Sparklers (2021) s01e12 Episode Script

1
(ambient music)
(gentle music)
- [Announcer] Welcome to
Sparklers, part cooking competition
and travel show, featuring some of
the world's best sparkling wines.
- [Narrator] At stake is
an all expense trip paid
to Limoux, France, the
birthplace of sparkling wine,
to visit Faire La Fete
Sparkling Wine House.
- There was a clear
winner, and that was Meg.
(Meg yelling)
(group laughing)
Now we've got Claire in the lead
and a four way tie for second.
- Oh my God.
- So what's happening next
is that we're actually going
to have Claire be the judge.
And the four of you are
going to cook for Claire.
She is going to blind judge
your dishes and whoever wins
that competition will then be going into
a sudden death match against Claire.
(group laughing)
- [George] Oh my God.
- You're not on teams this time.
You're just going to be
cooking against each other
in the same kitchen.
- Okay, okay.
(upbeat music)
(happy, country music)
- Yeah, leaving Oregon, I
thought I was out of it.
I thought it was over.
- I knew it was gonna be close.
I didn't know it was
going to be this close.
- [Matthew] I thought
Meg was done for too.
- [Meghan] I mean, at the end
of the day, we're all friends,
but we are all here to win.
- [George] I really want to win.
I haven't won anything yet.
- There's not just prizes on the line,
it does come back to the bragging rights
we've all been talking about.
- I'd like to win at least something.
- So even though I was the winner of
the perfect bite challenge,
I don't get to be a judge this time.
There's a twist because
of the four way tie.
- All four of us not named
Claire Coppi are in it
to go head-to-head with
her, which is insane.
- [Meghan] So we're all going
head-to-head individually,
but teams of two versus
each other at the same time,
which is a lot of pressure.
- [George] It's kind of
cool that she's going
to be tasting it blind.
So it makes it a lot more fair.
- I think I'm a little nervous today,
especially with everything
that's on the line.
- The tension could not be higher.
- This is definitely not the final step,
there's still someone that has to win
and go head-to-head with Claire.
- [Maryam] I said this
at the very beginning
and I stand by it.
I knew Claire's palette was
something that was going to come
into play and create a
threat for all of us.
- [Matthew] We know that
Claire is going to win
either first or second place,
but here's so much on the line
for the other four of us.
- It'd be nice to be able
to take something back home.
- I don't know what's
going to happen today.
I'm going to bring the
rain the best I can.
- We're gonna drink lot of champagne,
but we're also going to throw down.
Nobody is going to hold back.
- So today's dish is lobster based.
I don't typically prefer lobsters,
so I'm having some difficulty
being inspired by this dish.
But it's the dish that gets
you to the final round,
so I have to get excited.
(soft music)
- [Announcer] Today's challenge is
to pair Krug with a lobster dish
inspired by French Michelin star chef
Arnaud Lallement in Champagne, France.
(soft music)
(speaking French)
- Me versus Kaner in a blind
tasting, at least it's blind.
So at the beginning, if I
had to pick someone to do
all of that with, it was Matthew Kaner.
Just because he has red
hair, cause why not?
But Matthew is very intense.
- And red on red, come on, come on.
- [Meghan] It's going to
be interesting to face off
with him in the kitchen.
- [Matthew] I've watched over
the last couple of episodes,
the intensity really kick up from her.
I kind of want to keep those who might be
your most formidable foe close right now.
- He's got something planned.
It's going to be interesting
to see what it is.
- I don't know, maybe I'll psych her out.
Maybe she'll psych me out.
I'm not sure what's going to happen,
but it's going to be fun.
What I've learned is if you
win, you want to beat the best.
- That's very nice.
- You know what I'm saying?
- Is that why you chose me?
- (sighs) You're the one with
the hottest streak right now, yeah.
- (sighs) Got to say, cooking
with Krug does not suck.
- Cooking with Krug does
not suck, cooking with-
- Anything with Krug does not suck.
- Lobsters in front of us is a
little nerve wracking though.
- That is nerve wracking.
- Yeah.
Butterfly it out like that.
- (laughs) Just stop talking about it.
Are you trying to get in my head?
- No.
Opa, may the best lobster dance.
- Cheers.
- (laughs) Cheers.
- So I'm going to throw everything at it.
