**The High-Stakes World of Competitive Cooking**

As we stepped into the kitchen, the tension was palpable. The chefs were approaching our stations, their eyes scanning what we had prepared for them. One of them, a seasoned pro, raised an eyebrow at my station, taking in the mess before him. I knew that this was one of the most intimidating times of the day - when the pros walked over to check out what we had cooked.

I took a deep breath and began to explain my dish, trying to showcase my skills and passion. My skirt steak was marinating in a mixture of adobo goodness, with spices and a dry rub added just before cooking. The chicharrón, made from the fat of the meat, was sizzling away on the grill. I had also quick-pickled some vegetables, adding an acidic touch to the dish.

As the pros approached my station, they began to offer their feedback. One of them asked about the cut of meat I used for the steak - "What's the cut?" he inquired. I proudly explained that I used skirt steak, a favorite among family and friends back home. Another pro pointed out that my dish needed a little more work, but encouraged me to keep trying.

Meanwhile, another chef was struggling with her own dish. She was attempting to make corn tortillas from scratch, but admitted that it wasn't going as well as she had hoped. Despite the challenges, she remained focused on completing her task.

**The Pressure of Time**

As the clock ticked down, the pressure mounted. We had 30 minutes left to complete our dishes, and every second counted. The tension in the kitchen was palpable, with chefs working frantically to plate their creations. I took a deep breath and tried to stay focused, knowing that my dish needed just a little more time to come together.

As we approached halftime, the atmosphere in the kitchen reached a fever pitch. Chefs were chatting anxiously, trying to gauge where they stood among their competitors. One minute had passed, and already the anxiety was starting to set in - "I'm nowhere near as far along as I would have liked to be," one chef confessed.

Despite the challenges, many chefs remained confident in their abilities. They knew that simplicity was key, and were working to perfect their dishes without getting too caught up in unnecessary complexity. As we took a short break before continuing, I couldn't help but feel a sense of respect for these talented cooks - they were truly pushing themselves to be the best.

**The Final Stretch**

As we entered the final 30 minutes of competition, the stakes were higher than ever. Chefs were working at lightning speed, plating their dishes with precision and care. I took a deep breath, trying to stay focused on my own task - but it was clear that this was one of the toughest challenges yet.

The tension in the kitchen was palpable, with every chef watching each other's progress with bated breath. Would we be able to finish our dishes in time? Could we overcome the obstacles and emerge victorious? As the clock ticked down, only one thing was certain - it would be a thrilling finish to this intense competition.

The seconds ticked by, each one feeling like an eternity. And then, suddenly, we were at halftime. The kitchen erupted into a flurry of activity as chefs took short breaks to recharge and refocus. It was just 30 minutes until the final stretch - but for now, we had to wait it out and see what lay ahead.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enfood is the great uniter a well-cooked meal crosses generational divides transcends personal differences and brings people from all walks of life together Simple Pure ingredients combined and prepared by a deaf pan are elevated to an art form that nurtures both Body and Soul like nothing else can a beautiful meal is an ancient language understood universally across all eras by all people on season one of Skillet we celebrated individual creativity watching the often dramatic and painful process of watching recipes come to life but this season we're changing things up in season two of Skillet our contestants will be tasked with taking signature dishes created by our judges breaking them down figuring out their Essence and rebuilding them in their own style while keeping the core identity of the recipe the stakes are higher the prizes are bigger and the competition promises to even fiercer I'm your host Elon Gold and no I am not in an episode of Breaking Bad this is Skillet cutthroat yes you're watching the only show where you have to wait six hours between episodes so welcome everyone this is the skillet Cutthroat Kitchen this year our contestants will be competing for their own barrel of Herzog Special Reserve wine valued at 25 000 also a quarter of beef from Marble and grain amazing stuff that's over a hundred pounds of Premium Cuts valued at over fifteen hundred dollars and a custom premium Skillet cutting board from avocsima now let's meet our contestants my name is Daniel nabati born and raised in the valley and come from a Persian background I discovered My Love of Cooking from my mother I took that passion into culinary school out of high school kept it as a hobby and a passion till now my favorite things to cook are traditional Persian Foods we love tacos we love sushis whatever the pallet is craving that day I'm Noah Nathan I'm originally from London England my passion for cooking has probably grown over time originally starting a cooking when I lived out of Herndon University moved to America really got exposed to some amazing wonderful like ingredients that we didn't exist in England that California produce is really Second To None fun fact about men's competition is I'm actually a vegetarian but I do cook meat I won't taste the meat usually I'm trying to cook the meat almost like a science project so my name is bellagiano and I come from Valley Village California cooking as a passion at home for friends and family passed on the weekdays Barbecue on the weekends I was diagnosed with the colon cancer back in 2019 fought that far through chemo surgery whatnot the whole nine yards thank God I'm free of that free and clear surviving every day in this hustle we call La I am motion to PC My Love of Cooking really came from a very early age through like my teenage years or adulthood I just felt more and more in love with it much more with barbecue and then at this point in my life really I'm just trying to be as creative as possible in the kitchen so last season I thought I brought my A-game and then I had one too many slices of the mandolin and lost a little bit of my thumb but everything's good coming back to skillet for Redemption baby look at this he's alive and well there he is moish here you may want one of these by the way this season it's Skillet Cutthroat not Skillet cut thumb I think he was trying to get onto the show top Moyle he gave his