01x02 - Game Day Gourmet

[bunniefuu]

[upbeat music playing]

This is that leftovers show.

You know,

the one that gave you the courage
to reheat yesterday's crab meat.

Home chefs are finding delicious ways
to give old leftovers new life,

and we're gonna show you how.

It's your girl, Jackie Tohn.

Three skilled cooks
will compete over two rounds,

creating new dishes out of leftovers.

The cook with the best dishes
goes home with $10,000.

Let's make over some leftovers.

I'm Charlie.

I was in the Navy for 22 years,
and I learned that I love to cook.

I won't let anything distract me
from the mission ahead.

I work with leftovers daily,
so I'm here today to win.

Hi, I'm Jim.

I think what makes me better
than the others cooking

is that I'm a student
and I'm always learning.

If this is something
that gets people to open up

their refrigerator doors,

look at leftovers in a new light,
how cool would that be?

My name is Nigel.

I really didn't grow up eating leftovers.

My daddy's a big man,
and he ate all the food.

But now, especially that I'm living
on my own and I'm an adult,

there's always leftovers
in my refrigerator.

My friends are here.

[contestants laugh]

Can you believe
the size of those chopsticks?

-I know!
-They're huge.

Allow me to introduce to you,
restaurateur and culinary influencer,

David "Nom-nom-nom" So.

Cooks, super pumped
to meet you, and I can't wait

to see what you are going to create

'cause I am nom-nom-nom hungry.

[laughs]

[Jackie] And our very own tinfoil titan,

world-renowned chef,
Rosemary "Taste, Don't Waste" Shrager!

Ah! I want you to wow us today.

We'd really like to see
creative thinking from you!

It's very, very important.

Can't wait to see the results!

Yes.

You'll all compete over two rounds
to determine who is the overall champ.

Round one will test
your everyday leftover chops.

We wanna see how quickly and creatively

you take leftovers
from the fridges behind you

and turn them
into a delicious, original creation.

That's the goal.

Round two won't be as easy,
but we'll get to that later.

The three of us culinary magicians…

Well, maybe two magicians
and one rabbit in a hat,

will taste your dishes,
and based on both rounds,

decide who will win the $10,000.

-[Nigel] Yes.
-Yeah.

Well, let's get this thing started.

-[clock ticking]
-[Jackie] Time for the Pressure Cooker.

If you like jerseys,
friendly bets, and appetizers,

well, you're in luck.

-Because yesterday was game day.
-Ooh!

The fridge behind you is packed
with all the leftover appetizers

from the big game-day get-together.

In it, you will find…

tri-tip sliders,

seven-layer dip,

artichoke-stuffed mushrooms…

And of course, no party's
really a party without a crudités stadium.

-Yes.
-[Jim chuckles]

[Jackie] The more leftovers you use,
the better.

But how and what you use
is ultimately up to you.

You'll need a little backup,
so we provided a limited dry pantry

of everyday basic items
and some staple fridge extras.

We want you to take game-day leftovers

and create a dish
that will really score some points.

You have 30 minutes.

Are you ready, cooks?

-Yes.
-Ready.

[Jackie] Go!

-[David] Good luck!
-Go! Go! Go! Enjoy.

[Jackie giggles]

[Rosemary] And fight for it!

-You're crazy today.
-[Jim] It's game day, baby.

Yeah.

[sniffs, exhales]

Oh, gosh. This is gross.

In the seven-layer dip,

all the tomatoes being in the refrigerator
just let all the liquid off,

and that and the sour cream
just ran all over the place,

and I'm like,
"Where is the usable food in here?"

[Nigel] Ooh, girl.

All the vegetables are done.

The celery is drying out.

I see the carrots, they're drying out.

So, my initial thing was like,

"I have to have something
with a sauce to make these rehydrate."

This beef really wants
to hang on to this Gouda, apparently.

Jim, what are you making today?

I am making tri-tip enchiladas
with homemade corn tortillas.

[Jim] For round one,
I'm making beef and cheese enchiladas

and the leftovers I'm using
are the smoked Gouda from the crudités

with the tri-tip
from the sliders inside the enchilada.

It's gonna give it
that nice smokey flavor from the inside.