I'm going to put caviar,
I'm going to do some uni
we still have some fresh uni.
I'm going to layer that on
top of butter poached lobster,
and then try to freshen it
up with some Meyer lemon
that we have on site here,
some Meyer lemon zest,
and then probably grab some borage,
the edible flowers from the garden.
Why not throw something
really exciting at her?
- I decided today to break
it down, do the tail.
I'm going to barbecue the
tail with a little apple wood,
get a little smoke, get a little char.
I'm going to do it with smoked
paprika and garlic butter.
And I'm gonna make my homemade
chimichurri, which I love.
All right guy, I appreciate
all you've done for us.
I sacrifice you to the Champagne gods.
Take us to France.
(sighs) God damn it.
(both exclaiming)
Yeah, you're done, he's gone.
(Meg exclaiming)
- What if I did a lobster
dish with no lobster?
- I'm happy to jump on the
bomb for you, you know?
- [Meghan] Oh yeah?
Like you're going to do mine.
- No, that's not how I meant that.
- (laughs) I think mine
works better than yours.
- You already got the knife?
- Yeah, I just went for it,
I couldn't handle it anymore.
I said I was going to stop
talking about therapy,
but then we did this (shudders).
- But what's good about this
is we're really learning.
- What are we learning Matthew, please?
- How to do this and how not
to freak out while doing it.
As my voice cracks.
- I don't know that
I'll stop freaking out.
I'm definitely not a lobster pro.
- No, this is my first time.
- Same.
- Well, I got to start on
my other part of the dish.
Not get so nervous.
It's funny, I feel like I
shouldn't even describe my dish
cause I got my competition
right next to me.
- [Meghan] That's right.
- [Matthew] I've never
been so nervous making
a dish on this show.
- [Meghan] Good God.
- For those who are wondering,
I'm making a chimichurri sauce.
I haven't talked to anyone
to let them know that yet.
Peeling garlic with time
constraints is gnarly.
It just doesn't do what you need it to do.
I learned a lot about
myself and about lobsters.
- [Meghan] Life in general.
- Yeah, I've learned
I mean today has been eye opening.
- Very sentimental.
- Right?
- Though we're ending with murder.
- [Matthew] I'm too sober for this.
- As long as nothing starts on fire.
(winces) Ooh, that was close.
Dear God, it's so hot.
- Take a deep breath,
it's all gonna be okay.
Well my lemon garlic parsley butter.
It's going to be a little
difficult to get out,
but I had to do it this way.
- Got it.
My hands are covered in butter.
- Perfect.
So I learned about this
technique that because the shell
is like that, you basically
have it on indirect heat
because otherwise that would cook so fast.
So I actually need to do
about a two minute timer
and I'm going to baste it with
my delicious butter sauce.
- Smoking me out over here,
is that part of the strategy?
- No cigars, no marijuana,
just straight up barbecue.
You're down wind.
- [Meghan] Interesting.
- [Matthew] Hm.
- Hm.
Oh shit, I forgot about the herbs.
- [Matthew] Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
- [Meghan] Oh my goodness.
- [Matthew] And my guy's on fire.
- [Meghan] Oh, that's
exciting, it looks good.
(upbeat music)
- [Matthew] Not exactly
what I was hoping for.
That's what happens when you use
all that butter, all that fat,
- [Meghan] Will that actually
pair with passion fruit?
I love this passion fruit.
- Passion fruit definitely
was a secret weapon of yours.
- [Meghan] I know, it's so good.
- Gotta get char on these
buttery, lemony lemons, garlic.
- [Meghan] Buttery and lemony lemons?
- [Matthew] Buttery, lemony, fiery.
- Are you going to miss me, Matthew?
- I'm gonna miss you so much.
I have to come visit you
up in Napa all the time.
- [Meghan] Yeah you will.
- Okay, this is harder
than I expected it to be.
- Ooh I meant to put shallots in there.
- [Matthew] This is a lot
harder than I thought.
- [Meghan] I just hope
it's good, that's all.
- [Matthew] A little extra
butter never killed anyone.
Garlic, lemon, truffle salt.
Lobsters like truffle, I think.
Claire does.
(upbeat music)
- [Meghan] Claire likes truffle, you said?
- Let's hope, absolutely.