thumb a briss it was weird you saw it anyway let's try to avoid the injuries this time and good luck to all of you and now for our judges from marbling Green in Miami oh this is the good stuff and he's the best guy Chef Yos is here I've just really seen him on social media and just you know knowing the product that he puts out and the level of Chef that he is certainly brought a little bit of the nerve factor of like oh my God these guys are at the top of their game how am I gonna impress them from Tierra sir in Oxnard the one and only Chef Chris and from La Gondola in Beverly Hills might I say my personal favorite spot because he brings me complimentary bacon it's kosher anyway chef near is here yes definitely having chef near that is intimidating to me um it's kind of like having Michael Jordan out there watching you shoot free throws right you're not gonna do good now this year our judges will be preparing one of their signature dishes for the contestants to replicate they'll get 10 minutes to try the dish make their notes and prepare a shopping list once the clock starts they'll have one hour to grab everything they need from the skillet Pantry the marble and grain meat locker and the kosher cook Supply racks the great thing about the kosher cook utensils is that they all come pre-toivald are you wondering what that means just Google it I don't have time to explain it to evil you're dipping you're you know we like to dip things anyway the winner of the challenge will get five minutes at the beginning of the next round before the clock starts to do their shopping and prep ingredients before anyone else for today's challenge dish we're gonna be bringing in a guest judge one of the hottest chefs in La whose new spot has already garnered a massive following including me and my kids oh my God are we in love with this place it's become a staple for Mexican street food kosher Mexican street food chef Lenny from Lenny's Casita foreign here at Lenny's Casita and we're going to run you through how we make the carne asada tacos beautiful ribeye see the marbling you see the fat content what we're doing today is a citrus garlic onion marinade okay beautiful fresh cilantro we're gonna use these stems for the marinade throw this into the blender let's get some onion in there rough chop a little garlic a little Ajo nice generous amount of salt in here pepper same thing a little bit of Chipotle adobo this is pure flavor right here a little bit of spice orange juice freshly squeezed lemon juice and some avocado oil a splash of white vinegar blend it up blend it up blend it up all right let's get the meat marinated and work on the salsa beautiful onion Julian and jalapeno we're going to cut out the stem we're going to leave the seeds in because we do want a little bit of heat nice amount of salt black pepper dried oregano fresh lemon juice a little bit of oil we're gonna let this marinate too while we grill the steak there we go that's what we want to hear little tortillas it needs a little bit of fat okay before we put it on the plant shot let's go one more flip one more flip and we're good I'm gonna slice it up Cube it up for the tacos okay tortilla carne onion Jalapeno cilantro carne asada tacos simple but execution has to be perfect good luck to all of you come on in Lenny when I see Lenny walking in it just brings a big smile to my face anybody that knows him or has eaten at any of his establishments knows he puts his heart and soul into every dish or every Taco that he makes how am I supposed to try to emulate what this guy puts out Lenny there he is the man the legend he's already a legend we've been following you Lenny for a while since the beginning you know me and my family were huge fans of yours I do have to say though for me it's a little upsetting to go from working with Larry David from Curb to Lenny from Lenny's Casita but it's a pleasure and I'm thrilled let's meet the judges judges we've got tacos for you look at this now I'm counting four tacos and three judges so the fourth is Miriam that's me baby that's not happening wow Chef Lenny's here that's that's crazy contestants you have 10 minutes to try the dish make notes and figure out what you need in your shopping list this is a very interesting process because what they do is they just taste it and they figure out what ingredients are based on taste because nothing is divulged am I right Chef Lenny it's completely so what makes this dish so special carne asada tacos is the most fundamental thing to Mexican cooking it's beef done the right way grilled got to get a good sear the essential parts of the taco Savory spicy and acid all those components are here you have to be able to construct it the right way and perfectly execute it Chef Lenny is a hard worker he's killing the game I wish him all the best but I got this all right thank you Chef Lenny and 10 minutes starts now I take one big bite and it's just this amazing tender great flavor of beef they gave me 10 minutes to figure out how he did it what he did I tasted Citrus of course the meat was soft don't really know what cut of meat he used it was very balanced the acid the salt the fat I take a look at the taco and I'm a little bit overwhelmed this is a blue Taco looks like I could be using blue corn I look in a pantry I don't see any blue corn tacos there it's kind of overwhelms me to a point we are here in our judge's Corner chefs dig in tell us what you think and again Lenny thanks for thinking of me I'm loving a tortilla first of all I didn't get to the meat yet is it a soft cell or is it a hard shell a soft shell has a little crunch to it it's like the perfect soft with a crunch yeah but the edges all crispy and now I'm tasting the meat I think it's absolutely delicious I love your balance of the acid gas is definitely kicking it so Chef Lenny why don't you tell us about how you came up with making your taco so unique and special how do you come up with ideas for food ingredients the whole idea of Casita itself came from realizing that my kitchen was predominantly Mexican these guys were making family meals meal they make for them for their own staff was better than food I was serving in the restaurant oh wow and it gave me like a ton of bricks I said every kitchen we're training them to make Japanese food or Italian food why not let them do what they do best that is and fascinating once we did it they were bringing recipes that they had from their mom from their parents stuff that they brought back home and their whole heart and was invested in it and you can taste it in the food you taste the passion come out you know it looks relatively simple it's a meat there's some onion it looks a bit pickled and a little bit of letters on top but not really heavy on the vegetables uh tortillas definitely felt homemade I think I'm gonna try