Original subtitles

Welcome to the "fire masters" arena...

...Where three chefs

will push their grilling talents to the limit

in three blazing culinary challenges.

-Oh! -Beautiful, beautiful.

Whoa!

Benoit: Two will be eliminated

and the last chef standing will go head-to-head

against one of our "fire masters" judges

for the chance to win $10,000.

Who will feel the burn?

Lampe: We're gonna poke at it.

We're gonna check every corner.

Benoit: Who will claw their way to victory?

-My fish is sticking. -Oh, my goodness.

This is a good one.

Benoit: He's not gonna make it.

This is "fire masters."

♪♪

three chefs think that they can tame the flame

and become the next "fire masters" champion.

Let's meet them.

First up, raimund heuser from vancouver, british columbia.

My reputation is, at the restaurant,

to go out of the box.

I'm a huge flavor guy.

I'm gonna be the next "fire master" champion

because I'm a pretty good chef.

I'm happy to be here. Looking forward.

Benoit: Next jacques kabuya from maple ridge, bc.

I am the chef and owner of salt n sear catering.

I actually have a lot of outdoor cooking experience.

When I went back to zambia,

there was a lot of barbecuing every day.

But who taught me how to originally start cooking

was my mother.

My mom passed away in 2016.

Today I'm cooking for my mom.

I am the next fire master.

Hello, chefs.

Benoit: And last, samantha medeiros

from toronto, ontario.

Samantha: I have everything to prove.

I'm 24 years old,

and I'm the sous-chef at la palma restaurant.

We actually have a wood-fire grill

and a wood-fire pizza oven.

I think in order to be the "fire masters" champion,

I really need to just stay focused,

taste everything that I make and showcase what I have to offer.

Hey, chefs.

Here's who you'll need to impress.

Chef dale mackay has worked with the likes

of gordon ramsay and daniel boulud.

Hi, chefs. Good to meet you.

Benoit: Nicole gomes is an award-winning chef

and food network personality.

Welcome to the arena, chefs.

Hello, chef. Thank you.

Benoit: Ray lampe, a.K.A. Dr. Bbq,

has published nine cookbooks

and is a member of the barbecue hall of fame.

Welcome, chefs. We're happy to have you here.

Benoit: Chefs, I hope you're fired up

because we're about to turn up the heat.

♪♪

in this first wildfire round, you'll create a signature dish

that showcases who you are on a plate.

You will each have your own top-of-the-line grill station

and use of our "fire masters" fire pit

as well as access to our fully stocked

and stacked pantry.

Your dish will be judged on presentation, creativity

and, of course, taste.

You've got 30 minutes on the clock,

and your time starts...Now.

Come on, chefs. Let's go.

Some steak.

Potatoes for my potato salad.

The big boy next.

For my signature dish, I am making grilled halibut

with a smoked potato salad.

I'm cutting some mint and some basil

that's gonna go into my puree.

I handle pressure, but I'm hustling.

Let's go. Time is ticking.

I need to get my steak in the smoker.

Pepper, pepper.

I am stressing, I'm sweating.

I need to make sure the smoke flavor comes through.

Chef jacques has the steaks.

He got them started right away.

Those can rest as long as he possibly can get.

Today my signature dish is grilled strip loin

with my mushroom sauce and a butternut squash puree.

Once they're pureed, I'm gonna add some salt,

pepper and some mascarpone.

Squash, absolutely love it, but at the same time,

is it really a veg that's gonna lend itself

really well to a barbecue arena?

30 minutes to get that, right? It's gonna be tight.

Yeah.

Jacques: Butternut squash takes a long time.

I need to get cooking.

♪♪

beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

My signature dish is a smoked and grilled pork butt steak

and sausage and a coffee barbecue sauce.

A little bit more salt. I am from germany.

Smoking pork is huge in germany. Like, people go crazy for that.

Okay, I'm gonna leave them in here for six, seven minutes.

22.

The piece of equipment that I am the most fired up to use

is the actual wood-fire pit.

I grab the leeks and I throw them right into the fire

because I really want to get that charred,

smoky flavor from them.

Next I grab guanciale

just to help make this potato salad kick.

I'm using guanciale because I want to get that smoky,

peppery flavor into my potato salad.

Chef sam, what is it about this dish

that's gonna impress the judges

and get you through to the next round?

I think it's about keeping the flavor simple,

knowing how to bring out the meatiness of the fish

and the acidity from the lemons

and the meatiness from the guanciale

that's going to just bring it all together.

Simple, delicious. Smells good already.

Looking forward to seeing your dish.

Thank you so much. Thank you. I want to make sure

that I get my best food on the plate for the judges.

Right now I'm putting some grainy mustard,

has a little bit of a kick, to my vinaigrette.

