 OK, here we go.
And mark.
 Marking.
Mark it.
 Watch your fingers.
 And starting.
3, 2, 1.
 Talking about food
is fine, but cooking
is what makes the judges tick.
So we're more than happy to give
them the stoves after hours.
[clock ticking]
- What is this?
- Whoa.
What is this?
What is this, "Chopped?"
- Here we are.
- Over here, Geoffrey.
- Sorry.
I didn't take my medication.
 Oh, man.
We're in for it now.
You three, really?
Scott.
Marc.
Geoffrey.
Are you guys ready to wing it?
- Let's do it.
 Let's go.
 Well, that's good to
hear because we are making
the entree basket
from our very special
whiskey and wings competition.
So we have turkey wings,
a caddy of hot sauces,
a platter of carrots, celery,
and blue cheese dressing,
and a quinoa whiskey.
What do you think?
 I would say, OK, there's
some meat on there.
You can get around to it.
But great for flavoring things.
Great for a soup.
 Absolutely.
 I think you need
to release the fat
there because the
turkey fat is where
all the flavor is, my man.
 Well, the hot sauce.
By the way, we're
not using all of it.
You just pick which hot sauce
you're going to go with.
 I think one of the contestants
actually used all of them.
 He did.
 Which was a huge
mistake as it turned out.
- Really?
- Yeah.
 How about we start
cooking these things,
and then we can talk
about it afterwards?
 But first, we have a drink.
 Oh.
 The flight of whiskies.
 Look, they're numbered.
Ted, do number 1.
 Our fearless leader.
 Gentlemen.
- Cheers.
- Cheers.
 Let's wing it.
 To all of you guys watching.
 Yes.
Thank you for watching.
 Thanks for watching.
 Thanks for being with us.
 Cheers.
 Oh.
 Whoa, whoa.
 Why am I the only one
that kicked it all down?
 Did that put
hair on your chest?
 Too late.
Too late for that.
 All right, 30 minutes to drink
as much whiskey as possible
and perhaps make some
dishes while you're at it.
 Nice.
 Sound good?
You guys ready?
 Yeah.
 At your stations.
Clock starts now.
- OK.
 Giddy up.
 All righty.
What do I need?
 Cooking is so much work.
Hi.
How are you?
I'm making a turkey wing chili.
How genius is that?
Just watch.
Now, this is really chopped.
 Obviously, Geoffrey
needs a lot of attention.
He's making a lot of noise.
Oh, no!
The clever went
through the board.
 That is a good cleaver.
 Murphy, that's coming
out of your check.
 So now you owe.
 So this is what
I'm going to do.
I'm going to make turkey soup
with blue cheese dumplings.
So inside this pan, I
have ginger, bacon, thyme,
celery, onions, and carrots.
I'm going to add a
little bit of garlic.
And then I'm going to start
roasting the turkey wings
a little bit.
Take some of the meat
off, put it inside.
I have a touch of veal demi.
I have chicken stock.
It's going to be a deep, rich,
beautiful broth with some
potatoes and mushrooms as well.
Whiskey's for me.
Self-consumption.
 Boom.
 Whoa, Marc must be cooking.
Marc's in the kitchen.
 I'm making a little
pasta with whiskey sauce.
With my turkey wings,
what I'm doing here
is I'm making a
little bit of a broth.
I'm going to let
those cook a bit.
I'm making a tomato sauce.
Cooking down lightly.
A little deglaze on
the whiskey here.
And I'm going to
combine the two.
I'm going to strain
that liquid into there.
It's going to be
a pasta whiskey.
Pasta whiskey.
That's exactly what
I'm calling it.
 OK, judges, believe it or not,
20 minutes left on the clock.
 Ted, come over here.
I'm using your secret.
Look at this.
What am I doing?
 Oh my gosh.
So Geoffrey's toasting
chilies in a hot skillet
along with roasting tomato.
 What's the next step?
 You're going to
rehydrate them.
 And then what?
 And put them in the
blender and grind them up.
And really, what you're making
is a very fresh chili powder.
 That's exactly what
I'm making right now.
 A toasted chili powder.
Judges, 15 minutes on the clock.
 You know what I almost forgot?
I almost forgot the hot sauce.
A little hot sauce in there.
 Oh, you're just showing off
now, making your own pasta,
huh?
Let's hope it tastes
good, or else it's going
to be embarrassing for you.
 Is this the wing and
a prayer dish, or what?
 This is a wing and a prayer.
Exactly.
I love that.
Well done, Marc.
 I got my hot sauce in there.
Now it's just going to cook.
I'm going to get some love.
 Boom.
 Flavors here are
developing so nicely.
You want to take a
look inside this pot?
Come on over here?
