Beat Bobby Flay (2013–…): Season 3, Episode 3 - Gobbled Up - full transcript

A Thanksgiving battle features Geoffrey Zakarian and Chrissy Teigen deciding between master chef Julieta Ballesteros and farm-raised chef Kat Ploszaj for the chance to take on Bobby Flay.

I'm Bobby Flay.

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

This culinary battle is gonna
shake down in two rounds.

Round 1 -- To get to me,

two contenders have
to go through each other first

using an ingredient
of my choice.

Let the games begin!

Two people that know me well

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

He's gonna smoke you.
Turn up the heat!

Round 2 -- I go head-to-head
with the winning contender.



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

That's what
you brought here?!

I'm excited.

Bottom line --
everyone's out to beat me.

Now I'm nervous.

-- Captions by VITAC --

Closed Captions provided by
Scripps Networks, LLC.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

In the spirit of the holiday,

I'm so glad that you guys
are here to root me on.

Besides sitting down to the big
feast on Thanksgiving,

one of my favorite things to do
is to watch the big game,

and here to referee
the festivities tonight...

...is chef Geoffrey Zakarian
and Chrissy Teigen.



Geoffrey, I see that you brought
your "A" game.

I did.
Your clothing --
I mean, seriously.

Look how dapper he is.

Thank you for making him raise
his game just by your presence.

Listen.
I had to bring the expertise.

He brought the fashion.

Geoffrey Zakarian is
one of the judges on "Chopped."

He still has not got me beat,

but he feels confident this time
that he's gonna do that.

So we'll see what happens.

Pretty soon you're gonna have to
put the apron on yourself

and meet me over there.

Anytime.
Anytime.

I got to say,
I am friends with Michael Symon,

and he actually gave me many
tips on how to take you down.

So I'm very excited.

Chrissy Teigen
is a very famous model

with a very famous food blog,

and she comes to my restaurants
all the time,

so she knows how to get me beat.

All right, who are you guys
bringing to the table tonight?

We got some serious chefs.

Our first contender

is executive chef of Crema
in New York City.

Meet Julieta Ballesteros.

Our next contender

brings her Polish roots
to New York City.

She's the executive chef
and co-owner of Petit Oven

in Brooklyn, New York --
Kat Ploszaj.

All right, guys.

Thanksgiving
is around the corner,

and you'll have 20 minutes
to make

one of my favorite
Thanksgiving ingredients

the star of your dish.

And that ingredient is...
cranberries.

You always see cranberries
on Thanksgiving.

The intimidating thing

is making the cranberries
the star of the dish.

Cranberries have
this tangy flavor,

so you can add some spice.

I'm ready to go.

Geoffrey and Chrissy behind me,
they are really looking forward

to tasting your dish
and deciding

which one of you
will take me on.

You guys ready?

Fresh cranberries, 20 minutes,
Happy Thanksgiving.

Go.

When you look at a cranberry,
they're so deep red

that people think they're sweet
right away.

They need a lot of sugar
'cause they're so tart.

We have massive
Thanksgiving dinners,

and I do
all the cooking for it,

and I've tried to do
this cranberry sauce,

but they want the canned.

Like

The first thing
people think about

when they think about
Thanksgiving

obviously is turkey,
but I only have 20 minutes,

so cheese and fruit for me
is very natural,

and I want to make
a three cheese croquette

with a ginger-cranberry-merlot
jam and an arugula salad.

How you doing?
Good.

What are you making?

So I'm doing
like a cheese fritter.

Cheese?
Cheese and cranberry.

Cheese?
Wow.

So you're just deglazing
cranberries in red wine?

Yeah.

Liquor always gets
applause here.

Even though I'm Polish,

I feel like cheese and wine

represents
my French cooking background.

I grew up in Poland
when it was still communist.

We grew all of our food
on a farm

because it was a necessity.

It really made me appreciate
where food comes from.

We moved to the U.S.
when I was 9 years old,

and I started cooking because my
mother was always working.

As I got older, I realized

that this is really
what I love to do.

So I decided to go
to French Culinary Institute.

