01x12 - The Lobster Dish

[bunniefuu]

(ambient music)

(gentle music)

- [Announcer] Welcome to

Sparklers, part cooking competition

and travel show, featuring some of

the world's best sparkling wines.

- [Narrator] At stake is

an all expense trip paid

to Limoux, France, the

birthplace of sparkling wine,

to visit Faire La Fete

Sparkling Wine House.

- There was a clear

winner, and that was Meg.

(Meg yelling)

(group laughing)

Now we've got Claire in the lead

and a four way tie for second.

- Oh my God.

- So what's happening next

is that we're actually going

to have Claire be the judge.

And the four of you are

going to cook for Claire.

She is going to blind judge

your dishes and whoever wins

that competition will then be going into

a sudden death match against Claire.

(group laughing)

- [George] Oh my God.

- You're not on teams this time.

You're just going to be

cooking against each other

in the same kitchen.

- Okay, okay.

(upbeat music)

(happy, country music)

- Yeah, leaving Oregon, I

thought I was out of it.

I thought it was over.

- I knew it was gonna be close.

I didn't know it was

going to be this close.

- [Matthew] I thought

Meg was done for too.

- [Meghan] I mean, at the end

of the day, we're all friends,

but we are all here to win.

- [George] I really want to win.

I haven't won anything yet.

- There's not just prizes on the line,

it does come back to the bragging rights

we've all been talking about.

- I'd like to win at least something.

- So even though I was the winner of

the perfect bite challenge,

I don't get to be a judge this time.

There's a twist because

of the four way tie.

- All four of us not named

Claire Coppi are in it

to go head-to-head with

her, which is insane.

- [Meghan] So we're all going

head-to-head individually,

but teams of two versus

each other at the same time,

which is a lot of pressure.

- [George] It's kind of

cool that she's going

to be tasting it blind.

So it makes it a lot more fair.

- I think I'm a little nervous today,

especially with everything

that's on the line.

- The tension could not be higher.

- This is definitely not the final step,

there's still someone that has to win

and go head-to-head with Claire.

- [Maryam] I said this

at the very beginning

and I stand by it.

I knew Claire's palette was

something that was going to come

into play and create a

threat for all of us.

- [Matthew] We know that

Claire is going to win

either first or second place,

but here's so much on the line

for the other four of us.

- It'd be nice to be able

to take something back home.

- I don't know what's

going to happen today.

I'm going to bring the

rain the best I can.

- We're gonna drink lot of champagne,

but we're also going to throw down.

Nobody is going to hold back.

- So today's dish is lobster based.

I don't typically prefer lobsters,

so I'm having some difficulty

being inspired by this dish.

But it's the dish that gets

you to the final round,

so I have to get excited.

(soft music)

- [Announcer] Today's challenge is

to pair Krug with a lobster dish

inspired by French Michelin star chef

Arnaud Lallement in Champagne, France.

(soft music)

(speaking French)

- Me versus Kaner in a blind

tasting, at least it's blind.

So at the beginning, if I

had to pick someone to do

all of that with, it was Matthew Kaner.

Just because he has red

hair, cause why not?

But Matthew is very intense.

- And red on red, come on, come on.

- [Meghan] It's going to

be interesting to face off

with him in the kitchen.

- [Matthew] I've watched over

the last couple of episodes,

the intensity really kick up from her.

I kind of want to keep those who might be

your most formidable foe close right now.

- He's got something planned.

It's going to be interesting

to see what it is.

- I don't know, maybe I'll psych her out.

Maybe she'll psych me out.

I'm not sure what's going to happen,

but it's going to be fun.

What I've learned is if you

win, you want to beat the best.

- That's very nice.

- You know what I'm saying?

- Is that why you chose me?

- (sighs) You're the one with

the hottest streak right now, yeah.

- (sighs) Got to say, cooking

with Krug does not suck.

- Cooking with Krug does

not suck, cooking with-

- Anything with Krug does not suck.

- Lobsters in front of us is a

little nerve wracking though.

- That is nerve wracking.

- Yeah.

Butterfly it out like that.

- (laughs) Just stop talking about it.

Are you trying to get in my head?

- No.

Opa, may the best lobster dance.

- Cheers.

- (laughs) Cheers.

- So I'm going to throw everything at it.

