Pressure Cooker (2023) s01e03 Episode Script

1
[dramatic music playing]
Bag. Glasses.
- [sighs]
- [chefs chattering]
I'm going to freak.
[Renee] Why?
'Cause somebody's not telling the truth,
which just stresses me out
from, like, the get-go.
That just lets you know
the name of the game, man, you know.
It's just, like,
our kitchen's all about loyalty.
That does not exist.
Not here. You know?
You had her back, right?
Please tell me you had her back.
Promise me.
- Did you have her back?
- Yes.
The way you play this game is you have to
get people on your side.
You have to kind of put yourself
in a position to have a alliance.
[Christan] I did not think
the house would turn the way it did,
because if it's based on execution
and everything
about our food and components,
I think I still would be here.
But it wasn't based on that.
It's really just based on strategy.
The food industry is
very much a cutthroat industry.
At the end of the day,
the food part of it is the easiest part.
Do well.
I don't think it was my time to go,
but I know this isn't it.
This is just another part of my journey,
and I'm glad that I got to see it through.
[exhales]
[Renee] Wow,
this is a tough one right here.
Um, I'm feeling a little
a little bit hurt.
You know, I don't like lies.
You know, lies and deceit.
I don't think it's necessary,
not for this competition.
- [chefs laughing]
- Brian, bro.
My guy.
To be completely honest with you,
I voted for Brian to be sent home.
But seeing that it was
a landslide of a vote,
maybe I'm not playing the game
as I should be.
Just hear me out for a minute. Jeana
[whispering] went to bat for this.
She's like, "I got this person,
this person, this per"
I'm like, all right. I'm like,
I already knew, like, that's my boy.
Like, I'm not even
worried about it, but, like
- She played it so nicely. She told me.
- So just know, once again, like
- This is anyone's game.
- Yeah. Yeah.
Maybe I do need to start thinking
a little less about the culinary,
a little more about, you know,
these kind of allies and who you have,
you know, friends in the house.
My goal is to [exhales]
play the game,
but I have to be subtle enough,
because every single corner,
they're talking. They're talking.
All right, yeah, I'm going to bed.
So I gotta go out there.
I have to play as sweet as can be.
[Renee] Good night, homegirl.
It was a tough day.
[Jeana] Tomorrow, I have to put myself
on the plate
because game strategy is one thing,
but I have to show it in the kitchen.
[tense music playing]
[clicking]
- [Lana] Did you guys see this?
- [Sergei] What?
[Lana] These eight aprons?
- [Sergei] Oh, different colors!
- But there's nine of us.
- There's only eight aprons.
- Two, four, six, eight.
[Robbie] There are four stacks
of two aprons,
and now I know that
we're gonna be in teams of two.
Um, and there's nine people in the house.
[Renee] Robbie, you look over it.
There's only eight.
- Let me get some breakfast first.
- [laughing]
I'm thinking
that either the number one dish
from yesterday is a judge, or
because Lana was captain
of the winning team,
she's a judge for today.
[Mike] Definitely am led to believe,
oh, it's gonna be, uh, teams of two.
I definitely wanna try
to get one of my top picks
as soon as I can, just to make sure
that I have a partner.
I don't wanna be left
with whoever else was left.
- Yo, Jeana.
- Yes?
In the event that we choose partners
for the next round, you wanna be partners?
- Yes. Are you down to do Mexican?
- Potentially.
[Jeana] I'm slightly speechless.
We don't cook the same flavor profiles.
I can't even believe he'd want me
to be his partner.
But he came up and offered,
and so, of course, I'm gonna just say yes.
I obviously lean towards French-Italian.
I can do freakin' Mexican food, right?
I'll meet you in the middle with Mexican.
[Jeana] I need to do Mexican flavors.
It's really important to me.
When I was 14,
my brother and I went into foster care.
I felt kind of alone and isolated.
When I was 17, I ran to Mexico
in search for home and family,
and I found a really awesome chef
who actually
taught me everything that he knew.
The only thing is it has
to be fancy though. It has to be like
Doesn't always have to be fancy.
- I mean
- Depending on the challenge.
I love the flavors,
and I appreciate the culture.
I like to bring that alive in my food.
That's the freakin' game plan.
- Now given, like I said, we don't know.
- Fingers crossed.
[Mike] In the event that that happens,
we're more prepared than probably anyone.
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
- [whirring]
- [Renee] Printer's going.
- [Caroline] Is that a ticket?
- [Ed] Ticket!
[imitates printer]
Literally pissing my pants,
but you know what?
Let's go!
- [Ed clears throat]
- [Caroline] Nervous.
"For your next challenge,
you'll work in teams of two."
"Choose your teammate."
"Once both partners have agreed
to pair up,
then choose your color aprons."
- There's nine.
- That means there'll be an odd man out.
- Jeana.
- [Ed mutters, chuckles]
[Mike] Jeana and I
already talked about it.
[Ed] Look at you two.
You already talked? Wow!
- Wow.
- He wanted that yellow one.
- [Renee] He wanted that.
- [Sergei] Wanted that yellow!
How do you feel about
potentially partnering up another time
and winning again?
- I love you.
- Oh, yeah!
