The Taste (2013) s02e08 Episode Script

1 Tonight is The Taste finale.
Eight weeks ago, the mentors built their teams.
We were just born to cook together.
Nigella, I think I'm gonna pick you.
Yeah! Yeah! - Marcus.
- Yes, Chef! - Oh, my God! - Yes! You remind me of me: Young, directionless, already burnt out.
Oh, my God! This is the finale of The Taste.
What an incredible season this has been.
Four cooks are left standing.
From Ludo's kitchen, Marina The phoenix can rise from the ashes.
She's the only home cook, but what a home cook.
I want golden star.
- This thing blew my mind.
- Pure joy for me.
I know what you don't know.
Louise She's the only one not to have a red star.
It's perfect.
I very much feel like the underdog, but I can win.
Jeff.
More gold stars than anyone else in the competition.
I would have cheerfully licked it off a bicycle seat.
It was so good.
Yours is a jumbled mess.
I like to keep mine nice and aligned.
Lee is my competition.
Bring it on, bitch.
And from Anthony's kitchen, Lee.
Lee is a solid cook, and if he puts it together, he can win.
Th was delicious mouthful of food that immediately made me want more.
I'm the strongest cook in this competition.
Tonight, all bets are off.
- Welcome back to Los Angeles.
- Thank you, ma'am It's me versus Ludo.
- You know what I care about, truthfully? - What? Nothing.
Your vein in your forehead is throbbing.
I'm stressed more than you guys! Why? He's crackin'.
Leave me alone! The winner of The Taste is Ooh ooh-ooh-ooh ooh How do you like the taste? Look, man, you're going down today.
- I'm sorry, but that's the way it is.
- Oh, Anthony! Clearly, Tony is competitive, but Ludo is possibly the most competitive person I have ever, ever met.
I wish you luck.
Choke.
Come on, boys.
Let Ludo and Tony have a little battle.
Perfect! - This is the final.
- Come on! Today's the day.
Hey! - To go to the final.
- Uh, cheers, guys.
Enjoy the trophy now.
It's the last you'll see of it.
Okay, I'll see you on the ring.
- On the battlefield.
- Yeah.
Good luck, boys.
- Thank you.
- Bonne chance.
Welcome to the final, guys.
- Thank you.
- You made it.
- Thank you.
- Have a seat.
It's a great day today to send a good cook home.
Lee.
It's three against one.
This time, all four cooks are gonna put their dishes up at the same time.
And the worst spoon -- not going to go to the final.
Look, meatballs and sliders are all good, but that ain't gonna cut it this time.
- No, no, of course.
- So we need some technique here.
That's fine.
If you want to be successful, that's what I do.
Ah! I know! She's threatening to kill me.
Oh, la vache! It's not about sneaking through.
Today is the day.
Guys, it's the final.
You have one shot now.
Do your best now.
Only one person goes home with the trophy.
- Make sure it's you.
- Yeah, sure.
Yeah.
Okay, guys.
Let's go, guys.
See you in the kitchen.
There will be weeping and rending of garments in Ludo's kitchen, I hope.
And I hope it's Ludo doing the weeping - and the rending of garments.
- Yeah.
You can do it, guys.
The trophy is up there waiting, like, looking down on us, and you just have to be your best today.
Everyone has to be on their A-game.
Jeff and Lee probably just assume that one of them is gonna win.
But I think that they're overlooking me.
I really do.
I very much feel like the underdog.
Today, I knew was gonna be something really surreal.
And plus the contestants, they came back, and their eyes looking at me.
But nothing's gonna stop me.
Cassie's back.
It's been too long.
I'm really happy she's here.
Welcome back, and congratulations on making it to the finals.
Tonight, one of you will be named winner of The Taste.
As you can see, we've invited along a cheering section, including some old friends.
We've even held some seats for some friends and family.
Oh, my God! Oh, my God.
How the hell did you get My dad walks on stage, and my jaw dropped.
He doesn't fly.
He's deathly afraid of flying.
He can't even walk over a bridge.
He drove from New York to California, you know.
So it was unbelievable.
So happy that he's here.
Really, really cool.
I want to make my family proud.
I want to make my husband proud.
And that makes me really nervous.
That's my daughter.
Oh, my God! I was a bit emotional when I saw my daughter and my son coming in.
I was just, like, over the moon, speechless.
I don't know if I can describe how stressful today is.
My friends and family are there.
It's the finale.
Past contestants are looking at me.
Honestly, I feel like I might vomit.
The theme for tonight's team challenge is rich and poor.
Because you're making two dishes, you will have a luxurious 90 minutes.
Judging your taste will be the legendary godfather of gastronomy, Jacques Pépin.
Whoo-hoo! There really isn't a more justly celebrated chef than Jacques Pépin.
Putting cooking on prime-time TV.
Jacques Pépin is the cornerstone of that.
He wrote the book called La Technique, the Bible on how to do every basic recipe and every basic technique that one needs to know as a chef.
He know about good food.
He know about history, culture, I mean, everything.
I love Jacques Pépin.
I have loved him forever.
I used to watch him and Julia Child on TV.
Today, Jacques and I are doing desserts.
And Jacques is doing crepe suzette.
Whoo! And I'm here to see that he doesn't burn down the house.
Uh, he's amazing.
Ludo and I will be working with you in your kitchens as usual.
We're ready? Good.
Let's get in the kitchens.
Before cooking begins, Anthony and Ludo advise their teams on this week's challenge.
Now I hope, uh, all this past week, uh, I teach them enough.
So I really hope now they're going to use it to win this competition.
Guys, guys, guys, guys.
We're cooking for a French chef.
Yes.
- Think about French food.
- Yes.
The good news -- I'm French.
- Yeah.
- So trust me.
Poor, you know I mean, where I come from, Burgundy, we do a lot of stew.
Today, I have a little beef bourguignon.
See? That's really like a recipe from my grandma.
We use a very cheap part of the meat.
Just cook it for a long time with a lot of wine.
Stew is really a poor dish.
And also, I'm going to show you - how to do some scrambled eggs - Okay.
with caviar and sea urchin.
It don't need to be a fancy dish.
Just use good ingredients, expensive ingredients, simple way.
Hey, Anthony! You want I'll show you how to do what you're doing over there? We're going old-school, dude.
Pépin, old-school.
He hates you modern types.
You know I'm French, do you not? I thought you were Albanian.
Yeah, good for you, Tony.
Now, scrambled eggs, I put honey.
Egg on top of egg on top of egg.
Don't think too much, Marina.
Okay, I'm not thinking.
Don't complicate too much.
You know, be smart.
You need to be balanced.
Okay, balance.
Take your spoon.
Taste it.
Don't plate your food and not taste it.
I want to see you taste your food.
Ludo is competitive.
He's a very competitive guy, and he wants to win.
I don't want to see any boring food.
Or you go home.
You understand? - Yes.
- Yeah.
- Yes! - Yes, Chef! Oh, my.
Wake up.
It's the [bleep.]
final, guys.
Okay? God! Ludo's on a mission today, and he's crazy, and there's a lot of energy, and I don't know what I'm making, and I don't need this extra pressure! It's time to get these guys over there.
Okay, guys? Well, what opportunity.
Look at him.
He's so stressed with cooking.
You're dead, Lee.
- You're dead.
- Come on! I told you, she's fierce.
This challenge is about rich and about poor.
- Luxury is easy to attain.
- That -- yeah.
Any well-trained chimpanzee can sear a filet mignon.
Ludo is a better cook than me, but it's not just about cooking.
It's looking into the human heart and deciding, what do they need now? For an old-school French guy, I'm gonna make an old-school French dish just to put us in the mood.
Tuna del rossini, rich.
Tuna del rossini's super classic.
You take a truffle sauce with a seared filet, mounted with butter.
Toasted crouton that I smeared some mousse de foie gras on.
Pour it over my truffle sauce.
Shave some fresh truffles on top of that just to gild the lily.
What makes a rich dish is it's excessive and it's expensive.
And for our poor dish, this is the story of cooking.
It's broke, desperate people with no time on their hands figuring out a way to make a second-best ingredient first-rate.
And this is coq au vin.
Sounds French.
It sounds luxurious.
It's a classic.