And then I wanted
to take some of the refried beans

from the seven-layer dip,
season 'em up, put 'em on the side.

I'm not gonna use the mushrooms.

I don't want those, and they're
already kinda soaked and slimy.

And that is chili powder,
oil, and flour to make a rich roux.

That's gonna be the base
for my enchilada sauce.

My style of cooking
is elevated comfort food.

I love North Carolina,
Southern, low-country food.

And when I was a kid,
Julia Child got my interest.

So I learned to cook
American-French cuisine of Julia,

and now I just like to take
different flavors and different foods

and put 'em together.

I found my onion.

[mutters indistinctly]

In my kitchen,
I know where everything is.

This kitchen, everything's everywhere.

-Charlie, what are you making over there?
-I am making tri-tip tacos.

[Charlie] I'm gonna take
the tri-tip from the sliders

and the bean and cheese
from the leftover seven-layer dip

so I can use that as my taco filling.

And on top, pickled vegetables,

using the carrots
and celery from the crudités.

I don't need any leftover mushrooms.
No, thank you.

I am gonna be using
a lot of these veggies.

I'm gonna pickle the veggies.

My favorite kind
of takeout food is Mexican food.

My dad and I wanted to create a food truck

that has a fusion
between Mexican and soul food.

His dream was to open a restaurant.

He never opened his restaurant,
so one of the thoughts was, when I retire,

we get a food truck together.

Put 'em away.

But he passed right before I retired,
so I have to carry that on.

With the $10,000,
I will open it up and in my dad's name.

All right, let's do this.

I'm focused! [chuckles]

-So you in the game right now.
-I'm in the zone. [laughs]

Nigel, keep an eye on that pan.
It's super steamy.

Yeah, we wanna get that flavor.

[Jackie] So what are you making
for us today?

I'm making a beef stroganoff.

I'm going to be using
the tri-tip from the sliders.

I'm gonna use
the artichoke-stuffed mushrooms

and the vegetables from the crudités.

Just chop everything up
and mix it with the pasta.

I'm also using the French onion dip
as a base for my tri-tip stroganoff

because you need some type
of creamy aspect in a stroganoff.

I'm not gonna use
the seven-layer bean dip.

I thought that was just a lot.

-Ooh-whee!
-[laughs]

[Nigel] I did go to culinary school,
and you learn tricks.

You learn how to cut cooking times.

You learn how to infuse flavors
into stuff.

Just gonna let
all that flavor build up together.

[taps pan]

[Jim] Oh, gosh,
I thought you were knocking.

[Nigel laughs] No, that sound
is when you got the food right.

It's time to move on to the next step.

[imitating Julia Child] Oh, Jim!

I heard you can do
a Julia Child impression.

Before puberty, I could.

[imitating Julia Child]
Now it sounds like this.

-It's not very good.
-[laughs]

See? There you go.

Rosemary, can you do
a Julia Child impression?

[imitating Julia Child]
We're going to be making

a beautiful boeuf bourguignon

with pomme purée potatoes.

Absolutely delicious.

Using the best wine.
And then we're going to be doing…

[Rosemary and David laugh]

It just sounded
like a louder version of you.

[group laughs]

[Jim] All right, so… Can opener.

It's important for me to have beans

because the leftover seven-layer dip
has a big layer of beans in the bottom.

And I feel like that's a great way

to reutilize those
in a traditional Mexican plate.

This is semi going according to plan.

I put black beans from the pantry
in with some red onion.

And then I take some of the refried beans

from the seven-layer dip,
so I got refried black bean combination.

Okay.

Just mixing in all these little flavors.

I am making my seasoning
for the tri-tip tacos.

I go with garlic powder, onion powder,

cumin, coriander, crushed red peppers.

Little spicy, good to go.

For me, I'm probably gonna
scrutinize Charlie the hardest

just because tacos to me are probably
one of the easier things that you can do.

We're looking for flavor
and creativity, remember.

[Charlie] I want to put more flavor
in the leftover tri-tip,

so I added beef broth.

I'm really confident in my flavors.

I just hope that they're confident
in my flavors, too. [laughs]

[Charlie] There we go.

I'm mixing the base
for my beef stroganoff.

The French onion dip
from the stadium crudités

works as a base for the stroganoff
because it already has the onions.

