The American Barbecue Showdown (2020) s01e05 Episode Script

1
I'm happy
you and Grubbs are here.
-Wouldn't be the same.
- Happy to be here.
-Mornin', everybody!
- Mornin'!
Come on in the barn. Join us!
- All right.
- Okay.
- What you think we gotta do?
- I have no idea.
I've been in the bottom two
twice in this competition already
and it's quite humbling for me.
- Good morning, guys.
- How you doin'?
- How's everybody?
- Morning!
The more I go, the more I learn,
the better my chances are of winning this.
If I can just keep from goin' home…
It's-- Because I wanna win.
I'm here to win this competition.
You got somethin' for us today?
-Oh, we got somethin' for you.
-I think so.
Today, we are celebrating
American smoking traditions.
At each of your stations,
there are two very wild animals
connected to American barbecue history
that we randomly selected for you.
Long before barbecue
focused on chicken, beef, and pork,
these animals were smoked and grilled
in backyards and in the backwoods
all across the American South
for generations.
When I hear "wild game,"
I'm excited to do the challenge.
Oh, we're gonna do some interesting things
that just grow out there
that we normally eat, but just…
are natural. They're not farmed.
Who has experience
workin' with wild animals?
Grubbs.
-This could be your day, my friend.
-Could be.
Wild game.
I'd believe if you put salt and sugar
on a crow, it'll taste good, so…
you know, if you're hungry enough,
you will eat it.
I stay optimistic, but I don't rule out.
I'm workin'
with a great bunch of good cooks here.
I don't cook
a lot of wild meat at home.
I haven't had much of it in my life.
This is, uh… It's gonna be tough.
You okay, Tina?
-Yeah.
-See? I'm smilin'.
I don't like the flavors…
or, at least, I don't think
I like the flavors of wild game.
If you smell the animal,
you can tell if it's gamier.
Leave wild stuff for the buzzards, or…
Grub.
For today's challenge,
each of you will be cooking
two wild proteins,
one of which must be smoked,
and the other included in a stew.
You need to pay careful attention
to which protein you smoke
and which you put in a stew,
because the gaminess
of some of these wild animals
is much higher than the other.
Choose very carefully.
We've also filled your pantries
with some American ingredients
that aren't as common as they used to be.
Y'all know these are ingredients
that you cain't go
to the local grocery store and get.
Such things like chayote,
cactus paddles and gooseberries.
And you have to include them
in two side dishes.
Myself, I bring a lot of knowledge
of barbecue.
That's my thing.
Um, the whole side dishes
and things like that,
that's a little bit out of my wheelhouse.
This is real-deal,
old-old-school backyard barbecue.
Me and Melissa designed this challenge
to see how you guys work with tougher,
gamier, unfamiliar meats
and totally wild ingredients.
All right. So, cookers,
your wild meats are at your stations.
You've got six and a half hours.
Don't forget, you're makin' one stew,
one smoked meat, two sides.
-All right.
-Okay.
-Get smokin'! Let's go!
-Git! Get after it!
Scatter like the little critters
you gon' be cookin', okay?
Oh, my God.
Oh, raccoon! Aieee!
I've got raccoon and elk.
Raccoon?
Tina, what you got?
Venison and… What the…
Iguana. I don't know what I'm gonna do.
I get venison.
I'm not greatly fond of it,
but I've had it.
And then I've got iguana,
a giant lizard.
And it doesn't…
smell good.
What is that?
Phew.
That's a… That's a gator.
That is definitely a gator,
or the longest tailed pig I've ever seen.
I'm not that disappointed
that I've got hare.
Uh, hare is basically rabbit.
I've experienced rabbit before.
Alligator scares me to death.
I have no idea how to cook this.
The texture of the meat…
is just like nothin'
I've ever done before.
I don't know where to start.
This is gonna be a challenge!
-What'd you get, Rasheed?
-I got beaver.
And… squirrel.
I've never thought
of cooking any of these things.
Who makes beaver?
Like, where do you get a beaver?
Look at that bison.
Oh, that's beautiful. I like that.
This is all just new for,
I think, all of us, except Grubbs.
He's always hunting.
He traps these things.
He has experience cooking all of this.
Grubbs is gonna be the guy
to beat for this competition.
