01x08 - The Cassoulet Dish

[bunniefuu]

(wine cork popping)

(glasses clinking)

- [Claire] Welcome to "Sparklers."

Part cooking competition and travel show,

featuring some of the

world's best sparkling wines.

- So what makes this show extremely unique

is this a self-judged.

Each of us within the

episode have the opportunity

to become the judge that

oversees what goes on.

You might side with your friends.

You might side with a foe.

I don't know, we'll see.

- Choosing the winner was not easy,

and for me, that was Claire.

- Wow!

- [Group] Wow.

- I'm surprised, I'm incredibly happy.

I'm very happy that I don't have to cook.

I mean, I'm from Chicago

and it's widely known

that Chicago people cannot

be easily corrupted.

Jokes! (Claire laughing)

You gotta pick the perfect dish,

but also there's like this

horrible little gremlin

in the back of my mind that's like,

"But also like points."

'Cause if I pick Meghan and Kaner,

Kaner and I are tied for first,

but if I pick George and Maryam,

then the three of us are tied for first,

so there's that.

Judging each other,

we've all gotten very close

and we're all clearly very

talented and very creative,

so I know this is gonna really suck.

(upbeat music)

The challenge this evening will be

for them to create a

cassoulet-inspired dish.

The ingredient that they have

to use are cannellini beans.

So it's a very Southern French dish,

very comfort foody.

It's stew, chili-esque.

A lot of times pork is

incorporated, veggies, duck.

It's very rich, very savory,

and it's gonna be beautiful

with this Faire La Fete

because you have this razor edge acidity

that's gonna cut through all

the richness of this dish.

- The South of France has a

really amazing food history.

From a gastronomic sense,

we're talking cassoulet,

we're talking sausages,

lots of duck dishes.

This is a really important

place where a lot

of cultures have come together

and the food and wine culture

is just such an important part

of what they do every day.

(lively viola music)

- Honestly, I love cassoulet.

It's a dish that's kind

of right up my alley

'cause I love really rich, heavy foods.

I'm from the Midwest.

I would say over seasoning it,

over salting it is something

that really turns me off.

Just those subtle little things

that can throw the balance off.

I'm very much about balance.

I want the savory, I want the acid,

I want the salt.

So these are two pairs

that we actually haven't

seen together yet.

I knew that when George had the

power to choose his partner,

I knew he was going to choose Maryam.

He's been wanting to work with her.

I think they've been wanting

to work together through

this whole process.

They both have very similar

competitive natures.

It'll be interesting to see

if that translates into

the kitchen though,

'cause it's a very different

environment than just,

you know, us goofin'

around and drinkin' wine.

And then with Matthew and Meghan,

I worked with both of them.

I think they're going to

implement duck in this cassoulet.

I know they are.

'Cause Kaner is really

solid on making duck.

Meghan has so many good

ideas and she's so organized,

so it was really easy to

work in the kitchen with her.

You gotta be ready to go

once you get in there.

Step-by-step.

(upbeat music)

- All right.

Oh my goodness, we're here.

It's team red.

Let's do this.

- Let's do this!

- It doesn't happen often

I get another redhead in

the kitchen with me, so.

- [Meghan] Spicy, that's right.

- Yeah, we can't mess around.

This takes time.

- [Meghan] Yeah, we have to go.

- So let's go,

let's get these tomatoes boiling.

We'll get the carrots a choppin'.

It's game time.

We're gonna do salt pork.

We're also gonna use some local lardo

and we're going to do a duck confit,

'cause why wouldn't you?

- We have a few twists because

I think everyone's going

to go classic with this.

So a little bit of honey from

Emily, who was here earlier.

The carrot honey.

- Yes, and because we're both red.

- That's right.

Whenever I'm in France,

I feel like people use fresh nutmeg

and it just adds kind of

a little earthy element.

It's an added layer of complexity.

- In the water.

All right, tomatoes are submerged.

- [Meghan] Great.

- [Matthew] Salt pork going.

- [Meghan] Score the bottom of them?

