01x01 - Smoked Out

[bunniefuu]

(dramatic music)

♪

KIRAN: Two world-class chefs,
dropped into the wilderness.

CHEF 1: Every second counts
in this competition.

We get one shot.

KIRAN: Their mission, to find
enough wild ingredients

- to make a five-star meal.
- CHEF 2: Found one.

VIET: It's not your ordinary
day at the grocery store.

KIRAN: And here on the coast
of British Columbia,

the chefs will use those
ingredients to battle it out

and see whose forage feast
reigns supreme.

CHEF 3: Wow, my menu changes
depending on what I find.

KIRAN: I'm Kiran Jethwa,

international chef
and restaurateur.

I've travelled
the globe to collect

and cook
incredible wild foods.

And here in this competition,
only chefs with skills

in both the wilderness
and the kitchen will prevail.

CHEF 4: If I mess this up,
the whole dish will suffer.

KIRAN: This is Chefs vs Wild.

(dramatic music)

♪

(over coms) This is British
Columbia at its most glorious.

This is the wild.

Down in that
intense environment,

two chefs and their
foraging partners will have

just 96 hours to collect
all the ingredients they can

before going head-to-head
in my wilderness kitchen.

The chefs know they
will be provided elk

as a protein
for their main course.

However, the winner will be decided

by who can showcase their
foraged ingredients the best

across a three-course meal.

This challenge will test
the chefs' skills

and culinary imaginations
like never before.

♪

VIET: I'm Viet Pham, and I'm
a chef and restaurateur.

Previously, I was in
the fine dining world.

I won Best New Chef
for Food and Wine in 2011,

but then I just got tired
of all the pretentiousness.

My wife and I own Pretty Bird.

It's a Nashville style
hot chicken restaurant.

Going out into the forest
in this competition

probably is gonna be the hardest
thing that I've ever done.

So for me,
being able to win this

proves to myself
that I'm capable.

SAMMY:
I'm Sammy Mansour.

I'm a chef and food
and climate activist.

I got into cooking
through the family bloodline,

grew up working in my parents'
mom-and-pop joint,

and I've opened up
four different restaurants

to critical acclaim.

I'm ready to show
that I'm one of the best

wilderness chefs out here.

♪

KIRAN: Chef Viet has landed
on a rocky bay

to meet his partner, Dave.

Their proximity
to the shore means

easier access
to a variety of shellfish,

but inland foraging
could be very challenging,

as Pacific storms may have
drenched all the mushrooms.

DAVID:
Hey, hey. Come on up, buddy.

- Get up here.
- VIET: What's your name?

- DAVID: David. Hey, Viet.
- I'm Viet. Nice to meet you.

Where you from?

I'm from a small town...
Hilliard in Ontario, Canada.

- We're in Canadian territory.
- Ugh...

And I'm gonna depend
completely on you, man.

I did some
scouting around back here,

and there's some
nice spots for foraging.

- VIET: Nice. Let's do it.
- DAVID: Okay.

VIET: We'll start
gathering some things.

I'm hoping that
we can find some oysters,

pine branches and see if we
could find some pine mushrooms.

DAVID: Okay.

♪

KIRAN:
Chef Sammy has landed inland.

He won't have access
to shoreline ingredients,

but the higher elevation
offers more chances

of finding mushrooms,
fruit, and roots.

ROBIN:
Hey, bear!

SAMMY: Hello?

Are you my partner?

ROBIN: Yeah! (chuckles)

- Hey.
- SAMMY: Hey, I'm Sammy.

I'm a hugger too.

ROBIN:
Nice to meet you. Robin.

SAMMY:
Nice to meet you.

So what do you have
for an idea for our food?

Kiran is gifting us
locally-sourced elk.

Oh, so good.

What I really want
to make sure we get

is, like, tons of shrooms.

For a seasoning, I'd love
to find some sumac out here.

- Okay, let's get moving, ASAP.
- Yes.

♪

In this competition,
I need to gather as much stuff

as possible,
and we only have so much time.

My initial strategy
is to target

the easier-to-find
ingredients first.

DAVID:
Oh, there's your pine tree, eh?

VIET: Yeah, let's see
what we can grab.

It's good enough.
We'll just take it with us.

I'll do a vinaigrette.

I'll add a bunch of the pine
needles to the vinegar.

