01x05 - Down-Home to Uptown

[bunniefuu]

[upbeat music playing]

This is that leftovers show.
You know, the one that teaches you

to save chicken bones
for soup stock instead of voodoo?

Home chefs are finding delicious ways
to give old leftovers new life.

And we're gonna show you how.

It's me, Jackie Tohn. I host the thing.

Three skilled cooks will compete
over two rounds,

creating new dishes out of leftovers.

The cook with the best dishes
goes home with 10,000 buckarinos, baby!

Let's makeover some leftovers!

Feels like the right amount of milk.

[man] I'm Ren. I like to cook,
and every week I design my menus

to feed everybody in the house
based on leftovers.

So I feel very confident.
It's a slam dunk to win the whole thing.

[woman] My name is Jonte.

I have a catering business
in Charleston, South Carolina,

called Just Stuff It Catering.

Being a home chef,
sometimes there's that little doubt

in my head that says, "Maybe
I should've went to school for it."

But I have to tell self-doubt to back up,

I got this.

[woman] I'm Molly. I love leftovers,

and as someone
with several food allergies,

mine are always gluten-free.

I'm here to show that gluten-free
does not mean taste-free.

-How are you guys?
-Good.

I am so excited for you to meet

the spectacular judges
that stand beside me every day.

[Jackie] David
"You Can Definitely Save That" So.

He's a restaurateur
and big-time culinary influencer.

Maybe he'll Insta your food,
you don't know.

And to my left,
Rosemary "Reheat the Meat" Shrager.

She's a world-renowned chef.

And she's got a ton of miles from flying
back and forth from here to London.

I absolutely adore leftovers.

The most important thing:
it's got to be satisfying in that mouth.

All the textures,
all the flavors, everything.

Satisfying in the mouth!

Up high, Shrager.

-[Rosemary laughs]
-I see you, girl.

-Okay.
-Clean your mind out.

The three of you will compete
over two rounds to determine

-who will be the overall champ.
-[clicks tongue]

[Jackie] Round one will put
your everyday leftover skills to the test.

We want to see how quickly and creatively

you can take leftovers
from the fridges behind you

and turn them into delicious creations.
Round two will raise the bar,

but more on that later.

So exciting, it's time for round one.
It's the pressure cooker!

It's the day after
an all-day grilling sesh

at the family barbecue.

For your leftover challenge,
you'll have 30 minutes

to take leftovers from a barbecue

and turn them into...

a sweet and savory late-night snack.

-[mouthing] Ooh.
-Okay.

In your fridge, you'll find...

bacon-wrapped brats and potato chips,

beef kebabs,

pasta salad,

and blueberry cobbler. [chuckles]

-Okay.
-This is awesome.

-Yeah.
-[Jackie] And Molly, don't worry.

You have the gluten-free version
of all those ingredients in your fridge.

Thank you so much.

[Jackie] You'll also have access
to a limited pantry

and some staple fridge extras.

-Okay, cooks, you ready to get to it?
-Yes!

Ready? Go!

-[David] Go! Let's go, guys!
-[Rosemary] Good luck!

Look at 'em move!

-They want the money.
-They want the money.

[Ren] With this meat,
what am I gonna do here?

[Jonte] What? [scoffs]

I'm trying to wrap my head around,

"What am I going to do with this kebab?"
[chuckles]

[Molly] Let's just say gluten-free pasta
doesn't keep well overnight,

in any way, shape or form.

-[Jonte] I'm gonna get my meat together.
-Jonte, what are you cooking over there?

Um...

I think I'm gonna do
a sweet and savory waffle.

-Okay!
-[Jackie] Oh!

[Jonte] I'm not sure why waffles
popped in my head.

But I think I can
whip up some batter really quick.

So I'm making a sweet and savory waffle.

The sausage and the beef
from the kebab will go into the batter.

And then I will be taking
the blueberry cobbler,

making it like a syrup on top.

I decide not to touch the pasta salad

because I couldn't think quickly enough
how to transform that.

Some smoked paprika.

I'm used to making a chicken and waffle,

so switching out the chicken
for sausage and beef--

I pray that it will work.

[laughs]

-So it's a savory waffle?
-Yeah.

[Jackie] I've never had that.

You get fried chicken
and some syrup. Like chicken and waffles?

-That's sweet and savory.
-Never had that. That's gonna be cool.

All right, what have we got?

Ren, what are you making?

