The American Barbecue Showdown (2020) s01e07 Episode Script

1
If you can bring it in
one time for me, please.
- Aww!
- It's been a blast.
It's been a blast.
-It will continue to be.
-Oh, I believe that.
To be someone who isn't running
the typical barbecue circuit
and to be here with these two
amazing barbecuers in the top three…
is an amazing feeling.
Hey, everybody. Come on out!
I just finished winning the last challenge
with Ms. Tina,
and I want to keep running
on that momentum.
- Hi, guys.
- Look who's here.
-Hi, everybody.
- Hi.
-Good mornin'!
-Good mornin'!
You guys look great. Have you guys
been wearin' aprons this whole time?
We started with eight, and now you three
are the best cookers in America.
This is the last challenge
before the finale.
These are two people
that I have a bond with.
Somebody's fixin' to go.
I'm sad about that, but I still wanna win.
-How does that feel?
-Feels good. Feels really good.
I'm in the top three. Whoo!
-One time.
-I love bein' in the middle.
We all deserve to be in the top two,
but one of us has to go,
and that's not gonna be me.
All right, so welcome, cookers.
Are things looking a little different?
-A lot different.
- Yes.
There are these additional,
strange-looking cooking items.
What the heck is that?
So, great barbecue exists
all over the world.
And barbecue in America,
like the country herself,
has become a beautiful melting pot
of international styles and flavor.
-I like that.
-It's all good.
The greatest barbecuers are familiar
with techniques from all over the world.
Kevin and I designed this challenge
to test exactly that.
We've picked three countries
where barbecue has been baked
into their culture and cuisine.
There's Argentina.
-Beef has been a staple
in Argentine dishes
dating back to the mid-1800s,
when gauchos roasted beef on an asador.
A technique that you'll be using today
with the infamous asado cross.
You'll also be using quebracho charcoal,
manufactured from
South American quebracho trees,
the gaucho grill and the flat plancha,
similar to a cast-iron griddle
over an open fire.
Okay.
-So then there's Morocco.
Cardamom, turmeric and za'atar
are often used to spice up
common Moroccan ingredients,
like chickpeas, couscous,
chicken and lamb.
You'll be usin' a street kabob grill
with olive wood,
an ancient tagine and majmar,
kabob skewers and grill baskets.
I don't know what some of that stuff is.
-Lastly, there's Japan.
Japanese barbecue, or yakitori,
uses a yakitori grill, which is
the perfect size for cooking small kabobs
without burning the exposed part
of the bamboo skewers.
Today, in addition to the yakitori grill
with binchōtan charcoal,
you'll also be using a donabe,
a clay pot used for steaming and smoking,
and an ishiyaki,
a rock grill or hot grilling stone.
Your challenge is to cook an innovative
and international barbecue spread.
It has to feature two proteins
and two sides,
with the equipment, wood and ingredients
you've been assigned.
Can you prove your mastery
of all techniques
to make it to the finale?
And there are a lot of barbecue techniques
involved in this challenge.
Now, we've assigned
these barbecue cultures to you at random.
Rasheed, you have Argentina.
I go to Argentina
about two to three times a year.
-You do not!
-Oh!
- I do.
- Rasheed says,
"Oh, I go to Argentina,
two, three times a year."
We're lookin' at him like,
"Yeah, sure you do. Okay."
Mmm… That's kind of a funny smirk.
-Have you been to Argentina?
- No.
I've been to Chicago. Doesn't mean
I know how to make a deep dish.
- Great point.
- That is true.
-Okay.
- Right?
I'd be lying if I said
I wasn't excited about getting Argentina.
It's an amazing country, amazing culture.
Their style is multiple meats
cooked different ways,
balancing on the flavors
of the meat itself
and makin' slight fresh condiments
to go with it.
Tina, you've got Morocco.
-Yay. I haven't been there.
- I--
Have you been there?
- No.
-You've not been to Morocco?
-I thought for sure.
No. I went to a restaurant once years ago,
and it wasn't my thing.
I didn't really like the food.
It was almost like they mixed sweet…
But it was supposed to be an entrée.
And then you have to eat with your hands.
I don't like that.
Sylvie. That means you have Japan.
I admit
I go to a lot of Japanese restaurants.
I eat a lot of Japanese food.