It draws out a lot
of the oils and the flavors,

and I can use that as
a seasoning with the elk.

For me, going out into
the woods and the mountains

makes me think back
to my parents.

My parents fled Vietnam
during the w*r and ended up

on an island on
the eastern coast of Malaysia.

My dad built a treehouse,
and that's where I was born.

Winning this competition would
be very meaningful for me

because it would pay homage
to my parents' sacrifices.

Look at this,
it's kind of nice.

The plantain is clean.

DAVID: Here, let me grab a pouch out

so we can put that
in the pouch.

VIET:
Is this the flower bud?

DAVID:
That's the seed bud, yeah.

That'll just grow up,
and every part

of this plantain is edible.

VIET: I can pickle the seeds
from these plantains

as use them as a seasoning
for my appetizer.

Awesome job, my man.

You know it, baby.

I'm David Noel, and I'm
an off-grid homesteader.

It's a winter day
for us up north,

going out in the bush and then
creating yourself a meal.

It's not fancy by any means
'cause usually it's minus 30

and you're just trying
to keep your hands warm.

If I can learn something
out here from a chef,

that would really add a little
bit of zest to my life because

my culinary life doesn't
have much flair at all.

VIET: It's not your ordinary day
at the grocery store.

♪

SAMMY: There's, like, a ton
of cool stuff around here.

(laughs)

I've never actually
spotted juniper in the wild.

This is what I like to cook
my fish up with and my steaks.

SAMMY:
Me too.

I've seen a good amount
of wild fruit

that I want for my dishes.

I've seen juniper.

I even got
some juniper berries.

I can have, like,
a juniper-brined elk loin.

I think it would be marvelous.

This was good.

I most recently was in LA
for seven years.

LA was very hard to cook in.

It was like,
welcome to the pros.

I got involved
with Preux and Proper.

We made
the Michelin Guide in 2019,

but unfortunately, we weren't
able to rebound after COVID.

This competition is my chance
to move on from failure.

Hey, can you, uh,
help me ID this?

ROBIN:
This is, um, spruce.

SAMMY: Okay, I thought
this was spruce as well.

I'm gonna make a brittle
with this for the dessert.

So this is
way more than enough,

but I like
to be in that position.

ROBIN:
My name is Robin Laffeneur.

Being an Anishinaabe
from treaty territory,

I have connections
with the land.

I definitely feel confident
in foraging here in B.C.

SAMMY: We should probably hunt
for, like, dope mushroom.

ROBIN: Okay.

♪

Maybe we head up
around here and go up there.

I have to find pine mushrooms.

It's a very coveted mushroom,

cherished because of its aroma.

It's cherished for its texture.

Oh, yeah, this is...
this is not going to be easy.

What I'm looking for
is, like, little bumps.

That would signify that
there are some pine mushrooms.

I know they're out there, man.

(dramatic music)

♪

SAMMY: The pressure is on
to find these ingredients,

so we split up.

Robin is gonna backtrack
and try to find sumac,

and I'm gonna go on a hunt
for some pine mushrooms.

I'm certainly
no mushroom expert,

but I've also been foraging
on several continents.

DAVID: Come on, forest, show me
where the mushrooms are at.

Yeah, I... I don't know
what this is.

Mushrooms are
one of those things

that you do not want
to take any risks with.

If you can't positively
identify it, don't eat it

because there's far too many
varieties that can k*ll you.

My dad told me stories
about other refugees.

They were so hungry,
they cooked a snake.

They ended up k*lling
their whole entire family

because the snake
was poisonous.

So I want to be
as careful as possible,

but if I don't
get enough ingredients

for the competition,
that's my worst nightmare.

They're here, they're just
not the right ones.

Jackpot.

We've got some
pine mushroom here.

Very, very excited about this.

This is a lot of mushroom meat.

I think these pine mushrooms

could be the base
for an amazing soup broth,

which I could serve
as my appetizer.

VIET: You know what these are,
Dave, right here?

DAVID:
Where are you looking?

These, like, little, uh...

these little black berries
on there.

DAVID: Oh, man,
these are huckleberries.

VIET:
Oh, my God.

This is awesome.

These huckleberries are just
what we needed right now.

They're sweet and fresh
and will really add

a nice element of the forest
into my dessert.