I'm making Asian meatballs.

I'm making Asian meatballs
with a blueberry sesame sauce

and a sweet slaw on the side.

I'm using beef,
the mushrooms and onions off the kebabs,

the brat, the bacon, in the meatball.

And I think I'm gonna cook
that blueberry down

and use that as one of the sauces.

Even the potato chips
I could figure out how to get in there.

Pasta, not so much.

So that's almost everything.

-All right.
-I'll let you at it.

[Ren] Okay.

I have more questions,
but I'll keep them to myself!

I chose Asian meatballs
because I've got meat,

and who doesn't like good Asian food?

So if I get all the right sauces,
that's a great midnight snack.

I have a ton of experience using leftovers

'cause my four and five-year-old
granddaughters live with us.

Unfortunately,
we lost our son, their father...

earlier in the year,
and so I'm raising girls now.

And I'm teaching my girls how to cook.

It's totally different raising girls.

I'm not sure I'm good at it,
but I'm learning.

Y'all are gonna love my dish.

But not as much as mine,
you'll love mine more.

[Jackie] Oh, wow. Wowee.

I think Molly is very competitive.

-Yeah.
-Yes, I think she is.

I can get rid of this.
It looks delicious, but not my jam today.

After chasing all my components
and really formulating

what I'm gonna do with it,

I need to think about
what I need to cook first.

I am making
a beef and bratwurst chili con queso

with blueberry-candied bacon
and a fresh corn salsa.

The bratwurst itself,

as well as the beef
and all the vegetables from the kebab,

will go into the queso,

and then I'm going to make
blueberry-candied bacon

using the blueberry filling
from the blueberry cobbler.

Right away, I say, "Thanks,
but no thanks" to the pasta salad.

Then I decide to make my own chips.

My inspiration for this
is my siblings are--

they're cheese addicts,
let's put it that way.

I thought, look at all this great meat,
look at all this produce here.

It totally lends itself
to sort of Tex-Mex in style.

Cheese going in.

Phew!

[Jackie] I guess no one's brave enough
to take on the pasta salad.

Yes, but I think this is a fun round.
They've got fun food to play with.

[Jackie] Oh, for sure.

[Rosemary] And also, they've got food
that actually they can do so much with.

There should be some
really interesting things coming through.

-[Jackie] How are you guys feeling there?
-Good.

[laughs] That was
the most unenthusiastic response ever.

She's busy.

We're adding in my savory...

to my batter.

-She's put it in the batter?
-That's what she said.

-[Rosemary] That's interesting.
-[Jackie] Jonte, in the batter?

[Jonte] In the batter.
So when you bite into the waffle,

you should get a bit of the meat
and the veggies and everything in it.

-Never heard of a waffle being done--
-Me neither.

Never, it's a new one.

[Jonte] Oh, that's pretty.

[exhales]

[Ren] One egg for a binder.

Put some of these potato chips
in the mixture,

-kind of a substitute for bread.
-[Rosemary] Looks a little dry.

If you're gonna think about rehydrating,

actually you put
a bit more liquid into it.

I will save that.
Now let me get some other wet ingredients.

When you cook meat,
you cook out the moisture and the fat.

Now I gotta figure out
how to get moisture and fat back in it.

Okay, fish sauce. And soy sauce.

But I gotta be careful
so that they don't come out too salty.

[sniffs] Hmm, smells good.

[rock music playing]

[Molly] I tell you what, whoever did a job

wrapping this bratwurst,
did it nice and tight.

This bacon's got nothing on me.

This is from the blueberry cobbler.

Took the crust off, saved the blueberries.

Little bit of water, a great puree.

I'm making blueberry-candied bacon

using the bacon
from the bacon-wrapped bratwurst

and the blueberry cobbler.

Throw it in the oven, crisp it up.
You gotta have that sweet and savory.

[imitates fanfare]

Ten minutes left.

[laughing] That was the cutest horn
I ever heard in my life.

A little egg wash.

Rolling my meatballs, coating them
in some of those leftover potato chips.

[meatball cracks]

That one fell apart.

I'm forming the meatballs

and I didn't have enough bread mixture
in my mix to give it a firm texture.

I need to make these
a little bit better...

So I don't love the consistency of them,
but I was looking up at the clock

and I'm running out of time
and I'm realizing what else I have to do.

Got it into the fridge and was, like...

[laughing] fingers crossed.