Oh, my goodness!
I got a fresh cut up possum over here,
and didn't have to get it
off the side of the road.
Half the ribs.
Got a possum.
This is gonna be quite a challenge.
I'm a North Georgia grillbilly.
This is wild game day.
This is my ball game.
Yeah. Now all we need's a head on it.
This may be my chance to pull out a win
in a challenge.
I put it together, that's actually
a possum minus the head
-right here.
But it's pretty.
Might have a little advantage
of cooking wild game
over some of these other competitors.
Y'all are mean.
I mean, this was…
I know y'all came up with
somethin' different, but this is far out.
They probably won't be speakin' to us
after this.
-We have given them
some unusual things.
-However, this is a competition.
-Mm-hm.
And at some point,
you have to test their mettle.
So they've been given wild animals
and they've gotta smoke one
and use the second in a stew.
Tell us about the meats.
Iguana's so weird.
Smells like fish, feels like chicken,
but tastes like beef.
If that's your first time handlin' it,
what you gonna do with it?
-Not handle it would be my choice.
-Not.
I'm all right,
long as I don't have to kill it.
That beaver tail's a delicacy
in some places, believe it or not.
That is a fatty piece of meat.
And then you got possum and raccoon.
Very, very gamey.
I'm gettin' ready to touch the raccoon,
trim all this fat off of it.
It's meat. It's just meat.
So, the key to success
in this challenge
is… not to get overwhelmed
by the unusual proteins that you have.
They should look at iguana like chicken,
bison like beef,
and use those cooking methods.
The cookers who approach it like that
are gonna have an edge.
The cookers who get overwhelmed
are gonna struggle.
It kinda looks like chicken.
I don't know.
I have no idea what I'm doin'.
I am going to look so stupid
durin' this challenge.
It's gonna be ridiculous.
This is kind of like tellin' a pizza chef
to make a sushi roll.
Already my anxiety is through the roof
on this challenge.
This was the last basket
that I wanted to get.
The only thing I can do is just start
usin' some of these ingredients.
Grub, which side do you think's the head?
That came off your neck,
what's in your right hand.
-This right here? Okay. Good!
-Yeah.
I'm trying to figure out
what part might be the tenderest,
'cause it doesn't seem to have fat in it.
I'm gonna cook a little piece
of each one and taste it.
I've got venison, big old pieces,
and then I've got iguana.
All right, at least it's not gross.
I decided to do the venison first,
because I wanna smoke that.
I'm pokin' all these holes in here…
because I'mma shove
these garlic cloves in here.
From the venison I have ate,
it's kind of a strong taste.
Get it all seasoned up
and get it in the smoker
while I'm thinking…
…what I'm gonna do with the iguana.
So, this is chewy.
I'm gonna have to, uh… stew that.
Hah! Okay.
Gosh, there's just not a ton, man.
It's so oily.
It's dark, rich, oily meat.
I feel like the oils alone
will catch fire,
and this squirrel is too small
to really do much with in a stew.
All those bones.
This is gamey, real gamey.
I'm really focused
on the flavor of everything.
That's my plan of attack,
is getting the flavor in there.
To take the gaminess out
of any of the wild game,
it's kind of like body odor.
You don't put perfume on that,
you kind of take a bath.
Seasoning is very important.
You wanna remove that gaminess,
because if something
is not treated properly,
it won't be edible.
Five hours left, everybody.
All this is gonna cook down.
I'm gonna make a…
stew with my raccoon.
My goal in cooking this raccoon
is to disguise it as much as possible,
so that I don't know that it's there,
and then maybe I'll taste it.
Just lookin' at it now, it's like…
It's still sayin' raccoon to me.
Raccoon is real greasy,
naturally greasy with game.
Oh, man! Get you some celery,
some peppers and onions goin'…
I mean, anything, really,
to get you a flavor profile started
-to pull out some of that gaminess.
-Yeah.
Are you makin' a brine, Sylvie?
It's a mari-- More of a marinade.
I've got some rosemary, garlic, thyme.
Which one are you gonna use that on?
Uh, the elk.
I'm putting the trimmed elk…
into that mixture.
I'm gonna marinate it for a while.
This is gonna go on the smoker,
and my plan is to make a type of…
Brunswick stew with the raccoon.
