09x09 - BBQ Pit Wars

[bunniefuu]

- Previously on Top Chef...
We're going to Austin.

[Cheering]

- Ladies and gentlemen,
miss Patti LaBelle.

- ♪ Ooh! Uh! ♪

- Oh, my God.

Is this really happening?



- Down to the wire today.

- Rescue, rescue, rescue.

That's what I'm trying to do
right now,

because I know my beef
is not good.

- The cut of meat,
I don't even know what it is.

- It's bigfoot.
[Laughter]

- "It's bigfoot."
- I did Wisconsin style.

This much on a plate, so--

- Sarah.
- Oh, my God!

- You are the winner.
- Thank you!

- Heather...

Please pack your knives
and go.

- Bye--ee.

[Muffled talk]

- Honestly, I feel like
Heather going home

is the best thing for me.
[Laughs]

And I feel
a personal satisfaction.

I'm sorry to say that.

- Nine chefs remain,
all hoping to win

a feature
in Food and Wine magazine,

a showcase at the annual
food and wine classic in Aspen,

$125,000,
furnished by Healthy Choice,

to bring their culinary dreams
to life,

and the title of Top Chef.

- I can't believe
Heather went home, dude.

- I know. She at least
had the heart, you know?

She'd fight for it.
[Laughs]

- [Laughs]

- [Laughs]

- It's getting hardcore now.

- Really, at what point
do we stop helping each other?

- Soon.
- What do you mean?

- You've given recipes?

- Heather won two competitions
on my--

on my cake.
- Genoise.

- That's your cake?
- Oh, yeah.

- Are you kidding me?

You don't have the balls enough
to say it to Heather's face

while she's here,
then don't even say it at all.

If you [bleep] have
the winning cake recipe,

then why the hell
didn't you make it?

- She couldn't remember
the ratio.

- It really shows that dark side
to Edward that--

you can't trust him.

- What do you do?

You play to win.

[Knocking at the door]

- Hello.
- Hey, come on in.

[Gasping]
- What is it?

- No!
- No way!

- Hey!
- Wow.

Nice.
- [Whistling]

- Modernist Cuisine
by Nathan Myhrvold is, like,

a game-changer.

It's an incredible,
encyclopedic set of books

about how to approach all of
cuisine with a modern mind-set.

- "Hello, chefs,
this is your homework.

"Study up.
See you tomorrow.

Padma."

- Oh.
- Nice!

[Whistling]
- Wow.

- What are you even
supposed to study in all this?

- Wow.

- Jonesy.
- Not all of this

is molecular--

a lot of it is just
classic techniques,

it's just everything's
been studied.

- These are beautiful.

This book is a huge deal.

It's the most elite cookbook
that's ever been written.

It's coveted by every chef
across America.

I'm so excited
to look through it.

I hope
it's just a written test.

There's a blowtorch on--
- Yeah, "how not to use

a blowtorch."
Oh, my God.

That's way too many graphs.

- I don't think there's any way
you could possibly

absorb everything in those books
in one night,

but I stay up late
looking at them,

because I'm not gonna go down
because I didn't try my best.

- We get to le Cordon Bleu,

and standing there is
Padma and Nathan Myhrvold,

the author
of Modernist Cuisine.

- Morning, chefs.

All: Good morning.

- I look up to Chef Nathan.
He's a genius.

If I could be
one tenth as smart as he is,

I might rule
a small continent.

- For the quick-fire today,

we're going to explore
the modernist in all of you.

- The modernist cuisine movement
started in the mid-1990s,

and it's really about
learning new techniques

to delight the people
that eat your food.

Now, sometimes the techniques
are based on science,

but molecular gastronomy
is only a small subset

of the overall
modernist movement.

Really,
it's about creativity.

- The chef who best
illustrates modernist cuisine

will win immunity...

And a coveted copy
of Nathan's book.

[Applause, laughter]

- Modernist Cuisine
was just published this year.

People have been hot to get
their hands on these books,

and now I have a chance
to win them.

- You have 45 minutes to cook,
and your time starts now.

Good luck.

[Blender whirring]
- Go, daddy, go. Go, daddy, go.

I haven't won a quick fire,
and this is probably

my greatest opportunity to,
because at Moto

my job is to find
new ways to cook food.

You know, a lot of
the techniques in this book

I've actually maybe
done first.

♪ Give me that funky stuff,
that funky stuff ♪

I'm doing
a miracle berry taste.

A miracle berry actually changes
the profile of your palate.

A super protein within them
blocks the taste buds,

so that sour will then turn
and taste sweet.

Whoo!

- Chris Jones' whole table
is enshrouded in, like,

mist and smoke, and he kind of
looks like the nutty Professor.

- Cold pot down the line.

Nitro cold!
Nitro cold!

- But I'm gonna make something
really simple.

A piece of watermelon
with tapioca maltodextrine.

I take olive oil, mix it
with the tapioca maltodextrine.

It becomes a powder, and when
that powder hits your tongue,

it dissolves
back into olive oil.

- [Growls]

- For me, if it has
a practical purpose,

I use molectro gastron--

molecular gastronomic--
oh, I can't even--

I use some of
those techniques.

I have the vial
of maltodextrine.

It's right here.
Here's one.

- [Gasps]
Ooh, God.

Does somebody have lecithin?

Modernist cuisine
is not my forte.

I'm gonna try to make caviar
that's not caviar.

I'm making
tarragon dill caviar.

That's pretty much
the only thing I know how to do

that's magic.
[Laughs]

I got it, I got it,
I got it.

- [Bleep]!

- I made a dish recently using,
like, a curry panacotta,

but I decide to use
an isi,

which is kind of a modern thing
to foam up my curry cream.

Uh, can I go?

- Yeah, hold on, please.
- Okay, mm-hmm, yeah.

- Go ahead. You got to take it
to your station.

- Okay. You done?
- Yeah.

- I don't use too much of
the new modern equipment,

but I'm trying to think
how I'm going to be crafty,

so I take inspiration
from breakfast

to make an egg yolk-filled
raviolo

that makes you look at pasta
in a new way.

- Don't try this at home,
kids.

- Done?
- All you.

- Thank you, sir.

I definitely think
I'm a modern person.

I like to do modern art, and
my apartment is modern style.

We're in my apartment.
I just wanted to show you

some of what I do when I'm here,
some of my artwork.

