01x05 - Battle Chocolate

[bunniefuu]

Childhood, a time of frolic and food.

Oh youth is so sweet.

There is only one thing sweeter,

and that is the taste of

metal!

[cheering and applause]

Hello, friends of the food world.

I'm Alton Brown.

Welcome back to Kitchen Stadium.

I just wanna say, we're not here

for fun and games, okay?

We're here

for hard-hitting culinary combat.

And I'm Kristen Kish, and any chef

that steps into this arena

has to put on their big-kid pants,

because this is where

some of the best chefs in the world

come to play with their food.

[Alton] I look forward to seeing

which of The Chairman's handpicked stable

of Iron Chefs

will be coming out to play tonight.

But remember, the top challenger

from throughout the entire competition

will be facing off

against all of our Iron Chefs

in a final battle royale

to claim the title of Iron Legend.

Mr. Chairman, are you ready to tell us

what sweet surprises you have in store?

If you have the courage

to step onto my playground,

you might get pushed around a bit.

So who has the courage

to stand up and fight?

Please welcome ourbravechallenger,

Chef Claudette Zepeda!

[cheering and applause]

[upbeat music plays]

[Alton]Chef Claudette Zepeda has

taken the San Diego food scene by storm

with her bold and nostalgic approach

to regional Mexican flavors.

[Claudette] I consider myself

a border kid.

Growing up,

I spent the majority of my time

between Tijuana and San Diego,

but there are zero borders

with my cuisine.

I like to color outside the box.

I am currently the Executive Chef

at Alila Marea Beach Resort

in Encinitas, California,

and my signature restaurant is VAGA.

I really love punchy flavors,

high acid, salt,

chile where it needs to be.

We have a joke in my kitchen

that we're "Team Full-a*s."

We don't half-a*s anything.

So if it's supposed to be spicy,

we're gonna give it to you as intended.

I often get underestimated,

usually because of what I look like.

I don't wear a chef coat,

full of tattoos, red lipstick.

But you know, there's a lot of pages

in a book.

Don't judge it by just the cover.

I'm definitely ready for The Chairman,

and I hope he's ready for me.

-Chef Zepeda, welcome.

-Chairman.

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

When you were young,

did you ever dream that one day

you would end up here in Kitchen Stadium?

Chairman, never in mine

or my ancestors' wildest dreams.

Well, I have five culinary giants

to choose from.

For you, I have decided

that you will face an Iron Chef

who also knows how to bridge a border

between continents!

Okay.

He is the pioneer

of East-meets-West cuisine.

Please welcome

Iron Chef Ming Tsai!

[cheering and applause]

[Alton]From humble beginnings,

Iron Chef Ming Tsai

has become a culinary icon

by combining the Chinese flavors

of his culture

with his classic French pedigree.

[Ming] I've always described

the way I've cooked as East meets West.

I come from a culinary family.

My mom owned a restaurant

called The Mandarin Kitchen

in Dayton, Ohio.

Worked in my mom's kitchen

for, you know, three years,

moved to Paris, place called Fauchon.

It wasthepastry house in France.

Once I started living in France, I'm like,

"I wanna blend East and West together."

White soy sauce with butter,

cream with ginger and lemongrass.

I mean, you just can't beat it.

I called it "Frenese "cuisine.

Thank God that name didn't stick.

I'm the chef partner

at an awesome restaurant called BāBā.

One of my signature dishes

is a tea-smoked Peking duck.

We also do the miso-sake butterfish,

which is the dish that put me on the map.

Every dish is your best last dish,

and once you're an Iron Chef,

you have to prove it every day.

-Iron Chef Tsai, welcome.

-Thank you.

To claim this victory tonight,

you will take a trip back in time

to when you were but little chefs,

when food was flavored

with the innocence of youth.

But there is one more ingredient.

Our secret ingredient

Chocolate!

Chefs, you will have just 60 minutes

to make five impeccable chocolate dishes,

and your first dish will be due

within the first 20 minutes.

So now, with an open heart,

and empty stomach,

I say unto you in the words of my uncle

Allez cuisine!

Do it, do it, do it! Okay. It's happening.

[Alton] Battle of Chocolate is on

here in Kitchen Stadium,

as Iron Chef Tsai

and our challenger Chef Zepeda

speed up to grab a lot of stuff

that's just gonna disappear

into big brown puddles

in about ten minutes.

[Ming] Try some. I like that.

[Kristen] The Chairman laid out

quite a range of chocolate.

-[chef] What are you getting, Lauren?

-I got dark.

I got nibs.

[Alton] We've got 29% white chocolate,

36% milk chocolate.

We've got bittersweet

ranging from 41 up to 64.

Then we've got some 65, some 70.

Here's the best way to break it down.

The higher the percentage, the greater

the amount of cocoa beans used,

which leads to a more intense

and bitter-tasting chocolate.

I like that. That's good.

[Kristen] Let's say hello

to our esteemed judges,

Nilou Motamed, Andrew Zimmern,

and our special guest judge,

host, comedienne, and chef-in-training,

Loni Love.

You kids excited or what?

-Whoo!

-Absolutely.

I'm surprised I'm here.

[laughing]

-We're glad you are!

-Thank you.

Let's go.

So we're gonna have, like,

chocolate sundaes and chocolate milk?

-No.

-Oh.

[Loni] Okay.

[Ming] Okay, let's gather over here, guys.

[Loni] I think of chocolate

as just dessert,

so you're saying

that we're gonna have meat or vegetables?

Absolutely.

You're gonna see it in all its forms.

I grew up eating chocolate and orange.

-Let's do duck à la chocolate orange.

-Perfect.

We are people of the sun, the corn,

and the chocolate. I just think mole.

-For first course, I want to do a gougère.

