Beat Bobby Flay (2013–…): Season 10, Episode 9 - Thanks But No Thanksgiving - full transcript

I'm Bobby Flay.

Each week, one brave chef will
try to take me down in my house.

I wanna beat you, Bobby.

I wanna send you
into retirement.

What?
-Audience: Ooh.

This culinary battle is gonna
shake down in two rounds.

Round 1 -- To get to me,

two contenders
have to go through each other

using an ingredient
of my choice.

I gotta go through
two old guys today.

Whoa-oa!
-Take it easy.



Two people that know me well

will decide
who's got the skills to beat me.

-Yeah!
-Round 2 --

I go head-to-head
with the winning contender.

It's their turn to surprise me
with their signature dish.

I wanna take you down.

-Something's burning.
-Oh.

You should be
nervous, bro.

What is wrong with you?!

Don't call it a comeback.
-Audience: Ohhh!

Everyone's out to beat me.
Let's get it on.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

I'm very thankful
you're all here.

Let's get
the festivities started.



Joining me tonight is

Chef Scott Conant

and a woman who needs
no introduction:

Martha Stewart.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

-Happy Thanksgiving.
-We have a turkey, right?

Martha, so good
to see you here.

It is very fun
to be here.

Scott is a veteran
of "Beat Bobby Flay."

It's really
his second job.

I need all the help I can get.

I trust in Martha.

We all trust in Martha.
-Yes. Exactly.

You give us knowledge
without even trying.

Agreed.
-Thanksgiving is what
we're celebrating today.

I love Thanksgiving.
I raise my own turkeys.

Of course you do.

Shockingly, I don't.

You have to feed your turkeys
a cup of vodka each

before

It relaxes all their muscles.

Wouldn't you rather be relaxed,
if you were gonna have

your head chopped off?
-Absolutely.

Maybe you should
have a vodka now.

I can tell this is gonna be
a tough Thanksgiving for me,

so why don't we get
this thing started?

Excellent.
-Giddy-up.

From New York, please welcome
executive chef Ed Cotton.

Our next contender is
a master of Moroccan flavors.

Please welcome
Chef Omar Zerrei.

Scott and Martha
can't think of a better way

to celebrate Thanksgiving

than by having
one of you guys beat me.

Unfortunately, only one of you

will get that opportunity
tonight 'cause first

you must go through each other.
-Audience: Ooh.

You'll have 20 minutes
to make one ingredient

the star of your dish
and that ingredient is

a Thanksgiving favorite:
butternut squash.

Audience: Ooh.

I love workin'
with butternut squash.

It's very versatile.

It's not something
that we have in Morocco,

but it's something
that I've grown to love.

You have 20 minutes
on the clock.

Ready? Go.

I would do
a little lasagna.

Squash is the noodle?
-The squash is the noodle.

- I love puréed...something.
- Yeah.

You could always make
an amazing soup.

Butternut squash is obviously
a very Thanksgiving ingredient.

You have to break it down in
a way that it can cook quickly.

You know, butternut squash
is a fruit

-I did not know that.
-because of the seeds inside,

just like cucumbers.

They're so flavorful
and they're not so fibrous.

I love hanging out
with Martha Stewart.

I'm tellin' you,
it's a life lesson.

Can we get a bottle of
champagne and just kick it?

I'm makin' roasted-
butternut-squash soup

with cinnamon-spiced cranberries
and whipped cream.

I'm gonna start workin'
on the base of the soup.

Butternut squash, carrots,
onions, celery;

and chicken stock
is gonna give it body.

Audience: Whoo!
-So Ed has cranberries,

red wine.
-Oh.

So he's keeping with the
Thanksgiving theme, it sounds.

I boil dried cranberries
in red wine and let them steep.

-How you doin', Ed?
-Feelin' pretty good.

I grew up in the kitchen.
My dad ran a restaurant.

After culinary school,
I cut my teeth with

Cat Cora on "Iron Chef America,"
as her sous chef.

Ed, quit cuttin' that little
cheese and get over here

and give me some help.
-Beating these great chefs

was some of the most fun
I've ever had.

Now, I'm not here with Cat,
but I've got serious skills.

So head for the hills, Bobby,

because I definitely know
my way around a kitchen.