So I'm finishing up my plating right now.
Bob's your uncle.
- Bob's your uncle.
- Let's go to France.
(soft music)
- Man, what a lousy job I have.
This is awesome, oh my gosh.
We got uni, caviar, gorgeous
plating on this guy.
Alrighty, so we have plate number one,
which looks like a beautiful
grilled lobster tail
with some kind of maybe
gorgeous chimichurri, love it.
And then some more lobster
tail this time with
some of that gorgeous Santa
Barbara uni and some caviar,
it looks like sturgeon,
really pretty plating.
So this is dish number one,
this is dish number two.
I think I'm going to eat
dish number two first,
just because I don't want kind of these
more overpowering flavors
to overpower the uni.
We're pretty close to the coast,
so I love all of these sea elements.
And now I'm going to eat it.
It's literally like I
just walked into the ocean
and I got this blast of
sea spray, in a nice way.
And it's just, the flavor's lingering,
the sauce is delicate enough
for all these ingredients.
It's really, really pretty.
And it's great with the
champagne, very good.
Whoever did that, did a great job.
Not that I'm surprised.
Okay, so now we'll go back
to dish number one here.
It looks like it's already
been zested for me.
So that's ooh
They cooked this really well.
I will say that the cook
on dish two, the lobster is
a little overdone, but
also who am I to talk after
I just destroyed that meat the other day?
(groans) Shit, this is really good.
Whoever these two were, they came to play.
These are great.
The flavors in these,
you just get obviously
so much more savory, it's
almost like they took
the steak approach, which
for a lobster's tail
that is a really nice
meaty part of the animal.
That's so good.
These are both very good
dishes, very complete,
very complex, both go well with the wine.
So I'm excited to see
what the other two do
with their lobster dishes.
(tense music)
- Just when you think George and I
are over our competitive hump
- I'm not going to try to
sabotage her or anything,
but I'm definitely going
to try to win for sure.
- We now have to be in
the kitchen together.
- I love Maryam.
Maryam is the homie.
She is a really good friend of mine.
- We've been playing Cornhole all week,
we have an open ping pong tournament,
UNO is completely off
the table at this point.
This is our next competition,
and it's a big one.
- Hopefully she doesn't get
in my way and I'm going to try
the best to stay out of her way.
- We're both head down,
strong individuals (laughs).
- So it'll be interesting to
cook side by side with her.
- I'm hoping that he doesn't
shit talk me too much
because that could
definitely get under my skin.
- I really want to beat her (laughs).
It's going to be amazing,
it's going to be fun.
- Oh shit, and they're
already fucking moving.
There goes my no curse words on the show.
- (laughs) Amazing, amazing.
- All right, what's
happening, what do we do?
Well, you're going down the
middle of the tail, huh?
Should I do it?
I'm really sorry, man.
I'm going to do it, oh fuck.
I'm so sorry.
(George laughing)
It's right here?
- I would do it
I would actually turn the knife around.
- This way?
- Yeah, that way.
- Right here?
- Yeah, right there in it's
head, all the way through.
All the way through, there you go.
There you go.
- Sorry bruh, gotta eat.
- Gotta eat.
- Lobster bisque on the
east coast was one of
my first interactions with
food that is like seared
into my memory and it was
something that changed
my relationship to food.
I was like seven, I think.
I can't believe we're back
in the kitchen like this
after we've just got so close to healing.
- [George] Competing
together, yeah, right?
- [Maryam] We were so close-
- [George] And now we're here.
Oh my goodness.
- I'm really intimidated by how expertly
you're breaking down that
lobster, if I'm being honest.
(George laughing)
I've never done that before.
We're still friends, right now?
- For now.
- Are you going to tell me
what you got up your sleeve?
- Yeah, it's nothing crazy, honestly.
- That's cool, that's cool, that's smart.
- You know, I'm really
excited to cook the lobster.
I'm still trying to debate
how I want to prepare it.
For the main dish, I think
what I'm going to do is
I'm going to do just
something light, honestly.
Keep it refreshing.
I'm gonna boil off some pasta.
- You can't go wrong with
lobster and pasta and champagne.
- No, no, yeah.
- You're speaking my language.
(George laughing)
Yeah, I want to be your
level of mellow right now
about this, but there's a
trip to France on the line.