We don't come back
with mushrooms,

at least we come back
with huckleberries.

KIRAN: So far, Chef Sammy
has found culinary gold

with those pine mushrooms,
which can sell

for up to $2,000 per pound
in some markets.

Viet's huckleberries
are at their seasonal peak,

which means intense flavors,
but he'll need more

to give himself a chance
to beat Sammy.

For now,
shelter and fire take priority

as temperatures will drop
at night.

SAMMY: I might need your help
constructing something.

I want to use
snare wire to hang

the mushrooms
over the fire and dry them.

Dry age them out here
to develop

some, like, layers of flavor.

- It's not a good idea.
- Why?

It's dangerous.

It's gonna be
above our heads, dude.

We can adjust it.

I just want
to [bleep] get 'em up.

ROBIN:
It's not smart to do that.

That could take off your head.

It's a very dangerous move.

SAMMY: But if you're worried
about, you know,

cutting our heads off,
not gonna happen.

ROBIN: I am worried it being
a safety hazard, yes.

Like, that's snare wire.

SAMMY: Dude, it's like...

ROBIN: Aren't you gonna put
your mushrooms in it first?

No.

ROBIN: Well, how are you
gonna get them on?

Dude, you're k*lling me.

- (Robin laughs)
- Can I just [bleep] do this?

At the end of the day,
this is a competition

where two chefs
go head-to-head

to prepare world-class food.

So when I'm put in a position
where I can't

put my plan in motion because
people are slowing me down,

I don't have a lot
of tolerance for that.

All right, we've got
our first culinary process.

Pine mushrooms
dry aging over open fire.

♪

So as we were sitting here,
talking about the menu,

an ember popped,
landed on the moss,

ignited the moss,
and a fire broke out.

It climbed up the rock wall
and burned down our entire roof.

We used all the water
that we had to put it out.

So, I mean, we got lucky,
we were still awake,

but that could
have been terrible.

This is not exactly
what I signed up for.

(dramatic music)

♪

VIET: Man.

Pretty much the only thing
I hate in the bush is the wind.

VIET: First the fire,
and now this.

This sucks.

DAVID: [bleep] me.

We ain't doing [bleep].

Holy [bleep].

(Viet sighs)

SAMMY: Let's go fishing.

Be careful.

Fish are more active
when it rains.

We don't have time
to wait out this storm.

ROBIN: Whoa, holy crap.

SAMMY: You okay?

ROBIN: Um, you're gonna need this

'cause it's sucking
my foot right in.

SAMMY: Okay.

ROBIN: I can't get out,
like, unless...

no, like, I'm way deep
in there.

SAMMY: Okay.

I can't fall in with you,
or we're both [bleep].

Climb up to the middle.

Stay in the middle, okay?

- ROBIN: Okay, got it.
- SAMMY: Stay in the middle.

Why don't we get out
of the water, get out of here.

ROBIN: Okay.

SAMMY: This won't work.
We got to retreat.

VIET:
We're cold, we're wet.

At least the wind
finally died down.

I had my mind on my getting
some really great mushrooms,

but it's just all wet,
damp, just nothing.

The strategy now
is to focus on seafood...

oyster, clams, or crab.

(grunts)

Getting up and down
this hill is torturous,

and it's gonna be
very dangerous, especially now.

A slip and fall
could literally

end this competition.

But I'm not letting that
or bad weather keep me

from getting the oysters
I want on my menu

while the tide is still low.

I'm trying to go
in sort of a shallower spot.

Oysters and clams
cluster in the mud

in coastal tide pools,
so this part of the shore

is the best place
to find them.

There.

First oyster. Whoo-hoo!

DAVID: Awesome.

It's a stubborn one.

VIET:
Oh, shucked it.

Oh, [bleep].

DAVID:
That's a monster.

It's your first raw oyster.

- Oh, I don't know.
- Dude, eat it.

I'm telling you it's good,
it's delicious.

- Yeah?
- VIET: Yeah.

Don't worry,
just put it in your mouth.

- Really pops.
- Yeah, it's fresh, man.

It's gonna be a great meal.

I am super, super excited.

There's a ton of oysters.
Who doesn't love oysters?

Oysters are like
the hottest thing.

So good.

So I just got
a container of seawater.

As an appetizer,
I want to shuck an oyster

and then gently poach it
in the seawater.