My mother passed away
in February from cancer,

and she always wanted me
to stay focused,

and I want to use
this opportunity to show

that hard work and discipline
really does pay off.

I'm bringing everything I got
today, so watch out, Bobby.

This cheerleading section --
love it.

What are you doing?

I'm gonna do
some salted shrimp

with some cranberry sauce
with a touch of jalapeño,

a little bit of agave nectar.

Wow.
So a sweet-and-sour shrimp.

Of course.

Here I have my oranges,
my cranberries.

They're ready to go.

Leave her alone, Geoffrey.
She only has 15 minutes to go.

You're in trouble.

Today I want to bring my style

to the traditional
Thanksgiving dinner.

Growing up in Mexico,
I was always in the kitchen.

My dream was to come to New York
and open my own restaurant.

I have dedicated
all of these years

to making refined
Mexican cuisine.

I want to show people

that modern Mexican cuisine
is like art.

I know
that I can beat Bobby Flay

because the flavors of Mexico
are in my blood.

10 minutes to go,
you guys.

I know I have to move faster
with these croquettes.

Fontina is
a great melting cheese.

The Gruyère is for saltiness,

and the goat
is a little bit of tanginess.

Then I add in
a couple eggs, panko,

and then just a touch of flour
just to bind it together,

and get them into the fryer.

20 minutes goes so quickly.

For my shrimp,

I grab ancho chili powder,
olive oil, fresh lime.

Smells fantastic.
Crazy.

They're coming at it with
a completely different style.

Question is, is the cranberry
the star of the dish?

I want to make sure
that I get the cranberries

into this dish
as much as possible,

so I grabbed some dried
cranberries for the salad,

and then I see hazelnuts,

and I throw them
under the Salamander

just to toast them a little bit
to add a little texture.

5 minutes to go.

Hot over here. I don't know
how you're doing this.

You're not even breaking
a sweat. You're crazy.

Oh, I love heat.
I'm from Mexico.

My reduction is almost done,

so half of the sauce
is gonna go into the blender,

and I'm gonna add
some mascarpone cheese

to make like a creamy sauce

to complement my shrimp
and my cranberry sauce.

3 minutes.
3 minutes!

Whoo!

I'm tasting
my cranberry merlot jam,

and the flavors
are not there yet.

I have to add
a little more sugar

just to get a balance
of acidity and sweetness.

I have the pine nuts
on the fryer

to bring a crunchy texture
on top of the dish.

Less than a minute to go,
you guys.

Such a small amount
of time.
I know.

Finally the flavors are there.

I can get all the ingredients
on the plate.

The crowd is screaming.

Last 30 seconds,
I'm pulling the shrimp,

and I'm burning my hands.

I'm just doing everything I can
to get it on the plate.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

I definitely have
all the elements to win.

I see Julieta's dish,

and I'm a little worried
that I didn't go far enough.

Chrissy and myself
have the pleasure

of picking the best chef
to go up against Mr. Flay.

In the spirit
of Thanksgiving,

your ingredient today
was fresh cranberries.

So let's see
who made it the star.

Kat,
tell us what you made.

I made a three cheese croquette
with a cranberry merlot jam

and a little salad with dried
cranberries and hazelnuts.

I like what you've done
to the cranberries

in that you've done two kinds --
the dried and the reduction.

And they're actually equally
delicious in both items.

I think the best part
of this dish,

the cheese ball,
is delicious.

I think the cranberries,
they do shine,

but I wish it was
a bit more forward.

I mean, you have
a cheese ball on your plate.

You can't ask for much more
than that.

One thing I don't quite get
is the hazelnut thing.

They don't really offer
anything amazing,

but it's a delicious dish,
so thank you.

So, Julieta,
what did you make?

I made shrimp
with cranberry two ways --

one with mascarpone

and the other one
with reduced agave nectar.

The shrimp
are cooked perfectly,

and I love having
the protein here

'cause I think
it's very necessary.

The flavors you put --
chili, agave --

it needs a protein
to latch onto.

The shrimp didn't quite
stand out as much to me,

but the sauce is actually
the most fantastic part

of this dish.