Where did it come from? Some enterprising Frenchmen figured out if they marinate it in crappy French wine overnight and then boil the piss out of it with a hunk of bacon and some onions, that it might be good.
It's less good with a good chicken.
You need a big, tough, old bird.
Kind of like me.
It's a perfect metaphor.
Hit him right in the sweet spot.
We make a stew with some tripe.
Tripe is, like, the cow's stomach.
It's the nastiest, funkiest, poorest I mean, that is real poor-people cooking at its purest.
But question is: Will it cook in time? I'm taking a tremendous risk, uh, cooking tripe.
We have to use a pressure cooker, and I am scared because I've never used one and he's never used one.
Two spoons.
That's two chances.
He has three chances to be worst.
I have faith.
If there's anybody that can make it work, it's Lee.
So I'm sure he'll make it delicious.
And I'm gonna give him a big kiss when he wins.
30 seconds! This is the last time you are friends, the three of you.
Tonight you're enemy, guys.
You're enemy.
- Guys.
- Cheers.
Sweat together, guys.
I want three amazing dish today.
Okay, guys? Yes, Chef.
Someone over there is gonna fall down.
Cooking starts now! The cooks have 90 minutes to prepare a rich dish and a poor dish.
Cutting board.
Cut up your tripe and boil it.
All four cooks' dishes will be judged blind by guest mentor Jacques Pépin.
Technique, technique, technique.
The cook picked as worst will be eliminated on the spot.
You're going to cook tripe for a French chef in one hour and a half? You are crazy, guys.
Look at those mind games he plays.
Generally takes about 2 1/2.
If you put the tripe in the, uh, pressure cooker, it might cook in time to incorporate into our dish.
Tony won't know till really - there are about five seconds left - Yeah.
whether the tripe is gonna work.
Cooking starts now! Let's go, guys! Let's go! We're all whining, guys.
Cooking's not just about cooking expensive thing.
It's to know how to cook cheap thing.
Poor and rich.
That's it.
Trust me.
I would never do tripe in one hour and a half.
Never.
Never.
I feel very strongly about poor-people food.
That's where all of the techniques that we value so much -- that's where they come from.
Is there a fill-line on that? I don't even know what a fill-line is.
Like, you don't want to go past a certain point.
- Otherwise it'll explode.
- I have no idea.
- I've never used one in my life.
- Me neither.
You don't see pressure cookers in professional kitchens.
As a result, I've never worked with one.
You're cooking for Jacques Pépin, guys! Jacques Pépin, Lee.
Jacques Pépin, Lee.
French classic, okay? Classic.
Make sure your food is well seasoned.
Make sure that these are spicy too, okay? - Yes, Chef.
- I don't want to see any boring foods.
- Yes, Chef! - Yes, Chef.
- No boring food, okay, guys? - Yes, Chef.
Do you think it's more pressure for Ludo since Jacques is French? - You'd have a few flutters in your tummy - Yes.
if you were cooking for Jacques Pépin.
- I would.
Absolutely.
- You know? - Poor dish.
- What are you doing? Explain to me.
I'm doing -- okay, so, I'm gonna do the chicken livers and then the caramelized onions.
I was gonna hit it with a caramellata on top, and then the parsley lemon.
I really push her a lot in this competition, 'cause she want to learn.
And for the rich one, you do the -- what are you doing? Um, lobster and the champagne beurre blanc.
- With uni? - With uni.
I'm gonna go classic French.
That's what I want to do.
Should we go out and see what's going on? Okay, well, wish me luck, 'cause I think I'm gonna go to the dragon's den.
- All right.
Good luck.
- Good luck.
- I'll come and get you, if you don't - Thanks.
What are you cooking? - How are you? - Don't worry about me.
So, what is your, uh, poor dish? Chicken soup.
Move center, move center, move center.
- Cook and talk.
Walk and talk.
- Okay.
Oh, yeah.
So, yeah, I'm gonna be making, uh, chicken soup.
Very basic but very good.
- I'm gonna brunoise some vegetables.
- Yeah.
And then, um, serve it with some crusty bread, and we have the bacon as well.
- No -- no crusty bread, actually.
- No crusty bread? Okay.
And the rich? The rich is going to be Wagyu beef with, um, foie gras.
And then the, uh, black truffle, um - Cognac? - Brandy sauce.
Cognac sauce.
And? - And, um - Bread? You need to toss bread in, bud.
- Yes, Chef.
- Okay, good.
Don't you want a lid on your potatoes? Um, yes.
Thank you.
Well, dear, are you nervous? I mean, yes.
I'm very nervous.
I don't know if I can describe how stressful today is.
Like, literally, my friends and family are there.
It's the finale.
Make two dishes.
You know what, guys? When you cook, you need to be gentle.
Cooking is all about to be gentle! You understand? - Yes.
- Yes, Chef.
- Marina! - Yeah! What are we doing over there? Uh, can opener.
Marina, you know, just like calm in the center of the storm.
So, what is your poor dish? What are you doing? Okay, it's uh, rooster testicle, chicken heart, chicken liver and pig blood in a chicken broth.
Sounds great.
Ludo loves those chicken nuts.
- Testicles of any kind.
- Yeah.
They're so tender.
You know, I've only ever cooked with, um, larger animals' testicles.
I grew up eating testicles because, you know, we had a chicken farm in Taiwan.
My dad would remove the testicle.
So in the morning, we wake up, we have this bucket of testicles.
And so my mom would cook, and we would just eat it.
That sounds like a fabulous idea.
And what is your rich dish? - It's, uh - Thank you.
seared scallops with, uh, with, uh, stuffed with foie gras.
With truffle juice, and -- what, uh, caviar? No.
Caviar and foie gras, no.
Yes, scallop, foie gras, scallop, foie gras, truffle To cook for Jacques Pépin? Wow.
Stressful.
Trust me.
I have so much respect for him.
I mean, it's just crazy.
So all this food need to be amazing.
Where did our uni go? Uh, it's in the fridge.
- Don't worry.
- Okay.
Rich dish, we're doing a scallop basted in uni butter sitting on top of a mushroom ragout with an uni-enriched beurre blanc with a garnish of osetra caviar.
- Wow, that will be rich.
- Too rich.
You know, it will be too rich.
We're looking for 15% too rich.
I mean, I love, uh, butter uni sauce.
It's great.
Even if you brown some of the butter a little bit, it's great, - 'cause you get a lot of nutty flavor out of that.
- Right.
I knew we had a good, solid rich dish.
Okay, it's all about the poor dish.
That's the way to the old-school Frenchman's heart.
Basically, what we do is a riff on a classic Portuguese squid stew or tripe stew.
They do this all over the Azores.
The poor dish had potatoes, onions, garlic, and chorizo and tripe.
All right, just throw that right in there.
Clamp down the top.
As best I understand I'll go forget about it, - and we'll hope for the best.
- Yeah.
What else could we do? - All derivative.
- Is that a pressure cooker I see? - Yes.
Two pressure cookers.
- I see two pressure cookers on that thing, right? How many pressure cookers do you think Marina's gonna have? Uh, well, this is easy for her because she has at least ten or more at home.
I need this pressure cooker to work.
I don't know how this [bleep.]
thing works.
We don't know how to work the damn thing.
How much water do I put in? I don't know.
How do we put the top on? I don't know.
How the You need my help, Lee? Yeah, please.
You have a mentor here.
So what? - Your mentor just look at you? - You think I use a pressure cooker? - Marina! - Yes? - Come here.
- Thank you, thank you.
Done.
Those guys want to send you home next week.
Remember last week? - He wants to send you home, the guy.
- I know.
Sabotage, huh? He's not your friend.
Thank you, Marina.
I'm hoping that Lee can execute this dish.
I'm kind of -- I'm nervous for him.
I've never seen him this nervous.
My first job in restaurants was tearing that little muscle off like 80 pounds of scallops a day.
You know, I started out in the business as a dishwasher.
And the first job that allowed me to touch food, they would stick me in a cellar with a big, leaking, like, burlap bag filled with sea scallops.
And I'd have to pick one out at a time and peel the little adductor connective muscle off.
I hate these [bleep.]
things.
I do too.
- Hopefully, Jacques will like them.
- Yeah.