that contestants you have 10 seconds left so my heart's pounding right and I'm a little bit overwhelmed I grew up with Hispanics and new tacos my whole life I got this in the back and Tacos down welcome to the home of quality design Precision durability and creativity where Joy encompasses every moment in the kosher kitchen let our premium award-winning utensils Empower you to achieve culinary mastery color-coded and marked the kosher cook the way the kosher Cooks okay we're about to start the clock this is our main event and once this clock starts that's it there's no 18 minute grace period this isn't Shabbos this is a TV show and we take it serious here chefs let me ask you what are you looking for though in our contestants as you watch them go about this one hour clock time where they try to replicate the dish Chef Lenny what are you looking for it's a simple dish not too complicated execution perfect execution on all the elements that's what I'm looking for nice Chef Chris I'm looking for the seasoning on the meat the seasoning and the marinade and the quality of the meat and which cut of meat they actually choose for their tacos okay Chef Yos the good news is all those choices are amazing beef by marble and green obviously I'm looking to see the passion I want to see them get into it you have to put passion into your cooking do you hear that guys look at them I don't see any passion anyway um Jeff dear Simplicity I mean like like Chef Lenny said it is a simple dish I was going to say passion too but honestly I'm about to salsa nice tacos is street food they didn't have filet mignon Ribeyes they had simple meat cheap meat season it right cook it right and I want flavor I want seasoning I want it dancing in my mouth yeah for me and I won't say which Citrus it was but it was it was that hint of whatever that squeeze of that was fantastic I hope you guys figured that out it's really like a choice between three All Right contestants are you ready this is the big moment we've all been waiting for the people at home they're excited they're nervous for you we've all cooked something at one point take a look at the clock there is one hour on the clock when I say go it means go are you ready guys yes my game plan to attack the taco in 60 minutes really just kind of comes down to a couple of points of like how quickly can I get the marinade going for the meat doing that first so it really has a chance to like it tenderize the meat and also get some of the flavor from the beautiful chilies that we're working with have to marinate with me because I know about hasn't marinated something and to think about the meatlessly marinated I'm gonna try to put that in no matter as early as possible I'm thinking about what beautiful vegetables I throw on top if I take that pickled onion and dry to like make other things along that line I was leaning more towards like a skirt steak and I decided to use the rib cap because it's my favorite let's take the meat you want let's get something going with the veggies first that's probably gonna take more time that I know what to do with at the end and I can't just rush it ready one hour Starts Now thank you this is where it begins with farm-raised cattle on the rolling fields of American grasslands top quality is not just something we say around here it's what we believe in that's why we go above and beyond to exceed your culinary Expectations by delivering top-tier restaurant grade Black Angus beef crafted cut and packaged under strict supervision only the finest Cuts make it onto your plate explore our carefully curated selection from the comfort of Home indulge in the art of flavor Savor each bite knowing that you've chosen the very best marble and grain foreign this is awesome you literally have a pack Pantry full of everything you could want my big rookie mistake was I didn't grab my bucket to shovel everything in at the first go around so I had to go back like four or five times that definitely took some time off the clock now look at this this is a fridge of Happiness right here this is all the meat you could possibly dream of everybody went straight to the meat locker and I'm thinking I'm thinking look at the pantry one no one else is looking at it so they've chosen based on taste again I'm so intrigued by the concept that you can taste something and figure out what ingredients went into it what type of meat what cut of meat it is that's something that I have no talent for in fact I barely have talent for anything is Germany kind of a cheaper cut of meat and I was taking a look at the meat to say no what we're walking my own taco I want to make this the best possible one this is beautiful section of meats in the fridge I'm just going to pick the one that I think I can cook like the one that was an offer doesn't have to mirror the exact same cut what meat did you choose there I chose the uh the flat iron steak so I grabbed this flat iron steak look really beautiful really amazing marbling and almost like something I've never seen before and I think you know what this looks like it could be great you know the fat protein and ratio looks amazing I'm gonna try and take this one make it like a water carne asada and just go from there flat iron that's not traditional for carne asada but we're going to try it and see how it goes wow you could tell he's a vegetarian from them I'm the vegetarian here like I'm the butthole jokes almost here I find out that Noah is a vegetarian so right off the bat I'm like all right well he's not going to be a competition because with all the respect like we're making carne asada tacos sure what are you doing so start steak skirt steak real real traditional open the fridge so I cut some meat I wasn't too familiar with but at the same time excited to try them out it's interesting that that some of them are not getting it right already no he figured out the citrus yeah it's not my first rodeo Elon look at that moisha's going for the cilantro huh you know it baby I don't know that I tasted cilantro in there yeah you will in mind look at this Ben is the first one to get something up there on the on the stove what did you put up there Tomatoes just thrusting some uh some veggies veggies ready for My Salsa nice first guy to get up there all right what do you have there moish I'm just getting my pants fire up baby okay and you're marinating meat marinating meat nice here we go we've got for a while all right what's your plan of action here I'm gonna run that down some beef fat oh that's nice add some flavor so what you're doing like a that's like a sauce reduction out of beef fat what is it a beef chicha what does anyone know what a beef chicharo is yup what is it it's a griffiness griffin is from oh Griffin it's like from the chicken skins oh that's fun could we get more cilantro is that possible