01x06 - Battle Chili Peppers

[bunniefuu]

The Chairman needs

water!

[cheering and applause]

Hello again, hungry humans.

I'm Alton Brown and clearly our Chairman

is feeling the heat here tonight,

and soon he won't be the only one.

Hello, everyone. I am Kristen Kish,

and in mere moments,

some of the biggest names

in the food world

will fuel the flames of competition

right here in Kitchen Stadium.

I feel certain our worthy challenger

will be sweating

when they find out which of The Chairman's

red-hot Iron Chefs they will be facing.

Only our most successful challenger

will get the chance to face off

against all five Iron Chefs

in our final epic battle.

And only if they succeed

in defeating them all,

they will be crowned the Iron Legend.

Mr. Chairman, care to pepper us

with details of today's battle?

See what I did? Pepper.

[chuckles]

[applause]

The competition here in Kitchen Stadium

can get slightly spicy.

So for our challenger today,

I have picked one who can handle the heat.

Please welcome Chef Yia Vang!

[cheering and applause]

[upbeat music plays]

[Alton]With his unconventional approach

to his nomadic Hmong cuisine,

challenger Chef Yia Vang

has quite literally fought his way

to the top of the Minneapolis food scene.

[Yia] I was born in a Thai refugee camp,

so I never thought in my lifetime

that I would have an opportunity

to walk into Kitchen Stadium.

I'm really proud of my Hmong heritage.

The Hmong people,

we're an indigenous group of people

from Southeast Asia.

My parents are from Laos.

Hmong actually means "free people."

A lot of the Hmong people

escaped from Laos to Thailand

after the Vietnam w*r.

The Hmong are survivors,

because the point of being Hmong

is surviving

and being around

so that the next generation

gets to put their story there.

I want to be able

to tell our story with food.

I own Union Hmong Kitchen

and the food we do there,

we call it Hmong food.

My style is really drawn

from my mom and dad's table.

And so you'll have

everything from Hmong sausage,

which is a recipe

that Dad taught me as a kid.

And you have your sticky rice,

we have the hot sauce.

It's food that's meant

to gather people around and eat.

Chef Vang, welcome.

Thank you.

You call yourself a "HmongGyver."

Yes.

The Chairman has just one question.

Why?

Because growing up, one of the ways

that I learned how to speak English

was watching theMacGyvershow.

My mom would say,

when my dad's tinkering with things,

"He's MacGyvering outside."

So we put those together,

because with a toothpick,

some tin foil, and a little bit of fire,

we can cook anything.

Well, you will have to pull out

all of your tasty tricks

to survive a battle

against one of my Iron Chefs.

For you, I have chosen a true maestro

of Mexican cuisine.

Please welcome Iron Chef

Gabriela Cámara!

[cheering and applause]

Hey!

[Alton]Iron Chef Gabriela Cámara

is more than just a chef,

she's a true gastronomic diplomat

who's been adding

to the culinary conversation

with her legendary

Mexico City restaurant Contramar.

Self-taught, she's risen to become one

of the most well-known chefs in the world.

[Gabriela] Who taught me how to cook?

I've been cooking since I can remember.

I learned how to make tortillas

when I was seven.

I was always interested in food.

I was 22

when I opened my first restaurant.

The goal was to bring food

from beaches and farms

to the tables of Mexico City.

That was before farm-to-table

was even a thing in Mexico.

It was so successful, it became my career.

I am super proud of being Mexican

when I cook.

The challengers need to know

that they're facing beasts.

Anybody who goes against me is gonna

have to bring their A game for sure.

Iron Chef Cámara, welcome.

Thank you so much.

Please meet your worthy opponent,

Chef Vang.

Iron Chef Cámara,

with Chef Vang's unique upbringing,

he has proven to be as tough as iron,

but you are an Iron Chef,

and surely you must know

the melting point of iron!

Here you have it.

Hot, hot!

-Tss!

-[chuckles]

Good luck to you both.

To achieve victory tonight,

you will have to take us

on a culinary journey.

One ingredient will be your guide,

our secret ingredient.

And that ingredient is

chili peppers!

Whoa!

What the heck?

Yes!

Chefs, you will have just 60 minutes

to make five chili-pepper dishes

and wow us with their fiery flavors.

And your first dish

will be due within 20 minutes.

So now, with an open heart

and empty stomach,

I say unto you in the words of my uncle

Allez cuisine!

And the Battle of the capsicums is on

here in Kitchen Stadium.

There are around 4,000 different varieties

of chilies in the world.

-[Yia] Shishitos.

-[chef] Red chilies?

Yup.

[Alton] Now each has a unique flavor

and a heat level,

ranging from a bell pepper

that has no heat at all

to a Carolina Reaper

that'll make fire sh**t out of your ears.

So what do we have up there, Kristen?

[Kristen] In the fresh chili family,

we have manzanos, red Fresnos,

habaneros, Thai red, shishitos,

serranos, jalapeños, güeros.

And then dried chilies,

we have Mexican dried chilies,

árbol chilies, chipotles,

dried guajillos, ancho,

and I'm sure there's more

that I'm missing.

[Yia] Grab those.

[Alton] Dried chilies tend

to pack a more potent spice punch,

because they contain less water.

We should note that some of them

are both in the fresh and the dry form.

And that's one of the things

that's so tough for folks.

-You got poblano?

-[chef]Sí.

The poblano turns into an ancho

when you dry it.

And a jalapeño turns into a chipotle.

-Think we're good.

-Let's go.

