- Previously on Top Chef...
- Ugh.
- I'm sorry, we need to get someone here, please.
This is very, very important.
- Oh...
- Why didn't you guys stand up for the freakin' shrimp?
The point is to cook the shrimp.
[Mariachi music]
- Lindsay, she over there talking [bleep].
I'm feeling alone.
If she had an opinion about something, then say that.
You love driving the bus, hitting people.
- Keith.
Please pack your knives and go.
- Thank you for the opportunity.
- 15 chefs remain,
all hoping to win...
A feature in Food & Wine magazine,
a showcase at the annual Food & Wine classic in Aspen,
$125,000, furnished by Healthy Choice
to bring their culinary dreams to life.
And the title of Top Chef.
[Upbeat music]
♪ Top Chef: Texas 9x04 ♪ Red Hot Chili Cook Off Original Air Date on November 23, 2011
== sync by elderman ==
- It definitely was an eye-opening experience
for all of us.
- Did you guys talk about the shrimp?
Was that in there at all?
- Yeah--I mean, I had to.
- You guys turned against each other.
- I don't feel that we turned against each other.
Do you, Sarah? - I was honest.
- The reason why he went home was not because of the shrimp.
Keith stood by the flour tortilla
and said that's the only way he's had enchiladas.
And the team lost.
I'm okay admitting my faults but in a group challenge,
I gotta watch out for myself.
- Either have something really good to put on the plate,
or shut the [bleep] up.
- Tonight I definitely see people's true colors come out.
It's, like, turned cutthroat all of a sudden.
It's not so...
Fun anymore.
- Walking into the kitchen, I see this big board of chilies
and temperatures and dollar signs.
The beginning of my career was in southwestern cuisine,
so I love working with chilies.
- Good morning, chefs.
All: Good morning.
- Please welcome our guest judges,
two hot tamales and chefs and owners
of the Border Grill restaurants--
Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger.
- Good morning, chefs. - Welcome.
- Hola.
- Mary Sue and Susan from Top Chef Masters
are a breath of fresh air.
This is why I'm here on Top Chef,
to be able to cook for esteemed chefs like this.
This challenge is designed to reward those of you
who have the confidence to take risks.
Beside me is a table full of chili peppers.
A range in degree of heat from mild...
To incendiary.
Like the ghost chili...
The hottest chili in the world,
according to the scoville scale.
- The scoville scale goes from 2,000 to millions.
Some of these things are like eating a pile of fire.
- Your task is simple-- create a dish
highlighting one chili pepper.
There's up to $20,000 on the line here,
furnished by tabasco brand pepper sauces.
The hotter the pepper you choose,
the more money you stand to win.
- To really find the balance
and use those super-spicy chilies
without destroying the palate,
that takes a lot more skill and talent.
- Just want to remind you all,
we have to eat 15 of these dishes
so be careful.
[Laughter]
- Your time starts now.
[Fast-paced music]
♪ ♪
- As I'm tasting the chilies, the Anaheim is the one
that has the most refreshing flavor,
and it's definitely something you can eat raw,
like a crudités.
So I'm not doing it for the money.
I'm doing it to make the best tasting dish.
- I grabbed the Fresno pepper, because on the scoville unit,
it's one hotter than a jalapeno.
I'm not a spice fan.
So for this challenge, it's something that I feel
apprehensive about.
- Whoo! Sorry, guys.
- Do you want me to move? I'll move.
- Do you mind? - Nope.
- You know those people that go "aagh!"
And they put the fire strip in their mouth?
The ghost pepper's a lot like that.
- Hey, I got a big box of Kosher, friend.
Usually I'm a "go big or go home" type person,
but my stomach kind of has issues with spicy, spicy foods.
So I went for the 7,500 manzano.
Come on, chef, burn your hands.
I really hope that because I don't choose the ghost pepper
it's not gonna bring me down.
I'm praying to win that 7,500. That buys a lot of diapers.
- Coming up, coming up.
- 20 minutes, guys!
- I decide to make a date and pistachio couscous.
I want to use the Thai chili and some sort of pickling,
because it's going to highlight the chili itself
without overpowering the dish.
Hot!
I could win $10,000, but more importantly,
for me, I can win immunity.
- I'm going for irs payback.
I am definitely a spicy guy,
I got a spicy personality.
I choose the habanero because it's my absolute favorite.
In my family it's one of the only chilies that we use.
I have enough cans of habanero in my apartment to last me
through the next nuclear fallout.
- Um, I have habaneros.
I have to take down the heat, so I'm gonna cook it in syrup.
- Ten minutes!
My mom's side has a Korean background,
and I grew up eating spicy food.