It's very, very well done.

But I would have liked
way more spice in this

'cause I think the agave
is very sweet.

It needs something else
to sort of balance it.

The judges,
if they want more spicy,

on the second round --
Oh, my God.

I can give them
a lot more spicy.

I'm feeling really confident,

but I hope the cranberry
is the star of the dish.

This is really tough.
You both did a really good job.

At the end,
it really came down

to who had
the most technical skill.

The chef that Geoffrey and I
have chosen is...

Chef Kat.

I'm shocked.

I feel like I really made
the cranberries stand out.

Even if I have to do it again,

I wouldn't change anything
from my dish.

We felt that this dish
had a lot of technical skill,

so don't cook any differently,

and make sure
all the flavors stand out.

It's on.

Kat, congratulations.

You made it
through Round 1.
Thank you.

What's your signature dish?
What are we cooking?

My signature dish is...

Duck à l'Orange.

Whoa!

In 45 minutes?
Yeah.

Duck à l'Orange,
this is a classic French dish.

It consists of duck

whole-roasted
in an orange sauce.

I'm gonna have to go back to my
French Culinary Institute roots.

In some ways, it kind of has
a little Thanksgiving spirit.

I mean, a French Thanksgiving,
of course.

So, chefs,
for fairness' sake,

we have to bring in
three other judges

to do a blind taste test.

So your 45 minutes
starts...

right now.

Yeah!
Let's go, Kat!

Kat, Kat, Kat,
Kat, Kat, Kat, Kat!

I'm going head-to-head
with Bobby Flay,

and I'm ready to take him down.

I cook duck every day,

so he has no idea
what I have in store for him.

I haven't made this dish
for a very long time,

but the key to this is gonna be
the orange gastrique,

which is orange juice, sugar,
Chardonnay, vinegar.

I'm gonna use some fresh ginger,
some garlic,

which is gonna give it
this sweet-and-sour component.

And I let that cook for a while

so that all the flavors
kind of melt together.

Duck à l'Orange traditionally
is cooked whole.

The fat has to be rendered,
and what you do

is you have to baste the duck
throughout the cooking.

So that's why it was
so surprising for us

to see a dish like this
because it takes a long time.

Exactly.

My take on the Duck à l'Orange
is a crispy duck breast

with orange gastrique.

So I start to reduce
orange juice and sugar.

Kat, it looks like
she's rendering pancetta,

and she's using
her cabbage.

Cabbage for me is my jam.

I'm rendering down pancetta

because I also want to make
braised cabbage in the pork fat

with onion and garlic.

I love this cabbage.
That's not Duck à l'Orange.

Ah!

I've got some tricks
up my sleeve,

because in Poland we eat cabbage
with practically everything,

and then I want to make purple
potatoes and candied kumquats

because there's always
some sort of potatoes

at my Thanksgiving table,

and the candied kumquats
are gonna

complement the gastrique
really well.

So you're not worried about
the duck getting on in time

to get it nice and crispy
on the skin?

I've done it
so many times.

Oh, excuse me.

I like that.

Mr. Flay.
What do you want?

What is that over here?

That is Duck Confit.

There was Duck Confit legs
in the pantry.

It's already cooked.
It just needs to be reheated.

You salt it, and then it's
cooked in its own fat

over very, very low heat
for a few hours.

Duck Confit?
Did you just make that?

Yes.

So, Duck à l'Orange --

classically it's duck
whole-roasted.

So I'm using duck breast
and Duck Confit legs

'cause I like the idea of using
both parts of the duck.

The breast is gonna be cooked
medium rare

and then the Confit legs
really need crispy skin.

Little of that, little of this,
little of this, little of that.

Badda-bing, badda-bung.

Spoken like
a true iron chef.

I'm gonna
leave you alone.

Bobby's going
very traditional.

He's cooking it
really slow.

What I love
is what Kat's doing.

She threw in cabbage
and pancetta -- very unusual,

but Duck à l'Orange
is all about the gastrique,

the gastrique being
the sweet-and-sour sauce.