Okay, I'll come back to these.

What are your favorite late-night snacks?

This is really naughty.

Vanilla ice cream with a dash of alcohol.

-Oh.
-What do you call that?

-Bit of alcohol on vanilla ice cream?
-[David laughs]

I have these little tomatoes
from my kebabs

and they're gonna go into my salsa.

And I'm gonna make
a fresh corn salsa to go on top.

Molly, you sure you can finish in time?

Absolutely. Look at that.

Molly, I hope
that sauce is flavorful as hell.

It is as flavorful as anything
you have ever tasted in your entire life.

Bold statement!

What you doing?

[clicks tongue] I am making a sauce.

My meatballs are
in the refrigerator to set properly.

At that point,
I pull out the blueberries and I'm like,

"Okay, how am I gonna work this?"

I'm gonna do a few sauces.

So I'm gonna take that blueberry cobbler
and break it down with some sesame oil

and try to incorporate
another ingredient into this dish.

Guess I'll come back to that.
What else have we got?

I need to add something sweet to my dish.

So I run back to the fridge,
pull out a carrot and one stick of celery.

And immediately start to julienne them
into, like, a sweet Asian slaw.

Perfect.

Ren, how's it going over there?

[Ren] Breaking a sweat,
but it's coming out.

[Jackie] We like our cooks
breaking a sweat. Working hard.

-Hardly working.
-Same, buddy, same.

[Jonte] Sauce, my sauce.

While my batter is in my waffle maker,

I start on my blueberry syrup, compote,

something sweet
that's gonna go on top of my waffle.

I wanna thin it out
because I think I kinda just want

to drizzle... this over it.

I want to get my blueberries
mixed down really good

and I'm thinking
maybe I should grab the blender.

But I do not want
to pull out any other contraptions

to use in the kitchen.

[chuckles] So
I'm mashing my blueberries...

but not really getting it to where I want.

I decide to add some cream cheese in it.
Instead of making it like a syrup,

it'll be a little bit thicker. I like it.
I'm gonna run with it.

[Molly] Found some
gluten-free flour tortillas.

I decide to make my own chips.

I cut the tortillas into triangles.

I get them in the deep fryer.
These chips need to be perfectly crunchy.

[David] Jonte,
I hope that waffle's gonna be soft

on the inside and crispy

on the outer edges,
just like how I like it.

[Jonte] Is there any other way?

-That's what I'm talking about.
-[Ren] Let's go fry some meatballs.

I like that there's deep frying,
which means that we are going to expect

-texture and crunch.
-Yes.

[Molly] Crispy chips.

-Sixty seconds, my best friends!
-No turning back, right?

[Molly] This is the money shot right here.
Perfect queso.

For plating, I want to make sure

that my queso gets plated
as close to the wire as possible

because you want it to stay nice and warm.

[Ren] A little crumbly.

Still gonna taste great.

Basil.

[Ren] This is hoisin.

[Molly] Going in.

[Ren] Blueberry sauce.

The blueberries aren't
where I want them to be.

It's coming off in chunks.
I just gotta make this pretty.

Little bit of lemon zest.

[judges] Five, four, three, two, one!

-[all whooping]
-[alarm beeping]

-Let's eat!
-[Rosemary] Oh, wow.

-[Jackie] Jonte!
-[Rosemary] Hi, Jonte.

[Jackie] We gave you leftovers
from a barbecue

and asked you to make us
a sweet and savory late-night snack.

So tell us what you made
and what leftovers you used.

[Jonte] Okay, so I decided to do
a sweet and savory waffle

with a little bit of blueberry compote
and fresh lemon zest and basil on top.

-I love these little bits of lemon.
-[Jackie] Without further ado.

-[Rosemary chuckles]
-That was quick.

I learned in etiquette school,

the smaller bite you take,
the more classy you are.

[Jonte] Oh, yes!

Stuff it. [laughs]

I used blueberry cobbler in my compote.

The bacon-wrapped brats,

the beef, the mushrooms,
the onions and the peppers from the kebab,

I diced up and put that in my batter.

So the waffle should be nice
and crispy on the outside

and soft and savory inside.

[Jackie] Great, so you used
three out of four leftovers.

-That's fire. [chuckles]
-You love it?

That's good! That's compote?

That was fire.

You took barbecue

and turned it
into really delicious waffles

with blueberry compote, so up high!

But I do think it's quite important,
and I think this is something to remember.