[Alton] Fresh chilies

bring a bright pop of heat

that works well for salsas,

stir-fries and salads.

You guys seen Morita?

[Alton] Dried chilies

deliver a slower burn,

and work well when infused

into cream broths and stocks.

-So we can talk it out here.

-Yeah.

It's mind-boggling.

Because some of the hottest chilies

are also the fruitiest.

We'll start with a laab, Laotian influence

where there's hints of Hmong flavors

in there.

First we go to the coast.

We have this beautiful habanero.

I want to make a ceviche with this.

Clam. Yeah? Perfect.

We have the Thai chilies also.

And we have

the jalapeños and the eggplant.

-Yeah.

-Sope!

Nice!

Okay!

-I think get the rice going right away.

-Yeah, rice, rice, rice.

-Rice, rice, rice, baby.

-[chef] Marinade.

Rice, rice, rice, baby.

-Then we need a chile dessert.

-For dessert, we need chocolate, man!

-Chile de árbol?

-Chile with spices.

We got the habaneros.

They'll go in with the habanero mango.

-Make a gastrique for the dessert course.

-[Yia] Yeah.

¡Vámonos!

Mariana, chilies!

[Alton] Of course,

we've got 60 minutes in the battle

and these chefs

have got just under 20 minutes

to get those first courses

up to the judges.

Let's say hello to the luckiest judges

in the world.

Our very own Nilou Motamed,

Andrew Zimmern,

and joining them is a true ambassador

to Latin American food,

a chef, restaurateur, and author,

Lorena Garcia.

First dish is gonna be

super, super,superfresh.

[Alton] We've got rice paper

out over on Chef Vang's side.

[Kristen] Into the deep fryer,

presumably to puff that up.

[Alton] Yeah, there it is.

That's what happens.

No water involved, and people

think it's a magic trick, which it is.

[Kristen] Chef! Is that going

into your first course?

[Yia] Yep, first course

is going to be our hamachi.

So it's a hamachi laab,

almost like a ceviche.

That's one of my dad's

favorite things to make.

And it has influences of Laos

and a little bit of Thailand

and Japan 'cause it's hamachi.

We're going to take the toasted rice,

crush it up,

then add it in with the hamachi

to make the hamachi laab.

[Kristen] Got it.

-[Yia] Marshall, Mike, you guys good?

-[Mike] I'm good. How are you?

[Yia] Good.

[Kristen] The challenger's sous-chefs

are trusted members

of his mini restaurant empire

Union Hmong Kitchen

in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Sous-chef Mike, right now,

over in that blender,

a mixture of Thai chili,

shallot, some garlic, lime, fish sauce.

That's hot.

[Alton] Could be a sauce,

could be a marinade.

[Mike] I am working on the marinade

for the hamachi.

[Alton] That's for the hamachi.

[Kristen] Working with hamachi

is sous-chef Marshall.

Beautiful side of a hamachi

being broken down.

That is a gorgeous hamachi.

That's Japanese yellowtail,

a member of the jack family.

[Kristen] That could be served

raw or cooked,

probably raw with those smaller pieces.

-Marshall, you got that hamachi ready?

-I do.

Looking on the Iron Chef's side,

a lot of habaneros.

[Gabriela] Habaneros can be fierce.

Very fierce.

[Alton] Now to cut down

on the heat of the chili,

you need to diffuse the capsaicin,

the chemical that causes it.

Now alcohol, fats like milk,

or acid from vinegar or citrus

can kind of modulate that heat.

Yes! I found beautiful citrus

which I'm delighted with.

[Kristen] The Iron Chef

has brought sous-chefs from Mexico City,

where they live.

Sous-chef Christina right now

is frying güero chilies.

The flavor is fruity, medium spice,

very fresh.

[Kristen] And sous-chef Mariana

working with some lovely clams.

[Alton] Those look like they might be

cherrystones, they're gorgeous.

Iron Chef, are those

for your first course?

Yes, I'm gonna take advantage

of the richness of Mexico

to do this world tour.

I'm taking you off the coast

of the Pacific

with a cherrystone clam ceviche.

So we would go to the coast of Guerrero

very often with my family.

I have this memory of eating fresh clams

from the ocean

just with lime-chile marinade.

That's why I chose habaneros.

Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay!

[Alton] A beautiful sauce.

I can smell that from here.

Is that liquid mostly citrus?

Mostly citrus. That is correct.

[Alton] Okay, the Iron Chef is basically

doing a raw clam habanero ceviche.

Mari, clams. Thank you.

[Alton] That, of course, a raw seafood

treated with acid and citrus.

So a raw preparation on both sides.

[Yia] Boys, ten minutes

till the first one!

[Marshall] Ten minutes, heard.

[Alton] Sous-chef Mike

adding that marinade to the hamachi.

Chef Vang working on rice,

which is quite a laborious process.

Now check out these rice cookers.

-I would like to go down to chat with him.

-I think you should go.

I've been lucky enough to be

eating Hmong food for 30 years.

So the largest concentration of them

is in my hometown in Minneapolis.

Chef Vang hails from the Twin Cities.

-Chef!

-Yes!

-Chef Vang, how are you?

-Good.

Keep working. I will follow you.

I am wildly curious

about these rice cookers.

[Yia] Yes, this whole contraption

is, like, 12 bucks.

You can buy it at any Asian market.

You're creating a steamer,

and then we just put the rice in,

put a bowl on top.

Sometimes it has a fancy cap with it,

but, you know, we're cooks,

so we ball on a budget.