As you can notice, a lot of them
are nude paintings.

That's definitely something
I like to do.

Oh, that's hot.

My style of food is similar to
the Modernist Cuisine books,

so I want to do,
you know,

a little spin on
a scallop with risotto.

I just want to change
the texture of the risotto,

make it really airy and light
and fluffy.

- You have five minutes.

- Coming through, guys!

- Holy crap,
that time goes fast.

- Come on, cold!

- Behind, sorry.

- Time is up.

Hands up,
utensils down.

- [Laughs]

- And I'm looking
around the room,

and I see some beautiful plates,
but I really feel like

this is the winner.
I came here to do my style,

and this is my style.

At least put me in the top.
For the love of Pete,

put me in the top.

- Hi, Beverly.
- Nice to meet you.

I used a curry whipped cream
with mango chili,

and I flash-steamed the clams
and the mussels.

- Cool.
- Thank you.

- Foam away.

- I'm sorry.
- [Laughs]

- Okay. That's a very
modernist thing, actually.

We're not used to having
the food served on us.

- [Laughs]

- Okay.
- Sorry.

[Clatter]

- [Laughs]

- You want to just wipe off for
a second while she cleans up?

- [Laughs]
- I respect Beverly as a chef.

I respect Beverly
as a person.

- [Gasps]
[Laughs]

- Is she an oddball?
Yeah.

- That looks delicious.

- This is Texas barbecue.

- How am I supposed to
make barbecue that's this good?

- Hey, who's got
the foil brisket?

- They're on the ground.

- What the [bleep]?

- It helps if this little thing
is screwed on.

- Yeah.
- And usually

if you take this off,
it gives you more room.

- [Laughs]
Thank you. [Laughs]

Putting the foam on, it went
all over Padma's dress.

It really embarrasses me.

I came up
in a very strict family,

wasn't able to, like, sleep over
and do normal things,

go out to parties,
so I'm socially awkward,

because I only focused
on my work.

- Okay.

- This way.

- I took the idea
of the breakfast raviolo.

The sauce is made with orange
juice, and it's with bacon,

and then there's an egg yolk
in the center of the pasta.

- Pasta in general is
a very high-technique food.

Ravioli's don't grow on trees.
- [Laughs] No.

Thank you so much.

- I did a play on Sushi.

You actually have
salmon belly sashimi.

I compressed watermelon.

The rice actually three
different kinds or radish

held together
with a coconut fluid gel.

- Thank you.
- Cool.

- I have trout sashimi,
dill caviar,

pickled watermelon rind,
and radish.

- How did you
do the caviar?

- I put oil in the freezer,
and then squirted gelatin

into the cold oil.

- Oh, that's one of the ways
you can do it.

- It's the only way
I know how,

[laughing] So--

- I kind of embrace
modernist cuisine

by really
simplifying it down.

And what this is is watermelon,
vanilla bean honey,

cracked black pepper,
and olive oil powder

with a little bit of
maldon salt.

- Thank you.
- Thank you very much.

- I did a little bit of
marinated baby octopus

and tempura sea beans
with togarashi.

- Very refreshing,
thank you.

- Thank you.
- Yes.

- I just wanted to do a play on
risotto with scallops.

The risotto
is actually the foam.

- Mm-hmm.
- And then a little fried caper,

and the raisins
are imitating capers, as well.

- Terrific.

- Nathan and Padma
seemed to enjoy my dish.

I feel like
it embodies the challenge.

I'm feeling really good.

- There's a soubise, so you get
the sweetness of the onion.

I cut endive
a few different ways,

so you get
different kinds of textures,

and you have a little bit
of richness from the egg yolk,

and there's
a parmesan and truffle powder.

- How is the egg cooked?
- Uh,

I just steamed it
in a combi,

but in a different shape.

- Okay, thank you.
- Great.

- Hi.
- Chef,

it is absolutely wonderful
to meet you.

I'm very excited
about this.

- Mm-hmm.
- [Laughs]

- The first thing
that I'm gonna ask you to do

is take the red pill.

Now this is actually a
miracle berry in a tablet form,

and what this is gonna do is,
it's gonna change your palate.

- What do you mean?
- I grow it in my basement.

- Oh, you do?
- Yeah.

- Excellent. I would love
to visit your basement.

[Laughter]

So the first thing
I'm gonna have you try

is the lemon.

- Mm-hmm.
- That's incredible.

It tastes like
the most intense tangerine.

- Mm-hmm.
- The next thing

is a deconstructed
cheesecake.

BlackBerry droops, which I
actually used liquid nitrogen

to shatter
and break apart,

and basically you're gonna have
a very sweet cheesecake.

The last thing
that I have over here

is going to be sparkling water,
lime and lemon.

The first sugar-free soda.

It doesn't have
any artificial sweeteners.

- You just have to
suck on the right pill first.

- You do.

- Chris "J's" miracle berry,

I don't think there's like
any technique involved in it.

It's kind of gimmicky.

- How did they do,
embracing modernist cuisine?

- Overall it was
a very good effort.

- Who missed the mark?

- Paul.

You had a dish that had
very interesting textures,

but it wasn't enough
depth of flavor.

- Beverly.

To make your seafood
really stand out,

you've got to do something
that makes it very different,

and the foam and a couple of
the other things you did

were in that direction,

but I don't think
they were far enough.

- And, Grayson,

your dish was
a very simple preparation,

but if you have something
very simple,

the elements
better be great.

- Who broke the rules
in a good way today?

- Ty, having that set
of spices was interesting.

The use of the maltodextrine
to make a powder

was also an interesting way
of delivering the olive oil,

so I thought that was
a very successful dish.

- Thank you.

- Sarah.

You know, you did a really
good job of taking something

that a lot of Italian
grandmothers couldn't make,

and yet, if you put it
in the right context,

it works.

- Who else was a favorite?

- Chris "J,"

I thought it was
very nicely staged,

going from the lemon there
to then the composed dessert,

and then the soda,
so it was a hell of a dish.

- Thank you.
Thank you so very much.

- Nathan, who is the winner
of the quick fire?

- The chef who really shows
a combination of creativity

and execution is...

- Ty.
- Yes!

[Applause]

- Congratulations.

- Congratulations, Ty. You win
immunity in the next challenge

and your very own copy

of the much-coveted
Modernist Cuisine cookbook.