One hour left! Do you have your reduction of, uh, your reduction of the sauce? I have not started that, no.
Come on.
Get it [bleep.]
in.
- I might even -- - Start your sauce! Ludo is on my ass today.
Like, he's screamin' at everybody.
It's crazy.
It's intense.
Did you test lobster, yes or no? - I'm about to crack it open.
- Did you test that, yes or no?! Well, I haven't shelled it yet.
Open it! Open it! Open it! Crack it! Crack it! Imagine if it's not cooked enough? No, no.
The head.
Take off the head.
- Perfect.
- Yeah.
Okay.
Excuse me.
No, no, no.
I didn't mean it like that.
I think today more than ever, he really, really had distinct opinions about how we should actually cook every single element of the dish.
- Is that enough butter? - No! No! - Do you want another - Push it! We push it! He really wants to impress Jacques Pépin, of course -- fellow Frenchman.
- Listen, guys! - Yes.
- Right, this guy is French.
- Yes, Chef.
So, what we do in France? - Use butter! - Butter! And I love that he's super passionate, but at the same time, it's stressful.
He's losing it.
He's completely gone.
That pressure wouldn't help me.
Ludo is worried about beating Anthony Bourdain.
And he's so intense because he want to win the competition.
No! No, no, no, no! Oh, yeah, yeah.
Yes, yes.
Don't tell her, man.
She knows better than you.
You know what I care about you, Tony? - What? - Nothing.
Jeff, no! He's all over Jeff, and he normally does not do that.
French! The vein in your forehead is throbbing.
- Make sure this text shows high temperature.
- Yeah.
- You okay? - Yes, I'm okay.
- Okay? - Yeah, I'm okay.
I'm okay.
I'm good.
I got it.
Come on, buddy.
Ludo's advice has been very spot-on this entire competition.
So, you know, I'm gonna listen to him.
He's my chef.
Oh, I know.
Today is my day.
I think Jeff is the most talented cook here.
If Jeff have a good day, it's gonna be the best one.
- Let's chop it.
- All right.
Voilà.
Here.
That's it.
Next! You're halfway through! Halfway through! Anything else going in there? Mushrooms, white wine, cream, uh, thyme, and the parmesan.
- It'll work.
It'll work.
- Parmesan? I know.
I know where your head is at.
It works.
I've made this dish in my restaurant with scallops and parmesan.
It works.
Cheese and seafood do not mix, but I think I can mask the flavor enough to make it so you don't even know that it's parmesan.
But if he knows there's parmesan in there and you are violating the deeply -- I mean, cheese and seafood together.
- I know.
I know.
- I'm [bleep.]
cringing.
Cheese and caviar together -- I'm cringing.
Cheese and uni together -- it's -- it's If you're using it as a -- okay, Cook.
It's really gonna be a, like, salty nutty.
- You know, man? - Okay.
Whenever I get tense, I eat cheese.
It's the answer to everything.
It's not helping Ludo.
Hey, you know what? I have three cook left.
Okay? Marcus have nobody.
Nigella have nobody.
And you just have one left.
So, you know what? I think I'm in the good way.
I think I'm good, guys.
Okay? So, you know what, guys? Leave me alone.
He's crackin'.
Leave me alone! Tony! Oh, it's a quail egg.
30 minutes left! Louise, don't forget to blanch your legs! I've got 'em right now.
We have to make one dish that exemplifies how you would eat if you're poor, and we have to make one that exemplifies how you would eat if you're rich.
It's really different sitting in the audience, and I'm sitting on the edge of my seat.
He's gone.
You know, you're working against your nerves.
You're working against time.
It's also really nerve-racking because I definitely want Lee to win it.
Shallots.
I'm rooting for Marina.
You know, she's a home cook.
I'm a home cook.
La, la, Marina! Marina! Marina! I've never seen Ludo like this before in the kitchen.
Louise! The pressure is on now, my friend.
It really is.
Hey! It's too high! It's too high! - Okay.
- It's too high.
Ludo and I would kill each other in the kitchen.
Like, he would scream at me, and I'd throw something at him.
I'm not kidding.
Like, I don't work like that.
Did you flambé that? Did you flambé that? - I have not flambéed that, no.
- Flambé, flambé, flambé.
- Flambé! Just put over there! - All right.
I don't like to scream for nothing, but, you know, you need to motivate them.
You know, some advice.
It's my job.
My goal is to get my three cook into the final.
That's it.
Let's go! What time do you want to check the tripe? We were counting on that pressure cooker to cook the tripe in time to incorporate into our dish.
Guys, how your tripe? How your tripe? - Good, guys? - It will be.
You know what I want, guys? I want you to tell me you put your best dish over there.
Yeah, we're putting our best dish And I'm going to beat you guys.
Okay, okay.
Dial back the testosterone, dude.
It's tiresome.
Good! I mean, I don't say "good.
" It's okay.
By now, I can handle Ludo already.
So, what do I need here? Salt? No, salt is good.
Put that back in the saucepan.
And add some bacon.
And let it infuse.
- Okay? - Sure.
Marina -- today she's listening to me.
I have a lot of hope in her because she's smart.
She know, you know? She know about food.
She know about what's good.
Everything is great, Marina.
You're doing great job, Marina.
Thank you so much, Chef.
Mm, the broth is much better.
Thank you so much, Chef.
I know, Chef.
What are we doing, Jeff? I'm gonna be doing, um, Wagyu beef, mashed potatoes, and, uh, foie gras.
A steak, really? - Seriously, dude? A steak? - Surprised.
Nobody wins with a steak.
That's not what cooking's about.
You could train a chimpanzee to cook a steak.
Hey, you know, Jojo, time to turn a steak.
Put a truffle on it.
All right, Cook.
Shut off the tripe.
Five minutes isn't gonna make any big difference.
Shut it off? Yeah, that's -- yeah.
You don't want to wait five minutes? It might make a difference.
Okay, daredevil.
Oh, my God.
Five more minutes and then we'll try.
Five more minutes.
Lee's come a long way.
I'm really proud of the work we did during this competition.
He showed a lot of strength, a lot of resolve, and I think it's Lee's to win or lose.
Hey, are you doing a beurre blanc? Yeah.
Well, we're doing an uni beurre, and then running it through a fine chinois.
And then, uh - Good.
- Sautéing the scallops.
I am so happy because I am doing one, too.
So we're going to see who's the best one.
Apparently.
Love it.
Great.
All right, make me a good beurre blanc with uni.
Let me show you how we do the classic French way, okay? Like Jacques Pépin style.
You're doing it the French style? Beurre blanc? Yeah, French style, beurre blanc, yeah.
- Putting cream in there? - Huh? - Putting cream in there? - No, never.
You have confidence in your beurre blanc.
Yes, I do at the restaurant.
- It absolutely won't break? - Uh, yeah.
Yes.
Yes.
- No matter how long it might be between bites? - Yes, yes, yes.
- Your beurre blanc will last forever? - Yes! Yes! You never, never do a beurre blanc with heavy cream.
That's it.
So, when you put cream, it mean you don't know how to do a beurre blanc.
- You know what I mean? That's it.
- Mm-hmm.
A beurre blanc is butter.
It's not cream.
I'm sorry.
Yes, I've been hearing that from every French guy who slips cream into his beurre blanc.
Hey, check in your saucepan for your beurre blanc, eh? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Nice, Louise.
Nice, Louise.
- Perfect, Louise.
Perfect.
- Thank you.
I love it.
So good.
- Stick with the cream.
- Yeah, I know.
- Can I open it now? - What do you think? Let's try.
You need to put it in cold water, Lee.
Listen to the maestro.
- Just in the sink? - Like, put it on top? - Yeah.
- Thank you.
She's so awesome.
Look, I had a good plan with the tripe, but it was really super risky.
Will it be ready? It -- it worked.
- It worked! - It worked! - Just throw it in there.
- What? It's perfect.
It's perfect.
Wow.
The tripe was just beautifully tender, and we just added it right to the sauce and plated it out.
It was perfect.
Oh ho ho, yes! It's just perfect.
More, more, more, more.
More! More! Five minutes! Five minutes! Jeff, five minutes! Five minutes, folks! Five minutes.
Yeah, we know.
We know.
We know.
We know.