I wanna do a habanero vinaigrette
with big, bold spicy flavors.
What I like to do is triple blanche it
and sort of remove some of that spice,
and you still keep the flavor.
- [Sighs]
I choose the ghost chili because the last quickfire
I was in the bottom, and this time
I wanna impress the judges.
That's hot. - [Bleep] Yeah, man.
- I'm the only one that grabs the ghost chili pepper.
I think everybody else wants to play it safe.
- Have I told you you're amazing lately?
- [Laughs] - The ghost pepper.
- A million scoville units?
That's all right, I'll stay away from that.
- Five minutes, you have five minutes left.
- Whose pan is this? I accidentally turned a knob.
- Coming around, arriba, arriba.
- Cutting board salad.
[Pan sizzling] - Hot nuts!
- I'm noticing I'm the only one who didn't cook my chili,
and I'm worried about how that could stand out
in a bad way.
- Tasting my dish, it's not as spicy
as I thought it was going to be.
Which worries me, 'cause it is a chili challenge
and you want heat.
- Hands up!
Utensils down.
- Aagh!
- Okay, don't touch your eyes.
- I want a hug. - [Laughs]
- Hi, Beverly. - Hi, how are you?
I put the Anaheim in the ssamjang.
This is like a cream crudités.
- Are the chilies cooked?
- No, I wanted you to really enjoy the freshness
and the beauty of the chili itself.
- Great. - Thank you so much.
- Thank you.
- I used the Fresno chili
that are a little more mild.
So it's a salmon belly seared with a Fresno chili
herb balsamic relish.
- I needed one last bite.
I hope I don't have chilies on my hand now.
- I hope you don't too. - Well, that's all right.
I wanted to sort of balance with sweet and acid.
So you have a pineapple curd, a Fresno chili
sort of slaw, seared bay scallops,
and then a sweet and hot glazing on top of it all.
- Yeah. - Thank you, Richie.
- Thank you very much.
- So what this is is buffalo hot wings.
You have tabasco sauce and celery with seared chicken,
manzano vinaigrette.
I like the fruitiness of this chili.
- I used Thai chili.
So I just did a coconut soup,
fused it with the Thai chili.
Kaffir lime, sour cream, yuzu broth, so it's vegetarian.
- And did the money have anything to do
with the chili you picked?
- Kind of, sort of, but I really like Thai chilies.
- Thank you.
- I made date and pistachio couscous
and I did a quick pickle of cucumbers, red onion,
and the Thai chilies.
So it's gonna give you a little bit of a kick.
- It's interesting, 'cause you definitely feel the heat.
- I picked the habanero.
As a kid, my dad grew 40-50 pounds
of habanero in our backyard. - Oh, okay.
- I owe Uncle Sam some bucks, so I'm definitely trying to
make some paper.
It's a tomato habanero sauce,
marinated the scallop and achiote
and sautéed it.
- Fresh tomato?
- No, they're the canned ones.
I just kind of popped them in the wood oven--
just get a little of, like, kind of a smoky flavor to them.
- Achiote y naranja agria, that combo is a smart combo.
For sure. - Thanks.
- I used habanero.
I stuffed it with cheddar cheese.
I really like the sweetness of corn
with spice.
This is a creamy lime sauce.
- That bite of habanero had a kick.
- I prepared a charred baby fennel
and rock shrimp composition.
There is a habanero in the vinaigrette
and in the rock shrimp marinade.
Tossed in a little bit of queso fresco
and kalamata olives.
- Thank you, Nyesha. - Thank you.
- Hi, Paul.
- You're the only one who used-- - the ghost pepper.
- Tell me it was for the money.
- It was for the money, and it was to test my skill.
- Good for you. What did you do?
- I did a chilled coconut soup with kafir lime.
- How did you incorporate the chili into it?
- It's a ghost pepper relish with apricots and corn.
- How much of, uh, chili is in there?
- One pepper.
- You thought we could handle it.
- I'm on Top Chef, so it's, like, go big or go home.
I'm sweating because I don't get any feedback.
I have no idea what they're thinking.
- Tell us how the chefs did overall.
- Some of you, I think, were a little bit wimpier
in your use of chilies, and some of you took it on
and made a stronger statement.
- Tell us your least favorites.
- Beverly...
For Top Chef,
you didn't do enough with the chili to really change it
or highlight it or make it different.
- Richie...
I think the whole presentation--great.
But it was just sweet and sweet and so you lost the power
of the chili.
Chuy...
Your dish speaks to us from the Yucatan,
using achiote.
But what didn't work was the canned tomato
overpowered any use of the chilies.
- I work with chilies all the time,
and being called out really makes me feel like crap
and I just kind of wanna die under the table.