I'm curious to see
how they do that.

I'm trying to do
a different spin.

With the flavors
of the gastrique,

I want to hit it
with some pink peppercorns

for a little bit of spiciness,

and vodka is gonna give it
another level of bright flavor.

Kat is being very,
very aggressive.

So, Kat, it looks like
she's making a four-course meal.

I'm just focused on my duck.

To get the skin crisp,
you have to go slow, not quick.

30 minutes!

15 minutes is already gone,
but I don't have my duck on yet,

so I score the duck breasts
so the fat renders quicker,

and I season it
with smoked salt, black pepper,

and caraway,
and then I get it onto a low pan

and start to render the fat.

Duck's tricky to cook with --
can't really rush it.

I'm starting to get
a little bit nervous now.

I really don't have
a lot of time.

Less than 25 minutes,
everybody.

Come on, Kat!

I'm taking a huge risk doing
Duck à l'Orange in 45 minutes

because I have to make sure
that there's enough time

for my duck to cook and rest.

There's no way in hell I'm gonna
go home and just make duck.

Duck à l'Orange
classically --

it should be always cooked
about medium, medium rare,

so it's always fat-side down,
rendering the skin slow.

Getting there, getting there.

What Bobby is doing
is really important.

He's putting it on,
taking it off,

trying to get some of that fat
out of it.

Halfway done.

I'm taking the fat
that's rendering

off of the duck breast, and then
I'm adding two duck legs.

I'm just reinforcing the flavor
throughout the dish.

I see Kat has kumquats --
very unusual.

They're fantastic.

For my candied kumquats,

I want to use
the SousVide machine

because it controls
the temperature

of whatever you're cooking
and cooks it a little slower.

I want to poach the kumquats
with some orange juice,

some basil,
a little bit of thyme

just to soften the kumquats,
and then we caramelize them.

All right, chefs.
I'm coming in.

What's going on?
Cooking some duck, miss.

This is duck legs,
so it gets nice and crispy.

That looks beautiful.

I got some duck breasts here

that I'm rendering the fat
very slowly.

I have my
à l'Orange sauce here,

and because it's Thanksgiving,
I'm gonna add a little cranberry

and kumquat relish,
as well.

Did you see her using kumquats,
and now, all of a sudden,

you had the great idea
to use kumquat?

I think it's crazy
that we're both using kumquats,

but I'm not really surprised

'cause it's in
the citrus family.

They're baby tart oranges
in a way.

And it's gonna bring some nice
acidity to my relish.

How are you using
the kumquats?

'Cause Bobby has kumquats
over there, too,

'cause he copied you.

Ooh!

Right here
we're circulating

with some basil
and herbs and spices.

It looks fantastic.
Thank you.

I'm really not worried.
This is my signature dish.

This is something that I've been
cooking for years.

It's gonna be great.

So they're both using kumquats
in two very different ways.

I take the kumquats out,
slice them nice and thin,

and then I add a little sugar

because I want to caramelize
them with a blowtorch,

to candy the top of them.

Bobby's a little scared. He's
looking at what she's doing.

I like that.

Obviously Kat has
so much confidence

because this is one of
the best-selling menu items

at her restaurant,
so I'm confident in her.

12 1/2 minutes, guys.

There's a lot to do to
make sure that the orange sauce

has the right balance
of sweet and sour.

So I'm just adjusting
as I'm going along --

a little fresh lime juice.

I also added a habanero chili
in there

just to give it
a little fruity spice.

This is a classic French dish,

and classic French dishes
have a lot of butter.

Hey, Bobby, is that a gastrique
or a butter sauce?

Anytime you want to take your
jacket off, come on over here.

Less than 10 minutes left
on the clock,

and everything is perfect
with the gastrique,

and I have the cabbage
cooked down.

So I add some beans just to make
it a little heartier.

And I want to put
the duck breast

in the oven
for a couple minutes

just to cook it through
a little more.

I've got the purple potatoes

cooked
to the perfect tenderness,

and I want to fry them
in the duck fat

and get them nice and crispy.

Yeah, girl!

