ADAM: You're about to witness
a culinary revolution. Tonight,
five of the most talented cooking prodigies in the world go head-to-head
against executive chefs with years of training
and decades of experience. I like that kid.
I wanted to beat him. I don't want to be teated
like a kid. I'm a chef. WOMAN: You just can't
underestimate these kids. I'm gonna crush
that competition! ADAM: It's a culinary showdown
in three rounds, with our final round judged by the world's most critically
acclaimed chefs in a winner-takes-all
blind taste test. It's the superstars
of tomorrow... Way to get in his head. ...against the titans of today. MIKE:
Coming down to the wire. CLOYCE:
I want to show the world that kids can take down
executive chefs. HOLDEN:
This is cutting it so close. ADAM: This is "Man vs. Child:
Chef Showdown." --<font color="#FFFF00"> Captions by VITAC --</font><font color="#00FFFF">
www.vitac.com</font> Captioning provided by
A+E Networks ♪ I'm your host, Adam Gertler,
and this week, it's a culinary showdown
in three rounds. Our first judge is chef/owner of
several restaurants, including Graffiato and Kapnos,
Mike Isabella. Our second judge is a butcher
and private chef to Hollywood "A" listers,
Alia Zaine. Our challenger today has been
an executive chef for over 20 years. He currently owns and operates
his super-popular food truck, the Culinerdy Cruzer. Being an owner of a food truck,
I get underestimated constantly. I'm actually a certified
executive chef from the American Culinary
Federation, too. I can cook. I run a food truck because you
may turn to your friend and go, "You've got to taste this!" Biggest compliment
I can ever get. You know, they say there are
these prodigies. This would have been me 20 years
ago, 30 years ago, 40 years ago. I got the skills, I got the
background, I got the talent. I'm gonna make them work for it. Please welcome Executive Chef
Keith Breedlove. [ Cheers and applause ] He looks very aggressive,
like he'll fight for it. He's not exactly
what I was expecting. -Keith, welcome.
-Hey, guys. How's it going? Prodigies, for the first round,
who's it gonna be? So, he's nerdy, he's obviously
out of the box, right? I think I can do it. -Yeah.
-Okay. We choose Chef Dylan. Chef Dylan, enter the kitchen. -You can do it!
-You got this! Chef Dylan is very inventive,
and he's very creative. He also has that five-star,
upscale quality to his food. He could win this. ADAM: He's 12 years old and
loves drawing and photography. His artistic skills
don't end there -- he considers himself
an artist in the kitchen. Chef Keith --
he's kind of like a tough guy. He has tattoos all over him,
but hearing that he's, you know, in the food-truck business --
well, maybe he's more into the fast food and not really,
like, you know, the more gourmet,
so, I'm excited to see how this is gonna play out. Please welcome Chef Dylan. [ Cheers and applause ] Dylan, welcome back to
the kitchen. Thank you. Okay, guys.
Welcome to round one. One of my favorite grilled
sandwiches would not be the same without this staple ingredient. Cheese. -It ain't easy being cheesy.
-Those puns were very "Gouda." You know, here I thought
I "bleu" it. [ Laughter ] Your challenge for the first
round is to create an appetizer using this wonderful, ubiquitous
ingredient -- cheese. KEITH: The versatility of cheese
is wonderful. I've seen cheeses in so many
different ways. I'm excited to do
the first challenge. Sounds great.
I'm a huge fan of cheese. I just am falling in love
with this challenge. Judges, any advice for how to
make a truly wonderful cheesy appetizer? Know which cheese
you're working with, 'cause every cheese offers
something different. You have some that are hard,
some that are soft, some that are strong,
some that are more mild. I love cheese. I want you to
have fun with the challenge, 'cause you have some many
different types of textures and flavors, and you can really
make them the highlight of
your dish today. Our judges will be looking at
creativity, presentation, adherence to the spirit of
the challenge, and taste. Now, remember -- they will also
allow the chef with the best dish to choose
an advantage in the next round. Whoever scores the advantage for
this round has a better chance at keeping the advantage for
the all-important, winner-takes-all third round,
which will be presented and blind tasted
by our master-level chef. Okay, chefs,
take to the burners, and prepare to begin your first
cook. Good luck. You have 30 minutes to prepare
an appetizer featuring cheese,
and your time starts...now! [ Cheers and applause ] CLOYCE: Dylan!
Get your cheese! So, where do you go with cheese? I mean, cheese on its own
is an appetizer. You don't even need to do
anything to it. You can go the way of a fondue.