KIRAN: Viet fought
intense wind and rain

for a massive haul
of Pacific oysters,

famous for their perfectly
balanced texture and flavor.

Meanwhile,
Sammy has not made any gains.

Both chefs must scramble
for ingredients

and pull together a plan
in these last crucial hours.

This forage
has been demanding,

but the judging will be tough.

♪

(upbeat music)

♪

SAMMY: You know, so at this point, uh,

there's a pretty great
sense of urgency here...

ROBIN: Right.

SAMMY: To find some
of these key ingredients.

I need sumac because
it's very tart and bright.

Also, I would like
a crab apple because

it's a versatile ingredient.

I'm gonna kind of
lean on your plant knowledge

to determine whether we go
down there or up there.

ROBIN: Down there,
you'd find mushrooms.

Up there you'd find...

SAMMY:
Sumac and apples?

- ROBIN: Yeah.
- SAMMY: Okay.

ROBIN: Yeah, mushrooms
grow in thicker parts

of the forest,
but crab apple trees prefer

to grow in the fields
where they get more sun.

VIET: Let's make sure
we look all around.

DAVID:
I got a good feeling.

VIET:
You do? I don't.

We're running out of time,
but I'm still

trying to find
some pine mushrooms.

Last night,
I didn't have any sleep.

I'm so tired.

Every step that I take,
it's like walking,

you know, a mile.

I didn't see any.

Viet, he had a pretty
rough night last night.

He's trying to stay positive
and stay focused.

But I can tell
the fatigue, the sleep,

the no food,
it's hurting him pretty bad.

It's gonna be tough on him.

ROBIN: Watch your footing.
It's slippery.

SAMMY:
I'm getting my machete.

ROBIN: No, don't do that.
You're gonna hurt yourself.

SAMMY:
I can't walk through it.

Just let me get my machete, dude.

Like, do you want
to walk through these vines

and have them hit you
in the [bleep] face?

ROBIN: Look, there's an opening
right there, it's thinner out.

You don't need to go through
all this thick stuff.

SAMMY: It's not an opening,
it's water.

I mean, I know you're
the expert, but you don't have

to second-guess
every decision that I make.

ROBIN:
Let me see.

Come on, man, opening.

SAMMY: I'm still getting
my machete out.

ROBIN:
Save your calories.

My partner today,
he's feeling the pressure.

There is a lot
of stress in survival,

so I know exactly
what he's going through.

SAMMY: I need to go in the field

and get those ingredients.

They must be out there,
and the only reason

why we wouldn't find them
is because we didn't

push ourselves to work
hard enough to keep going.

ROBIN:
Hold on.

Yo.

SAMMY:
Those look like crab apples.

ROBIN:
(laughs) Oh, man.

Yeah, baby.

Oh, man.

SAMMY:
Such a cool color.

Crab apples
are an amazing find.

They're crunchy, they're sweet.

I can take some crab apples,
gently poach them,

and make, like,
a really luscious purée.

But the mystery item
still here is sumac.

ROBIN:
It's out here.

Oh, dirty Diane.

That's cow...
chicken of the woods.

Well, it looks like
it just got broke off.

That fell off,
maybe in the storm.

That chicken of the woods
is quite mature,

and it's not very palatable.

I'm hoping that there's
still some tender pieces,

but Mother Nature gives you
what she gives you.

Yeah, this is
chicken of the woods, man.

This literally has
the same texture

and almost a similar flavor
to chicken.

I'm gonna batter
the chicken of the woods,

and then fry it,
and then serve it like a piece

of fried chicken
with the Nashville style

hot seasoning to pay homage
to my restaurant.

All right, let's do it.

t's been really, really hard.

It's been taxing
on the mind, the body.

You know, when I think back
to my parents,

when they were on the island,

building shelter
and having to find food,

I can only imagine
what they had to go through.

This isn't as hard
as what they went through,

but, you know,
at least now I have a glimpse.

♪

ROBIN: Let's just take
a look up there

really quickly in the open.

We can walk up
and go right up this way.

- SAMMY: Okay, you lead.
- ROBIN: Okay.

SAMMY: The sumac's on the top
of the list,

and it's
the hardest thing to find.

If I don't find sumac,
I don't know

what I could do
to replace that.

It's gonna be a major bummer.