It already has
some type of creamy texture to it.

I added
some "Worcestershire-sasire" sauce.

Our base is ready.

I think that's really smart.
Great use of the leftovers.

[Rosemary] Is everything
coming together for you?

[in British accent]
Everything's coming together.

[judges laugh]

[Jackie] Feel free to do that accent
anytime you want today.

No. I just wanted to test the waters
to see if it was okay first.

I do it every day.
You can't be worse at it than me.

They all try and speak English.
Impossible.

-[in British accent] It's impossible.
-Impossible.

Impossible.

Ten minutes, cooks.

[Jim] Ten freaking minutes.

Charlie, what are you working on?

Some tortillas.

Are we talking about fresh tortillas?
Some masa?

-[Charlie] Yeah.
-[Jim] Wait a minute. You're copying me?

Forget the bleached white flour
and everything else.

I make corn tortillas
at home all the time.

They have much more flavor.

I got the masa harina from the pantry,

which is supposedly similar to masa flour,

but it's very granular,
like a grit almost.

-[Jim] Wish me luck.
-[Nigel laughs] Good luck.

I thought for sure
the tortilla was my ace in the hole.

[Jim] Ah! That one sucked.

Uh-oh.We got a problem.

[sighs] sh**t.

-[Jackie] Ooh!
-Oh, no.

Every single one!

This masa is not holding together.

These are horrible.

[Jim] Your tortillas
better look better than mine.

-They're not very friendly right now.
-[Jim] Yeah.

-[Nigel] Don't blame the food, guys.
-Oh.

-Don't blame the food.
-[Jim] Watch it, young lady.

[Charlie] There we go. Got one for sure.

[Jim] Ugh. Come on. Oh!

Getting covered in sauce and cheese.
Don't think anybody's gonna know.

Five minutes, cooks!

[Nigel] I know you lying.

Taste as you go.

It tastes better than it's gonna look.

[Nigel] I do this trick.
Have the spaghetti ready,

steam the noodles,

put some butter in 'em,
and they will not stick.

[Jim] I gotta get these in the oven
with the sauce and get 'em going,

so I'm gonna roll with this.

I finally got my enchiladas
in the pan with the meat,

the cheese, topped with sauce,

put the Pepper Jack
from the fridge on top,

got 'em in the oven,
and I just started to pray.

Charlie, is that a spicy crème I see?

-[Charlie] Yes, it is.
-Ooh.

[Charlie] You're gonna love this.

That pasta is just soaking up
everything that I worked for.

[David] Hope it doesn't soak up all of it.
That dish needs sauce.

Whoa, this pasta is
sucking up all of my sauce.

Ooh!

At this point, there is no solution

because I have already
thrown away all of my sauces.

[Charlie] The judges are gonna k*ll me
over this ugly plate.

[Jim exhales]

-Jim, we have success over there or what?
-[Jim] I think we're getting somewhere.

And I hope 120 seconds
is enough time to get there.

[groans] The nerves are firing up now.

All right, let's do this.

Let's make sure
we get that tri-tip in there.

Ooh-whee.

[judges] In five, four, three, two, one!

-Let's eat!
-[alarm beeping]

-[Jackie] Hey!
-[Rosemary] You've done it.

[David] Whoo!

-Hi, Charlie.
-[Charlie] Hi.

[Jackie] You were given game-day leftovers
and asked to make us a dinner

that'll really score some points.

[Charlie] What you have
in front of you is a tri-tip taco.

[Jackie] You had all those leftovers,
but we only got one taco?

[laughs]

[David] Never seen somebody
eat a taco with a knife and fork.

What's your plan?
You bite it, I bite it, she bites it?

-What are you, nuts?
-I was gonna eat the whole thing myself.

I took the tri-tip.
I seasoned it, put them in the pan,

and added a little bit
of beef stock to it to rehydrate it.

And then I pickled
all the vegetables and put them on top,

and I took the beans
and I rewarmed those up

with some of the cheese
so that it would melt

and then some of the sour cream.

[Jackie] So, you used three
out of the four leftovers. All right.

Oh, now the chili is a kick.

My goodness, that's coming through.

-[Jackie] It's a little too spicy for me.
-Understood.