I'm actually relieved,
because it looked more familiar to me
than some of the other vessels.
So, okay, I'm feeling good.
International barbecue is just as soulful
as American barbecue,
so I expect you to tap into the roots
of these cultures today.
You have the ingredients and spices
from each of these country's cuisines.
Taste them
and relate them to what you know.
To move on to the finale,
I expect to see somethin' groundbreaking.
-Okay.
-You have six and a half hours.
- Okay.
- Pronto!
- Pronto!
All right.
What was that? I thought you were
gonna learn Japanese. That's Italian.
All right, get smokin'.
So now we down to the final three.
We decided to take this trio of cookers
around the world.
This is not gonna be easy for 'em.
Uh…
Nutmeg.
The menu for today, I've gotta make a dish
that represents the flavors of Argentina.
They've given me annatto seeds,
I've got some cayenne.
I've really gotta start thinkin'
about what I can make…
and the short amount of time
that I have to make it in.
Oh. Oh.
There's many options in the meat locker.
There's goat, there's all types of stuff,
but I see the lamb, the whole lamb,
and why not?
I'm goin' up against two amazing cooks,
so I've got to pull out
every trick I know.
I gotta make an impression.
I gotta stick out.
I can't just stick to something simple.
I've gotta really show the judges
what I can do.
Hey, Rasheed. What you got goin' on here?
It's lamb.
A nice, good-sized lamb.
What's your plan?
Uh… The current plan is to brine it.
-Salt brine?
-Uh… A salt brine.
That's scary.
-What does salt do?
-It dries things out.
How long are you gonna
keep it in the brine?
I'm tryin' to keep it in the brine
for at least an hour.
-Don't let it dry out.
-Uh--
My goal today is keep everything moist.
-Good answer.
-Good luck, bro.
Thank you. Thank you, judges, thank you.
Looks like it's ground…
seaweed.
I'm traveling to Japan today.
A country I have never been to.
My only experience with Japanese food
is in a Japanese restaurant,
and usually that's sushi
and sashimi and…
teriyaki-type products and foods, so…
…this is gonna be tough.
I've got some shishito peppers,
which I'm going to…
I think I'm gonna…
You know what I can do with these?
I can blister them.
This is my ticket to the finale
and I've gotta prove
that I'm worthy of bein' there.
In order to do that, I just can't cook
two proteins and two sides.
That's just too simple.
So I'm goin' for it.
I'm trying to think about the meat locker
and what's in there.
And I thought,
"Okay, they've got pork belly in there.
They've got steaks. They've got chicken.
They've got lamb.
Shucks, I could do lamb lollipops."
Ms. Sylvie, how are you?
-I'm doing quite well.
- Good.
- How you doin', Ms. Sylvie?
-Yes.
I know how you're just meticulous
on everything that you do.
How many different portions
are we gonna be served tonight?
I'm not sure.
I think I have enough proteins
and enough side dishes
that, if I get those out of the way,
then I've met the requirements
of the challenge.
But the other things I just wanted to do
as an added…
You know, I've got all this time.
What are you using it for?
As a barbecuing competitor,
I know better…
than to change up anything.
Stick to the plan.
My country is Morocco.
I got a few kinds of eggplant,
some cool-lookin' tomatoes,
fancy carrots,
harissa, which I've had.
I've not had raw chickpeas.
I've only cooked dried or used canned
and made hummus, because I like it.
Since those are green,
I don't think that's somethin'
you can use for that, so…
I still gotta…
taste a couple of things,
'cause I don't-- I don't really know.
I'm gonna make my whole menu
geared around spices.
Some kind of house cleaner.
You know, like, really aromatic,
'cause if it smells good,
it's gonna taste good.
-We're gonna have Moroccan grilled kabobs,
grilled chicken,
like chicken and dumplings,
and a couscous side,
and also a chickpea side.
All of 'em are gonna have
a Southern flair to it.
I am worried about being…
too Southern and them not getting
the Moroccan flavors,
so I think that's why I'm trying to use
as many things in the basket,
so I don't miss Morocco.
If I… win this, I'm goin' to the finale.
And I'm not gonna be here
cookin' all this crazy stuff
just to go home.
- Ms. Tina.
- Hey, y'all.
- What we got goin' on here?