- Who are our favorite dishes today?
- Heather.
The Thai chili really brought heat to it.
Your dish was exactly the kind of food
I love to eat.
- Thank you very much.
- Grayson...
It was really exciting to see you take a whole habanero
and serve it as a dish.
Totally showcased the chili.
Was well-balanced and a really smart dish.
- Thank you.
- And Paul...
I loved how you went after that ghost chili,
had the confidence to do it,
and it was really quite a delicious dish.
- Thank you, chef.
- One of you will take the money home today
and immunity in the next challenge.
- Heather, if you win, you get $10,000.
Grayson, you'd get $12,500.
And Paul, you'd get $20,000.
Susan and Mary Sue, who won this quickfire?
- The person we felt that just completely
hit it out of the park...
- Susan and Mary Sue...
Who won this quickfire?
- The person we felt that just completely
hit it out of the park...
Was Paul.
- Whew.
[Applause]
- Congratulations. - Thank you.
- You win immunity and $20,000,
furnished by tabasco brand pepper sauces.
- Whoo! - Wow.
[Applause]
- I took the risk and it paid off.
$20,000 is a big, huge confidence booster,
considering I was in the bottom the last quickfire.
Right now I'm definitely somebody to watch out for.
- You will be competing in an age-old Texas tradition.
The chili cook-off.
- Whoo! - Yeah!
- I cook a lot of chili myself,
especially if it's cold outside
and it's snowing.
So I'm really confident about this challenge.
- Please pull a pot from under your station
and open them up.
These are your team colors.
- Blue.
- White. - Green.
- Orange.
- I hope you like who you're standing next to.
- Very happy.
- I'm not happy about my team.
Richie's been in the bottom. Beverly is very meek.
I'm hoping that I'm not
gonna have to carry the team on my back.
- This is your opportunity
to make something really unusual.
Every region has its own chili.
- And the thing I love about this challenge
is that it's gonna test your skill
at team dynamics.
- I'm a little worried about being on a team with Sarah,
given what happened on the last challenge.
- Why didn't you guys stand up for the freakin' shrimp?
- You have to be careful making excuses.
- Yeah, but someone's going home,
not just necessarily for what they did.
- Her interactions with Keith just brought the team apart.
- Chili takes a long time to cook.
So for this challenge, there is no clock.
All: Ooh!
- Because you'll be cooking at your house.
All: Ooh!
- [Laughs]
- Just be ready by 7:00 pm tomorrow
at one of Texas' oldest sporting competitions.
The Tejas rodeo.
- Yeah! - Yeah!
[Applause]
- I grew up going to rodeos and to livestock shows
since I was a little girl.
My dad was a bull rider, and I know that he would tell me
to make sure that there's a lot of meat in the chili.
- You'll be serving over 200 cowboys and rodeo regulars.
And they'll be choosing the winning team.
- Jesus. - Good luck.
- All right, let's go to beef right now.
- 30 pounds of brisket. - Brisket.
- 30 pounds. - 30 pounds.
- Can somebody help me?
- Beef brisket with a fat cap on it.
- Can I get it with the fat cap on?
It's like a madhouse at the meat counter.
- Don't waste your time cutting it, I'll take it.
- Because you gotta fight the other teams
in order to get the meat.
I wanted it close to 30 pounds.
- I'll take that one right there.
- Is there any other butcher that can help me?
- Whitney and Chris are getting the other things for the chili,
and I'm left to deal with the meat.
I need about 22 more pounds of brisket.
I was the first person to come up here and ask for it.
I don't understand how we got [bleep] out here for 30 pounds.
Do you have more short ribs?
Can I get 20 pounds? - Yes.
- Pans for the corn bread? You got it?
- No, I did not get those. Thank you very much.
- Five minutes, five minutes!
- $13.99 each.
- Now we're gonna have to find what to take off.
What are we gonna do with all this?
- That's corn bread if we have time--if we have money.
- We haven't got this on through yet.
- Okay, I'm just putting it here, all right?
- There's just something about Sarah
that rubs me the wrong way.
I'm already starting to see that bitchy side of her.
- I just wanna be able to see how much that costs.
- Can we do this by order of importance?
- Yup, meat first.
- 200 people is a lot to serve
and I know that cowboys can eat a lot,
so I'm worried that the amount of food we have
is not gonna be enough.
- Excuse me.
- Coming through, coming through.
- Nobody take my breast milk, okay?
- Beverly, Richie and I all have a plan
on what we're gonna grab.
Richie grabs all the equipment,
Beverly grabbed produce, and I grab all of the beer.
- You bitch! She took all our beer!
- You have to do what you need to do
in order to succeed.
- Oh, you got one? Nice.