But I know that
my little Sergy.
[Lana] Oh, did you talk
to Sergy already about doing this?
- Yeah.
- Okay. Oh, I'm out.
Well, we made eyeballs.
Oh, you guys eyed each other about this.
Okay.
Sergei and Caroline are definitely giving
off some work wife, work husband vibes.
- Yes?
- Yeah, we did.
Okay. All right, fine.
It seems like there's some intense things
perhaps brewing between them,
which is fine.
Happens all the time in kitchens,
to be quite honest.
Ed. Come talk to me, homie.
I'm pretty tight with Ed.
And this is, I think, the moment where,
like, maybe some sort of alliance
is gonna form.
- [Ed] Lana.
- [Lana] Yes.
[Caroline] There we go.
- [Renee] Robbie, you wanna pair up?
- I just paired with Lana.
[Renee] Lana? Damn.
Nobody wants to be my friend?
Who wants to be my friend?
- Nobody? All right.
- I'm teamed up.
Sayonara.
That just means I don't cook good.
To add to the negative energy
and just feeling like the odd man out,
I'm feeling like
they don't want me in the house.
What's up with that? It hurts.
- Let's go in. Is someone in there?
- Oh. No. Knock on the door.
- [knock on door]
- [door opens, closes]
Um, okay.
- Okay, well, that was weird.
- Yeah, it was so weird. Oh, I, like, feel
I love Lana,
but we we made a non-verbal agreement.
- Non-verbal agreement.
- We did.
- I couldn't go back on my non-verbal word.
- I mean I mean, you could've.
- No! We've been waiting to work together.
- I know.
Yeah.
- And I'm excited.
- I'm excited.
[laughing]
I will go get my knives
at some point in time.
- Let's go check out, maybe there's oh!
- [alarm blaring]
[Brian] Green light.
There's a green light going on over here.
We should tell everybody else, no?
- No, we should open this.
- We shouldn't tell nobody.
Yeah, let's get a jump on everybody.
- [Ed] Bison. Duck.
- [Brian] Bison.
- [Sergei] Oh!
- Seafood.
Oh, hello.
Squid, frog legs.
Now the thoughts
are flying through my head
trying to contemplate what the hell
the next challenge is gonna be.
[Sergei] Oh, snap. What is this?
- Rabbit?
- That's rabbit.
[gasps] Rabbit? Oh, my God, I love rabbit.
[Robbie] We have tons
of obscure land-based proteins
and obscure seafood.
I'm not super comfortable with everything
that's on the loading dock.
But the more cooking
and the more challenges we do,
the more I learn,
the more I learn to adapt,
so the more we get to cooking,
the better I feel.
- [Lana] What are these?
- Anchovies.
- [Lana] Oh, fresh ones.
- Mm-hmm.
Oh, I wanna use these if we can.
[bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
- Ooh!
[printer whirring]
- [Caroline] Ticket!
- [Jeana] Order!
- Ticket!
- [Ed] Order in!
[Caroline] Ticket!
[Lana laughs]
"Chefs, it's time
for the Surf and Turf challenge."
"Each team will have 60 minutes to make
an untraditional surf and turf dish,
pairing an exotic meat
with an exotic seafood."
[Ed] I'm familiar with these proteins,
but not on one composed dish.
[Caroline] "Chef Renee will be
blind tasting your dishes
and will rank them from best to worst."
I think the fact that this is
based off of what is on the plate
and not how we feel
about each other is great.
I do think that Renee is gonna come
with a fine quill pen,
and she's gonna have an axe to grind
when it comes to this feedback.
[cackling]
Which one of y'all asses
I might be sending home?
"Your challenge starts now."
[Brian] As soon as the clock starts,
you're cutting everything off,
and you're going into war.
I'm coming in swinging.
So there's gonna be bison, octopus
- Mackerel.
salsa verde, chard.
- [groaning]
- [laughing]
[Ed] Whatever it takes
for my team to win, I'll do.
I just wanna be judged
and voted for what I can do,
what I can put on the plate.
- These are very out-of-the-box proteins.
- Yeah.
And from a creativity standpoint,
I think that that's gonna be great.
We could beat anybody else in the house.
We wanna destroy them.
[Caroline chuckling] If someone
wants to come for me, come.
- I can't stop you.
- Behind you!
I think people should be scared
of how competitive I am.
I won't go down without a fight.
[Ed] Got the purée going?
- [Brian] Working on it.
- [Ed] Good, good, good.
Oh, I was just going to get that.
Brian and I are preparing today
a smelt and anchovy butter poached bison
with celeriac purée and a pomegranate demi
with a charred baby octopus salad.
Just banging out this octopus quick.
- [Ed] Yes, yes, yes.
- [Brian] Cleaning it, then char it.
[Ed] In the last two challenges,
Chef Brian hasn't done the greatest,
execution-wise.
However, he has taken risks
that most of us would never attempt.
For me, my strengths lie
in flavor development,
clear and precise plating.
So I thought it would be
a great choice to pair with him
because one of these days,
he's gonna hit that home run.
Today might be that day.
All right, baby. Bison's in, bro.
Word.
Guys, first ten minutes
are just about gone.