-Well, I'm makin' up a, uh…
Moroccan-- what I think
is a Moroccan-style rub.
I got paprika, cumin, a little cayenne.
I'm gonna put that on the-- the chicken.
And then I'm gonna grind this up
and make some kabobs.
You cookin' those on the street grill?
The kabobs on the street grill?
-Yes, sir.
-What are you gonna cook on the tagine?
I'm gonna attempt to do dumplings.
Just with, like, the turmeric in it
so they're pretty and yellow.
That's the goal right now.
Maybe I need not to worry, right?
I think Tina is probably the most
unfamiliar with her country's cuisine.
I think, uh, Moroccan food
is probably, uh, not found in Georgia.
You guys have five hours
left in your cook.
Just makin' a brine.
It's just salt, oregano,
cayenne pepper, nutmeg.
How many times
am I gonna get to cook a whole lamb
over open flames on an asado cross?
Why not swing for the fences?
I've got the lamb in the brine.
Now I'm gonna…
split the chicken
and get it ready for its brine as well.
So, today, I'm presenting to the judges
a whole lamb, rosemary chicken,
and I've got an idea
about some griddle cakes, provoleta.
I'm also thinkin'
about makin' some picanha,
which is the sirloin
with the heavy fat ring on the outside.
It's a whole lot. It's a big menu.
I know the judges are thinking
it could go off really well
or be a catastrophe.
It's the final three.
I've gotta really show the judges
what I can do.
I'm gonna make
a yakitori marinade,
and this is just Asian flavors that are
gonna go into, uh, marinating my chicken.
For my menu, I plan to do
yakitori chicken, lamb lollipops.
I've got my pork belly.
For my sides, I'm gonna do
some blistered shishito peppers.
I'm gonna do some spring rolls, bok choy,
and I may even put the bok choy
in the donabe,
because it'll just be easy
to just get a little bit of smoke on it
and get a little bit of wilting on it,
and that's it.
This is my barbecue rub,
and this is to incorporate…
some, uh, fusion flavors
to this pork belly
that I'm eventually
going to put on the yakitori grill.
It contains paprika, salt, pepper,
chili powder.
Even though barbecue rub isn't typically
thought of as being in a Japanese meal,
a Japan-related meal…
I'm trying to bring it back home
and make it my own.
And to make it my own,
I have to use my own…
rub to flavor it with.
My initial start in barbecue
started with a blog
that I called Soul Fusion Kitchen.
I am the master
of fusing international dishes
with dishes that are soul food oriented.
This is what I do. So I'm gonna make this
a… international Soul Fusion Kitchen…
Japanese meal.
Ground meat, which is not traditionally
the way I do kabobs,
so I have to be very cautious
about the meat fitting on these skewers.
I wanna do beef, pork,
and I'm gonna use some lamb fat,
because when you make ground meat,
you have to put some fat in it.
I know in Africa, North Africa,
they eat a lot of lamb,
so I'm thinkin', "Well,
if I just put some lamb fat in there,
I'll kinda be…
traditional."
You know, they just don't put veggies
like-- like we do here.
I just hope it holds together.
Oh. See, look at that.
See how it can fall apart really easy.
I mean, look.
Maybe if they're smaller.
Maybe it's too fat.
Make 'em skinnier.
All right, smokers,
you got four hours.
So today,
I'll be using the asado, uh, iron cross.
I've never used an asado cross.
It's really cool. It's great,
but it's heavy, it's all metal.
It's meant to be used over an open fire,
and I was actually given a different coal
from Argentina that I'm not used to using.
So I'm really gonna have to focus
on keeping the heat where I need it to be
and hope it turns out well.
It's time for me
to get that lamb on the cross.
Aside from my love of barbecue,
this opportunity means a lot.
Growing up, I never saw anyone
that looked like me.
All the cooking shows I watched,
there was never anyone
that resembled anything like me.
So being here,
I want to be that representation.
I want to be a little bit of inspiration
to someone out there.
So the biggest challenge
is to not dry out my meat.
I wanna make sure that that flame stays.
That the ground underneath it
stays nice and hot,
so I can get it cooked in time.
But without drying it out
and without burning it.
I fashioned together my own herb brush
to make a little brine
and, uh, oil coating
to baste the meat
and keep it moist throughout the cook.
Outside of turkey, this is my first time
cooking a whole animal.