- [Matthew] Yes.

- [Meghan] Okay, great.

- They got big Xs on 'em.

- Awesome.

- X marks the winner.

- Sure hope so.

I need some points.

I don't think anyone's ever

made cassoulet in an hour.

I think average is like seven hours?

- I'd love to meet them

'cause usually it's a five

to seven hour process.

- [Meghan] Looks pretty good, actually.

They cleaned it really well.

- I'm just going to get in there.

You are ducky.

I'm just gonna be okay with it.

It's gonna be a very rustic dish.

This is a Southern French

dish that is quite rustic.

It's all about layering in the pork,

the duck, the fat, the thyme.

Can I say this is like

a sexy slab of bacon

that I wish I just had to eat?

[Meghan] It looks delicious.

I know!

- [Matthew] It's like pork belly, but not.

But it is, but isn't.

- [Meghan] Yum.

All right, these guys are almost ready.

They're feelin' plump.

They're feelin' like the skin's starting

to give a little bit.

That's a really good sign.

Careful, hot.

- [Meghan] Merci.

(Matthew speaking French)

- I'm just gonna start.

- That's my garcon.

- Garcon.

- Garcon.

Damn, tomatoes are our color.

- [Meghan] Tomatoes!

- [Matthew] I love this.

- We've got all the orange.

Actually we have a lot of orange today.

Feel pretty good.

- [Matthew] How are you

feelin' about those sweating?

- [Meghan] They smell good.

- [Matthew] Leeks and onions.

When you feel their sweat enough

'cause they're gonna cook more,

we're gonna put those in with our tomato.

- Okay.

All right, so we have the

leaks and onion going.

You already, all right, tomatoes.

- All right, so now we're gonna,

not slow cook but kind of like,

we wanna get a stewy-ness going here.

- Yup.

- With our tomato, our,

carrot, our celery.

- [Meghan] We're actually in good shape.

- [Matthew] That's gonna

sweat, that's gonna go in here.

I'm gonna now start.

- [Meghan] Smells really good.

- Duck confit is something I love.

Big fan of Liberty Ducks.

- Yes, I love Jenn.

- Obviously for California,

but this is a more local duck.

Muscovy, I believe.

- Cool.

- And sea salt, lemon pepper,

that's all you need.

- [Meghan] Awesome.

- [Matthew] And heat.

- We have some worthy

opponents though, I must say.

- We do.

I mean, they can throw down.

- The two most competitive

people on the show.

- They're finally on the same team.

- [Meghan] And they're on the same team.

- Wow.

- [Meghan] Yikes.

I need some points.

This is serious.

- [Matthew] We're getting

points on the board for you.

That's happening.

- This is serious for me.

I know I have a nice,

you know, huge bottle,

but I need to not lose today.

- No, we won't allow it.

- I think if I lose today I can't.

- You're too rad to let us let you lose.

Look at how great this salt pork is.

I mean, this is like

fatty bacon awesomeness.

- [Meghan] Man, delicious.

- [Matthew] Want a bite?

- Oh my God.

That is so good.

- I wish you were perfect.

Okay, still love you.

You ready to get this?

- Yeah.

Ooh yes, let's do it.

It came from Chef Karl.

- He is the forager extraordinaire,

but he also cures pork.

(whispering) - [Meghan] Say it quietly.

(whispering) - This is

pork cured by Chef Karl.

(whispering)

- We don't want the other

team to hear about it.

(whispering) - [Matthew] Don't listen.

- [Meghan] We're gonna bury

that in the refrigerator.

- [Matthew] This is not fish.

This is not fish we're gonna cook.

- [Meghan] Not fish.

- This is lardo.

- That's gonna be f*cking awesome.

- My hands are greasy.

This is gonna melt on

top of the cassoulet base

once all the beans go in.

I thought about bringing my knife set

and then I was like, nah, it'd be unfair.

They probably wouldn't

let us use them anyway.

- Do you bring your own bowling ball

to the bowling alley when you bowl?

- I don't bowl.

I'm not Mookie Betts.