I plan on adding
Moroccan spices

to the sweetness of the squash.

I'm makin' a butternut-squash
shermula breakfast hash

with some eggs.

Last night, I had Moroccan food

at the Moroccan
ambassador's house.

Delicious.

I guess we weren't
invited, Bobby.

I was born in Casablanca
and I was raised

in New York City.

I started a Moroccan
catering company.

Morocco has some of
the best food in the world

and I'm very lucky that I get
to share it with you all.

I work 7 days a week,
18-hour days,

and I'm here to represent myself

and my country
and my traditions.

So, Bobby, bring all
those Southwest spices,

'cause I got spices
in Morocco, too.

It's gonna be a great faceoff.

Chefs, you have 16 minutes.

Whaddya got?
-Cranberries,

steeped in red wine.

Enchanté.

Oh, my.

I like when you
speak French to me.

Oui.

I add cinnamon stick
to my cranberry mixture

for the Thanksgivingy flavor.

-Good luck, Chef.
-Thank you.

How are you, Chef?
What are these spices?

So this is the base
for like a classic shermula.

This is like
a Moroccan chimichurri.

-Mmm.
-I have garlic, cilantro,

paprika. It's a concentration
of Moroccan flavors.

Got a little love
for these guys?

What's goin' on?
-So Ed is making a soup.

He has some cranberries
cooking in a spiced red wine.

He's sticking
with real autumnal spices.

Omar has butternut-
squash hash.

And then he's gonna
put some eggs on top.

Really?

So I wanna make a whipped cream

to melt its way
into the hot soup.

-You makin' us a cake?
-You don't want a cake from me.

I feel the same way.

I grab some cream
and cinnamon.

I'm just goin' for a light whip.

I want to give the butternut
squash the rough chop

because perfecting tiny cubes
is such a waste of time.

I add red onion for crispiness,

put in lemon and cilantro.

I'm dyin' to see
what they're doing.

Omar, I wanna taste that.

This is the start
of a collaboration cookbook

comin' out pretty soon,
"Omar and Martha."

I think it's gonna be called
"Omartha" or something.

Anytime.
Anytime.

Omartha.

I'm missing that natural

butternut-squash color
to my soup,

so I add turmeric.

I love butternut-squash soup.
-So do I.

You don't have to talk,
if you don't want to.

I would love to talk to you.
When do you get a chance

to talk
to Martha Stewart?

I'd help you, if I could.

I can't.

Only 5 minutes left.

I'm feelin' the pressure

and I need to get my mixture
right into the blender.

Omar, he's making just

like pan roast
of big cubes of squash.

Those pieces of squash
are so large,

I don't know if they'll
cook all the way through.

Chef Ed, his soup looks
like a finished dish.

-Yeah.
-His looks more like

really good home-cooking.
-Got it.

- 1 minute and 40 seconds.
- Let's go.

A little panic sets in
'cause my eggs are not cooked,

so I start breaking
some eggs.

My soup is blended,

so I'm passing it through
a chinois to get it smooth.

Now I wanna add
the whipped cream.

I look over.
It's just like butter.

I overwhipped it.
-Audience: Ohhh!

I can't serve this.

45 seconds!

Ay ay ay.

Get it on the plate,
chefs.

Audience:
Let's go, Omar!

The crowd is giving me that
extra boost to get this plated.

I ladle the soup into the bowl

and then I need to garnish it
with my cranberry mixture.

15 seconds, chefs.

10,
-ALL: 9, 8,

7, 6, 5 --
I grab some shermula

with my hands and I start
throwing it onto the plates.

2, 1.

Time's up.
I really hope this soup

is just enough to get me
to the next round.

I have no time
to tidy up the plates.

But the squash looks charred.

I'm pretty happy.

Whoo!

Chefs, your job today is

to beat Bobby Flay.

What it's gonna all
boil down to is

what you did with
the butternut squash

to make it
the star of your dish.

Chef Ed, could you please

describe the soup
I have in front of me.

It's a roasted-
butternut-squash soup

with cinnamon-spiced
cranberries.

It really is a beautiful,

straightforward,
butternut-squash flavor.

I especially like the little
swirl of the red wine

that's cooked with the cinnamon
and the cranberries.