The whole lamb
doesn't cook at the exact same time.
There's gonna be parts
that can easily cook faster.
So I've gotta make sure that I may have
cooler temperatures on the belly
and warmer spots on-- on the hindquarters.
It's-- There's a lot
that can go wrong here.
It's challenging.
It's challenging as all hell.
The most challenging cook
that we've had thus far, but…
I'm lookin' forward to it.
I mean, once again,
Rasheed took on a whole lot.
-Like always.
- Yeah.
You know, he's doin'
a whole lamb carcass over there.
I just hope he's not overthinkin' it,
you know.
My concern is I don't think Rasheed
washed his brine off of his lamb.
If you don't wash your brine off,
you're gonna get a salty
or pickled flavor, if you will.
So I'm a little concerned about that.
Boy, this is flimsy.
It's portable,
because it's like a street kabob grill.
See, it's so light.
My dog is heavier than this grill.
You couldn't even cook enough
on this grill…
for my dog.
The tagine's like a clay pot.
Like a Crock-Pot-y kind of thing.
My mom says I'm smart.
I'll figure it out.
I may not know the…
the book smarts of it,
but I'll figure it out.
The tagine is not like a Crock-Pot.
It is a large, conical vessel
that sits atop a majmar,
which is a clay pot filled with coals.
The tagine creates a unique,
circular motion of heat inside
to slow cook vegetables and stews.
It is going to hold the condensation.
It's really about the charcoal
and making sure that you have
enough liquid in the tagine
with all the condensation
returning back to the pot.
- Can you smell it?
- Mm. That's different.
-Yeah, I know. Not bad, but I--
-Diff-- It's not bad, but it's like…
-Just different.
-Yeah.
So I have to cook with olive wood.
It kind of smells
a little bit like mesquite,
but I don't like mesquite wood.
Oof. Mm! Okay.
Oh! I just blew some
out of my mouth. Did y'all see that?
I got Japan
for my international challenge.
And though I'm not familiar with…
cookin' on some of the equipment
that they have selected for me,
I just gotta cook.
Let's see what we get.
They got the special binchōtan wood
that's supposed to get super hot.
That's gonna go in my yakitori grill.
There is another piece of equipment
called a donabe,
which is sort of like
a enclosed, like, ceramic-type bowl.
And then there is an ishiyaki,
which is just a stone.
You could cook anything on it.
It's like a grill.
I've got a big pack of skewers to use.
I've got pork belly.
The chicken is gonna be put on skewers
and cooked here on the yakitori.
I'm ready and I'm gonna wow the judges.
I'm gettin' ready to put the pork belly
on the reverse-flow smoker.
And then I'm gonna take it off, cube it up
and then put it on skewers
so that I can do it on the yakitori grill
and char it.
The menu Sylvie's planning
is big enough to choke a horse.
Everything she has to cook is typically
gonna be right there at the end.
The timing of it…
-Could be some mess.
-…could be concerning.
One wrong move today…
-can send you home.
-Yeah.
Three hours, y'all!
Oh, God. I have three hours left. Okay.
I'm gonna go work on the sides.
Do you think it's gonna be hard for them
to pair side dishes
-with this international cuisine?
- Absolutely.
Some things just don't go together.
And so when you're melding flavors,
you need to think about that.
It has to be like peanut butter and jelly,
like yin and yang.
And when you're in--
This is the top three.
-All three of these guys can cook meats.
-Oh, yeah.
So it might come down
to your side tonight.
Since I got my chickpeas
on simmer…
With the chickpeas,
I'm makin' a big pot, like of
Kinda like you cook pinto beans at home,
but I applied that to chickpeas.
I added a few seasonings, a bit
of ham hock in it, to make it Moroccan.
I'm gonna make a couscous,
and then I decided to make another side.
I've got bacon fat
and I've got cardamom seeds in it.
And then preserved lemon,
which I don't like. Uh…
But I think it's more aromatic.
I'm makin' really cool carrots,
of course with some bacon fat,
which I know is probably not Moroccan.
And then steam the carrots in there.
I'm making spring rolls
with barbecue shrimp.
I cooked that on the smoker
and so that develops
the fusion aspect of this dish.
Makin' it California
with a little bit of avocado.
I've never made spring rolls before,
but real simple.