-[chef] Okay.

Use a little cocoa powder.

Great way to start a meal.

I'm thinking for the first course,

let's go with that black garlic aguachile,

but make it a cocoa aguachile.

Instead of seafood, let's go with rib eye.

It's cold, raw and good.

-Good. Let's do it. Let's go.

-All right, Chef.

Iron Chef Ming Tsai is putting on

his battle headdress, so to speak.

[Kristen] We're seeing a signature

stretch move from Chef Zepeda's side.

I do know they do this in the restaurant

every night before service.

It's a ritual. I feel like I need to

Do you wanna do some stretching?

Let me put my leg up on the

I feel like I should

just pound another cup of coffee

-Or that.

-Or we could do that.

Go, team, go!

Let's go.

[Alton] We're gonna watch

a lot of chocolate disappear

into various mixtures.

We'll try to track because

the first five to ten minutes

is really going to decide a great deal.

Of course, there has to be one course

up to the judge in how many minutes?

[Kristen] Twenty minutes!

Twenty minutes, those judges

are going to get a first course.

[Kristen] We have Chef Tsai,

he graduated from Yale. Did you know that?

-He's very smart.

-[Alton] Mechanical engineering.

[Kristen] Him dealing with chocolate,

which does involve science,

is gonna come into play here.

[Alton] He also has

an ever-so-talented team.

Sous-chef Christine and sous-chef Ben,

who are chefs de cuisine

and work closely with the Iron Chef

at his restaurant.

This is fun.

[Kristen] And then Chef Zepeda,

self-proclaimed border kid,

growing up between San Diego

and Tijuana, and Mexican roots.

And I feel like chocolate and cacao

in Mexican cuisine is quite prevalent.

[Alton] Very much so.

The flavors are who we are.

[Kristen] Her two sous-chefs

and her herself have a pastry background,

and she does have her pastry chef

of the restaurant with her.

-So I feel like

-That would be sous-chef Paola.

[Kristen] Exactly, and sous-chef Lauren

has also worked with her for years,

so I feel she's already

having a little bit of a leg up here

because yes, chocolate is finicky.

It will stab you in the back

when you turn around.

-[Ming] Chocolate's here, guys.

-[Christine] Heard.

[Alton] Bowls of chocolate everywhere

on the Iron Chef's side.

I'm seeing dark chocolate,

something at about the 70% range.

When we think about the nuances

of chocolate and the flavor profile,

it's not just sweet. It's bitter.

It's tannic. It's savory.

-Absolutely.

-It's got so much depth.

-And fruity!

-[Kristen] Absolutely right.

[Ming] Here we go.

[Kristen] Looking into

the Iron Chef's side of the kitchen,

he now has some cocoa powder

going into a milk and butter mixture

over there on the countertop.

Do you use cocoa powder much?

I treat it more as a spice

than an ingredient.

[Kristen] Applying that in places

where you would add red wine

or you want depth of flavor,

or you want

just like this round unctuousness.

[Alton] Okay, also out

on that side of the world,

sous-chef Ben just added cocoa powder

to some hen-of-the-woods mushrooms,

also known as maitakes,

one of my favorites because

they disappear into sauces so easily.

They fall apart.

On the challenger's side, Chef Zepeda.

In the blender right now,

that's just cocoa nibs

that they're making

really almost down into a meal.

Cocoa nibs, great on meat.

They add kind of like a spice,

and enhance the flavor of meat

by adding earthy

and chocolatey undertones, of course.

Now look. Over on the challenger's side,

they've got that ruby chocolate.

That is relatively new pink chocolate

that was introduced in 2017.

I'm gonna go get us some real quick.

Supposedly, it's made possible

by isolating specific flavonoids

and phenols in the bean

to bring out these colors

that are the precursors,

so it's not a dye.

It tastes like white chocolate to me.

-But it's got a tang and acidic

-There's that fruitiness in the back end.

[Kristen] I'm so curious

to see how they're going

to incorporate this chocolate,

and sous-chef Lauren now

getting that into the oven.

Okay, on the Iron Chef's side, the mixture

that Iron Chef Tsai is working with,

that has butter, milk,

cocoa powder, and flour in it,

and he's almost kind of like

stirring that like a

-[Kristen] Pâte à choux!

-[Alton] Pâte à choux.

That of course is a cooked dough

or a dough that we cook twice,

once in the pan.

I think he's making

a chocolate pâte à choux.

[Kristen] Chef Zepeda's got cilantro,

the cocoa nibs that she ground,

and scallion bottoms, and orange juice.

[Alton] That could be a vinaigrette,

a sauce, could be a marinade.

[Andrew] Orange, chocolate, scallion.

Did you see that

she put the roots of the scallion in?

-Black garlic, Chef?

-Black garlic.

[Kristen] Talk about layering flavors,

and now she's adding some black garlic.

Black garlic, which is basically

an aged version of regular garlic

that has a sweeter, earthier taste to it.

We've got 15 minutes until the first dish

is due up to the judges.

[Kristen] And we still have no idea

what the first courses will be.

Look! The Iron Chef

has his chocolate pâte à choux dough.

Like a gougère!

-If it's savory, then it's a gougère.

-Gougère. Was there cheese?

-Did you see cheese?

-I did not see cheese. [chuckles]

[Alton] If there's not cheese in there

it's not a gougère.

We've got definitions here

we've gotta stick by.

We have a choux paste.

We might have just missed the cheese.

Hey, Iron Chef! Is there cheese

in that pâte à choux?

Yes. I am working on a chocolate gougère.

Gougère is a classic way

to start a great French meal.

I learned this when I was in France.

It's a gougère!

[both laugh]

[Alton] Okay. Iron Chef Tsai's first dish

is going to include a chocolate gougère.