You can go cheese sauces. You can go dressings, fritters, and so many good things
to work with today. I'm really excited to see what
they're gonna do. ♪ KEITH: I'm used to having a very
small space, so to me, it looks like a palace
in here. I'm just gonna cook up a little
bit of this pancetta. I smell bacon. Ooph. Bacon and cheese. Cheese and bacon are the two
greatest things in the world. We're gonna do a pancetta
and pear cheese fritter with a pickled grape relish
on top. This is an aged Gruyère. The age gives it that nice,
beautiful cheese funkiness. I love sharp, aged cheeses, so I'm gonna use aged Gruyère,
sharp cheddar, and white cheddar. I think we need more bacon. I mixed the bacon, the pear,
the cheeses, an egg for binding, for lift,
and flour to hold it. Let's get the flavors
to meld together, so let's just go ahead
and make a fritter, a latke,
essentially a pancake. ADAM:
Chefs, 20 minutes left. Hey, how you doing
over there, bud? Fine. How about you? Good, man. You having fun yet? Oh, I'm having the best time
of my life. My whole family loves to cook. My uncle's, like, a total
foodie, and my mom is, too, and my grandma, so, like, I kind
of grew up with gourmet meals. HOLDEN: Is that mozzarella
or burrata? CLOYCE: Burrata. That's the burrata cheese! DYLAN: You know,
I'm a huge fan of cheese. I love mozzarella sticks. I make them at home
all the time. But today, I'm gonna elevate it and take it more to
the gourmet style. So, I'm planning to make
burrata fritters with a spicy tomato sauce
in the style of cheese sticks. My burrata mixture is burrata, one egg, baking powder,
and flour. I'm just whisking it up together
in a bowl. When I think of burrata,
I don't necessarily think of it as being a strongly flavored
cheese, so, you know, frying it, making a fritter is
an interesting choice. But I'll tell you this,
the consistency of a fried burrata fritter
is gonna be amazing. It's gonna be oozing
right out of the fritter. ♪ KEITH: For the pickled grapes,
I put together a very quick pickle solution of apple cider vinegar,
a little bit of sugar, and star anise. There's a great trick with
an iSi container -- the whipped-cream containers. Now, we're gonna charge it
real quick. [ Gas hisses ] Chef Keith, what are you
doing with the foam? Actually, I'm pickling
the grapes. By adding the CO2 to it, it pops the grapes to open up and allows the pickling liquid
to infuse inside the grapes. That's awesome. KEITH: Cooking against these
kids, it pushes you. Kids don't have that
pre-conceived idea that, you know, "I can't do this,
I can't do that," 'cause they haven't been
yelled at for 20 years. Right now, I'm working on
my spicy tomato sauce. My tomato sauce is caramelized
onions and garlic, bay leaves, crushed tomatoes,
a little bit of basil. You know, I really got to focus
on this dish, because I have to make sure
my sauce tastes amazing. HOLDEN: Red pepper flakes --
that might be red pepper flakes. Gonna add some heat. This is very runny. It's not thick enough, so I'm
getting a little bit worried. I'm gonna get the paste. I get the tomato paste. I'm not really knowing if this
is a good idea or a bad idea. It's just the first thing that
popped in my head. But it does make it
a little bit thicker, and I'm hoping the judges like
my idea of that. Chef Dylan, how's it going? Great. What are we frying, brother? That's one of my burrata
fritters. I'm just gonna test it.
Did you want to try one. Yes! Perfect. Wow. Could have been in the fryer
a little bit longer, but... That is not like the heavy,
crusty, oily mozzarella sticks
of old. I think you've ruined
a whole generation for mozzarella sticks. DYLAN: I'm really happy
he said that, because if he likes it, hopefully the judges
will like it. ADAM: Chef Keith,
what's going on? I'm doing good. So, I love hearing about what
you were doing in the iSi with the grapes. Can you tell me about
that again? What it'll do is just quickly
pickle it, and what happens to your grapes
is, like, the grape becomes grapier. It tastes like it's been
marinating for hours, but it doesn't have a texture like it's been marinating
for hours. Wild. All right.
Good luck to you, Chef Keith. Thank you, sir. Three minutes, chefs. This is a really interesting
battle -- cheese. We have two very different takes
on a fried cheese. Chef Keith's side --
it's more of a latke with pear in there and cheese
and then the pickled grapes. The pickled grapes are really
phenomenal, by the way. On Chef Dylan's side, I've never had a cheese fritter
like that before. It'll be interesting to see how
that pairs with a really kind of traditional
tomato sauce. You guys have your cheese cut
out for you. [ Laughs ] Coming up on one minute! Biggest motivation, really, is let's get something
on the plate. I'm not thinking about
round two. I'm not thinking about
advantages. I'm thinking, "Get it on
the plate. Make it good." It's looking nice and sharp.