[Applause]

- Well done.

- I'm really excited
to have won the books

by cooking something
for the author,

and immunity is great.

I've definitely
been at the judges table

way too many times
in this competition.

- For your
elimination challenge,

we're moving from the modern
to the traditional.

I'm talking about the most
traditional food in Texas...

- [Gasps]
- Barbecue.

- Yes!
[Cheers and applause]

- Woohoo!
[Laughs]

I am so excited
that it's barbecue.

I love to grill.

This is the challenge
I've been looking forward to.

- Nathan took first place in
the world barbecue championships

in Memphis, Tennessee.

- Oh, God.
- What can't this guy do?

Everything he touches
he becomes an expert at.

Nathan's like
this weird renaissance man

that's been dropped in
from outer space.

- Chefs, please split yourselves
into three teams of three.

I definitely don't want to
work with Beverly.

After the past two
group challenges

the downfall of the team
has always been based on her.

- Us three?
- Yeah.

- All right.
- Is that cool?

- That's fine.
- Okay.

- I definitely don't trust Ed,
but I know that

Tyler talks a big game
when it comes to barbecue,

so I certainly want to
work with him on this challenge.

- Paul, I'm gonna be with you.
- Cool. Us three.

- Chris's? All right,
let's do it.

- The groups just formed
really quickly,

and I was kind of standing there
like, "oh, [bleep]."

It was kind of like we were
the three left.

- You'll be serving barbecue
to over 300 guests

at one of the best barbecue
joint in Texas, the Salt Lick.

- Oh, my God.

The Salt Lick is known

for having
the best barbecue in Texas.

My fiance Jaimie's
gonna be very jealous,

'cause that's
all he talks about.

We've been together
for about five years now,

and he's a chef also.

I want to win this for him.

- We all know
that good barbecue

requires hours of smoking
on the grill,

so for this challenge
you'll have all night to cook,

up until service
at the Salt Lick tomorrow.

- We want it see
three different kinds of meat,

chicken, beef brisket,
and pork spareribs.

All three of those should go on
a plate tomorrow with two sides.

- Oh.
- Oh, whoa.

- Three different
kinds of meat,

two sides
for 300 hungry people.

You can take elegance
and throw it out the window.

This is gonna be a real
slam-a jam-a barbecue.

- Tonight you'll go
to the Salt Lick

and meet with the owner,
Scott Roberts.

He'll share the secrets
of his delicious food there,

where his family's been
barbecuing for over 100 years.

Each team will have $1,000
at Whole Foods

and $1,000
at Restaurant Depot.

- Have fun,
and I'll see you tomorrow.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

- Paul, get three carts.

- It's great to be on
another challenge with Ed.

Ever since we won
the game meat challenge,

we've really come together
and I feel really confident

about how we're gonna fare.

You want
a whole black peppercorn?

- Flower of the ocean?
- Yeah, let's do it.

I'm very happy
to be working with Chris

and Beverly's
a very strong cook.

Let's knock it
out of the ballpark.

First thing
that comes to mind for us

is coleslaw
and baked beans.

We really want to do
a basic Texas barbecue.

- Apple cider vinegar, beer,
beans, liquid smoke.

- Sugar.

- If we didn't go safe,
we'd be better off.

- Yeah, we'd win, right?
- Yeah.

- The other two teams
are both doing beans

and they're both doing
coleslaw,

which I think
is too literal.

So my idea is to use
a lot of miso, curry,

and vietnamese fish sauce.

We're using
a lot of Asian ingredients,

but at the same time,
when you eat it,

it's gonna
taste like barbecue.

Oh, I'm stuck.

- And we're gonna get lemons
over yonder, right?

- Yup.
Sarah's Texas accent

is getting thicker
by the minute.

The first couple of weeks,

she was like, "Oh, I'm Chicago,
I'm Chicago, I'm Chicago."

Now it's like, "Oh, I'm Texas,
I'm Texas, I'm Texas."

You know, whatever.
It's annoying.

- What y'all doing
with all that beer?

Ed, you don't
need these raisins?

- No, we already have some.
- I do need the raisins.

- 11 cents under.

- Now it's on to restaurant
depot to get all of our meat.

- All right, Grayson, okay.

I've the Dr. Pepper
barbecue sauce before,

and we're in Texas,
the birthplace of Dr. Pepper,

so I think it'll be
a big hit.

Chris, watch,
that Dr. Pepper might fall off.

I'm gonna get
the other cart.

- [Laughs]

I'm going nuts.

Okay, I'm not gonna get
any of these.

We buy about 60 whole chickens,


this is pretty ridiculous.

We have a lot of protein
to cook.

All right, ready?

- Ready.
- Great.

- Ginger?
Can we get some ginger?

- Thank you.
- Have a good day.

- Nice.
- That's power shopping

right there.
- That's power shopping.

- Leaving Restaurant Depot,
heading to the Salt Lick,

I think we're all nervous
about what lies ahead of us,

and the night that we're gonna
have doing all this barbecue.

- In front of these barbecue
pits all night

it feels like we're sitting on
the surface of the sun.

- My heart's racing.

[Ambulance siren sounds]

You can smell great barbecue,
even before we pull in,

and the owner is
right at the door to greet us,

and my mouth is watering.

- We're very glad
to have you all here.

Why don't you all come inside,
I'll show you around.

- All right, let's go.

[Laughs]

- This--I love this.

That looks delicious.

- This is
the birthplace of the Salt Lick.

It all started right here,

and this was handed down
through our family

from generation
to generation.

My father would get his meats
and a cot,

and all night long
cook barbecue.

Over here over the direct heat.
We use live oak only.

And then we sauce it all up
like that.

And over time,
it'll caramelize.

- I'm definitely
trying to absorb

as much of his knowledge
as possible,

because I've never cooked
on a pit like this before.

- Would y'all
like to try some?

All: Yes!
- [Laughs]

- Oh, my God.

- So this is what we call
our family-style.

[Overlapping chatter]

- There's
a beef and pork sausage,

and these are
Texas beef ribs.

- Oh, my God.
- Thank you.

- This is Texas barbecue.

- Yeah, this is gonna be
a tough act to follow.

- Really.
- Yeah, actually.

- So good.

- This is the best.