someone Hogs all the cilantro slightly unfair this one Bunch somebody Hogs the cilantro that's not cilantro oh sorry I think this time the playing Ground is a lot more fair none of these guys are more professional I mean Moshe though it was your last time so to be honest with you I'm gonna be keeping my eyes on him more you know even for any chef they're not used to having you know being in front of the camera and all this stuff so it puts pressure on you so he already has that experience so I'm gonna be a little tougher on him do you guys think Daniel has the advantage because he picked the tastiest cut of meat like that's a little bit of an unfair did that tip of the of the rib eye it's like that and skirt thing not even knows how to cook it not even knows how to cook it that meat takes longer to cook it can be more raw the taco I don't want the most rice meat I want something not so chewy also for taco like medium minimum because the fat you want to render the fat we're slicing it before we put it in the tortilla so you already have that texture taken care of at that point with the salsa and this and then something that's going to stand up to it also you know let's see how he handles the the saltiness of the skirt steak also that's going to be interesting and the taco is going to be more forgiving because right yeah less seasoning too yeah guys just a thought a little truffle on the taco Maybe bad idea great idea by the way have you done a truffle Taco before does anyone need any truffle salt what are we up to here we're still marinating marinating we're making a uh a little quick cure vegetable to go on top through the acidic flavor nice now ideally how much time would you want this to marinade for days Dave overnight and you have minutes I know I know maybe marinating was not the best choice with only 49 minutes you'll get some sort of flavor not a rub not a spice rub I'm just going to do it with the marinade all right okay I'm curious about it I'll leave you alone let you get back to work look at this this looks fabulous that's just gorgeous thank you how are you planning on cooking that medium medium rare depends how you like it I think everyone wants medium rare don't they At Your Service no that is just salivatingly good just that look at that cut of meat look what he did with it that's a beautiful rub of all sorts of herbs and spices that's going to be fun guys we're in the 40s we're down to 48 minutes let's do this Lenny this guy doesn't have a press making it happen I love it he's in control he's in control also if he pulls on flip it yeah that'd be very impressive that's going to keep him in the running for sure the real disadvantage is the vegetarian poor guy yeah because everybody else here looks like they're meat eaters how many taxes do you have to make for um yeah four four but hopefully they come out right so you can make a few extra Elon likes his tacos now with 46 minutes left the meat's still in the packaging Elon is right there right in your ear trappering away this is exciting guys we have 45 minutes left on the clock I'm getting nervous for all of you how did I lose 15 minutes I look at my station and I'm like barely have the marinade ready for the meat trying to get it in as fast as I can you know what my favorite spices what's that coriander oh did he already see that on my table I didn't even see it bro I do not I do not have salt because I have skirts but you have to have salt with the coriander or the coriander doesn't come out the flavor doesn't come out really yeah okay so I got to get some stuff don't over salt it I will not over salt that baby how are we doing here over here in the UK everything going well could be going bad up could be going better a tortillas are not an English dish I'm realizing that it's just like falling apart I try to push it that make it really flat roll it in and it either sticks the table or it like comes apart I try taking a thick one put it in the frying pan it's not really working isn't that a little thick I know it's a little thick but if I make it thinner it's going to fall apart so at this point here I'm like okay I just got to kind of give up on this and go back to the ready-made tortillas are in the pantry see I'm leaning towards you because you picked my favorite cut of meat thank you so the quicker you get this cooking the faster I'm eating it so just Dutch say no more okay good okay chefs it's time to walk the floor check it out see what they're up to let's go thank you guys the pros are approaching oh boy top of your you know be on your best game over here one of the more intimidating times of the day is when the chefs start to walk over to the stations and they're like looking at what we've got these guys are Pros in the kitchen they're looking down at my station and everything's a mess so much you're a steak talk to me I got the skirt steak marinating Global what's in a minute oh adobo goodness some spices I'm gonna also do like a dry rub on it right before this year and here what's what's the liquid here I just went little apple cider vinegar some lime juice and salt keeping it super simple I personally I appreciated it I wanted to Showcase my skill and my passion and I was happy for them to come by and check it out and this is the chicharron this is going to be the chicharon where do you take this from from the fat from the center you know how the cap and under the center nice my biggest fear is they're going to see my food be like if you just tasted it you would do it much better if you knew your meat you would do better but you know what I'm just busy focusing on the project itself try to take that feedback on board very helpful just try to like keep on cooking what we got in here uh we have it's a it's a um I'm trying to like quick pickle the vegetables and give it a like acidic thing what is it what's in there I've got some onions I've got some jalapenos and I've got its own special self radish yeah vinegar and oil and a bit of salt and pepper I think as well and which cut did you end up using for the meat I use the whatever it is the skirt stick I think growing up with family in Mexico buying a store-bought tortilla seems kind of great beat you go over there especially Passover time you got fresh corn tortillas made so I was thinking you know what I have cornmeal and it's not corn flour but I could probably pull this off oh what's going on here yeah yeah yeah talk to me I'm attempting to make these corn guys it definitely needs a little work when I got the chefs right now around me honestly I'm not really looking at them too much like they're all kind of a blur I'm trying to focus on what I got going on it's great steak also yeah a little short steak what's your season one I put a little cayenne pepper paprika salt a little tad bit of sea salt and some pepper is