Four young chefs competed for the final spot in Chopped Teen's Tuesday finale.
This week on episode four of Chopped Teen, dancing chefs and cooking with donuts kept the challenges interesting.
Danny, 15, began cooking when he was 7. When Danny isn’t cooking, he loves to wrestle, debate and ballroom dance.
Justin, 16, grew up in a rough neighborhood and is passionate about two things: cooking and church. He started a cheesecake business to pay for his schooling and is very thankful to God for granting him the ability to appear on Chopped.
Olivia, 13, has Type 1 Diabetes. Her parents were refugees from the Ukraine and both culinary professionals, so she felt very prepared to compete on Chopped despite her young age.
Veronica, 15, has moved throughout the United States and Europe since her parents are in the military. She loves to cook and act and wants to win Chopped to show her parents that she can do anything she puts her mind to.
The contestants faced a tough appetizer basket this week and were required to incorporate spicy Italian sausage, white asparagus, soup dumplings and habanero peppers into their dishes. Veronica decided to utilize these ingredients to make spicy sausage and pepper tacos with an apple and asparagus salsa. She cut herself almost immediately, but played it off like it was no big deal. The judges loved her tacos and judge Scott Conant said her cooking is wise beyond her years.
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Justin took a moment to get over the fact that he had just watched an episode of Chopped the day before and now he was in the actual kitchen that he saw on his TV. After he collected himself, he decided to make a spicy sausage crostini in his signature style of soul food. He burns his crostini bread a bit, but declared that Jesus is always with him so he will be OK. The judges loved his dish, declaring that his food is addictive.
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Olivia decided to make a Ukrainian delicacy — sausage ragu with baked white asparagus and rice noodles. Olivia almost forgot her asparagus in the oven, but thankfully remembered to place it on the plate at the last minute. This move was key because judge Alex Guarnaschelli said that despite her unconventional methods of cooking it, she was in love with her asparagus.
Danny decided to make a high-class risotto, as he declared that he “didn’t come to Chopped to make tacos.” However, his five-star-meal plan didn’t exactly go as he had hoped because his presentation was not up to his own standards. The judges loved the raisin filling, but felt like his self-proclaimed risotto was more of a pilaf, which led to Danny getting chopped.
Going into the entree round, the contestants were given veal chops, heirloom tomatoes, glazed doughnuts and swiss chard. Guarnaschelli and Veronica were on the same page, both separately saying that the best way to handle the basket ingredients would be to make doughnut-encrusted veal parmesan with a swiss chard and tomato sauce. She made the judges nervous, however, when she tried to stab open a can of tomatoes with a knife. Veronica’s dish came out nicely despite it being slightly salty, and she celebrated by eating a leftover glazed doughnut. I really connected with her at this moment.
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Justin decided to make a grilled veal chop with a cheesy mash puree and a doughnut crumbled top. He originally tried to cook his entire veal chop on the bone, but judge Conant advised him with five minutes left to take the meat off the bone if he wanted it to be done in time. Despite this advice, judge Chris Santos still was served raw meat. The judges still loved the dish anyway.
Olivia was very nervous in the entree round for a couple of reasons. Her original nerves were due to the fact that she proclaimed the veal chops were roughly the size of her head. She also admitted that she was terrified of host Ted Allen giving her advice, since he is the bearer of bad news. She decided to make a charred veal chop with swiss chard tomato salad. However, they felt her dish wasn’t well composed and she gets chopped. Very sad music played as the judges explain their decision, and she walked away teary eyed but thankful for the experience.
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Justin and Veronica entered the dessert round with high energy. They are presented with flame grapes, peanut and caramel candy bars, greek yogurt and mango nectar. Justin begins this round by thanking God, and then decided to make a mango cheesecake with grape and berry sauce and a peanut candy bar crust. While making his cheesecake, he realized there is a chance that it may not cook in time. His back-up plan is to make a puff pastry filled with the berry mixture. However his cheesecake did cook, and he incorporated both components onto the plate, as well as a chocolate and greek yogurt ganache.
Veronica did a “happy dance” according to the judges as she decided to make a caramel peanut cupcake with grape mango sauces and a orange liqueur ice cream. As she started to make her ice cream, she said the Chopped ice cream machine is vastly different than her $3 ice cream machine she picked up at a garage sale. Her ice cream came out perfectly, and she did a second dance and yelled “YAS!”
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The judges loved both dishes. Justin said he was shocked that “they actually liked” his dish. As they judges deliberate, the finalists compete in an arm wrestling match as past participants have. However, they didn’t show who won, which left me kind of upset.
Justin gets chopped, but he said he was so proud of Veronica because she truly is a winner. Veronica did another dance, and now will be able to compete next week in the Chopped Teen finale.
Chopped Teen airs Tuesday on Food Network at 10 p.m. EST.
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