It's meant to be a savory one,
and you've got sweet on sweet.

If you'd made it
actually a little more salty...

-Hmm.
-...it might give it a little bit more,

-you know, zing.
-Okay.

Wow! Then you would have got
a totally different burst.

Got you.

I didn't get a big chunk of meat
so I was wondering

if you did in fact just fully blend it
and then put it in waffle batter?

Cut the beef and the bacon and the sausage

into small pieces
because I didn't want you to get

-a big chunk of meat in the batter. Okay.
-No, I didn't get any.

[Rosemary] I think you need to think
more about your balance of flavors.

-Okay.
-[Rosemary] And season properly.

Exactly what she said. This sucks!

-I hate it. It sucks!
-I'm furious.

-Thank you so much, Jonte.
-Thank you, judges.

-Hello, Ren.
-[Rosemary] Hello.

-[Jackie] You ready?
-I'm ready.

So what I put in front of you
is Asian meatballs.

Added some sweet carrot and celery
on the side to kind of help cleanse

the palate with all the sweet
and savory that's going on.

[Rosemary] A mucky plate there,
a little bit mucky,

but you know, hey-h*, attention to detail.

[Jackie] I have a new term now.

-"But you know, hey-h*."
-Yeah. [laughs]

Taking that one with me, baby!
Let's dig in.

[Rosemary] Okay.

[Ren] The leftovers that I used
was the brats and the bacon,

the beef, mushrooms
and onions off the kebab.

Blitzed that down, made a meatball,
added some fish sauce to it.

I also put some of the potato chips in it
to kind of give it some texture

and frying to give it
some crunchy exterior.

And then I used that blueberry,

added some sesame oil
and vinegar to kind of help balance it.

[Jackie] Okay, you used
three out of four leftovers.

I like how it's focused in the flavors.

If you're going Asian,
go Asian all the way.

For me... it's a tad salty.

And I might be missing out
on this right here.

Get involved. Oh, yeah. Me too.

Oh, yes, I didn't even take that.

There's my sweet. So let me
just take back everything I said.

[David laughs]

Oops.

[Jackie] That is super sweet,
the carrots and celery.

I would just have
a whole side of that and destroy it.

What I do want you to work on is
the balance definitely threw me off a bit.

I really like the flavor

because the moment
you put that with it, it works.

But you know what I don't like?
Is the texture, because it's too loose.

You're dealing with a cooked product.

So to bring it together,
get a little bit of corn flour,

put it together
and it'll seal it up when it's cooking.

-Texture is very important next round.
-Yes, ma'am.

-[Jackie] Thanks, Ren.
-Thank you.

[Jackie] Hello, Miss Molly.

I'm so excited for you guys to taste this.

I made a bratwurst
and beef chili con queso.

And I also made a fresh corn salsa.

And then I made you some homemade chips.

-Completely gluten-free version...
-100%.

This looks like a midnight snack.

-Thank you so much.
-[Jackie] I'm gonna pop one of these.

[Molly] There you go.

I can hear the crunch,
that's always a great sign.

Oh, yeah, that's good, man.

[Molly] I used the bratwurst,
I used the bacon.

I used the beef, the peppers, the onions.

The meat I sautéed
with some olive oil, all those vegetables.

I wanted to make sure
it had some sear on the outside.

Oh, my gosh!
You've got chili coming through.

[Molly] Yes. And I used the blueberry

because my bacon on top
is blueberry-candied bacon.

[Jackie] So you also used
three out of four leftovers. Great.

[Molly] Oh, please don't hurt yourself.

You didn't scratch your inside cheeks?

-[Molly] You're impressive.
-Thank you.

[Rosemary] That is utterly delicious.

Thank you so much.

-You used sweet corn.
-You need something fresh.

Very smart. Look at you, dude.
When I was 26, you know what I was doing?

-Yeah, living on an ottoman.
-Okay, why you gotta-- All right.

You did a very interesting thing,
which, we're talking about creativity.

It's just a lot of chopped stuff
you threw in there.

That's something
that does bother me a bit.

I don't agree with you.
That's not just putting it into a pot.

-No.
-That was a skill.

This to me isn't a transformation.

Not a transformation?
She started with barbecue.

-And made queso.
-I'm not saying it doesn't taste good.

I'm saying I love it.

I'm just saying, for the next round,
make sure you've stepped it up

in terms of the creativity

-with your leftovers.
-Sure.