We know.
Just go, go, go, go, go.
Go.
Go.
Tony -- five minutes before is never his best moment.
It's the last minute when they finish the dishes.
- I know.
He is a last-minute man.
- Yes.
- Over here.
- Okay.
Work out of there.
It's, you know, just get some tripe.
Heap it.
Heap it.
Heap it.
Heap it.
Go, go, go.
Just go.
Jeff, just make sure to keep the boiler.
Your plate needs to be clean, okay? Clean! Finesse! One minute left! Go, go, go, go.
Okay.
Let's go.
Fix it, fix it, fix it, fix it.
Let's go.
- This now? - Yeah, over.
Finish it! Yeah, Marina.
Yeah, Marina.
Yeah, Marina! Whoo! - That.
- The whole thing? - Can't be the whole thing.
- Half.
Lee's hands were shaking all over the place.
I mean, he was having a real trouble getting that food into the spoon.
Caviar.
Let's go! Caviar, caviar, caviar.
I mean, there's like no time left on the clock, so I'm shaking like crazy.
Pretty it up.
You got 15 seconds.
Yeah, yeah.
Left.
Hurry, Jeff! Oh, I can hardly bear it.
- Louise! - Yes, Chef.
We did it, guys! We did a good job! Pretty it up.
Just push it -- yeah, okay.
Four, three, two, one! Time's up! Applaud, guys.
It was intense.
It was very intense.
Let's get jiggy with some victory.
Guest mentor Jacques Pépin will taste the dishes without knowing who made what.
The cook with the worst dishes will be eliminated.
Jacques Pépin -- I'm starstruck just thinking about him.
My stomach is in knots.
Jacques Pépin -- he literally is a living legend.
This is crazy.
I'm so nervous.
This man has a palate like none other.
Welcome, Chef Jacques.
Chef Jacques Pépin, it is such an honor to have you here to judge what really is the most important challenge of the competition.
The cook who impresses you the least will, I'm afraid, be eliminated on the spot.
So, bear this in mind when you're tasting.
Okay.
Over here.
I fought to be here, and I take every minute as a blessing, and just hope that culinary gods gonna help me.
Very well balanced.
I can totally relate to poor, 'cause growing up, I was not really poor, but my mom make sure that we think we are poor.
Don't know why.
Well seasoned.
Concentrated.
Maybe a bit fatty.
My rich dish is a, uh, scallop stuffed with foie gras.
An interesting dish.
Jacques Pépin is about to taste the dishes, and I feel like I could throw up.
I can't have any mistakes.
Doesn't seem to have any salt in it.
It's creamy, though.
Jeff's dish was seared Wagyu steak with foie gras, truffle, and, um, good mashed potatoes.
I would put that in my restaurant.
It was amazing.
Meat is good.
Puree is well seasoned, too.
A steak! A steak is not gonna get you anywhere with Jacques Pépin.
Let's see this one.
My stomach is in knots.
I mean, am, like, so excited -- so nervous.
Potato is undercooked.
Is gonna recognize that we cooked tripe? - With a tripe? - Yes! These guys are so dirty.
Tripe, you know, tastes a lot like pee.
That's tripe, you know.
It's disgusting.
Kind of acidic.
Yeah! [Bleep.]
Bourdain.
You're going home, bro.
Although the tripe are rich.
Here we have caviar.
Rich dish, we're doing a pan-seared sea scallop that's been basted in uni butter with an uni-enriched beurre blanc and a garnish of osetra caviar.
Scallop is well cooked.
If I make it to the final three, having Jacques Pépin in the kitchen would be absolutely unbelievable.
Look like onion.
Louise's liver, I like it.
You know, it was a very classic but a good classic.
Classic never die.
He's actually really tasting it.
Really thinking.
No salt in it.
Jacques is tasting every little element of the dish.
Again, caviar.
If there is one thing wrong, that man will find it.
So, this is crazy nerve-racking.
Lobster is way undercooked here.
It's raw.
- Undercooked.
- Undercooked.
Undercooked lobster -- I mean, that's pretty sinful, especially in a French chef's eyes.
So I'm thinking Louise is going home.
So, Chef, let's start, please, if you would, with your best dishes.
Frankly, uh, the best was the easiest to choose.
I thought there was reason for it.
Marina, Ludo's kitchen.
Apparently, he likes eating chicken testicles.
Yes! Congratulations.
Amazing for a home cook to beat all these professional cooks.
Good job.
So happy for her.
Marina, you are the first cook to know that you are competing for the prize, and our last home cook standing, too.
Congratulations.
Thank you so much.
And for somebody that has the kind of caliber to validate me? Next time I get all "who are you? Who do you think you are?" Oh! Shut up.
Remember you're special, unique.
You have proof that you are.
And this is the proof.
Now, the next best one Again, it wasn't too difficult to choose it.
And this is the one here, and this is Lee, Anthony's kitchen.
This is it.
I am so close to this, I can friggin' taste it.
And I'm gonna walk away with the prize.
I know it.
Now I have two dish left.
I'm nervous.
I'm nauseous.
It could go either way.
I'm not feeling confident.
I don't think Jeff is feeling confident either.
This is the one, the least favorite.
Guest mentor Jacques Pépin is about to reveal which cook made his worst dishes.
Either Jeff or Louise will be eliminated from the competition.
Now I have two dish left.
Jeff and Louise in the bottom? This competition is crazy.
You never know.
You never know what is going to happen.
This is the one, the least favorite.
And this is Jeff, Ludo's kitchen.
Ah.
I'm very surprised Jacques Pépin did not like it.
I'm in shock.
It was not like this was uneatable.
It was good dish.
And if you get to that point in the competition, probably show that you're quite good.
So, sorry about it.
I don't think any of us saw that coming.
I'm such a huge fan of Jeff's.
He is such a consummate professional.
And he has elegance and wit and a really exquisite palate.
I'm so sorry, Jeff.
You've cooked such wonderful food throughout this competition.
I'm crushed.
I'm extremely disappointed.
Does anybody have any, like, salt they want to rub in my eye? That'd be fun.
That'd be fun, too.
Or some chilies.
Chef.
Sorry.
You know what? It's okay.
It's okay.
It sucks.
- Well, I'm pissed, yes.
- Yeah.
- Dude.
Dude, it's cool.
- It's cool.
Jeff and I were super close.
I wanted it to be me and him in the end.
And he made it so far.
And now we can't compete against each other.
And I'm really sad about it.
Aw.
So, Jeff, you've done some wonderful stuff.
Thank you so much.
Every challenge, I felt myself getting more confident and stronger, and I was really putting out my food, and that's what I was so proud of.
But, um, I'm not gonna argue with a legend.
You know, Jacques Pépin didn't like my dish.
I can just learn from what happened.
Thank you.
Thank you.
It's really sad that this is over.
I would be so honored if you would come and cook in my kitchen.
I hope I can have you in my kitchen because it's a yes.
- I won't lie.
- I'm a little scared of you.
But actually, I think I'm gonna pick you.
Yeah! Thank you.
Two chefs picked me! I've learned a lot from Ludo.
Ludo's actually very cool.
He's a very smart chef.
I want to show you what I think.
Pickle.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, see the problem we have? The sauce is too liquid.
I feel like I've shown myself, and I'm happy about that.
Yeah, I take Jeff.
Sorry.
I don't care.
We'll take this one.
I take this one.
Thank you, Chef.
Jeff is a great cook.
So smart, so humble.
- Nice job, man.
- Thank you.
I officially have a gold star from each mentor.
The one I plumped for -- Jeff.
Jeff.
Jeff.
Jeff.
Competition breaks some people, but, like, this actually has made a stronger person.
Like, I feel really confident in my cooking and in my dishes.
Look at this now.
Oh, these? These little gold stars right here? Yeah, that's nice, right? It's very nice, very nice.
Don't look down here.
- Ugh.
- Hey, babe.
Oh.
Someday you're going to see me in New York and, like, in L.
A.
, like, doing pop-up restaurants for a while.
We couldn't be more proud of you.
- Yeah.
- Not at all.
You did great.
I think Lee might have been more crushed than you.
I think Lee was absolutely crushed.
- Bless his heart.
- He was, yeah.
I can't believe Marina won.
