next level
01:02:53the son of vietnamese immigrants he is successful restaurateur with almost two decades as an executive chef
01:03:05he was named food and wine's best new chef of 2011 and is a three-time james beard award semifinal
01:03:16put your hands together chef
01:03:18any idea who you might be battling you know i i haven't even attempted to go down that road i
01:03:37feel
01:03:38like if i continue to think about it it's going to bother me had you known you definitely would have
01:03:43lost sleep with a degree from a prestigious french culinary school he shook up the food scene in
01:03:53los angeles to new york with his fresh new take on classical cuisine
01:04:01his trailblazing restaurants attracted celebrity patrons like julia child and andy warhol in 2016
01:04:08he received the james beard award for best chef new york he has earned his place in culinary history by
01:04:16introducing the east coast to the pioneering california cuisine he first mastered with his mentor alice water
01:04:23i love this somebody's getting this right oh my god
01:04:43wow chef good meeting pleasure pleasure is all mine
01:04:49oh where do we begin sir waxman i always call him sir waxman he is nobility in the world of
01:04:56cooks
01:04:56you've judged with us so many times you're now on the competitive side of this but honestly chef why
01:05:03are you here i love cooking i love it this is my favorite thing in the world to do this
01:05:08is fun for
01:05:08me thanks for being so brave to do it i'm like in awe so let's take it this way follow
01:05:14me guys
01:05:14i knew you'd love this one oh man
01:05:24tonight protein produce equipment and style will dictate the dish that you're going to make
01:05:28soak it in right now gentlemen going for protein
01:05:35this is cool i never saw this it is not your friend striped manila pork striped bass fine tomato
01:05:44muffin pan muffin pan and whips chefs collectively between the two of you can make a decision to
01:05:53re-spin the whole thing your call let's do this let's stay we're staying i love that striped bass vine
01:06:03tomatoes muffin pan and whip gentlemen it's been an honor and a pleasure your time starts now go
01:06:14striped bass silvery fish with uh black horizontal stripes fine ripe tomatoes tomatoes that are still on
01:06:22the vine the muffin pan everybody knows what one looks like whipped it'll be interesting for chef
01:06:27waxman who's judged this a lot of times but i promise you this will be a master class the muffin
01:06:32tan and whipped is really where the randomizer kind of you know went haywire he's not at all concerned
01:06:38you know i love being a judge but i never got to see the action when i got the opportunity
01:06:42to compete
01:06:43today i said why not judging is great don't get me wrong but cooking is what i do the reason
01:06:49i'm
01:06:49convening today is culmination of all the things i've done in my career bobby flay worked for me
01:06:54for five years so i was his mentor i did two years of top chef masters i beat people like
01:06:58roy yamaguchi
01:06:59who actually used to work for me uh michael chimroosti and i said you're younger you're smarter
01:07:04you're quicker you're better cooks i am i don't know how i beat you but i did and it was
01:07:08fun
01:07:10what's going on with the heating of the muffin tin uh preheated always so when the mixture goes in
01:07:18boom icon is a difficult word michael simon once called me a legend i told him i wasn't dead yet
01:07:23you know so i don't know if i can live up to the to the moniker but i'll take it
01:07:28well the color of
01:07:29these eggs are beautiful aren't they pretty fish and eggs they're kind of synonymous so i just wanted
01:07:34to make like an egg kind of fluff thing that i do for brunch sometimes and then the grazed lettuce
01:07:40as sort of a a base for the fish and then the tomatoes and little mashed potato thing on top
01:07:46maybe it's too many items but you know that's me never in all of the days of my life could
01:07:52you have
01:07:52told me that i would be standing here watching chef jonathan waxman cook this is a pantry moment in my
01:07:58life
01:08:00it's fun huh that's what you think i am battling against the one and only jonathan waxman he is
01:08:09an iconic chef he's trained some of the best chefs mission stars james beard winners that's like
01:08:16the oscars of the food world to be here with him is crazy chef welcome back thanks when you have
01:08:25a
01:08:25plan fill me in something along the line of uh a fish fry i'm a chef and restaurateur from salt
01:08:32lake
01:08:32city utah this name right here pretty bird i i'm a fry cook i fry chicken every day you know
01:08:38we don't
01:08:38have a lot of time so the quickest and easiest way is to fry the fish i want to use
01:08:44the skin in a
01:08:44different way i don't have that many years of experience as jonathan waxman does and i'm just
01:08:50literally trying to do my best do you know they're a chef cool as a cucumber huh iconically and here
01:08:56i
01:08:56am right in my mouth i am an award-winning chef and i've beaten a lot of uh famous chefs
01:09:04you might have
01:09:04heard of this guy named um what's his name i forgot bobby filet i beat him on irish of america
01:09:12bobby
01:09:12flay was probably the only person that is a direct descendant of jonathan waxman hopefully i'll be taking
01:09:19down his mentor as well today i go to the fire i check up on the fish it looks pretty
01:09:25good i let
01:09:26it rest for a little bit and then um right before i'm going to plate i'm going to drop it
01:09:30in the fryer
01:09:30one more time as a double fry i'm looking around like what am i going to do with this fish
01:09:34skin it'd
01:09:35be a terrible waste not to use it and then i look over and i see the muffin pan calling
01:09:39out to me like
01:09:40hello what about me and then i get this idea i'm going to throw it into the fryer and then
01:09:45after it's
01:09:46fried i gently push it into the muffin pan so that it forms around the bottom of the pan so
01:09:51that way
01:09:51the judges will at least know that i use the muffin pan
01:09:57do you have a backup plan if this doesn't work no with 30 minutes there's not a lot of room
01:10:01for
01:10:01a backup plan so it better work to be on toc and going against an icon like jonathan waxman we're
01:10:07going to figure this out chefs we are at the halfway point you have 15 minutes left to compete 15.