Chef jacques, tell me about

what you're preparing in this signature-dish round.

I'm just sautéing some portobello mushrooms,

shallots, garlic, deglaze some red wine.

Got some beef stock, some butter.

Smoking the beef and then I'm gonna finish it off

on the fire pit.

And why is this your signature dish?

This was actually the last dish

I actually made for my mom before she passed away.

I think the judges will like it as well.

Very nice. I'm sure she loved it.

Yeah, she did.

Thank you very much, chef jacques. Thank you.

So there's not a lot of time to find around here,

so I'm just praying and hoping that this sauce will reduce.

♪♪

raimund: It's time to take my pork butts out of the smoker

as I need to just start cooking them on the fire pit.

♪♪

chopping my onions is making the start of my barbecue sauce.

Ketchup, sherry vinegar, date molasses, brown sugar

and then on the very end, my coffee.

It's delicious.

15 minutes left, chefs. We're halfway through.

♪♪

samantha: With 15 minutes left,

it's time to focus on my protein.

Halibut is supposed to be a moist fish,

but it is quite meaty

so it takes time to cook, and if you take it too far,

it could end up feeling dry like canned tuna.

Mackay: Quite rare, though,

to ever leave skin on a halibut like that.

Gomes: Maybe she knows when she peels

it off the grill, the skin will come off.

Lampe: I just think I'd have put the skin down first.

Oh, this'll be interesting.

I might be learning some new tricks.

I am not tippy-toeing around.

I grab my steaks, run over to the fire pit

because I want to make sure they have awesome flavor.

The fire pit was pretty hot,

but I lower the rack to get more heat.

Listen up, chefs, only 10 minutes left. Let's go.

Mackay: Come on, chefs!

That's good, that's good. That's good.

The fire pit is looking hot.

I'm moving my pork butt over to barbecue.

I'm putting them on lower heat.

I really want a certain amount of caramelization of meat --

one level before burnt.

Samantha: Now that all of my components

for my potato salad is done,

I'm going back to check on my halibut.

I'm feeling quite upset. -Looks like it's sticking.

-Oh! -Oh, my goodness.

-My fish is sticking. -Oh, my goodness.

If I can't get these halibut off the grill in one piece,

they're just gonna flake and fall apart everywhere

and I definitely cannot serve those.

I'm a little bit worried for her, though.

Samantha: I am so frazzled.

-My fish is sticking. -Oh, my goodness.

Samantha: I definitely cannot serve those.

So I'm gonna try to get a couple more pieces on.

I'm worried, but I know I can cook halibut in six minutes,

so I'm just gonna go for it.

She's got time, but she can't mess around.

♪♪

I've really got to get going on my leek puree.

So I chop up the leeks now that they're cool

and I throw them in the blender with the avocados and the herbs.

Good, just a little bit more seasoning.

Jacques: I run back and I check on the squash.

It's not as caramelized as I would like it,

but time has gone fast.

I need to get this butternut squash puree on the plate.

♪♪

for me, it's important to have texture on the plate.

That's why I put my sausages on the plate

like little trees, tree trunks.

My rapini over the sausages,

then that gives them height as well.

I can lean my fennel on.

One minute left, chefs. Only 60 seconds remaining.

Let's go! -Come on!

-Come on, chefs! -Come on!

Samantha: Before I remove the halibut from the grill,

I make sure to take the skin off.

It's too tough. Behind you, hot.

And I just want to finish my fish simply.

Lemon for that final pop and salt.

Judges: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Time's up, chefs!

-Time's up. -That was close.

That was the closest I've ever seen anything.

[ sighs ]

good job, bro.

Looking at my dish, I think the element

that I'm the most worried about is the halibut.

It was a ballsy move to do it last minute.

Jacques: I spent so much time on that sauce,

but I forgot one plate.

Damn it.

Raimund: I'm most proud of what I put on the plate.

The steak was well executed.

I'm gonna make it to the next round.

Positive thinking gets you there.

♪♪

chef sam, tell us about your signature dish.

So today for you, judges, I made a grilled halibut

with a smoked potato salad.

Chef sam, you've made us a really nice composed dish.

I see color like I want to see

in the "fire masters" arena.

It's a little bit of char, a little bit of grill mark.

This is a good-looking plate.

Thank you, chef.

♪♪

fish was cooked beautifully.

I was happy with it, but the guanciale,

unfortunately, some of the pieces got really hard.

Chef sam, I love the dish right off the bat.

Love the acidity. I think that's something

that a lot of chefs lack in a dish.

Personally, I would love to get a little bit more smoke

out of the potato given the fact that, you know,

that was one of the major kind of preparations.

Chef sam, the halibut I noticed

while you were cooking it, you left the skin on.