- Oh, it's been claimed.
I went outside and started setting up my grilling area,
and it is hot outside.
It has to be 100-plus in the sun.
Ooh.
I really want to cook in the fireplace and use all that great
wood smoke flavor.
- This is my spot, all right? Don't let anyone--
- This is my spot right here.
There's not that much equipment to use.
Just like a riot, people take what they need.
You know, every man for themselves.
We both have called it out and claimed it.
- Let's set up the prep here, Dakota.
- Yeah. - He's using the plate
and the--both? - Yes.
- Chris.
I'll give you a sheet pan if you give me this grate.
- I'm the grill bitch today.
But I need the sheet pan back.
No matter what, I need to claim our space
in this, like, fireplace.
- Can I get a second to figure out
which one I actually really want, 100%?
- Sure, we'll-- I'll come back.
- It smells really good.
I think we need a girl to sell it to all the cowboys.
- I will-- my dad was a bull rider, so--
- that's so awesome. That is so awesome.
- Our team is making chili con carne,
a texan beef Chuck chili with roasted corn salsa.
We have enough charisma in this group--nice.
- [Laughs]
- The scrappy pieces are gonna be the braise,
and then we're gonna do really nice back cuts
for the actual chili.
We're cooking braised brisket short rib chili.
Braising meats is one of those techniques
that the longer you take with it,
the more flavor you're really gonna extract.
10-4, bringing up some spice.
We just go ahead and go in for the long haul.
We're gonna be up all night
making this the best chili we can make it.
- I feel like we're off to a good start.
- I'm gonna cook all of this down
and make a nice, really flavorful thick paste to
flavor all of the chili with.
- Okay.
- We're serving a mole chili with corn bread.
Our chili is so different from what I see
everyone else doing.
I think that's gonna be a distinct advantage.
- How do you want the jalapenos?
- Do you think we should, like, roast them out first
or something, or--?
- That'd be nice.
- Oh, my God, and it closes.
- Ho-ho! Set it and forget it. - I'm done.
- So the next thing we gotta do is--
- Hey, chefs.
- Tom walks in and took us all very much by surprise.
- Chocolate in the chili, all right.
- A little bit.
- You're the first person so far.
- Is that right? - Yeah.
What else is going in the chili?
- Tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, celery, beef stock.
And cook everything down. - Uh-huh.
Now do you have much experience with chili?
- Minimal.
- Good luck. - Cool, thank you, chef.
- So that's the rest. That's done.
- Hey, chef. - Hi, chef.
- How are you? - How are you?
- What's going on there? What do you have?
- Both short ribs and brisket. - Okay.
- And we made a spice rub for them.
We're making a very concerted effort to pull as much flavor
out of the meat as we can and make a very savory broth.
And we feel really confident about what we're doing.
- No secret ingredient?
- We can't tell you that secret ingredient.
- Paul, you wanna start sautéing the veg?
- Hey, chef. - Yeah.
- Hi, Tom! - What are you guys up to?
- We're, uh, smoking some brisket.
- Okay.
- Yeah, and some short ribs underneath.
Even though the guests are choosing the winner
of the chili cook-off, the judges are the ones
that are gonna be sending someone
from the losing team home.
We're gonna pickle some peaches.
- That goes in, or is that a side?
- It's gonna be on the side. - What's that all about?
- Well, I think you gotta really layer the flavors of the chili.
Tom said, "oh, you're using peaches?"
Now I'm second-guessing myself.
This could be a complete and utter disaster.
- All right, come here. - Whoo!
- [Laughs]
- Do it! - [Bleep]!
- Oh! I did it!
- Look at that gigantc star.
- I'm getting very tired.
- Use your teeth.
- [Laughs] - Holy [bleep], do it!
- [Bleep]! - Oh, I did it!
- Oh! - [Laughs]
- Driveth away.
- All right. - [Screams]
Oh, my God!
- Hey, I'm a little lost. Anybody seen the caves?
- Oh, my God. - No?
- Where did you get that?
- Oh, I love it.
- Winding into the late hours of the night,
we're all kind of out of it.
- Look at that gigantic star.
- I'm so [bleep] tired.
- Several times throughout the evening we have to remind chuy
that the beer is for cooking
and not ingesting.
- Oh! - [Giggles]
- I graduated high school at about 110 pounds.
I was seriously all muscle.
- We get to hear about 20 stories a day
of his accomplishments or his father inventing chili.
- I have muscles in places where I didn't even have places yet.
- I've dubbed him as "the most interesting man in the world."
- You guys are pansies. Come on.
[Laughter]
- Chili has this magical thing about it
that the longer is cooks, the better it tastes.
Would I like to be done?