01:10:17so if you feel like telling me what's rolling around in that jedi brain of you i'll
01:10:21yours i'll be right here i'm too simplistic for words i have a trick where i fire blast tomatoes in
01:10:28a
01:10:28super hot oven until they char all right i want a little bit of acidity to go along with the
01:10:35fish i
01:10:36want to make brown butter sherry vinaigrette to graze lettuce as a base for the fish and then
01:10:43the tomatoes as the sauce chef jonathan waxman is not just an icon he's a legend he's also one of
01:10:48my favorite chefs and people and i've never seen food handled in a way that he handles it
01:10:54so for the whip portion tofu i'm whipping tofu with some tomato i'm going to make a dipping sauce
01:11:00for the fish not a lot of people use tofu or even like tofu but i feel like it's going
01:11:04to be a
01:11:05great vehicle to carry some additional flavors smart work by chef viette you can see that he's
01:11:09taking the seeds out of the tomatoes of course that's where the majority of the water content is
01:11:14found water that ain't flavor star anise star anise a little bit of smoked paprika garlic powder
01:11:22oyster sauce a little oyster sauce i'm gonna whip up and then i'm gonna siphon it
01:11:27see you've done this before chef something similar yes
01:11:34i cook with striped bass in new york all the time but the striped bass we get are for 35
01:11:38pounds so my
01:11:39plan was the striped bass to put them on the grill always say this is gonna that's where all the
01:11:43nutrients are grilling fish is really difficult the only thing that's harder is grilling chicken so why
01:11:50are you gonna drill it if it's so hard well because i've been doing it for about 50 years
01:11:55what's the plan for the bass chef i'm getting old you're not i was trying to really channel the
01:12:00randomizer i think as a judge that's the thing that most cooks really failed on i was thinking
01:12:07about what i could whip and i could either whip the tomatoes or the potatoes try to use a little
01:12:13hand
01:12:14immersion blender i don't think i really have anything to prove anymore my sort of history
01:12:20speaks for itself winning is fabulous if it happens great the more important thing to me is how well i
01:12:28cook my dish the wax is having to get on chicken like the Jedi videos look at that back truly
01:12:33if i
01:12:34were to put that on the grill i wouldn't have been able to get the skin off it's like back
01:12:37spoon magic
01:12:3910 minutes chefs 10 to go how we looking the muffin tin has been used to give
01:12:43form to the fish skins crisp up gently in the fryer and put in the oven blending isn't necessarily
01:12:48whipping because it's not incorporating air the whipping part goes when it goes into the cream whipper
01:12:54and then you charge it with a nitrous oxide charger this is a first so this is also a very
01:13:00big risk but you know what you have to take big risks in order to win i want to further
01:13:06enhance
01:13:07the randomizer option which is the tomato in Vietnamese cooking you know there's actually a lot of
01:13:12uh tomatoes so it is something that i'm very familiar with what's the plan here chef i'm going
01:13:16to make a relish with this copy using uh just traditional Vietnamese numum growing up i think deep
01:13:23down i resented my parents because they named me viet and my brother nam and because of that we were
01:13:28bullied as i've gotten older through my cooking and especially learning about Vietnamese cuisine it
01:13:33makes me feel closer to my family and to my heritage and my upbringing and that i'm grateful for
01:13:42seven and a half where's our whipped uh those potatoes and garlic that have been boiled
01:13:47and treated to a little bit of white wine and butter the egg mixture that was uh put in the
01:13:52oven
01:13:52hand whipped we're whipping it real good with it real good i'm always mr simple i don't like to try
01:13:58to go
01:13:58too far out of my comfort zone i'm like slow and steady waxman california like not sweat the small
01:14:04stuff roll the spoons uh in your bane chef all over there thank you all i wanted to do was
01:14:10be a
01:14:10trombone player and play jazz as a career but i somehow found myself selling ferraris when i was 24
01:14:18years old and that led to my going to france and going studying cooking did i have any clue that
01:14:24i'd become