Brunswick stew is a stew that takes
anything you have in the refrigerator,
the freezer, leftovers,
and you put it together
in a pot and you cook it.
By puttin' it in a stew,
hopefully that will get rid
of any off taste
that this meat might have.
This is the first squirrel I'm really
excited to get my hands on.
For my main dish,
I'm doin' lemon-herb roasted squirrel.
In my head, I sort of envisioned
just hittin' it with a cup of olive oil,
and that run off with a little salt.
Just a nice herb brush,
a twist up of thyme, rosemary, sage.
This is gonna sit and marinate
up until maybe the halfway point
'cause it's so small and so lean,
it doesn't need a lot.
And for my stew,
I'm doing beaver dumpling stew.
My grandma makes my favorite dish
as a kid, stew peas.
Subbin' out the beef for beaver,
and hopin' the judges enjoy it
as much as I do.
This is definitely the weirdest thing
I've ever cooked,
is-is this gator and this wild hare.
So in the pan right now, I got, uh,
just a few pieces of gator meat.
I just wanna test these flavors…
and see what goes with what.
Thinkin' I'm gonna smoke the gator
and stew the hare.
I've never cooked gator before.
It kinda looks like chicken.
It seems a little bit salty to me.
What I did is decided to go ahead
and rub it down with some tomato paste
and hopefully, that'll draw
some of that saltiness out of the meat.
This is, uh… somethin'
a little bit outside of my wheelhouse.
But, uh…
you know,
I'm gonna-- I'm gonna give it my all.
There's still some iguana skin on there.
Aah! Just grossed me out a little bit.
I'm all right, though.
Right now,
I'm gonna brown some iguana for a stock,
because I've decided I'm gonna make,
like, a cream-based
iguana chowder stew.
Yeah, 'cause there's not a lotta…
meat, like, that you can get to.
It smells like my pond.
Like, it's kind of fishy.
Makin' tasty iguana. Mm!
Oh, God!
Aah! It's not gettin' any easier.
Okay, it's not chicken. I think it's fine.
I think it's just more…
It's an iguana.
Just a thought.
I do believe I'll make
a sweet Italian sausage with the bison.
The possum, I'm gonna stew.
It's gonna be the bomb.
Grubbs, what you doin'?
I watched Beverly Hillbillies once.
I saw Granny cook some possum
-with some sweet taters.
-Yes.
That's what I'm gonna put together
for you today.
You've had possum stew before?
I've had grilled possum before,
never possum stew,
but I figured my other meat
would hold better up to grillin'.
With the bison,
I'm gonna make a sweet Italian sausage.
-Sausage is my forte.
-Sausage is your forte?
I learned the first time.
Gotta have that flavor in there.
The texture will be good.
I know bison
will take the flavor really well.
And, uh, it's gonna bring
a new flavor of sausage
that y'all haven't tried yet from me.
Now, Grub, you're a backwoods dude.
-Mm.
-I got high expectations.
Can-- For once, can you get
close to the top for once for us?
I know, it-- It sucks
-bein' in the bottom all the time.
It's my third time
makin' sausage in the competition.
First round, the sausage wasn't so good.
The second time,
the Andouille wasn't spicy enough,
so this is gonna either make it
or break it for me.
If I screw it up, I'm goin' home.
If I knock it out the park,
I'mma be here the next time around.
So I have to focus on what I'm doin'
and get it right.
Got possum goin' on the smoker!
Dredged in flour, salt and pepper,
a little fatback for oil in the bottom.
I'm makin' a possum sweet potato stew.
I gotta get it roasted,
try to take some of the wildness
before I actually make a stew out of it.
I feel like a kid on Christmas mornin'
right now.
The key to makin' wild game taste
less gamey
is vinegar, butter, salt.
Sugar's a good one, too,
to take the wildness out.
You always need
a little sugar with possum.
You gotta tame it. That's how you tame it,
with a little sweet.
'Cause it's wild.
So you make it sweet, take the wild out.
What kind of stew are you makin',
by the way?
Rabbit.
Oh.
My fire's out.
I look in my firebox,
and it's totally burned out of wood.
When you're smokin' meat of any kind,
you want to make sure
that the temperature stays consistent
the whole time.