sweat part of the ingredients because it's dripping that's why I didn't get salt before dude moisture is sweating like a bar mitzvah kid about to Lane relax my bar mitzvah was a lot easier than this in post-production we're gonna CGI all the sweat off of moisha's face so that people still have appetites when they're ready to eat it that's going to be a lot because I just lost mine 34 minutes everybody and your meat is still marinating it sure did take more time but I'm trying the best I can yeah flattering you don't need to uh not too much time so it's fine it's a very flavorful meat that's always appreciate it yeah let me go actually sometimes people over marinate their meat that's a big problem too and you don't taste the meat we have cilantro again guys we have cilantro now all right let's go Chef that's what we're talking about it is one minute to halftime folks one minute to halftime oh this is easy to get Harmony oh we're gonna make believe that they're not going there foreign half of our time has gone by I'm nowhere near as far along as I would have liked to be this is a lot tougher than I thought time's really running by I bought 30 minutes left I have everything plated by now well my anxiety the first 10 minutes was like I don't know what time and now if you're not keeping simple I feel like I'm really progressing really well I wish I had another 30 minutes but I was confident with what I had prepared in those first 30 minutes I was a little on edge but I got the job done we are seconds away from halftime seconds away foreign that is 30 minutes down 30 minutes to go look at the tension in this kitchen we will see you on the next episode of Skillet Cutthroat tune in guys 30 minutes foreignfood is the great uniter a well-cooked meal crosses generational divides transcends personal differences and brings people from all walks of life together Simple Pure ingredients combined and prepared by a deaf pan are elevated to an art form that nurtures both Body and Soul like nothing else can a beautiful meal is an ancient language understood universally across all eras by all people on season one of Skillet we celebrated individual creativity watching the often dramatic and painful process of watching recipes come to life but this season we're changing things up in season two of Skillet our contestants will be tasked with taking signature dishes created by our judges breaking them down figuring out their Essence and rebuilding them in their own style while keeping the core identity of the recipe the stakes are higher the prizes are bigger and the competition promises to even fiercer I'm your host Elon Gold and no I am not in an episode of Breaking Bad this is Skillet cutthroat yes you're watching the only show where you have to wait six hours between episodes so welcome everyone this is the skillet Cutthroat Kitchen this year our contestants will be competing for their own barrel of Herzog Special Reserve wine valued at 25 000 also a quarter of beef from Marble and grain amazing stuff that's over a hundred pounds of Premium Cuts valued at over fifteen hundred dollars and a custom premium Skillet cutting board from avocsima now let's meet our contestants my name is Daniel nabati born and raised in the valley and come from a Persian background I discovered My Love of Cooking from my mother I took that passion into culinary school out of high school kept it as a hobby and a passion till now my favorite things to cook are traditional Persian Foods we love tacos we love sushis whatever the pallet is craving that day I'm Noah Nathan I'm originally from London England my passion for cooking has probably grown over time originally starting a cooking when I lived out of Herndon University moved to America really got exposed to some amazing wonderful like ingredients that we didn't exist in England that California produce is really Second To None fun fact about men's competition is I'm actually a vegetarian but I do cook meat I won't taste the meat usually I'm trying to cook the meat almost like a science project so my name is bellagiano and I come from Valley Village California cooking as a passion at home for friends and family passed on the weekdays Barbecue on the weekends I was diagnosed with the colon cancer back in 2019 fought that far through chemo surgery whatnot the whole nine yards thank God I'm free of that free and clear surviving every day in this hustle we call La I am motion to PC My Love of Cooking really came from a very early age through like my teenage years or adulthood I just felt more and more in love with it much more with barbecue and then at this point in my life really I'm just trying to be as creative as possible in the kitchen so last season I thought I brought my A-game and then I had one too many slices of the mandolin and lost a little bit of my thumb but everything's good coming back to skillet for Redemption baby look at this he's alive and well there he is moish here you may want one of these by the way this season it's Skillet Cutthroat not Skillet cut thumb I think he was trying to get onto the show top Moyle he gave his thumb a briss it was weird you saw it anyway let's try to avoid the injuries this time and good luck to all of you and now for our judges from marbling Green in Miami oh this is the good stuff and he's the best guy Chef Yos is here I've just really seen him on social media and just you know knowing the product that he puts out and the level of Chef that he is certainly brought a little bit of the nerve factor of like oh my God these guys are at the top of their game how am I gonna impress them from Tierra sir in Oxnard the one and only Chef Chris and from La Gondola in Beverly Hills might I say my personal favorite spot because he brings me complimentary bacon it's kosher anyway chef near is here yes definitely having chef near that is intimidating to me um it's kind of like having Michael Jordan out there watching you shoot free throws right you're not gonna do good now this year our judges will be preparing one of their signature dishes for the contestants to replicate they'll get 10 minutes to try the dish make their notes and prepare a shopping list once the clock starts they'll have one hour to grab everything they need from the skillet Pantry the marble and grain meat locker and the kosher cook Supply racks the great thing about the kosher cook utensils is that they all come pre-toivald are you wondering what that means just Google it I don't have time to explain it to evil you're dipping you're you know we like to dip things anyway the winner of the challenge will get five minutes at the beginning of the next round before the clock starts to do their shopping and prep ingredients before anyone else for today's challenge dish we're gonna be bringing in a guest judge one of the hottest chefs in La