As I'm eating this
I'm getting more nervous.

How am I supposed to make
barbecue that's this good?

Even though I live in Texas,
I don't do barbecue that much,

so I'm like sweating balls
at this point.

- I hope y'all
enjoyed that.

- That was amazing.
- Awesome.

- Good. We're gonna
stay here tonight and cook,

so come on.

- Scott hops in a Toyota Tundra
that is loaded with wood.

I mean,
there must be, like,

four trees that he's hauling
in this thing.

- Look how much space
there is.

- This is a cool truck.

- And we all
head over to the barbecue pits.

- This truck is like a boat.
- It is.

- Big boy.

- Wow, that's a beauty.

- Below us is Onion Creek,
and exact recreations

of the pits that you saw
up at the Salt Lick.

When the smoke
gets into your eyes,

remember those tears
are the last flavor profile

for great barbecue.

[Laughter]

- This is
a monster of a barbecue.

We have to cook three proteins,
two sides,

and we have to make enough
for 300 Texans.

- Good luck.
All: Thank you.

- All right.
All right, let's do it.

Team.

- Watch the rocks.

- Beverly,
unload these, please.

- Sign's up.

- Y'all, we got
a little courtesy sign over here

on our RV...
- [Laughs]

So, uh, come over
and pay attention to it.

- Grayson.

The key to winning this
is to make sure that

we get our meat
in the smoker first,

before everybody else's,
because barbecue's about

something that's moist
and delicious and tender,

and with these kinds of
cuts of meat

we need to cook it low and slow
for a really long time.

- All right.
- Okay, perfect.

- Ready to cook?
- [Laughs]

Yes, doctor, I am.

Knowing that
no matter what happens

in the elimination challenge,
I'm not going home

because I have immunity,
feels great,

but I'm gonna be pushing myself
to redeem my beef skills.

- Why do you think
you're here?

- Because the steaks were
over-cooked when they went out.

- And I get
the medium-well steak.

- I'm sorry about that, chef.

I want to put all that
steak business behind me.

- Onions, a nice char,
but not, like, b*rned.

- Okay, 'cause I'm putting 'em
direct on ash.

- All right.

- [Bleep] Tell me
how to cook.

- Oh, wow, it's hot.

- Malibu, are you wearing
a wife-beater?

- I know,
it doesn't match my shoes.

Thanks for pointing it out.

- I think you look beautiful.
- Oh, thank you.

- He's hilarious.
[Laughs]

- I can get at least


we got plenty to go.

- We just
cut these smaller

for the baked beans.
- Exactly.

- The bourbon's almost
totally reduced, but I--

- Oh, the bourbon's
in there already?

- Yeah.
- Oh, you're doing it inside.

Be careful in there
with bourbon.

- Oh, yeah,
it's flambe-ing, for sure.

[Fire alarm sounds]
Uh-oh.

Uh-oh.

- Oh, we got a fire!
- [Laughs]

- [Bleep]!

- That's funny,
'cause I just called that.

I said, "Don't do
the bourbon inside."

- You just said that?
- [Laughing] Yeah.

- [Bleep]!
[Fire alarm sounds]

- It's just alcohol.
- How do you stop this thing?

[Fire alarm sounds]

- I feel for Beverly.

She's really book-smart,

but when it comes to
common sense,

it just seems like
she's missing a few chapters.

[Fire alarm sounds]

- That's annoying.

- Sorry, guys.

- Ooh,
garlic looks awesome.

That is how love happens.

- Turn it on the back side,
I don't want it to get too hot.

- Well, we have a long time.
- Right.

- Paul, talk to me about pork.
You want to keep 'em whole

just like this?
- Yeah, whole.

- Do you want me to score 'em?
- No.

- No, they're thin, right?
- Yeah.

- Okay.
Paul really is the visionary

behind
the flavors of our food.

He's a really great chef,
he's come out in the top a lot.

I'm glad he's the leader.

- Just trim the bottom off,
cut 'em in half.

- Okay.

- I can tell
that the blue team

is making
an Asian-style barbecue.

This is Texas,
and I don't know

if people are gonna be
open to those sorts of ideas.

They're taking a huge risk.

- Hey, who's got
the foil brisket?

- You're on the ground.

- Huh?
- You're on the ground in there.

- They fell?
- Yeah.

- How did that happen?
- I don't know.

- It was stable
when we put it on.

- This is bull [bleep].

None of us have ever used
this kind of smoker before.

I guess we just didn't
distribute the weight correctly.

Who knew?

Really?

Oh, my God!
- Oh.

- Luckily, our briskets
were wrapped in foil,

so we put 'em back
in the rack.

That's [bleep] up.

But I'm really worried, because
we've lost hours of cook time.

- Really?

What the [bleep]?

- I love cooking
beer can chicken.

You take a cold beer,
you pop the top,

you put the beer can
in the chicken, it's hole.

You're actually using steam
from the beer can,

so you're cooking it
from all different directions.

- Yup.
- It's so tight in there.

- [Bleep], I'm tired.

- You guys all happy
where you're at?

Are things nicey-nice
on you guys?

- Chris is
talking to his chicken.

That's what happens
when chefs don't sleep.

- [Laughs]

This morning
everybody's kind of looped up.

I can't even explain
how you feel

after you work
through the night.

It's absolutely insane.

- This is the big daddy
of all challenges.

I'm exhausted.

The best way to keep focus

is just to put your head down
and keep cooking.

♪ Beer can chicken
on an open pit ♪

- Been in front of
these barbecue pits all night,

then once the sun
comes up,

it just magnifies
the intensity of the heat,

so it feels like we're sitting
on the surface of the sun.

- Almost.

- [Mumbles]
- Almost.

- It's good luck,
isn't it?

- Hey, chefs.
Uh--

so what do you have
going on here?

I know, ribs and chicken,
but what's going on with the--

- Uh, we actually did
a beer can chicken.

I don't know if you've ever done
a beer can chicken.

- I've seen it,
so there's a beer can up there?

Who's gonna put their name
on this chicken right here?

- I definitely
wanted to do the beer can.

You know, chicken's
such a hard item to cook

that we wanted to keep it
as moist as possible.

- And how about the ribs?

What's in the sauce?
What's in the glaze?

- It's a Dr. Pepper
and coffee glaze.

- Okay.

Well, it sounds like
you have a plan.