- I love competing.
There so much anxiety around, just cooking
and competing at this high of a level.
- [Meghan] We do that
sometimes in my house.
- We do that a lot of times
at your house, actually.
Let's be real.
(both laughing)
- I don't know if we're going to do that
anytime soon after this, though
(George laughing)
I might need a break.
Claire would take a risk
here, I know she would.
And I know she'd also go full hog,
so I don't want to play
it safe this round.
This is for everything, and
I want to walk away knowing
I gave it my best shot.
So I'm doing sort of an east coast style.
I'm going to do a corn and potato fritter.
It's potentially my last
challenge, I don't know for sure.
And I want to do something really
- [George] Challenging?
- Yeah, I want to push
myself just as a sort of
an homage to her work and creativity.
- [George] Right.
- So good news, my lobster has passed on.
So George, what happens
when you finish before me?
Are you just going to drink
the whole bottle of Krug by yourself?
- [George] That might happen.
- I know I have a lot going on,
but I should say, in this
moment I have a plan.
- [George] Yeah.
- It's coming together.
Bye.
(tense music)
(groans) So stressful.
- [George] It is very stressful.
- Oh my God, I might
never eat lobster again.
(both laughing)
We take that for granted,
where our food comes from.
- [George] Right, right, it's just a lot.
- I have seen that done,
but I've never had to do it.
Kill lobster, don't cry,
that was on my list.
(both laughing)
I didn't cry, but I might cry later.
- Amazing, amazing.
- George, do you know how to tell
when a lobster is done cooking?
- By the look of it?
- I think mine's almost done
I'm going to pull it out.
Appreciate you, thank
you for your sacrifice.
Do you ever talk to your food?
Is that just me?
- Actually I used to pray over my food.
- I say thank you a lot.
- That was my thing.
- This is a monstrous claw.
(tense music)
- Being splattered all over.
- George is flinging lobster meat at me.
(George laughing)
Trying to throw me off my game.
When I asked for fava beans,
I knew what I was getting myself into.
And right now current Maryam
is a little upset at past Maryam.
(both laughing)
So I'm about to make my fritters
and it's actually really
simple, I'm not going crazy.
There's going to be some
nice, fresh shallots in here,
not a lot, but there's
also claw meat and potato.
And I'm going to do my best,
and hopefully they're delicious.
- [George] So reducing some
more wine, got the pasta going.
- We never really let
the competition drop.
What do you think about mine?
I've been complimenting
you this whole time.
- Yours smells amazing,
it looks amazing too.
- And for every ounce
of competition y'all see
on the screen, there's
more behind the scenes.
- [George] It looks really good.
- She's high maintenance.
(George laughing)
- So what I did was something very simple.
I got some pasta, roasted
off some garlic, reduced
some wine, introduced some
tomatoes and grilled the lobster.
(intense music)
- I made a kind of spin on potato latkes
with claw meat, corn, and some
shallots mixed all together
with potato and flour, fried it off.
And then I did a seasonal
summer salad of fresh corn,
favas, blood orange segments
and some beurre blanc.
And then I boiled the lobster.
I feel like of all the
things that might be wrong,
it's maybe the lobster.
- Hopefully it tastes as
good as it looks (laughs).
I feel like we should definitely finish
that bottle of Krug, for sure.
- I didn't even drink any of mine, barely.
Cheers.
- Cheers.
(tense music)
- Wow, really?
Some bold things in front of
me with this lobster, I see.
Dish three looks like
some lovely pasta dish.
Dish four
What did they fry and put under there?
I'm going to have to eat it to find out.
Going to have to eat it.
I'm going to start with dish three,
get a nice piece of lobster.
Alrighty, I'm just going to dive in here.
(tense music)
That's tasty.
(tense music)
The lobster's cooked really well.
(tense music)
Yeah that's good.
Very nice, very nice.
Moving on over to this
delicious looking dish.
Peas, corn, looks like
blood orange and fritters.
Lobster and fritters, this is trippy.
I wasn't expecting anything
like this, very creative.
Just going take that by itself.
(tense music)
It's a little overcooked.
These are all really creative dishes.
I mean, I'm not surprised,
they all bring it every single time.
So frankly, no matter who I pick,
I'm going to have a
difficult time beating them.