I'm going to put caviar,

I'm going to do some uni

we still have some fresh uni.

I'm going to layer that on

top of butter poached lobster,

and then try to freshen it

up with some Meyer lemon

that we have on site here,

some Meyer lemon zest,

and then probably grab some borage,

the edible flowers from the garden.

Why not throw something

really exciting at her?

- I decided today to break

it down, do the tail.

I'm going to barbecue the

tail with a little apple wood,

get a little smoke, get a little char.

I'm going to do it with smoked

paprika and garlic butter.

And I'm gonna make my homemade

chimichurri, which I love.

All right guy, I appreciate

all you've done for us.

I sacrifice you to the Champagne gods.

Take us to France.

(sighs) God damn it.

(both exclaiming)

Yeah, you're done, he's gone.

(Meg exclaiming)

- What if I did a lobster

dish with no lobster?

- I'm happy to jump on the

b*mb for you, you know?

- [Meghan] Oh yeah?

Like you're going to do mine.

- No, that's not how I meant that.

- (laughs) I think mine

works better than yours.

- You already got the knife?

- Yeah, I just went for it,

I couldn't handle it anymore.

I said I was going to stop

talking about therapy,

but then we did this (shudders).

- But what's good about this

is we're really learning.

- What are we learning Matthew, please?

- How to do this and how not

to freak out while doing it.

As my voice cracks.

- I don't know that

I'll stop freaking out.

I'm definitely not a lobster pro.

- No, this is my first time.

- Same.

- Well, I got to start on

my other part of the dish.

Not get so nervous.

It's funny, I feel like I

shouldn't even describe my dish

cause I got my competition

right next to me.

- [Meghan] That's right.

- [Matthew] I've never

been so nervous making

a dish on this show.

- [Meghan] Good God.

- For those who are wondering,

I'm making a chimichurri sauce.

I haven't talked to anyone

to let them know that yet.

Peeling garlic with time

constraints is gnarly.

It just doesn't do what you need it to do.

I learned a lot about

myself and about lobsters.

- [Meghan] Life in general.

- Yeah, I've learned

I mean today has been eye opening.

- Very sentimental.

- Right?

- Though we're ending with m*rder.

- [Matthew] I'm too sober for this.

- As long as nothing starts on fire.

(winces) Ooh, that was close.

Dear God, it's so hot.

- Take a deep breath,

it's all gonna be okay.

Well my lemon garlic parsley butter.

It's going to be a little

difficult to get out,

but I had to do it this way.

- Got it.

My hands are covered in butter.

- Perfect.

So I learned about this

technique that because the shell

is like that, you basically

have it on indirect heat

because otherwise that would cook so fast.

So I actually need to do

about a two minute timer

and I'm going to baste it with

my delicious butter sauce.

- Smoking me out over here,

is that part of the strategy?

- No cigars, no marijuana,

just straight up barbecue.

You're down wind.

- [Meghan] Interesting.

- [Matthew] Hm.

- Hm.

Oh sh*t, I forgot about the herbs.

- [Matthew] Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

- [Meghan] Oh my goodness.

- [Matthew] And my guy's on fire.

- [Meghan] Oh, that's

exciting, it looks good.

(upbeat music)

- [Matthew] Not exactly

what I was hoping for.

That's what happens when you use

all that butter, all that fat,

- [Meghan] Will that actually

pair with passion fruit?

I love this passion fruit.

- Passion fruit definitely

was a secret weapon of yours.

- [Meghan] I know, it's so good.

- Gotta get char on these

buttery, lemony lemons, garlic.

- [Meghan] Buttery and lemony lemons?

- [Matthew] Buttery, lemony, fiery.

- Are you going to miss me, Matthew?

- I'm gonna miss you so much.

I have to come visit you

up in Napa all the time.

- [Meghan] Yeah you will.

- Okay, this is harder

than I expected it to be.

- Ooh I meant to put shallots in there.

- [Matthew] This is a lot

harder than I thought.

- [Meghan] I just hope

it's good, that's all.

- [Matthew] A little extra

butter never k*lled anyone.

Garlic, lemon, truffle salt.

Lobsters like truffle, I think.

Claire does.

(upbeat music)

- [Meghan] Claire likes truffle, you said?

- Let's hope, absolutely.