I know. "Pshaw,"
says Buffalo Wild Wings over here.

-I'm melting over here, but I love it.
-[laughs]

-It needs a little bit of seasoning.
-[Charlie] Yes.

A little bit more sugar into your pickle,
and that would have given it the edge.

But I think what is interesting
is turning the crudités vegetables

into the pickle.

That's using your leftovers
in a really smart way.

Thank you.

When I looked at it,
it looked like a regular taco.

It definitely tasted
a lot better than it looked, right?

Good look on making a fresh tortilla.

It was good,
but a little bit thick for me.

-Yes.
-[David] You know?

For the next round,
let's probably not just put it

in a tortilla or something, right?

It looks like you're taking the leftovers
and throwing it into some type of vehicle.

-And I don't want that in the next round.
-Charlie, thank you.

-Thank you.
-[Jackie] See you in a bit.

[Rosemary] Thanks.

-Hi.
-[Rosemary and Jackie] Hi, Jim.

Tell us what you made here.

[Jim] This is my Monday enchilada
'cause Tuesday got tacos.

-[David laughs]
-[Jim] Monday needs some love.

Going in.

[Jim] Inside is the tri-tip

as well as the peppers
and onions from the slider.

I've got both cheeses out of the crudités.

The refried beans
from the seven-layer dip,

as well as some black beans,
some cilantro, and some onions.

And on the side,
that's a chili lime crème.

So, I was able to pull
out of three of the leftovers.

I… I think
I'd like to say how it looks. Um…

Uh-oh. So, refried beans are always ugly.

They are, but if that was put
into a little pot and put separately…

That's a good idea.

…it would actually lift it up
a lot better.

That corn tortilla is really sweet,

and I like it because it balances
the heat in the enchilada sauce.

You did a great job
in repurposing the ingredients

'cause I had to remind myself
that this was a leftover dish.

It's really, really good. I like it.

I actually really loved
the addition of a smoked Gouda.

My wife loves Gouda
and makes enchiladas all the time,

so this was my tribute to her.

-[Rosemary] Oh, that's sweet.
-He cooks with his heart. I could tell.

Although it looked hideous,
it actually was quite delicious.

With your next round, go into it
with a little bit more determination,

and less is more.

-All right?
-I'll do it.

Thank you, Jim! We'll see you in a bit.

-All right. Thanks.
-[Rosemary] Thank you.

-[Jackie] Hi, Nigel.
-How are y'all?

-[Jackie] Good, how are you?
-I'm good, honey.

[Nigel] Basically,
I made a tri-tip stroganoff.

I incorporated the leftovers

by taking the tri-tip
from the little sliders

and chopped them up,

and I took the mushrooms,
scooped the artichoke stuff out,

and I used the celery
and the carrots from the stadium.

Took the French onion dip
and used that as my base for the sauce.

[Jackie] Okay. So, you also used
three out of the four leftovers.

What else did you use in the sauce
if it's not just French onion dip?

I used "Worcestershire-sire" sauce.

-[laughs]
-And then I used beef stock.

"Worst-ershire," one of the worst words
in the English language. Let's do it.

[Rosemary] First of all,

a stroganoff is meant
to be more saucy than this.

It's looking quite dry.

I planned to have more sauce,
but the second I added the noodles,

I said, like,
"All the sauce is gone. Okay."

I'm embarrassed to say,
I don't know what a beef stroganoff is.

It's not that.

[Jackie] It's not this.

But, actually,
I have to eat my words here.

-It's really, really good.
-Thank you.

The flavors,
the whole thing really worked.

The only thing I would say,
your seasoning on the meat.

I wasn't tasting a lot.
All the flavor was in that spaghetti.

When you're doing a dish, make sure
everything is seasoned at every stage.

That's important.

For me, though, because there was no sauce
and there was nothing to bind that fat,

it was a little greasy on my palate.

For the next round,
when you have small little mishaps,

learn to adapt and think on your feet

because this dish
is just a hair away from being amazing.

Thank you.

You're the only one
that used the mushroom.

Really good job on that
and great use of leftovers.

-Thank you.
-[Jackie] Thank you.

Thank you.

[Jackie] Cooks, please step
in front of your stations.

After round one,
I'm thinking Nigel has it in the bag.