5 minutes, chefs.
5 minutes.

I have the leg crispy
on the outside,

cooked through on the inside.

The duck breasts look great.

The skin is nice and crispy,
so I just want to finish

in the oven for a few minutes.

I take my duck out of the oven,

and a couple of the pieces
are a little too rare,

so I throw them
under the Salamander,

but I really, really want
to keep a close eye on them,

and I'm just trying to get

the perfect
medium-rare temperature.

No matter how much time we give,
they use every second!

When I pull it out,
the duck breasts look great.

The skin is nice and crispy,

but the skin on my duck legs
got a little dark.

Oh, that looks overcooked
to me.

Uh-oh.

I have good flavor
in my orange sauce,

so I just hope that the duck
legs being overcooked

doesn't put me over the edge.

See what happens.

Coming up on 1 minute.

Any final touches,
you got to do it now.

Less than a minute left,

I start with
the braised cabbage,

a little bit
of the orange gastrique.

I get my duck.
The skin is nice and crispy.

It's perfect medium-rare.
I'm very happy.

And I finish it off
with duck-fried potatoes

and candied kumquats.

I'm getting
all my components done,

getting it sliced,
getting it on the plate,

and, of course, the cranberry
and kumquat relish.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6,

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Yay!

Time's up.

I look over at Bobby's dish,

and I think the duck looks
a little overcooked,

but my duck is cooked perfectly.

Looks beautiful.
Thank you.

Kat's duck looks delicious,

but I hope my classic
French technique

gives me a dish
good enough to win today.

First of all,
I want to congratulate

Bobby and Kat
for an amazing two dishes.

I'd like you to meet
your judges today.

First up, chef and owner

of New York City's Tertulia,
Seamus Mullen.

Next we have the executive chef
of Juni in New York,

Shaun Hergatt.

And finally, cookbook author

of "Leite's Culinaria,"
David Leite.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving,

today both chefs have prepared
Duck à l'Orange.

Judges, as a reminder,
this is a blind taste test.

Please dig in to the first plate
in front of you.

I think one of the things
that I like most about this dish

is that it really captures that
hearty essence of Thanksgiving.

The meat is cooked
really well.

The doneness of the duck breast
is perfect.

And it's well-seasoned
on the skin,

but I'd like a little
more seasoning on
the eye of the meat.

I enjoy the potatoes,

but then the flavor profile
of the duck breast

is a little too sweet.

I wish that the potatoes
were a little bit more crispy.

There's a lot of flavor
going on.

It just doesn't have all
the high and low notes

that I want it to have.

Definitely a little sweet
for my palate.

All right, judges.
Please try your next dish.

What I really love here
is that we're using

more than one cut of meat
from the duck.

The cranberries
are excellent.

I'm excited about the
cranberries and the kumquats

and all of those fantastic
fall flavors.

But then, in my mind,
the duck leg is well done,

which, for me, is something
that I prefer to eat at medium.

The sear on the breast
is excellent.

I agree with David.
The technique is well-executed.

The flavor profile
is very vibrant.

It's really,
really remarkable.

All right, judges.
It's time to take a vote.

Here you are.

I'm feeling really confident.

The judges really like
the way the duck's cooked,

and I think mine
is the winning dish.

I feel like the judges liked

the Thanksgiving element
on my dish,

but Kat's duck breast
is cooked perfectly.

So we'll see which dish
they think is the best.

All right, guys.

It is not a unanimous vote.

The winner is...

...Bobby Flay.

I feel like I should have won.

I'm disappointed, but I'm happy
that I got to do it.

Very proud of yourself,
aren't we?

No, I thought I was gonna
definitely lose.

This really,
truly was a hard decision,

but I chose this dish for me

'cause I like balancing the tart
and the sweet and spicy.

That is what did it
for me.

Bobby didn't ruin
my Thanksgiving.

Nobody ruins
my Thanksgiving.

No, no. It's not possible.
No.

I'm a little depressed,
but I'll get over it.

Kat put up some great dishes,

but I know what I'm thankful
for...

pulling off this win
with an old classic.