- [Robbie] Whoo!
- [Caroline] All right!
Lana and I are making
a grilled marinated ostrich
with a cannellini bean
and pepperoncini purée
bagna càuda anchovy sauce.
Let's get these bad boys processed.
Bagna càuda, which is, um, a sauce
that is made with anchovies, generally.
So I decide maybe
we should make it with smelt instead.
They're kind of small little fish
like anchovies,
and I think that it would kind of
be a nice little play on that sauce.
- [Robbie] Top right oven preheated to 450.
- [oven beeps]
Heard.
[Robbie] I'm super pumped I'm with one
of the stronger cooks in the house.
I'm a little worried
about holding my share of the weight,
and it's been probably 18 years
since I cooked ostrich,
so I just wanna make sure
that I cook it right,
and I do the best by her as my teammate.
- You grabbed chilies I saw?
- I got dried chilies, yep.
Mike and I are making elk tenderloin
with mackerel escabeche
roja.
Does anyone else have mackerel?
- [Lana] No.
- No? [chuckles]
[Lana] I like your energy though.
Holy mackerel!
[Jeana] I know mackerel's
a very salty, kind of oily fish,
and that could go really good
with escabeche,
and that really showcases Mexican flavors.
[Mike] Jeana, herbs?
Chives, mint, cilantro?
- Uh, chives. Yeah, yeah, that's fine.
- All right.
I typically don't work super well
with other people,
especially on creative things for a dish.
But she's got a lot of these
really great Mexican flavors on lock.
- That your chili oil?
- This one's started. It's almost done.
Yum. [smacks lips]
And I have, like, plating
and the fine dining techniques,
so I'm gonna take on the elk
and, uh, salsa verde.
You're right about the agave too.
- Needs a little.
- [Jeana] Yeah.
[Mike] Overall, with these dishes,
kind of letting Jeana
take the lead on this one
and just making sure
that there's enough stuff
to where I feel content and happy
with the food we're cooking.
[Jeana panting] Oh!
- [Mike] Good?
- It's good. It needs a little punch.
Let me give you a serrano, a piece of one.
How about we just do toasted pine nut?
- Why don't we just do it?
- On the side?
- Okay, go grab those then.
- Pine nut. Yeah.
The dish Sergei and I are creating is
a harissa marinated elk, crispy squid,
labneh.
- What you got?
- So I got the harissa marinated elk.
Potatoes are on.
[Caroline] Potatoes are
in the duck fat, okay?
Sergei and I have
a good relationship personally,
and cooking-wise, our palates are similar.
We had a set menu, but I knew that to win,
we needed to elevate it more.
- Are you sure?
- What if we did an air of something?
Air do we wanna do aerated harissa?
Yeah, I do.
Put some of this with the blender,
a little bit of cream and egg.
- Maybe like golden raisins for sweetness.
- And blend it?
- And blend it.
- Okay.
Caroline is a badass chef,
and that's why I wanted to work with her.
Watching her cook
in these last couple competitions,
like, she clearly knows plating,
and she's very intricate
and so very technique-driven.
And she has all this, like, different
flavors that she knows as well, you know.
And you wouldn't think that
from just kind of her outside personality.
You know, she's, like, bubbly,
and she's got her, like,
you know, kind of platinum blond hair,
you know.
She cute.
Time check, anybody?
- Thirty-three!
- [Sergei shouts]
Didn't think about it. When you
throw 'em on there, they're gonna curl up.
Give a rough chop.
I definitely feel like the underdog.
You guys can see
the pattern that's going on.
I keep end up just being,
like, the person at the bottom.
- It's not good for your morale.
- [Ed] All gravy. All gravy, bro.
[Brian] But you can't give up, man.
You have to fight.
Somebody's gonna go home every day,
so, like, you cannot make any mistakes
with your dish.
- [Ed] Hey, B.
- Yo.
- Sauce almost done, bro.
- Heard that.
- Come on.
- Almost done with this sauce as well.
Yeah, I'll taste it when it's done.
Ooh, it should be a little more red.
This dish is such an ode to Mexico.
I appreciate the flavors,
and I appreciate the culture,
and any chance I can to showcase that
in a positive light I want to.
Because, you know, I love Mexico,
and and it brings me happiness.
Let me taste it.
It's not overpowering.
I still gotta add some stuff, probably.
- Why it doesn't need xanthan gum.
- [Mike] Yeah, it does. For plating.
Okay, it it needs this.
What is it?
Just a little bit of salt
with tomato powder.
[Mike] Um, are you sure?
- I've never used any of this.
- But that spiciness is great.
I think it's gonna add a lot.
We're gonna use a little bit.
[blender whirring]
I'm starting to feel like
we're not gonna see
the same dish at the end.
He doesn't get
to control the spices on this.
Salt.
Well, that's this.
Trust me, don't add salt on that.
- That has salt?
- Trust me.
I am going to get my flavors on this dish.
And if I have to just make them
and then shove it in your mouth
and show you how good it is, fine.
The elk is almost cooked.
- I'm gonna check it in two minutes.
- Careful.
No, it's gonna be two minutes.
- I'm gonna check it.
- We don't want it to sit too long.