But I do sometimes

bring my own wine opener

to a wine restaurant,

especially if I'm gonna

drink a vintage wine.

I used to bring my own

glasses to the places

that don't have real glasses.

- [Meghan] Oh, dear God.

- I chose not to be that person anymore.

- [Meghan] Yeah, don't do that.

- All right, duck's gonna go in the oven.

I don't know what's gonna happen here.

I'm gonna have to keep an eye on it.

The good news is I pull it out halfway.

You okay?

- Uh huh.

(Meghan whimpering)

- [Matthew] Whoops.

- Oh great.

- [Matthew] I didn't wanna

burn you, I apologize.

- It's so hot.

Really subtle flavors.

It's gonna be good with the,

like the salt from the meats.

- [Matthew] Yeah.

- Whoops.

It went straight underneath.

- That's good.

(Meghan laughing)

Let's get another one.

There is a vortex that happens.

- It's gonna start on fire.

It's definitely going to start on fire.

- [Matthew] I got it, I got it.

- Thank you.

What else?

- [Matthew] Did we forget anything else?

- We need to not forget

the exciting components.

The honey, do we wanna

squeeze some orange in?

- Yeah, we're building toward

that magical time when we add everything.

But the orange now is gonna

only enhance the flavor.

I'm not gettin' nervous

but I'm getting excited.

- I'm getting excited.

I'm also like, what?

We planned it so hard and

what are we forgetting?

Anything?

- Orange.

- Orange.

- We already forgot bay leaves.

- Orange, nutmeg.

- [Matthew] Pork's been used,

sage has been used,

garlic's been used,

honey has been used.

- [Meghan] Duck's been used.

- [Matthew] Let's do the honey.

- [Meghan] Yep, okay.

How much do we want?

I almost went for it.

- [Matthew] I think we're good.

- [Meghan] That's enough? Okay.

- [Matthew] Yeah, I think

we don't want it too sweet.

- [Meghan] Are we doing the

world's shortest cassoulet?

- [Matthew] Might be a world record.

- [Meghan] World record?

- [Matthew] Is this gonna be a

"Guinness Book World Records"

of shortest cassoulet?

- [Meghan] Is that one enough?

- Just take it out.

Yeah, they're all perfect.

Those are aces.

- Merci!

Oh yeah, that crisped right up.

All right.

- [Matthew] Don't run my temp.

(upbeat music)

You can start it now.

- [Meghan] Okay.

- [Matthew] We're just

gonna have to push it.

Can I bring you one more taste?

- [Meghan] Yes, please.

- [Matthew] I would like your opinion.

I'll let it be less hot this time.

- It needs more salt.

- Little more salt?

- Mm hm.

It needs some acid.

It needs acid and salt.

- [Matthew] Let's do that.

- We may need a little lemon at the end

if it's not enough acid.

- [Matthew] You wanna taste one more time?

(cheerful music)

- My God.

- Bob's our uncle?

- Bob's your uncle.

This is probably good, right?

'Cause we have to fit the whole.

- [Matthew] The duck

is gonna find its way.

- [Meghan] How thick?

- [Matthew] It's perfect to start.

- Okay.

Okay, go ahead.

You want me to start with the nutmeg?

- Do it.

(nutmeg grinding)

Love it.

Salt, orange zest.

- What are we forgetting?

Oh, the fried, this, this, this, this.

Okay, I think that's it.

- [Matthew] We're done.

- [Meghan] Yeah,

- Let's do it.

Team carrot.

- Whoo!

- Team red.

- Team carrot.

- Team carrot.

Honey, team carrot carrot.

- Oh my God.

- Team duck confit.

- Yeah.

- Let's do a judge.

- Good, this looks good.

All right.

- Come the judge.

Let's hope she likes delicious things.

- [Meghan] Oh my God, yes.

- Delicious things?

- [Matthew] She's been known to.

- [Meghan] Hello.

- Oh my.

- [Matthew] Ms. Claire Coppi.

- First teammate.

- [Matthew] Welcome back.