[Jackie] Thank you so much, Molly.
Come on, judges.

[tense music playing]

[Ren] I've taken the criticism
from the judges on my texture

that I need to kind of bring together.

At this point, I know I'm behind.

I know I've gotta go deep into the well
and come up with something good

for this next round.

Cooks, round one is done.

And now it's that time.
The Takeout Takedown.

Bum, bum, bum.

Not bad, not bad at all, cooks.

In round one,
you gave new life to leftovers

from a fun family barbecue.

Well, in this round,

we're starting you off
with something high-end.

This is the round where you will work
from my fridge using takeout leftovers

to create a completely new fancy dinner.

-[doorbell rings]
-A doorbell?

Doorbell?

That's weird, we don't even have a door.
What's going on? Oh, my fridge is here!

-[all laugh]
-[Jackie] Hi, fridge!

I love her so much.
Fridgitte Bardot, you guys.

-[Ren laughs]
-Give her a hand, she's gorgeous.

In my fridge you will find...

-[Ren] Pickles.
-Pickles.

-[David] A fat ton of pickles.
-Wow.

I'm kind of a big dill.

All right, our takeout leftovers are...

duck confit with pommes puree,

cassoulet,

and beef bourguignon.

You'll each work with the ingredients
you get in the box you randomly select,

along with whatever staples you find
in the pantry and your fridge.

Madame.

Sir.

Madame.

[all laugh]

[Jonte] No, don't go.

[Jackie] Well, take the box then, Jonte!

I don't know what a cassoulet is.

Cassoulet.

[laughing] I don't know
what a cassoulet is.

I don't like duck. I'm more comfortable
with the beef because I know what beef is.

Think out of the box.
Literally, think out of the box!

And give us something
completely different.

It's kinda funny because
French food is already elevated cooking,

but just remember
we want to elevate this food, right?

So after I'm done eating it,
I want my pinkie up like this, you know,

like a little fancy boy.

-Hey!
-[David] Right, Rosemary?

And remember, we always take round one
and round two into consideration

before making a decision,
so everyone still has a chance.

Okay, cooks, you've got one hour.

Ready?

Go!

[David] Go!

-[Jackie] Good luck, everybody!
-[Rosemary] Go for it!

Who has what?

I know, who has what?

Beef. [sighs]

Beef, beef, beef.

Molly, what did you get?

Beef bourguignon.

-Wow.
-Are you excited for that?

I did have my eye on that duck.

Okay, well, good luck. [laughs]

[sighs]

The meat's cold, the potatoes are cold.

I'm looking at 'em like,
this is on the bone.

What did you get, Ren?

Duck confit and pommes puree.

Go get them.

You can call it "pommes puree"
if you want, but it's mashed potatoes.

[chuckles]

-Jonte looks so confused right now.
-She does.

She's literally just looking in the dish.

[David] It's like she looked into a pond

-that showed her her future.
-Stop it.

-Okay.
-Jonte, what did you get?

-You look a little nervous.
-The cassoulet.

I think. [chuckles]

-Have you had it before?
-Never had it before.

-I've never seen it before.
-Yeah.

[Jonte laughs]

You can do it, Jonte, you can do it.

Who do you think
is the one to watch in round two?

I think Molly.
This girl seems incredibly creative.

[Jackie] Mm-hmm.

From her first course,
sweetness, texture. She got it right.

Yeah. I really liked Molly's dish
and, you know, it was a late-night bite.

I like the presentation
of Jonte's dish way better,

and she really tackled
that sweet and savory really well.

But guys,

-Ren wasn't that far behind in round one.
-[Rosemary] I agree.

He has a good understanding of food,
and specifically flavors.

And that's important.

I've got some flour, some sugar,

some eggs.

Mixing this pommes puree into that.

So I got the duck confit.

I'm gonna make
a Persian-style Dutch baby popover.

I can put potatoes in it.

And I'm gonna top that
with a duck confit cooked in harissa.

And then I'm going to make a creamy,
rich cardamom-lemon ice cream on the side.

Run over to my duck.

I grab a fork and I start
shredding the meat off the bone,

getting it into a usable meat texture.

Bone in the trash.

Throw our duck in there.

I'm going to add
some wine-soaked raisins and some dates

to help bring
that Persian influence all together.

[food sizzling]

This has to be something elevated.

I wanna push the envelope a little bit,
come over the top with it.