Rehydrate the wrappers,
take some vegetables, roll it up.
Make a sauce with it. Voilà, present it.
Gonna make that provoleta.
One of my favorite dishes is a appetizer.
In Argentina, it's called a provoleta.
It's not really provolone,
it's an off-cut of it.
It's really rich, really sharp,
really flavorful.
I have a cast-iron skillet.
It's a quick sear on both ends,
so the middle's nice and gooey.
Some baby griddle cakes here.
I got some griddle cakes on the plancha,
which is really, really cool.
It's just a very flat,
thick piece of cast iron.
It's great for quick sears and things.
These can easily burn
because of the sugar in them.
It's time to flip the provoleta.
No!
The other three
now just have to be perfect.
Hey, everybody. Y'all come outside
and join us for just a minute.
Oh, my God.
All right…
Let's see what kind of trouble
we're in now.
- Come on in, everybody.
- Hello!
- Hello.
- Hey, guys.
So, not much time left in the cook
and we thought,
"Let's have a little contest."
-Why would you think that?
-Why not? Yeah, why not?
Right, "Why not?"
Sylvie, that's the spirit!
-Why not?
- Exactly! Why not?
Because we wanna see
who makes the most delicious…
Just tell us.
…hot sauce!
Whoo!
- Oh, my--
-Oh, my gosh!
Look at that!
- Whoo!
Today, we want you
to make your very best hot sauce
and adapt that hot sauce
to the barbecue culture you're cooking.
Here, you've got bird peppers,
chile de árbol, habañero,
jalapeño, poblano, serrano,
shishito, morita
and ancho.
I don't even know that many peppers.
A great hot sauce, for me,
has to have spice and flavor.
I don't want nothin' that's just hot
for no reason at all.
I want some good spice, some good heat
and some excellent,
excellent flavor on my hot sauce.
-All right, y'all. Are you ready?
- Uh-huh…
-Mm. Ready.
-Get smokin'.
-Okay.
-Smoke.
Heat it up.
Peppers.
Lots of peppers.
I know hot peppers, but some of these
were not ones that I was sure…
So I'm glad I tasted 'em, because I coulda
burned that one, that's for sure.
These are hot!
-Okay.
-You don't wanna taste it?
No, I don't wanna taste any of it.
How would you describe
the flavor of a perfect hot sauce?
When I'm makin' hot sauce,
I wouldn't say it's sweet,
but it has a lot of…
notes of seasoning.
You know, the first thing I would have
done was blistered some of those peppers,
put 'em in a-- a sealable bag,
so I could have removed the skins.
I would've even removed the seeds.
Then you're gettin' your heat from
the actual pepper itself, not the seeds.
I'm not really into hot sauce,
but I'm thinking, for this challenge,
that I don't wanna be a wimp,
so I don't wanna do something
that's just basic
peppers that really don't have an impact.
So I grabbed one of the hottest,
the Thai chilies.
I'm putting my hot sauce together
on the fly.
I do not make hot sauces
in my barbecuing.
No clue what I'm gonna do.
I'm just gonna sort of, uh…
wing it.
I like hot sauce. But not in the middle
of doin' other stuff.
I grilled off some sweeter peppers
and some hot peppers
until they were charred.
I peeled them off.
It's red wine vinegar, sugar.
So, I'm gonna do, like, a medium heat
with a touch of sweet.
Yeah, I called it, um…
"Southern-Moroccan paste."
I got roasted habañeros, roasted
tomatillo, poblano and, uh, chili peppers.
Dust this off with a little cayenne.
Yeah, Argentina's not really a lotta heat.
But, uh… I still wanna impart
some good flavors there,
which is why I think I'm gonna add
a little oregano to this.
If this was Jamaica, I'd definitely make
a great hot sauce kind of flavor,
some of these habañeros,
and find some Scotch bonnets,
but this isn't about cooking what I want.
It's about what will please the judges.
You got two hours.
Chickens are in. Finally!
What I think in my mind
is Moroccan-spiced rub chicken.
I just put a bunch of stuff together
and rubbed it on the outside
of the chicken with some salt.
'Cause you gotta salt it.
And let it ride.
I'm puttin'…
coals in the majmar,
so I can use it
to cook my side dish of couscous.