[Bleep.]
testicles.
What the [bleep.]
! Ugh! This is not the last you've seen of me.
Marina, Louise, Lee, congratulations.
You're in the finals.
This is it! One more challenge to go.
Whoever comes out the other side, you're the winner.
Your final challenge is gonna be breakfast, lunch, dinner.
Cook us one mouthful representing each part of the day.
You're gonna have two luxurious hours, and you will, all of you, have the historic privilege of working with Chef Jacques Pépin.
All of you.
Take a little time in the break room, gather your thoughts, and we'll see you back here shortly.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
All right.
Congratulations on best dish, Ludo.
Merci.
Me and Ludo now.
U.
S.
A.
or France.
How can Ludo deny that Lee can beat him? So, how's it gonna shake out? Next stage, three in, one comes out.
I did not know what I'm gonna cook, but when I saw the rooster testicle and I go "wow! That's what I'm gonna do.
" - I'm so happy! - Have you cooked that before? Oh, I ate it when I was growing up.
Well, hello! Hey, hey.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
I'm really excited to see my family and have them cheer me on.
I'm really glad you won.
My kids are everything to me.
It was really good to feel that energy.
I knew they were there and cheering for me.
I was so excited to see my mom and my sister.
And then seeing my dad, it was just, like, the craziest shock in the world.
I couldn't believe it.
It was unbelievable.
So happy that he's here.
I can't believe you drove here.
We just drove right through.
I appreciate you guys all coming out.
Me and my mom, we've been cooking forever together.
And she's already so proud that I'm here, but she's gonna lose it if I win.
Louise, I'm proud of you.
Thank you, honey.
Thank you.
I see why you are so exhausted.
I'm brain dead.
I'm exhausted.
I don't even know what to make of it at this point.
I'm so proud of you! So proud.
I had no idea! So proud.
The minute I found out what you were cooking, I said, "oh.
" - Yeah.
- "She's got it.
" - Rooster testicles.
- Mmm.
Even Ludo had never ate rooster testicle.
- Really? - He just comes up -- "have you cooked that before?" "Yes, Chef.
" "Oh, okay, okay, okay, okay.
" I'm also a mom that enjoy cooking for my kids.
My kids are just awesome.
I basically use them as a Guinea pig.
I am the only person that does not a have a red star, but I only have three gold.
And a lot of everybody else has, like, five, you know, six, whatever.
I'm definitely under the radar.
There's a number of different ways to play the game.
The stars don't matter.
All three of us right now have an equal shot of winning, period.
I think you can do this.
This is perfect.
Well, now it's mine.
It's mine.
You're so lucky to have the mentor you got.
Don't get cocky.
What would you do with the prize? What would you do with the money? - I'll pay your student loan first.
- Aw.
Maybe we can move to a bigger house.
- Yeah! - Yeah.
My family, which is my two kids, they just see, like, I can really do this well and I can just be me.
Oh, my God! Since they were little kids, I was always proud of them, and now they are so proud of me.
Good luck.
Good luck.
I know you'll do well.
Good luck, my dear.
- Love you.
- Wow.
See you guys.
Stick with the plan.
Go Knicks.
Go Knicks.
This is a little bit out of control right now.
- Oh, it's crazy.
- Amazing.
We did it.
We did it.
We all did it.
We have a one in three chance of winning.
- It's exciting.
- It is exciting.
One in three chance -- that's pretty good.
I feel like a winner already.
Yeah, I'm stoked.
Hi! Cassie, she's beautiful.
Everything about her is just gorgeous.
I can't believe I did it.
I can.
I can't believe about Jeff, though.
I can't either.
I say it should have been Louise.
She undercooked her lobster.
Uh, the tripe cooked perfectly.
I heard.
I was, like, so relieved.
Now you just have to win this whole thing.
I know.
Double pressure 'cause you have to win it for me and Jeff.
- I know.
- All right? - I got it.
- Yeah.
- I got it.
- You got it.
I'm not worried.
I'm not worried.
All right.
You did such a good job today.
I'm not worried at all.
I know you're gonna be great, - and I know you're gonna win.
- Thank you.
Um, I just can't wait to see what you cook.
Um, you'll do wonderful.
- All right, bye! - See you later.
Hello! It's so nice of you to join us! - You two are very cute together.
- Thank you.
If they lose the competition, at least they go home with the romance.
Won't that be great? I like the "romance.
" When Jeff was sent home, it was a big shock for all the cooks.
He played it safe.
Marina charged right ahead with a balls-out thing that totally attacked the challenge.
I mean, we thought we were heroes for using tripe.
- I look over -- she's using chicken testicles! - Testicles! And pig blood -- that is so awesome.
Hi, Chef.
- Hi, guys.
- Hi, Chef.
- Congratulations.
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you.
- You did a great job.
Oh, my lord.
I have a beautiful soufflé here.
All three finalists get the benefit of a master class with Jacques Pépin as they head into the last challenge - where they must make- Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
We may go directly to -- this your breakfast dish, huh? This is a puree of carrot.
So, start in the center like that to get a good round thing.
It's an egg, which is poached.
I have truffle on the outside.
And then you can then mold it on a piece of toast.
It's going to be easier.
Oh, my God.
Oh! Inside should be runny like a poached egg, you know? If you don't look up to Jacques Pépin, there's something wrong with you.
There are people out there that would probably pay $100,000 to cook with Jacques Pépin.
Like, this is amazing.
And then we add red lobster.
Chef Pépin demoed a beautiful dish for us today.
He poached some lobster.
And the soufflé -- I mean, that's like classic French 101.
And I was so thrilled to see it and eat it.
And, oh, it was delicious.
We are going to make a mousse.
Lamb, chicken.
You start by doing that nice and fine.
One egg with that to make the mousse.
And a little bit of pepper.
It's one lamb chop.
The food was incredible.
Being mentored by Jacques Pépin, it's absolutely amazing.
He's so cool.
You know, he chops his onion, and it's cool.
Like, he's awesome.
Always taste.
Taste.
Taste again.
One of the biggest mistake is people don't taste.
There's so many ways to go with this challenge that are not bacon and eggs.
You can go Indian breakfast.
You can go southeast Asian breakfast.
- Right.
- That would be great.
A scallion oyster omelet, you know? Can be so many different ways.
Like that salt.
Remember, Pépin's gonna be workin' with 'em.
And I hope they have the good sense to listen to every nuanced breath and take it to heart.
And let's face it -- Jacques Pépin, he knows everything.
I'm not gonna be walkin' around afterwards no matter what happens, saying, "oh, man, we got robbed.
We didn't have any -- buh, buh, buh" -- I'm not.
Everybody deserves to be there.
I'm happy.
Now it's all up to Lee.
You have any idea what you would want to do? Breakfast, parmesan flan.
Parmesan flan.
That's good.
Lunch, I was -- when I saw you do the lobster, it kind of put in my head, uh, crab cakes with avocado with a spicy sweet corn aioli.
That's a good idea.
And dinner? - I don't know yet.
- You don't know yet.
I think that if you've done, in terms of the diversity of your menu, you probably should choose a poultry or a meat.
- That's a good idea.
- Keep it simple.
Congratulations on getting that far, - and good luck to you.
- Thank you, sir.
Well, I want Lee to win.
And I'll do whatever Well, of course, yeah.
But if I was in Vegas, the betting line would be Marina.
Okay, so, what are you going to do? What are you thinking? Breakfast, I was thinking to make like a -- kind of like Chinese onion pancake with an egg on top, so I have two side.
And I roll it with something inside -- I'm not sure yet.
Remember that you have competition, so you want the food to be distinctive, you know? - And at the same time -- - Perfecting it.
Perfecting it in your head.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
- Okay, good.
- Thank you, Chef.
Thank you.
I think that whatever it is that I'm choosing to do, I think Chef Pépin will be helpful to guide me.
Dinner -- I'm trying to think In my life, I tend to do more fish, something lighter, because I tend to do meat at lunch, so Right.
Good, good, good.
I'd like to do a seafood.
That's -- All right, so you know that your first thing is always to organize your thought, to do a list, and then you start.
Make the plan.
- That would be a good idea.
- Okay.
- And good luck.
- Thank you, Chef.
Okay.
Whew! - I know.