So I'm finishing up my plating right now.

Bob's your uncle.

- Bob's your uncle.

- Let's go to France.

(soft music)

- Man, what a lousy job I have.

This is awesome, oh my gosh.

We got uni, caviar, gorgeous

plating on this guy.

Alrighty, so we have plate number one,

which looks like a beautiful

grilled lobster tail

with some kind of maybe

gorgeous chimichurri, love it.

And then some more lobster

tail this time with

some of that gorgeous Santa

Barbara uni and some caviar,

it looks like sturgeon,

really pretty plating.

So this is dish number one,

this is dish number two.

I think I'm going to eat

dish number two first,

just because I don't want kind of these

more overpowering flavors

to overpower the uni.

We're pretty close to the coast,

so I love all of these sea elements.

And now I'm going to eat it.

It's literally like I

just walked into the ocean

and I got this blast of

sea spray, in a nice way.

And it's just, the flavor's lingering,

the sauce is delicate enough

for all these ingredients.

It's really, really pretty.

And it's great with the

champagne, very good.

Whoever did that, did a great job.

Not that I'm surprised.

Okay, so now we'll go back

to dish number one here.

It looks like it's already

been zested for me.

So that's ooh

They cooked this really well.

I will say that the cook

on dish two, the lobster is

a little overdone, but

also who am I to talk after

I just destroyed that meat the other day?

(groans) sh*t, this is really good.

Whoever these two were, they came to play.

These are great.

The flavors in these,

you just get obviously

so much more savory, it's

almost like they took

the steak approach, which

for a lobster's tail

that is a really nice

meaty part of the animal.

That's so good.

These are both very good

dishes, very complete,

very complex, both go well with the wine.

So I'm excited to see

what the other two do

with their lobster dishes.

(tense music)

- Just when you think George and I

are over our competitive hump

- I'm not going to try to

sabotage her or anything,

but I'm definitely going

to try to win for sure.

- We now have to be in

the kitchen together.

- I love Maryam.

Maryam is the homie.

She is a really good friend of mine.

- We've been playing Cornhole all week,

we have an open ping pong tournament,

UNO is completely off

the table at this point.

This is our next competition,

and it's a big one.

- Hopefully she doesn't get

in my way and I'm going to try

the best to stay out of her way.

- We're both head down,

strong individuals (laughs).

- So it'll be interesting to

cook side by side with her.

- I'm hoping that he doesn't

sh*t talk me too much

because that could

definitely get under my skin.

- I really want to beat her (laughs).

It's going to be amazing,

it's going to be fun.

- Oh sh*t, and they're

already f*cking moving.

There goes my no curse words on the show.

- (laughs) Amazing, amazing.

- All right, what's

happening, what do we do?

Well, you're going down the

middle of the tail, huh?

Should I do it?

I'm really sorry, man.

I'm going to do it, oh f*ck.

I'm so sorry.

(George laughing)

It's right here?

- I would do it

I would actually turn the knife around.

- This way?

- Yeah, that way.

- Right here?

- Yeah, right there in it's

head, all the way through.

All the way through, there you go.

There you go.

- Sorry bruh, gotta eat.

- Gotta eat.

- Lobster bisque on the

east coast was one of

my first interactions with

food that is like seared

into my memory and it was

something that changed

my relationship to food.

I was like seven, I think.

I can't believe we're back

in the kitchen like this

after we've just got so close to healing.

- [George] Competing

together, yeah, right?

- [Maryam] We were so close-

- [George] And now we're here.

Oh my goodness.

- I'm really intimidated by how expertly

you're breaking down that

lobster, if I'm being honest.

(George laughing)

I've never done that before.

We're still friends, right now?

- For now.

- Are you going to tell me

what you got up your sleeve?

- Yeah, it's nothing crazy, honestly.

- That's cool, that's cool, that's smart.

- You know, I'm really

excited to cook the lobster.

I'm still trying to debate

how I want to prepare it.

For the main dish, I think

what I'm going to do is

I'm going to do just

something light, honestly.

Keep it refreshing.

I'm gonna boil off some pasta.

- You can't go wrong with

lobster and pasta and champagne.

- No, no, yeah.

- You're speaking my language.

(George laughing)

Yeah, I want to be your

level of mellow right now

about this, but there's a

trip to France on the line.