Her dish just needed some more sauce.

So in the second round, I'ma step it up

and take the judges' advice
to stop playing it safe.

You guys did a great job!
Give yourselves a pat on the back.

-Yeah, I'll pat my fellow judges.
-[contestants laugh]

[Jackie] On to round two,
the Takeout Takedown.

In round one, you took everyday leftovers

and made us something new.

In this round,
you'll need to step up your game

because you'll use takeout leftovers
from my personal fridge

and turn them into
a completely new and fancy dinner.

[sighs]

So what do you say
we get my fridge out here?

Hold on, let me get my magic wand.

-[suspenseful music plays]
-Abracadabra! My grandma is kosher.

Don't worry, I'm not.
Send me my leftovers!

Wow.

[chuckles]

-Ta-da!
-It worked!

-Wow.
-[Jackie] It worked!

-Man!
-[David] That was amazing.

Hey, fridge. Good to see you.

In my fridge, you'll find…

Wow! You've got mayo. [laughs]

All right. Oh, God.

-[Jackie] You get it.
-[contestants chuckle]

The leftovers you'll be working with are…

pulled pork with coleslaw,

beef ribs with fried okra,

and barbecue chicken with collard greens.

Each of you will randomly select
one of these barbecue leftovers,

and you'll make us a fancy dinner.

Make it real nice.

One each and no peeking.

You can pick any.
You don't have to pick the left one.

[Jim] I make pulled pork all the time.
That's my wheelhouse.

There's smoked chicken and ribs,
and I'm like, "No, don't give me those.

No, I don't want those." I want the pork.

[chuckles] Thank you.

I want the one that has collard greens.

Just simply because I'm more familiar
with those.

It's just my comfort zone.

Think about your technique
and what you need to deliver.

Show your skills off.

This is the chance to shine.

Lucky you, cooks,

these barbecue meats aren't covered
in sauces or doused in anything,

so you have a lot of leeway
in terms of transforming these leftovers

into something delicious.

[Jackie] All right.

We're crowning a winner
based on both rounds,

so everyone still has a chance.

You've got one hour.

In three, two, one.

-[Jackie] Go, go, go, go!
-Good luck. Good luck.

Oh, my goodness. This looks so good.

I've never seen a beef rib
that big in my life.

I had to taste the okra.
And it tastes pretty good.

Oh, yeah. I can work with that.

[Jim] Oh, heck yeah.

Salty. Pulled pork,
which is a North Carolina staple,

so, no offense guys, but…

[judges laugh]

You mean, you've got it in the box?

-I feel pretty good right now.
-[Rosemary] Okay.

[clicks tongue] Yes. Yeah.

Nigel, you look excited. What did you get?

-I got collard greens and smoked chicken.
-[David] Ooh!

Because it's been smoked for so long,

that smoke flavor
can permeate through everything,

so they might have to tone that down
in their dish.

How would they?

-I think--
-Flavor.

-Spices and strong flavors.
-[Jackie] Mm-hmm.

[Jim] Look at you, boy.

[Nigel] I need spinach.

I need these 'cause I gotta chop those.

After round one,
I'm feeling very confident.

I think I'm on top just simply due
to the fact that my food tasted better.

Who do you feel like
is in the front right now?

Jim's flavor,
the enchilada and all that, really worked.

I'm gonna have to give the edge to Charlie

because even though
his tortilla was a little thick,

he actually ex*cuted that…

and it became a tortilla.

In my mouth,
my favorite of the three was Nigel's.

Nigel, what do you have going on
over there?

[Nigel] I have the barbecue chicken
with collard greens,

and I'm making
a Southern leftover lasagna.

I'm using all the leftovers,
barbecue chicken with the collard greens.

Inside the lasagna,

I look in the refrigerator,
and I fry up some frozen spinach.

I also have pepper, celery, and onions.

Chop everything up,

season with garlic powder, smoked paprika,
a little bit of salt and pepper.

And I'm using wonton wrappers
from the fridge instead of pasta

because I didn't have any lasagna noodles.

I think it's better
when you do something your way

'cause it is gonna come out
'cause you put your all into it.

[Charlie] Flour.

Charlie, what have you decided to make?

Raviolis.