ROBIN:
You see it?

SAMMY:
I mean, that might be it.

ROBIN:
That's it.

That's it!

This is eleventh hour,
and we found the sumac.

ROBIN: I know.

SAMMY: It's crazy!

It really came down
to the wire with the sumac.

The sumac is gonna be

a key ingredient
in my dessert.

Robin had some
really cool tracker moments.

She pretty much led us,
like, right to it.

ROBIN:
(chuckles) Let's bounce.

SAMMY: Throughout this
adventure, I put myself

through some very
extreme conditions,

but I was not willing
to give up,

and through this experience,
I realized that I've always

been the one
that doesn't break.

And that's probably how
I kept climbing up

and became the chef.

I feel like the universe
wanted us to find this.

(Robin laughs)

♪

ROBIN: So what are
you doing right now?

SAMMY:
Harvesting beetles.

Foraging at night is risky,

but this is when
the bugs come out.

I'm excited to include

unconventional to the Western world things

like using insects on my menu.

Found one.

This guy's gonna be
easy to lose.

The beetles are
a really unique ingredient.

I can actually smell
what they're gonna taste like.

It's like
a picante Italian salumi

and like Taleggio.

I know I want to incorporate
the beetles

into my first dish
by using them as stuffing

for some tortellini
in my mushroom soup.

♪

Ugh.
(chuckles)

This is, like, the coldest cold
that I've ever experienced.

Definitely did not plan
for how cold this would be.

I got on pretty much
everything that I have,

and it's freezing.

If it wasn't for Dave
keeping this fire up...

we got a big day tomorrow, but,
uh, I don't think we're gonna

get any sleep tonight,
to be honest.

(dramatic music)

♪

VIET: You know, after spending
days out in the wilderness,

I feel so hungry and tired,
and looking at Sammy,

I could see he's ready
to go to battle.

Like, he's a warrior,

but this is the time
that I'm gonna shine.

I'm ready.

SAMMY: Viet is definitely
bringing a lifelong journey

of being a chef
to the kitchen.

I can tell already that I've
gotta be on my A-game

to be able to match what he's
gonna bring to the table.

- Wow.
- Whoa.

- VIET: Wow.
- SAMMY: That's dope.

- DAVID: Oh, my God.
- VIET: This is an amazing setup.

- ROBIN: Look at that!
- SAMMY: Check it out.

DAVID: You guys are
gonna destroy this.

SAMMY: I see the kitchen
for the first time.

It is like we made it
to the Promised Land.

VIET: I've cooked
in outdoor kitchens before,

but nothing like this.

This has everything that
an outdoor chef could wish for.

- Chefs.
- ROBIN: Hey.

KIRAN: Survivalists, guys,
you made it.

Welcome to my
wilderness kitchen.

Cooking with fire
at its finest.

Let me introduce
Valerie Segrest.

Welcome.

KIRAN: She's a member
of the Muckleshoot Tribe

and she is an encyclopedia
of knowledge

about wild edibles.

I'm sure that you've
learned a lot of lessons,

really realizing that our
foods are our greatest teachers

and that that all gets to be
manifested on the plate today.

KIRAN: Viet, you're getting
a bit choked up there.

It was hard,
it was really hard.

You have really been tested
out there, I know that,

and now you are going to be
properly tested in here.

Here it is, elk.

You have a heart, half each,

and a nice fat bit
of strip loin or sirloin.

David, Robin,
be their sous chefs.

Chefs, you have four hours
to create an appetizer,

an entrée, and a dessert,
relying on the ingredients

that you have foraged,
and you will be judged

on how you make
these ingredients shine.

- Let's get to it.
- Good luck.

- Happy cooking, boys.
- DAVID: Good luck, guys.

The first 15 minutes is
when you might be so excited

that you move a little
too quick and, you know,

hurt yourself,
so just take your time.

VIET: I woke up this morning
feeling pretty tired,

pretty hungry,
and I kind of questioned

whether I would
have the energy.

But now that
I'm in the kitchen,

I'm reborn again.

SAMMY: Start working on
the filling for the tortellini,

which is gonna be
heart and beetle.

I'm gonna grind it,

then I'm gonna
sauté it together.

I want the flavor
of the beetle to come out.

A little bit goes a long way.

