The Art of Chopping: A Halloween Feast Competition

In this episode of The Chopping Block, our talented chefs faced their greatest challenge yet: a spooky Halloween feast competition that pushed them to their limits. Our contestants included Chef Mario, Chef Tess, and Chef Michael, each with their own unique style and culinary expertise.

First up was the pan-seared lam heart with pumpkin pie tart and fried chocolate, courtesy of Chef Tess. The combination may seem unusual, but it paid off, as our judges praised its creativity and flavors. Next, Chef Michael presented his braised lamb with grilled pie crust and spiced pumpkin puree, which unfortunately didn't quite meet the judges' expectations due to issues with the pie dough's texture.

The next contestant, Chef Mario, was tasked with creating a dish using a variety of ingredients including gummy teeth candy, flour tortillas, quinoa, and black chicken. He chose to make pan-seared black chicken in a ginger broth, which he claimed would be his "Classic way of cooking chicken." However, our judges felt that this dish was overly ambitious and lacked focus.

Meanwhile, Chef Tess opted for a more traditional approach, preparing a roasted black chicken with pickled carrot noodles and a unique twist on the classic willotta CRM sauce. Her dish impressed our judges, who praised its flavors and creativity.

After the appetizer round, the competition moved on to the main event: the All Hallows Eve duel to the death dessert round. This final challenge would determine which chef would be crowned the champion of The Chopping Block.

For this final round, the contestants were presented with a variety of ingredients including cumquats, cheddar pennies, dried Chipotle chilies, and grasshoppers. With exactly 30 minutes to complete the task, our chefs got to work. Chef Michael chose to make a chocolate smothered grasshopper infused with Chipotle, while Chef Mario opted for a kumquat soup paired with sugar-glazed grasshoppers.

As the competition heated up, tensions rose among the contestants. However, in the end, it was clear that only one chef would emerge victorious: Chef Michael. His pan-seared dish of cheddar chocolate soil with cumquat salad and basil, paired with a chipotle grasshopper sauce, wowed our judges with its complexity and flavor.

And so, after a fierce competition, Chef Michael was crowned the champion of The Chopping Block. As he accepted his prize of $10,000, our hosts praised his culinary skills and creativity, saying that he showed them "a lot of techniques and a lot of different things" throughout the competition.