The flavors are nice and bold. DYLAN:
I'm waiting on my fritters. I want to make sure that I am
going for a crispy outside but still very light and nice
and creamy on the inside. CLOYCE: Keep going, Dylan! DYLAN: I took them out of
the fryer, they look amazing. 30 seconds! ♪ And 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Time's up!
Step away from the plates. DYLAN: So, time's up, and I look
down at my dish. I'm really worried about the
consistency of my tomato sauce. I did put tomato paste,
and that's really thick. I'm just hoping that the judges
are gonna like it. Okay, chefs, please bring your
plates up to the judges. ♪ DYLAN: My fritters
look really good. I just hope the judges
think the same. Are you doing
a little cheese dance? [ Chuckles ] [ Laughs ] Chef Dylan, please explain
your dish. I prepared for you today
burrata fritters with a spicy tomato sauce. A nice, simple dish. I grew up on classic
mozzarella sticks. It seems like you have a nice,
elevated, puffy cheese fritters with a spicy tomato sauce
and some basil. Semi-spicy. Semi-spicy. Not too spicy. No. I'll let you know that after
I taste it. [ Chuckling ] Well, it looks beautiful. Thank you. ♪ Chef Dylan, these are definitely
not the cheese sticks that I grew up with --
these are much lighter. The idea of taking cheese
and frying it in oil sounds very heavy, but these
are very far from that. But the tomato paste --
it's very assertive. I think you have such a nice
balance of, like, really light and fluffy,
airy fritters. It'd be nice to have, also,
a light tomato sauce to go with it, but everything
else is just really on point. I really enjoyed it. I think I do have
a huge advantage that I made the cheese
the star of my dish, and I feel really good
about this. Dylan, I thought you had
a very good dish here today. I liked your fritter a lot,
but I would have liked to see a stronger cheese flavor
in the fritter. If you could have maybe put
a little extra burrata just to make it so when you get
to that middle, you also have that really, just,
straight cheese. That would have, you know,
took it up to the next level. But besides that,
it was a great dish. Thank you. Chef Keith, please explain
your dish. Today, I've prepared for you
fritters made out of an aged Gruyère,
white and sharp cheddar cheeses with a pickled grape
and micro green relish. I love your presentation today.
I like it in the cast iron. I love the colors of the dish.
It really looks beautiful today. Thank you, Chef. Keith, I'm also a fan of using
cast iron to plate. The black really allows
the fritter and all the garnish you have to really pop, so
curious to see how it tastes. I'm very happy with how
everything came out, the choices I made,
the plating I made. I'm thinking, "Huh, I just may
have to make this again." ♪ Chef Keith,
I liked your dish. I did taste the cheese. The age was the finishing
element in my mouth, which I really enjoyed,
because you did put a couple different flavored
cheeses in there. I really liked the acidity level
that you had balanced in the grapes with the salad
to compliment the fritter. The fritter was just
a little bit too heavy. If it was a little bit more airy
and lighter, I think it could have been
a perfect dish. I appreciate how ambitious
you were with this dish. You have a lot of different
flavors going on. With that being said, I think it
was a little bit hard to taste the cheese because you
have so much else going on on the plate. KEITH: Are you kidding?
There's three types of cheeses, but the wheels started turning
a little bit and going, "Okay, might need to change
my tactic a little bit for the next round." Chefs, today,
both of you guys prepared two great dishes,
two awesome fritters. Give us a moment so we can
figure out who the winner is today. Nice job. Nice job. Those look good. I think that Dylan actually
sounds better because there's so much going on
in Chef Keith's dish. Mike, Alia,
who gets to pick an advantage from the menu
for the next round? We've decided that
the advantage goes to... ♪ We've decided that
the advantage goes to... ♪ Chef Dylan. [ Cheers and applause ] It was surreal. I mean, it was
kind of, "Aw, man!" But then, at the same time, it was like,
"Well, he deserved it." That was beautiful,
what he made. I was very impressed. It's really an honor to find out
that you won against an executive-level chef. We're going into round two
with an advantage, and that's just awesome. Chef Dylan, you must now select
one of your remaining teammates to compete with an advantage
in the next round. But before we get to that,
I bet you're wondering what round two is all about. This staple food is served in
brassieres around the world and is incredibly popular
in Belgium, France, and the United States. Chefs, your round two challenge
for today is... ♪ Steak frites. Yeah! Yes! I love steak.