The plan for my appetizer
is tortellini en brodo

stuffed with elk heart
and beetles,

and then I want my brodo,
which is broth,

to be made
with those pine mushrooms.

I want this to be
uncomfortably hot over here.

ROBIN:
Sounds good, man.

VIET: Focusing
on the dessert right now.

This is gonna be
the, uh, corn flour cake.

I'm gonna add
some pine needles

and serve it
with a whipped cream

with huckleberries
that we were able to forage.

The dessert was something
that I was pretty worried about

because I'm not a pastry chef,

so I kind of want
to get this out of the way.

- We're gonna put the cake on.
- DAVID: Kay.

VIET: And then we're gonna take
some coals...

- DAVID: Put them on top?
- VIET: Yeah, go ahead.

- DAVID: That good?
- VIET: Yep.

Right now, I want to start

a crab apple and potato purée
for my entrée.

Sammy, how you feeling, man?

Feeling good,
but it's intense.

And what are you gonna be
doing with the sumac there?

I want it on the dessert.

My dessert is duck fat
beignets with sumac,

with a spruce brittle.

So you got some of this going

when you were out there
in the field?

Yeah, I dry aged
my mushrooms over smoke.

These are the meaty guys
for the dish,

but the rest of them all got
fortified into a broth.

Do you like seeing him in his
world and his element now?

This is the first time
I've ever seen

a chef do their thing
in the kitchen.

KIRAN: They're quite
intense people, aren't they?

- Very.
- We're maniacs.

- Yes.
- (laughter)

- Hey, Viet.
- How are you doing?

KIRAN: How excited are you
about that mushroom?

VIET:
Pretty excited.

David actually found
this chicken of the woods.

I'm actually gonna
chicken fry this,

and then I'm gonna put
some Nashville spices

that we're gonna put together.

It's a little bit old,
but we're gonna work with it.

And this is the thing
about wild food.

You know, you don't get
to choose the best,

you take what's there,
and you make the most of it.

You just cherish the treasures.

Would you have liked
to get pine mushrooms maybe?

I would have loved
to get pine mushrooms.

Just a little bit of that will
perfume everything that you do.

You know,
you don't want to smoke it,

you don't want to do
all these things,

because it loses
all of its inherentness.

KIRAN:
So you wouldn't have smoked it.

- He smoked it?
- KIRAN: Mm.

- Hey, Sam.
- (laughs)

You smoked
the pine mushrooms?

- SAMMY: Yeah, I smoked them.
- Oh, my God.

I dry age smoked them.

(laughing) Oh...

Hey, don't tell me
how to cook my food, boy,

I ain't gonna go over there
and tell you

how to cook your food now, okay?

That just broke my heart.
(laughs)

I'll probably break both your
hearts today, so, you know,

we'll leave it at that.

SAMMY: I'm making a juniper
and ginger brine

to drop my elk loin in.

My entrée is gonna be
a juniper brined elk loin

and elk heart tartare.

Just get some flavor working.

Chefs, Sammy, Viet.

You guys have two hours
until you have to plate.

VIET: I'm in the weeds.
There's so much to do.

So I'm gonna make
a forest chimichurri.

It's gonna be
part of the entrée,

and what that is is basically
an Argentine steak sauce.

But instead of using parsley,

I'm gonna add pine needles
to the vinegar.

This is the most meaningful
meal that I've ever cooked.

I can't mess it up.

SAMMY: Tempering in the egg
so I can make some beignets.

It's really gotta be
done gracefully

so that we don't just make
scrambled eggs in this.

I usually do this
in a machine that costs $1,000.

ROBIN: Damn.

SAMMY: Just hold this.
We'll keep trying.

- Come on.
- ROBIN: Okay.

SAMMY: It's not coming together
the way it's supposed to.

I know.

Just focus on holding
the bowl.

Okay.

Sammy, Viet,
I have very good news.

Only one hour
until I get to taste

your incredible creations.

Oh, this is nice
and cooled down already.

- Cake tester.
- DAVID: Wow, thank you.

Oh, buddy, nice job.

Y'know, Viet,
I do a lot of hunting,

I'm pretty much
primarily a protein guy,

a meat guy,
but since you started

feeding me all this good stuff,
I think I might

have to start learning
some new skills.

SAMMY: I'm gonna try
to make some spruce brittle.

Oh, man,
you can smell that spruce.