- Thank you very much.
- Good luck.

- Thank you.
- Thank you, chef.

- Hi, chefs.
- Hey, Tom, how are you doing?

- So why is this team winning?
- [Laughs]

- We have Texas, Kentucky,
and Kansas City here, so--

- That's are all
good barbecue places, too.

So you're responsible
for the chicken, Texas-style.

- I'm responsible
for the chicken.

- So what do you have
on the chicken?

- The sauce is
my sweeter Texas-style sauce.

- Got it.

- I'm doing the ribs
Kansas City-style.

- Okay.
- Dry rubbed,

a spicy barbecue.

- And then brisket
Kentucky-style?

- You know,
in Owensboro,

they do something
called, like, a mop sauce.

It's a little more looser,
a little more vinegar-y.

Played off that a little bit.
- Okay.

Well, I'm looking forward to it,
it looks good.

- Thank you, chef.
- Good luck.

- Thank you, chef.

You guys got
some water for me?

- Hi, chefs.

- How's it going, Tom?
- Good.

What's going on here?

- A lot.
- Uh, a lot of--a lot of meat.

- Looks pretty awesome.

So what did you do
to the chicken?

- Chicken and the spare ribs,
we made a brine

with orange and actually
a little fish sauce.

- Okay.
- And there's a rub that has

some yellow curry to it.
- Okay.

So we're going
more Asian barbecue.

Who's idea was that?

- Paul.
- Mine.

- Okay.

So you guys haven't slept
at all?

- No.
- Uh, no.

- Awesome.
- [Laughs]

- It's not that awesome.
I'm not gonna lie. [Laughs]

I'm so exhausted,
and when I get really tired

I say
whatever comes to my mind.

No, but you're
gonna love it.

- I hope so.

- It's gonna be
like sex in the mouth.

- Oh.

[Laughter]
- No, really, you're--

- We put a lot of love--

- Cool.
All right.

- Thank you, chef.
- Thanks, chef.

- Where do you come up
with these things, Grayson?

"It's like
sex in the mouth."

- Yeah, I know, right?
God!

What a dummy.

It's no sleep.
That'll do it.

- Listen, I know you've been
working your tails off,

you stayed up
all night long.

To sweeten the deal a little
bit, the winning team...

Will get $15,000.

- Ho!
[Applause and whistling]

- We're all at that brink
of just exhaustion,

and that kind of prize
re-ignites us a little bit more.

- A lot on the line here.
One person will go home,

but know there's a lot of pride
going on here.

Good luck.
[Applause and whistling]

- Wow.

- Winner, winner,
chicken dinner.

- I would like to say,
that's effing delicious.

- [Bleep]!

Hu-wa! Hu-wa!
- [Laughs]

- These ones tasted great
over here.

- I think they both need
just a little bit more time.

It's like an hour away.

- The dish
I'm most worried about

is probably
the pork spare ribs.

It was a little salty.

Just don't get it into the end,
though.

Maybe we can cut the end pieces
off that are a little salty,

and put
a little more sauce on it.

Hopefully this works.

- How's the fire still?

- Low.

But it's good enough
to hold everything hot.

- Lindsay has a problem
cooking the brussel sprouts,

just because our fire is low
at this point.

There's not that much more time
to start it up again.

I wish that we had more time to
make sure that they're cooked.

- Ugh.

[Sighing] Okay.

It's probably 100 degrees,
and the pit is a monster.

- Breathing in heavy smoke
constantly is hard.

Oh.

Hey, guys.
- Hey.

- I need a medic.

I'm feeling a little--
- yeah, we got it.

- Is Sarah okay?

- Hold it up to your face,
okay?

[Oxygen flows]

- I started getting
hot and cold chills.

And feeling light-headed.
- Just give it time.

What day of the week
it is?

Fair enough, okay.
What month is it?

- Just breathe.
It's gonna be okay.

Okay?

- Sarah's, like,
having an att*ck.

They're calling 911.
- Nuh-uh.

[Siren sounds]

- I didn't come this far
to not compete.

- I understand that, but this
doesn't mean that it's the end.

- [Sobbing] I'm so sorry.
- Honey, let it go.

Me and Ed got this [bleep].

This is real deal,
no joke--

I want you to concentrate
on getting better, okay?

Sarah's very upset,
and I understand

exactly how concerting
it would be to have to leave.

It puts you
at a real risk for going home.

- One, two, three.

- Hey, mama, we love you.
You're fine.

[Overlapping chatter]

- You guys are on your own.

- Is she okay? I mean,
what's wrong? Is she dead?

I'm pissed off.

- Is there water in here?
I really need it.

- You guys got a second?

Sarah's pretty much, uh--
the heat got to her

and they had to take her
to the hospital.

You guys are on your own.
You guys are okay with that?

Both: Yes, sir.
- I mean, no choice.

- Okay.
- Let's do it.

Obviously the first thing
we both think is,

"Well, is she okay? I mean,
what's wrong, is she dead?"

I don't know, if it was me,
I would have pushed through it.

- It's you and me.

Wow, we're really
gonna have to bust some ass.

Me and Ed whip out our knives
and start carving up that meat.

- [Bleep]!

Hoo-ah.

Phew.

This really [bleep] sucks.

We were gonna cut our meats
to order.

There's no way we can do that
with a two-man team.

Now we're just
balls-to-the-wall frantic,

trying to just chop our meats
and get 'em into hotel pans,

so at least we can
have something to serve.

- What do we have to do
to finish the beans?

- Beans.
Oh, [bleep] me.

- I'm gonna do
these last three things of ribs,

we're gonna pack everything up
and go.

[Sighs]

- Mother.
[Bleep]!

[Lids clatter]

I'm just kicking into
"Oh, my [bleep]" mode.

Once you pre-cut meat
and put it in that steam table,

you've k*lled it.
Basically,

you're doing
the opposite of barbecue,

which is
you're steaming meat,

and barbecue
is smoking meat,

but it's either that or
don't have food to serve at all.

- Showtime.

- We have a lot of
Asian flavors, actually.

- I've never had
Asian barbecue.

- You probably won't even
really know it,

you'll just think
it's really delicious.

When service starts,
it is a bum-rush.

The line is like


We're just, like, banging out
food on the assembly line.

- You can't get by
with a fork and a Kn*fe,

you have to get into it.
That's how you eat barbecue.