Of course, but there's no sleep till the rodeo.
Chili's an all-nighter.
- One, two, three.
The chili is finished.
Everything is tasting amazing.
I feel that our team has made something special.
- Did you get the cinnamon at the end?
- Mm-hm. - I think it's really nice.
- It's the sort of chili that you would love to eat
on a rainy day.
Is anybody trying to sleep at this point?
- Um, I'm sleeping right here.
- All three of us decide to stay up
because we know that this is a competition
and we have to be with this until the end.
- I'm actually taking a nap.
- I know my eyes are open,
but I'm actually....
- All right.
I'm gonna go jump in the shower then.
- Good night. - Nighty night.
- See you in the morning.
I'll still be picking cilantro.
- Oh, wow.
- This is the picture of exhaustion.
- [Clears throat]
- Morning, people.
- Oh, good morning, how are you doing today?
- Oh, just a little ray of light over here.
Wake up this morning...
Dead tired.
How late did you hang out?
- Oh, as soon as you went to bed,
the bugs outside started attacking.
- Some people didn't even sleep all night
and I'm thinking, "how are they gonna
"make it today?
This is gonna be a late night coming up."
- Hey, are you guys all excited we're going to a rodeo?
- I really am. - I am.
- I kinda am. - I'm excited!
- Do they ride stallions?
Like... [Laughter]
- Oh, yeah, dude. We're in Texas.
- [Laughs]
- All right, you rodeo clowns,
let's mosey on outta here.
- Whoo!
- Yee-haw!
- At this point, we're all kind of cuckoo,
'cause we were up all night.
- Ooh.
- But we hop in the Toyota Siennas and head off
to the rodeo.
- Why you gotta do that? - Sorry.
- Is this gonna be, like, 10,000 screaming cowboys
at this thing?
- They, like, "Armor All" the [bleep] steers' coats.
- Are you serious? - Oh, yeah.
- I think it's, like, cold and lonely--
- Yeah. - Being out here.
- Cold and lonely and you could get murdered
and no one would know it.
- Let's go, guys.
- [Laughs]
- Giddy up!
I'm excited--I get my cowgirl hat on immediately,
'cause this is making me feel at home.
We have one hour to prep for service.
I'm happy that we have the time to really
heat up the chili slowly to make sure that it
gets really hot but doesn't scorch.
- No scorching, no scorching.
I'm on reheat duty. It's a lot of chili to reheat
and if you're not constantly stirring it,
you have a tendency to burn the bottom.
I do not want all this work and effort going out the window.
Heating, transferring, heating, transferring.
- Ed, you're a genius!
- Oh, did I just reveal myself to everyone?
- Thanks for the winning secret, buddy!
- I get that chocolate now.
- Now I get the chocolate, yeah.
- The hardest part of this so far has been
finishing in the bottom on both quickfires.
But, you know, it's a brand-new day.
I think we have a good tasting chili.
I made this corn bread, so I feel confident
in my contribution to our team.
- The carrot is lacking.
- Let's do some salt.
- I'm about to go back there and grab that bottle
or "hot damn" and start pouring it down your throat
unless you start smiling, missy.
- Me? - Yes.
- I've worked in street stalls from Bangkok to 5th Avenue.
I love interacting with people,
and I'm gonna be completely in my element.
- Save a horse, ride a cowboy.
- What else do we got in our magic bag of tricks?
- You wanna differentiate it from all the other chilies.
- Good?
- I like it. I think salt and we're good.
- Just plain scraps? - Yup.
Tell me what you think.
The cowboys are gonna be deciding
who wins the chili cook-off, but the judges decide
on who is going home, and I'm concerned about
how much heat we've put into this chili.
I'm really hoping we don't burn someone's palate out.
We don't have a sign on our station, do we?
- We're gonna have a sign, it's gonna be my loud mouth
saying everybody needs to come over here.
- [Giggles]
- Uh-oh, here we go.
- How are you guys doing today?
- You guys ready to try some chili?
- Absolutely.
- We see some serious cowboys and cowgirls
walking up.
I don't know if you can mosey.
I'm not a moseyer, really.
I don't mosey in my everyday life.
- Maybe we should trade hats.
Give me my hat back. - Absolutely.
- All right.
- Our chili has been cooking the longest.
Just so you all know. - Looks good, smells good.
- Nobody told me how slippery these were.
- We're white. Don't vote blue!
- Red team!
- There is some soul in there.
- I grew up here and I knew--no beans.
- This is the authentic chili right there.
When service starts I go,
"wow, these people are really Texas."
- Texas chili doesn't have beans in it.
- No.
- They're, like, "oh, is this real Texas chili?"