Just throw a bowl on top

and let it sit in there like 20 minutes,

and then you kind of toss it.

Boom. That's it. Sticky rice.

-[Kristen] Fantastic. Look forward to it.

-Yup.

[Kristen] Chef. What chili

are we using in this?

Using serranos and a little Thai chili

for the first course, for the laab.

Some Thai chilies go into the marinade

for the fish itself,

and we'll be topping them

with some raw fresh serranos.

[Alton] Those are both

quite spicy chilies,

but the fruitier-tasting Thai chilies

will balance out the earthier, grassier

serranos in that dish.

-[Yia] Marshall. I'm ready to roll!

-Got it.

[Alton] Sous-chef Marshall

has another chili sauce there,

some crushed raw red chilies,

and some oil,

obviously for their first course,

since they're hurrying now.

Okay, over on the challenger's side,

we see on the grill Thai eggplant down,

one of my favorite members

of the nightshade family.

And of course,

chilies are nightshades as well.

They've got the manzano,

the ones that look like bell peppers

combined with apples,

and they've got some jalapeños there.

Ooh, quail over on the challenger's side,

out of nowhere.

They've been kind of butterflied.

So I think we're

going to have stuffed quail on that side.

And there is a mixture

of some ground pork,

lemongrass, garlic, ginger,

some egg, some shiitake mushrooms,

and glass noodles.

Those were soaked.

So definitely think we're going

to have stuffed quail on that side.

I'm making the stuffing for the quail.

I was right.

Um [chuckles]

But I don't know what chili it is.

[Mike] Right now, Thai chilies.

[Alton] Thai chilies are used for

their fruity flavorandtheir intensity.

-[Mike] We plating?

-[Yia]Oui.

-[Mike] You wanna pass those doodads over?

-[Yia]Oui.

[Alton] All right,

the challenger is plating.

Uh, the chili oil is down,

with the fried rice paper,

kind of like a cr*cker.

Then his hamachi laab salad

is going on top of that,

featuring Thai and serrano chilies.

-Gabby, what do you need?

-Seaweed. For the plating.

-I also need the sea urchin.

-[Christina]Oui.

[Alton] Alright, Iron Chef Cámara

asking for some seaweed, sea urchin.

We'll keep an eye on that.

Sous-chef Mariana

working with a lot of butter.

Maybe that's a dessert.

There's also chocolate over there,

which doesn't surprise me,

because chilies and chocolate

work very well together.

Sous-chef Christina

is chopping up some poblanos

along with onion and garlic,

have gone into cast-iron skillets

along with pork fat.

Manteca, they call it,

which is going to bring a nice flavor

and also crisp it up nice.

Also, some serranos

and jalapeños in there,

maybe headed to a sauce.

-This is seaweed.

-[Alton] Iron Chef Cámara is plating.

That is a mixture of different seaweeds

as a bed for her clams.

Do you have two seconds

to walk with me, Marshall?

[Alton] Okay. So the challenger

is finished early

and is heading up to the judges' table

where Kristen is standing by.

Three and a half minutes to get

those first courses up to the judges.

[Nilou] Oh!

Not only do we make you make it,

but then also bring it over.

-Thank you, Chef.

-[Andrew] Exciting!

[Kristen] Chef Vang,

tell us about your dish.

[Yia] So our first dish here

is a hamachi laab.

Laab is special to me 'cause it's a dish

that my dad makes a lot.

The thing that makes laab

is toasted rice flour that's in it.

So the two chilies that we use here

are Thai chili and serranos.

The Thai chili has heat in the back

and serrano has heat in the front.

-What's the sauce on the plate?

-[Yia] It's sambal oil.

Mm! Delicious!

-Thank you, Chef.

-[Yia] Yeah. Thank you.

Nilou, what do you think?

Chef Vang has decided to start

with an intense double chili punch.

This laab is very creatively done.

Lots of floral Thai chili and serrano.

I love it. I think it's delicious.

And I like the oil he added at the bottom.

Just gives another dimension to the spice.

-Tres chilies.

-Lorena, what do you think?

Let me tell you,

I think that [clears throat]

Give me a second. Hold on.

Yeah. Let the chili settle.

I thought the dish

was a little hard to eat,

but he made the right choice

of the combination of chilies,

which is something we're looking for.

I love that he hit me with the heat.

I love the serrano that really makes

Coating your mouth

with this beautiful spice.

Let's remember that's probably five times

hotter than a jalapeño, if you will.

Perfect style.

I cannot wait till what is next.

-Beautiful. Thank you.

-Thank you.

Need to concentrate.

Nerves, nerves, nerve-racking.

[Alton] All right, we've gotta

get the plates up in 30 seconds.

Okay. I see what she's doing.

She's using the sea urchin

to help tamp down the heat

from the habanero chilies. Very smart.

That is correct.

[Alton] So she's got raw clam, ginger,

various citrus habaneros, sea urchin.

Iron Chef Cámara, you've got ten seconds,

nine, eight and Iron Chef Cámara

going up to the judging table.

Thank you, Chef.

You're so welcome.

[Kristen] Iron Chef,

what have you made for us?

[Gabriela] I have made

a cherrystone clam ceviche

with a citrus marinade,

tongue of sea urchin and habanero chilies.

-I hope you enjoy this!

-Thank you.

[Gabriela] Thank you so much.

Nilou, start with you.

I got lots of bright acid.

I got the habanero, but not too too spicy.

The smartest thing was put the sea urchin,

which has this creamy sweetness to it

to balance out the spice.