- Chicken? Brisket?

- Uh, let's try chicken.
- Okay.

We're slicing, we're serving,

and I just go into
sheer adrenaline.

This is us
showcasing what we did,

this should be
the fun part,

it's like a nunchuck rib.

It's like...
[Kung-fu noises].

- It's a busy one today.

Me and Ed
are serving 300 people,

and we have seven items
to put on a plate.

We have 2,100 plate strokes
to make and only four hands.

- Homemade pickles,
baked beans, and coleslaw.

- Thank you.

- I am moving so fast,
I don't even know what to do.

[Slow rock music]

♪ ♪

- ♪ don't look back,
don't look back ♪

♪ he's right on your trail ♪

- ♪ don't look back,
don't look back ♪

- ♪ don't look back,
don't look back ♪

♪ don't look back,
don't look back ♪

- Let's go to the bar
and get some drinks.

- ♪ Don't look back ♪

- Well, cheers.
- Cheers.

- Let's go get
some barbecue.

- ♪ No! ♪

♪ ♪

[Cheers and applause]

- Thank you.

- This is a watermelon lemonade,
like an agua fresca.

We juiced all the watermelon
this morning.

- What do you think?
- I like that.

- I love your shirt,
by the way.

- Thank you kindly.
I've gotten mixed reviews.


the 10% which are vegans,

they're like,
"uh, I don't know,

"I'm kind of a little
nervous about you." [Laughs]

- Hi, guys.

- Fine, how are you?
- Hi.

- We tried to be different,
so we did the Asian spare ribs,

chicken rib, and brisket.

We charred some brussel sprouts
and some okra.

It's kind of
kimchi flavored.

- And what is
this watermelon salad?

- Watermelon with fish sauce,
so...

- Good?
- I thought it'd be a nice,

refreshing treat,
since it's so hot outside.

I think our barbecue's
kind of out there,

so it's pretty nerve-wracking
to have Nathan be our judge.

- Enjoy, thank you.
- Thank you.

- Shall we
try the chicken first?

- Mmm.
My chicken's delicious.

Sticky and sweet, spicy.

- This is not very smoky,
but it's very good-tasting.

- Blue team's ribs
I think are really great,

'cause
they're smoky and tangy,

- brisket's under-seasoned,
I think.

- The brussel sprouts,
they needed to cook.

They're usually,
"put a fork in it, it's done."

You can't get a fork in it,
it's not done.

- Brussel sprouts?

- I've never had
cilantro and watermelon before,

but I will in the future.
That was great.

- Unbelievable.

[General chatter]

- Hi, guys.

- Hi, how are you?

- We went
three styles of barbecue.

There's a beer can chicken.
Brisket was done in the smoker,

dry-rubbed, and we did it
with a spicy barbecue sauce,

and the pork rib was done
on the edges of the pit,

just like you did.

We glazed it with
Dr. Pepper barbecue sauce.

- Enjoy the barbecue today.
Cheers.

- All right.

- All right,
open for business again?

- Let's do it.

- The chicken
was really good.

It was perfectly cooked.

- That's a really good
roast chicken.

I'm not sure I'd call it
a barbecue chicken.

- You know,
it has a lot of flavor.

It's really moist,

very little smoke.
Almost none at all.

- Your chicken and brisket.
- Chicken and brisket? Wait.

- Beans aren't cooked.

- They're too crunchy.
They needed a little more time.

- Does anybody find the white
team's ribs are really salty?

I was gonna say
it's like a Salt Lick,

but I probably
shouldn't say that.

[Laughter]

- And the white team's barbecue
sauce was out of this world.

- Yeah, and I like
their coleslaw.

- The white's--
the white team's coleslaw.

- I thought
they were very good.

- Let's move on
to the brisket.

- It was really chewy.

- It's juicy,
that's the good news.

- I think it needs
just a little bit of love.

- I think they did a really
good job with their coleslaw.

- I like the white team's
coleslaw, too,

because I'm not a mayonnaise fan
in coleslaw.

- You know what would make this
drink just a little bit better?

- Alcohol.
- A nice sh*t of gin.

- [Laughs]
- I was gonna say Tequila.

- Bit your tongue,
Canadian.

- I know,
I'm so transparent.

- My blood pressure
and my heart rate came down,

and I think
I'm gonna be okay.

I really want to finish
helping the team.

All right,
where can I jump in?

- Um--
- hey.

- Hi.
- How are you doing?

- I'm okay.
- You're okay?

- All of a sudden, here comes
Sarah, trucking back to help us.

- Is the breast juicy?
- Yeah.

The only thing she's
worried about is her chicken.

- Why don't we
switch the chicken here,

and I can serve the chicken,
and then do the--

- no, no, no, no, we're got
'em--we got--we got it, please.

Let's just go.
Even though we were

down one person,

we kind of developed
a system.

- Hi, how are you?
- We're good.

- Jesus Christ,
we can do faster without her.

- This is a brutal service.

- Give me your five best right
here, I'm gonna serve those.

- Okay? Give me your five best
right in this corner, and I'm--

- I understand
what you're saying to me.

Edward is being
really rude and mean,

and I'm sure that he is
frustrated with the situation,

but it's not something
malicious, that I thought,

"hey, let me really screw
my team, and get real sick."

At the end of the day,
it is what it is, and--

- no, I got you.

- It's not Sarah's fault
that she got over-heated.

It was
extremely hot out there.

It could have been
any one of us.

Just let me know
exactly what you want,

and that's exactly
what I'll do.

- Hi, guys.
- Hi, how are you doing?

- Good.
- How are you holding up, Sarah?

- I'm good. [Laughs]
- You're all right?

- Yes.
- All right.

- I made
the Texas-style chicken,

slow and low on the grill,
and then baste it

with a tomato-y sauce
with a little spice.

- I'm from Kansas City,
so I did dry-rubbed

Kansas City-style pork ribs,

and a typical Kansas City-style
sauce to go with that.

- And I did a brisket.

I did a salt and pepper rub
on it, and then I smoked it.

- We made
a big pot of pinto beans

with a lot of bacon in them,

and then we made
a summer slaw,

and of course
we have to serve it

with a slice
of white sandwich bread.

[Laughs]

- Thank you so much, guys.
Have a great day.