I like to keep the skin on so it keeps that barrier

in case that part sticks on the grill,

I can remove it off. Smart.

Thank you very much, chef sam.

-Thank you. -Thank you, chef sam.

-Thank you. -Thank you very much.

Samantha: Is my dish enough?

I didn't come here just to go through round 1 and leave.

♪♪

chef jacques, tell us about your signature dish.

Jacques: I have a grilled strip loin

with butternut squash puree.

Chef jacques, right off the bat,

I would say that you kind of went a little bit past rustic

and kind of went a bit sloppy on the plating.

Yeah.

I did not get any mushrooms or sauce.

♪♪

lampe: Chef jacques, I love butternut squash.

It's a good addition on any plate.

But take a look at this.

Now, don't ever take the fat off a steak for me,

but you got to get it cooked.

If you do go forward, make sure everything gets cooked evenly

because we're gonna poke at it.

We're gonna check every corner.

Jacques: My mind is ticking.

I feel like I can definitely use

what I learned from this round of the mistakes

and better me for the next round.

♪♪

chef raimund, tell us about your signature dish.

Raimund: My signature dish for you today

is a smoked pork steak and a coffee barbecue sauce.

♪♪

chef raimund, unfortunately, the string was wrapped

around your pork chop.

That was a misstep.

You screw up your product, makes me feel very, very sad.

Just like a restaurant, you know,

if someone got that, they'd send the whole thing back.

Yeah. Right, judges, tell us how it tastes.

♪♪

over all, I'm really happy with the cook on the pork.

It's perfect for me, it's medium.

I think it should have pink.

I commend you on the actual pork butt steak.

It's not something I am overly comfortable with cooking.

Barbecue sauce, I think you should have

just maybe put it on the platter like that.

But I do -- I understand what you're doing here.

You know, it's a platter. Thank you.

Chef raimund, I always appreciate

when a chef sneaks an extra protein on the plate,

so I like you for that.

I think you've got a lot of really good elements.

Fennel and apple and sausage,

the three of those could have somehow came together better

and made a perfect side dish.

Raimund: My deconstruction, I will call it,

that's how I wanted to serve the dish.

-Thank you, chef. -Thank you very much.

-And thank you, chefs. -Thank you.

Let's give the judges a couple of minutes to discuss.

We'll call you back when we're ready.

♪♪

the wildfire round is complete.

And now that you've had a chance

to taste each of these chefs' dishes,

how did they do?

To me, chef sam's dish keeps popping in my head.

Her fish was cooked well.

I think it was, like, really well seasoned.

When she did make a mistake with the fish, she recovered.

The only problem I had with it was the guanciale.

I had some pieces that really were inedible.

Dale, let's take a look at what chef jacques

prepared in the signature-dish round.

Mackay: You know, chef jacques, I don't like the way

he handled that beef at all.

I really didn't get any flavor, any char,

and the seasoning was flat.

The butternut squash was nice. I got some mushrooms

and that was a nice accompaniment to the dish.

I didn't get any sauce.

There was so much more that it could've been and it wasn't.

Let's talk about chef raimund's dish.

That was a big plate of german guy food for sure.

I love a big pork steak.

That was a tough thing to cook in that short amount of time.

The cook on mine was perfect,

but the string was really off-putting

and that's when you have to allow

those few minutes at the end.

Could it have been a more composed plate?

Absolutely, but again,

I think he's showing his german, you know, heritage.

Alright, judges, have you decided

who will be going home in this first round?

-Absolutely. -Yes, we have.

Let's call the chefs back in.

♪♪

chefs, in this first wildfire round,

you were asked to create a signature dish

that reveals who you are on a plate.

So judges, whose signature dish was the best in this round?

The chef with the best dish is...

♪♪

...Chef sam.

Yes!

[ applause ]

I was super happy to have won best dish,

but that just means I have more work ahead of me.

Benoit: Congratulations, chef sam.

You will have an advantage going into the next round.

Thank you very much.

Judges, it's down to chef jacques and chef raimund.

Who will you be sending home?

The chef who will be going home is...

♪♪

judges, it's down to chef jacques

and his grilled strip loin with butternut squash puree

and chef raimund with his smoked pork butt

and coffee barbecue sauce.

So judges, tell us, who will you be sending home?

The chef who will be going home is...

...Chef jacques.

Chef jacques, I'm sorry to say

you've been eliminated from the competition.

It's time for you to leave the "fire masters" arena.

Yes.

Jacques: I had a lot of fun. I'm just happy that I made it.

I feel like my mom would be watching down.

No matter what the results are, she'd be proud.

♪♪

chefs, welcome to the crossfire round.

This round is all about choice.

