On this trip, Guy Fieri's got sweet and savory. First up in Pembroke, N.C., he stops by a never-seen-before treat truck to try some knock-out candy apples. Then, an old school diner in Jersey City may have gotten a new name, but the pancakes are still the same. Down the road in Brigantine, N.J., a tried-and-true butcher shop is still grinding and stuffing sausage.
Chopped is brewing up some serious competition, as all three rounds are devoted to beer. For their appetizers, the four chefs must make sausages work with toasted lager. A tasty tripel ale is the beer in the basket for the entree round. And in the final round, the iconic beer and pretzel combination must be made delicious in dessert form.
The chefs hope that their breakfast sausage appetizer will awaken the judges' senses. And as he explains why he loves to cook, one competitor breaks down. Then in the second round, a frozen dessert puts a chill in the chefs' plans to create delicious fish entrees. And the finalists must make sweet fruit work with sour beer in their desserts.
There's eggs in the baskets -- Scotch eggs, that is! Will the competitors know what to do with this sausage-enrobed pub food in the appetizer round? In the entree round, some big fish and a black liquid are two of the ingredients that need taming, then the finalists get reacquainted with a super sugary kids' cereal in the dessert round.
Our chefs are challenged out of the gates as a host of unusual ingredients take the stage. Ready-made eggrolls and stilton cheese collide in the appetizer round, giving way to the odd pairing of blood sausage and lemongrass in the entree. The last two chefs struggle with sweet and salty in a dessert round featuring spicy salted plums and vanilla frosting.
Nancy Fuller is catering a cocktail party in town at the Hudson Opera House. All of her friends will be in attendance for an exhibition of "Harvest," a collection of abstract art that celebrates the fruit of a farmer's labor. She's making all the appetizers -- Sausage-Stuffed Mushrooms, Roquefort-Rolled Grapes, Oysters Rockefeller, Seared Beef Tenderloin Bites -- and Starving Artist Cocktail.
The chefs get news that the judges will be expecting three courses of flaky, perfect pies. Sour gummies and sausage are part of the appetizer round pie puzzle, then the entree round has the three remaining chefs making savory pies that must include baby kale. After a dessert round with candied ginger in the basket, who will be left eating humble pie, and who will win $10,000?
Three of the chefs go in a very similar direction with the first course, and yet the judges find creativity in the variety of flavors in their seafood sausage appetizers. In the entree round, the chefs must integrate tiny pasta and a powerful liqueur into their dishes. In the dessert round, when one competitor's plans fall apart, will there be enough time to redirect?