[Brian] I got this octopus charred,
about to chop it up.
Get it ready and get it going.
- About to start my celeriac purée.
- Okay, throw more char.
- I'll throw it over there, over there.
- Yeah, yeah, get some char.
Texturally speaking, we need deep char.
You know, we want those burnt pieces.
But if you let it continue to cook,
it's gonna make it tough.
I know for a fact he knows these things,
but performing under pressure
when the lights are on
is not for everybody.
I'm a little concerned that those things
won't be executed in the manner
in which I deem, you know, necessary.
[chefs chattering]
[Lana] Less than 25 minutes, yeah?
[Sergei] Oh, yum!
- Bagna càuda, baby.
- [Sergei] Yum.
Love bagna càuda.
[imitates Lana] Càu Càuda.
- I know, sorry.
- Càuda!
- I'm from New York.
- [Sergei] Behind you!
Really trying to make sure
that the bagna càuda is really fishy
and that it works with the ostrich.
Let me see how the smelt
is cooking right now,
if it's giving me anchovy vibes.
Hmm. It cooked a little less fishy.
Bagna càuda is supposed
to be really fishy.
I'm worried that the fish flavor
isn't coming through.
- Okay, Robbie.
- [sizzling]
Do you think our bagna càuda
needs more fish in it?
Should I, like, fold some in real quick?
- Yeah.
- [Lana] Okay, let's do that.
- [Mike] Oh, you put spices in this?
- [Jeana] Yeah, I did put spices in that.
[Caroline] Twenty-two minutes!
[Sergei] Caroline came up
with this harissa foam,
which I've never done.
I was like, you know
She said you take egg yolks
and cream and, uh, blend it, you know.
The red, that'll look dope.
- Yeah, it's really good.
- That'll that'll look good.
Sergei and I are working
super well together.
It's almost as if we've worked together,
like, a thousand times before.
You never know what you're gonna get
when working with a chef.
Oh, burnt, burnt, burnt, burnt nuts.
Heard.
[Caroline] It is notorious
that sometimes it doesn't quite work out,
that there is always a stronger ego that
tries to, you know, outweigh the other.
Pine nuts? Pine nuts?
Refire pine nuts, heard.
- [laughing]
- Heard.
- [Caroline] Oh, I just snorted on
- [both laugh]
[Robbie] Twenty minutes!
- [Mike] Oh, do you have a cake tester?
- [Jeana] What for?
- Oh, temp the heat.
- Oh, don't you have a thermometer?
[Mike] I like the cake tester.
It makes a bigger hole,
and you can't see the gradient of heat.
If this meat doesn't come on temperature,
I will lose my shit.
[Mike] I'm telling you.
We'll talk in-depth
about the freakin' cake tester later.
- I'm telling you.
- We're gonna have to go on.
You'll be a better chef
if you do the cake tester.
[Jeana] I think
that Mike is completely wrong.
But he was so trusting in letting me
kind of take the reins on all the spices
and all the flavor profiles,
that at this point,
I know I have to, you know, trust him.
[Mike] Hey, check this out. Ready? Ready?
- All right, I'm calling this 115.
- [Jeana] Let me look at it.
- [Mike] 115.115.
- [Jeana] It's 121.
It was 121 when it was in there.
No, that's the end. That's the end of it.
That's the end is
I'll I'll explain later.
The most challenging part of cooking elk,
it's it's really just like
any type of red meat.
It's just getting your temp right,
making sure you got a good gray ring.
Then making sure it's salted properly.
Medium is fine too for this.
I actually prefer medium for game.
[Jeana] You sure
that thing's cooked perfectly?
[Mike] Yeah.
- That's 129.
- [Mike] It's fine.
I got this in the bag.
[Robbie] Fifteen minutes!
- How you doing over there, Ed?
- Good, good.
It's smelling good over here. Good.
[Sergei] Smelling good.
Taking everybody to Flavortown.
I like Flavortown.
- [Sergei] Yeah, you do.
- [Ed] I like to go.
- [Sergei] Yeah, you do.
- [Ed] Lifetime member.
[Robbie] I'm a little nervous
about the ostrich,
but based on the size of these pieces,
they're gonna have
just enough time to rest.
If I had more time on the clock,
maybe I would like for,
you know, another three or four minutes.
Anything I can help you with?
I'm just trying to figure out,
like, how we can get
a little more smelty flavor in here.
I just, like, want all the fish flavor,
you know. What do you think?
I do think that there's not enough
seafood flavor in her bagna càuda.
Is there anchovy back there?
Yeah.
- Should I add anchovy?
- I don't think it's a bad idea.
I feel a little stressed.
That sauce is crucial.
If we do not get it right,
we could be in trouble.
[sizzling]
Oh, she hot.
Before we plate,
I'm just gonna heat the salad.
All right.
B.
You got asparagus
that's not cooked like that?
Get some fresh and pickle 'em.
- Don't cook 'em. You know what I'm saying?
- I got you.
I have to say something. I have to.
We cannot have soggy asparagus.
The whole reason why it's there
is to be crisp and fresh.
Oh, shit.
So yeah, I'm a little pissed.