There are two ingredients in this barrel,

and you will each use one of them in your next dish.

Chef sam, because you won the first round,

you have the advantage here

and you get to choose your ingredient first.

Want to know what's inside?

I would love to.

Chef sam, which will you choose?

Hot or cold?

Oh! Oh!

Mackay: That's a hard choice.

If you choose hot,

you'll be working with spicy italian sausage.

If you choose cold,

you'll be working with alaskan king crab legs.

Chef sam, which do you choose to cook with?

Hot all the way.

Benoit: Chef raimund, that means

you'll be working with alaskan king crab legs.

Chefs, there's 30 minutes back on the clock

and your time starts...

Now.

-Come on, chefs. -Alright!

-Let's go! -Woohoo!

Raimund: So these are just beautiful king crab legs.

I prepared something classic in the first round,

so this time, I want to assure I go out of the box.

I'm gonna blacken it.

I'm making smoked and blackened king crab legs

with a pineapple and tomatillo salsa.

This competition is gonna be great.

Judges, our crossfire round is under way.

Both of these ingredients are considered

a center-of-the-plate ingredient.

Lampe: So you've got to get a little creative

of how you're gonna implement them

without overshadowing them

because it's such a dynamic thing to begin with.

Samantha: For the crossfire round, I am making

spicy italian sausage with chickpeas.

Think I'm gonna poach an egg to put on top

and I'm also making a rouille.

A rouille is a traditional sauce that's typically made

with egg yolks, potatoes, roasted peppers

and a little bit of acid.

I have a winning dish.

Raimund: I am going to cut out the best stuff.

The shell of an alaskan king crab is so tender

that you literally just need to poke the tip of your knife in

and just slice down.

Delicacy.

You don't even need to crack.

Look at that. Oh, yum.

That's a huge king crab leg.

Mackay: And essentially it is cooked,

and so he's gonna have to really think

about how he's going to introduce some smoke,

some char, some flavor into there for sure.

Raimund: You can't give it too much harsh heat

because it will dry out and completely destroy the protein.

So I'm just gonna rub these a little bit in oil

so they absorb the smoke better.

♪♪

samantha: Right now, I'm just trying to get

a good smoky flavor on these.

Chef sam, you've got the sausages on the smoker, I see.

Yeah, I want to get the smoke

that I was missing in the first round

and make sure I correct my mistakes

from last round to this round.

I feel like, being a young chef,

I have a lot to prove,

not only to others but also to myself.

You've got quite the challenge ahead.

Starting to smell good over here.

I'm liking what I see. Thank you very much.

I have had my king crab legs

for seven to eight minutes on the smoker.

It's time to get them going, get the spice rub on.

So I'm having a little bit of onion powder.

Blackening spice, you should have onion,

garlic and paprika and cayenne.

Those are just simple rules.

I'm not sure he's gonna actually blacken it

with, like, a blazing heat.

Benoit: Big risk.

But big risk, if executed properly,

could be a big reward.

I am competitive. Out of the box, this is my zone.

This is how I cook.

Chefs, 15 minutes. We're halfway through.

I deglaze the pan of the chickpeas

with a little bit of chicken stock to add some moisture to it

and then I throw in my tuscan kale.

I think that the sausages have enough smoke on them

so I cut them open,

hoping that the smoky flavor has penetrated through to the meat

and I'm pulling them out.

Chef sam, quite an interesting way to go,

but at the same time,

where is the smoke and the char gonna be?

She's throwing all the smoke flavor in the garbage.

Yeah, agreed.

♪♪

listen up, chefs, only 10 minutes left.

Let's go! -Come on, guys!

Come on, chefs! Let's go!

You're gonna make it, you're gonna make it, you're gonna make it.

There's 10 minutes left, and I need to get moving.

This salsa is very simple.

All it takes is the pineapple,

tomatillo, lime juice, olive oil and salt.

It's tangy and it has a very, very nice crunch.

Trying to peel some very hot peppers.

The peppers are finally cool enough for me

to start peeling them.

They're still super hot,

but I figure I don't really have any more time to spare.

Mackay: Chef sam's got potato going in the rouille.

Hot straight out of the water.

Oh.

Samantha: It's pretty risky making a rouille

because you only really have one chance.

If you throw the hot potatoes and hot peppers

in with the eggs and it cooks the eggs,

you'll be left with scrambled eggs.

Raimund: The first thing I plate is my tomatoes.

Beside that, my dollop of cilantro and parsley emulsion.

I quick splash to make it look pretty.

Chefs, two minutes left!

I can't forget the king crab. I just cannot.

Two minutes left.

I haven't even put my eggs in the water to start poaching.

I know I need a plan "b."

fried egg is better than no egg.

Benoit: Chefs, one minute left, let's go!