Spreading out my spruce brittle

so that it's nice and thin

'cause I'm gonna crack it up.

Come on, baby, get going.

VIET: All right, Dave,
I want you to look at this.

This is the seawater

that we gathered
from the ocean right here.

DAVID: So is that water
to a boil or just slightly?

VIET:
No, it's just a simmer.

Yeah, we just want
to gently poach it.

We're cooking it
in its own environment,

just to preserve

- its inherent brininess.
- DAVID: Yeah.

VIET: And then what we're gonna
do is just gently grill it.

- DAVID: Oh, nice.
- I'm gonna let it cool down.

- DAVID: Okay.
- VIET: And then we're gonna

just, like, quickly sear it
with the embers.

Teams! You guys have
half an hour left...

30 minutes.

So this is the plantain.

I'm gonna have you
just pick out the little buds

and then put it on the oysters.

DAVID: Okay.

Oh, my God,
this looks so amazing.

SAMMY: I like that there's
still pieces of the beetle

that didn't get
finely ground into this,

so we know that
there's gonna be some

beetle texture
in the tortellini.

Look at that meat.

Down to the wire.

Can you get there, Viet?

VIET:
We have no choice, right?

SAMMY:
Okay, dropping beignets.

Viet, Sammy,
five minutes, guys,

till your plates
have to be ready.

SAMMY:
Comin' over with hot doughnuts.

ROBIN: Okay.

VIET:
Damn it.

DAVID: We're running out
of coals here as well, man.

It's not good.

VIET: I'm cooking
chicken of the woods mushroom.

I need to make sure that
the pan is constantly hot,

but the fire is out,

and I don't have time for that.

I'm not gonna finish.
I need you to, like, hustle.

[bleep].

DAVID: This wood thing's
a whole different ballgame.

You just start doing one thing,
another stove goes out.

Same as being in the bush,
you're always

tending to that fire.

This is the crispy
fried chicken of the woods.

I'm gonna dunk it
in some hot oil

that's seasoned
with a little bit of spice.

I'm going to sprinkle
the Nashville hot spices.

And that's
Nashville hot chicken.

Where's our sumac?

ROBIN:
Our sumac's right here.

Okay, guys, one minute.

SAMMY:
Go grab me some sea salt.

ROBIN:
There you go.

SAMMY:
No, fine sea salt. I got it.

KIRAN:
30 seconds, guys.

Come on, Sammy!

Five, four, three, two, time!

(dramatic music)

♪

KIRAN: Chefs, we want to see

three exquisite-tasting
plates of food

that allow your wild
foraged ingredients to shine

and what you will ultimately
be judged on.

If you can both bring up
your appetizers,

then we'll get into it.

- Incredible.
- VALERIE: So amazing.

That's really impressive, man.

I think, Viet,
we'll start with yours.

This is chicken
of the woods fried,

and there's
Nashville spice on there.

So this oyster is poached,
and then I gently grilled it.

The buds on there
are pickled plantain.

- KIRAN: Amazing.
- VIET: Please enjoy.

That tastes just like chicken.

- It does.
- (Valerie laughs)

- Are you an oyster fan?
- VALERIE: I am an oyster fan.

KIRAN:
Mm-hmm. There we go.

It's like fresh.

I've never poached
the oyster in seawater before.

Good call...
so you're reviving it

with that same water
it came from.

- VIET: Yeah.
- That makes sense.

That's one of the best
oysters I've ever eaten.

Thank you.

The goal here was
to create five-star dishes.

I don't think you could get

a more five-star dish
out of a foraged ingredient.

I couldn't do better.
You can taste the mushroom.

You can really taste
what it tastes like,

and then you've allowed
the other things

just to support it.

That's a clever use
of your ingredients.

- Well done.
- Thank you.

Okay. All right, Sammy.

Well, I've prepared
a tortellini in brodo.

- KIRAN: Go for it, man, please.
- VALERIE: So pretty.

SAMMY: The crème de la crème
of the dish

is the pine mushroom
in this broth.

KIRAN:
Very clever.

SAMMY: The tortellini
is an acorn pasta

filled with beetles.

I ground the beetles with elk
heart and some aromatics.

There's a ton of those
pine mushrooms in this broth.

Cheers, as they say.