And I'm just, like, "yes, sir, it is.
There's no beans in this whatsoever, y'all."
And Sarah's milking the whole "I'm from Houston" thing.
She's gonna charm the dudes, Chris is gonna charm the ladies.
We have a good game plan.
Everything was made with a lot of love
and, uh, a lot of beer in us and in the chili.
- There you go.
- And one of them is from Texas.
- [Gasps] - Born and raised texan.
[Indistinct chatter]
- This is the black team. A mole inspired chili.
- On the old cattle drives, they didn't have the sour cream.
- Is that right?
- Yeah, they're just ol' beef and beans.
- Seeing their demographic, it might be a little bit
too complex for this group.
But if we don't come out on top from the opinion of the cowboys,
I'm hoping that the judges see that we didn't play it safe.
- I've never tasted chili like this before.
That's why it's so good.
- Really? The mole the best?
- Mm-hmm.
- Hi. - Hey, how you doing, man?
What's up? What's happening?
- A shiner. - Uh-huh.
- Cheers, Tom.
- Somebody needs to open this for me.
I don't have any feeling in that finger.
Keep going.
A weird bagel accident. Don't ask.
- That's a hard one. - Oh, no.
- Thank you.
Thank you, pardner.
[Bottles clinking]
Never send a man to do a woman's job.
- That's right. - [Laughs]
- All right, let's go taste some chili.
- Hello, hi.
How are you?
- We made a traditional chili, no beans.
We did beef chuck, the old wagon way.
Then we hit it off with a lot of shiner bock,
reduced that.
- And your garnish?
It's a roasted corn,
we're all white onion,
avocado, lime, salt, then a little bit of cilantro.
- Nice, nice. - Thanks.
- Much obliged, much obliged. - Thank you.
- It's got a little bit of kick to it, that's--
you gotta have a Texas chili that's got some kick to it.
- Right. - We should cook this
for dinner with the tacos. - [Laughs] Yeah.
- I love the depth of flavor that they got out of it.
- Yeah, and you know, it grows on you.
The first bite I had, it was, like,
"eh, it's okay." And it just--it grows.
It just gets better and better.
- It is a little thin, though.
I sort of wish there was something to soak it up.
- I would have served it with maybe a tortilla
or some chips or something-- 'cause you're right.
It's got a lot of sauce.
- Vote green, vote green.
- Judges. - Enjoy.
- Hello, welcome to the red table.
We have a braised brisket and short rib chili.
We built the flavors, we built our own stock
with the bones from the short ribs.
There you go.
- Good luck! - Thanks a lot.
- Yee-haw!
Hey, step right up! - Chili's back on!
- Taste our chili!
- I just don't like the texture.
- I think the red team has a great
kind of subtle smokiness. - Mm-hmm.
- And just the right amount of heat.
- It's seasoned well. - It is.
- Yeah.
- A good amount of cumin comes through.
But there's also a good amount of acid.
- The texture of the red team's chili
is a little bit stringy for sure.
- Do y'all have any beans in your chili?
- No beans in our chili. - You know what?
- I have to say,
anybody who knows beans about chili knows
chili ain't got no beans.
- Yeah! Whoo!
- All right.
- It's very spicy.
- It was spicy but it wasn't--
- and I can taste the brisket, I liked that.
- Remember...
Blue means best. - Yes!
- Hi, welcome.
We have a smoked brisket chili,
with some pickled peaches, radishes, [Indistinct].
Just a little pickling spice, and we're pork rinds
right on the top of the chili.
- Nice, thank you, guys.
- I like the crunchy-- - you've got the crunchy,
you've got the chewiness of the meat.
- You've got the spiciness.
- What's with the pickled peaches?
It's now my official favorite thing to eat with chili.
Delicious. - Blue team did a great job
with vegetables, hot sauce. The chili, mmm...
- It's got summer pickles and pork rinds.
- Thank you. - There you go.
- Thank you very much. - You're welcome.
- Hi. - Hi.
- How are you?
So we have a mole inspired chili
by using the bittersweet chocolate,
some cinnamon, just get the sweet in there.
And the complexity of the flavors.
- Okay. - Enjoy it.
- The black team's corn bread is definitely moister,
it's got more flavor.
- Unfortunately for them, it's not a corn bread contest.
- I just wish the black team had made more of a focus
of what they were going after.
- But they intended for it to be a chili that reminded us
of mole, and that's exactly what it is.
- Sweet! - Ooh.
- Nice! - Woo-hoo!
- Hi, guys.
- Thank you.
- Number five is the worst. You should put in one.
- I wish the white team hadn't have put
the pickled vegetables in the chili.
- I loved the pickle in it.
I love that acid in it, but...