-Come on, chefs! -Guys!

King crab legs, it's time for them.

I need to hurry.

In the first round, I almost didn't finish.

Dude, 47 seconds.

Benoit: He needs to go two at a time.

He's not gonna make it.

-I need to hurry. -30 seconds!

♪♪

the last seconds are about to go down.

The spice cannot be raw.

Benoit: 30 seconds!

If it's hot enough and he can just put a sear on it,

it might work.

Benoit: He needs to go two at a time.

He's not gonna make it.

Raimund: I need to hurry.

Samantha: I'm worried I don't have enough time.

I start with the rouille.

I grab the kale and the chickpeas

and I make sure I make a nice little bed for my sausage

and it's just crispy enough.

Judges: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Time's up, chefs!

♪♪

I feel relieved.

The colors are there, the flavor is there.

Here we go.

[ sighs ]

♪♪

chef sam, tell us what you prepared

using spicy italian sausage.

So, judges, today I prepared for you a spicy

italian sausage with chickpeas and kale.

On the bottom you have a roasted red pepper rouille

and a fried egg on top.

Chef sam, you know, right off the bat,

I love the look of the dish.

I think you are able to take quite a casual dish

and make it look quite refined, so I love that.

Thank you.

♪♪

chef sam, actually what you made here

was a really nice chickpea stew.

I was kind of hoping you were gonna grab

some tomatoes or some sauce.

I'm just kind of lacking

a little bit on the stew part of it.

Chef sam, overall, the dish looks really pretty.

I agree with chef dale, it needed more liquid.

The rouille, I was surprised.

I saw it going into the food professor,

the hot potato and an egg yolk.

So close to scrambled eggs.

It's really nice that you did that.

Lampe: Chef sam, you needed to somehow

get everything together better.

The egg might have done it,

but the egg was a little overcooked,

so that didn't happen.

Chef sam, thank you very much. Thank you very much.

-Thank you. -Thank you, chef.

Samantha: I was hoping that with every bite,

you would take your spoon and drag it along the plate,

but I completely understand that it might be a little bit hard

to get all that on one spoon.

♪♪

chef raimund, tell us about what you prepared using

king crab legs.

I prepared for the judges a smoked and blackened

king crab leg and a grilled pineapple and tomatillo salsa.

Chef raimund, this is quite a presentation.

I don't know that I'm ever gonna be using that technique,

but we asked you to step it up from your classic

platter presentation and you certainly did.

Thank you. Thank you very much, chef.

♪♪

chef raimund, have you ever put blackening seasoning

on a king crab before?

No. You said, "you have to do something with it,"

and I was like, "hey, why not go out of the box now?"

I really like what you did with the crab.

I don't know that I tasted any smoke.

It might be the overpowering by the blackening thing

that I didn't pick up on it, but I saw it in the smoker.

I know you gave it the best shot to do that.

I guess I wish you would've maybe charred that corn.

I really did think that the crab was the star of the dish.

I did really like the flavor of the cilantro and parsley.

I think it did lift the dish.

Mackay: Chef raimund, I love the herb puree

and I really did enjoy the spices on the crab.

Thank you very much, chef raimund.

-Thank you, chefs. -And thank you, chef sam.

-Thank you. -Thank you.

Let's give the judges a couple of minutes

to discuss what they've tasted.

We'll call you back when we're ready.

Thank you.

I took a chance with the creativity.

I went out of the box and I hope

I didn't give the judges any reason to send me home.

♪♪

judges, that was a very interesting crossfire round.

We had chef sam with spicy italian sausage

and chef raimund with those beautiful king crab legs.

How did these chefs do?

As far as featuring the item,

I think chef raimund did a better job.

I would kind of disagree on that

in the sense that I think chef sam,

I felt like that was more of a sausage dish

and chef raimund's crab was a crab dish.

But chef sam, she didn't do the greatest job of executing

and chef raimund, real big creativity.

That's definitely a dish he made up today.

It seems that creativity goes

to chef raimund. What about presentation?

Which of the two dishes

was more attractive on the plate?

From my standpoint, walking up to chef sam's dish

was much more appealing to me.

I agree, but chef raimund, his flavor seemed to be sharper.

That being said, you know, chef raimund, you know,

did you really taste

the "fire master" arena in there?

I think I'm gonna go with chef sam on the flavor.

Chef sam, she smoked the sausage

and peeled all the smoke off of it.

I'm going for the blackened king crab for sure.

Judges, have you made your decision?

Yes, yes, we have. Sure have.

Let's call the chefs back in.

♪♪

samantha: I'm very proud of my dish,

and I know that the hot italian sausage

is that star on that plate.

I think what the judges liked is that

the king crab was my star on the plate.