whose new spot has already garnered a massive following including me and my kids oh my God are we in love with this place it's become a staple for Mexican street food kosher Mexican street food chef Lenny from Lenny's Casita foreign here at Lenny's Casita and we're going to run you through how we make the carne asada tacos beautiful ribeye see the marbling you see the fat content what we're doing today is a citrus garlic onion marinade okay beautiful fresh cilantro we're gonna use these stems for the marinade throw this into the blender let's get some onion in there rough chop a little garlic a little Ajo nice generous amount of salt in here pepper same thing a little bit of Chipotle adobo this is pure flavor right here a little bit of spice orange juice freshly squeezed lemon juice and some avocado oil a splash of white vinegar blend it up blend it up blend it up all right let's get the meat marinated and work on the salsa beautiful onion Julian and jalapeno we're going to cut out the stem we're going to leave the seeds in because we do want a little bit of heat nice amount of salt black pepper dried oregano fresh lemon juice a little bit of oil we're gonna let this marinate too while we grill the steak there we go that's what we want to hear little tortillas it needs a little bit of fat okay before we put it on the plant shot let's go one more flip one more flip and we're good I'm gonna slice it up Cube it up for the tacos okay tortilla carne onion Jalapeno cilantro carne asada tacos simple but execution has to be perfect good luck to all of you come on in Lenny when I see Lenny walking in it just brings a big smile to my face anybody that knows him or has eaten at any of his establishments knows he puts his heart and soul into every dish or every Taco that he makes how am I supposed to try to emulate what this guy puts out Lenny there he is the man the legend he's already a legend we've been following you Lenny for a while since the beginning you know me and my family were huge fans of yours I do have to say though for me it's a little upsetting to go from working with Larry David from Curb to Lenny from Lenny's Casita but it's a pleasure and I'm thrilled let's meet the judges judges we've got tacos for you look at this now I'm counting four tacos and three judges so the fourth is Miriam that's me baby that's not happening wow Chef Lenny's here that's that's crazy contestants you have 10 minutes to try the dish make notes and figure out what you need in your shopping list this is a very interesting process because what they do is they just taste it and they figure out what ingredients are based on taste because nothing is divulged am I right Chef Lenny it's completely so what makes this dish so special carne asada tacos is the most fundamental thing to Mexican cooking it's beef done the right way grilled got to get a good sear the essential parts of the taco Savory spicy and acid all those components are here you have to be able to construct it the right way and perfectly execute it Chef Lenny is a hard worker he's killing the game I wish him all the best but I got this all right thank you Chef Lenny and 10 minutes starts now I take one big bite and it's just this amazing tender great flavor of beef they gave me 10 minutes to figure out how he did it what he did I tasted Citrus of course the meat was soft don't really know what cut of meat he used it was very balanced the acid the salt the fat I take a look at the taco and I'm a little bit overwhelmed this is a blue Taco looks like I could be using blue corn I look in a pantry I don't see any blue corn tacos there it's kind of overwhelms me to a point we are here in our judge's Corner chefs dig in tell us what you think and again Lenny thanks for thinking of me I'm loving a tortilla first of all I didn't get to the meat yet is it a soft cell or is it a hard shell a soft shell has a little crunch to it it's like the perfect soft with a crunch yeah but the edges all crispy and now I'm tasting the meat I think it's absolutely delicious I love your balance of the acid gas is definitely kicking it so Chef Lenny why don't you tell us about how you came up with making your taco so unique and special how do you come up with ideas for food ingredients the whole idea of Casita itself came from realizing that my kitchen was predominantly Mexican these guys were making family meals meal they make for them for their own staff was better than food I was serving in the restaurant oh wow and it gave me like a ton of bricks I said every kitchen we're training them to make Japanese food or Italian food why not let them do what they do best that is and fascinating once we did it they were bringing recipes that they had from their mom from their parents stuff that they brought back home and their whole heart and was invested in it and you can taste it in the food you taste the passion come out you know it looks relatively simple it's a meat there's some onion it looks a bit pickled and a little bit of letters on top but not really heavy on the vegetables uh tortillas definitely felt homemade I think I'm gonna try that contestants you have 10 seconds left so my heart's pounding right and I'm a little bit overwhelmed I grew up with Hispanics and new tacos my whole life I got this in the back and Tacos down welcome to the home of quality design Precision durability and creativity where Joy encompasses every moment in the kosher kitchen let our premium award-winning utensils Empower you to achieve culinary mastery color-coded and marked the kosher cook the way the kosher Cooks okay we're about to start the clock this is our main event and once this clock starts that's it there's no 18 minute grace period this isn't Shabbos this is a TV show and we take it serious here chefs let me ask you what are you looking for though in our contestants as you watch them go about this one hour clock time where they try to replicate the dish Chef Lenny what are you looking for it's a simple dish not too complicated execution perfect execution on all the elements that's what I'm looking for nice Chef Chris I'm looking for the seasoning on the meat the seasoning and the marinade and the quality of the meat and which cut of meat they actually choose for their tacos okay Chef Yos the good news is all those choices are amazing beef by marble and green obviously I'm looking to see the passion I want to see them get into it you have to put passion into your cooking do you hear that guys look at them I don't see any passion anyway um Jeff dear Simplicity I mean like like Chef Lenny said it is a simple dish I was going to say passion too but honestly I'm about to salsa nice tacos is street food they didn't have filet mignon Ribeyes they had simple meat cheap meat season it right cook it right and I want flavor I want seasoning I want it