I love French fries. I love everything that goes with
steak and French fries. Definitely hoping that
Dylan picks me. Mike, Alia, any advice
for the chefs? Steak frites
is an ultimate classic, but it's really about the cut of
meat that you're using and really about the execution
on cooking it perfectly. But don't forget the potatoes. It can make or break this
classic combination. Chef Dylan, it's now time
for the big question. Which one of your teammates
will be competing with control of the menu board
for round two? Now that I've seen Chef Keith's
style of cooking, I feel like, as a team,
we can totally take him down. And I do know somebody who also
is really good with steak. I choose Chef Cloyce. Okay. [ Applause ] Cloyce is probably the best chef
of all of us. He has really good knife skills, and he is really good
with steak. It's kind of like a no-brainer. Our next chef
has a photographic memory. He made the starting lineup of
his basketball team on his very first try. I'm a little intimidated going
up against Chef Keith. I bet you
he's been cooking steaks every single day
for 25 years. I definitely have a good idea
of steak cookery. I definitely know how the judges
want it to be cooked. Let's get into this! Please welcome Chef Cloyce. [ Cheers and applause ] I'm a little bit nervous
about this kid just based on the confidence. The confidence that
Cloyce has is epic. Today, the menu items are... Chef Cloyce, it's time for
your decision. I'm gonna go with, uh... CHILDREN: Check Your Work!
Check Your Work! Check Your Work. [ Cheers and applause ] I'm trying to take as much time
from him as possible, so I think this is gonna be
a good choice. So, Chef Keith, today, I'm gonna
have you peel six potatoes... Yes, sir. Grate 1/2 cup of cheese, and finely chopped
one bunch of parsley. Yes, sir. The items that
you mise en place today cannot be used in your dish
as part of your cooking time. Okay. Make sure you do it right so I
don't have to make you redo it. Yes, Chef. Okay, chefs,
please take to the burners and prepare to begin
your cook. Whoo! You got this, Cloyce! You got this, Cloyce! Whoo! You have 45 minutes to serve up some savory steak frites,
and your time starts now! [ Cheers and applause ] Yeah, you got this, Cloyce! Don't let cold food be the stake
through your heart. Look, steak puns are rare. They're usually
well-done. I think the stakes
are pretty high. How did she come up with that --
the stakes are high? She's genius. KEITH: I've got to peel
six potatoes, fine dice a bunch of parsley,
and grate 1/2 cup of cheese, and I have to get
Mike Isabella's approval on all of these. So, knowing what a stickler
he is, I'm making sure that each thing
I do I'm doing very clean. Still on his mise en place. I got to give you a head start.
[ Chuckles ] I want to beat Cloyce. I like that kid,
but I want to beat him. EMMALEE: Cloyce, what is
that purple thing? Red wine butter. Ooh. Ooh. For this challenge, I'm gonna
make a rib eye steak frites with a red wine butter. The red wine butter is gonna go
on top of my steak, and it's gonna add that nice
buttery flavor, and it's also gonna add
a nice complement to my fries. Chef, check. Coming. Closer, Chef, I wanted
the chance to meet you. [ Chuckles ] Thank you very much.
Appreciate it. Pass on potatoes. I look over at Chef Keith. Five minutes
have already gone by and he's still mise-ing
all of his ingredients, so I'm thinking,
"Good decision, Cloyce." [ Chuckles ] I just noticed I got a nick
on my finger. Make sure there's no blood
in my parsley. So, I threw my hand
behind my back and chopped parsley one-handed. That is very impressive.
He's doing, like, two in one. Looks like he's getting
arrested. Yeah, I always said
I could chop parsley with one hand behind my back. Yeah, there you go. [ Laughter ] He's an animal.
He's not even stopping. Nice, Chef Keith. Chef, check. All right, Chef, you're ready
to move on to cheese. Parsley is good. Right? Starting to get a little bit
worried about the time. Be nice if I could use
this stuff in my dish. Chef. That's a pass. Discard these elements
and begin your cook, Chef. Steak doesn't take that long
to cook, but I've got to
get it done fast. Having cooked steaks
for 20-something years, just a simple cooked steak I don't think is in
the repertoire anymore. So, the plan was just not to
make steak and French fries. It was to flip the dishes. A perfectly cooked potato
and a fried steak. This is a flatiron, the second
most tender cut of meat. He's tenderizing the meat
and flattening it a lot 'cause of how strong he is. I'm a little bit
afraid of him now. ♪ I'm gonna take this flatiron
and vacuum seal it to help just get that
seasoning up inside of it. ADAM:
Chef Cloyce, how are we doing? Pretty good. What's your method here? I see you're getting your pan
nice and hot. Sear it, finish it in the oven,
pull it out, baste it. I see smoke coming off that pan.