So I've got couscous, and I've chopped
some onions and some peppers,
and I put some of the spicy harissa,
and I got some other seasonings in here.
I was originally
gonna do chicken and dumplings,
but that's not gonna happen.
I don't think I can cook in it.
It's only, like, this big around
and it's only, like, this deep.
So change of plans.
I'm gonna do couscous in the tagine.
I'm just charrin' off some tomatoes
to add to the dish.
And I got cinnamon,
I got raisins, peppers, onions,
parsley and a little cilantro.
The picanha looks really, really great.
Picanha's a cut of beef.
So I want to get a nice, fairly good…
thick slice, so I can offer
various doneness temperatures.
It's not an extremely long, long cook.
We only have, uh…
less than two hours.
I'm skewering them, because that is how
they are made and served
in Brazil and Argentina.
It's, uh, actually served
right off the skewer.
Prop it up and…
fft, ftt, slice that way.
And, uh… I'd like to at least cook it
in the same means,
stay as true to the process as possible.
-Good.
-Good.
-40 minutes!
Usually,
when I'm doing all these challenges,
I have the timeline in my head
of what I'm gonna do.
However, I'm so far behind
on this challenge.
For my main dish,
I'm gonna have this marinated chicken.
And these are chicken thighs.
And I'm also gonna have a rack of lamb.
For my sides,
I'm gonna have the shishito peppers
which I'm trying to keep my mind on.
Japanese food is very organized.
It's laid out with ingredient
after ingredient after ingredient,
just layering
all those flavors together.
Got shishito peppers,
which are over here blistering.
And the time
is still ticking and ticking away.
I'm glad I started certain things early.
I'm glad
I did my griddle cake batch early.
You know…
stuff like that
really is helpin' me out right now.
Yeah, I'm pullin' off the lamb,
'cause I feel as though… it's done.
I'mma take a test cut.
Provoleta's goin'.
Picanha's goin'.
Chicken's goin'.
Taking the lamb off.
My bok choy is here.
I'm gonna put that on in a little bit.
That should be a real quick cook.
-What's up, Ms. Sylvie?
- How you doin'?
How you doin'?
I'm, uh… hangin' in here.
Those are your shishitos blistering
over there?
Yes, I'm doing those first,
so I get a feel for what the--
the grill is doing.
So you feelin' good
about gettin' done?
We gettin' down
to the nitty-gritty again, Sylvie.
Always concerned about time.
Two proteins, two sides.
Just making sure I have enough skewers.
-Good luck to you, Sylvie.
-Please. I hope.
I wanna be in the finals so bad.
I am extremely concerned about her time.
I know it's a fast cook,
but she doesn't have any meat on
-at this point.
-Nothin'.
-I'm nervous for her. My heart's beatin'.
-Yeah.
These are the final chances.
Ticket to the finale
or first-class ticket home.
I'm smoking, um… on the yakitori,
and I've got chicken on here,
and I've got the pork belly.
The dilemma of the pork belly.
This is a pomegranate molasses
with peach.
Zhuzh it up.
It's like havin' to choose
your favorite kid.
I don't like this at all.
-Five minutes, y'all! Five minutes.
This is it. These are giving me grief.
Oh, I touched it.
I spent a lot of time
working on the spring rolls.
The ingredients were fine,
but the wrapper just was not.
I had the wrapper sittin' in water
for a while.
And I think it made it mushy and sticky.
I can't turn that in.
One minute, everybody. One minute.
I think Rasheed
just dropped a steak on there.
I'm so nervous.
My blood pressure is up.
Legitimately, my blood pressure is up.
I'm nervous.
One, two, three, four.
Oh, I forgot the salt.
My hand's on fire. Fire!
-Uh, talk about down to the last second.
Ten, nine,
eight, seven, six…
five, four…
three, two, one…
Show me the meat!
- You did it!
- Oh! You guys are done.
-All right… Way to go, ladies.
-Got dirty hands.
-I'm dirty all over, Ms. Sylvie.
Look at these three.
They're huggin' it out. Okay.
- May the best woman…
- We did it, ladies.
-…make it through.
- Oh!
All right.
All right!
-Congratulations!
- Hi, guys.
The cookers had to make
two main dishes and two side dishes,
using international smokers
and ingredients,
influenced by the countries
they had been assigned.