I will go to the final.

Chefs, in this crossfire round,

you were asked to work with either spicy italian sausage

or king crab legs.

The winner of this round will

move on to the final round

to face off against one of our judges.

Judges, please tell us who will be moving on to the final round.

The chef who will be moving to the final round is...

♪♪

...Chef raimund.

Whoo!

♪♪

I'm feeling amazing.

I am so happy I'm given the chance

to go into the final round.

Congratulations, chef raimund.

You've won yourself a portable grill

and you'll be moving on to the final round.

Thank you, chefs.

Chef sam, you cooked your heart out.

I'm sorry to say you've been eliminated from the competition

and it's time to leave the "fire masters" arena.

-Thank you, judges. -Good job.

Samantha: I had a lot of fun today, but I regret not thinking

through my final dish and I learned a lot.

♪♪

chef raimund, in the first two rounds,

you showed the judges you can really take the heat,

but now it's time for the ultimate test.

In this final round, you'll be facing off

against one of our "fire masters" judges

and the judge you will be facing off against is...

♪♪

...Chef dale mackay.

Ah, yeah!

Go get them, man.

Good luck, chef.

Raimund: Chef dale, I know he has many, many competitions

under his belt.

He's going to make me work very, very hard.

Mackay: Chef rai's everything you really want in a chef,

and what I love about him is his personality and his attitude.

I mean, he loves to cook.

Chef dale, chef raimund,

you're about to face off in the feast of fire.

♪♪

chefs, in this final feast of fire round,

you must create a family-style feast

inspired by today's theme...

...Big in japan.

Ooh!

Jackpot. I love japanese food.

I love sushi and everything that comes with it.

Alright.

Benoit: Head to the land of the rising sun for octopus,

mushrooms, shishito peppers, ramen, beef and tuna.

Give us your take on a japanese barbecue.

The stakes have never been higher,

so we're giving you each a sous-chef

to help you create your japanese-inspired feast.

Also in this round, no one will be here to watch you cook

as these feasts will be tasted blind.

The judges and I will leave the "fire masters" arena,

but when we return,

I'll be taking dale's seat at the judges' table.

Chefs, are you ready?

Yes, ready. Let's do it.

Chefs, there's 45 minutes on the clock

and your time starts...Now.

♪♪

nice to meet you, chef.

This is gonna be good.

-Oh, it's full on. -It's gonna be an awesome one.

Yeah.

We'll go beef and eggplant.

I want to run to the barrel right away.

Beef is a huge thing in japan.

I want that ribeye, and it's a beautiful piece of beef.

Did you get shishitos already? -Grabbing them right now.

And then I see probably one of my favorite fish ever --

a beautiful side of hamachi.

You got eggs? -I got eggs, yeah.

Mackay: For tonight's feast of fire,

my main course is char-broiled ribeye

with sweet and sour miso eggplant.

Smoked and charred hamachi with shishito peppers

and my other side is smoked mushroom,

egg and soy hollandaise.

Then for dessert I'm doing japanese plum and meringue.

It's a good day.

With kombu on it while I smoke it.

Kombu is like a seaweedy kind of flavor.

I'm gonna let that smoke for maybe 10 minutes

and then get it right over to the char grill.

Beef.

We have the miso.

Brown sugar you have. Next we have wasabi.

We're grabbing half of the japanese grocery store.

Oh, yes. We have the mushrooms.

Saba. Shiso.

Careful with the tuna. I love ahi tuna.

Shishito peppers. Thank you.

Sake, soy sauce, all those japanese goodies.

Perfect.

For my main, I make smoked ahi tuna

with furikake seasoning and eggplant.

For my first side, grilled shishito peppers

with bonito flakes.

For my second side, smoked mackerel and shiso leaves.

Pepper plants in half. Grill them.

For my dessert, sake grilled plums,

mochi and matcha cream.

That menu could go big in japan.

Chef, I'm going on the fire with this.

Yes, yes, do it. Do your thing. Fire, yeah.

Raimund: Okay. I work around you, you continue.

I work around you, okay?

So we are most efficient.

I have this beautiful piece of ahi tuna

and I take the best center piece out of it.

I just put it in a bowl and dress with canola oil.

I'm going to smoke it this time for 10 to 12 minutes.

I'm gonna put it like that.

Last round, the smoke wasn't enough.

This time the smoke really needs to come really big.

♪♪

mackay: The meringue is almost done. I taste it.

Yeah, let's go a bit stiffer.

I want to make it as stiff as possible

so we can take a torch and flame it.

That tastes good, though. Good.

Do you want to try to get some on a tray?

I'm gonna try to do some kind of crispy meringue as well.

Meringue crisps are going on the left side.

30 minutes! 30 minutes left!