The only thing I would quibble with

is this is a lot of acid.

I agree with you, but let me tell you,

habaneros, it's one

of the spiciest chilies

that there are commercially.

And the fact that she was able

to control the heat

with the citrus juices of the ceviche

with the peachy flavors of the habanero,

I think it's an amazing dish.

I think Iron Chef Cámara's choice of clam

was really good.

It's a strong-tasting clam,

so it stands up to a lot of that citrus

and to the habanero.

I love what she did.

All right.

The first dish is in your hands.

I think they brought the heat.

-Ah, they did bring the heat!

-Oh!

-Go at it.

-Thank you.

-How are the chilies?

-[Christina] Yeah, we're good.

[Alton] Don't forget we've got 25 points

that could be awarded for that dish,

and both chefs have just 26 minutes left

to complete

four more chili-inspired dishes.

Now, let's get caught up.

On the challenger's side,

a Laotian jerky got fried

and then processed

with lemongrass and shallot.

That could maybe be going

with that eggplant mixture

that he pureed

with a bit of the Thai eggplant

that was grilled with some lime, garlic,

jalapeños, tomatoes and fish sauce.

There's some kind of rice course.

I'll keep an eye on that.

In the blender, a glaze.

Okay, that's honey, tamarind

and manzano chili

and that's

coating his Thai-chili-stuffed quails.

-Going in the oven with quail.

-[Yia]Oui!

Oh! Oh! Blue corn masa came out

from somewhere

over on the Iron Chef's side.

Maybe she's gonna make tortillas.

And we've got sweet potatoes

over on that side as well.

Güero chilies got nice and brown,

for what, I don't know.

Some really beautiful prawns

or some shrimp over there,

and sous-chef Mariana

working with masa in there.

I'm expecting that we'll see

at least two different dishes

that are going to be masa based.

Masa is corn-based flour

that goes into these kinds of doughs.

-[Kristen] Oh, blue-corn tortillas!

-Blue corn.

[Kristen] Okay. I wanna see this close up.

Go.

Hi, Chef. I just wanna say that I stood

next to you while you made tortillas.

[Gabriela] I'm gonna make sopes

with blue-corn masa.

And I'm taking you

to the central regions of Mexico

with this next dish that I'm making.

I'm gonna use the sweet potato,

which is cooking in the oven

with salsa macha over a sope.

[Alton] So it's not gonna be tortillas.

Yes! Sopes!

[Alton] Okay,

sope's a thicker, fried tortilla

with pinched sides

to hold in its toppings.

Kind of like a bowl.

Looking back on the challenger's side,

is that a can of sardines?

I love sardines.

Chef Vang tossing with chili oil.

Trying to figure out

where that could be headed.

[Yia] This is

part of the sticky-rice dish.

[Alton] Oh, okay, for sticky rice.

All right, it's the purple rice

that Chef Vang has been tossing.

That move is very traditional,

for even cooking, tossing that basket,

getting it back down over the steam.

That is going to be going

with the dried beef and the eggplant.

-Is that a dish?

-[Kristen] It is.

-Rice picking up all these great flavors.

-Maybe.

-So he's got two types of rice happening.

-Okay.

-[Kristen] Chef!

-[Yia] Yes.

[Kristen] I am wildly curious

about this rice mixture.

We're making the curry rice

for the arancini ba*ls,

a rice ball that's deep-fried

with cheese stuffing.

It's an Italian dish.

They use risotto,

but we're using jasmine rice

and we'll stuff it with crab cream cheese.

We'll deep fry 'em.

We're putting our own spin on it.

Arancini. So that's happening in the bowl

that Chef Mike is working with.

Crab, cream cheese, some chive.

So Chef Vang's arancini

will be a rice ball

stuffed with this crab mixture and fried.

We'll keep an eye out

for some kind of chili sauce for that.

[Gabriela] Ladies, how're you doing?

-Doing good. You?

-[Gabriela] Yeah.

[Kristen] On sous-chef Mariana's side,

we're seeing dry chilies.

[Alton] Yes. What is that, Chef?

These are guajillos and moritas,

'cause I'm going to make a salsa macha.

Salsa macha?

A salsa macha is a salsa that is made

with seeds and dried chilies.

[Alton] Salsa macha. Of course.

Chili seeds themselves

actually aren't spicy.

The real source of the chilies' heat

are the white ribs, the membrane inside,

which contains the capsaicin.

[Gabriela] We have chilies that are dried

and then smoked.

We want a deep smoke, a deep heat.

Lorena, can you have too many chilies

in a dish?

I don't think so,

because you combine the flavors

almost like you're building the complexity

of a dish and flavor.

Almost a smoky earthiness

that you don't get otherwise.

[Lorena] Yes!

[Gabriela] I'm working

on the chilies, ladies.

[Alton] Iron Chef Cámara

has been very, very careful

with the güero chili she is peeling.

The güero chili is a curious little guy.

Have you had these?

I've only had them a couple of times.

They're very mild. I mean we can just

I was going to do the same thing.

Wait. Oh, hello!

I didn't say there wasnokick!

-[Kristen] Okay, I'm good.

-We're good.

[Kristen clears throat]

Chef, what will you do

with those peeled chilies?

[Gabriela] They are going to be

filled with a crab salad.

-Crab?

-[Gabriela] Yes.

[Alton] Thank you.

So that course is going to be

stuffed güero chilies with crab.

We see sous-chef Mariana

working with the crab mixture,

various herbs there, the serranos.

Be careful with that stuff at home, kids.