Come on, give yourselves
a round of applause. This is unbelievable.
I wish we could take all three
of these cookers to the finale, but…
only two will make it.
Sylvie, tell us
about your international barbecue spread.
I have a rack of lamb,
chicken which was marinated
in a yakitori-type sauce,
and then I dressed it
with my barbecue sauce.
And then I have pork belly,
and it also has my barbecue sauce on it.
Blistered shishito peppers and bok choy.
My hot sauce is hot.
There are Thai chili peppers in there
with vinegar, salt
and a little bit of brown sugar
to round it out.
The hot sauce was a little hot for me.
- Uh, I…
I would have preferred
maybe a little milder pepper…
and maybe
just a little bit more seasoning in it,
as opposed to just one-note hot.
Sylvie, how do you feel
about what you served us?
I think that I probably could have done
a much better job
if I had limited the number of items
that I tried to do in the beginning.
It looks really good.
Sylvie, your chicken thighs,
I thought they were great.
-Thank you.
-They were grilled to perfection.
Now your lamb, great smoke.
-It's a little lackin' on the seasoning.
-Okay.
I thought the chicken was very tender
and I loved the barbecue sauce
that you put on it.
-Thank you.
-Um, I kind of wished the pork belly
had a different sauce on it.
I felt like the bok choy
was a little bit salty.
The blistered shishitos
were a little basic for a side item.
It's just a-- a blistered pepper.
Yeah…
Tina.
I cooked chicken
seasoned with cumin and cinnamon,
paprika and za'atar.
And then kabobs, and I used lamb fat
and mixed it with pork and beef.
And then couscous salad with carrots,
and I cooked chickpeas
kind of Southern style
with a ham hock and other things in it,
but I did put Moroccan flavors.
Do you feel that this dish…
can get you into the finale?
It's gonna sound haughty, but, yes, sir.
'Cause the thing is,
I really like the way everything tasted.
- So, Tina, your kabob…
-Yes, sir.
I thought it was like a juicy,
Moroccan, good-ass sausage.
-Oh! Good.
-I mean, you mixed lamb and pork and beef
and came up
with an incredible flavor on it.
I thought it was grilled right.
You even got a little smoke ring on it.
I don't know how you did it on that--
-Moroccan street grill.
- The Moroccan street grill, yeah.
-You get some street cred from this.
-Oh, good!
-It's real good.
-All right.
The chicken, the sauce on the chicken
was real good.
When I get right into the chicken,
-the chicken was just a little bland.
-All right.
The couscous was lackin' a little bit
of flavor, but, uh, your chickpeas…
Homegirl, you knocked these chickpeas out
and made 'em taste
like some damn pinto beans
and ham hock on a Sunday afternoon.
-Oh, thank you.
-So I'm still impressed, Tina.
-Thank you. Thank you so much.
-All right.
I really enjoyed your kabob.
The chicken, for me, lacked
just a little bit of flavor, and, um…
the hot sauce,
while being a little bit hot for me…
had great balance.
and that's what I look for in a hot sauce.
-Thank you. Appreciate that.
- Congratulations.
-So, Rasheed, that leads us to you, buddy.
-Sir.
I had lamb, chicken,
picanha, griddle cakes.
Um, it's served
with Argentinian chimichurri,
served alongside some provoleta
topped with
a slightly less spicy chimichurri…
and a bed of asparagus.
My hot sauce is roasted tomatillos,
along with roasted poblano
and serrano peppers
and a few habañeros and serranos,
uh, with some, uh… sugar,
red wine vinegar,
and salt just to round it out.
I wanted to do a bit of heat
so you sort of get the flavor upfront
and then that heat in the back.
Do you feel
like this is perfectly cooked lamb?
I cooked it as best I could
with the equipment and the techniques
I had available.
For me, on the crust of the lamb,
I can taste the brine.
The beef is amazing,
especially when it's dipped
in this chimichurri that I could drink.
And the chicken,
I didn't get a lot of internal flavor,
but perfectly cooked, very moist,
very tender.
And the provoleta,
great flavor, but for me, I think
it was just a little bit overcooked
and it had a very thick crust
on the bottom.
-But well done on the hot sauce.
- Thank you.
It had just a little bit of heat,
which I loved.
It had a little bit of acidic,
a little bit of salt.