Shishitos, are we good? Shishitos, behind.

I want to get a really nice blister on them.

Here's the sauce for the hamachi.

Okay.

Actually the matcha,

take a little bowl, put some powder in there,

take some water and first stir it up, please.

To make a good dessert, you need time.

You really want to taste the matcha.

Not too overpowering, but you really want to taste it.

You want to taste it and you go like,

"yes, this is matcha."

this is rice cooking, some mochi.

Mochi is a japanese rice ball.

It's gonna go so well with the plums and the matcha cream.

Time for the plums to get soaked.

How are they doing?

-Yeah. -Yeah.

Suddenly, I see the plums and aubergine is burnt.

Black.

If I want to win the feast of fire,

I have to start over.

Raimund: Time for the plums.

I forgot about the plums and the aubergine.

Yeah, my plums and eggplant were burnt.

Find a solution.

Eggplant went a little dark

so we are going to fix it quickly.

I am going to just cut it off.

And then do me a favor,

those plums, put them on top of here.

-Yeah. -Yeah.

So that doesn't happen a second time.

Man: We're gonna torch these right on the plate, chef?

Yeah. Okay.

Get the hamachi off the smoker.

Luckily the infrared grill is super, super hot

so I can give it a really quick sear on both sides.

The infrared is really, really good.

It's perfect for this.

10 minutes left, 10 minutes!

We have the tuna smoked right here.

Brush it in a little bit of the miso glaze.

Woman: Yeah.

So I take my furikake seasoning, which is basically a nori dust

and totally surround my ahi tuna with it.

Quickly give it a sear in the pan

and I love to eat this dish myself.

This is mackerel or in japanese called saba.

The bones are very hard in mackerel,

so it takes a lot of effort to get them out.

If I have bones in the fish,

I will go home without the money.

Why are there so many? I hate it.

I take my mackerel and put it in the smoker.

♪♪

do you want to get the eggs going?

Yeah, absolutely.

Mackay: Very happy with the cook on the steak.

I'm just glazing it in the kind of miso

sweet and sour glaze I made for the eggplants.

My hamachi fish is cooked beautifully.

I've got some shishito peppers. I'm gonna nappe the sauce.

Tastes delicious, I'm pretty happy with it.

Raimund: We have five minutes left.

Plums in first and then place all the rice on top.

It's time to plate my main course.

The tuna is going onto my main course plate.

Make it a little bit shiny.

Beside the aubergine with my miso glaze.

I have to top it with my ramen noodles and with the dashi.

Open the mirin, open the mirin.

Open the bonito flakes. Mm-hmm. Here.

Go run and grab the salmon caviar.

Salmon caviar, middle fridge, go.

20 seconds!

Mackay and raimund: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6,

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

♪♪

mackay: At the end of the day, it's about food.

I'm quite happy with it.

I think there's quite a bit of diversity from dish to dish.

Raimund: Very, very happy,

and I'm going to be the next "fire master" champion.

♪♪

alright, judges, we are here with our feast of fire,

big in japan.

The first chef has prepared for us

smoked ahi tuna with eggplant,

grilled shishito peppers with bonito flakes,

smoked mackerel with shiso leaf

and then we're going to finish off

with sake grilled plums

with a bit of mochi and matcha cream.

Ooh! Lampe: Wow!

Let's dig in. Okay.

Oh, this is beautiful.

This smells amazing. Mm-hmm.

♪♪

the tuna with the eggplant is a stellar dish.

I think it's interesting that this chef smoked the tuna.

Everything that was smoked was done perfectly.

Mm, it's almost like I felt the tuna was a steak

because it was so nice and meaty.

Yeah. Yeah.

Furikake on the outside is really neat.

It feels authentic.

The eggplant is clearly sweet,

which I didn't expect, but it works.

Overall that's a really nice dish.

Yeah, I agree.

How do you feel about the mackerel and noodles?

There needs to be a lot more flavor.

Right now, it's a little bit one note for me.

The noodles, yeah, there's not much going on there.

I really get the smoke on that shishito pepper.

It's probably from those bonito flakes.

It's like a lot of bonito flakes, isn't it?

It is so strong.

I feel like I smoked a tuna cigar.

To be honest, I really liked it.

I'm ready to check out this dessert.

Oh, it looks interesting.

This chef has prepared

grilled sake plums with mochi.

It's a rice cake essentially.

Oh, I know, it's super enticing.

You know, I really want to love this dish.

I think the balance of how much cream there is

compared to the plum and the sticky rice is a bit off.

I agree, I think there should be more plum, less cream.

I keep eating it, that's for sure.

This first chef certainly brought the taste of japan

to our table this evening,

and I'm really looking forward to seeing

what the second chef has prepared.