It's got cheese in it.

It's delightful. It's light. It's airy.

[Kristen] And it has

cocoa powder in there.

Cheese and chocolate!

Always a great pairing.

Gougère's in!

[Alton] Sous-chef Christine

cutting up a pork belly.

I would've been surprised

if Chef Tsai hadn't brought pork

to a chocolate battle.

-[Kristen] A beautiful marriage.

-[Alton] Absolutely.

Still, it takes a long time to cook.

They need to get on it.

[Kristen] On Chef Zepeda's side,

she's taking a piece of

-[Alton] Rib eyes! Beautiful rib eyes.

-And coating that in cocoa nibs.

Sous-chef Paola is melting

what looks like white chocolate chips,

but it's actually pure cocoa butter,

which is the fat from the cacao bean.

It's dairy-free, and it can be used

for just about anything.

It also has

this really mild, sweet flavor,

which can help create

smooth and creamy textures.

Still trying to figure out

Chef Zepeda's first dish.

She has that black-garlic cocoa-nib sauce.

She blended it, strained it,

and now she added even more citrus juice,

so I know it's not ceviche,

but it's certainly heavy on the citrus.

[Alton] But it could be an aguachile.

Aguachile's traditionally seafood,

but we're in Kitchen Stadium.

[Alton] We are, and aguachile

is basically a spicier version of ceviche,

usually made with shrimp,

so this is an interesting twist,

because the meatiness of that rib eye

is probably going to be better

for marrying the chocolate flavors

to the chilies and all of that citrus.

-You're right.

-[Claudette] It is black-garlic aguachile.

[Alton] Okay then. Aguachile

with cocoa-nib-covered rib eye.

She's chopping the meat up! She's not

gonna give me the meat as a whole?

[Claudette] That's perfect.

I don't know!

Five and a half minutes,

five and a half minutes,

and it needs to be

on a plate in front of a judge.

-Are you hungry? 'Cause I'm hungry.

-Oh.

-This smell is divine.

-Yes!

Plating.

[Ming] How's it going?

[Ben] Great, Chef.

About to blend up the soup.

[Ming] Delicious.

[Christine] All right,

where's the cocoa powder? Behind.

Looking at the Iron Chef's

side of the world again,

we know that so far,

he's working on a chocolate gougère,

and they're gonna have

some sort of pork-belly dish

which is now in the pressure cooker

with some cocoa powder,

spices, and aromatics.

Pork belly usually takes hours to cook,

so the pressure cooker

will speed up the cook time

to make it possible within the 60 minutes.

[Kristen] On the challenger side,

sous-chef Lauren has cocoa sauce working,

and she has some peaches in there.

Not sure what that is.

Uh, sous-chef Lauren,

what are you mixin' up there?

[Lauren] I'm working on the marquesita.

It's going to be for the cheese course

that we're doing.

Marquesita, which is like a crepe.

Cheese goes into it.

It's like dessert quesadilla.

[Kristen] The acidity of the peaches

with the chocolate should be amazing.

[Alton] Two minutes, 45 seconds.

[Ming] Come on, guys.

[Alton] Chef Zepeda plating

that cocoa nib-crusted rib eye.

[Ming] What's up with these ovens?

[Alton] Iron Chef Tsai just can't see

how his gougère is doing in the oven.

Would you have picked that tall oven?

I would've picked the lower oven.

[Ming] k*lling me.

Chef Zepeda! You serving that

as a c*ck there, Chef?

It is the cocoa. Cocoa aguachile.

[Alton] So a little cup of cocoa.

[Claudette] It is a cup of cocoa.

-[Alton] I like that.

-[Ming] Thirty seconds, we pull those out.

[Kristen] Sliced cucumbers going down now

on the challenger's aguachile dish.

-[Ming] You got your foam?

-I do!

-[Ming] Nice.

-[Claudette] Let's go!

[Christine] We're up.

[Alton] That is being delivered

to our hungry panel.

-Hi, Chef. Thank you.

-You're welcome.

Chef.

-[Andrew] Oh. Ohhh!

-[Kristen] Chef.

[Claudette] Here we have

a beef-tartare-cacao aguachile.

I grew up in the northern part of Mexico,

so for me,

aguachiles are such a part of my life,

and the cacao nibs lended their acidity

and their tannic notes

to the aguachile, I think, beautifully.

The black garlic helps

round the flavors out.

Fantastic. Thank you, Chef.

-Thank you.

-[Nilou] Thank you.

-[Kristen] What are you thinking?

-[Nilou] I keep on taking more bites.

There is so much going on in this dish.

Between the black garlic and the cocoa,

you get this incredible depth of flavor.

The fact that she did an aguachile

with beef is really interesting,

because you normally think about that

as a preparation for shrimp,

and she's turned it on its head

and done it with beef.

I think this represents

the secret ingredient very well.

Andrew?

I have to tell you, I typically do not

like the interplay of cacao and beef.

Um and this is a way

of marrying those two flavors

that I had not thought of.

Loni?

This sauce with the chocolate is good.

-There you go.

-With this stuff? The meat?

-High praise, it sounds like.

-Yes, not too overwhelming.

We're gonna bottle up that sauce for you

and send you on you way.

-Yes.

-[all chuckle]

-Time?

-[Alton] Plates up in 30 seconds.

[Ming] Go. Do it.

Plate, plate, plate. Now. Go.

Oh, come on, Chef!

-[Ming] Milk done? Help him.

-[Ben] Yep.

-[Ming] Is it done? Yes or no?

-Yes.

-[Christine] Where is it?

-[Ben] There.

[Ming] Okay, get it over there. Go.

Go, Chenowith, go.

Careful, careful, careful. Make it nice.