- You must be feeling exhausted.
Right? Come on.
Yeah, I feel like, you know, throwing up and crawling under my bed in the fetal position and - We'd like to see that.
- For a week.
There's still time.
I know.
- Hey.
- This is it.
- This is it, guys.
- Bonne chance.
Okay, I'm gonna put my finale frock on.
This is it, your final and most important challenge to date.
Three dishes representing breakfast, lunch, dinner.
You have two hours to cook.
I wish you all luck.
No matter what happens, on all of our behalf, I want to thank all of you for cooking your hearts out for us.
Thank you.
Your time starts Now.
- Each cook- Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, to be judged blind by the mentors.
The cooks have two hours on the clock.
I need to sharpen my knife! Two hours to cook three dishes.
It is a very demanding challenge, though.
Isn't it? Yeah.
Yeah.
I did my job.
I have two cook.
One home cook in the final.
I know.
I've come full circle with Lee.
He really cooked his way to the final.
He deserve to be there.
- Hello, Chef.
- Hello.
Béchamel to start.
Start with your breakfast.
Yeah, I'm -- I'm doing the, uh, the parmesan flan.
It's gonna have bacon, sunny side egg, - chives, little bit of asparagus.
- Okay.
And then for lunch, I'm doing crab cakes with avocado with a spicy sweet corn aioli.
- Crab cake is always good for lunch.
- Uh-huh.
For dinner, I am making a everything spice strip steak of Wagyu beef.
And that's gonna go with the cauliflower puree with a, uh, mustard demi-glace and a parmesan tuile.
- Not too much stuff.
- Not too much.
You want to have a clear taste.
Yeah, I know to keep it-- Keep it simple.
That's going.
I think that Lee is very focused with his three dishes.
He knows exactly what he want to do.
I feel good about what he's doing there.
I think he's doing good.
I really think the breakfast, lunch, and dinner is gonna give Lee, uh, an advantage because he's good at making, like, unique dishes.
And so I'm hoping that that's gonna help him pull ahead.
Look, I want Lee to win because he's my guy and because he deserves it, 'cause I see him as a misfit and an outsider who's been bouncin' around for years without a reward, and I'd like to see him have his day.
I've come a long way from the beginning.
Before I got on this competition, I was done in the kitchen.
I didn't want to cook anymore.
You remind me of me earlier in my career.
Uh, young, directionless, already burnt out.
But Lee was a superhero from the start.
All four of us mentors were begging and pleading to get him, and he's done brilliantly from the off.
I am gonna go with Anthony.
Very happy.
Welcome.
We will have fun.
Thank you very much.
I love the food of Lee.
I think he have a good skill, a good technique.
I'm scared of Lee.
He's handsome, he's talented, and he's young.
He is the one to beat.
I can't say it doesn't feel good, 'cause it does.
Honestly, the best part about it is Cassie.
Hi! I'm really happy to have met Cassie.
We have been spending some extra time together.
We, uh, we hit it off.
That's, you know, whatever -- I'm not gonna say that I'm blushing, but I probably [bleep.]
am.
She's gorgeous.
She is.
He's so wonderful, and he's so talented.
I think Lee will win.
Definitely.
I know he's an amazing chef.
I got a taste for you, Tony, right here.
Wow, that's really good.
Working with Tony, I mean, it's been a dream come true.
It's been so amazing having him side by side with me in the kitchen.
Watch it there, buckaroo.
Try not to burn my genitals.
Not today.
They are cute together.
I love it.
You're a better and more solid cook - than anybody else out there.
- Thank you.
- I believe in you, man.
- Thank you.
A son should be with his father.
My drive is back.
The focus and determination to cook again is there.
I'm loving every second being here.
I'm cooking again, you know? I want to cook forever.
Fire! Wow, this is crazy.
Gone.
Marina's so badass.
I'm, like, excited to see what she's gonna do today.
She's, like, looking forward to skinning a hamster or a Guinea pig or, like, getting a turtle drunk and putting him in hot water in your tub and, like, eating it.
Like, she's crazy.
What's your first course now? It's an English muffin egg breakfast.
English muffin with caramelized onion, fig and quail egg on top.
And for my lunch, I'm making kind of like spring roll with, uh, oyster and pork belly.
- Wrap it and fry it.
- Okay.
And for dinner, I sautéed kale, savory rice, and grilled short rib.
Marina is probably the one that I would be the most worried about.
She mix different type of technique here.
From suddenly from Portuguese or Brazilian to Chinese, she's mixing so many tastes that I don't know where it's going to go.
Got your steam going.
Yeah, so I can shape them.
So they're moist and still elastic.
If they're too dry, I can't shape them.
They crack, and they ruin my design.
My mom always make old brand new by doing this.
- Oh, yes.
- Yeah.
Nothing throw away.
We don't throw nothing.
Never.
Never.
Jacques Pépin grew up in a poor environment like me.
And then he became this well-rounded chef.
So I was really pleased I was able to work close to him.
It was a blessing.
It's doing okay? You have a timer on this? Yes, I - My timer is in my heart.
- Yeah.
Okay.
That's good.
- Sometime it work.
Sometime it doesn't.
- Yeah.
Marina surprised me today to be on the top again.
She's impressed the hell out of me.
And I like the idea of the "supposed housewife" supposed home cook winning.
You know? That's a success story that I think we'd all love to see if it was a movie.
Chef Marina, my Asian ninja.
Marina is Marina.
Home cook, great home cook.
From Taiwan to Brazil to American food, she is the new American.
I'm gonna find my big balls first.
I believe that people are really surprised the techniques that I have, and to me, just so normal.
I don't know what they don't know.
I just know what I know.
Your oven is on? I don't need oven.
- No, you need oven.
- I don't.
She don't give a [bleep.]
about what I say.
She don't care.
- Marina.
- Hey! Marina, good work.
She's got so much going on in her head that, um, she could bust out something that even the chefs are like, "what is that?" I've never eat something like this in my life.
She's scared of nothing.
She's a rock.
Strongest cook the competition.
As far as-- All of 'em go into an alley, Marina's coming out.
They'll never forget my dish.
I think through this journey of being a woman, Asian immigrant, I know things that these people don't know, because they learn from textbook.
I learn from generations.
I learn from culture.
You should win this competition au batteur.
- It's you, Marina.
- Okay, okay, okay! - It's you.
- Yes, Chef.
She can win this competition.
She need to be Marina but with little Ludo voice behind.
Don't forget to remind her.
I hope this will send some inspiration to some people out there.
And if they are not feeling good enough, Just have a quantum leap.
You might land on the moon.
Whoa! Crabs suck.
The only thing I find difficult right now is getting the crab meat out of the shell.
Everything else I have a grasp on.
I just burned about eight minutes of my time just getting the crab meat out.
- Oh, my God.
- He's still picking the crab.
Dude That's going to kill his time.
Yeah, those [bleep.]
crabs.
And, uh, everything else is Oh, [bleep.]
.
I realize, like, oh, my God.
This flan has been in the oven for way too long.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
It's overcooked.
It's overcooked.
I screwed myself.
Oh.
They're perfect.
They're perfect.
I see it's still jiggling just a little bit.
It came out absolutely perfect.
But I am gonna cool 'em down.
Louise is a solid cook.
She knew a lot about food because she's a food stylist, so she really cook any kind of food.
I feel she'll be very good at understanding how to balance the three tastes: The breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Let's hope.
You know exactly what you want to do now? I do, yes.
I've got a sunny-side up quail egg.
I've got my little toast right here, Chef.
So that's gonna be the base.
- The pureed tomato.
- Yeah.
And then I'm gonna garnish it with a little, um, mixed herb salad.
For lunch, I'm doing a fried oyster po'boy.
And I'm gonna make a gochujang remoulade.
So it's gonna have a little bit of an Asian twist to it.
Good idea.
For dinner, steak with mushrooms, red wine sauce, some crispy potatoes.
Straightforward.
Straightforward.
- Louise is great.
- She's got terrific technique.
And, uh, pretty focused on knowing where she's going, too.
Your knife skill is good.
You've learned well.
Thank you, Chef! I would love to see Louise winning.
She's a good chef, and she knows her stuff, and I think she's doing a good job right now.