01:14:24a chef absolute zero oh that's good muffin tin 101 right there i pulled my muffin tin from the oven
01:14:35it
01:14:35is absolutely perfect i'm so proud of myself and let's hope the judges see my muffin tin vision three
01:14:41minutes first i place my fish with the tomato salsa and herb salad i go ahead and siphon the sauce
01:14:49and what do you know it's not coming out this is like the moment of panic i have to get
01:14:54this on the plate two minutes two to go all right you ready yeah so braised lettuces with a
01:15:02brown butter shallot sauce a little muffin man little quiches okay and then the fish i've accomplished
01:15:09a lot of things in my career but they really don't mean anything unless i enjoy it and i do
01:15:14actually
01:15:15enjoy where i've been i have a lot of people that i've mentored over the years so their accomplishments
01:15:19become part of me and i think that is the most important thing about being an icon or whatever
01:15:25else you want to call me i actually feel very proud of my legacy and that to me is the
01:15:30greatest thing in
01:15:30the world one minute one to go i'm slowly getting a little bit of out finally it works there's nice
01:15:36volume and height to the sauce it looks really good 30 seconds man i just literally cooked against a
01:15:42legend this matchup it's definitely a david and goliath to take down like one of the forefathers of
01:15:47cuisine it would be absolutely amazing
01:15:50five four three two one
01:15:57chef waxman chef mom thank you so much
01:16:09it was fun it was fun that was pretty crazy to be honest i had some guesses but i was
01:16:17nowhere near
01:16:17close to guessing jonathan waxman i was starstruck to say the least to be able to cook with an icon
01:16:23like him win or lose i felt like i made it all right you know i actually probably need to
01:16:32take a photo
01:16:32of this really quick just my keepsake wow hey you know um miracles happen what did it feel like to
01:16:41be out
01:16:41there was it good to cook again yeah it was great to be cooking again really fun are your flavors
01:16:47there
01:16:48we'll see all right ladies and gentlemen for our final round welcome back our esteemed judges the
01:16:54one and only nancy silverton marcus samuelson and scott connor oh my gosh okay tough tough judges three of my
01:17:03best friends huh thanks a lot judges tonight the randomizer for this final magnificent round offered
01:17:09up striped bass vine tomatoes the use of a muffin pan the style is whipped and here to present tiffany
01:17:16face off it's me chefs in front of you is grilled striped bass with slow roasted vine tomatoes a scallion
01:17:23and paprika mini quiche braised lettuces and whipped yukon and garlic fondue let's get to the bass the bass was
01:17:30simply seasoned and grilled the vine tomatoes were seasoned and slow roasted in the salamander it was
01:17:35then treated to a sherry and white wine shallot reduction a quiche base was then tan whipped that base
01:17:41was then placed in the muffin tin to create the little mini quiche yukon golden garlic were cooked
01:17:46and then butter whipped creating the yukon gold fondue it's adorning the top of the dish this is
01:17:51foundational jonathan waxman cooking this is totally him wow he put in a lot of technique he did a lot
01:17:57of
01:17:57different things there's a lot of really good flavors here i really like that acidity brought
01:18:01in with the sherry vinegar i think the usage of the tomatoes though rustic and chunky i really think
01:18:07that's a nice touch and fish is cooked beautifully absolutely perfect i love the quiche i thought that
01:18:13ain't really nice and creamy flavors all in here it's a great dish with a super nice moist fish
01:18:21plating wise just feels a little rushed put together you think i agree i think that everything together
01:18:28ate really well the flavors really well you know beautiful colors for me i think the biggest challenge
01:18:34was the description the tomato didn't eat like a slow roasted tomato to me nasty hated it all right
01:18:41judges thank you very much 50 points available in taste 40 points in the use of the randomizer and 10
01:18:47points in the plating i think they're absolutely right it was rushed i mean you don't do a competition
01:18:52for a long time you're you are a little rusty all right judges for the second dish presentation