- So I'm gonna
just finish cutting this,

and then I'm gonna
go sit down, okay?

- Okay.
- The judges have their food,

and I start to get a little bit
over-heated again,

so need to go rest
and drink some more water,

- and I have
no guilty feelings about it.

- Hey, hot pants,
it's you and me.

- Again, huh?
- Yeah.

- You like how she came back
just in time to plate hers,

and then leave again?

- The red team did a good job.
- What?

- The chicken's
really tender.

- The red team chicken
is well-cooked,

'cause it's flavorful.

- It's prepared well--
I mean, it's very moist.

I enjoyed
the red team's barbecue sauce.

I think that's what
the white bread was for,

as a matter of fact.
- [Laughs]

- That's what it's for!
- It's really good.

- I like the flavor
in Ty's rib,

but the rib texture itself,
it's still chewy.

- The flavor profile of
the Kansas City sauce is good.

- Out of all the briskets,

the red team
had the best flavor.

- I agree.

- They might have sliced it
very early.

- It's an excellent point,
you know,

all of the great barbecue places
carve to order, for a reason.

- The barbecue sauce
is very, very good, yeah.

- Do you mind
if I try a little bit?

- No, go ahead.

- Really salty.
- Very salty?

I don't think it's salty.

- They really knocked it
out of the park...

[Laughter]
...With the white bread.

- Good job, buddy.
- Good service.

- Let's get out of here.

[Country music]

- ♪ You never seem to look up
any more ♪

- Good team work.
- Yay!

Big grease ball hug.
[Laughs]

- This was not
an easy challenge.

I mean, they haven't slept in
going on 40 hours at this point.

- I think what they're all
gonna learn today,

there's a lot more
to barbecue

than just slapping
a bunch of meat on a grill

and putting some spices
on it.

- Thank you so much
for having us here, Scott.

- My pleasure.
- It was amazing.

- Oh, now that
the adrenaline is going down,

I'm starting to get real tir--
- I'm totally--

at the end of service,
I feel physically ill.

I'm just exhausted,
frustrated, and pissed.

I didn't serve great barbecue.
That breaks my heart.

If they
don't like our barbecue,

and we have to refurbish it
into something--

- Yup, I'll make
barbecue stew.

[Laughter]

- Ty has immunity,
and Sarah came back just in time

to pick out four nice drumsticks
to give to the judges,

so the irony is, if we're at
judges' table, I could go home.

k*ll me now.

- It would be sacrilege
to boil them, but it

would have been leagues better
than what you actually did.

- I love camping.

This is how you do it
in the wilderness.

- Come on, Linds, focus!

One of my favorite things about
camping is my bullfrog song.

It goes...

♪ Mmm, ack, went
the little, green frog one day ♪

♪ mmm, ack, went
the little, green frog ♪

♪ mmm, ack, went
the little, green frog one day ♪

♪ but his eyes
wouldn't let him go ♪

♪ mmm, ack, mmm, ack,
mmm, ack, ack ♪

[Laughs]

Linds, you're getting giggly,
too?

- There was a break down.

I don't know what--
I think it's probably

got to do with exhaustion.

But there were points
when I think we all

stopped really
communicating.

I, like, worked prep-heavy
throughout,

and then when it came time
for my chicken,

I felt like it was like--

- that we weren't
supporting you?

- I don't know, there was just
some weird vibe I was getting,

and I'm not sure--

- don't get emotional.

- I'm just being honest.

- Hello, chefs.

All: Hello.

- We'd like to see
the blue team.

Paul, Lindsay, and Grayson.
Thank you.

- Lindsay, Grayson,
and Paul...

Your team served
our favorite barbecue today,

so congratulations.
- Thank you.

- Really, nice job.

Everything was really cooked
nicely, it was seasoned well.

The chicken--
I want the recipe.

You were the only team who
didn't try to be traditional.

The brisket was heads and tails
above the other two briskets

we ate today.

- That was
our number one priority.

We were like,
"we gotta get the brisket in!"

'Cause, I mean, none of us have
cooked on a grill like that.

- Well, you figured it out.

[Laughter]

- I mean, we went all in
or nothing.

We're so tired.

[Laughter]

- You'll be splitting $15,000,
furnished by healthy choice.

- What's the running total now,
Paul?

- Uh, 35.

- $35,000.
Well done.

- Not bad.

- I fell very proud
to be a Texas chef.

And I pull
a lot of energy and strength

from knowing
that I need to represent.

- Chefs, can you please
send back the other two teams?

[Door creaks open]

- Um, the judges
would like to see

the white team
and the red team.

- Congratulations, guys.
- Congratulations.

- Thank you.
- Thanks.

- Thanks, big man.

- Red team and white team,

you served our least-favorite
barbecue today.

- Let's start with you,
Sarah.

- The problem that we have
with the chicken,

although it was moist, it was
more like grilled chicken,

not like barbecue chicken.

It didn't have
a lot of smoke flavor at all.

- I wish I would have
taken a risk,

and probably thrown
those chickens in the smoker.

- Some of it
was a little bit rubbery,

and just had not been
cooked down.

- Yeah.

- I think it's actually safer
to make sure

that you've got
the skin cooked

before you start
slathering it with sauce,

'cause once you
put the sauce on,

there's no way
you're gonna crisp the skin up.

- Just starts to burn, yeah,
especially the sugar in it.

- Ty, how are you feeling
right now?

- Pretty bad.

- I love a Kansas City rib,

like, for sure,
that's where my heart lies.

Sorry, Texas.

But, you know,
there was just--

it was really heavy-handed
in the seasoning,

and then just
didn't come off that bone.

- It would be sacrilege
to boil 'em,

but if you'd had that sauce

on boiled ribs
that weren't salty,

it would have been
leagues better

than what you
actually did.

- Who did what
on the coleslaw?

- Um,
I shaved all the cabbage.

- I pretty much did the pickle
for the haricot vert.

- I kept tasting this kind of
very spearminty,

or, you know,
unusual mint flavor.

- It was orange mint.

- That explains it.

- It may actually have
started to ferment.

It was definitely strange.

- Let's talk about
the brisket.

- There was a lot of problems
with the brisket.

I think, put it
into the steam table too long,

and it starts to steam, and it
starts to turn grey and rubbery.