I'd much rather a person say,
"Hey, that's not something
I'm comfortable with doing."
Rather than say,
"Hey, I can do that" and can't do it.
Look, peel it, no skin.
We gotta peel them
and then pickle 'em quickly.
Keep them crisp.
That's just there for brightness.
Do six of each.
[Brian] Getting criticized is tough.
Yeah, it sucks. What are you gonna do?
But people are gonna go home
on the slightest thing.
It's either eat or be eaten.
If Ed's gonna say something
that's gonna make the dish better,
I'm definitely gonna do it.
Ten minutes.
[Lana] Ten minute.
[Robbie] Ten minute!
She burnt.
- She's supposed to be.
- She she charred.
- [Jeana] Oh.
- [Sergei] What is that?
[Jeana] I'm making an ash,
like, a cumin, coriander ash dust.
- [Sergei] With onion?
- With onion and garlic.
I would have just done
you can just do it over a flame, no?
What? Is it good? Amazing.
[Mike] So my elk loins look really good.
I'm feeling confident, but there's
a point to where we gotta slice and plate.
[Jeana panting] All right.
Ooh, I'm nervous about that.
[tense music playing]5
Looks nice.
The elk is cooked perfectly medium.
I like it. I think that's really nice.
I'm so shocked.
So let's start plating.
- [chefs] Five minutes!
- [Ed] Heard.
[Lana] God, that looks great.
That looks really good.
[Sergei] Potatoes are done.
This is gonna rest. Taste that.
- Fuckin' good.
- [Caroline] Mm!
[Sergei] Let's plate.
- B.
- Yo.
- I'm gonna get some herbs too.
- I got you.
To be honest, the octopus salad is
still not cooked well,
so I have no choice.
I gotta take over.
Like, look, this has to be charred.
Like, charred charred.
That's where
the depth of flavor comes in that.
[Brian] Not too strong?
- A little sugar maybe?
- Yeah. Agave. Here.
Yeah, there you go.
Gonna do whatever I can
to assure that victory
because you're only
as good as your weakest link.
[Brian] I'm gonna start plating.
[Jeana] Ah, three minutes!
[clock beeping]
Absolutely nailed that cook.
Good? You can help me with the plate.
I think we should go with this one.
It's prettier.
- Or maybe these three?
- [Robbie] Agree.
[Jeana] I can place these
if you wanna sauce too.
Not being a jerk,
you wanna let me do this though?
- All right.
- We got the time.
The difference
between fine dining food and not,
a lot of it has to do with plating.
The plating just changes everything.
Like, for example, this mackerel.
I'm trying to cover it,
'cause it doesn't look super attractive.
I, like, I think you wanna let that show.
- [Mike] Yeah.
- [Jeana] It's not highlighting it.
- See how that shows? It's not as pretty.
- I get what you're saying.
- You plate. I'm gonna coach. [chuckles]
- No, no, no, that's fine.
[Sergei] One minute.
[Ed] I took time out
from handling the bison.
Now I'm under a time crunch
to get it on the plate.
[Mike] Doesn't get more
fancy Mexican than that.
You got time. Take your time.
[Lana] Bagna càuda. Yeah?
[Brian] Twenty seconds, Ed.
[Ed] Come on, baby.
- [Robbie] Everything's on there, right?
- [Lana] Yeah, the surf and the turf.
Right there now. Right.
[Brian] We gotta go.
- Nine seconds!
- [Sergei] Gorgeous.
- Right on top?
- [Ed] Yep.
Do more. Yeah.
[Robbie] Time's up.
- I love it.
- [Sergei] I love it. Whoo! Whoo!
All right, man. It's up to them now.
Good job.
Whew, that was stressful. [exhales]
I think that the balance of portion
of surf and turf
is unbelievably important
when it comes to surf and turf.
And I'm a little nervous that we have
this much ostrich and this much smelt.
[Mike] Thank you for letting me do that.
Makes me feel really comfortable.
- [Jeana] You let me do flavor work.
- I trust you, you trust me.
[Jeana] There's nothing to do but smile.
Mike and I,
with our completely different backgrounds.
With us having
no business being partners. [chuckles]
I think we did a really good job,
and I know that there are flavors
that I can say, "That is Jeana," you know.
As Mike would say,
it was "fancy." [laughs]
[Caroline] Coming in, chef.
[Lana] Yes, chef.
I feel pretty confident
about our dishes getting tasted.
- [Sergei] How do ya'll feel?
- [Lana sighs] Nervous.
Hi, guys.
[all] Hey!
- Miss me a little?
- [chefs cheer]
Looking good, wow!
- I got a little snazzy for you, you know.
- [laughing]
[Ed] All the different things,
all the different variables
are running through our heads
about how
is she going to judge these things.
This might be that day someone
gets sent home on a real good dish.
Is she going to judge
based on what she's tasting?
Or based on who she think made
what she's tasting?
Two different things.
Who needs a drink or two?
[Renee] We got a Surf and Turf challenge.
All right.
So first up,
elk tenderloin with mackerel.
Love mackerel. Escabeche.
verde.
Let's see. [sighs]
The flavor is just, like
[imitates explosion]
Literally taste buds just going off.
The elk is cooked to perfection.