That's very important.
What happened?
I've gotta get this fire built back up.
I've gotta get the smoker
back up to temp just as quick as possible.
My fire went out.
I really don't want to go home today,
so I've gotta do somethin'
to get myself together and regroup,
or I might as well start packin' my bags.
I just wanna get my hare browned up,
then I'm gonna add my other ingredients.
Very important for me
to be in this competition,
not only to do my part
to make Big Worm's Legacy BBQ
what it needs to be, but, uh…
I wanna win.
That would be
a absolute lifelong dream of mine.
Get that pork belly in there
and some smoked bacon.
I'm going to stew the beaver.
I want the judges to forget
that they're having, you know, beaver.
I've got two very, very lean proteins.
We all know
the fat's where all the flavor is.
-Rasheed's got some pork belly over there.
-I seen that.
He could be usin' it, uh,
as a starter for his stew.
With any of the wild game,
the meats are so lean.
Definitely, they need to incorporate
some sort of fat into that.
I brought some onion,
carrots, celery.
This is real backwoods,
pioneer-style cooking,
just rustic greens, rustic fresh herbs.
I got the veggies in there,
getting friendly with that bacon.
This is all for my raccoon stew.
Bacon can make anything taste better.
Especially, I'm hopin' it's gonna make
this raccoon flavorful.
I'm tryin' to get
some coal goin' here.
I've got pecan and hickory,
which, I don't usually use hickory
because it's strong,
but I thought,
if you're gonna make game meat,
it can probably take it.
I'm actually smokin' venison
and I'm also gonna put it
in the stew with iguana, too.
When they talk about "gamey,"
it is this flavor
that's just hard to get around.
The other consideration is
how are these meats
gonna accept smoke?
-Because they're so lean…
-Mm.
…you know,
they're gonna accept smoke very quickly.
I would choose, you know,
the lighter smokes,
the fruit woods, pecan, oak,
but season it well.
That elk is super lean.
There's no marbling.
So, you know
you have to do a real quick cook
just to get it to a medium-rare
temperature where it's safe to eat,
and that's it.
As long as it's safe to eat.
The squirrel is so small
and so lean,
so I'm gonna roast the squirrel.
It won't take a lot of time,
that will give me time to focus
on other elements
that we have to implement.
Gettin' that sweet
Italian bison sausage into the big Lang
to get some flavor in it.
I'm using pecan wood
in the Lang to get my sausages…
smudged with smoke.
Sausages on.
-Our boy Grub.
-Ohh.
-You think he's overconfident?
-I think he is. Um…
First of all,
he has one of the easier proteins,
and he's just gonna attempt
to make a sausage out of it.
So here's my question.
Why would you take
one of the easier meats
which you can treat just like beef
and make a huge leap of faith
that we are, this time…
going to like your sausage?
Because he said sausage is his forte.
Is his forte.
So I got this big ol' tail
that I gotta get done.
I'm not quite sure
how it's gonna turn out.
But… best thing I can do is get it
on the fire and see what happens.
How would you cook gator?
-It looked like he had tail meat.
-Yeah.
-Is that, like, a good part?
-I would say that's a good choice.
-That's a good choice.
-That's about the fattiest part.
So, so far,
he's doin' the right thing.
-It didn't look well seasoned, though.
-Nah.
Four hours left.
This is tart.
You ever tasted one?
-I tasted one. That's a gooseberry.
-Yeah, yeah.
It's like a persimmon.
-Yucca?
-That's the root of the yucca plant, yeah.
Hey, Rasheed,
you peel the yucca, right?
Yeah, you definitely gotta peel it.
Yeah, definitely.
I have never worked with yucca before.
I know that you can make French fries
out of 'em, kinda.
So, uh, that's what
I'm gonna attempt to do.
So, judges, how difficult is it
to work with these ingredients?
-Yucca, sunchokes, huckleberry.
- Sunchokes.
Chayote, cactus paddles.
That cactus paddle,
it has a okra…
-texture to it.
-Uh-huh.
Use it like you use okra.
There's all kinds of things
you can do with these
that they're not aware of.
If they taste it first…
-What are these things again?
-Chayotes, I believe.
-Chayote.
-Yeah. How'd they taste?