But the cream you had
would've been

really welcome here.
-Sure.

The texture
of the soup is excellent.

But the color,
it's a little less bright

than I would've preferred
for a holiday soup.

But the cranberries
are a nice touch.

I would be very happy
if you served this

in any restaurant, really.

Thank you.

Omar, could you
please describe

the dish that I have
in front of me?

The dish is butternut-squash
shermula breakfast hash.

I love the flavors
you have in here.

I love the egg.

But the spice overwhelms

the rest of the dish.
-Okay.

The butternut squash, they're
big pieces, little pieces.

The big pieces are really hard,
and hard to enjoy.

But the egg is delicious

-Yeah.
-and I could eat the whole bowl.

So we'll take
a moment to discuss.

Omar rushed
the butternut squash,

but Ed left out
some components entirely,

so this is anyone's game.

And the chef who'll be
moving on is...

Chef Ed.

-Great job.
-Thanks, Bobby.

I don't think
there's a loser here.

You either win or you learn.
Thank you, guys.

I got plenty out of it

that I can look forward to
and move forward.

Ed, that texture
was just sexy.

This dish shows that you are
a contender to beat Bobby.

All right.

All right, Ed.
Congratulations.

What's your signature
dish tonight?

Well, I love Thanksgiving.

I like transforming
turkey leftovers into...

turkey cacciatore.

Audience: Oo-oo-ooh!

It's an oldschool Italian dish.
You got this recipe for me?

-I got it in my back pocket.
-I'm sure you do.

To keep things fair,

Scott and I will not be
the judges for this round.

We have three experts

that are gonna do
a blind taste test.

The clock starts

now.

We want a win.

That is a roasted turkey.

Cacciatore is traditionally
a stew with poultry

and tomato sauce, peppers,
onions, over rice or noodles.

The cacciatore, in Italian
is the hunter, right?

That's right.
The hunter brings home the bird

and you make the stew.

-It's a very rustic dish.
-Yeah.

So I made chicken
cacciatore once,

but I've never
made turkey cacciatore.

Basically the same
techniques apply.

We're gonna used
precooked turkey today

because it's impossible
to cook turkey in 45 minutes.

So I'm gonna make
a turkey cacciatore

with a tomato and red-wine broth
on top of egg noodles.

Bobby's flingin' around
that bird.

Like he's a UFC fighter.
Look at that.

One difference between
turkey and chicken

is that turkey
has almost no fat in it,

so it tends to dry out,
especially for leftovers.

I'm gonna cover the meat
in chicken stock,

just to bring it back to life.

I'm gonna put it in the oven
for a few minutes.

My signature dish
is classic turkey cacciatore

with traditional tomato sauce,
creamy mascarpone polenta,

and some fresh baby arugula.

Ed, what are you using
for turkey over there?

We're gonna stuff the wings.

Audience: Ooh!

One twist that makes my turkey
cacciatore really stand out

is when's the last time
you ever had

a fried turkey wing stuffed
with Italian sausage?

It's impressive that
he's stuffing those wings.

It'll be a great
presentation piece.

Yeah. Pretty.

Traditionally, cacciatore
is served with a starch.

I'm doin' a creamy
mascarpone polenta.

Adding milk and mascarpone
cheese to make it creamier.

Oh, what a nice base
for the cacciatore.

Audience: Whoo!

Thank you.

Time to get started on my sauce.

So I take shallots, garlic,

red and yellow
and poblano peppers,

and then I add lots
of red wine and tomato.

It's smelling really good.

So, Ed, these are the ones
you're gonna stuff?

-Yep.
-Oh.

-Right now, actually.
-Okay. So you have 30 minutes.

You can do that all right?
-I hope so.

Turkey is a little bit
tougher than chicken.

Yeah.

So we're just gonna
pull the bone out.

It is tough, isn't it?

Are you gonna do one
of those per plate, Ed?

I'm gonna attempt to.

Scott and Martha
are talking to me

and I'm wrestlin'
with these things,

tryin' everything to really
get a hold of these bones.

No pressure.
-There we go.

-Okay.
-So we're gonna stuff these.

Ahh, lovely.

Okay.
-So I'll leave you.