Salsa verde, instead of it being,
you know, typical lumpy sauce,
they made into a nice beautiful purée.
It's bright, green, vibrant.
That dish, collectively,
really, really good.
The presentation feels a little forced,
but overall, I really like this dish.
All right, grilled marinated ostrich.
Smelt.
All right, let's see where that's headed.
It's a beautiful dish.
Love the color, love the choice of plate.
Hmm.
[Lana] Today's the first day
I feel truly nervous.
A little nervous
about getting all of the flavor
of the smelt inside the bagna càuda,
so I just, um,
wasn't too sure it was really reading.
But that being said,
our plate looked beautiful.
I loved working with Robbie,
and so I'm hoping that Renee will
will resonate with our food.
Mm. Mm-hmm.
I am feeling this dish.
It definitely looks like something
I would plate up.
I'm really enjoying this fish sauce.
It's salty, flavorful and bold.
This dish shows me
a little bit of innovation.
I do feel like this dish is
a little bit ostrich-forward,
because I was looking forward
to a bit more surf.
This looks stunning.
Here's some crispity crunchities
that I could kind of get into.
Harissa marinated elk,
gremolata duck fat potatoes, crispy squid.
Cooking in my regular job,
in a restaurant, any of us in this house,
everything we do every day is
a blind tasting.
So this is exactly the same thing.
Mm.
Like that yogurt.
I mean, it's silky smooth.
It is giving me flavor bombs all day.
- [Sergei] The theme.
- [Caroline] Mediterranean.
It looks really pretty.
[Renee] I like that.
Yeah, I could eat that.
[Sergei] Feeling really strong.
Like, I know our flavors were there.
Um, Caroline and I put up one
of the best plates of the day,
for sure. Like, I'm
If I had to guess, you know,
we're probably one or two, you know.
And if if the only number one
that I could choose was probably
would probably be,
you know, Mike and Jeana.
I'm kind of debating whether or not
this is Caroline and Sergei's
or possibly Lana's and Robbie's.
That is very crunchy.
I'm a little bit disappointed
at the squid,
because I was expecting
a little bit more squid
but I got way more breading
in my bite than needed,
so that was a downfall to that.
All right, up next,
smelt anchovy butter poached bison
with celeriac purée.
All right, we got a little artistic
on the plate. A little splatter.
I like that I can actually see the squid,
see the tentacles. Love the tentacles.
Definitely could've
trimmed the fat off of that.
I think we did a mind-meld of two dishes
that we were thinking about doing,
made 'em into one.
I'm worried about the octopus salad
being tough and rubbery, but let's see.
Only time will tell.
Let's try this sauce here. [exhales]
Loving this pomegranate,
uh, demi-glace that they created.
Really good, really nice.
All right, that's a little bit overcooked.
I'm a little bit disappointed
with the octopus salad.
But I'm loving the asparagus.
Tastes really good and crunchy.
Man, some of my favorite things, man.
And that, my friends,
is the conclusion of that part. [exhales]
Overall, I'm feeling like
these dishes are tip-top, top-notch.
And honestly, I really hope
that they respect my decision
and the comments that I had to make.
It was a blind test, and I felt
like I made pretty fair choices.
- Oh!
- [all] Hey!
- What up?
- [Renee] How you doin'?
Look, some of that food tastes good, yeah.
Just some of it?
[laughing]
But, I mean, yo, those dishes look sexy.
- Did you have to write in the
- Of course I had to write something.
- I wanna see it so bad.
- [Lana] We can go in the kitchen.
- Yeah, I'm down to go.
- [Lana] Guys, wanna take a quick walk?
- [Sergei] The book is right there.
- [Caroline] You see it?
- Yeah, let's go. Let's go.
- Go, go, go!
- [Lana] Read it first. Okay.
- [chuckling]
[all] "Liked the potatoes, loved yogurt."
- "Beautiful presentation."
- It was beautiful.
[all] "Squid tough.
Little softer, less salt."
"Fat should have been removed,
very chewy."
- "Overall flavor lacking, very artsy."
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
- Why are we
- Go! Go, Lana, go!
- [whirring]
- Double whammy!
- [Caroline chuckles] That was quick.
Hey, guys.
The results
of the Surf and Turf challenge are in.
First-ranked dish is Caroline and Sergei.
[cheering]
We absolutely crushed this challenge.
Second-ranked dish is Jeana and Mike.
- [Mike] Told you we won't lose.
- No.
It had to be close.
Like, our food was pretty good,
so that had to be a close competition.
Third-ranked is me and Robbie.
I am absolutely relieved
that we are not on the bottom.
Fourth-ranked is Ed and Brian.
"Chef Ed, Chef Brian."
"You guys are the lowest-ranked team
so tomorrow, you have to cook
against each other to stay in the house."
"One of you will be eliminated."
Um, I am
Internally, I'm boiling.
[Brian] Ed's a well-seasoned chef.
Like, he was mad after the competition.
Um, but at least,
like, it's not cutthroat to the point
where, like, you and Ed go home.
At least we have a chance
to battle it out.
I'm already, like,
on to tomorrow's challenge, honestly.
- Crazy. Oh!