- I love competing.

There so much anxiety around, just cooking

and competing at this high of a level.

- [Meghan] We do that

sometimes in my house.

- We do that a lot of times

at your house, actually.

Let's be real.

(both laughing)

- I don't know if we're going to do that

anytime soon after this, though

(George laughing)

I might need a break.

Claire would take a risk

here, I know she would.

And I know she'd also go full hog,

so I don't want to play

it safe this round.

This is for everything, and

I want to walk away knowing

I gave it my best shot.

So I'm doing sort of an east coast style.

I'm going to do a corn and potato fritter.

It's potentially my last

challenge, I don't know for sure.

And I want to do something really

- [George] Challenging?

- Yeah, I want to push

myself just as a sort of

an homage to her work and creativity.

- [George] Right.

- So good news, my lobster has passed on.

So George, what happens

when you finish before me?

Are you just going to drink

the whole bottle of Krug by yourself?

- [George] That might happen.

- I know I have a lot going on,

but I should say, in this

moment I have a plan.

- [George] Yeah.

- It's coming together.

Bye.

(tense music)

(groans) So stressful.

- [George] It is very stressful.

- Oh my God, I might

never eat lobster again.

(both laughing)

We take that for granted,

where our food comes from.

- [George] Right, right, it's just a lot.

- I have seen that done,

but I've never had to do it.

k*ll lobster, don't cry,

that was on my list.

(both laughing)

I didn't cry, but I might cry later.

- Amazing, amazing.

- George, do you know how to tell

when a lobster is done cooking?

- By the look of it?

- I think mine's almost done

I'm going to pull it out.

Appreciate you, thank

you for your sacrifice.

Do you ever talk to your food?

Is that just me?

- Actually I used to pray over my food.

- I say thank you a lot.

- That was my thing.

- This is a monstrous claw.

(tense music)

- Being splattered all over.

- George is flinging lobster meat at me.

(George laughing)

Trying to throw me off my game.

When I asked for fava beans,

I knew what I was getting myself into.

And right now current Maryam

is a little upset at past Maryam.

(both laughing)

So I'm about to make my fritters

and it's actually really

simple, I'm not going crazy.

There's going to be some

nice, fresh shallots in here,

not a lot, but there's

also claw meat and potato.

And I'm going to do my best,

and hopefully they're delicious.

- [George] So reducing some

more wine, got the pasta going.

- We never really let

the competition drop.

What do you think about mine?

I've been complimenting

you this whole time.

- Yours smells amazing,

it looks amazing too.

- And for every ounce

of competition y'all see

on the screen, there's

more behind the scenes.

- [George] It looks really good.

- She's high maintenance.

(George laughing)

- So what I did was something very simple.

I got some pasta, roasted

off some garlic, reduced

some wine, introduced some

tomatoes and grilled the lobster.

(intense music)

- I made a kind of spin on potato latkes

with claw meat, corn, and some

shallots mixed all together

with potato and flour, fried it off.

And then I did a seasonal

summer salad of fresh corn,

favas, blood orange segments

and some beurre blanc.

And then I boiled the lobster.

I feel like of all the

things that might be wrong,

it's maybe the lobster.

- Hopefully it tastes as

good as it looks (laughs).

I feel like we should definitely finish

that bottle of Krug, for sure.

- I didn't even drink any of mine, barely.

Cheers.

- Cheers.

(tense music)

- Wow, really?

Some bold things in front of

me with this lobster, I see.

Dish three looks like

some lovely pasta dish.

Dish four

What did they fry and put under there?

I'm going to have to eat it to find out.

Going to have to eat it.

I'm going to start with dish three,

get a nice piece of lobster.

Alrighty, I'm just going to dive in here.

(tense music)

That's tasty.

(tense music)

The lobster's cooked really well.

(tense music)

Yeah that's good.

Very nice, very nice.

Moving on over to this

delicious looking dish.

Peas, corn, looks like

blood orange and fritters.

Lobster and fritters, this is trippy.

I wasn't expecting anything

like this, very creative.

Just going take that by itself.

(tense music)

It's a little overcooked.

These are all really creative dishes.

I mean, I'm not surprised,

they all bring it every single time.

So frankly, no matter who I pick,

I'm going to have a

difficult time beating them.