[Alton] So, his mushrooms disappear

into a chocolate sauce,

which is now going into a little cup,

and they're adding some foam to that.

Now, that is going to be served

almost like, uh kinda like macchiatos.

-[Ming] Gougères, perfect.

-[Alton] You've got ten seconds.

[Ming] It's gotta go.

I have to serve these hot.

[Alton] Chef Tsai now headed

to the judge's table with his first dish.

-Five, four

-[Andrew] Oh, Iron Chef Tsai!

[Alton] Three, two

[Ming] As you guys may know,

I lived in France.

First time I went to Paris,

I'm like eight, I had gougères.

I kept eating them.

I fell in love with gougères.

So it's a chocolate gougère,

and gougère traditionally

has Gruyère cheese,

so it has a little Gruyère,

has cocoa powder, which I love.

Next to it,

this is a maitake chocolate macchiato.

We took maitakes

and sautéed celery and garlic,

Shaoxing deglaze,

and a little cocoa on top.

-Thank you, Chef.

-Thank you. Enjoy.

-[Kristen] All right, Nilou.

-There's so much flavor in this.

It's like a thick, unctuous,

sexy little macchiato.

I get a lot of mushroom flavor.

I think it's a good idea.

It feels like you're in a cafe in Paris.

And then I love that Chef Tsai's

use of chocolate is such a smart idea,

although I'm not getting a ton

of chocolate flavor from this.

I do get a little mellow cheese flavor,

Texture-wise,

they could be a little bit crisper.

Andrew?

A gougère should be crispy on the outside.

-I think it's a brilliant idea.

-[Nilou] Right.

But the chocolate and the cheese

do go together.

This has potential

and if you had a couple times to make it,

you could turn it out right.

Yes. I agree with Andrew.

All I can go by is my taste.

He is missing something in this.

I don't know what,

but the taste is not really chocolate,

and it's missing something.

[Nilou] Wow, Loni has spoken!

I'm gonna leave you to the scoring.

I'm gonna go report back to Alton.

[Alton] Okay, so dish one is in the books,

and here's where we stand.

Challenger Chef Zepeda has a marquesita.

That's a crepe and cheese dish

they're preparing

with a chocolate-peach sauce.

She's breaking down a striped bass.

Not sure what that's for.

[Claudette] Guys,

I might do the mextlapique?

[Alton] Ah, so that's a mextlapique.

Chef Zepeda's making a mextlapique.

Mextlapique is when you take

You treat it like a tamale,

but it doesn't have a masa base.

[Kristen] Right, so she's gonna

steam the fish in that corn husk.

Okay, looks like sous-chef Lauren

is taking something out of the oven.

-[Alton] Is that a giant tuile?

-[Lauren] Yes.

It looks like a

[Alton] It's the ruby chocolate,

it's just caramelized

and when it did, it lost all of its red,

but it won't lose its tangy flavor.

But I do wonder how it'll be used.

Iron Chef Tsai has his pork belly

sitting in the pressure cooker,

and a miso marinade

made with cocoa powder.

That's in the blender.

Not sure where that's headed though.

Oh, I also see duck. Duck!

[Kristen] Chef Tsai

is a master at preparing duck,

so this should be delicious.

He has, um, the orange liqueur,

orange juice, sugar, scallions

I always say it wrong.

You know, duck "l'orange".

-It's gotta be duck l'orange.

-Correct.

-I get to correct you on something?

-Yeah.

-That feels pretty good.

-I can't speak French.

-Duck l'orange.

-Oui oui!

[Ming] Chocolate duck à l'orange.

[Alton] Sous-chef Christine

stirring some shallots in there.

There's hoisin, sambal and vinegar.

Hoisin barbecue sauce,

throw some 70%, so nice dark chocolate.

That'll be for the pork belly

that's in here.

I know I put cocoa in my barbecue sauces,

uh, because it adds so much depth.

[Andrew] Boy, that looks good.

-Smells great too.

-I like it!

[Kristen] On the challenger's side,

sous-chef Lauren

is building something in that blender.

Chef Lauren, what do you have there?

We have a Tijuana Caesar dressing

we're going to try to incorporate

this caramelized ruby chocolate into.

[Alton] Making a Caesar salad?

'Cause it's from Tijuana!

[Kristen] Exactly. The Caesar salad

originated in Tijuana.

[Alton] And that's where

the ruby chocolate's going.

Now this is a really smart move,

because a Caesar dressing

has the anchovies, the cheese,

but that ruby chocolate

is going to give it an unexpected tang

and sweetness.

Thirty minutes left, chefs!

-[Ming] Thirty minutes, how we doing?

-[Christine & Ben] Good.

Oh, Chefs!

I happen to have

the scores from the first dish.

We'll start with the visitor.

Chef Zepeda.

-You got 21 out of 25

-Thank you, Chef.

possible points for your first dish.

How you feel about that? That all right?

I gotta keep going.

It's not over until it's over.

-Iron Chef Tsai.

-[clears throat]

The judges awarded you 14 points, sir

-Whoa.

-for your first course.

Not good. Agh, that sucks.

[Claudette] What just happened?

[Alton] That puts you

a little bit in the weeds on score,

but there's still plenty of ways

to catch up.

[Ming] You heard the scores?

We gotta go.

-Heard, Chef.

-Heard, Chef.

-Iron Chef has to pull out all the stops.

-Well, yeah.

He's going to have to throw maybe

a couple more bells and whistles out.

-Something in his back pocket

-That he may not have thought about?

-Exactly.

-Yeah.

[Ming] We're gonna do

a black lychee crema, okay?

[Alton] Iron Chef Tsai

is going for lychee tea.

-Have you had lychee tea?

-I have not.

It's a Chinese tea

that when they dry the tea,

they add dried lychee to it

so that it takes on

a kind of fruity aspect.