- My boy.
- I'll see you tomorrow.
- [laughs]
You know what? We're still safe.
- We're still safe.
- [both] We live to cook another day.
- We'll see the next elimination challenge.
- That's right.
It was really it's always such
a pleasure to work with you. Honestly.
- It feels truly collaborative.
- Yeah.
Which I appreciate.
I think Robbie and I are kindred spirits.
Our energies,
I think, just match really well.
You're the only person
I'm gonna remain loyal to.
- So, um
- Appreciate that.
I'm gonna try
and protect you the best I can.
Thank you, and likewise.
Like, you're a good person,
like, and you're a good chef.
- What's not to like, you know.
- Ah, thank you very much.
Good reviews.
- Good reviews? Good reviews?
- [Caroline] Yes.
I I agree with the
- It was a blind tasting?
- Yeah, yeah, it was totally blind.
I ain't know who made what. [sighs]
- You hear what just happened?
- [Renee] No.
- [Caroline] So the bottom. Tomorrow.
- We gotta go against head-to-head.
- The two of you guys?
- [Ed] Which I'm fine with. Me and Brian.
- The winner stays. Loser goes.
- [Caroline] Yeah.
Wow.
I'm pretty surprised to find out that
Ed and Brian were behind the dish
that was chosen.
When it came down to it, at the very end,
that dish didn't meet all the criteria.
Either go or stay.
- Don't know what they'll throw at us.
- You'll kill it.
[Ed] At this point, doesn't matter.
And I gotta do what I gotta do
to stay, period.
[pensive music playing]
[laughing]
- [bell chimes]
Ticket printing.
[printer whirring]
[Brian clears throat]
The sound of a printer is
embedded in every chef's DNA.
We hear it when we
when we don't hear it.
It's your inner conscience, if you will.
So we hear it,
but I'm like, is that that's not real.
Oh, no, it's real.
[Brian] I don't even know what time it is,
um, but everybody's still sleeping.
Lights aren't even on.
We're not even
we didn't brush our teeth yet.
And it's game on.
[Ed] From day one, I said,
"If I go out, I wanna go out
with my sword in my hand swinging."
I'm a warrior.
You know, it's time to go to battle.
I am closer and closer to that 100k.
[Brian clears throat]
"Chef Brian and Chef Ed,
this is the Rise and Shine challenge."
"You'll have 75 minutes to reinvent
and elevate a classic breakfast dish."
"You'll be making breakfast
for your housemates [chuckles]
who will be your blind tasters."
"The winner of this head-to-head battle
stays in the house."
"The other will go home."
"Your challenge starts now."
- Good luck, brother.
- Good luck, bro.
Immediately, I'm ready to rock.
He said it's time to go, it's time to go.
My strategy for this round is
to do exactly what the challenge is,
elevate a classic breakfast dish item.
I go with French toast.
I know it's the perfect medium
to be able
to absorb any flavors I throw at it.
I know the pantry is chock-full
of all these wonderful ingredients
that I can throw in and make it my own.
The only limit is my imagination.
So I'm making eggs Benedict today,
and I choose that
because I feel like there was enough stuff
in the dish that,
you know, I could create differently.
- Remember we gotta make eight plates.
- [Brian] I got experience with breakfast.
At one of my restaurants,
we were open from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m.
We used to do breakfast and brunch.
I also had a breakfast restaurant
in Rhode Island, so breakfast is my jam.
Like, I'm really good at what I do,
and I'm feeling good.
How you doing over there, Ed?
[Ed] Doing good, bro.
Doing good. How about yourself?
- I'm just beefing with the butter.
- That butter beef is real.
We shave six minutes off the clock
just doing butter.
You must be making hollandaise.
I'm making an eggs Benny.
I ain't gonna lie to you.
- Put a twist on it.
- [Ed] Okay.
I'm just doing a meager French toast.
Nothing special.
- Nothing to see here.
- Okay.
- [Ed] Forty-five minutes.
- [Brian] Heard.
Ed's a sharp knife. He's one
of the strongest guys in the house.
His style is more like
what the other chefs like in the house.
They love that that sexy, refined
They come from places I don't come from.
I don't
I've never worked
in a Michelin-starred restaurant.
The clientele that I have
is not the clientele that they have,
so I'm seasoned in a different way.
Pancetta in the oven.
[Brian] I automatically knew that
I wasn't gonna use an English muffin.
I picked brioche
just 'cause it's very sweet.
The creole had a little kick to it,
so I was trying
to add the sweet elements to it.
[suspenseful music playing]
For whatever reason today, the butane
in the can was not working.
Was the fans
I don't know. It it was not working.
It took me way longer than it has ever
to brûlée anything in the world.
Little more sugar never hurt.
These were
heat-deflecting pineapple slices.
I I don't know. I can't call it.
Way too long. Way too long.
[sizzling]
- Ten minutes.
- [Brian] Heard.
The horchata French toast is looking good.
Um, then I'm like,
okay, I need a crispy element. Cool.
Got some rice paper
and maybe I'll puff those up,
toss them in some cinnamon and sugar.
Bam! Churros.
They decided
that it was not puffing today.
- Damn, you all right over there?