[Jonte] Yeah.
I think this is sausage and pork. [laughs]

Or it's beef and pork, how about that?

There are two little
baby pieces of sausage

and two little baby pieces of beef.

I decide to rinse it so I can figure out
what the components are.

There's two cherry tomatoes,
beans and a little bit of garlic.

I'm thinking I don't wanna give
the judges a casserole or soup or a stew.

Pasta. Pasta will work.

I think I'm gonna go Italian with it
and do a stuffed pasta shell.

I have the cassoulet and I'm gonna
transform that into stuffed jumbo shells.

From the pantry,
I'm gonna take sausage and tomatoes.

From the takeout, add in
some fresh spinach and some corn,

red onions and celery
for my stuffing mixture for my pasta.

Give it some crunch.

Layer it with the flavors.

Oh, so she's making shells.

[Jonte] Definitely something
I have never made.

Ten thousand dollars on the line.

Go big or go home.

How you doing?

I'm pretty excited.

I've got a great idea
that I think is gonna go over really well.

I have the beef bourguignon.

And I'm making
a beef Wellington-inspired crostini.

I'm using the beef from the bourguignon.

Get that in a good amount of butter.
I just want to heat it through

and add fat and moisture
back into the meat.

I'm gonna make a duxelles
with the vegetables

from the beef bourguignon.

Definitely not a typical Wellington.

It's not gonna be wrapped in puff pastry,

but I found
some hash browns in my freezer.

So I decide that's going to be my base.

And I think my dish needs
something creamy.

So I'm gonna make a red wine aioli.

Alcohol is coming into play.

I'm not very stew savvy.
David, do you have a leftover tip today?

Yes, I do.

Stews like beef bourguignon
get better over time,

so don't be afraid to freeze them.

The flavors get better
the second time around.

Pretend this is in French.
Trente minutos, babies!

-[David] Where's the French horn?
-That's not French.

French horn. [imitates fanfare]

That's a trumpet.

-Ren, what are you doing there?
-[Ren] I am starting some ice cream.

-Ice cream?
-Ice cream?

Taking a risk.

I'm not using
any of the leftovers to make it,

but nobody'll be expecting it.

I added cardamom and lemon zest.

I want to make sure it's sweet enough
before I drop it in the ice cream maker.

After the first round,
I've got to make up some ground.

I work with an ice cream machine
every Friday night.

We clean out our fridge
and me and my granddaughters

make pizza and ice cream.

I like to put
my own little twist on things

and kind of come outside the box,

but I've got so much on the line here.

I've got these girls I gotta take care of.

I've got all these extra expenses.

I hope the judges are gonna be impressed.

So you doing dinner and dessert?

[Ren] Kind of.

Overachiever.

My only concern is that Ren,
once again, transformed his entire dish

and added ice cream.

I am thinking,
does ice cream go with this dish?

But okay. [chuckles]

I have never in my whole life heard
of anybody having ice cream

with confit of duck.

This is sophisticated.

-[David] Yeah.
-This is on a different level.

He's trying to make up

-for his first round.
-[Rosemary] He is.

-Yeah.
-I want to bounce about the place!

I know, it's the cutest!

You've worked
in a French restaurant, right?

-I certainly have.
-So this is your home.

This is my big home!

So don't do anything wrong.
Otherwise I'm going to shout at you.

[laughing] Oh.

I think I've only made
one person cry, maybe two.

I'm not sure.

Coming out with
the water-works stories like it's low-key.

Trying to think
how many people I've made weep openly.

-Twelve. Thirteen, perhaps. Um...
-[David] Oh!

-Molly, how you doing down there?
-I'm doing pretty good. I got a lot--

You got quiet, so I got nervous
because you're never quiet.

-I know, I'm focused. I'm in the zone.
-[Jonte chuckles]

I'm gonna shred this beef
and I'm going to crisp it up

a little bit in some butter.

I want to make sure I add plenty of fat
to make sure that I really bring this meat

back to what it's supposed to be.

While everything
I'm making is seasoned well,

nothing seems to have a ton of flavor.

So I decide to just keep going
with what I am,

just make sure
all my components are seasoned well.

But I'm getting nervous at this point
because I'm really feeling

like my starting dish
doesn't lend itself well

-to transformation.
-What do you have on your plate?

I'm starting with
some crispy potato cakes.

She said potato cakes,
you know what we call that in French?