Not sure where that's gonna be going,

but the Iron Chef

makes masterful flavor combinations.

Right now, sous-chef Christine

buttering up a bunch of little ramekins,

and we've got Iron Chef Ming Tsai

whipping some egg whites.

They're whipping egg whites

and buttering up ramekins.

-What's for dessert?

-Soufflé.

Soufflé. Hundred bucks.

[Alton] Chef Tsai,

what are you working on?

This is just a little soufflé base.

-[Kristen] I'm rich now!

-I think there will be a soufflé.

[Kristen] Soufflé in a chocolate battle.

Smart move by the Iron Chef,

because that's a classic dish.

If done properly,

it can be a game changer.

[Ming] I love soufflés.

[Alton] Over on the challenger's side,

Chef Zepeda.

She has got,

uh, it's that mixture of ancho chiles,

cocoa powder, onions, garlic,

and dark chocolate.

[Kristen] It's gotta be a mole.

I mean, Chef Zepeda, knowing her story

-[Alton] You gonna bet $1 million?

-I'm gonna bet $7 million.

$7 million!

$7 million

that we're gonna have a mole. [chuckles]

[Kristen] I don't know

where that mole's gonna go,

but we'll surely find out.

[Alton] Okay. I'm looking into a sieve

over on the challenger's side.

Now that is a mixture of, uh

some hazelnuts are in there,

some cream is in there, corn is in there,

and I think white chocolate

is at the bottom of that mixing bowl.

[Kristen] Oh, that's nice.

[Alton] I'm gonna guess what it is.

At a gas station once, in Mexico,

I got this packet of stuff

that was like like a custard,

like a pudding pop,

and it's called Duvalín.

I'm wondering if that's a riff on that,

because it very often

has strawberry and hazelnut,

and that does.

Chef Zepeda, am I right?

That's right, it is! That's right, it is.

[Alton] Ah! I was right.

Duvalín it is indeed

for Chef Zepeda's dessert course.

Over on the Iron Chef's side,

the duck's starting to cook.

-Duck breast rendering, yeah?

-[Christine] Yes, Chef.

-Ben, get that cod in marinade please.

-Yep.

[Kristen] Sous-chef

Ben is filleting some black cod,

so both sides of the kitchen

utilizing fish today.

[Alton] That is one

of my favorite fish in the world.

And it appears sous-chef Ben

is working that chocolate miso

with cocoa powder and 70% chocolate

right onto the cod.

[Kristen] Oh, that's an interesting match,

because cod has a mild, milky flavor,

and that 70% chocolate is going

to be that intense chocolatey flavor

that's not too sweet.

Plus, you've got that umami

salty deliciousness from the miso. Yum!

[Alton] That's the l'orange sauce

on the Iron Chef's side.

We've got garlic, we've got shallots,

orange zest, and orange juice in a pot.

[Kristen] Oh, Grand Marnier

going down now,

and look at that flambé.

The Iron Chef

is certainly turning up the heat

here in Kitchen Stadium.

[Alton] Indeed he is.

This Iron Chef is determined to win,

so he's laser-focused

on making a comeback with these dishes.

Okay, looking at Chef Zepeda's side

of the kitchen,

she's working with some rice.

This rice is a tribute to my kids.

It's their favorite rice that I make.

It's the rice that my mother made

when I was a kid.

Um, it's garlic butter rice.

I'm using cocoa butter to toast the rice.

[Alton] Jasmine rice

is slightly sweet in flavor,Ithink,

so combining that with cocoa butter

should be a great way

to make the chocolate pop.

-[Kristen] What is that?

-[Alton] What is that?

[Kristen] I'm gonna go look.

Sous-chef Lauren, I saw you

dipping baguette into butter, right?

Cocoa butter.

It is for a crouton

for the Tijuana Caesar.

-And

-What?

After it comes out of the oven,

we're going to go on it

with some

of that caramelized ruby chocolate.

-Thank you, Chef.

-Of course.

[Alton] You can see

sous-chef Paola's working on that mixture

of butter, cocoa powder,

cocoa nibs, and masa.

My guess is that it's some kinda

chocolate tuile she's making.

Probably going to be dessert.

We'll just have to keep an eye on that.

[Ming] Come on, guys.

[Kristen] So over on the Iron Chef's side,

they're making a cod dish

with that chocolate-miso marinade

with the 70% chocolate and cocoa powder,

a pork-belly dish

with a chocolate-barbecue sauce

with the 70% chocolate,

and duck à l'orange,

also with the 70% chocolate

and cocoa powder.

[Alton] Looks like Iron Chef Tsai

is adding the lychee-tea liquid

to the 70% pistole,

so I'm thinking that's for the soufflé.

[Kristen] On the challenger's side,

Chef Zepeda took that stunning mole

with the 65% and 36% chocolate.

She put that piece of striped bass

on there,

some little tomatoes,

wrapped them in corn husks,

and now they're in the bamboo steamer.

They also made a chocolate crepe

for their marquesita dish,

which is surely gonna get some cheese,

and that's gonna have

the cocoa-peach sauce.

Then they have that Tijuana Caesar salad

with ruby chocolate in the dressing,

and on top are the croutons

that were dipped in the cocoa butter.

You can see their pastry skills coming out

in all of their menu.

[Alton] Twelve minutes!

-[Ming] How's the soufflé look? Anything?

-[Ben] Almost ready.

[Ming] Oh God, you're k*lling me.

Lookin' good.

[Kristen] Looks like the Iron Chef

is waiting for his soufflés to rise.

Soufflés can be tricky,

because they must have

perfectly beaten egg whites

properly folded into the base.

This is the chocolate sauce

that's gonna make the soufflé chocolatey.