That's a butt-kickin' chili.

We've got crab-stuffed dishes

on both sides of Kitchen Stadium.

You guys good?

[Marshall] I'm good.

[Alton] So, black sesame seeds

and white sesame seeds

have gone into a bowl together

in the hands of Chef Vang.

That batter contains

some glutinous rice flour.

There's regular rice flour.

Potato flakes went in there,

some coconut milk, I think,

baking powder and sugar,

so it's almost like a doughnut?

[Yia] We're making sesame ba*ls,

Mom's special treat

she always made for everyone.

She's kind of well known

in the community for it.

I just don't want to screw it up

on TV for her. [giggles]

[Alton] Okay, over

on the Iron Chef's side,

the sope have been made.

This mixture that's in the blender there.

Okay, now we can see a lot of stuff

going in there, uh

Those were in the cast-iron skillets,

the poblanos, serranos,

jalapeños, also pepitas, pumpkin seeds.

Um, and now that is looking to me

like a pipián verde,

a green-pumpkin-seed sauce.

-[Kristen] Mole, right?

-[Alton] I think that's what it's called.

Pipián verde.

All right, so that's going to go

with the dredged spot prawns

um, frying in what looks like corn starch

to me.

Gonna be crispy and delicious.

The chocolate is melted now.

I'm trying to follow the dessert course.

I think it's going to be a chocolate tamal

of some form with the chilies.

I don't know.

-[Kristen] I'm gonna find out.

-[Alton] Go. Kristen's gonna find out.

There is nothing better

than chocolate and spice.

Those are a perfect marriage.

I'm glad she chose to go that route.

-Yes. With the corn.

-Yes.

Chef. I've been watching

this process unfold about dessert.

Tell me where this is going.

[Mariana] Our dessert, which is gonna be

the tamal and the chocolate sauce.

In Mexico, it's very traditional.

You have corn and chilies

and cacao, chocolate.

-What chili are we using in this?

-Árbol and morita.

So a little smoky, a little bit sweet,

a little bit spicy. Fantastic.

-You got it.

-Thank you so much.

Yeah, of course.

[Gabriela] the sweet potatoes

are gonna come out?

They're in the oven by Mariana.

-Cool.

-You can check them.

How are we doing? All good?

[Marian] Yeah, I'm about

to put them to steam.

[Gabriela] Oof, okay.

So, chefs, just in case you're interested,

I happen to have the scores

from your first dishes.

The judges sent that to The Chairman,

and then The Chairman

telepathically implanted it in my brain.

Oh!

You had a possible 25 points

for those dishes.

Congratulations, Chef Vang.

You got 20 points for your first dish.

Okay, keep going.

[Alton] Iron Chef Cámara, 21 points.

You lead by one point.

High scores for both of you,

so clearly the judges

are into your cuisine.

Cook on, if you please.

Thank you, judges!

[Alton] Chilies, a world tour of chilies.

Both of our chefs' menus are exploding

with the chilies The Chairman has offered.

Now, the courses,

I should be able to figure out by now.

Let's see, the challenger's Hmong meal

will continue

with his Thai-chili-stuffed quail.

He has the sticky rice dish down

with the eggplant and jalapeño relish.

Dried beef and sardines, of course,

with the Thai chilies.

Next up, his crab-stuffed arancini.

Haven't seen any chilies in play

for that yet.

And his dessert,

his mother's sesame ba*ls,

which also without chilies

up to this point.

Okay. Now the Iron Chef

has the sweet potato sope

with the salsa macha full of chilies.

The crab-stuffed güero chili,

the pipián verde with the spot prawns,

and her dessert, the tamal

with the chocolate and chili sauce.

The Iron Chef clearly set out

to use a wide variety of chilies,

but the challenger, I'm sure, will cook up

some spicy surprises for the judges.

We're under the ten-minute mark,

here in this battle.

Right now, in the hands

of sous-chef Marshall,

that's Fresnos,

maybe that's gonna be a sauce.

This is the piri-piri sauce

to go with our crab arancini dish.

It's traditionally made

with piri-piri peppers.

Red Fresno is a great substitute.

We add a little bit of chipotles to it

to give it a punch.

[Alton] Ah, so that's where the chilies

are coming into play.

Piri-piri sauce, of course,

usually made with a red-pepper base.

It's got a sweet and tangy flavor

from the vinegar and citrus

and the kick of chili.

Sous-chef Mike has got another mixture

that's really interesting.

What is that, Chef?

[Mike] Tiger bite.

Shallot, garlic, more Thai chilies,

lime juice, fish sauce,

and a bunch of cilantro.

[Alton] That's gonna be spicy

as all get out.

[Kristen] I also saw Marshall

has so diligently been working

on a beautiful mango habanero sauce,

which I feel is one

of those match-made-in-heaven

coming-together combinations.

-Very much so. Very much so.

-Classic.

[Alton] So the mango is gonna balance.

[Kristen] And the habanero gastrique,

mango gastrique.

Gastrique is basically

something cooked in sugar and vinegar.

That's going to be spicy,

probably for the dessert,

little sweet sesame ba*ls,

so that'll give it a bit of balance.

[Marshall As soon

as I can get in that fryer, let me know.

[Yia] Okay, that's good to go.

[Kristen] Two minutes!

-Hey, can we plate, ladies?

-[Christina] Yeah!

[Alton] Okay. Well, we've got plating

fast and furious as the clock ticks down.

That's sweet potato there on that plate,

for her sweet-potato sope

with the salsa macha

featuring a variety

of dried and smoked chilies.