In the end, it was clear that this Halloween feast competition had pushed our contestants to their limits. While some dishes may have faltered, others truly shone, showcasing the unique talents and skills of each chef. As we bid farewell to Chef Mario and Chef Tess, we can't help but look forward to next week's episode of The Chopping Block, where another talented group of chefs will face the ultimate culinary challenge.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enmurky hallways mysterious ingredients bloody chopping blocks masked enforcers it's Halloween and four competitors are facing what could be one of the scariest challenges of their lives I've never coached a lam heart before my heart saes malted milk balls processed junk what are you going to do with it I'm just putting them off the side and I'm going to worry about that later I am losing my garlic and sometimes I mind well this basket is like a trick-or treat bag for a vampire with the to then one has to come up with a recipe that's Halloween is well the pumpkin helps there are three rounds appetizer entree dessert now for this special competition we're asking that your meals have a Halloween theme each course in the meal comes with its own basket of mystery ingredients you must use every ingredient in the basket in some way if your dish doesn't cut it you will be chopped so if you dare please open your baskets and for the appetizer course we have canned pumpkin malted chocolate balls pie crust and lamb Hearts you will have exactly 20 minutes and time starts now I want to display the lam heart in a whole fashion then I see the canned pumpkin and I immediately think pumpkin pie tart I add shallots th maple syrup to the pumpkin pureet and I Bas it onto the pie crust and I pop it in the oven I know what go is good with lamb heart bacon Capers mustard that's going to save me cuz I know I can cook some Lam heart I'm cooking and The Dumping Diva takes over I'm going to make a dumping out of this my creativity comes through in the cooking because it's just a natural part of who I am this last Halloween I got to dress up like a sexy Buxom nurse I'm going to try to make my food sexy just like Halloween is I'm making a brazed lambart regu with chocolate spiced pumpkin pureing pie pastry looking dark nothing smells more like failure than burnt pie pastry 1 minute left chefs 10 10 wait a minute not ready yet a little alen D the vibe in the kitchen is intense we're just like attack this let's go at it give it your best oh my God all righty friendly Halloween warning if you don't finish these plates it might haunt you forever and 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 time's up please step away Chef Maria please tell the judges what you've made I've made a little trick or treat dumpling with curage flavored pumpkin and lamb hearts and on the side a little arugula salad with a chopped malted Balls next we have chef Mike so what I did for you was a bacon seared Lamb with a brown butter and Herb pumpkin puree and a little fresh apple on top next we have Chef Tess I had a pan roasted Lam heart with a little pumpkin pie tart and uh fried chocolate and finally we have Chef Michael I did I brazed lamard with grilled pie crust and a spiced pumpkin puree so whose dish is on The Chopping Block chef Mike you've been chopped chef Mike your pumpkin puree was probably the most delicious thing that we had here from any of the chefs unfortunately you didn't use the moled milk balls whatsoever and also the pie dough was was burnt I understand completely I really appreciate it thank you very much chef Mike thank you thank you very much Ted Chef Mario Chef Tess Chef Michael please open your baskets and the mandatory ingredients are gummy teeth candy flour tortillas qu L Coe and black chicken you'll have 30 minutes this time time and the clock starts now I know I'm going to sear it with some onions and herbs just the Classic way you cook chicken oh that is snarly I'm making panser black chicken in a ginger broth I'm making my broth from scratch but I want to give the judges a whole animal I'll make a drunken purple chicken and the purple potatoes oh I'm just so good on time now I'm going to really make this happen Mar's rolling her tortillas on The Cutting Board that she butchered the chicken and she didn't flip the board or clean the board 9 8 7 I patting myself on the back this is restaurant quality in 30 minutes 4 3 2 one time's up please step away Chef Tess did you find this combination of ingredients frightening terrifying actually I pan roasted the black chicken and the whe laoch and there is a pink vampire gummy Jew and tortilla crisp next up Chef Michael uh I prepared a roasted black chicken with pickled carrot noodles and a willota CRM finally Chef Mario yes this is the drunken chicken how did it get drunk it had uh quite a lot of Brandy it it okay that'll do it because it was a purple chicken I thought it goes with the purple potatoes who's did fish is on The Chopping Block Chef Mario yeah you have been chopped Mario you have such incredible integrity and professionalism as well as real fun and creativity however we could not Overlook the fact that your tortilla could have been cross-contaminated well thank you for having me here it was a great experience thank you so much for sharing your work with us Chef thank you great thank you very much Chef Tess Chef Michael you've made it to the All Hallows Eve duel to the death dessert round prepare to be terrified okay please open your baskets and the mandatory ingredients are cumquats cheddar pennies oh my God dried Chipotle chilies and grasshoppers you'll have exactly 30 minutes for this course time starts now I'm making a pampero with Citrus soup and a spiced chocolate chili sauce I decided to make chocolate smothered grasshoppers infus with Chipotle taking some chocolate Michael I start melting chocolate in the double boiler I start dicing the Chipotle peppers I feel really good about this I see these cats I have sugar going already throw them in there let's make a caramel try to vast this flavor of this chili sauce 1 minute left chefs we are almost at the very end of of our Halloween Feast basket for basket this has been one of the toughest days for competing chefs that I've ever seen once I realized I wasn't going to have soret I decided to go with kumquat soup and I hit a couple of the grasshoppers in the soil 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 time up please step away Chef Michael how'd you do it was difficult I in front of you have a panw with a chocolate chili sauce and citrus mapone Chef test I'm really proud of this dish what I have is cheddar chocolate soil cumquat salad with basil and chipotle grasshopper sauce so whose dish is on The Chopping Block thank you Chef Tess yeah you've been chopped I understand I I get it Chef we felt that in your first course you did such a great thing with your malted milk Ball but there was no harmony with the other elements on the dish and when you finally showed us your creativity it was lacking sweetness so we had to chop you but it was a pleasure having you here today oh it's a pleasure being here thank you so much and that means Chef Michael that you are the chopped champion and you need to make room in your Halloween goodie bag for $10,000 