It's just my favorite chocolate sauce ever

to make,

just ganache.

[Claudette] Yeah, perfect.

I also saw that Chef Zepeda

put some rice next to her fish.

Rice is tough to cook fast,

and so are we going to feel like

-[Andrew] Thousand percent.

-the rice is a detraction?

I know. I have a lot of questions.

[Alton] Over on the Iron Chef's side,

they're releasing the pressure

off that cooker now,

where that pork belly has been cooking

the whole time.

[Christine] Belly's going down.

Oh, look! Oh, he had He got a rise.

-[Andrew] Oh, soufflés.

Oui.

-[Andrew] Wow.

-There are the soufflés. It's happening.

See, now,that

is what gains you back the points.

Over on the challenger's side

of the world,

we see the salad is being dressed now.

[Kristen] Sous-chef Paola

piping out that lovely Duvalín dessert.

[Alton] Now, that was the white chocolate,

the cream, hazelnut,

and blue-corn mixture.

On the Iron Chef's side,

we're gonna see what's going on.

We know he's making a duck l'orange.

Iron Chef Tsai

looks to be adding his chocolate,

made from cocoa powder and pistoles,

to the duck sauce in the blender.

Chocolate à l'orange sauce

is finally coming to fruition.

[Ming] Okay, good. Okay, duck sauce done.

One minute, 45 seconds.

Over on the challenger's side,

she's topping that with cubes of the Edam,

so they're doing a kind of

a deconstructed version of a marquesita.

That is fascinating.

Try to think outside the box.

I don't wanna be told

that it's not enough.

Behind! Hot!

Soufflés out on the Iron Chef's side.

[Kristen] Those are beautiful.

Those are gorgeous.

Need to set the plate, guys, please.

-Lauren, how are you?

-Great, Chef. How are you?

-[Claudette] I'm good.

-[Ming] Okay, guys, let's go!

[Christine] Heard.

[Alton] Ah, the pressure is palpable

on the Iron Chef's side.

[Ming] Let's go. I need food.

[Alton] Ooh! There's the pork belly.

A little small piece is actually

on the plate, with the stripe.

[Kristen] And that stripe

is the chocolate barbecue sauce.

[Alton] There's the rice,

the duck that's gone on top of it.

[Ming] Come on, guys.

Let's go. Butterfish, guys.

[Loni] Oh, come on, Chef!

Thirty seconds!

[Kristen] They have that chocolate tuile

with their dessert,

and the Iron Chef

has his chocolate-miso cod going down now.

[Alton] Ten seconds, nine,

eight, seven, six,

five, four,

three, two, one, and time is up.

Put it down and walk away

here in Kitchen Stadium.

-[all chuckle]

-We'll work on that.

[Ming] Nice. Nice.

[Alton] The cooking is done.

Judges, if you will,

please head over to the tasting table.

We'll see you shortly.

[Ming] Barbecue sauce is awesome.

I feel good, the food's good.

I like the simplicity, how they look,

I like how all the sauces taste.

There's chocolate everywhere,

being a chocolate battle,

I think we succeeded with that.

-[Paola] Nervous?

-[chuckles] No!

[Claudette] Coming from

a former pastry chef,

I feel it was serendipitous

for the secret ingredient to be chocolate,

but it was a challenge

thinking outside the box.

All I can do is cross my fingers

and hope that we got this.

[heavenly choral music plays,

dramatic drum beats]

Judges, welcome to the judging table.

As you may recall,

you have awarded the Iron Chef 14 points

for that first dish,

and the challenger Chef Zepeda with 21.

But remember you are awarding the points

based on taste, presentation,

and use of the secret ingredient.

There are 75 more points to be awarded

throughout the next four courses.

So let's start with Chef Zepeda.

-[Andrew] Hello.

-[Claudette] Hi.

-Thank you.

-[Nilou] Hello!

[Alton] Chef Zepeda,

could you give us a few words

about your approach to the challenge?

I have so many vivid memories

of my childhood,

of flavors that would

pair well with chocolate,

so that's where I went

with the entire meal.

So what you have in front of you

is a Tijua-style Caesar salad.

We incorporated the ruby chocolate,

and you have a baguette that has been

seared with a little bit of cocoa butter,

and then topped with cocoa nibs.

Chef Zepeda, I love the almost sweetness

you got from the ruby chocolate.

The salad is exactly the right balance

of dressed, but not too overdressed.

-But I do feel there's a lot of bread.

-Okay.

I think the bread is good

because you can pick it up like this.

[all laugh]

Very crunchy.

Amen.

It is not overwhelming,

I didn't know what you were gon' do

with that ruby chocolate.

-It is very delicious.

-Thank you.

You've used several different

chocolate elements here

in a very unexpected way.

That ruby chocolate plays beautifully

into it, and I didn't think it would.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Thank you, Chef.

We look forward to more courses.

-Thank you so much.

-[Kristen] Thank you.

It's a very crave-able salad.

I wanna eat all of that with my fingers.

That sweetness.

Is it risky to take on a form

that is known and beloved like that?

-Or because we do crave it

-Yes.

-Absolutely.

-is it a safer play?

No!

Oh, I think it's way riskier

and I think, honestly,

this shows creativity.

-Doesn't necessarily show cooking chops.

-Right.

[Kristen] Thank you.

Thank you!

Chef, what have you made?

So, what you have in front of you

is a mextlapique,

which is a fish that has

been cooked in corn husks.

My earliest memory

of my grandmother cooking for us

was making tamales

during the winter season,

and unorthodox pairings

are kind of what I strive for,

so I wanted to challenge myself

to make a mole that had chocolate.

We come from very humble roots,

so rice and beans

are such a part of my everyday life.

Nilou, what do you think?