Then she's got that stuffed güero chili

with crab

that also has serrano chili

in the salad mixture.

You have everything for the pipián,

Christina?

Oui,I'm plating.

[Alton] Okay, there's the pipián verde,

the pumpkin-seed sauce with green chilies.

Now she roasted

those poblanos, serranos, and jalapeños.

That's pipián verde

and spot prawns going down there.

Then of course her dessert,

the tamal with the chocolate chili sauce.

The Iron Chef is really

playing to her Mexican heritage,

bringing the combination

of corn and cacao.

[Kristen] Oh, and fried peanuts

now hitting that sope.

[Alton] Her meal, a tour of Mexico.

Lots of chilies in play in various forms.

Coming down to the 60-second mark,

The Chairman looking very pleased

with himself.

[Kristen] On the challenger's side,

Chef Vang is taking us

all over the world with Hmong cuisine.

His sticky-rice course will be next up.

Very Thai. The chilies there

are jalapeños in the eggplant relish,

then Thai chilies

and pickled shishito peppers

in the sardines.

[Alton] Interesting choice,

plating in the actual sardine can.

-How long on the arancini?

-[Yia] I'm ready to roll!

[Kristen] Then the arancini

with piri-piri sauce.

The sauce has red Fresnos

and chipotle chilies in it.

It's a zesty, spicy sauce,

potentially one of the spiciest today.

-Oh, beautiful!

-[Kristen] Then stuffed quail.

It's stuffed with almost

like an egg-roll filling.

There are Thai and manzano chilies

in the glaze.

Hmong flavors applied

to a popular Minnesota game bird,

and finally his sesame ba*ls

with mango-habanero gastrique.

Chilies feature most prominently

in Chef Vang's sauces.

[Alton] Whereas with the Iron Chef's

stuffed güero chili,

it's really the whole course.

It'll be interesting to hear

what the judges think of their strategies.

Five, four, three, two, one.

And our chili world tour

has reached its conclusion.

-Yes!

-[Alton] Chefs, put it down.

Judges, if you will rise and move

to the judging table, if you please.

Mexico has so many different chilies.

We could have used so many more,

but I'm happy with it. It was fun.

I totally think we nailed it with a tour

of different regions of Mexico.

[Yia] Chilies is used a lot

in Hmong cooking.

You know, a chili

is usually a complement to the dish.

One of the biggest things

was not overpowering the chili.

You know, I always say that chilies

is like that crazy uncle.

You don't want him around too much,

but once a year at Thanksgiving,

he makes everything interesting.

[heavenly choral music plays]

[dramatic drum beats]

Judges, welcome to the table.

Just keep in mind that our challenger

has accumulated 20 points,

the Iron Chef 21,

so they're really practically

neck to neck.

So you're going to be awarding points

based on taste,

presentation

and use of the secret ingredient.

There are 75 more points possible

for each chef.

And here they come.

Hello, Iron Chef!

-[Gabriela] You're so welcome.

-Thank you, Chef.

[Alton] Iron Chef Cámara,

give us some idea

about your approach

to the challenge overall.

I was delighted to be able

to make a trip with chiles to Mexico.

So you had the clam.

We went to the Pacific,

and now we're coming back

to the center of the country.

So this is an homage to Mexico City.

This is a sweet potato sope.

It's blue-corn masa, sweet potato

and then the peanuts and sesame seeds

are just super typical of salsa macha,

which is a very popular sauce

made with chili guajillo, chili morita

and we added a little bit of piquín

and a tiny bit of árbol.

It's so, so basic.

But also not.

Yeah, I think you mentioned five chilies,

so maybe not so basic.

Well

[Nilou] The depth of flavor you get

from the combination

of the chilies and the yam

just feels like a big hug.

It's very musky.

-That's the word, right?

-That's a perfect word.

The salsa is, despite the fact

that you mentioned a lot of chilies,

not spicy.

[Gabriela] When you cook chiles,

the heat evaporates,

so then you get the flavors

and not just the spice.

The only thing that I might ask for

is a touch more acid

to get you through

all that depth of flavor.

Okay.

I love the combination of the sweetness,

the creaminess.

You got me in the contrast of flavors

and textures.

I appreciate that sauce

as almost a condiment to the sope.

[Andrew] I thought that was spot-on.

This small sope, perfectly-cooked,

chewy, that corn that you were aching for

is in there.

This firmly planted me in Mexico.

-Lovely.

-Thank you.

Thank you.

We look forward to your next dish.

Thank you.

There's no ingredient

I would take away from this.

It just It worked together.

I was just like, "Ulgh!"

Okay, ready for our third dish?

-Oh my God!

-[Lorena] Mmmm!

-[Nilou] Look at this!

-Please tell us what you've made.

[Gabriela] Now we're going right down

to the Gulf of Mexico to Campeche.

We've made

a crab-salad-filled chile güero,

but it also has serrano,

just to enhance the crab salad.

Nilou. What are you thinking?

I'm overwhelmed by this spice.

The serrano that's in the crab,

it is very spicy, but very compelling.

-It's very spicy.

-Yes.

But I inhaled mine as if it was medicine.

Crab is a very strong flavor

and I loved the slight sweetness

and the salinity of the crab.

-This was a very successful dish.

-Thank you.

You have the citrus,

you have the cold salad,

you have this beautiful,

blond güero chili.

For a heat lover, everything

that I'm expecting from a chili.

-Thank you.

-Beautiful dish. Thank you.