sweet man thank you so much I really appreciate it thank you it was a lot of fun it wasn't easy you showed us a lot of techniques and a lot of different things and we really saw and recognized how much work you were putting in thank you emurky hallways mysterious ingredients bloody chopping blocks masked enforcers it's Halloween and four competitors are facing what could be one of the scariest challenges of their lives I've never coached a lam heart before my heart saes malted milk balls processed junk what are you going to do with it I'm just putting them off the side and I'm going to worry about that later I am losing my garlic and sometimes I mind well this basket is like a trick-or treat bag for a vampire with the to then one has to come up with a recipe that's Halloween is well the pumpkin helps there are three rounds appetizer entree dessert now for this special competition we're asking that your meals have a Halloween theme each course in the meal comes with its own basket of mystery ingredients you must use every ingredient in the basket in some way if your dish doesn't cut it you will be chopped so if you dare please open your baskets and for the appetizer course we have canned pumpkin malted chocolate balls pie crust and lamb Hearts you will have exactly 20 minutes and time starts now I want to display the lam heart in a whole fashion then I see the canned pumpkin and I immediately think pumpkin pie tart I add shallots th maple syrup to the pumpkin pureet and I Bas it onto the pie crust and I pop it in the oven I know what go is good with lamb heart bacon Capers mustard that's going to save me cuz I know I can cook some Lam heart I'm cooking and The Dumping Diva takes over I'm going to make a dumping out of this my creativity comes through in the cooking because it's just a natural part of who I am this last Halloween I got to dress up like a sexy Buxom nurse I'm going to try to make my food sexy just like Halloween is I'm making a brazed lambart regu with chocolate spiced pumpkin pureing pie pastry looking dark nothing smells more like failure than burnt pie pastry 1 minute left chefs 10 10 wait a minute not ready yet a little alen D the vibe in the kitchen is intense we're just like attack this let's go at it give it your best oh my God all righty friendly Halloween warning if you don't finish these plates it might haunt you forever and 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 time's up please step away Chef Maria please tell the judges what you've made I've made a little trick or treat dumpling with curage flavored pumpkin and lamb hearts and on the side a little arugula salad with a chopped malted Balls next we have chef Mike so what I did for you was a bacon seared Lamb with a brown butter and Herb pumpkin puree and a little fresh apple on top next we have Chef Tess I had a pan roasted Lam heart with a little pumpkin pie tart and uh fried chocolate and finally we have Chef Michael I did I brazed lamard with grilled pie crust and a spiced pumpkin puree so whose dish is on The Chopping Block chef Mike you've been chopped chef Mike your pumpkin puree was probably the most delicious thing that we had here from any of the chefs unfortunately you didn't use the moled milk balls whatsoever and also the pie dough was was burnt I understand completely I really appreciate it thank you very much chef Mike thank you thank you very much Ted Chef Mario Chef Tess Chef Michael please open your baskets and the mandatory ingredients are gummy teeth candy flour tortillas qu L Coe and black chicken you'll have 30 minutes this time time and the clock starts now I know I'm going to sear it with some onions and herbs just the Classic way you cook chicken oh that is snarly I'm making panser black chicken in a ginger broth I'm making my broth from scratch but I want to give the judges a whole animal I'll make a drunken purple chicken and the purple potatoes oh I'm just so good on time now I'm going to really make this happen Mar's rolling her tortillas on The Cutting Board that she butchered the chicken and she didn't flip the board or clean the board 9 8 7 I patting myself on the back this is restaurant quality in 30 minutes 4 3 2 one time's up please step away Chef Tess did you find this combination of ingredients frightening terrifying actually I pan roasted the black chicken and the whe laoch and there is a pink vampire gummy Jew and tortilla crisp next up Chef Michael uh I prepared a roasted black chicken with pickled carrot noodles and a willota CRM finally Chef Mario yes this is the drunken chicken how did it get drunk it had uh quite a lot of Brandy it it okay that'll do it because it was a purple chicken I thought it goes with the purple potatoes who's did fish is on The Chopping Block Chef Mario yeah you have been chopped Mario you have such incredible integrity and professionalism as well as real fun and creativity however we could not Overlook the fact that your tortilla could have been cross-contaminated well thank you for having me here it was a great experience thank you so much for sharing your work with us Chef thank you great thank you very much Chef Tess Chef Michael you've made it to the All Hallows Eve duel to the death dessert round prepare to be terrified okay please open your baskets and the mandatory ingredients are cumquats cheddar pennies oh my God dried Chipotle chilies and grasshoppers you'll have exactly 30 minutes for this course time starts now I'm making a pampero with Citrus soup and a spiced chocolate chili sauce I decided to make chocolate smothered grasshoppers infus with Chipotle taking some chocolate Michael I start melting chocolate in the double boiler I start dicing the Chipotle peppers I feel really good about this I see these cats I have sugar going already throw them in there let's make a caramel try to vast this flavor of this chili sauce 1 minute left chefs we are almost at the very end of of our Halloween Feast basket for basket this has been one of the toughest days for competing chefs that I've ever seen once I realized I wasn't going to have soret I decided to go with kumquat soup and I hit a couple of the grasshoppers in the soil 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 time up please step away Chef Michael how'd you do it was difficult I in front of you have a panw with a chocolate chili sauce and citrus mapone Chef test I'm really proud of this dish what I have is cheddar chocolate soil cumquat salad with basil and chipotle grasshopper sauce so whose dish is on The Chopping Block thank you Chef Tess yeah you've been chopped I understand I I get it Chef we felt that in your first course you did such a great thing with your malted milk Ball but there was no harmony with the other elements on the dish and when you finally showed us your creativity it was lacking sweetness so we had to chop you but it was a pleasure having you here today oh it's a pleasure being here thank you so much and that means Chef Michael that you are the chopped champion and you need to make room in your Halloween goodie bag for $10,000 sweet man thank you so much I really appreciate it thank you it was a lot of fun it wasn't easy you showed us a lot of techniques and a lot of different things and we really saw and recognized how much work you were putting in thank you e\n"