Yeah, let's do it. I'm ready.

♪♪

alright, judges, our second feast is here

and this looks absolutely fantastic.

This second chef has prepared char-broiled ribeye

with sweet and sour miso eggplant.

Smoked and charred hamachi fish with shishito peppers,

smoked mushroom and egg with soy hollandaise

and we'll finish off with plum and meringue.

Ah, yum. Beautiful.

♪♪

I really love the flavor of this ribeye, delicious.

Yes. I love the glaze

that this chef put over the top.

And I get the smoke on the grill in that.

It's got a nice flavor to it.

Cooked beautifully but could use a little more char.

Nice char on the hamachi.

It's almost done in a tataki style

with the sear so light on the outside.

They didn't slice it thin like a tataki.

Mm. Do you get the smoke off the mushrooms?

I do. Mm-hmm.

I love the use of all the asian mushrooms.

Yeah, and they're cooked real nice.

Lots of texture left.

And egg, like, it's so unctuous,

but, for me, a little lacking on seasoning.

I expected, like, a punch of soy.

I know we had plums in our first dessert

and this chef has prepared plums with meringue,

but it's gorgeous.

I can't wait to get in there.

Oh, wow, it looks amazing.

Wow. This is beautiful. I'm blown away.

Me too.

Cooked meringues made on a grill or smoker.

And the plums are cooked perfectly.

They're grilled.

They still have a nice texture to them.

They're not too soft or too hard.

It's interesting, it's sweeter

than I would ever expect from a japanese dessert.

This is a true example to me of letting the ingredients shine.

Another incredible japanese-inspired feast.

This is gonna be a tough one to call.

Let's take a look at these main dishes.

Our first chef prepared that seared tuna

with the furikake, and the second chef --

roasted ribeye with the miso eggplant.

Oh, it's so hard. They were both so good.

I really liked the tuna dish.

The texture and the meatiness of that tuna.

I think I'd have to go with the ribeye.

I've never eaten anything like that.

I thought it was really good.

When I think about which one I would order again,

I'm kind of leaning towards the steak with ray.

Let's take a look at our side dishes.

The first chef, the mackerel with the cold noodles

and the shiso leaf, it was a miss for me.

Those leaves were nice and all,

but it needed more on that.

The second chef --

the hamachi fish was cooked perfectly.

Yeah, for me, the hamachi was the highlight.

I think that was a perfect application

for the "fire masters" arena.

I keep thinking back to the first chef's shishito dish.

The perfect bar snack and I really liked it.

You know, to me, I'm not that familiar

with bonito flakes, so I kind of liked that dish.

That's true.

What did you think about the second chef's mushrooms?

The egg was cooked nicely, but at the end of the day,

it was just some grilled mushrooms,

so that probably wasn't my favorite.

Let's take a look at these two desserts --

battle of the plums.

The first chef's plum dish, too much matcha cream.

The second chef's plum dish, want more plums,

want more plums.

I'm with that second one.

I can still taste it now.

So, judges, stiff competition in this round.

However, there can only be one winner

in the "fire masters" arena,

and I think we've made our decision.

I think we have. Absolutely.

Let's call the chefs back in.

♪♪

mackay: I walk in with chef rai.

I didn't really see what he did and he's a very capable chef.

I'm not totally certain I'm gonna win this.

Raimund: We had some troubles in this cook,

but we recovered quickly.

I'm gonna win those $10,000.

I want to believe.

I want to put that positive energy out there.

[ sighs ]

chefs, tonight you brought us the flavors of japan.

They were big, bold, and exquisitely balanced.

Thank you very much.

As you know, these feasts were tasted blind.

In the first feast, we loved the smoked ahi tuna.

It was cooked to perfection.

In the second feast, we loved the cook on the steak.

The glaze added a sweet richness that really elevated the dish.

Chefs, we have made our decision.

Both of your japanese-inspired feasts

were spectacular,

but there can only be one winner.

Tonight's winning feast is...

♪♪

...The second feast -- char-grilled ribeye

and the plum meringue dessert.

Good job, man. Thank you.

I was worried. Thank you very much.

Congratulations, chef dale.

You are tonight's "fire masters" champion,

and you have successfully defended your title.

Well done.

Thanks again, man, honestly.

Thank you. Killer job.

It feels great to win, obviously.

Chef rai is an awesome chef, so, yeah, it's a good day.

Benoit: And congratulations, chef raimund,

for an outstanding day in the "fire masters" arena.

You cooked your heart out, and you should be proud.

I am. Thank you.

My smiling speaks for itself.

I had a lot of fun. I enjoyed myself very much.

I made myself very, very proud.

Thank you again, chef.

It was a pleasure to have you here today.

Thank you so much.

♪♪