-Ravioli from Italy!
-Yes.

-[Charlie] Beef-stuffed ravioli.
-Italiano.

I need some water.

Everything is made from leftovers,
so adding a fresh element to it

would be very, very smart.

-[blender whirring]
-There we go.

[Charlie] I got beef ribs and fried okra,

so I'm making
a beef rib and okra stuffed ravioli.

They told me to step it up
and elevate my meal.

The only way I know
how to do is make some fresh pasta.

You're making the ravioli.

Good on you!
And you're putting oil into it, good!

[laughs]

-Do you put oil into pasta dough?
-Yes, always.

When you make ravioli,
you should put oil in your pasta.

-[David] Really?
-Always.

When making ravioli,
you must always use oil,

something I personally have known,
well, since I was a baby.

[both laugh]

[Jim] Pork. Let's talk pork.

Jim, what are you up to?

I am working on
a pork and ginger stuffing

for my steamed dumpling.

-Oh, pork and ginger.
-Kind of excited, yeah.

[Jim] The first thing I think about when
I see the leftover pork and the coleslaw

is that I could probably make a dumpling

and use the pork
and the cabbage for the inside.

And then I'm gonna start cutting off
the burnt ends of the pork.

I'm gonna use it to do a stir-fry

with the coleslaw cabbage
and some vegetables from the fridge.

You are going in the stir-fry.

It can't taste like barbecue
when I'm done, so I gotta keep hustling

and come up with something.

-[Jackie] They're on the same page again.
-He's doing an Asian ravioli.

-I know. That's what I'm saying.
-I like it.

[Jim] Black tea.

-Jim, did you say, "Black tea"?
-[Jim] Black tea.

-[Jackie] What are you using it for?
-The steam for the wontons or dumplings.

Oh, a little aromatics. Some aromats.

[Jim] I've never done this before.
My wife always challenged me

to try different flavors
and different foods,

so why not do that in the kitchen?

[Jim] And you'll season the tea.

[David] I haven't seen
tea-steamed wontons,

so I'm interested to see
how that's gonna turn out.

[Jackie] Cooks, 30 minutes.

That is enough time
to make 30 pots of Minute Rice.

[laughs]

-[Charlie] Nigel.
-[Nigel] Yes.

How you doing? You're pretty quiet.

I'm assembling and building.
You know, the layers have to be perfect.

[Nigel] I started to assemble my lasagna
from the leftover barbecued chicken,

the collard greens,
the spinach, the mirepoix,

also the sour cream
and Parmesan cheese.

Sour cream.

This will mimic chicken Alfredo.

From the first round, the "dry" comment
was the one that hit me the hardest.

For the second round,

I really wanted
to make sure that it wasn't dry.

[Nigel] That when this cooks,
the Parmesan cheese and the sour cream

will melt and bubble out
through everything

to give you a nice creaminess texture
when you eat the whole thing.

[whispering]
I'm a bit concerned about that.

There is no hydration,

except for the melting
of that Parmesan cheese.

No sauce, no nothing. It's gonna be dry.

Charlie, are you working
on a sauce for the ravioli?

-Yes, I am.
-[David] What's in that sauce?

[Charlie]
A little bit of tomatoes, onions.

-Garlic now.
-Okay.

[Charlie] Next,
I make my filling for my ravioli.

I add the leftover ribs and okra
into the food processor, mix it up.

Oh, yeah. Perfect.

Put it back in the frying pan,

little bit of olive oil, and warm it up

so we can get all the flavors together.

Added some seasonings to it,
and we're good to go.

Ten minutes, cooks!

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!

I forgot about this.

[Jim] I'm ready to stir-fry
and put my wontons together,

and then I've got
this sloppy pile of coleslaw

that was left over,
and it's salty as all get out.

So, I know I need to rinse it
to get that flavor off of the cabbage.

-You okay, Jim?
-[Jim] Oh, I'm great.

Just totally forgot
about the coleslaw, but it's cool.

What are you doing with the coleslaw?

So, the coleslaw
is gonna be the cabbage component

inside the dumpling,
and then I'm also gonna put some of it

in the stir-fry in place of a noodle.

-Okay.
-[Jim] I get the Romanesco.

Grab the bok choy, some coleslaw.