Ready for the next one?

Yes!

Okay, here we come.

Oh, wow!

Tell us what you've got here.

[Gabriela] We're eating some spot prawns

with a green pipián.

Pipián is a type of green mole,

very traditional recipe.

The base ingredient is pumpkin seeds.

It has mostly poblano,

a chili which is not as spicy,

but it also has jalapeños, serrano peppers

and I encourage you to add the spot prawns

to make a taco.

Chef, we're really able

to taste the pipián.

Then you hit it with the shrimp.

I think that the complexity of the sauce,

bringing all the poblanos

and all that green beautiful taste

of these peppers,

but at the same time, keeping

the heat to a level that we can enjoy.

-Thank you, Chef.

-Thank you.

The shrimp perfectly cooked,

barely dusted, and fried.

I specifically am enjoying

what you've done

with all of the different chilies.

It's just like waves of slow burn.

A magnificent masterclass

in how to make a mole.

To do a mole typically is something that

could be an all-day, two-day, three-day

Yes, I grew up in Morelos,

south of Mexico City.

That's the pipián that I grew up eating.

[Andrew] This one was done in 60 minutes.

It's an act of wizardry that you were

able to get that depth of flavor.

-What a magical dish.

-Thank you!

We look forward to your next course.

[Gabriela] Ay-ay-ay!

-[laughter]

-Ay-ay-ay!

Oh, Chef!

-[Kristen] Oh, wow. Thank you.

-[Andrew] Oh my God.

-[Nilou] Oh.

-And that's how you do it.

Chef, what have you made for us?

Now I'm taking you to Tabasco,

where we have the production

of the best cacao.

So we have a corn-masa tamal,

covered in a chocolate sauce.

In the masa, we have ground dried chilies

as well as in the chocolate.

-I love how savory the whole thing is.

-[Gabriela] Yes.

[Nilou] Then with the little bites

of chili

that you keep on kind of almost like

I can't believe I'm gonna say,

it's titillating my tongue.

I said it, there you have it.

I love the usage of the chocolate

with the chili

that you specifically chose for this.

I think any other you probably

wouldn't find this incredible result.

-Andrew, what are you thinking?

-I really didn't want to talk.

Um

[Gabriela] Oh! [gasps]

Sometimes food is really emotional.

I'm sorry, but this

This is my grandmother

dunking cheap supermarket pound cake

into lousy supermarket chocolate

when I was a kid.

And it takes me right back there

in its simplicity,

and yet, this is so elegant

and so perfect.

It's It's a stunning I

This thing just absolutely

buried me. Thank you.

Thank you.

I think that we only thrive as chefs

to create memories,

and you achieved that today.

Thank you so much. It's been such a gift.

Such an honor. Thank you so much.

[Nilou] Thank you, Iron Chef.

-Thank you.

-Thankyou.

-[Nilou] What an amazing meal.

-[Lorena] Yes.

And what a difficult job

we have and the challenger has.

Oh, yes.

Get ready though.

His food is out of sight.

Chef!

Oh, wow.

-[Nilou] Thank you.

-[Kristen] Thank you.

-[Nilou] I love this.

-[Alton] Chef, welcome.

Can you give us some idea

about your approach to the challenge?

I am looking at this through the lens

of my mom and dad's table.

The first dish that you guys are having,

this is my childhood.

Three treats that I would eat

as part of my lunchbox at school.

So you have the sardine,

a little chili oil in there.

And then we have the dry beef,

a recipe from my father that we fried

and pulverized with Korean chili flakes.

And then you have roasted eggplant relish

with roasted jalapeño peppers

and sticky rice.

[Alton] Should these go together?

[Yia] Yeah, pull the sticky rice out,

and it's almost like

you build a little mini taco.

[Alton] Nilou.

I taste all of those great aromatics.

I taste the chilies

that you've put in here.

There's a great playfulness

to the presentation.

I really do feel

like I've gone back in time

to your Minnesota childhood,

and I'm sitting at the table

across from you,

trying to figure out

who's gonna get the last sardine.

Absolutely. Thank you.

Lorena.

I love that you did

this super extraordinary rice,

but this right here is Oh my gosh.

You have the first bite, you immediately

are thinking you want to go back.

Chef, you have presented flavors

that I haven't tasted before.

I appreciate your artistry and bringing it

to the plate. Thank you, Chef.

Thank you.

I've had the chance to eat Hmong food

in Minnesota for the last 30 years,

and it's just a delight.

I've not had versions of the eggplant dip

that come close to yours,

and your pounded beef and chili

is addictive to me.

I can't stop going back into these.

This is a remarkable moment.

Thank you.

Thank you for this course.

We look forward to the next.

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you, Chef.

[Kristen] Thank you.

Oh my goodness!

[Alton, playfully] Chef, what'd you do?

[Yia] We made an arancini ball.

And inside it's stuffed with cream cheese

and crab and Fresno chilies.

And on the outside,

the sauce is a piri-piri sauce

with Fresnos and some smoked chipotle

to give it a little bit more depth.

I'm just starting

to learn about your culture.

I know that the largest population

in the world actually lives in Minnesota,

the state of which Andrew is president of.

[laughter]

I think it's the Duke, right?

-[Alton] It was the Duke?

-Yeah.

What is What's Hmong about this?

The curry that we mixed with this rice

was part of this noodle soup that we do.

It's called a khao poon,

which is a noodle soup

done with this vermicelli rice noodle.

That'swhat that is.