- First teammate.

Hello, hello.

Oh my.

- [Matthew] We made you something.

- [Claire] Do describe.

- [Matthew] 'Cause we

didn't have seven hours,

we cut some corners and

made a cassoulet-esque dish.

- [Claire] Sure, sure.

- With a really amazing

kind of a tomato boil,

tomato long puree.

- So everything that

you're seeing here came

from Zupans' Market.

- [Claire] Oh wow.

[Matthew] Tip top.

- [Meghan] Like k*ller market close by,

like really great at

sourcing local ingredients,

so we're stoked to cook with them.

We actually added the carrot

flower honey from Emily,

from Jacobsen Salt.

- [Claire] Very nice.

- From the property.

- [Matthew] Little sweetness.

I wanted some crispy skin for you

to get a little bit of the earthiness,

a little of the texture.

That'll go with the kind of earthiness

that Chenin brings in.

- You think it went well?

- We hope it did.

- We're gonna watch your face, we'll see.

- We're watching your face.

- Guess we'll find out.

- We need to get Meg some points.

- We did get Meg some points.

Meg has points all on

her own outside of this.

- I have the least amount

of points, actually.

- Gonna dig into this.

Yeah, but what are points?

(dramatic music)

Lovely.

Well, thank you so much.

I know you worked really,

really hard on this.

So happy I didn't have to work really,

really hard on this end.

I could just work on eating it.

But no, seriously.

Thank you, well done.

- It's our pleasure.

- I will see you by the fire later tonight

and let you know what the results are.

- [Matthew] We appreciate your palate.

- Thank you so much.

- [Meghan] Thank you.

- [Matthew] Cheers.

- Cheers, darlings.

- [Meghan] Thanks so much, cheers.

- Congrats.

- What do you think?

(glasses clinking)

- I mean, I'm constantly nervous

on this show so it's just,

I need a week off after

this to just sleep.

- I was so confident

in my duck preparation.

I'm not used to the oven.

I'm not used to the, just

the whole environment.

- Yeah, it's really hard.

- It takes you out of

your game a little bit

but all you can do is adjust and go.

I think we did a great job of that.

- Yeah.

(glasses clinking)

- Proud to be your teammate today.

- I'm stoked to have been your teammate.

- Let's see what happens.

- Yeah, okay.

- Let's go.

- Sounds good.

(upbeat music)

- You ready?

- Yeah, are you ready?

- I'm ready, I'm ready.

- Let's do it.

- Let's do this, let's do this.

Ay!

- Ay!

Whoo!

- Let's go.

- What are we doing?

- Yeah.

- I'm gonna open the wine.

Let's talk through what we're gonna do.

- [George] Let's do it.

- I'm pretty stoked.

I'm glad we're on this side together now.

- I know, right?

- I know we have a little thing,

a little rivalry going,

but I honestly,

I admire your cooking so much.

We're going to go for.

- [Maryam] You're the best, George.

- [George] Let's do it.

- You're the best.

We're gonna go for a

pork-free cassoulet tonight.

- [George] Yes.

- A play on a cassoulet.

We're gonna give it our best shot.

We've got for sure some turkey bacon.

- For sure.

We of course have duck that

I'm about to break down.

Then we're also going to

do a lot of veg, right?

- Yeah, this wine played really

nicely with all the green.

- Just finish off with some acid, right?

- Yeah, oh hell, yeah.

- f*ck yeah, yes.

- That wine and acid's gonna be perfect.

Keep this cassoulet nice and bright.

- [George] I haven't

made a lot of cassoulet.

- Same-zies.

- But I think that we are

gonna k*ll this, honestly.

- I mean, do you think

other people are nervous

that we're working together?

- I think so.

- Is that a little bit mean to say?

- A little bit, a little bit,

a little bit, a little bit.

- Well, cheers to

working together finally.

- Salud, salud.

Cheers.

- Let's do this.

Are you ready? You got

a plan? We got a plan?

- [George] Let's do it.

We got a plan, let's do it.

- Yeah, let's do this.