They're a little bitter, but they kinda
got an apple texture to 'em.
Maybe a little crisper…
than an apple.
For my sides, I'm thinkin' I'm gonna go
with a chayote apple cobbler.
I'm gonna treat 'em
just like it's an apple.
I'm gonna put some honey
and a little bit of sugar, stew 'em down
and just go from there
and see how it tastes.
Ms. Sylvie, what you bringin'
off the grill?
I got some cactus. They're restin' here,
gettin' ready to go on a salad.
-Beautiful. I never, ever cooked cactus.
-Yes. You and I are in the same boat.
Crunchy.
-Smoky.
-Smoky.
Where I live in California,
there are prickly pear cactus
growing all up and down
the highway that I live in front of.
This is quite tart,
I need to add some more salt to it.
I may even have to add
a little bit of brown sugar.
It's like the raccoon swimming in my pool.
It never even crossed my mind
that that should be on my dinner table.
So I'm gonna make cactus salad
with fresh vegetables,
then I've got this…
…yucca.
I'm gonna go rustic on this
with a mojo-type, creole-type seasoning
going on with it,
with the lemons and the garlic,
and the, uh, salt and pepper.
I'm makin' a chayote mashed potato
with parm and mild cheddar.
I've got-- I've got a few things in mind.
I've got… yucca two ways.
I got 'em in fries and delicious…
…salt and vinegar yucca chips.
Every single challenge so far
has been somethin'
I know nothin' about.
I plan on making fried yucca chips
and fries,
and a blueberry huckleberry vinaigrette
to go over a roasted corn salad.
I'm making sautéed sunchokes
with chopped onion
and some butter in here.
Butter's good with potatoes, so
it should be good with sunchokes, right?
I'm pretty good at making cobbler.
I got my mom's and my paw-paw's
recipe in my head.
It's ready!
This is my paw-paw's batter,
he passed it down to my mom,
for a cobbler pie.
I'm gonna make a pie.
That one is a gimme.
I'm gonna use huckleberries,
and some blackberries and raspberries.
Huckleberry cobbler.
I got my sunchokes cut down.
I got 'em in a little avocado oil,
salt, pepper and garlic.
Get 'em in the pan, get 'em out
on the cooker, get 'em roastin'.
Really focusin' on sides right now.
I'm gonna make mashed yucca with bacon,
and also sautéed chayote.
These in there,
sauté 'em with a bit of butter,
I'mma drizzle some fig balsamic vinegar
on 'em.
That's how I eat 'em at the house.
They give you gas when you eat 'em.
It's gonna be a wild time.
I added the cactus to the salad.
Now I'm gettin' ready
to add the dressing to it.
Then I'm gonna top it off
with some avocado.
Mm, mm, mm!
It's good stuff.
I have a tray of beaver tail
that's been starin' at me all day.
Fried it up,
puffed up lookin' like cracklin'.
So I'm making some beaver cracklin'
as well.
Why not? I'mma use all the beaver…
that I can, literally.
From the nose to the tail.
- Oh, no.
-What's wrong?
-It turned to mush.
-What turned to mush?
-The yucca.
They've been in there the whole time?
-Thirty minutes. Is that too long?
-That is… That's mashed yucca.
You got it, brother. Just--
Hey, take a breath. Take a breath.
I'm gonna stare right in your camera
if you don't go away
for, like, two minutes, please.
Just give me enough time to regroup, man.
Please, God!
I-I do traditional barbecue.
This is not barbecue.
Hey, it's just nothin'.
You got plenty of time.
You can have mashed yucca,
that's a dish my grandma used to make.
-Try to salvage that.
- All right.
Let's do this. We got it.
Three hours, team! Let's kick it up!
-Okay, who wants to taste possum stock?
- No.
-Come on, now.
-No, thank you.
- No, no, no.
-Not even a little bit.
No takers. Oh, well.
Sweet potatoes and possum.
Just like Granny Clampett used to do.
Little sweet potato on the side.
Man!
Why haven't I ever done this before?
Yep, it's good to go.
This can hang out.
-This where all the good stuff is?
-Yes, sir.
This is my beaver dumpling stew.
-This is the dumpling?
-Yes, ma'am.
You got the nerve
to have a smoke ring on your beaver?