I like acid. - Yeah.
- Okay, done.
- I was afraid I was gonna taste all these chilies
and they were gonna all taste the same to me,
but each one was completely different.
- I have to say I'm glad we're not choosing the winner
'cause I think we'd have a really hard time doing that.
- But we still have to choose the losing team,
and that in itself I think is gonna be really hard.
- Tom, there were a couple of teams
that were less successful. Who do you think those were?
- The black team...
Just ate way too sweet for me.
- You got that sort of chocolatey mole-ness,
but it didn't eat like a chili, it didn't feel like a chili
and I wanted more heat.
- I feel 1,000 times better today than I did last night.
- Yeah.
So many people came back for seconds, I couldn't believe it.
- As much as I liked the red team's flavor,
the shredded meat I just didn't care for.
- It was the one I wanted to take the least amount
of continued bites.
- Wow, we had enough. - Yeah, we did good.
- With the red team,
I still liked the flavor-- - the flavor was great.
- More than the white team.
The white team's didn't have any heat,
so that was sort of flat for me.
- I think ours is [bleep] phenomenal.
- Well, I guess we're just gonna have to wait and see
what the diners thought once the votes are tallied.
- It is really good.
I feel a sense of accomplishment.
Ty-lor and I both were in the bottom
on the first challenge,
but I will not go back there.
Not this time.
Hell no.
[Laughs]
[Cheers and applause]
- How much more can you throw at us?
- I feel sick to my stomach.
- Hey, everybody!
It's time to go rodeo!
- All right, let's go, let's do it.
- Yeah!
[Cheers and applause]
- I am the giver of life. I am the giver of life.
- Service was definitely difficult,
but the round of applause was really comforting
and such a great feeling.
- Whoo!
- Tejas rodeo stampede center stage!
- The rodeo is so cool.
I've never been to Texas-- seeing this whole new sport.
That's truly, truly a magical experience.
[Cheers and applause]
- Whoo! Yeah!
- Wow, look at that.
- I am just thinking about
how much I wish my husband was here
to experience this.
It's a good thing, you know?
It's, like, I'm happy.
- It's such a happy moment, everyone is on good spirits
and on a professional level, it's just weird.
I'm used to very hardcore chefs.
There's no crying in cooking.
He'll get the chance.
- Oh, I have no doubt. - Yeah.
- I have no doubt in my mind.
- You're gonna make me cry.
On a personal level,
I'm a very compassionate person.
But you can't let your emotions show with the rest of the group
because then they perceive you as weak.
Now you know where all the good spots are.
- Yeah, definitely, all the memories that we have here.
I'll never forget. - Yup.
- Rodeo fans, it is now time
to introduce the 2011 Tejas rodeo chili cook-off winner.
[Cheers and applause]
- Whoo!
- Seeing Padma on a horse, it's like looking at Fabio
on the cover of one of his romance novels
with his hair blowing in the wind.
It's just pure beauty.
Am I sweating again?
- I wanna thank everyone for coming.
It's been a wonderful evening.
Fans...
The winner of the 2011 Tejas chili cook-off...
Is...
The green team!
- Yeah! - Congratulations.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah!
- It feels awesome.
We knew what they like in their chili,
and it makes me proud to be a Texan.
Oh, my gosh.
- Unfortunately,
black team, you served the judges'
least favorite chili, and someone from your team
will be going home.
- My heart sinks into a puddle of despair.
- But, we're gonna give you one last chance to prove
that you belong here.
- Don't tell me another wrench thrown in the mix.
We were up cooking throughout the night already.
How much more can you throw at us?
- Your task is to transform that losing chili
into a winning dish.
You have 30 minutes to cook here.
- Oh, [bleep], what am I gonna do?
It's scary, you're so tired
and emotionally drained.
I feel sick to my stomach.
- Your time...
Starts now.
- Get it together. Get it to[bleep]gether.
Running into that kitchen, I have to draw inspiration
from the depths of my soul that I didn't know existed.
Our teammates are now our enemies.
We're all fighting for our lives at this point.
- I'm a little-- really [bleep] pissed off.
- 'Cause I don't know what I'm gonna do right now.
- Nyesha and Beverly seem kind of defeated,
but I'm feeling confident and very focused.
Come on, buddy, get hot.
I'm gonna repurpose my chili a couple of different ways.
I see fritos, so I'm thinking I can
coat pork tenderloin in the fritos.
It's something unique to keep myself in this game.
Uh, 21 minutes left!
[Glass clattering]
- You okay? - Yeah.
- Uh...
Maybe...
I'm thinking about what I can do with the chili dish,
and it's not coming together right away.
Can I just--take one.
- There's... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Take it, take it.