Is that good? Absolutely. [ Sizzling ] Hear that? That's bueno. All right. Good luck, Chef. Awesome. Thank you. Next step is to move on to
the potatoes. I love the creaminess
of fingerling potatoes. When you smell it, you go --
you go caveman. You start to salivate. Gonna throw them in, brown them
with a little bit of onion. Get just a little bit of sear
to them and slowly start adding stock. ADAM: Chef Keith, you pounded
the living daylights out of that flatiron steak. Had to take a little aggression
out for that time waste. Yeah. [ Chuckles ] What's gonna be your take on
a steak frite? Well, we got this flat iron. Just gonna bread it in strips and cook it real fast,
real high. I think she likes to pick things
up and eat them. The one who's probably more
delicate is Chef Isabella. That's what I was thinking,
but I didn't want to say it. [ Laughter ] Well, this is really exciting,
because you're going against a much younger competitor preparing a much more classic
steak frite, so I can't wait to see
what happens. I can't either.
[ Chuckles ] Okay. Good luck. To flash fry the steak just
is traditional, standard breading --
flour, egg. Got that set up. I chose flatiron steak because
the fat in it lends itself well
to a high-heat cook. Ahh. As soon as my steak comes out of
the oven, I'm butter basting it. Yeah, we'll make this process
nice and quick. I cook steak all the time
with my dad. We like to barbecue. We do all sorts of
different seasonings. I really like to experiment with different flavor combinations
with steak. The only thing you can do wrong
to a good rib eye is under- or over-cook it. This little guy has just
got it together -- knows his classics, got nice knife cuts on
those things he's making. I'm impressed.
He's making me a little nervous. I do not expect these kids to
take it easy on me at all. I may be old,
but I'll put up a fight. You know, on our truck,
we run -- we do whole Brussels sprouts
just like this, and it is the biggest selling
item on the truck. I go through more of those than
I do French fries now. ♪ I think about what a traditional
steak frites is, and I know that
an arugula salad's gonna go really well
with all my flavors. So, this arugula salad's gonna
add a nice flavor and freshness and a good presentation. Now, it's a matter of
finishing. I want that menu board because
these kids are tough. ♪ All in all,
the flavors are strong. Flavors come out good. Steak's nice and tender
and flavorful. And unfortunately,
I did finish too early. It was a poor time management
on my part to where I finished too early. I think I could have made
a change for the better in that last four minutes. That clock is --
it tricks you a little bit. I pull my russet potatoes out of
the fryer, and they look great. But time is almost up.
I need to start plating. I first put down my perfectly
cooked rib eye kind of askew, and then I take
my red wine butter, and I'm about to start
plating my fries. I taste it, and... And they are not crispy,
the fries. They're starting to get
a little bit soggy. Soggy fries are not acceptable. I need to make sure that my
fries are perfect, so I throw another batch
into the fryer, and I let them cook with
three minutes on the clock. All that matters right now is
getting the fries on the plate. I'm moving as fast as I can, but I'm making
a whole new batch of fries, and I hope I have time
to finish. Two minutes, chefs.
Two minutes. You're not supposed to be taking
this long! I only have two minutes left! Cook! Please win, Cloyce! Please! CLOYCE:
I'm moving as fast as I can. There's not very much time
on the clock, but I'm making a whole new batch
of fries, and I hope I have time
to finish. Those are good. They look great,
they look colorful, and I need to
get them on the plate. 20 seconds.
Get it on the plate. You got this,
Chef Cloyce! 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Step away from the plates. Whew!
That was an exhausting round, but I know this plate's
gonna be delicious. Nicely done, man.
That looks good. Nice job. Looks good. I got it. I got this one. Chefs, please bring your plates
up to the judges. Please remember that
the menu board will not be taken into
consideration by the judges during tasting and evaluation. They will be judging you based
on creativity, presentation, adherence to the spirit of
the challenge, and taste. Chef Cloyce,
please explain your dish. I have for you
a rib eye steak frites with a red wine butter sauce
and an arugula salad. Thank you, Chef. Chef Cloyce, you got a nice
caramelization on your steak. I think of steak frites, I think
of the thinner cut potatoes, so I'm glad you went that way.
I'm excited to try it. This looks like a steak frites
I would get in a restaurant. Got some greens, some fries, so it looks really pretty and it
looks like a very classic dish. Thank you. Chef Cloyce, this -- the steak
is cooked absolutely perfectly. Whew! The seasoning is on point, you got nice flavor from that
crust on the steak itself. The salad is seasoned perfectly.
It's nice, light. But I got to say these potatoes
need to be crispier. No! You can't have a steak
frites without good fries. Chef Cloyce, the fries...
aren't crispy. Leave them in the fryer.