Flavor alone, your piri-piri sauce

is absolutely out of control

and I love that crunchy rice so much.

-Absolutely lovely.

-Thank you.

The lime-leaf flavor is so beautiful

and so fragrant.

I think it's a great dish.

That concoction inside

with the cream cheese,

it was just so delicious.

I feel the chilies here.

So, for a heat lover,

this is a salsa you want to eat.

-Thank you.

-[Alton] Thank you.

-Extraordinary. We're ready for the next.

-Thank you.

For a young culinarian like Chef Vang,

to say, "Yeah. I'm going to cookmyfood,"

is such confidence.

I just love seeing that in young chefs.

Excuse me.

-Oh, wow!

-[Alton] Spectacular!

Chef Vang, what'd you do here?

[Yia] We took the inside of an egg roll,

and we put it inside of a quail.

And then we have what's called

our tiger-bite sauce.

It's almost like a chimichurri.

It's cilantro, Thai chilies, fish sauce.

-And then on top, we did a tamarind glaze.

-[Lorena] I love the tamarind.

Did you mix the tamarind glaze

with some kind of chili?

Yep. A manzano chili.

We roasted that.

It also has a little smokiness to it.

[Lorena] I love the use of that chili

because we were

talking about the difference

of a chili you eat as a salsa

and the other ones

that are meant more for color, for flavor.

And this is one of them. Thank you, Chef.

This is so creative.

The dark quarters just ate like lollipops.

Luckily, they are stuffed,

so it steams the inside

with all of the meat and the noodle.

This dish is glorious.

[Nilou] Mmm!

The stuffing I think might be

my favorite part of the whole thing,

especially as it starts soaking up

all of that chili sauce from underneath.

-Thank you.

-[Alton] Chef, thank you very much.

-We'll wait for another.

-Thank you.

Thank you.

I'd love to know what you all think

of this as a chili dish.

I would have liked to see more chilies

show up in more places

May I disagree with my esteemed colleague?

Please!

If you run your finger through this sauce,

it is a ton of chili.

-So, when you took the bite

-But

-Oop!

-And I can

Dup! Dup!

Oop! Just one second.

When you took a bite that had skin,

you would get that flavor.

The thing is

the tiger-bite sauce overwhelms it.

-Fair enough.

-Go ahead.

While I do get some chili in the skin,

if there were several chilies,

treated different ways within this

Because while we've

had a bunch of chilies here,

they have been single uses of chili

for the most part.

-It's Kitchen Stadium.

-Yeah.

You know?

-[Nilou] Oh!

-[Andrew] Oooh.

[Lorena] Thank you, Chef.

I know what these are.

-[Kristen] Thank you.

-[Nilou] Very pretty.

I like the yin and yang feeling

that's going on here.

-That was intentional.

-[laughter]

Chef Vang, please tell us what you made.

Growing up in a Hmong household,

they never had dessert,

so this was the closest

to us having a dessert.

These are mom's fried sesame ba*ls.

On the bottom,

we have habanero-mango gastrique.

Did you grow up having gastriques at home?

Uh, absolutely not.

I had to learn that

in some fancy French restaurants

that I worked in.

I didn't even know what it was.

I thought it was something

wrong with your house

when you have a gastrique

or something, so

But I learned that in French cooking,

if you call it gastrique,

you can upcharge an extra $5.

-Well played.

-Andrew.

I love these. I mean this just gets me

right in the feels. I love mochi.

So I love the glutinous nature

of the sesame ball,

a wonderful, sweet ending to our meal.

-[Kristen] Lorena?

-I absolutely love this dish.

It reminds me of buñuelos.

Or even churros.

I love how you treated the habanero,

because it can be very offensive.

Maybe some kind of chili dust

after like when you dust churros

would have been amazing,

but I couldn't be more grateful, Chef,

that you brought your culture,

your cuisine, and your love to us tonight.

Thank you so much.

-Thank you.

-Wonderful journey. Thank you.

I think this is

a very powerful food moment

that we're all enjoying right now,

to experience Hmong cuisine together

like this, at this level.

I'm thrilled by that.

Okay, judges, it's time to take yourselves

and your food babies back over there

and do some math.

-Let's do it.

-[Alton] We'll go over here.

[Alton] So will it be Chef Vang's

nomadic Hmong Cuisine

or Iron Chef Cámara's regionally inspired

culinary tribute to Mexico?

These chefs and those peppers

definitely packed a punch,

and The Chairman

has one more punch to land.

Chef Vang.

Iron Chef Cámara.

Your fight of fiery flavors is finished.

In this battle, you took us

on an international journey

through a prism of peppers.

The spice was nice!

But only one of you

reached your fiery destination,

and that chef is

Iron Chef Cámara.

[cheering and applause]

Thank you.

[Alton] Well, there you have it, kids.

The Chairman has declared Iron Chef Cámara

the winner of this global chili battle.

I wish I could've tasted yours too.

[Alton] She took down the challenger

with an 86 to 81-point victory.

And right now, if I burp from here,

it'd be like macing you in the face.

That's how much chili is in my body.

All I need is a baby blanket,

a bottle of tequila and a Pepto,

and I'm ready for round two.

[Alton] I like your style.

And speaking of style,

it was an impressive victory

for the Iron Chef,

who really demonstrated her mastery

of balancing the heat and flavor

of different chilies across their dishes.

Mr. Chairman, any last words?

Yes! The Chairman has final words.

[mysterious music plays, liquid bubbles]

To see or not to see.

That

[liquid bubbles]

is the question.

[closing theme music plays]