Now the question is again,

do I pick what I view as the weakest dish?

Or do I pick what I view

as the strongest dish?

I think I know what my decision is,

but I'm going to think about

it for a little bit longer.

I'm going to think about it with Krug.

Really good though, really good.

(fun, happy music)

- The stakes that are

here right now having

to prepare a full live lobster.

- [Maryam] Also, I never

did that with a lobster.

- I was going to say, how many of you

have done that with a lobster before?

That was my first time.

- [Matthew] No, never.

- George, I almost had you

k*ll my lobster for me.

(George laughing)

- I thought you were offering.

- I did, and then you all

of a sudden were doing it.

- Oh, I thought you were offering,

and then I was like,

"No, he's not offering".

- Oh wait, George offered and I was like,

"This is important, I

have to do this myself".

- I was afraid we were

going to run out of time.

- You're a badder a*s

than you think you are.

- Hell yeah, you are.

- Yo, Meg is a bad a*s,

all of you are bad a*s

though, let's be frank

- [Matthew] This will help

kind of calm our nerves.

- No kidding.

- A little bit.

- Yes, indeed.

- Is this the most nervous

you all have been on this?

- [Maryam] Yes.

- [George] Yes.

- [Meghan] Me too, me too.

- So this is so much pressure.

- You were kinda in doubt.

- I thought when better to

send it, than my last day?

- Send it, send it.

- [Meghan] Yeah, for sure,

throw everything at it.

- But it was scary.

- You know, there's just

so much that goes into

this challenge that's here right now.

It determines so much.

- [Matthew] In the name of champagne.

- So Claire has this

great job and hard job

at the same time, right?

She's judging blind, but

she knows that either

she chooses someone who does

an amazing job and shines

and she goes up against them

or she could strategically

be like, "Hmm, they flopped,

I'm going to choose that

person and go up against them".

- She has a lot of pressure as well.

- I think everyone's been pretty

good about grudge holding,

but now we know what's on the line.

- So my dish was number one.

- I'm two.

- I'm number three.

- I'm number four, coming

in to close the deal.

- Well look, no matter

what we did this together,

we learned a lot about

ourselves and each other

and no matter what the

results, lifelong friends.

Cheers all of y'all.

- Absolutely.

- [George] cheers.

- I hear her coming.

- Well hello?

- Hi friends

- [All] Hi?

- Amazing.

- Hey judge?

- How was your day, full of lobster?

- Good, Krug, yes.

Full of lobster and Krug,

it was really a rough day.

(all laughing)

- Just down by the pool.

- Well, first of all, I just have to say

you guys brought it.

I'm really impressed and

terrified of all of you.

- [Maryam] We missed you.

- I missed you too, it's sad not getting

to hang out with you, but for good reason,

because I couldn't know who

cooked each dish, right?

This is all blind judging.

And I really had no

effing clue who did what.

You all definitely stepped it

up, it's really impressive.

It's hard to do lobster well, in general.

Also very hard to do

with our setup outside

with just two burners and a

lot is out of your control.

So cheers to you all cause that

It was tough just cause

they were all so cool.

They were all really, really creative.

I could have played this

little mind game of,

"Well who do I want, which

dish represents the person

that I would want to compete

with in this next round

for all the marbling".

But

(all laughing)

Honestly, it just felt

right to kind of go with

what we've been doing,

which is what was the dish

that spoke to me most and

also served the wine the best.

So I'm just gonna

I can't play any mind games,

that's just going to screw

me over more, I feel.

So whoever does not go

head-to-head with me tomorrow,

those three are now they're going to be

the judges of that competition.

And also most importantly,

you get to choose that main ingredient

that the two of us are

going to be cooking with.

Which sucks.

So you could really screw us

over here, really challenge us.

(chuckles) It should be interesting.

And then most importantly,

whoever I go head-to-head with,

we're battling for a really sick prize.

Business class trip for two,

all expenses paid to

Limoux, south of France

with Faire La Fete.

So before I announce it, let's just cheers

to the journey that we've been on.

This has been a delight I've learned

from all of you so much.

And I love you all.

- Love you too.

- This dish that I chose for the winner

for whoever's cooking with me next,

it just felt the most complete.

It had all of the elements, acid, fat.