Patience. Leave it alone. You didn't
go out of the box here, but you did execute
the steak perfectly. If I lose because of non-crispy
fries, I'm gonna lose my mind. I'm just gonna...
find a new profession. Chef Keith,
please explain your dish. I have an herb-crusted
flatiron steak, flash-fried, topped with bacon onion butter accompanied with
fingerling potatoes and flash-fried
Brussels sprouts. Chef Keith, I think
you really nailed it in the creativity sense of
this dish, changing it up and not frying
the potatoes, rather frying the steak,
but presentation on your dish, I think,
needed a lot of work. There was a lot of brown
on the plate. We have a lot going on. We have the steak,
we have the potatoes, we have the vegetables. Probably should have tasted
everything together. KEITH:
My heart sank a little bit, but I knew every component had
just a unique and strong flavor. There's a lot of flavor
in this dish between the potatoes
and the steak. We saw you sous-vide it with,
like, aromatics and some herbs. It really comes forward.
I'm tasting a lot of that. But the steak is too
well-done for my liking. Chef Keith, you had a very fun,
whimsical dish. I really liked
the creamy potato, the style and the technique
where you kept stirring it. The starches came out. The sauce kind of got nice
and thick with the caramelized onions. The only issue I have with this
is the steak was well-done. KEITH:
So, I'm doubting myself. Should I have just seared
that flatiron and just made perfectly crisp
potatoes? CLOYCE: I'm starting to feel a
little better now because he sous-vide it
and deep fried it, so he basically cooked it twice which makes for
a well-done steak. Well, both of you chefs created
two great dishes, two on the total opposite
spectrum, so give us a minute while we
figure this out. KEITH: At this point,
I want that menu board, 'cause these young prodigies -- they can make
one plate dynamite. [ Sighs ] I need to pull off a win to give
the prodigies the advantage because round three is
the winner-takes-all challenge. ADAM: Well, Mike, Alia, who gets to pick an advantage from the menu
for the next round? We decided the advantage
goes to... ♪ We decided the advantage
goes to... ♪ Chef Cloyce. [ Cheers and applause ] Yes! We're going to the third
round with an advantage. Nice job. Great job. KEITH:
What am I doing wrong here? I got to stop thinking like
a 45-year-old veteran chef. I need to really focus
on simple. Okay, chefs.
Welcome to round three. This round is a trio challenge, meaning each chef will have to
create three different dishes. Chef Cloyce,
your team will compete with control of the menu board,
but before we get to that, I'd like to introduce
our master-level chef to present and judge round three in a completely blind
taste test. Relais & Chateaux named him one of the 50 greatest chefs
in the world. He has judged three seasons of
"The Taste." Oh, my God! I already think
I know who this is. He's the executive chef owner
of the wildly popular... Trois Mec. [ Screams ] [ Laughs ] Where he's earned multiple
four-star reviews, and he has no fans in
this room whatsoever. [ Laughter ] Estie, do you have any idea
who this might be? Ludo? Please give a very warm welcome
to Chef Ludo Lefebvre. [ Cheers and applause ] Hi, everybody. Ludo Lefebvre is here! KEITH: I'm a fan.
Ludo runs an amazing food truck. It's one of our inspirations
for a food truck. I was getting a little nervous. Chef Ludo, please tell us --
what is our round three trio? The round three trio
is something I'm very obsessed to cook with, something that's
very, very, very difficult, very, very French,
and very magnifique. ♪ Voilà! Poulet trois. You have so many different
techniques with chicken. You have a lot of different ways
to go with that. There you have it.
It's a poulet trio. Chef Ludo, thank you so much
for your help in presenting round three. We'll call you in as soon as our
chefs have completed their cook. Thank you very much.
And, uh, good luck, chefs. Have fun. Now, Chef Cloyce,
the big question -- is there anybody in the bullpen who would particularly like to
cook for Chef Ludo? [ Squeals ] Me! So, who are you gonna choose? I'm gonna go with the tiny
but mighty Chef Estie. Chef Estie. [ Cheers and applause ] CLOYCE: It's super cool
to be able to give Chef Estie this opportunity. I know she's gonna put out
a great product. Chef Estie,
you may enter the kitchen. [ Cheers and applause ] She's seven years old and has a palate
as big as she is small. The only food she won't eat
is imitation lobster. I like Ludo 'cause I go to
Trois Mec often and I see him, and he cooks the best food
in the world! This is the perfect challenge
for me, 'cause I love making
French food. Please welcome Chef Estie. ♪ [ Cheers and applause ] Estie! Okay, Chef Estie, the menu items
for this round are... Chef Estie, make your choice. ♪ Sous Me. [ Cheers and applause ] So, you will be provided with
an executive-level chef to assist you
during this cook. ESTIE: I'm only a little kid, and this is very hard work, so it'll be really handy having
an executive chef helping me cook. She's no stranger to
competition. Please welcome to the kitchen
your sous-chef, Chef Jamie Lauren. [ Cheers and applause ] Hey, Estie.