01:18:58justin warner i feel hopeful but you know judges this is lightly fried striped bass with a vietnamese
01:19:06inspired salsa and whipped tofu with vine tomatoes the striped bass was butchered skinned and seasoned
01:19:13from there it was treated to a bath of buttermilk and twice fried this skin was lightly fried before
01:19:20being fully cooked in the muffin tin the vine tomatoes you will find in this whipped tofu was done with
01:19:26fish sauce and most notably star anise and smoked paprika come on jesus moment of truth this is cohesive
01:19:34do you like this do you want more of it marcus is nodding his head what does that mean
01:19:41hands up it's not good the sounds food can be sonic when you eat the skin so freaking delicious
01:19:50i'm a franca through and through the little foam here with the salsa just like elegant on the side
01:19:56incredible this is very very good cooking at the highest level very successful
01:20:02there's only one tiny thing i would say the fish eats a tad dry just a little bit dry
01:20:09but that's nitpicking double fried it i agree that the fish is is a little bit dry but that skin
01:20:17is
01:20:18just naughty it's naughty it's so crunchy and delicious the usage of the fish sauce and the other
01:20:23ingredients that are inside there from vietnamese perspective it is fantastic but it's not overwhelming
01:20:29using the muffin tin to hold the skin was really smart love the texture overall a talented chef judges
01:20:37thank you for your final judging tonight watching judging is excruciatingly painful and horrific look at
01:20:44my eyes my eyes are like tearing up i did everything that i could i cooked my heart out we're
01:20:50here and
01:20:50they're ready for you let's go
01:20:56all right ladies and gentlemen an honor and a pleasure to have such a culinary icon
01:21:02let's welcome him back sir jonathan wexman
01:21:07chef gian bob
01:21:16chefs the judges were very complimentary to the fact that that was no simple randomizer i have your scores
01:21:23one chef scored 80 the other chef scored an 82
01:21:30and the winner of tonight's final battle between chef jonathan wexman and chef vietbob is
01:21:35one chef vietbob is
01:21:58I grew up watching you.
01:22:00It's like a dream come true, you know?
01:22:02It was such an honor to be in your presence today.
01:22:04Well, honestly, the honor is really all mine,
01:22:06and you deserve to win, and congratulations.
01:22:09Chef Waxman, it was graceful, it was poetic,
01:22:12it was very mindful of what you put on the plate.
01:22:15You're one of a kind, my friend.
01:22:16I appreciate it.
01:22:17Ladies and gentlemen, the legend himself,
01:22:19Sir Jonathan Waxman.
01:22:21Thank you, Chef.
01:22:28I'm glad I did this.
01:22:29It really was fun.
01:22:31His whole career's ahead of him,
01:22:33and he has all the stuff to build on.
01:22:35That is the future of our business.
01:22:37I'm going to pass out, seriously.
01:22:40I cannot believe it.
01:22:42You just won your first big round
01:22:44inside of Tournament of Champions.
01:22:46Chef Waxman!
01:22:49Let's take a look at this, bud.
01:22:52If you look at this,
01:22:54but you and Shirley going head-to-head,
01:22:56you feel it?
01:22:57I feel it!
01:22:58Congratulations!
01:22:59I feel it!
01:23:00Chef Waxman, big win!
01:23:02We're so happy for you, man.
01:23:04Congratulations!
01:23:05Thanks, everyone.
01:23:11Yes!
01:23:12Yes!
01:23:12I won!
01:23:13I'm just going to shake your hand.
01:23:14How you doing?
01:23:14I'm doing good, man.
01:23:15You guys are good.
01:23:16Thank you, man.
01:23:17Wow.
01:23:17You honestly held a very cool,
01:23:19common collective in there.
01:23:19Like, it went by a million miles an hour.
01:23:23And the little chef in me
01:23:25who first opened up a cookbook
01:23:27and was inspired by some of these greats,
01:23:29such as Jonathan Waxman,
01:23:30this is why TOC is great.
01:23:32So the winners of the C Division battles
01:23:34have earned their spots
01:23:36in the next round of competition,
01:23:37but we still have one more division to go.
01:23:40Yes!
01:23:40Yes!
01:23:41Join us next time
01:23:42when the chefs of the D Division
01:23:43face off in the final night
01:23:45of the first round matchup
01:23:46and the battle for the final four spots.
01:23:49I forgot how crazy the show is.
01:23:50That's a banger.
01:23:51That's a banger.
01:23:52Plus, we'll reveal our final icon.
01:23:57I'll see you next week.
01:23:59Adios.
Comments