Yes, sir, 'cause I smoked it first.
-'Cause this is a barbecue competition.
Now, the one thing…
How much grease do you think
that is sittin' on top?
That is a good amount.
That's about four inches.
Yes, ma'am.
She was concerned about
the amount of oil in my stew.
I knew I'd be fighting a uphill battle
with these far-out ingredients
and I'm not gonna change my cooking style,
but there's a-a little bit
of method to it.
But if he didn't skim that…
-all that oil and grease off the top…
- Yeah.
Imagine what happens when it-- I mean…
- When it sits--
-You get a big dipper of that…
-Ugh.
-It'll be two inches of…
If he don't skim it,
it'll be two inches of fat sittin' there.
Ugh. I don't want that.
Oh, no.
All my liquid is-is cooked out
of my stew on this open fire.
I don't know about Ashley.
I'm not sure that he's going to be able
to apply his barbecue knowledge
to the proteins that we've given him.
Jesus Christ, what could go wrong next?
It's been great
cookin' with y'all.
I'm about to bow out.
- Hey, hey, none of that, man.
- No, Ashley.
- No, man--
-Man, my stew's burned.
-What happened to it?
- My alligator sucks.
I mean, I ain't gonna win, dude.
This is pointless.
- Ash!
-Can any of us help you, Ashley?
I-I don't know.
- Looks like he given up.
- What?
I think he just quit.
What are you doin', man?
Man, I don't even have anything
I can turn in.
He's throwing in the towel.
And I know that's not Ash.
It ain't done. It ain't over.
Don't-Don't… Come on, man.
No one wants to stand by
and see anyone struggle.
I know he's wanting to honor
his lost friend, Big Worm,
and I know Worm
wouldn't have let him quit.
The stew, is it burned down?
Is it dry? Is there water in it?
It's burned.
I just wanted to throw my hands up
and quit.
-Let's get to work.
-But…
Rasheed told me,
"Don't quit, keep pushin' for Big Worm."
That meant a lot.
I start to realize I gotta channel
Big Worm and push through this,
because he would have never gave up,
and I'm not either.
-Yeah, we can-- We can do this.
- We can save that.
Doesn't look bad.
What's wrong with it?
-That's… That's gone.
- You can't save it.
Everyone says you can't
overcook a stew, but you can burn a stew,
and that burnt flavor
is all the way through.
Yeah, so…
-But no one's givin' up.
- No… Never give up.
Ash, how you doin', boy?
-I'm hangin' in there, man.
- Hangin' in there?
- You got this, bro.
Never give up.
My stew,
I'm gonna have to take off the fire,
add some more moisture to it,
throw some tomato paste down in it
to absorb the burnt taste
and just try to get it goin' again.
Just focus on that top,
don't get the bottom.
- I'm good. Appreciate it.
- All right. You're welcome.
There's just somethin'
about this barbecue competition.
If you're strugglin' with somethin',
your neighbor's there to help you.
Now, I'm regrouped, I'm refocused.
I've gotta make this turn in.
You just don't see this.
They're doin' things that can help him
-get them sent home.
- Yeah.
We've got his gator
wrapped up in some foil,
some butter, some stock,
gonna bring some moisture,
just enough time to get that moisture
back into the gator.
And for it to turn out perfect.
All right.
-You good?
- Yeah, I'm good.
-Appreciate it.
- You're welcome, bro.
We're not lettin' anybody quit.
You can't quit, you already came too far
to just give up 'cause somethin' burned.
If you're barbecuing, playing with fire,
and you haven't burned somethin',
you haven't been cookin' right.
I cooked this Brunswick stew with this…
raccoon in it,
and it looks good,
but I cannot put that in my mouth.
Wow! That's beautiful, Ms. Sylvie.
Raccoons, they go through your trash cans,
they eat garbage.
It means, if I ate a raccoon,
I'm eating…
a garbage eater?
I would never guess
that was raccoon. Never.
- That's damn good.
-It is.
-I tasted raccoon!
-There you go.
I need to really go in there
and get my iguana.
Bring that out…
I mean…
I'm behind.
I'm bringin' cream and butter
and my iguana.
Okay, my stove's off.