45 minutes goes by very,
very quickly.

-Hi, Martha.
-Hi, so,

I saw you tearing
those turkeys apart.

Yeah. I'm gonna start
takin' these pieces off

and put it into
my braising liquid.

Lots of red wine.
What do you think?

Smelling good,
looking good.

Martha, don't give him
too many compliments.

Give him a hard time
a little bit.

Here. This is for you.
It's the oyster.

That's the best part.
-You tryin' to bribe me?

Of course.

That is a really
good piece of turkey.

Martha gets whatever she wants.

Here you go. You can
take it back with you.

-Okay.
-Scott, he's gonna have to

fend for himself.

Lookin' good, Ed.

Thank you.

I can't wait
to taste it.

On Thanksgiving,
I do three or four turkeys.

I have like 45 people come.
-Oh, my goodness.

And I let the guests
take home all the leftovers.

What time shall I be by?

-Bobby's is simpler.
-He's adding all that dark meat.

That looks great.

I'm just a little worried
about Ed's timing

because he didn't manage it
so well, the first round,

and I just hope the wings
get cooked fast enough.

I'm wrestlin'
with these turkey wings,

just constantly
looking at the clock.

I'm not sure if I'm gonna
get it on the plate.

Ed, don't forget
about your polenta

and stir that stuff,
brother.

Yes, sir!

Do we get to taste both,

even though we're not judges?
-No.

We don't get to taste,

after all this?
-I know.

That's what I say.
I agree.

Martha's upset
she's not tasting.

I want a taste.

Under 25 minutes,
chefs.

When you take these bones
out of the wing,

you have to have a perfect
stuffing cavity for it,

or else it's not gonna work.

The turkey wings
are lookin' fantastic.

I just take hot Italian
sausage and insert it.

And then my frying batter

for my turkey wings
is straightforward.

It's water
and all-purpose flour.

Ooh, he's gonna fry them.
-Fry them, yeah.

That's how they get done.

You can fry a turkey
wing in no time.

After the wings are
in the fryer, I feel amazing.

So Ed's back on schedule,
but I'm not worried about him.

I'm worried about me.
So I need to move on

to the base of my cacciatore,
which is my egg noodles.

So I put my noodles in some
boiling water, just to soften,

but I wanna finish them with
some butter, some fresh sage.

Toss my noodles in there.

And then I top
with some Parmesan cheese.

For my tomato-sauce base,
I'm using fennel,

onions, garlic, bell peppers.

That will impart
a really nice flavor.

Ed has fennel
on his station.

Oh, fennel would be
very nice in it, yeah.

I have my leftover
turkey thighs.

I add those to the pot.

Castelvetrano olives will add
a salty element.

Everything just comes together
and I throw it all in the oven.

Guys, who's rooting
for Ed over here?

Who's rooting
for Bobby?

So I have all my elements going.
The sauce is cooking.

The turkey's braising.

I'm not really worried
about the clock.

I feel like
I have everything going,

but when I taste the sauce,
it's not workin' for me.

Bobby, you like what
you're tasting there?

All good?
-Not yet.

Scott and I really
need a win today.

And then we'll come back
and just beat him

every time after that.

Then it won't be a show.
-But it'll be us.

It'll be less about him.

Let's just go try
to distract him.

Whoo!

Bobby, we're gonna
come hang out with you,

if that's all right.
-Wait.

- You wanna see the cacciatore?
- Yeah.

My only question is:
is it too much red-wine flavor?

Oh, wow. Look at that.

I'm gonna go with a headier
sort of cacciatore.

I mean, there's some
tomato in there.

A lot of red wine.
-It's a variation.

Good luck with that.
-11 minutes.

Thanks.

Traditionally, a cacciatore
is more of a tomato-based sauce

with some wine in it,
as opposed to the opposite,

so I need to get
that balanced better.

I check out my turkey thighs.

I'm really happy,
where they're at.

Taking it off the bone

for serving it will be
a lot easier to eat.

We're makin' ourselves
at home over here.

That's fine.

So I'm gonna fold this meat
back into the sauce.

So you're dipping
your rubber-clad fingers

in ice water, so that you
can handle it, right?

Well done.
-That's a good hint.