I've got my pork bark.
I've got some garlic and some ginger.

I'm ready to stir-fry.

[Jim] I hadn't made a dumpling yet.

Now it's time
to get the wontons in the steamer,

because that is
a ten- to twelve-minute process.

And in my head,
I'm just screaming at myself,

"I need to hurry up."

I got nervous fingers now, man.
My fingers won't move.

So, I crank it up,

put the parchment paper in,
load the wontons, close the lid,

get the steamer on top.

Cross your fingers. We're hoping
for something good to come.

[Jim] Come on, baby. Come on.

[pasta maker whirring]

This one's not good. Oh, well.

[Charlie] I'm putting the dough
through this pasta maker.

Some of them are too thin,
some of them are too thick,

but I gotta have
something to give these judges.

If Charlie's raviolis turn out better
than Jim's wontons,

I have to give it to Charlie,

just because he's making
that dough from scratch.

[Charlie] I just had
to keep putting flour on the rollers

and it's looking good.

I know I need to boil this pasta
for at least three to five minutes.

There's not a lot of time left.

Five minutes, cooks.

-[Jim] Stop it!
-[exhales]

This one'll have to work.

As I'm getting ready to flip this pan,

with these perfect
little delicate lasagnas,

my adrenaline is going,

"God, please let these come out perfect."

One…

two…

three.

[suspenseful music plays]

Moment of truth,
are they going to come out?

Oh, my God.

Oh, man.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

-[Jackie] They came out?
-[Nigel] Yes!

[David] Whoo!

[softly] Yes.

[imitates fanfare]

One minute, cooks!

One minute!

Plating.

[Charlie] All right.

Whoo-hoo!

Oh, did some of those raviolis open?
I hope not.

No, they look closed.

[Charlie] Oh, no.

Wow, it looks beautiful.

[judges] Five, four, three, two, one.

Let's eat.

-[alarm beeps]
-[Jim] High five, buddy.

-High five. Good job.
-Good job.

Cooks, please bring
your plates up to the judges' table.

I feel like I have it because not only
did I use the ingredients super well,

that plate was so gorgeous, and I know
that the flavors are out of this world.

I'm thinking,
"What happy dance could I do?"

This is interesting stuff
going on up here.

Cooks, you were given
barbecue takeout leftovers

and asked to make us a fancy dinner.

-Hi, Nigel.
-Hi.

Remind us what barbecue you started with
and how you incorporated it.

I started with
the smoked barbecue chicken.

I call it "Southern leftover lasagna,"

and I basically took
the smoked barbecue chicken

and the braised collard greens,
and I added some spinach and some onions

and some pepper to give it a little more
of a party flavor in your mouth.

I like the fact that you didn't shy way
from your leftovers.

I think you did a great job
in transforming it into a dish

that truly is,
like, a leftover makeover, right?

I would have liked
more of that tomato sauce.

Because of that smoked chicken
and because of those collards,

I needed some more brightness with it.

It is definitely dry
and it definitely needed the sauce,

which was a bit of a shame
because it was such a great idea,

but unfortunately
the wontons are not cooked.

But your seasoning was spot on.

And I've still got a lovely taste
in my mouth.

-It's lovely.
-Thank you.

Really would be hard to guess
that this came from barbecue.

Great name too, by the way.
That is a Southern lasagna.

[David and Rosemary laugh]

Jim, you're up next.

So, I had the pulled pork barbecue
and coleslaw.

I made you Jim-sum,
which is my play on dim-sum.

I have the pork and the coleslaw
in both the dumpling and in the stir-fry.

[David] You used your leftovers
two ways, then.

[Jim] Right.

-[Jackie] Mm!
-[Jim] Yeah?

[Jackie] I took a David So bite,

and now I'm gonna be chewing
for the next half hour.

Don't need your teeth.

-Just eat like a duck.
-[Jim laughs]

[David] I really do appreciate
that you do understand

Southern barbecue so well
and that smoking process

because you removing that bark
was a very smart move.

It kind of eliminated that smokiness
that was really great in the stir-fry.

I agree. You've got
all the lovely flavors coming through.

You've got the ginger,
you've got everything

mixing in your mouth.

I would have probably
cooked them a tiny bit longer.