-Hash browns.
-Yeah, pommes frite.

Pommes frite browns.
That doesn't sound very high-end.

[Molly] In my gluten-free
beef Wellington crostini,

instead of bread,

I'm using the hash browns
I found in my freezer.

That's going to be my base.
And who doesn't love potatoes?

Five minutes! Down to the wire.

Thanks for doing my job, Molly!

[Molly] Anytime.

[Ren] Oh, come on, baby.

The Dutch baby popovers are like souffles.

You know, if you overcook them,
they sink, and if you undercook them,

they're not gonna be cooked through
and be the custardy interior.

It's gotta be perfect. All right.

And I'm not gonna mess this plating
with messy sauces this time.

I get my duck confit out.
It's nice and hot.

I start stuffing my little popovers.

[Molly] That is so cute.

[Ren] It's small food,
it's miniature food.

[laughing] Miniature food.
Jonte, you gonna finish?

Yes, ma'am.

Pasta is gonna be my vessel
to make these French leftovers

the star of this dish.

After I assemble my stuffed shells,
I make my Alfredo sauce.

Heavy cream, butter, garlic,
Parmesan cheese, a little bit of salt.

In our refrigerator,

it wasn't as much Parmesan cheese
as I would have liked to use

so I'm hoping that I have
enough cheese to make enough sauce

and get my flavors to where I want it.

Just keep stirring
and let it cook. [exhales]

[Ren] All right.

Clock's ticking and now
I gotta really start focusing on plating.

Start pulling out my ice cream

to make sure
it's going to have the right consistency.

And it looks beautiful.

To be high-end, this is exactly
what I need to put on the plate.

Look at those.
Crispy, golden brown, delicious.

Crisp is everything to me.

Absolutely.

[Molly] I'm a little nervous about plating
my duxelles on my crispy potato cake

because as much
as I've evaporated the liquid,

it is still something soft
going on something crunchy.

-Looks pretty good.
-[David] Crunch and pillowy.

♪ Crunchy, pillowy
That's our jam ♪

♪ Gotta have your crunch ♪

♪ Yes, sir, ma'am ♪

I just quit songwriting.

-You almost had it there.
-No, I didn't.

I decide to add just a little bit of sauce
to the bottom of my bowl.

I want to be careful
with the amount of sauce that I'm using.

I don't want it to be too much

because, you know, this is really supposed
to be a fine-dining plate.

I'm feeling confident.
I know that my dish tastes good.

One minute, cooks.
I hope that plating is going well.

[Jonte] Nice little cheesy crunch on top.

[Molly exhales] Man, that hour goes fast.

[Ren] It's ready.

Yeah, I think this is gonna work.

[judges] Five, four, three, two, one!

Let's eat, it's dinner time!

-[judges applaud]
-[Ren] Whoo!

[Molly] Whoo!

Please bring your fancy dishes
up to the judging table.

I can't wait to see what you guys made
out of my French leftovers.

♪ My mouth is watering ♪

I just wrote that for you guys.

So excited.

-[David] Whoa!
-[Jackie] Wow!

-Wow.
-[Jackie] Ren, let's start with you.

Tell us what takeout leftovers
you started with

and how you transformed them
into the dish before us.

I started with French duck confit
and the pommes puree.

So I made a Dutch baby or popover.

[Jackie and David] Wow.

We criticized your plating.
You definitely stepped it up this time.

[Ren] Took the duck confit,
shredded it off the bone.

Added some harissa,
caramelized that in a pan.

Ended up adding some red wine,
poached raisins, as well as some dates.

And I accompanied that
with a savory ice cream and citrus slaw.

-Ooh! Ren!
-[Jackie] Is it super spicy?

-There is some harissa. [laughs]
-Whoo! Just got the kick.

Ren, that's weird, man.

But... weird in a good way.
I actually really enjoyed that dish.

[Jackie] I think weird in a good way, too.

[David] I mean, ice cream is a dessert,
but I needed that

-for that spicy duck confit.
-So did I.

[Rosemary] Do you know what?
That ice cream,

I think you could have
even put more lemon in it.

Middle Eastern flavors are
incredibly strong, which is great.

But then if you're gonna do
layered flavors,

then you've got to hit it strong
with an acidic taste.

But taking a confit of duck...

transforming it into this,
has been incredibly interesting.

Coming up to you, Jonte.