We have, uh, three different style of cooking in this final.
Real, it's Louise.
I don't know what to expect with her.
I put a lot of pressure on her, and she's good.
When I first got here, I had absolutely no idea what to expect.
- Told you, Louise! - Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, Chef! We're short! - Cream, cream, cream! - Yes, yes, yes, Chef.
Yes.
Am I the strongest cook here? No way.
I'm absolutely not.
But I work really hard.
- Do exactly what I say.
- Yes.
- Exactly what I say.
- Yes, Chef.
I have been listening to every single thing that Ludo had instructed me to do throughout the competition.
You put a little touch of olive oil here, and they're going to stick together.
It's faster.
Chop it.
Da-da-da-da-da.
Thank you.
I don't know whose life it is, but I would like to share a moment of it.
Her confidence grew, and her dishes grew with her.
And it just got better.
Ludo's kitchen.
We win! Bravo! So proud of you! Merci, Chef.
I'm very, very proud of Louise, because, trust me, it was not easy to work with me in the kitchen.
She always would listen to me.
- Yes.
- Okay? You got your two gold stars finally! Yes, I'm thrilled.
Told you you were gonna get gold star.
I think Louise has come a long way, and I think she has worked the hardest.
She's also shown that she, as a food stylist, doesn't just make the food beautiful, she also makes it delicious.
- Louise won! - Yeah! Aah! Whoo! You guys, good job! I often see her smiley face, and so I wonder about the kitchens, even when she's under pressure from Ludo.
- Chef, margarine! - Yes, Chef.
And that smile is evident in the food.
I mean, I feel I can taste it.
That's much better.
Yeah, crunches a bunch.
Okay? Like this.
- You see? - Yes.
Like this.
I feel like I can do really well in this finale -- I think I can.
And I don't think that the other contestants think I can.
Thank you, Chef.
Thank you for your help.
This has been like an endurance test.
You know, just the mental stamina.
They are exhausted.
And yet, now they will have so much adrenaline.
It will just fire them through.
Uh, okay.
40 minutes.
I want to start plating, honestly.
Think you could wait a little bit for that? I want -- uh, yeah.
But -- I need to get it going.
Jacques thought I was plating too early, but if I don't start plating at this point, it's never gonna happen.
Don't you think that would gain a little bit to be not as cold as it is? Oh, I know, but with the time -- I mean, there's nothing I can do.
I wouldn't start plating whatever I do -- lunch -- before five minute, ten minute before it.
I would keep it warm.
I can't reheat it, otherwise, they'll overcook.
No.
Not if you put it on the low oven.
175 -- 200 degree.
He said, "I don't have any trust.
I have to plate it now.
" I say, "okay.
" Red meat's not the way to go.
But we might get red meat.
No one would be so foolish as to give us steak.
Dinnertime.
Steak is dinner.
Dinnertime.
I'm not worried about the steak.
I know Jeff got sent home for it, but, uh, I'm confident in the steak.
A really good steak at night and a glass of wine is great.
And it kind of like describes how I like to eat and how I like to experience life, so it's what I'm going with.
Marina, everything going well? - Yes, Chef.
- Good.
I ask her, "what are you going to do?" But she seemed to say, "keep off.
I know what I'm doing.
" So, it's okay with me.
You know, if you want this on the garnish on top, we can cut the white off just to get the shell.
I think that's what I'm gonna do, Chef.
Chef Pépin is standing right there.
He's gonna tell you how to do it the correct way.
That's what he does for a living.
You know what works good in there? If you put a little bit of baking powder in there.
Mmm.
Like, you'd be crazy not to ask him advice.
Do you want to? Too rare? - They're too rare.
- Okay.
"No, not ready.
" Thank you, Chef.
Putting it back in the oven.
That's what I thought.
Now I feel better.
You know what I mean? I'm gonna do that from now on, Chef.
Louise is receptive maybe.
She came asked me, "what do you think of this? What do you think of that?" So she's more ready maybe to listen.
We have five minutes.
Tense? No.
- Nervous? - It's you or me.
There's a lot of competitive sparring going on between Tony and Ludo.
And that doesn't surprise me.
They both want to win.
He cannot win.
He cannot win, guys.
I mean, hello? You know, I was trying to do a quick pan sauce, but, like, to really do a pan sauce really well, it takes more time than what I had, actually.
And so I was trying to rush it.
It's a little bit broken.
My sauce for my steak broke.
Add cream? It's not, like, my finest hour.
I'm screwed.
[Bleep.]
.
She broke the sauce.
We have five minutes! My sauce for my steak broke.
Add cream? Don't put more butter.
It's gonna break more.
I don't have any other time.
I have to get it on the spoon.
Let me just cross my fingers and pray for the best.
Oh, my God.
I can feel it.
I can taste this money.
I'm so close.
I just have to get it together.
How we doing, Lee? Okay? I'm just putting the garnish on the flan, and I'm done.
So, who's gonna win, Ludo? I'm screwed.
Now, put the juice of your steak in there.
- Right here? - Yeah, yeah.
And just put, like, one tablespoon of the thicker part of that for the taste here.
Oh, sweet mother of Lord Jesus.
Thank you so much.
I've been saved! Yeah, you should have enough with that.
It's okay.
It's gonna have to be.
We have one minute! The last minute of the cook is really, really stressful.
I rush everything at the end.
Where's my sauce? Where's my sauce? No pressure.
Oh, yeah.
Shoot! Six, five, four, three, two, one, zero! Good luck! I didn't taste it.
'Cause I was run out of time.
Now it's time for one of these.
Would you like a beer? Sure, give me one.
I'll open the beer.
Cheers.
Here's how the winner will be selected.
In a randomly chosen order, - the mentors will taste all three- Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
At the end of the tasting, each mentor must indivually rank the sets of dishes, without knowing who cooked what.
The cook whose food receives the highest combined ranking will be revealed as the winner.
Winning this show would help me tremendously.
I can start my own business, be my own boss.
I want to open up this little pub and sort of be the hostess with the mostest.
Winning would mean everything.
Ready.
I very much feel like the underdog.
I may only have three gold stars, but in the finale, that does not matter.
For breakfast, I made a fried quail egg served over a brioche toast with a harissa-stewed tomato sauce.
Waiting for them to taste your food, from the first challenge until now, is always the worst part of the day.
I'm just praying to God that whatever they eat, they like.
The acidity of the tomato is so great with the egg.
Isn't it? - A little spicy.
It's good, though.
- Yeah.
I like the toast.
Well-toasted, you know? It's crispier that way, yeah.
Very, very well balanced.
- I like this tomato under-spiced.
- That's nice.
Some guts.
Unexpected, tasty, well-seasoned and, uh, unafraid of heat.
For lunch, I did a fried oyster po'boy.
When I'm in New Orleans, even if it's the most simple po'boy ever, like, I love it! It may not be elegant, but I'm gonna try it.
Have to do it like this.
Po'boy? Sandwich for lunch.
Why not? What was the protein? Oyster.
I want to say oyster.
I want to say oyster, too.
Clever.
Little bit daring.
When you have a fried oyster like that, it can get a little doughy, but it didn't actually.
It didn't at all.
Structurally, the proportions were really good.
Easy to eat.
I could have done with something a little juicy or creamy in there as well on the sandwich.
A little more mayo or something.
Yeah, I think I could have had a bit more mayo.
But you know, these are just nitpicks.
More mayo, and I knew it.
I only put it on one side.
For dinner, a classic steak with mushrooms, red wine sauce, some crispy potatoes.
This is it.
This is the last chance that I have.
I thought it had very good mushroom flavor.
That's good.
That's good.
I would have liked to have seen something more creative than steak, but it was executed well.
Yeah, and I think it was an attempt to do steak in a different way.
They had the idea, and they executed.
And it was good.
It's delicious.
I thought it was a pretty strong showing.
- Thank God! - This is out of my hands.
I'm proud that I cooked the food that I wanted to make.
So, we'll see what happens.
I did my best.
It's not up to me anymore.
Now I'm just gonna surrender, and maybe some big spirit gonna just make miracles happen through me.
For the breakfast dish, I cook a mini English muffin stuffed with egg white and bacon strip and quail egg on the top.
I don't want to see.
I don't want to hear.