All right. CLOYCE:
Chef Jamie Lauren comes in. I've seen her on all the shows
she does, she's a great chef. Estie's gonna have a huge
advantage with the extra help. All righty, chefs,
let's take to the burners and prepare to begin your cook. I'll go take out
two knife boards. Okay, chefs. You have one hour
to create a poulet trio. And remember --
this round is for the win. And your time starts... Now. [ Cheers and applause ] HOLDEN:
You got this, Estie! ESTIE:
This one looks pretty good. That one looks
really good. KEITH: First thing I'm gonna do
is get a poaching liquid of white wine;
once that's done, I'm gonna do a fry and then also
just a really light braise. My strategy is to make
three different cuts as well as
three different preparations, so I'm making butter-poached
chicken oysters, chicken drumettes braised in
white wine, and I want a good
Southern fried chicken. This time around,
I'm just trying to keep things real simple;
I'm very confident, calm, composed, ready to battle. You want me to slice this or
chop this for your sauce? Um, slice it. Okay, ma'am. I have Jamie doing most of
my mise en place, and I'll set up all the heat
on the pans. Add some salt on both sides. Salt on both sides. And then, in the bag, add some
olive oil and some garlic. Yeah, Estie could be really
settling into this executive chef position. Yeah, she's ready to bark orders
at a young age, I love it. JAMIE:
How should we cook this chicken? I think I should sous-vide it, 'cause then it'll be nice
and juicy. Very smart. I'm gonna be making a creamy
mushroom sauce, and onion soup sauce,
and a puttanesca. The chickens go on exactly
the same, but the sauces are different. ALIA: What if her chicken breast
does not come out nicely? She's putting all her eggs
in one basket. KEITH: So, we got apricots,
dates, figs, and dried cherries. The liquid for the chicken
drumettes is based on a Shakespearean-era recipe. I seared the chicken drumettes
off in a pan, get a little color on them. That way,
they're not completely white. Drop those in there
and get those going. I've been listening to you guys. [ Laughing ] Less is more. 45 minutes remain. ESTIE: I think once those
shallots get a bit brown, we should add in the mushrooms. Ludo loves
creamy mushroom sauce, and he really likes morels, so I think
he'll really like this. Once that has kind of
reduced a bit, I think we should add the cream. How's your sous-chef doing? Good. She's really nice. Would you hire her? Yeah. She could help me cook at
my parties on Monday night. [ Laughter ] KEITH: To do a really nice
Southern fried chicken, have a little bit of buttermilk,
soak it for a little while, and toss it back in
with some flour, and then back in
the buttermilk. What could be more bold than
serving fried chicken to one of the 50 greatest
world-renowned chefs of all time who also happens to
have a very lucrative fried-chicken business. Yeah, no pressure. I'm not one to shy away from
any challenge, so, no guts, no glory. What do you want these onions
to look like, though? They should be soft and brown. The onion cream sauce --
all you need to do is caramelize the onions
and have some butter. Adding the red wine makes
the char flavor into there, which is really delicious. I'm so excited -- I'm gonna show
all this cool food that I'm making to Ludo. KEITH:
Estie's the same age as my son, and it tugs at your heartstrings
a little bit, but to not give my best
just wouldn't be fair to her. Halfway through the round.
You have 30 minutes left. Add a little spicy.
Mix it up a bit. When I prepare
the puttanesca sauce, I add in the onions and garlic,
some crushed tomatoes, and capers and olives. Getting a little thick. There. KEITH: Just gonna make
a simple gravy. Add a little bit of flour and then finish with
a little buttermilk. Got to have
Southern gravy, right? Ooh, that's good. Chef Estie, how are you? Really good. What is your favorite dish
that Chef Ludo prepares? My favorite one so far is
the lamb tartare. So, raw lamb? It's really yummy. It's, like, the best thing
in the world. You think a lot of other kids
your age like raw lamb? No. [ Chuckles ] So, it's probably nice to have
such a great sous-chef today. Thank you, Cloyce, for winning.