When I cooked
the sample piece of iguana off,
it-it cooked so quick,
I thought it would get tough in my stew,
so I put the iguana meat in the egg
just to release the flavors
in a different pan.
So I'm watchin' it really close,
'cause it…
I mean, it cooked fast.
I mean, I was shocked, so…
Oh, yeah. It's only been in here a minute
and it's already startin', so…
I'mma…
I guess I have to stay out here with it.
Oh, sit here and wait on the iguana.
Thirty-three minutes!
Samp-- Let's sample the smoked sausage.
Hm. I like it. I don't know how they're
gonna dig the mouthfeel, but I like it.
-A little dry.
-Yeah.
I tasted my sausage.
The texture's off, and these--
These judges know texture, and…
it may be my demise.
A quick barbecue sauce.
Dip them-- Dip them sausages in.
I ended up over-prickin' my sausages,
to get the smoke ring in 'em,
and it dried out a bit on me.
And it's disappointin',
but then I said, "I got it."
I'm gonna make an Italian barbecue sauce
to serve with the sausage.
Sausage and sauce go together
like biscuits and gravy.
I mean, I don't--
I don't wanna overthink it,
I'll mess up the flavor,
so I have to ride with what it is.
Fifteen minutes, everybody.
Bless it!
To be a pioneer woman,
you would have to be very strong.
That's my yuccas.
I boiled it too long.
Now, I'm gonna try to make
mashed potatoes out of 'em.
Pretty much every family dinner at home,
you're gonna have mashed potatoes.
This has turned out pretty good.
Ah, it's heavy.
I cooked it to the right temp,
but let's just hope that they like it.
It is what it is at this point.
Regardless of what happens today,
I'm gonna put somethin' on the plate.
I made my alligator two different ways.
I shredded one of 'em and sliced gator.
It's been an emotional day for me.
More than anything,
I wanna stay in this competition.
Ten, nine, eight…
seven, six, five…
four, three, two, one…
Show me the meats!
-Relief!
-What a day that was.
This ain't gettin' any easier.
At this point, I'm just happy
that I made everything turned in.
I know it's not gonna be the best quality
of what I've done before.
I'm just hopin' that it's just good enough
to squeak me by.
Hello.
- Hey, y'all.
- Welcome.
- Good afternoon.
- Look at this.
- All right, so, Tina.
-Mm.
Why don't you tell us
about your wild protein,
your stew and your sides?
So, a roasted venison,
huckleberry cobbler, sunchokes,
and some lizard stew.
Tina, what was the hardest part
of puttin' all this together for you?
Probably the lizard stew.
But after I cooked a piece,
and tasted it, it was a little easier.
I will tell you that the iguana stew…
-…is surprising to me.
Surprising?
The iguana stew is fantastic.
- I love it.
Your venison, the flavor is there,
it's good smoke.
Could have been just, for me,
a tad bit more tender.
-This is a excellent way to start.
-Oh, thank you.
All right, Rasheed.
I made beaver dumpling stew,
roasted squirrel,
corn and kale salad
with a sunchoke mashed potato.
These little super small pieces
are actually, uh, beaver cracklin'.
So that's a crack-- That's from the tail?
A nice piece of beaver cracklin'.
If you've never had
a beaver tail cracklin'…
you should.
-Thank you.
-The beaver dumplings are…
one of the best things
I've ever had in a stew.
The dumpling…
held its shape, but has so much flavor.
Thank you very much.
I'm a hunter,
and sometimes we cook squirrel
out in the field when we hunt.
It kind of tastes like that to me.
Could have been a little bit better.
First time tastin' squirrel,
-and you just wanna wow, you know?
-Of course.
-Sylvie.
- So what I did was seared elk.
The raccoon is cooked
in a Brunswick-type stew,
then I also have the chayote
and grilled cactus.
The flavor,
the depth of flavor that's in this stew,
I don't think it would've mattered
if you had put every wild game
in the country in this stew,
I think it still would have been good.
This is one of the best stews
I've ever had.
-Ah, thank you.
-Your salad…
I see you kept it California when you put
the avocados in that cactus salad.
This is real good.
Your, uh, elk, the flavor…
as always, on point.
-Good job, Ms. Sylvie.
-Thank you.
Ashley, big day.
-You made it.
-I did.