I'll leave our little list

right here in case we need it.

- Just in case, just in case.

- I'm a little tired from

this point from winning.

- [George] We're gonna get another duck.

- [Maryam] All right, I'm on veg, classic.

You got that duck?

- [George] Yes.

- [Maryam] All right, cool.

- I'm really excited

to smoke it, honestly.

I think it's gonna be really

nice when I do duck two-way.

That's gonna be a really

nice play, honestly.

- The leanness of our dish might really,

I think it will really

complement the wine.

Like the really, really rich qualities

of traditional cassoulet

are of course fabulous,

but I do think the wine will be happy

with this lighter style.

- Yeah, totally, totally.

So how'd you get into cooking?

- I think I'm still getting into cooking,

if I'm being honest, George.

I didn't really grow up cooking,

but my mom had these very same dishes,

which isn't a knock,

that she did really well.

One was like a really cool clam sauce,

but she always used ingredients

from the garden for it.

She'd make homemade pesto.

So I think the garden for me was always,

just always been really important.

But what's cool is my mother,

who is of German descent,

was able to go and visit my

father's family in Pakistan

when I was very young,

and my grandmother taught

her how to make chana masala,

which is a chickpea,

it's a vegetarian chickpea dish.

- Oh wow, nice.

- She taught me and I think

that's just like a really,

you know, cool first gen thing, you know?

- [George] Yeah, totally,

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- I cook that dish all the time.

What about you?

- During holidays,

my family would all get together

and they would all be in

the kitchen, you know,

things for like Thanksgiving,

and they would always have

these amazing conversations

while they were all cooking together.

I'd just love sitting next to 'em

and just kind of being

like a fly on the wall

and hearing all of these stories

that my grandmother would tell.

All the things that she

experienced while growing up,

even pre-civil rights movement.

I feel like we're,

I'm really lucky to be where I am,

cooking duck and cassoulet here with you.

- Wine and food are at the center

of so much more than just what

we get to consume every day.

- Totally, exactly.

- You know, it's a huge

intersection of art and culture,

but also agriculture and

activism, everything else.

- [George] Exactly, exactly.

- So we are really lucky to be here.

And wine is the vessel for that.

It's really amazing.

- It's an amazing vessel.

I do not hate it at all.

I'm almost done chopping up this.

- [Maryam] Okay, cool.

- [George] And then I'm gonna

go take it out on the smoker.

- It's been a few challenges

now going up against George,

and he has been a very worthy opponent.

I've been really nervous.

- [George] Oh man, wow.

- Oh okay, dang, here you are.

- What's poppin'?

- What I was gonna say was,

every time we've had a challenge,

I've been like,

what is George about to do?

'Cause whatever he's about to do,

I have to do something different.

(pan sizzling)

George, how has it been

for you coming into the wine industry?

Where do you feel like you've

had really great points

of access and where do you

feel like we could be better?

- That's a really good question.

Coming into the wine industry

was very interesting for me

because I did have those

people that looked after me

and saw something in me and saw, you know,

this passion that I had.

It was interesting because as I got more

and more into the industry,

I saw the lack of

diversity in the industry

and I saw a lot more people

who didn't look like me

as I started to continue

to grow and rise within,

you know, where I'm at now.

I think that we can do better by doing

exactly what we're talking about, right?

Being able to create more opportunities

for people to be able to have

access within the industry.

- But beyond an entry-level

hourly position,

it's actually more about being

able to grow within a company

or grow within an industry

into leadership roles.

So, I mean, I think that's

where we're seeing a lot

of change there, actually.

- [George] Right, right.

- [Maryam] I'm gonna go in

with tomato paste, George.

- [George] Let me know when

you want me to add some fat.

- [Maryam] This is really traditional.

This is how I make the base

of every Pakistani dish that I make.

- [George] Really? Oh wow.

- [Maryam] Tomatoes, and onions, and oil.

You've got the bacon,

we gotta prep some kale.

We gotta do that two ways, right?

So we're gonna put some in the cassoulet

and then really finely

chopped for that layer.