Thank you. Chef Estie, I look forward to
seeing what you make for Chef Ludo,
and I can't wait to see what he thinks of your dish. Thank you. Good luck. ♪ EMMALEE:
He's grating cauliflower? KEITH: I'm gonna shave it down
like a couscous. HOLDEN: Cauliflower is one of
the most versatile ingredients because you can change it into
really anything starchy. Chef Keith, how are we doing? What's going on, brother? What cut is this right here? We have the chicken oysters. Gonna brown them up real quick. Well, that looks like
a gorgeous color. Right, well, you have less than
10 minutes left. Good luck. Thank you, sir. What's this pan for? The chicken. All right. It's time to put the chicken
into the pan with some herbs and butter
to get some nice, crispy skin and then baste it. Kind of hard. I'll hold it for you. Okay, thank you. No problem. ♪ He's plating already? KEITH: I'm bringing everything,
every ounce of skill, every year, every sore foot
and broken back. I'm gonna throw it
all on that plate. Estie, you have to plate. I need to do
the plating perfectly, waiting till
the very last second. I have to
cut the chicken diagonally and put the sauces down
and put the chickens on top. ADAM: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Step away from the plates. I feel pretty good about
my plating, but I'm breathing so nervously
right now. I need to prove to Ludo Lefebvre
that I'm a really good chef. Okay, chefs. Please bring your
plates up to the judging table. ESTIE: I feel pretty good about
my plating, and I think I'm pretty sure
I'm gonna win. Chef Estie, what did you prepare
for Chef Ludo today? I've prepared a poulet trois. The first one is a creamy morel
mushroom sauce. Moving on, there is
an onion-soup sauce, and a puttanesca. Thank you, Chef Estie. Chef Keith, what have you
prepared for Chef Ludo today? I've got a butter-poached
chicken oysters over a bed of
cauliflower couscous, Southern fried chicken
with a buttermilk gravy, and chicken drumettes braised in
white wine and dried fruits. Thank you, Chef. MIKE: Best of luck, chefs. Thank you. Thank you. Chefs, please welcome back our
round three poulet trio guest judge and master chef,
Ludo Lefebvre. [ Cheers and applause ] Chef Ludo, welcome back. Hi. Hi. Estie, how are you? Good. When's the last time I saw you? At Trois Mec. She's a regular at your
restaurant, huh? Yeah, I know that. Yeah. My mind just exploded.
He remembered me. Oh, my God. Chef Ludo,
this is a blind taste test. Please remember you're judging
the dishes based on presentation, creativity, adherence to the spirit of
the challenge, and, of course, taste. Chef, please start with the dish
on your right. ESTIE: I feel really nervous
once Ludo starts to eat my dish. I really just -- Ba! ADAM: Chef, what do you think of
this dish? It's clean. I like all the different flavors
on the trio. The skin was very crispy. I mean, everything is really
well balanced, I would say. Ludo said he would have liked to
see more of the chicken, but I think my sauces
are good enough, so I'm still
extremely confident. I really think we're gonna win. Now, would you please try
the dish on your left? ♪ Chef Ludo is
a master of fried chicken. I can't read his face at all. There was a moment when Chef
gives a quick look to Adam. "He's happy! He likes it!" ADAM: Chef Ludo,
what do you think about the dish on your left? Definitely
a different style. Less refined.
All the colors are the same. Yes. KEITH:
My heart just sank. It was like, "Oh!" 'Cause I'm not happy with
the color balance, but it's all about the flavor, and I know that I have
the flavor. But, at the end of the day,
it's about the taste. Love the fried chicken. Fried chicken
is very difficult. Making sure the meat
is moist and crispy. ...was a little dry
but with the dried fruit, it was pretty interesting,
the flavor. Chicken oysters are the best
part of the chicken. Yeah. So, it was good, too. I mean, definitely. Totally different style. One, I would say...
more restaurant style, maybe this one
more home style. Pretty impressed.
I mean, wow. Thank you very much, Chef. Now, before we announce
the winner of tonight's "Man vs. Child" challenge, prodigies,
you may enter the kitchen. KEITH: Estie's adorable,
she's loud, she's precocious, but anybody who underestimates
that little demon -- that's a mistake. ESTIE: I really want to win because I hope to work for
Ludo one day. Will raw talent and imagination defeat years of training
and decades of experience? Who displayed the best technical
skill, overall presentation, and creativity? Who was truly bold,
and who played it safe? Well, Chef, who's the winner of
tonight's "Man vs. Child"? So, my favorite dish
was really... ♪ This one. [ Applause ] KEITH: I feel I cooked strong, and I learned a lot
from these kids. They're good. They're talented. And they could come work on
my food truck any time. Chef Keith --
congratulations, Chef. Chef Ludo, did you have any idea
who made which dish? Not at all. No. The best bite tonight
was this one. Best bite. Your morel sauce
was amazing. I would love
to have the recipe. ESTIE: I really wanted to win, but I'm still happy, 'cause I
got to see Ludo, so... it all went good at the end. ADAM: Thank you very much,
prodigies. Congratulations, Chef Keith. And we'll see you next time on
"Man vs. Child." [ Cheers and applause ] All right, Estie! [ Estie laughs ] You did a good job.
It was very good. I'm very proud of you.
