What makes the Ultimate Holiday Celebration? In this hour, our own TVFN all star chefs share their memories, secrets and fantasies of what the Ultimate holiday celebration means to them. Let our chefs guide you to ultimate holiday satsifaction.
Four new competitors are ready to commit to a tournament that stretches their strategic planning abilities as well as their cooking skills. Every basket has just three items, and a live auction determines what each chef scores as their fourth ingredient. In this preliminary battle, one chef spends a ton of money to secure a favorite ingredient for his appetizer dish, raising expectations that he should be able to ace the round. Will his dish deliver? The chefs open up the second basket to discover a weird burrito, and the most promising auction item seems to be some lovely mushrooms. Then, all eyes are on the last two competitors as they race to make desserts using a fruit, booze and some pastries from the basket, plus the two very different items from the auction. Only one chef will advance to the Name Your Price tournament grand finale!
Chef Todd Richards enters Kitchen Stadium to challenge Iron Chef Cora. Will Chef Richards wow the judges with his culinary styling, or will Iron Chef Cora's cuisine reign supreme?
Judges
Karine Bakhoum
Cady Huffman
Jeffrey Steingarten
Challenger stats: Chef Richards
From: Chicago, Ill.
Restaurants: The Oakroom (AAA 5 Diamond, Louisville Ky.), Soleil (The Ritz Carlton Palm Beach), Atlanta Grill (Ritz Carlton, Atlanta), Spice Restaurant (Atlanta), Villa Christina (Atlanta), The Café now Park 75 (The Four Seasons, Atlanta)
Cuisine: Ethnic based dishes with futuristic presentations
Interests: Music (writing, performing, DJ), photography
Ideal secret ingredient: From the potential list that was given: bay scallops number one because they are in season, carrots number two as it presents more challenges, morel number three as they are out of season and very difficult to find
Culinary inspirations: My father, my line cooks, EL Bulli, menus that explain themselves, culinary photography
Ideal judge: One who understands where food is going and how it is rooted in where it came from
Culinary secret weapon: Chef Duane Nutter, Chef Blake Kollker
Favorite restaurant: Morimoto (New York), Alinea Restaurant (Chicago), Hakkasan (Soho London), Mr. J’s Burgers (Chicago)
Favorite food: Sushi, dishes that make culinary sense, my father's red beans and Rice
Food you won't go near: Spoiled, rotten
Weirdest thing you've ever eaten: After you eat it more than once it's not weird anymore; but maybe cow brains
Favorite food destination: Chicago, London, California, New York
Alternative dream job: Honestly, I don't feel I have worked a "job" a day in my life.
Chef Antonia Lofaso is back on the beach for a day of roughing it! In the first challenge, mentors Eric Adjepong and Brian Malarkey are off on a fishing boat catching seafood, while the remaining chefs must pack their backpacks with all food, cookware and utensils they'll need to make a rustic seafood feast at their beach campsite. In the second challenge, two chefs from the same coast will fight for their survival using only one open flame in the sand. In the end, one chef will be eliminated, and their beach adventure will come to an end.
As a mother of two, Ayesha Curry doesn't get a lot of time alone, but her husband, Stephen, and the husbands of her close friends take all the kids for the day so the ladies can enjoy a decadent girls' brunch. After Ayesha stops by chocolate store Dandelion in San Francisco, the girls start with a light Bloody Mary topped with Brown Sugar Bacon, then prepare a Citrus Shrimp Salad, Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms and Spinach Feta Rolls together. To finish off the day of indulging, Ayesha surprises the girls with a twist on her chocolaty childhood favorite, Skillet S'mores.
Everybody knows how to stack bacon, lettuce and tomato, but it will take skill and creativity to make a BLT-inspired three-course meal! The chefs find BLT-themed ingredients in every basket and are encouraged to celebrate the classic flavor combination in their dishes. A cheesy-creamy comfort food adds to the challenge in round one. In the entree round, the chefs scramble to make sure their dishes are "bacon-y" enough, and a lettuce-flavored ingredient in the dessert basket has the final two competitors shaking their heads and crossing their fingers that all ends well.