Look at the way--
the mushroom sauce
that I had in there
that's reducing.
Bolstering it up with
regular mushrooms.
Taste that.
Taste that sauce.
Look at that.
Look at that.
Needs a little more salt.
 Wow, that's good.
Ted, I want you to
taste something.
Blue cheese pico de gallo.
 Wow.
Delicious.
I like the dill.
So good.
Hey, Scott.
So how you doing
with your wings?
 Awesome.
 Do you need anymore wings?
 If you have some, I need some.
 Scott needs more wings.
Gentlemen.
 Whoa.
What the--
 I'm going to make
myself more comfortable.
Five minutes on
the clock, chefs.
 12?
 No, five.
 OK.
Spice rub.
Salt, pepper, smoked paprika.
I'm making little
taco strips to shred.
I'm going to toss them
in my spice mixture
and I'm going to put
them on top of my turkey
wing smoked chicken chili.
 We'll use this dish.
 Judges, you're on
your final minute.
 Just as you have to add
sugar, you need to balance
it with maybe a little acid.
So a touch of balsamic.
 Marc, why do you
have so many plates.
Are you feeding an
army over there?
 You never know, man.
I'm going to make
sure everybody happy.
Everybody's hungry.
It's a big crew, you know?
 Good point.
 All right, guys.
This is it.
10 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 1.
Time's up.
 Boom.
[applause]
 That looks gorgeous.
That looks beautiful.
Can I have one of them?
Mm, crunchy goodness.
All righty, bring
that over here.
 All right, ladies.
 So these look great.
You guys had to work with turkey
wings, a caddy of hot sauces,
a platter of carrots, celery,
and blue cheese dressing,
and a quinoa whiskey.
Geoffrey, what have you made?
 So I made for you
today a turkey wing chili
with a blue cheese pico
de gallo and some tortilla
strips on top that I salted
with pepper and smoked paprika.
 Thank you, chef.
- Awesome.
- Wait.
There's dill in here.
 There's dill in there, yes.
 Mm.
 Well done.
 Thank you.
 So as improbable
as it sounds to make
a blue cheese pico de gallo, I
think that's my favorite part.
 Well, thank you.
 My favorite part about this
dish is the smoky texture.
 Which chili sauce did you use?
 I used the green
and I used the peach.
 The freshness
and the brightness
of that pico de gallo, it
takes the edges off the chili.
Say whatever you want
about Geoffrey Zakarian--
and we do-- that guy can cook.
He can cook.
 Thank you, chef.
 All right, Marc.
What'd you make?
 Well, I made a
little pasta whiskey.
I deglazed--
 Really?
 --multiple times.
You might have noticed.
I got the wings cooking.
Then, I put fresh
mushrooms in there.
And carrots and the
celery and the Parmesan.
That was it.
I really kept it simple.
Didn't want to make
it too complicated.
 This reminds me
of penne a la vodka.
Old-fashioned.
I love the vodka taste.
 I get a caramel note that I
think may be from the whiskey.
 The caramel would
be the decided flavor
that the whiskey would come
from because the alcohol
is going to be cooked out.
 I used a lot of whiskey.
I don't know if you noticed.
I might have drunk
a little bit, too.
 You practically
blew up the kitchen.
 I love the balance.
But more importantly, I really
love the textures inside here.
You get the texture of the
mushrooms with the tomatoes,
with the carrots.
Well done, chef.
 This is like a
hunter dish, you know?
The pepper, the
onion, the mushroom.
What I like is the mushroom
really makes it woodsy.
Delicious job.
Great job.
- Bravissimo.
- Well done, chef.
Well done.
 Gratsi.
Gratsi [inaudible].
 All right, Scott.
What's this?
 So I made soup.
I took the blue cheese
and I added ricotta to it.
And I made some
dumplings as well.
 How is the great
nation of Italy
going to feel about
you putting blue cheese
dressing into a dumpling?
 What's the little
burnt charred bits?
It's really amazing.
 There's no charred
bits in there.
That's mushroom.
 Really good.
 Is there something
grilled or smoky?
 Yeah.
So I took bacon to
celery and carrots.
I added onions, olive oil,
beef and chicken broth.
I roasted a bunch
of the turkey wings.
I wanted to put a little
bit more meat in there,
but I don't think
it really needs it.
 No.
 I actually like the bites
better without the meat.
The broth is so deep.
And it's interesting, you
developed flavors in this.
You would think this broth
had been cooking for hours.
 Portobello mushrooms
are a distinct way
of getting a depth of flavor.
This is a great dish.
 Well, you certainly have
shown you know your way
around whiskey and wings.
So delicious.
Thank you, my friends.
Just so the judges
know you love them,
check out more of their
after hours rounds
at foodnetwork.com/chopped.