Um, I thought it balanced and matched
every flavor profile that you had goin'.
Thank you very much, ma'am.
-Rasheed.
-Sir.
Your beef, it was out of this world,
the way you grilled it.
Your chicken, I was a little disappointed
in the chicken.
I thought it was perfectly cooked,
it was moist.
But it's just that bomb flavor
that I'm used to gettin' from you,
-I just didn't get it on the chicken.
-Yes, sir.
-These, uh… grill cakes.
-Yes, sir.
-Pancakes without syrup.
-Griddle cakes.
-It's good.
-Thank you.
-It's real good.
The provoleta,
the bottom was real-- real hard for me.
It kinda was like a frozen-- a pizza
that stayed in the oven too long.
How are we feelin'?
-Nervous.
-A little anxious.
-Anxious, nervous?
-Butterflies and hot peppers.
Mm!
Bliss.
Bliss?
If you're in my shoes,
a guy who's never competed before,
to be in the top three
with two amazing women,
that you don't see a lot of
in the sport of barbecue,
and sitting here and making it this far
despite the odds?
Bliss.
You've got so much
to be proud of.
It's been amazing
to see y'all come together
from so many different parts
of this world.
And each and every time…
y'all got the opportunity to step up,
you did, and it has blown us away.
Today, one of you
really impressed the judges beyond belief.
Judges, who is the cooker
guaranteed a spot in the finale?
One of your barbecue spreads
really, really blew us away.
This cooker embraced the challenge
that we gave.
They embraced the tools, the pits,
the flavors, the ingredients.
This cook gave us the textures,
the flavors.
For us, the best international dishes
were cooked by…
Rasheed, congratulations,
you are movin' on to the finale.
I told you!
-Congratulations, buddy.
-Congrats!
Thank you. Thank you.
-How are you feeling right now, Rasheed?
-Honored, excited.
Saddened. Uh…
If I won, that means one of these
amazing women to my left is going home.
Um…
They've both just been so amazing,
sharing their knowledge with me.
As high of a moment this is for me,
it's equally a sad moment.
My life is forever changed…
and better for meeting them.
But… being able to be in the finale
is something I'm really excited about,
because, as you were representation
for me coming up,
I'm hoping I can be representation
for someone else.
Your mom is gonna be so proud of you.
Thank you.
Sylvie and Tina…
sadly, one of you…
will be going home tonight.
We put up a good fight.
I want each of you to know
that I am so proud of both of you.
-You have represented women…
-Thank you.
…and I could not have asked
for anyone
to be better ambassadors of the sport.
-Thank you very much.
-Mm-hm.
We thought that each of you
cooked beautiful dishes.
Textures were beautiful.
We really had to split hairs,
and it came down to side dishes,
and it was not an easy decision.
Ms. Sylvie and Ms. Tina,
I have enjoyed eatin' your foods.
I have enjoyed you guys,
your personalities,
the laughin', the cryin',
and I am big fans of yours.
I feel like we should stand up almost.
Just like…
-Okay.
- We gonna stand up?
We're just gonna hang on to each other.
-Then--
-Hold each other up.
And then you catch us when we fall.
-Take a deep breath.
I'm so sorry…
Sylvie.
We loved every bit of what you did today.
But ultimately…
you cooked our least favorite
barbecue dish today,
and I'm so sorry to say…
that you'll be goin' home.
I'm happy that I had this opportunity
to cook with all of them
and to get your experience and expertise.
-And…
Oh, come on, Tina, I'm not cryin'.
You're good.
-You're good, come on.
-Tina, why are you crying?
'Cause I've really grown to love her.
Aah, it's okay.
You know, we still have
continuing competitions to do it all over.
-Yeah.
-It doesn't end here.
I am… actually very proud of myself.
I am…
sixty-nine years of age,
a lady pitmaster.
I cooked in 100 and something degree
temperatures with heat all around.
I cooked raccoon.
I'm leaving here feeling like…
I can… I can do anything in barbecue.
I can compete with the best.
There's nothing that you can throw at me
that I can't do in a barbecue competition.
I hope you guys don't miss me
puttin' my foot in it.
Okay, cheers!
To Sylvie!
In our next and final
challenge, it all comes down to this.
The whole hog.
Of course, Mr. Hasn't Done This Before…