The pine mushroom to create
a broth with that much depth,

without having any bones
anywhere in the kitchen...

it's a testament
to your ability.

My critique is the beetles.

I love insects.

I've eaten
a ton of them in my life.

I really enjoy them.

They're just
a bit lost in there.

Can you bring up
your entrées, please?

Okay, Sammy,
we're gonna start with yours.

- VALERIE: Nice.
- SAMMY: We've got the elk loin

brined in juniper tips

and juniper berries,
but then there's

also the raw,
finely chopped heart tartare.

There is potato purée
with crab apple.

Enjoy.

Sammy, Sammy, Sammy.

Wow.

I think you've done
a very good job

with how you chopped up
the heart,

it just sort of
disappears in your mouth.

You know,
when you eat an apple that

isn't quite there,
and you get that...

that really tannic?

Often when you're eating
food that's foraged,

you get that, and that brings
that into my mouth,

which I think
in any other environment,

I'd probably find offensive.

But actually,
I quite like it here.

Okay, the crab apple
in the potatoes, lost, wasted.

So that's my least favorite bit
of the dish.

But there is some real genius
here that I like.

Viet.

I sautéed the elk
and the elk hearts.

I smoked it
with some cedarwood,

finished it off on the grill,
and then I made

a chimichurri sauce for you
utilizing pine.

♪

It's got, like,
a conifer taste to it.

That pine is in there.

I, like, wish there was
a bucket of that chimichurri

on top of this,
'cause it's very, very good.

That's where I think
you could have punched it home

and made the forest
own this dish,

rather than it just being

a little bit
of a back accent there.

Okay, guys, this is it,
last course.

Dessert.
Viet, let's see what you got.

VIET:
This is a cornmeal cake.

I whipped up some cream,
and, uh, the caramel was made

with, uh, sugar, pine needles,

um, and a little smoke
and salt.

VALERIE:
And what's in the cream?

VIET: I added, uh, eight
huckleberries that I found.

VALERIE: Huckleberries are
a cultural pride food for us.

The juice of the berry is
called the blood of the earth,

and that evergreen
is the last of the year.

So good call to go after that.

KIRAN:
Cornmeal cake.

What I would say is that

the flavors of the forest
have got lost in it.

I am not getting it.

What's saved this, in a sense,
is the berries are lovely,

they bring
a texture that's missing.

Yeah.

KIRAN: Okay, Sammy,
let's see your dessert.

- Ooh.
- SAMMY: Pâte à choux beignets.

There's two things on top,
some sumac that's been dried

over cedar
with a spruce brittle.

Enjoy.

- KIRAN: It's really delicious.
- VALERIE: Mm-hmm.

I just don't get
the sumac anywhere.

I think the cooking,
the heat, the flour...

I don't know what's k*lled it,
because it's lost

that effervescent, lemony...
you know the taste.

And I think
if that taste was there,

this would have
totally transformed the dish.

Your work is done.
Guys, your work is done.

We're gonna go away
and just think about this.

Thank you.

SAMMY: It was a bummer
about that sumac,

but I love
the food that we cooked.

I wouldn't have changed it.

VIET: I've never, ever had
to cook this hard in my life,

never had a meal
meant so much to me.

I thought about my parents.
I thought about my wife.

Knowing that
they were my fuel,

they were what pushed me
and enabled me

to get this far in the finish.

♪

Well, here we are
after a very,

very long journey.

You've given me, as a chef,
so much today.

I've learned a lot
from your use of ingredients.

Our ancestors would say that
everything we need to survive

and thrive is on the land,
all around us, at all times.

That really came through,
someone with magic

who put that
right into the plate.

It's really difficult
for me to stand here

and try and pick somebody.

It's like a spruce twig

between you.

So the winner
of this challenge...

(suspenseful music)

Viet, you just edged it for me.
Well done.

(applause)

SAMMY: I'm content.

This experience is gonna
have a major impact

on my relationship
to the food system,

constantly making sure
that I honor the plant,

honor the entire animal
because of what

I experienced
out here in the wild.

- DAVID: We did it.
- VIET: We did it, man.

It's been an amazing journey.

DAVID: Good job, brother.

VIET: Being on this
competition made me

look at nature
in such a different way.

There is a connection,
and through that connection,

I just want to do good
for this world.

Yeah.

Really, really good job,
you guys.

Thank you.