dancing in my mouth yeah for me and I won't say which Citrus it was but it was it was that hint of whatever that squeeze of that was fantastic I hope you guys figured that out it's really like a choice between three All Right contestants are you ready this is the big moment we've all been waiting for the people at home they're excited they're nervous for you we've all cooked something at one point take a look at the clock there is one hour on the clock when I say go it means go are you ready guys yes my game plan to attack the taco in 60 minutes really just kind of comes down to a couple of points of like how quickly can I get the marinade going for the meat doing that first so it really has a chance to like it tenderize the meat and also get some of the flavor from the beautiful chilies that we're working with have to marinate with me because I know about hasn't marinated something and to think about the meatlessly marinated I'm gonna try to put that in no matter as early as possible I'm thinking about what beautiful vegetables I throw on top if I take that pickled onion and dry to like make other things along that line I was leaning more towards like a skirt steak and I decided to use the rib cap because it's my favorite let's take the meat you want let's get something going with the veggies first that's probably gonna take more time that I know what to do with at the end and I can't just rush it ready one hour Starts Now thank you this is where it begins with farm-raised cattle on the rolling fields of American grasslands top quality is not just something we say around here it's what we believe in that's why we go above and beyond to exceed your culinary Expectations by delivering top-tier restaurant grade Black Angus beef crafted cut and packaged under strict supervision only the finest Cuts make it onto your plate explore our carefully curated selection from the comfort of Home indulge in the art of flavor Savor each bite knowing that you've chosen the very best marble and grain foreign this is awesome you literally have a pack Pantry full of everything you could want my big rookie mistake was I didn't grab my bucket to shovel everything in at the first go around so I had to go back like four or five times that definitely took some time off the clock now look at this this is a fridge of Happiness right here this is all the meat you could possibly dream of everybody went straight to the meat locker and I'm thinking I'm thinking look at the pantry one no one else is looking at it so they've chosen based on taste again I'm so intrigued by the concept that you can taste something and figure out what ingredients went into it what type of meat what cut of meat it is that's something that I have no talent for in fact I barely have talent for anything is Germany kind of a cheaper cut of meat and I was taking a look at the meat to say no what we're walking my own taco I want to make this the best possible one this is beautiful section of meats in the fridge I'm just going to pick the one that I think I can cook like the one that was an offer doesn't have to mirror the exact same cut what meat did you choose there I chose the uh the flat iron steak so I grabbed this flat iron steak look really beautiful really amazing marbling and almost like something I've never seen before and I think you know what this looks like it could be great you know the fat protein and ratio looks amazing I'm gonna try and take this one make it like a water carne asada and just go from there flat iron that's not traditional for carne asada but we're going to try it and see how it goes wow you could tell he's a vegetarian from them I'm the vegetarian here like I'm the butthole jokes almost here I find out that Noah is a vegetarian so right off the bat I'm like all right well he's not going to be a competition because with all the respect like we're making carne asada tacos sure what are you doing so start steak skirt steak real real traditional open the fridge so I cut some meat I wasn't too familiar with but at the same time excited to try them out it's interesting that that some of them are not getting it right already no he figured out the citrus yeah it's not my first rodeo Elon look at that moisha's going for the cilantro huh you know it baby I don't know that I tasted cilantro in there yeah you will in mind look at this Ben is the first one to get something up there on the on the stove what did you put up there Tomatoes just thrusting some uh some veggies veggies ready for My Salsa nice first guy to get up there all right what do you have there moish I'm just getting my pants fire up baby okay and you're marinating meat marinating meat nice here we go we've got for a while all right what's your plan of action here I'm gonna run that down some beef fat oh that's nice add some flavor so what you're doing like a that's like a sauce reduction out of beef fat what is it a beef chicha what does anyone know what a beef chicharo is yup what is it it's a griffiness griffin is from oh Griffin it's like from the chicken skins oh that's fun could we get more cilantro is that possible someone Hogs all the cilantro slightly unfair this one Bunch somebody Hogs the cilantro that's not cilantro oh sorry I think this time the playing Ground is a lot more fair none of these guys are more professional I mean Moshe though it was your last time so to be honest with you I'm gonna be keeping my eyes on him more you know even for any chef they're not used to having you know being in front of the camera and all this stuff so it puts pressure on you so he already has that experience so I'm gonna be a little tougher on him do you guys think Daniel has the advantage because he picked the tastiest cut of meat like that's a little bit of an unfair did that tip of the of the rib eye it's like that and skirt thing not even knows how to cook it not even knows how to cook it that meat takes longer to cook it can be more raw the taco I don't want the most rice meat I want something not so chewy also for taco like medium minimum because the fat you want to render the fat we're slicing it before we put it in the tortilla so you already have that texture taken care of at that point with the salsa and this and then something that's going to stand up to it also you know let's see how he handles the the saltiness of the skirt steak also that's going to be interesting and the taco is going to be more forgiving because right yeah less seasoning too yeah guys just a thought a little truffle on the taco Maybe bad idea great idea by the way have you done a truffle Taco before does anyone need any truffle salt what are we up to here we're still marinating marinating we're making a uh a little quick cure vegetable to go on top through the acidic flavor nice now ideally how much time would you want this to marinade