[Jonte] I got the cassoulet
and I made stuffed pasta shells,

topped off
with Parmesan cheese and Alfredo sauce.

[David] Presentation-wise,
I mean, it looks very appetizing.

[Jonte] Inside the pasta shells
is the pork,

the beef, the tomatoes and garlic

that was in that cassoulet.

First impression, that tastes delicious.

[David] I was worried that there wasn't
going to be any texture in there.

But those little fresh pieces of onions
in there, that crunch? I liked it a lot.

[Rosemary] I'm gonna say something.

You were so cautious on the sauce,
we didn't get any.

That stuffing is really good,

-but if it only had a bit more sauce!
-[David] Yeah.

I cannot believe
that you've turned a cassoulet into this.

Unbelievable.

-[Jackie] Thank you so much, Jonte.
-Thank you.

Good Golly, Miss Molly.

[Molly] I got the beef bourguignon.

And I was inspired
by beef Wellington and crostini.

In terms of gluten-free, puff pastry
is not the easiest thing to create.

So on the bottom you have
a very crispy potato cake.

-I then made a version of a duxelles.
-[Jackie] Hmm.

[Molly] The beef bourguignon had carrots
and potatoes, and so I used all of that.

I made some crispy onion strings
and some garlic chips.

Then just to bring everything together,
I made a red wine aioli.

I think it's really interesting
what you've done.

You've made it quite rich, which is great.

But I don't think it's seasoned enough.

Okay. I'm a little surprised
to hear you say under-seasoned.

[Rosemary] What happens sometimes
when you put so many flavors in,

they counterbalance each other.

And this is lacking
in that sort of zing bit.

Okay. Thank you so much.

It does taste good.

However, I look at your dish,

I could tell that this came
from beef bourguignon, right?

There wasn't much of a transformation

compared to the other two dishes
that I've seen.

I tried to use all the components
and it is a dish of one thing.

I couldn't pull out just carrots.

I couldn't pull out just beans,
or something.

But it's missing one thing
that makes me want to go back

and eat it again.
And that's what she was talking about,

where everything fights each other.

I was told a composed dish
and it is composed, so...

I respect the criticism.

-100%.
-[Jackie] Great!

-[Rosemary] Less is more.
-[David] Yeah.

[groans] This is gonna be
such a tough decision.

[exhales]

Do you mind scooting over
into our lovely giant takeout box here

while we talk behind your backs?

Yeesh, she is feisty.

I love it. I mean, I get that.
She's a woman after my own heart.

She's here, she wants to win,
she's got a lot to say.

You can only do so much.

-I thought I was going to throw up.
-Yeah. The nausea is real.

Molly k*lled it in round one

and we thought she was a front-runner.
But not so great in round two.

The hash brown was
a premade, frozen hash brown.

[Jackie] For me,
it was like grown-up food on kid's food.

By adding too many flavors, it was a mush.

So we've got Ren.

Certainly the weakest in round one,
knocked it out of the park in round two.

His transformation was,
quite frankly, remarkable.

Let's not talk about the plating.

Compared to everybody else's
in every single round,

it was the most composed dish.

And then we have Jonte.

She had two courses
that the flavor were both brilliant.

But round two,
I think she took it too far,

about the sauce by putting too little on.

I thought the waffles and that compote
was delicious, it was amazing.

-And it was very creative, too.
-[Jackie] This is a toughie.

Because everyone has a merit.

[Jackie] Yep.

Okay, cooks, we're done talking about you.

Come on in!

Round of applause for you guys,
did amazing in the kitchen today.

I mean, come on.

But only one of you
will take home $10,000.

-[inhales]
-Okay, cooks.

The winner served the best dish of the day

and delivered when it really counted.

The winner is...

-Ren!
-[laughs]

-[Jackie] All right, man.
-Yeah!

Yeah, buddy!

-Oh, my God. Thank you.
-Congratulations.

Look, a cash-erole! You get it?

-Congrats, man.
-[Ren] Thank you.

All this hard work, all this crazy stuff
I keep feeding my family has paid off.

My family's had
a really rough couple of months.

And this is something good and positive.

It's gonna be so special,
they're all gonna be so proud of me.

It'll be a really good homecoming.

Thank you, guys, so much for watching.

♪ That food belongs on Instagram ♪

♪ But it's all in my belly ♪

♪ Lucky for you it lives forever ♪

♪ Inside your telly ♪

I'm turning British!

[closing theme music playing]