- [Ed] Yeah.
[tense music playing]
- Two minutes, Ed.
- Two minutes.
Normally at ten minutes, I would have
started to think about plating. Not today.
I was so frazzled from the lack of puff,
I'm a little sloppier
than what I would ever plate.
One minute.
[Brian exhales] Done. That's it.
[Ed] Okay, let's get to going.
- You need some help?
- Nope, all good.
I'll help you.
[sighs]
[Ed] That's not enough.
[grunts]
[Brian] Three, two
[imitates buzzer]
[Ed] I didn't put my crisp on.
Internally, I'm definitely upset.
If I go down for not putting
these rice churros on my, uh, my dish,
I'm gonna kick my ass
all the way back home.
I needed the crunch and that little hint
of cinnamon to bring forth
the total vision of the dish,
and the fact that it's missing
is like shoes
with no laces that need laces.
You know, like Jordans.
[Robbie] I can hear Ed and Brian
in the kitchen.
And if I had to guess,
they're cooking breakfast for us.
Maybe a breakfast competition.
[Brian] I feel good
that it was just head-to-head.
It's just one-on-one.
You know what I mean? It's not
It's it's die or go home.
No other factors involved.
It's just mano a mano, man-to-man,
and you just put the dish up
and see what happens.
- [Caroline] Okay.
- [Renee] Oh, breakfast?
- Oh, breakfast time!
- [Sergei] Oh, I knew.
- Oh, I knew.
- [Lana] Ooh, girl.
[Robbie] We're gonna be
the blind taste testers.
All right, all right, all right.
So I'm super excited.
Finally, it's my chance
to be a blind taster,
and I do love breakfast food.
So I'm hoping that they're gonna
knock it out of the park
so I can have something tasty
for breakfast.
I'mma I'mma sit right here.
- Wow, wow.
- Well, would you look at that?
- [Caroline] Bon appétit!
- [Renee] Yeah.
Eggs Benedict.
Heard, eggs Benedict.
I think the eggs Benedict portion
looks hearty.
It looks beautiful.
It's a nice presentation.
Definitely a little more rustic
than the other plate that I'm seeing,
uh, but it looks like right up my alley.
Thank you.
- The gold-plated things.
- Yeah. All right.
[chuckles] The eggs Benedict is hard
to to judge
'cause I don't feel like this
is an eggs Benedict.
It felt like a piece of toast on top
of some potatoes
with an egg and hollandaise.
The dish really didn't
make any sense to me as far as
if you were trying
to put forth an elevated breakfast dish.
This feels like a couple things
thrown on top of each other.
There's a nice spice to it.
- [Lana] Nice toast on the bun.
- [Caroline] Chorizo's good.
[Lana] Tasty, tasty.
So the eggs Benedict,
not the most elevated dish,
but it tasted really, really good.
And I did notice
that the hollandaise held,
which is a sign of good technique.
The flavors worked together, even though
there was a million things on the plate.
And the bread is still really crispy.
It was delightful.
Strong open. Strong open.
I mean, I keep going back for more.
At this point,
I don't even wanna eat the other one.
I'll friggin' just smash this.
Okay, on to the next plate.
[Sergei] The French toast dish is clearly
very elevated plating and gorgeous.
And it's not every day that you see, like,
charred pineapple with your French toast.
I think it's a really interesting choice
to make French toast.
I have a feeling Brian is
the one who decided to do that.
I think there's things you could do
that would be more of a wow factor.
If I was fighting
for my life to stay in this house,
you best believe
I'm pulling out all the stops,
so I'm quite surprised.
[Lana] The French toast was really good.
It was crispy.
But I had to, like,
really hack at it with my knife
in order to, like, break up that pancetta.
It did taste really good,
but, like, I would have enjoyed
if he had kind of done that work for me.
You wanna make it as easy as possible
for the person eating your food
to enjoy it.
Oh, blowtorched pineapple?
Don't tempt me with a good time.
The French toast is delicious.
First of all, the texture
on the bread itself is fantastic.
It's got the coating on the outside.
Uh, it's not mushy
or undercooked on the inside.
It's just a beautiful texture.
All in all,
even though it doesn't look the greatest,
it tastes pretty dang good.
I would say this decision
is maybe the hardest decision
I've had to make.
I have to give my vote to the French toast
just 'cause it's plated better.
It's more elevated.
There's more components on the dish.
That's what I'm voting for.
There's things I like about both,
and things I don't like about both.
I have to make strategic moves.
If Ed went home, I would be really bummed
because he's a great chef,
but it is in my favor,
because I'm knocking out
a really big competitor.
[Lana] In a challenge like this, for me,
even though this was supposed
to be a modern take on everything,
what it ultimately came down to
was a dish that I'd wanna order again.
I'm just basing my vote off
of which dish I liked more,
which dish I wanted to eat more of.
I just liked the Benedict better.
[Ed grunts] I'm not feeling good.
I do not believe
it's gonna go the way I need it to go.
So I'm hoping maybe he tripped up
somewhere flavor-wise.
- [bell chimes]
- [computer] Ticket printing.
[whirring]
The results
from the Rise and Shine challenge are in.
[dramatic music playing]