- Yeah, on top.

- That we're gonna broil

off right before we serve.

- Sounds good.

- Princess Claire her cassoulet.

I feel like it's a good time

for a little beverage break.

- Ooh, yes.

- You want one, you wanna cheers?

- Let's do it, salud.

- We have time, we're doing great.

- Actually, you know what?

I'm gonna this Fernet, is that all right?

- Just out of nowhere, I'll take a glass.

Actually, I'll take a shot.

- You will? Let's do it.

- To you, let's do this.

- Mm.

I love it.

- A party.

- A party.

- Faire La Fete.

This is cooking down so well.

- [George] It is.

- Bring it up, baby.

I think that should be

my cooking show line.

- [George] What's that?

- Bring in up, baby!

- Bring it up, bring it up, baby.

- Bring it up.

And then we dance.

And we dance, and we dance.

- I love it.

and we dance, go.

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

- Okay, ready?

Bring it up, baby!

(upbeat music)

(George laughing)

Here we go.

Good luck carrots.

How much?

Little more or no?

- [George] I think that's perfect.

- I think it's good.

Agreed.

We've never agreed more, George.

- Honestly.

That one UNO game was.

- Oh my gosh.

- Or multiple UNO games

was pretty intense.

- We're not allowed to play.

You all have some different rules.

I never played UNO like that

so I didn't know what I was doing.

- Yo.

- And you're still upset about it.

- [George] I have the right rules.

- I'm sorry, George.

I played by your rules and you lost.

- What?

No, I won sometimes.

- [Maryam] We're gonna put some

of this fresh thyme into the dish, right?

- [George] Yes.

- I'm gonna cook a little bit.

- [George] I think that's perfect.

- Is that okay?

- That's perfect, yeah.

- All right.

- Beano, is it good?

- So good, wanna try with

the backend of the spoon?

- Yes, I would love

this, I would love that.

- I think the wine was the right call.

We are gonna use the

crispy skin in the garnish

with the panko and kale.

- Yeah, exactly.

I'll probably put the bean

stock in here soon as well.

Talk to me about the smoked duck.

How are we gonna put that into the dish?

We're gonna put it on

top or putting it in the?

- Uh, put it in the beans.

- Yup.

- Stir in there.

Just so that that smokey flavor,

it's still incorporated.

What I'm gonna do.

- [Maryam] Can I have more of that duck?

- [George] I'm gonna

take some of that fat.

I'm gonna incorporate

that fat in the panko.

- Oh, I love it!

Yes, yes!

- That was a good high five.

That was a really good high five.

- [Maryam] Are you ready to

help me get this blended, sir?

- [George] I am.

You got it!

Who's in the house?

- [Maryam] I'm in the house!

Aw, I miss Meg.

- But we're also gonna

hopefully crush her?

I don't know, possibly.

- Hey, here's hopin'.

(blender whirring)

George, look at the

freaking color of that.

Amazing!

- That's good.

It looks really tender too.

- It does.

- [George] I'm gonna start at

the base with some of this.

Is that all right?

- 100%.

Do you want to build in

that, those pieces of duck,

the smoked duck?

- [George] Yes.

- I love that base layer.

That's a great idea.

This is gonna go right on top.

We're ready, we're ready.

- [George] Oh, it's so perfect.

- [Maryam] We're ready for broil.

- It's so perfect.

- I'm gonna go in with some

fresh thyme as you layer.

- Perfect.

- [Maryam] I'm gonna

chop this crispy skin.

Here we go, George.

- [George] Perfect, it looks so good.

- How's it going?

- Looks good.

- [Maryam] My panko here.

Kale here.

We finished because the

beans aren't showing

and I feel like cassoulet,

the bean has to show.

It doesn't look like cassoulet

but it's gonna taste like it.

- [George] It sure is,

it sure is, my friend.

- Dang, that last few minutes

was a little stressful.

- It was rough, it was

rough, but we got it in.

- I spent too much time drinking wine.

- Chatting it up with you.