- So I start going into survival mode.
I strained the chili and it creates this beautiful sauce.
So I'm thinking, "what if I crusted some tuna
in chili spices."
- It's ready...
Those to wait.
My plan is to use the gravy part of the chili as a sauce
and do a frito-crusted shrimp salad.
At this point I'm just completely running on "e."
Whew.
- I wouldn't wanna be in their shoes right now.
- I keep thinking about if it was me,
what would I do?
What the hell would you make?
I would be petrified.
- This is just so intense.
I'm anxious, I'm nervous.
I want Richie to come out of this.
He's my best little buddy.
Richie, he would get you--like,
"oh, I need a kidney right now."
He'd actually take it out of his [bleep]--
- no. - And hand it out to you.
He would, he's strong enough to do that.
- [Laughs]
- 30 seconds.
[Timer beeps]
- When I finish the last plate I'm, like,
"you're an idiot, you didn't put enough sauce on the plate."
The left side and the right side of the brain were not speaking
to each other.
- I took the similar spices that I used in the chili itself.
Dusted it on top of the tuna, seared it,
and then I made a habanero pineapple salsa on top.
- You have a frito-crusted black tiger shrimp
with a salsa of roasted corn
and a reduction of the mole sauce.
- I also used fritos.
I encrusted a pork tenderloin,
there's a Yukon gold potato hash,
a ricotta cheese and chili puree,
and some more of the chili puree on the side.
- Thank you all.
[Applause]
- I was disappointed in Richie's dish,
it lacked seasoning.
- It was very one-note,
there was no brightness in the dish at all.
- I do think in 30 minutes Richie did a lot.
He got potatoes, he got cheese,
he got a breaded piece of meat on there.
- I think Nyesha did a beautiful job on her shrimp,
but the entire dish needed sauce.
- It was somewhat disappointing.
This little corn salad that she put together.
It's just shaved raw corn off the kernel,
that's it-- it's not dressed with anything.
What is this?
- It was almost as if Nyesha and Richie
were embarrassed about the mole, whereas Beverly just
made a very imaginative way of using it,
and she showed off her skill.
- It's a bit rich, but-- - but it's balanced.
- Yeah.
- And Beverly, you know, she changed the flavor profile.
- Mm-hmm.
- I'm worried about this dish.
I've come a long way to spend time away from my family,
so this has to be-- I can't go home now.
- Going through all the trials and tribulations to get here,
to fall short at this point would really suck.
I'm good.
- You cool? - Yeah.
- I whisper in his ear, just "emotions kill."
I want Richie to come out of this
and get to the end of this competition with me.
To show that we are the best.
- Are we all in agreement? - I think so.
- Yeah.
- All right, let's get them out here.
[Suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- The challenge was to repurpose your chili
and turn it into a new dish.
Beverly, you managed to fix all the flaws in that chili,
and also come up with a new dish.
We all agree that it was our favorite.
You are safe.
Nice work tonight.
- [Quietly] Thank you.
- Nyesha, your dish we thought was nice.
It just didn't go far enough.
You didn't use the chili and repurpose it,
you kind of put it on the plate as an afterthought.
You definitely could have taken that a lot further.
Richie, imagination wasn't your issue,
you had this great idea.
It just never came together.
The dish struck one note-- there was no acid,
there was no spice.
You guys cooked last night all night long
and had a good time doing it,
and I think Stark reality set in
that someone is gonna go home tonight.
[Suspenseful music]
- Richie...
Please pack your knives and go.
- And thank you for this opportunity.
- Good luck to you. - Thank you.
- Thanks.
- [Sniffling, crying]
It's me.
I love you, man.
- No, no, no, no. - I'm sorry.
- Hey, hey, it's all right.
Huh? - All right.
- [Bleep] That. [Bleep] That.
- It's too soon.
You can prep yourself cooking all you want,
but you can't prep yourself for the emotional strain.
It is absolutely much harder than it looks.
- I love you.
- Richie is an amazing chef,
and I don't want him to feel like this is a reflection
of the person he is.
- Uh, good luck, everybody.
- Bye, Richie. - Bye, Richie.
- The words I have for Chris-- keep doing what we do.
Be the jedi you are and make it to the finals
and win it all.
- Next on Top Chef.
- Goin' to Dallas!
- They closed the highway.
- I'm, like, "oh, great."
- Proof of liability insurance.
- Oh, that's gonna be an issue.
- This is your kitchen. - Wow.
John Besh is a handsome man. I'm not gonna lie.
- I just pulled my back. [Bleep]!
Hi.
I can smell the smell of money.
You can pretend to smoke if you like it.
Man come on, this is Top Chef
== sync by elderman ==