- When you slice brisket,
it loses a lot of juice

really fast, so you didn't
do yourself a favor

by pre-slicing it
that way.

- Unfortunately,
there was a point

where we were
down one person,

and I just--
there was nothing--

we were just furiously
trying to slice and dice stuff.

- Why didn't you--why didn't you
still say, "you know what,

I'm still gonna do this brisket
pretty much to order?

- We got screwed,

'cause we didn't want
a long line of people.

- But I'm not sure at what point
things didn't go right for us,

but I wish I would have been
able to be there

to help them
set up the service line.

- Let's move on
to the white team.

- Nathan, what did you think
of Beverly's coleslaw?

- I thought
that it was okay.

- Mm-hmm.
- I didn't think

it was spectacular.

I have a bias
towards an acidic coleslaw

to cut the richness
of the barbecue.

I think that's
it's whole function in the meal.

- Mm-hmm.

- My only issue is, I wish it
had been a little more original.

Because you chose to really do
such a traditional coleslaw,

it didn't really show us
anything of

who you guys are as chefs.

- Did you also
cook the chicken?

- I brined it.
- And then what happened?

- I cooked all the proteins.

- It was grilled chicken.

- Out of the three ways
you could add flavor,

you kind of were very
conservative with all of them,

so it was a very,
you know,

French grandmother's
roast chicken,

more than it was
a Texas barbecue or anyone's.

- Who was responsible
for the ribs?

- I cooked the ribs.

- And no one else
had a hand in the ribs at all?

- I did both the rubs
for the brisket and the rib.

I did both the sauces.

- Why did you decide to do
a Dr. Pepper sauce?

- 'Cause it's from Texas,
you know?

- I don't know,
it just seems like

since we've been here,
everyone drinks Dr. Pepper.

I don't know.

- The ribs were so salty,
it was really inedible.

I don't know
what happened there,

if the dry marinade was just,
you know,

sitting on one particular area
way too long,

but it was really,
really salty.

- And who did the beans?
- It was me. [Chuckles]

- I thought the beans
were undercooked.

You have to cook those beans
from the beginning,

cook them all the way through.

They're not gonna continue
really cook that much

once you start baking them.

- Thank you.

To be honest, both these teams
failed on all their proteins.

Chris Jones was responsible
for all the protein.

He manned that grill.
He took responsibility for it.

- No, actually, I would say
it's just the opposite.

It's the middle Chris.

He made all of the dry rubs
and made 'em too salty.

- Was it the saltiness
of the rub,

or was it the length of time
and the amount

that was put on the rub?

Because that was done
by two different people.

- It could've been
either one,

but I would say it was
the amount of salt.

- Beverly did bad beans

that were also inedible.

- They were undercooked.

You know, unfortunately,
Tyler has immunity,

so he's not going home,
and he was the one

responsible for a lot of
the problems on that team,

and I wish we could
send him home.

- The really bad coleslaw
from the red team

was a joint effort
of Ed and Ty.

And Ed made
the bad brisket.

Not inedible brisket,
but not very good brisket.

- Lot of problems
with that.

Cut it too far in advance.
It started to steam.

It was tough,
and so, you know,

he did two things wrong.

- I thought Sarah's chicken
was better

than the white team's
chicken.

- I don't think
by a big margin.

- No.
- I mean, that's--

- That's a good way
to look at it.

- You know, I think we could
send someone home

from either team today.

- Sure.

[Suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- Chefs, tonight's challenge
was to come here to Salt Lick

and put together
a great barbecue meal.

And I know
the difficulties in it.

And you stayed up
all night long.

I can appreciate how tired
you are right now.

But there were mistakes made,
and they need to be addressed.

Sarah, you gave us
a pretty good chicken,

but your skin
was kind of rubbery.

Ed, you gave us a brisket

that was steamed
at a steam table.

Wasn't cooked enough.

Ty, you have immunity,
or your fate might be

very different tonight
as well.

Chris, you manned the grill.

Most of the grilling just
missed the mark.

Not good enough.

Chris, you made
the marinade,

the over-salted marinade

that really made those
ribs inedible,

which I think
was a big mistake.

Beverly, you can't just
sit back there

and not have a point of view,

or else what's the point
of even being here?

You gotta compete hard
and hard all the time.

Well, this was a tough one.

With the exception of Tyler,

any one of you could've
easily gone home.

- Chris...

C...

Please pack your knives
and go.

- Thank you
for the amazing experience,

opportunity of a lifetime.

It was an honor.

- Thank you.
Good luck to you, Chris.

- Thank you.

- Malibu.

- You know,
it's the right decision.

- It was salty beyond belief.

There's nothing anyone
could've done about it

to save it.

[Door opens]

- Looks like Malibu's
going back to California.

- No! Aww!

That sucks.

- You know, not stepping up
in the group

and taking charge
is a big regret for me.

Maybe I was playing
a little too safe,

and they're trying to weed out
the weakest links.

- Bye, big man.
Bye. See you again.

Oh, we're gonna miss
our beautiful person.

- I've definitely become
more comfortable in my style

and not so caught up
in what everyone else thinks.

It was a great experience,

and the sky's the limit now.

- Tonight
on Last Chance Kitchen...

To win a spot
back on Top Chef,

Malibu Chris will have to
use more than his looks...

- Tell me there's
baloney in there.

- Pickle.
- Oh!

- As he battles Nyesha
and her ferocious appetite

for redemption.

To watch Last Chance Kitchen,

go to bravotv.com now.

Next on Top Chef...

- We've been waiting for this,
and pretty sure it's here.

- It's restaurant wars.
- Whoo!

- It's gonna be boys and girls

fighting it out
on the playground.

- Go, go, go, go, go!

Into the void, here we go.

- When you see a server,
can you come back

and give me a table number
on this.

- Where are the mushrooms?

- Oh, [bleep].

We forgot the mushrooms
on the salmon.

- [Bleep] Nightmare.

- Welcome to Half Bushel.

- We're trying to simplify
our dishes, Grayson.

- Maybe if you'd ask
in a different [bleep] way.

- Beverly, I've already
gotten complaints

that the fish is dry.

- I have a feeling that
there are heads

being beaten against
a wall in the back.

- The judges
are [bleep] pissed.

- You know, Lindsay,
I'll go out there and face 'em

if you need me to.

We're working as fast
as we can.

- I expected alot more.