I don't want to know.
Egg, bacon, biscuit.
There's somebody speaking with you, Tony, put some bacon.
Great crunch.
Great crunch.
Well balanced.
Lovely oozy egg.
Real simple ingredients, but it was very well executed.
For lunch, I make pork belly fried in a spring roll wrap.
And I made some malt vinegar aioli.
Egg roll.
I think it could have used some heat.
This wasn't as successful.
For me, I'd eat more of that.
I like it, too.
For dinner, I sautéed kale and short rib drizzled with port wine.
I thought the meat was cooked beautifully.
Yeah, good flavor.
I thought very well executed.
And it was a nice, cozy dinner.
The rice was cooked perfectly.
- It was.
- The rice was good.
It really was.
Breakfast started really strong.
It was amazing, the breakfast.
It was.
I thought that was very well balanced as a trio that would make up a day.
- Now it's up to God.
- It's not up to me anymore.
So, just let the winner be the winner.
Right now, I'm fighting against Marina and Louise, both great cooks.
But the strongest cook left here now is me.
I mean, plain and simple, I know it.
I think everyone else knows it.
This is my competition to win.
I've been through a lot through this entire competition.
This is one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life.
I just want to win.
I want to win so badly.
When you think of breakfast, you think of bacon, egg, and cheese.
That is the staple New York breakfast.
It's deconstructed, but it still has all the elements.
Sunny side egg, crispy bacon, parmesan flan.
I got this one locked down.
Bacon, egg, and grits? Or mashed potato? Cheesy potato it tasted like to me.
It's a parmesan flan.
I thought they would've known exactly what it was.
You think it's grits? Look, I liked it.
I don't really care what it was.
For lunch, I decided to go with a crab cake with a, uh, spicy sweet corn aioli, some avocado, and finger limes on top.
I thought the crab cake was tasty.
It was terrific.
A wee bit too much salt.
For me, no.
It was, uh, very detail oriented.
It was great, yeah.
For dinner, I made seared Wagyu strip steak with a cauliflower puree, parmesan pepper tuile, and a mustard demi-glace.
Again, same objection to the previous steak.
I would've rather seen something other than steak.
But the dish itself, I thought it was well executed.
No, it wasn't creative, but it - It was good.
- It was well made.
Absolutely.
I thought the most successful dish - was the crab cake.
- Yeah.
- The best.
The best.
- Yeah.
But -- it's a final.
You need to be, uh, creative, you know? These are three really good cooks, three really smart cooks.
That's what makes it hard.
Uh, and they all cooked their hearts out.
The balance within the trio for all three was good.
Nobody fell flat.
They all did their food.
There's so little to choose between in terms of standards, which is all pretty high.
I'm mean, it's Very, very, very, very close, yeah.
I know.
This is gonna be tough.
Thank you, guys, for some very good work.
We ate well here tonight.
Good job.
Here's the hard part.
We're going to each individually rank your dishes.
We don't know who cooked what.
For the last time, take a break.
We'll see you shortly.
Good luck.
I've never wanted to sit on this couch more than I do right now.
We have three very different cooks competing for the prize.
Yeah, I don't think there was a clear winner here.
Any one of us could win.
When we're determining the winner, it's blind, blind all the way.
We don't know who made what.
I bet you do.
I love that.
There was never any doubt in my mind that Marina was going into the finals.
I feel like a winner already.
I get to compete with the best and the second best.
I'm okay.
If we have a home cook winning this competition, it would be amazing.
We call her a home cook, but she has more cooking experience than Lee and Louise combined.
If somebody's gonna come out of there and take down Lee, it's Marina I worry about.
They'll never forget my dish.
She's not trying to conjure up food she thinks should be eaten in a dining room somewhere.
You know people have sexual fantasies? This is my culinary fantasy.
It's really Marina's to win right now.
It's up to them.
We really get excited when we eat food that has a voice.
And Marina's food does have a voice.
I'd be shocked if I wasn't here.
I saw this from the beginning that I was gonna make it to the end.
Lee dazzled early on and has continued to do well.
He's been playing a very smart, very high-quality game.
He have a good skill, good technique.
Lee know what's good.
A delicious mouthful of food that immediately made me want more.
Thank you, Chef.
Lee has more gold stars than the most decorated generals.
My best dish was cooked by Lee.
Lee.
Lee.
Lee.
Lee.
Lee! Congratulations.
Thank you, Chef.
I'll be shocked if I lose.
My late-20-year-old self would've said the same thing.
We think, like, food stylists just do some beautiful food and taste nothing.
Louise proved, yes, I know how to cook.
Yes, my food tastes good.
Whose dish was it that blew me away? - That was my dish, yes.
- Well done.
Thank you.
Her flavors are really intense, very confident.
I could eat that whole plate and not miss animal protein.
That's a huge compliment coming from you.
Thank you.
Stars don't matter now.
I'm glad they don't matter 'cause I have the least.
Louise may not have as many gold stars as some cooks in the finale.
However, she's the only one not to have a red star.
I've chewed off all my fingernails if that's any indication of nerves.
This is a big, big deal for Louise's life And her career.
One of us is gonna win 100 grand and a trophy.
I know.
That's like -- my heart just started beating thinking about that.
So, we're locked in.
- Yeah.
- We are.
Let's do this thing.
- All right.
- Good luck.
Good luck for everyone.
Well, that was grueling.
We have no idea what we've done here.
No -- I have no idea whatsoever.
- We're all locked in.
- I'm nervous.
I'm locked in and tense.
It all comes down to this.
We are this close to $100,000 and the trophy.
I can taste the prize.
It's, like, really real right now.
Louise, Marina, Lee, we've locked in our decisions.
We have absolutely no idea what we've done.
We're as blind in this as you are, and I think almost as tense.
The cook who has come in third place is Let's see.
Lee! What? Wow.
That is a shock.
Wow! I don't know what's going on.
Didn't see that.
I don't know what's going on.
I did not see that coming, buddy.
You did well.
You did well.
Absolutely devastating.
It just turned out that mine wasn't the best today.
I can live with that.
I can keep my head held high.
Couldn't ask for more of you.
This experience has pretty much totally changed everything for me.
I had left my restaurant before this.
I didn't want to cook anymore.
And I got here, and the passion for cooking came back to me.
And I met Cassandra, and I'm very happy about that.
I will certainly be cooking after this.
- Congratulations.
- Thank you.
Louise, Marina, both from Team Ludo.
Let's find out which of you are the winner of The Taste.
Nigella? So terrifying! So, the winner of the The Taste is You ready? Louise! I'm so -- I'm speechless.
I'm so proud of Louise just because she was always doubting herself a little bit.
And then she even said that, you know, she was happy if I win.
And I told her, whatever happens, I love her anyway.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
I'm a food stylist, and so, people are like, "oh, well, can -- you know -- can you make food that actually tastes good?" It's like, "yes, I can.
" But this is validation.
Thanks for everything.
Good job.
Thank you.
Thank you, Chef.
- It was a long, a long, a long - Thank you.
fight all the time, but we made it, guys! Team Ludo! Right now, I am, like, I don't know.
I am just over the moon, through the roof.
Is this really happening? Is this really real? I can't believe it.
I'm -- I'm so happy.
It's ridiculous.
Congratulations, Louise, for winning The Taste.
Congratulations, Ludo.
To all of you who competed here, you are all fierce competitors and great cooks.
We hope you had fun.
I know we did.
It is a good and noble thing to cook well.
You have done that magnificently.
Thank you, and good night.
Ah, I don't know what to do! I won.
It's amazing.
You did not give your best shot in the final.
Are you happy with what you did? You happy? Uh - No, it was not you.
- I know.
I mean, at breakfast why'd you do [bleep.]
eggs? Do your [bleep.]
soup noodles.
Why are you doing [bleep.]
with your flan? It was not Marina today.
It was not her.
- Oh, it's okay, Ludo.
- No, it's not.
- Okay.
- You put your piece of, uh, beef - in ice and, uh Come on, Marina.
- Yeah.
You're better than that, sweetie.
- No, you are.
- Okay! Yeah, I know.
You did a good job.
I do.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Still second place, you know? - Oh, my God, yeah! - As a home cook.
I know, but, Marina, still.