Now the question is again,
do I pick what I view as the weakest dish?
Or do I pick what I view
as the strongest dish?
I think I know what my decision is,
but I'm going to think about
it for a little bit longer.
I'm going to think about it with Krug.
Really good though, really good.
(fun, happy music)
- The stakes that are
here right now having
to prepare a full live lobster.
- [Maryam] Also, I never
did that with a lobster.
- I was going to say, how many of you
have done that with a lobster before?
That was my first time.
- [Matthew] No, never.
- George, I almost had you
kill my lobster for me.
(George laughing)
- I thought you were offering.
- I did, and then you all
of a sudden were doing it.
- Oh, I thought you were offering,
and then I was like,
"No, he's not offering".
- Oh wait, George offered and I was like,
"This is important, I
have to do this myself".
- I was afraid we were
going to run out of time.
- You're a badder ass
than you think you are.
- Hell yeah, you are.
- Yo, Meg is a bad ass,
all of you are bad ass
though, let's be frank
- [Matthew] This will help
kind of calm our nerves.
- No kidding.
- A little bit.
- Yes, indeed.
- Is this the most nervous
you all have been on this?
- [Maryam] Yes.
- [George] Yes.
- [Meghan] Me too, me too.
- So this is so much pressure.
- You were kinda in doubt.
- I thought when better to
send it, than my last day?
- Send it, send it.
- [Meghan] Yeah, for sure,
throw everything at it.
- But it was scary.
- You know, there's just
so much that goes into
this challenge that's here right now.
It determines so much.
- [Matthew] In the name of champagne.
- So Claire has this
great job and hard job
at the same time, right?
She's judging blind, but
she knows that either
she chooses someone who does
an amazing job and shines
and she goes up against them
or she could strategically
be like, "Hmm, they flopped,
I'm going to choose that
person and go up against them".
- She has a lot of pressure as well.
- I think everyone's been pretty
good about grudge holding,
but now we know what's on the line.
- So my dish was number one.
- I'm two.
- I'm number three.
- I'm number four, coming
in to close the deal.
- Well look, no matter
what we did this together,
we learned a lot about
ourselves and each other
and no matter what the
results, lifelong friends.
Cheers all of y'all.
- Absolutely.
- [George] cheers.
- I hear her coming.
- Well hello?
- Hi friends
- [All] Hi?
- Amazing.
- Hey judge?
- How was your day, full of lobster?
- Good, Krug, yes.
Full of lobster and Krug,
it was really a rough day.
(all laughing)
- Just down by the pool.
- Well, first of all, I just have to say
you guys brought it.
I'm really impressed and
terrified of all of you.
- [Maryam] We missed you.
- I missed you too, it's sad not getting
to hang out with you, but for good reason,
because I couldn't know who
cooked each dish, right?
This is all blind judging.
And I really had no
effing clue who did what.
You all definitely stepped it
up, it's really impressive.
It's hard to do lobster well, in general.
Also very hard to do
with our setup outside
with just two burners and a
lot is out of your control.
So cheers to you all cause that
It was tough just cause
they were all so cool.
They were all really, really creative.
I could have played this
little mind game of,
"Well who do I want, which
dish represents the person
that I would want to compete
with in this next round
for all the marbling".
But
(all laughing)
Honestly, it just felt
right to kind of go with
what we've been doing,
which is what was the dish
that spoke to me most and
also served the wine the best.
So I'm just gonna
I can't play any mind games,
that's just going to screw
me over more, I feel.
So whoever does not go
head-to-head with me tomorrow,
those three are now they're going to be
the judges of that competition.
And also most importantly,
you get to choose that main ingredient
that the two of us are
going to be cooking with.
Which sucks.
So you could really screw us
over here, really challenge us.
(chuckles) It should be interesting.
And then most importantly,
whoever I go head-to-head with,
we're battling for a really sick prize.
Business class trip for two,
all expenses paid to
Limoux, south of France
with Faire La Fete.
So before I announce it, let's just cheers
to the journey that we've been on.
This has been a delight I've learned
from all of you so much.
And I love you all.
- Love you too.
- This dish that I chose for the winner
for whoever's cooking with me next,
it just felt the most complete.
It had all of the elements, acid, fat.
And then most importantly,
when you had it with a sip of the wine,
they just were so happy together.