for days Dave overnight and you have minutes I know I know maybe marinating was not the best choice with only 49 minutes you'll get some sort of flavor not a rub not a spice rub I'm just going to do it with the marinade all right okay I'm curious about it I'll leave you alone let you get back to work look at this this looks fabulous that's just gorgeous thank you how are you planning on cooking that medium medium rare depends how you like it I think everyone wants medium rare don't they At Your Service no that is just salivatingly good just that look at that cut of meat look what he did with it that's a beautiful rub of all sorts of herbs and spices that's going to be fun guys we're in the 40s we're down to 48 minutes let's do this Lenny this guy doesn't have a press making it happen I love it he's in control he's in control also if he pulls on flip it yeah that'd be very impressive that's going to keep him in the running for sure the real disadvantage is the vegetarian poor guy yeah because everybody else here looks like they're meat eaters how many taxes do you have to make for um yeah four four but hopefully they come out right so you can make a few extra Elon likes his tacos now with 46 minutes left the meat's still in the packaging Elon is right there right in your ear trappering away this is exciting guys we have 45 minutes left on the clock I'm getting nervous for all of you how did I lose 15 minutes I look at my station and I'm like barely have the marinade ready for the meat trying to get it in as fast as I can you know what my favorite spices what's that coriander oh did he already see that on my table I didn't even see it bro I do not I do not have salt because I have skirts but you have to have salt with the coriander or the coriander doesn't come out the flavor doesn't come out really yeah okay so I got to get some stuff don't over salt it I will not over salt that baby how are we doing here over here in the UK everything going well could be going bad up could be going better a tortillas are not an English dish I'm realizing that it's just like falling apart I try to push it that make it really flat roll it in and it either sticks the table or it like comes apart I try taking a thick one put it in the frying pan it's not really working isn't that a little thick I know it's a little thick but if I make it thinner it's going to fall apart so at this point here I'm like okay I just got to kind of give up on this and go back to the ready-made tortillas are in the pantry see I'm leaning towards you because you picked my favorite cut of meat thank you so the quicker you get this cooking the faster I'm eating it so just Dutch say no more okay good okay chefs it's time to walk the floor check it out see what they're up to let's go thank you guys the pros are approaching oh boy top of your you know be on your best game over here one of the more intimidating times of the day is when the chefs start to walk over to the stations and they're like looking at what we've got these guys are Pros in the kitchen they're looking down at my station and everything's a mess so much you're a steak talk to me I got the skirt steak marinating Global what's in a minute oh adobo goodness some spices I'm gonna also do like a dry rub on it right before this year and here what's what's the liquid here I just went little apple cider vinegar some lime juice and salt keeping it super simple I personally I appreciated it I wanted to Showcase my skill and my passion and I was happy for them to come by and check it out and this is the chicharron this is going to be the chicharon where do you take this from from the fat from the center you know how the cap and under the center nice my biggest fear is they're going to see my food be like if you just tasted it you would do it much better if you knew your meat you would do better but you know what I'm just busy focusing on the project itself try to take that feedback on board very helpful just try to like keep on cooking what we got in here uh we have it's a it's a um I'm trying to like quick pickle the vegetables and give it a like acidic thing what is it what's in there I've got some onions I've got some jalapenos and I've got its own special self radish yeah vinegar and oil and a bit of salt and pepper I think as well and which cut did you end up using for the meat I use the whatever it is the skirt stick I think growing up with family in Mexico buying a store-bought tortilla seems kind of great beat you go over there especially Passover time you got fresh corn tortillas made so I was thinking you know what I have cornmeal and it's not corn flour but I could probably pull this off oh what's going on here yeah yeah yeah talk to me I'm attempting to make these corn guys it definitely needs a little work when I got the chefs right now around me honestly I'm not really looking at them too much like they're all kind of a blur I'm trying to focus on what I got going on it's great steak also yeah a little short steak what's your season one I put a little cayenne pepper paprika salt a little tad bit of sea salt and some pepper is sweat part of the ingredients because it's dripping that's why I didn't get salt before dude moisture is sweating like a bar mitzvah kid about to Lane relax my bar mitzvah was a lot easier than this in post-production we're gonna CGI all the sweat off of moisha's face so that people still have appetites when they're ready to eat it that's going to be a lot because I just lost mine 34 minutes everybody and your meat is still marinating it sure did take more time but I'm trying the best I can yeah flattering you don't need to uh not too much time so it's fine it's a very flavorful meat that's always appreciate it yeah let me go actually sometimes people over marinate their meat that's a big problem too and you don't taste the meat we have cilantro again guys we have cilantro now all right let's go Chef that's what we're talking about it is one minute to halftime folks one minute to halftime oh this is easy to get Harmony oh we're gonna make believe that they're not going there foreign half of our time has gone by I'm nowhere near as far along as I would have liked to be this is a lot tougher than I thought time's really running by I bought 30 minutes left I have everything plated by now well my anxiety the first 10 minutes was like I don't know what time and now if you're not keeping simple I feel like I'm really progressing really well I wish I had another 30 minutes but I was confident with what I had prepared in those first 30 minutes I was a little on edge but I got the job done we are seconds away from halftime seconds away foreign that is 30 minutes down 30 minutes to go look at the tension in this kitchen we will see you on the next episode of Skillet Cutthroat tune in guys 30 minutes foreign\n"