I don't know.
They were a little bit hard, chewy for me.

[David] You missed the mark
in your plating.

'Cause I had to eat the wonton first,

then I ate the stir-fry,
then I had to grab the pickle,

so I don't really get to see
a sense of what you wanted me to eat.

I will say, though,
everything tastes great.

-Thanks.
-[Rosemary] I agree with David.

I think it's a little bit of a mishmash.

But I did ask you
to show us some techniques,

and you did show us some techniques.

And I'm really happy with this.

I mean, she used to be barbecue.

That's crazy.

-Thank you.
-Thank you so much, Jim.

Charlie, how I've missed you.

-Can we talk about your food?
-Yes, we can.

Okay, fabulous.

I made for you a barbi-oli,

which is barbecue beef rib
and fried okra stuffed ravioli,

with a tomato sauce on top.

[David] Here we go.
I'm gonna steal one of these bad boys.

-David. No, you're not.
-Yes, I will.

[laughs]

David So!

-I make a lot of pasta. I mean, a lot.
-Yeah.

That is actually professionally done,
and not a lot of people do that

because they're frightened
to get it so thin.

And the flavor of that meat,

beef coming through, has worked.

Well done. I salute you.

Thank you.

[David] Great job in using the leftovers.

You got the seasoning right,
and I do appreciate that.

If that sauce was puréed…

perfect.

[Rosemary] If you had added
a little chicken stock to that

and just thinned it out
so it coated the ravioli,

you would have had a restaurant dish.

That's amazing.

-Good job, cooks.
-[Charlie] Thanks.

-Thank you.
-Congrats on using all of your leftovers.

-You should all be really proud.
-Thank you.

We need to have a private discussion
about who's gonna win this competition.

Get in the box.

-[contestants laugh]
-[Jackie] At least it's a cute box.

[Nigel] Nobody wants an ugly box.

This part's about as much fun
as going to the dentist,

but we must extract a winner.

I hate you.

-I think y'all did really good, though.
-You too.

-Everybody, good job.
-Yeah!

-Boom.
-Love it.

Here's what I think.

After round one, all of these three cooks,

they're tied to me.

So, round two is really
gonna be the determining factor

to see who wins this competition.

But the two dishes
that stood out were Charlie and Jim's.

Hands down, they were better than Nigel's.

Unfortunately,
hers did not come up to scratch.

[Jackie]
I'd say she's out of the running.

-Would you guys agree?
-Totally.

-Knocked it out of the park.
-Yeah.

-[Nigel] Did good.
-This was fun. It was a hard hour.

-It was.
-[Jim] Yeah.

I have one person
that stood out more than the other,

and that definitely is Charlie.

His dish was sophisticated.
It was well ex*cuted.

He didn't try and be clever.

-He kept it simple.
-But Jim used that pork two ways.

And that's
what I call utilizing leftovers.

And he was also very smart
to take off the bark

and not put it in the wonton
to make sure that the texture was right

in the dumpling, which I really liked.

-Would've been too gritty, too hard.
-Yeah.

They're two really good dishes.

Both were just
so creative with the leftovers.

Then it's settled.

Oh, cooks!

Nothing to get too excited about.
We just, you know, have a winner.

Six best friends! Ah!

Well, one of the six of us
is gonna win $10,000.

Oh! Go, Jackie.

[all laugh]

There is one cook who took risks
and is now taking home the win.

The winner is…

Charlie!

-[judges applaud]
-[exclaims]

Damn, man.

-Can you believe it?
-You've done it.

-[Jackie] Fabulous!
-Thank you!

Wow.

I had one goal, and I'm…

the winner. [laughs]

I made you a cash-erole!

[laughs]

-A cash-erole with cash.
-[Charlie] It's a cash-erole.

I have to follow through on…
on my promise to my dad.

And I'm going to put
that $10,000 towards my food truck.

We're gonna get there that much sooner.

I feel amazing.

-[playing upbeat melody]
-♪ Next time the waiter asks ♪

♪ "You wanna take that to go?" ♪

♪ Say, "I sure do" ♪

♪ And then turn on this show ♪

Then make sure
his back's completely turned

so you can throw all those dinner rolls
right in your purse, huh? Free bread.

[closing theme music playing]