It created this wonderful
explosion of flavor in my mouth
and it just hit all the right notes.
Hit all the notes by itself, but then
most importantly, with the wine.
The dish that I chose, this sucks.
Okay.
- [Matthew] Yeah, let's all take a sip.
(indistinct mumbling)
- The dish that I chose for
the head-to-head challenge
for our next round here to decide who wins
this whole gosh darn thing is
(comical music)
Dish number two.
- The fuck?
(group chattering and laughing)
Wow, I was not expecting that.
- [Maryam] But that's not even a surprise.
- She clawed her way up from the bottom
all the way to the top.
Hell yeah.
- Yeah, there were a
lot of mixed emotions.
I did not expect to be here honestly.
But yeah, kind of goes to
show that you can't predict
what's going to happen on the show.
- Wow.
- What were the numbers?
So you were one, then?
- Not going on a plane
to France this time.
Not going to a beach house in Malibu.
Losing fucking sucks, it's a fact.
What I've learned in
this opportunity is that
no matter the outcome, the
inspiration that you get,
the people you get to interact
with, the things you learn,
I get to take all that with me.
- And then, so who is
three and who is four?
- Four.
- Okay, so you did the freaking fritters?
Jesus and you did the pasta?
- Yeah.
- Shit guys, that was really, really hard.
- Maryam and George were
really who I expected to be
in the finale, honestly together.
- So to go up against George
was a really big deal.
And for both of us to not
take it, I think ego to ego,
we've got some healing to do,
but it's cool that we're
both now in the judging seat.
- It sucks not winning, for sure.
But there are so many people
who would dream of being
in the place that I'm in right now.
Not getting a trip, it sucks.
But at the same time,
being able to do things
that I've been able to
dream of for so long
has just been absolutely amazing.
- It was weird, I almost felt bad
that somebody else didn't win it.
And I don't know why,
because I tried really hard.
But I guess I just
I know there was a lot of
heart in it for everyone.
Everyone really wanted to win.
- No, it just served that main ingredient,
the lobster, so well.
It was like taking a bite of the ocean.
So you had this bite from the lobster,
the creaminess from the uni
and the salinity from the uni,
but also a low salinity from the caviar.
And then that sauce, what
was it, lemon butter?
It just popped, it was like
sunshine, but at the sea.
And it was really, really nice.
And then when I took a sip
with the Krug, they just
It was just, yeah.
It was one of those really happy pairings
where you're just like,
"That's why wine and food
are meant to be together".
Get her as drunk as possible.
Please have her hung over tomorrow.
- Winner, winner.
- I need to watch out
for this girl tomorrow.
I'm going to need a good night's sleep.
Can't drink Krug all night.
I mean, I will drink Krug
all night, but (chuckles)
Yeah, I'm really excited to
see what tomorrow brings.
- I really thought I was
going to be judging tomorrow.
- Nope, you get to cook,
masel tov (chuckles).
- Oh my goodness.
- [Maryam] Your favorite.
- Oh my goodness (laughs).
- That's impressive.
- Oh, Lordy, okay, all right.
- Well I think you two
need to get outta here now
so we can decide how to make it harder.
- (laughs) Oh shit, I forgot about that.
- Get outta here, winners.
- I think that Meg and Claire
going against each other
is poetic justice and
it's going to be amazing.
I think also from all of us,
they're the ones that are going
to bring the most colorful plates.
They're the ones that aren't
going to hold back at all.
And they're just going
to give it everything
they've got for this final showdown.
- It's going to take a big effort
out of both of them to win.
And as it should be,
how incredible is this?
No one saw this coming.
Meg goes from last place
to going for the win?
Unreal.
- I would love to go to France.
I need a vacation so bad.
- Whoever wins, I'll be happy for.
Especially if it's me (laughs).
Now I know who I'm up against,
and it's Megan (laughs).
- Not as friendly this time around, is it?
- Not so much.
- Oh really, you're just going to take
all the room, are you?
- Move your fennel, girl.
- Cheers.
- Cheers.
- But not good luck.
- This is all about the pairing.
- What I think is pulling
from my heartstrings
is the risks that were taken.
- So the winner of
Sparklers, the whole shebang,
who's going to France
(dramatic music)
(ambient music)