(George laughing)

It was good.

- I'm proud of us, I'm proud of us.

- Yeah, we k*lled it, we k*lled it.

- We made some cool decisions, yeah.

- [George] Regardless,

this was fun cooking.

- [Maryam] I loved cooking with you, man.

- [George] Yo, this is dope.

We gotta do it some more.

- But I'm not done with

you on the ping pong table.

- We're at two, zero?

Is that?

- All right, well.

(George laughing)

(dramatic music)

- [Maryam] Hello Claire.

- Smells good in here.

- [George] Hey, how are you?

- I'm good, how are you doing?

- [Maryam] Would you like me to pour?

Is that okay?

- [Claire] Please pour me alcohol.

- Please, please, please.

- [Claire] I will not say no.

- [Maryam] Alcohol, stat!

- Well, first of all, cheers.

This was a challenge that I was not upset

to sit out on because it was a lot.

So how did it feel to

finally work together?

- We did okay.

- [Claire] And not against

each Other In ping pong.

- We did okay, yeah.

- [Claire] Yeah?

- We were due sometime in the kitchen.

- Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.

- We mended some old wounds.

We just know UNO is off the table.

- So tell me about your dish, please.

- Okay, so we went with

a pork-free cassoulet

and what we wanted to do

was highlight the duck.

We also used a little bit of turkey bacon.

- The way we wanted to do it was we wanted

to do duck two ways.

We seared off the thigh

as well as the leg.

And then what we did with the breast

is we actually smoked it.

- You had time to do all of this?

- Got the smoker on the smoker right away.

- [Claire] Holy crap.

- So yeah, it was, it took a little while.

Right.

- But it worked!

Hopefully, I think it worked.

- [George] I think it did.

- He thinks it worked.

But can you try some

please, before it gets cold?

- Absolutely.

It tastes beautiful as well.

Do you feel confident with

this bite that I just grabbed?

- [George] I think it looks good.

- Yeah, you know, I mean, if

you wanna take a second bite,

we won't be upset about that.

- I just may.

(suspenseful music)

That was awesome, thank you so much.

I have thoughts,

which I will share with

you by the fire later.

- Nice.

- Best of luck to you both.

Thank you again.

- Thank you, Claire.

- Thank you so much.

(glasses clinking)

- Cheers, congratulations to you.

Good luck.

- [George] Thank you.

- Well, I'm never playing

poker with Claire, ever.

- No.

(George laughing)

- She's such, she's so stealthy.

- [George] I love it, I love it.

- She's just like, all

right, see you later.

- You know, I'm confident.

I really honestly had

an amazing time cooking

with you for now.

I'm still gonna crush you.

- Oh, you talk a lot of game

for someone who hasn't won

two challenges already.

- Ooh, that's valid.

Still got six points, though.

- Okay.

- I have won two, I have won two.

- Okay, okay, relax, relax.

- We'll see.

- I'm on my way.

- Mm hm, mm hm.

We'll both have nine, hopefully.

(intense music)

I think this is the moment of truth.

- New judge!

- I'm excited!

- New judge, Claire.

- New judge! Yes!

- [Matthew] Gotta get you some points.

[Meghan] Judge Claire.

- Cheers!

- Oh, here she is.

- [Meghan] I need some points.

She looks very official.

- Oh my goodness gracious.

First of all,

congratulations, like woof.

Part of the honor of winning

the perfect bite challenge

of this episode was that

I didn't have to do this.

(group laughing)

Congratulations on accomplishing

a cassoulet in an hour.

- Oh man.

- [Claire] A cassoulet is

a dish that needs time.

- That was too much.

- Totally.

- So the fact that you could both,

all of you, accomplish

something delicious, fantastic,

with complexity and depth within an hour,

frankly blew my mind.

Congratulations, cheers to

you all for that, frankly.

Absolutely ridiculous.

- Thank you, judge.

- [Claire] I couldn't have done that.

I couldn't have done that.

- Cheers.

- I really loved Meghan and Matthew,

that you roasted tomato

and brought in some

more savory, rich notes.