So I've got a rabbit stew,
sliced and pulled gator,
yucca potatoes,
and a chayote and apple cobbler.
I definitely didn't think
I was gonna be able to do it.
I was havin' one issue after another.
I mean, you pulled it together, man.
I'm glad you took a deep breath
and just reeled it in.
- Right.
-I'm not sayin' if you're gonna
make it further or whatever, whatever,
but I was not expectin' this.
-Thank you.
- Okay.
The, um, alligator
could have used a little more flavor.
-The cobbler's really flavorful.
The potatoes and yucca
-could have used a little bit of salt.
-Okay.
The stew could have been a little…
you know, had a little bit more…
…strength to it.
It's a little thin. It could
have used a little bit of thickener.
So you guys think the soup
could have been a "hair" thicker.
Judges taste my food…
And, believe it or not,
it's not the most terrible comments
that you could receive.
Maybe it's just good enough
to squeak me by to the next round.
Ashley, thank you very much.
-Thank you, guys.
-Grubbs.
I made opossum stew,
I have a sweet Italian bison sausage,
sautéed chayote, mashed yucca
and roasted sunchokes.
For me, I thought that your use
of the barbecue sauce
might have helped, uh,
your texture balance on your sausage.
I thought that it was…
um, very unique.
However, the texture
is not what I wanna see in a sausage.
The flavor of your sausage is…
is just not holdin' up.
Not enough fat.
The possum still really wasn't that bad.
But once again, you just…
on the seasonin'.
I just want
a little bit more oomph to mine.
Your yucca mashed potatoes
and chayote…
sunchokes, I didn't taste anything
in that, didn't taste no flavor.
-You guys should be really proud.
- Yeah.
Goin' into it, this…
My challenge to win,
but the results of my sausage
could be sendin' me to the crib.
Now, judges, who do you think
did the best overall today?
For us, one of your meals
really blew us away today.
Your flavors,
your wild game was pretty spot on.
Today's best meal was made by…
Sylvie.
-Whoo!
- Congratulations!
- Congrats, Sylvie!
Now you can say
that you are the raccoon champion.
-I'm the raccoon champion!
- Yeah!
-I've done it. I'm good.
-Never ate or cooked it, and crushed it.
And crushed it. Mm!
I don't know that I'll ever make it again.
-However, it was good.
Congratulations, Sylvie.
- Congratulations.
-Thank you.
Awesome.
Unfortunately, we have to send
somebody home today.
Judges, who do you feel like
missed the mark?
Ashley…
and Grubbs.
Sorry to say,
we think you both struggled today.
Things didn't work out
quite the way you planned.
Ashley, that gator bit you in the ass.
-It did.
Competition's brought out the best of me
and it's brought out the worst.
I feel like it brought the worst today.
Nobody ever said competition barbecue
-was gonna be easy.
-No, ma'am.
-Suck it up, buttercup.
-That's right.
My boy Grub, I've been beggin' and beggin'
for seasonin' from you.
And you were almost there tonight.
If you move on, you should be ready
as far as your seasonings are concerned,
'cause you should know exactly
what we want by now.
It was a really
tough decision for us today.
But unfortunately,
somebody has to go home.
Grubbs…
you cooked our least favorite meal today,
so you'll be goin' home.
-I'm sorry.
-I'm-- And I'm okay with that.
I appreciate everything
from all you guys, man.
I mean, this has been
one of the highlights of my life,
and, uh, I can't trade it for anything.
Ashley, how you feelin' right now, buddy?
Bittersweet. It is.
But my whole motto is,
"Live to fight another day," and…
by the seat of my pants,
I think I just squeaked by today.
So, uh… we've said it multiple times,
we've become like family,
and it's tough to see family go.
Thanks, brother.
-I'm gonna miss you. You hear me?
-Yeah.
It's a little emotional, saying goodbye
to all the people I met here,
but, uh, the ride itself has been amazing.
My favorite barbecue ladies right here.
Oh, you guys.
Let her rip, tater chip.
Let's go back up to the mountain
to cook opossum,
'cause I learned how to do that today.
If I can get the kids to eat it,
it'd be a winner.
Y'all better brush up on your
history books for the next challenge.
Get to studyin'.
We're gonna go back, way back.