The fish is perfectly cooked.

The mole is delicious and exquisite.

I saw you adding the rice,

and I questioned it,

and I wondered

whether it was going to take away,

but now that I've tasted your rice

and how perfectly cooked it is, delicious.

Thank you.

The chocolate mole on its own

is much more chocolatey.

What it does with the other ingredients

is really pretty transformative. Um

What else is in the rice?

'Cause it's not just rice.

I toasted the rice with cocoa butter.

-That was exquisite.

-Thank you.

-[Andrew] Truly.

-Loni?

-I coulda had just a little bit of

-Heat?

Yeah, just a little bit, you know.

But other than that,

once I put it all on one, like, forkful,

it was a party in my mouth, so I liked it.

Thank you. That's how I like to cook.

Beautiful. Thank you, Chef.

-Thank you, Chef.

-Thank you.

She also sautéed the rice,

and I'm a huge fan of that move,

'cause I think it brings out

-Yes.

-all of those strong

-Nuttiness.

-popcorn chemicals

-[Andrew] Yes.

-that you get from high heat.

[Nilou] Thank you.

So, explain.

So what you have in front of you

is an ode to marquesitas.

So, we have a peach sauce

with cocoa powder.

You have squares of Edam cheese,

and a crispy cocoa tuile.

As a kid, my dad would have cheese plates

that he would make himself,

and the first time I had the combination

of cheese and the crispy crepe,

it all came full circle.

It was one

of my most favorite combinations.

Salty, sweet, and texture.

When I eat the sauce,

it has just the right amount

of cocoa powder,

and actually, I get more cocoa flavor

when I eat it

with the cheese and the fruit.

Don't know if it was intentional

I'm aiming to coin

the phrase "accidentally delicious."

-[all laugh]

-It's absolutely beautiful.

I have to say,

my favorite thing on this plate

is the beautiful way in which

you have treated the peaches.

They're just really meltingly succulent.

Very beautiful.

I liked that it all mixed well,

the cheese gave it that little bit of kick

that I like.

This sauce is good, girl.

[Claudette] Thank you.

-Thank you.

-[Alton & Nilou] Thank you, Chef.

I'm just having so much fun.

I can't wait for the next one.

[chuckles]

[Andrew] Oh!

I was wondering where those forms

might show up.

-[Loni] Thank you.

-[Nilou] Ohh.

Chef, what have you made?

When I was a kid, my brothers and I

ran the streets of Tijuana,

and one of our first little snacks

that my mom would give us

in our lunch bags and stuff was Duvalín.

So, I really wanted

to invoke the spirit of the Duvalín.

You have toasted heirloom blue corn

in the crémeux in the center,

with white chocolate.

You have berries that have been roasted

with cocoa butter and vanilla bean.

And the cocoa nib tuile has masa harina

from heirloom blue corn as well,

and cocoa nibs.

-Talk about a party in your mouth!

-[Loni] Mm!

The crémeux is, I think,

perfect in texture and consistency.

The only thing,

the texture of the strawberry

is not the best for me.

For thousands of years, chocolate

was first consumed solely as a drink

and it was thickened with corn and nuts.

Uh-huh. Tell 'em.

And the fact

that you have white chocolate and corn

and you have the cocoa nibs

andblue corn in here,

this is an incredible way

to represent that in a modern sense.

Truly remarkable.

This is Mexico.

[Andrew] Yes.

It's so good!

I mean, I feel like every time

you tell your stories, and I eat it,

I feel like I see you as a little girl.

-Thank you.

-[Loni] And it just

And I get emotional

when I'm thinking about

[voice breaking] growing up,

and this is just so sweet.

[Nilou] Loni!

[inhales sharply] Thank you.

[Loni sniffs]

Well, I'm emotional that it's gone,

and I'm not real happy about it.

Chef, thank you for an outstanding meal.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

You know what I love most about this

is that I've never had

the little pudding pack,

but I feel like if someone

were to hand that to me,

I'd automatically recognize it visually,

and through its flavor.

I thought it was

an outstanding presentation.

[Alton] Okay. The Iron Chef is up.

Judges, please keep in mind,

21 to 14 after that first dish,

so the Iron Chef

has a lot of ground to make up.

I'm curious to see how the Iron Chef

is going to do his second dish.

-Good afternoon. Good evening.

-Thank you!

-[Alton] Iron Chef!

-[Loni & Andrew] Ooh!

Thank you.

Please take a moment to give us some idea

of your mindset

on the challenge as a whole.

So, I love chocolate.

I've always grew up eating chocolate.

Chocolate works well with salt.

Soy sauce would be my salt

of Chinese culture, so in front of you,

it's a chocolate-miso

sake-marinated butterfish,

using the really dark cocoa powder.

The sauce is a soy chocolate sauce.

So we used the 70%

and a little bit of the chocolate powder

to just bring in

the umami flavor of soy to go with.

I love the interplay

of salt and chocolate.

I'm a little bit confused

only because it feels like

the sauce on the side is so delicious,

and I almost feel like it belonged

on the fish.

Andrew?

Who doesn't love super-tender, flaky,

melt-in-your-mouth,

cut-it-with-a-piece-of-paper butterfish,

that has a miso and sake element to it?

One of the classics of all time.

Thank you.

Iron Chef, it was a great plate of food.

It was more than a party in my mouth.

It was a 1975 disco.

-[Andrew] Mmm!

-Ooh!

-Like eating it with one of these.

-Yes!

So thank you so much.

Thank you, Iron Chef.

We look forward to your next course.

-Thank you.

-[judges] Thank you.

This dish was a lot more successful

than I thought it would be.

However, to your point,

put the sauce, put the fish on top of it,

cucumbers on the side

I like being able to control my meal,

my bite, I like

That's why there's strawberry

and lemon ice creams, you know.