I loved smelling your dish.

The grated nutmeg, the orange zest.

I loved leaning in and

getting a whiff of it.

That's such a warm spice

and it was something

that none of us have implemented

in this journey so far

that was just warm and cozy.

It's just stick to your

ribs and warm your soul.

So I loved the implement of that.

For you both, what a delicious dish.

Also, I have to say both of your dishes,

incredibly beautiful to look at,

which you know I love.

I love a pretty plate.

But more importantly, the dish.

I love that everything was

integrated so well and that

so much care was taken in

all the steps of the duck,

that you did it two ways,

and that you intentionally thought about,

this is a leaner wine.

So maybe we don't need to

make this such a rich dish.

If we were doing this with

a really rich champagne,

then you can step up the fat level,

but you held back a little bit.

And I love that you brought some

of your Pakistani roots into it as well.

That was really, really nice.

All of it was so lovely.

Unfortunately, there

can only be one winner.

Let's go over points as they stand.

Maryam, you have six points.

- Correct.

- George, six points.

- Myself, six points.

Matthew Kaner, six points.

Meghan, three points.

Three points and a Ferragamo bag,

and a 6-liter of Ca'Del Bosco,

so I don't feel that bad for you.

- It's still three points,

it's still three points!

- [Claire] I don't feel that bad for you!

- I have feelings, it's three points.

- I know you do, you do.

Absolutely, you do.

A pass is a pass.

I want to go with my gut reaction

to what the dishes were as far as balance.

I think especially with a dish like this,

it needs to have salt, it needs have acid,

it needs to have the fat,

especially with a wine that is as balanced

and delicious as Faire la Fete.

So I'm so sorry darlings,

but there can only be one winner,

and the winners are

George and Maryam.

- Oh my God!

(George laughing)

- [Meghan] No! Man.

- I'm so sorry.

America, don't hate me.

Don't k*ll me, please,

for the love of God.

- Oh my goodness.

- [Claire] Kaner, don't k*ll me.

- [Matthew] You'll live.

- [Claire] Don't k*ll me.

- [Matthew] You're good.

- [Meghan] Oh my goodness.

- [George] It Was so dope to

win something with Maryam.

I honestly was super

ecstatic just because it was,

we were creating food that we

both really were inspired by

and that influence came

from both my culture

and her culture.

- Of course, nothing can be perfect.

I would say with yours,

I will say the duck was

a little over cooked.

- Okay.

- But the flavors were there.

Oh God, they were there.

The tomato, the oh God, it

was so rich and so wonderful.

Duck is hard, duck is so hard.

It is really difficult to do it.

You did a great job with it but I loved

that I could scoop up all

the flavors in one bite.

When I tasted it,

I felt like I was back in the kitchen

with my family on Thanksgiving

and it warmed my soul.

- Oh my gosh.

- George, Maryam,

congratulations on a beautiful,

beautiful cassoulet dish in an hour.

- Thank you.

Cheers.

- [Claire] Cheers to that.

(glasses clinking)

So lucky to be out here

in Oregon at AtTheJoy.

We've had a fantastic time, I have to say.

- It's been amazing.

- But it's time to move on.

Now we are going to move on to Sonoma.

The points as they stand.

Maryam is at nine points.

George is at nine points.

Claire is at nine points.

Matthew Kaner is at six points.

And Meghan is at three points.

But that all could change,

so stay tuned for the next

episode of "Sparklers."

- Whoo! Oregon!

(gentle, upbeat music)

- [Claire] We have left Oregon

and we're now here in gorgeous Sonoma.

- [Man] Welcome to "Sparklers" in Sonoma

at DeLoach Vineyards!

- Let's go!

- Yeah!

- [Maryam] Ruinart is the

oldest champagne house.

This is not only the gold

standard of champagne,

but also a Blanc de Blanc.

- This is an ingredient that

I fell in love with in Japan.

- Mm!

- Game time. Let's go.

- To another perfect bite challenge.

(wine cork popping)

(glasses clinking)