-Shocking my hands.
-Yeah.

That is much more of
a traditional

cacciatore.

That's beautiful, Chef.

So Bobby, this is lookin'
really good over here.

-Is it?
-Yeah.

You know, if you have
a minute, you might wanna

come over and get
some tips, Bobby.

Oh.
-Audience: Ooh!

This is delicious.

Ed's more classic in
his approach to the cacciatore.

I like what Ed's doing,

making a very rustic dish
with the polenta.

I wanna munch on one
of those fried turkey wings.

Me too.

You can never sleep
on Bobby, though.

Everything looks
clean and bright.

Mm-hmm.
I hate to say this,

but I kinda like what
Bobby did with the turkey,

havin' a little bit more
of a red-wine reduction,

as opposed to that
deep tomato sauce.

Yeah.

3 minutes.

I'm adding some
green Sicilian olives

and some Nicoise olives
as well, the black ones.

They have like
a fruity flavor to them.

Ed is frying some wings
for some texture,

which is a really great idea.

It inspires me
to fry something myself.

Audience: Whoo!

But I'm gonna use
Brussels sprouts.

He has fried Brussels sprouts.
-That's a smart move.

It's the texture.

It's time to plate.

In my dish, I have
the creamy polenta,

the braised turkey-thigh ragu,
the crispy turkey wing.

Is this the dish, Ed?
You gonna take him out?

I believe so.
-All right.

Oh, I hope so.

I put thg lewith the
sage on one side of the plate.

Then I start plating the turkey
with all of its sauce.

Time?
-34 seconds.

Then I put the crispy Brussels
sprouts on top

of the egg noodles.

Audience: 10, 9,

8, 7, 6 --

-My garnish is arugula
-5,

4, 3,
-for that nice pepper flavor.

2, 1.

Good job, man.

Beautiful.

I feel good about what I have.

I don't even wanna look
at Bobby's dish.

I don't wanna disappoint myself.

Ed's dish is really nice.

My dish tastes a little more
French than it does Italian.

I don't know
what's gonna happen.

Ed, Bobby,

it's time to meet your judges.

First up, chef
and author Madison Cowan.

The executive chef and owner
of Barbuzzo, Marcie Turney.

And the chef/owner of Comodo,
Felipe Donnelly.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving,

today's challenge was
turkey cacciatore.

Please taste
the first dish.

This was the most
beautifully presented

leftover dish I've ever seen.

Balancing the tomato base
with the mascarpone

really made this
an incredible dish.

I love the idea
of stuffing the wing.

But it could have used
a little bit more sausage.

Yeah.
I would agree with Felipe.

It's a great idea,
but if you're gonna do it,

let's go big with it.

But I love the polenta.

It plays on the texture
with the wing.

But the arugula on top
wasn't needed.

I would've maybe just wanted
some fresh herbs in there.

This is just good cooking.
The sauce is lovely.

It's got the brininess
of the olives.

And this wing,
it's crispy on the outside,

while moist, with that nice
spicy sausage in the middle.

Top shelf.

So, judges, if you could
switch your plates.

It's a lovely,
homey type of dish.

The noodles are
prepared expertly.

I love the Brussels,
nice, crispy.

The meal is very well-cooked.

I love the use of sage,

the way that it's incorporated
into the pasta.

But it was a tad bit overdone
with the acid into the sauce.

There's a lot
of red wine in there,

so it's hard, trying
to get all the flavors

when you have that acidity
in your mouth.

But I like the
Castelvetrano olives.

Was as though you're digging,
and you keep finding

all these exciting elements.

Bit too much acidity,

but if something
is good, it's good.

End of the day, you've got two
different approaches altogether.

I did make a mistake
with my sauce.

But I don't think Ed's dish came
out exactly the way he wanted.

I think the dishes
are really strong,

but there can
only be one winner.

And the winner is...

Chef

Ed Cotton.

Yes!

Thank you.

I finally won something.

Finally.

It's a wonderful thing
to be thankful for that we

Great job.

beat Bobby Flay!

Happy Thanksgiving.

Sorry, Bobby.

All right. I'm very proud
of what I did today.

I learned that I still got it.
I never lost it.

I'm Ed Cotton
and I just beat Bobby Flay!