-Everyone gets to pick their own

-But not mixed together.

Choose their own adventure.

[Andrew] Ooh, Chef!

[Kristen] Thank you.

I love duck à l'orange more than anything.

Chef, please tell us about your dish.

A very simple play

on duck à la chocolate orange.

The sauce was made, classic aromatics

flambéd with Grand Marnier,

then chicken stock, a little soy,

and then chocolate pistoles added to that.

I kept the orange segments super fresh,

because the chocolate sauce

has a great richness to it.

Iron Chef Tsai,

the duck is cooked perfectly.

That sauce, it's very, very similar

to the sauce on the previous plate,

and just I'm curious

what chocolate is in here,

and was it the same

that was in the other one?

It was, it was the 70%,

but we added cacao powder

to make it darker.

[Andrew] Gotcha.

The orange, um, suprêmes

are so unbelievably flavorful,

and they make the chocolate pop so much,

and I love the hoisin feeling

of your chocolate sauce.

Loni?

-As a common person here at the table

-[Andrew scoffs]

you just look for, like, a nice taste,

and that's what you gave me,

and I could taste the chocolate

in this sauce.

It's actually a nice flavor,

and it's something that's different,

and it worked,

so I can see why you the Iron Chef.

Thank you.

And on that note, thank you, Chef.

[Andrew] Thank you, Chef.

Why is the sauce the exact same sauce?

This is what puzzles me.

I watched this sauce being made.

It has 27 other ingredients,

and yet it comes out

literally tasting identical,

because all I get for all of that work

is soy sauce and chocolate.

Ohhh.

Ohhh!

-[Nilou] Oh!

-[Loni] Oh!

[judges] Thank you.

Iron Chef, tell us all about it.

[Ming] I spent almost a year and a half

in Atlanta,

and ate a lot of Atlanta-style barbecue.

So I always wanted to bring in

the Atlanta acid part of barbecue

because I think barbecue

needs have sweet and sour.

So we took pork belly

and pressure-cooked it.

There's cocoa nibs

on top of the pork belly.

-Yes.

-Andrew, what do you think?

I love the little hit of chili

in that sauce.

There's a simplicity and elegance here

that I think is a perfect complement

to the foods themselves.

I think this is

an extremely successful dish.

Thank you.

I can't believe the cook

you got on the belly

in 40 minutes in the pressure cooker.

The cook is perfect on it.

This plate is just arresting.

So, did the barbecue sauce

have chocolate or

It did. Yes, I added the pistoles.

Yeah, 60%.

-It was delicious.

-[Ming] Thank you.

-Thank you very much, Iron Chef.

-[Nilou & Ming] Thank you.

This is the direction that we know

Iron Chef Tsai loves to lean into.

It's really smart eating.

Soufflé!

-[Loni] Oh.

-[Andrew]Oh là là.

Chef, what have you made?

The first time I had a soufflé,

I'm like, ten years old,

and I'm like, "What is this hot dessert

that tastes like a cloud?"

And I've been obsessed with soufflés

ever since.

So this is a black-lychee-tea soufflé.

This is a simple

chocolate-ganache cream, oat milk,

and again, my favorite,

the most bittersweet chocolate, the 90%.

Alton, you know what you're doing.

Pour that chocolate.

There's no chocolate in the soufflé.

Oh! Iron Chef, not a big soufflé fan,

but you've made me one today.

It's like chocolate

in every bite, and it's

It was great.

-Thank you.

-[Kristen] Andrew?

I thought the tea flavor was just perfect.

I would've liked the sauce

to just be a little thinner,

just so I could get a little more of it.

However, a really, really

well-ex*cuted finish to the meal.

Nilou?

Chef Tsai, the flavor of the tea

with the chocolate,

it just they echo each other beautifully.

I hate to tell you,

I need it to be bigger so I can have more.

-[chuckles] Okay.

-[Nilou] But thank you.

Iron Chef, thank you

for an outstanding meal.

Thank you. Thank you all very much.

Judges, you know what comes next.

Please keep in mind,

after that first dish, 21 to 14.

You've got 75 points to play with,

and a lot to think about.

Thank you.

[Alton] So will it be Chef Zepeda's

bold and nostalgic Mexican flavors,

or Iron Chef Tsai's East-meets-West take

on the secret ingredient?

Now is the time for these chefs

to get their report cards.

Chairman, the floor is yours.

Chef Zepeda.

Iron Chef Tsai.

You both cooked

like you were head of the class.

And the victor tonight is

[dramatic music builds]

Chef Zepeda.

[cheering and applause]

-[Ming] Congratulations.

-[Claudette] Thank you.

Thank you.

Chef Zepeda, you have

accomplished the impossible.

You have managed to defeat

one of my Iron Chefs,

and to commemorate this miraculous moment,

I present you with this.

[triumphant music plays]

[cheering and applause]

Thanks, you guys.

Well, there you have it, folks.

The Chairman has spoken.

The winner of this hard-fought battle

is our challenger, Chef Zepeda

with the judges scoring it 81 points to 77

in favor of the challenger.

Chef Zepeda took out Iron Chef Tsai,

after a strong first dish

left the Iron Chef trailing.

Chef Zepeda continued

to take greater culinary risks

with the secret ingredient,

and showcased a greater variety

of chocolate throughout her menu.

[Alton] But despite her win,

Chef Esther Choi

remains our most successful challenger

Good job, guys.

[Alton] having scored 86 points

in Battle Tailgate.

Mr. Chairman, any final thoughts?

[somber music plays]

This is one of the hottest peppers

on the planet.

In a feat of culinary courage,

I will eat it!

[sweeping string music plays]

[whistling]

[closing theme music plays]