And then most importantly,

when you had it with a sip of the wine,

they just were so happy together.

It created this wonderful

expl*si*n of flavor in my mouth

and it just hit all the right notes.

Hit all the notes by itself, but then

most importantly, with the wine.

The dish that I chose, this sucks.

Okay.

- [Matthew] Yeah, let's all take a sip.

(indistinct mumbling)

- The dish that I chose for

the head-to-head challenge

for our next round here to decide who wins

this whole gosh darn thing is

(comical music)

Dish number two.

- The f*ck?

(group chattering and laughing)

Wow, I was not expecting that.

- [Maryam] But that's not even a surprise.

- She clawed her way up from the bottom

all the way to the top.

Hell yeah.

- Yeah, there were a

lot of mixed emotions.

I did not expect to be here honestly.

But yeah, kind of goes to

show that you can't predict

what's going to happen on the show.

- Wow.

- What were the numbers?

So you were one, then?

- Not going on a plane

to France this time.

Not going to a beach house in Malibu.

Losing f*cking sucks, it's a fact.

What I've learned in

this opportunity is that

no matter the outcome, the

inspiration that you get,

the people you get to interact

with, the things you learn,

I get to take all that with me.

- And then, so who is

three and who is four?

- Four.

- Okay, so you did the freaking fritters?

Jesus and you did the pasta?

- Yeah.

- sh*t guys, that was really, really hard.

- Maryam and George were

really who I expected to be

in the finale, honestly together.

- So to go up against George

was a really big deal.

And for both of us to not

take it, I think ego to ego,

we've got some healing to do,

but it's cool that we're

both now in the judging seat.

- It sucks not winning, for sure.

But there are so many people

who would dream of being

in the place that I'm in right now.

Not getting a trip, it sucks.

But at the same time,

being able to do things

that I've been able to

dream of for so long

has just been absolutely amazing.

- It was weird, I almost felt bad

that somebody else didn't win it.

And I don't know why,

because I tried really hard.

But I guess I just

I know there was a lot of

heart in it for everyone.

Everyone really wanted to win.

- No, it just served that main ingredient,

the lobster, so well.

It was like taking a bite of the ocean.

So you had this bite from the lobster,

the creaminess from the uni

and the salinity from the uni,

but also a low salinity from the caviar.

And then that sauce, what

was it, lemon butter?

It just popped, it was like

sunshine, but at the sea.

And it was really, really nice.

And then when I took a sip

with the Krug, they just

It was just, yeah.

It was one of those really happy pairings

where you're just like,

"That's why wine and food

are meant to be together".

Get her as drunk as possible.

Please have her hung over tomorrow.

- Winner, winner.

- I need to watch out

for this girl tomorrow.

I'm going to need a good night's sleep.

Can't drink Krug all night.

I mean, I will drink Krug

all night, but (chuckles)

Yeah, I'm really excited to

see what tomorrow brings.

- I really thought I was

going to be judging tomorrow.

- Nope, you get to cook,

masel tov (chuckles).

- Oh my goodness.

- [Maryam] Your favorite.

- Oh my goodness (laughs).

- That's impressive.

- Oh, Lordy, okay, all right.

- Well I think you two

need to get outta here now

so we can decide how to make it harder.

- (laughs) Oh sh*t, I forgot about that.

- Get outta here, winners.

- I think that Meg and Claire

going against each other

is poetic justice and

it's going to be amazing.

I think also from all of us,

they're the ones that are going

to bring the most colorful plates.

They're the ones that aren't

going to hold back at all.

And they're just going

to give it everything

they've got for this final showdown.

- It's going to take a big effort

out of both of them to win.

And as it should be,

how incredible is this?

No one saw this coming.

Meg goes from last place

to going for the win?

Unreal.

- I would love to go to France.

I need a vacation so bad.

- Whoever wins, I'll be happy for.

Especially if it's me (laughs).

Now I know who I'm up against,

and it's Megan (laughs).

- Not as friendly this time around, is it?

- Not so much.

- Oh really, you're just going to take

all the room, are you?

- Move your fennel, girl.

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

- But not good luck.

- This is all about the pairing.

- What I think is pulling

from my heartstrings

is the risks that were taken.

- So the winner of

Sparklers, the whole shebang,

who's going to France

(dramatic music)

(ambient music)