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Hecho en the Chopped Kitchen
Season 13, Episode 16
HetCK Chefs
Air date February 7, 2013
Winner Royden Ellamar
Episode Guide
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Belly Up
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Make No Mistake

The chefs open the appetizer basket and find exciting ingredients from Mexico, including pigs' feet and tres leches cake. Then the chefs are presented with a second basket of surprises from South of the Border, including goat chops. And one chef sees the chance of a carefree round literally go up in flames when a pan gets much too hot. Nothing is yucky about yucca and coconuts. But when one of the finalists runs into all sorts of trouble getting through the round, will the judges like the end results?

Contestants[]

  • Saul Ortiz-Cruz, Executive Chef, Tacos & Tequila at the Luxor, Las Vegas, NV
  • Mia Castro, Chef de partie, Las Vegas, NV
  • Mike Minor, Executive Chef, Border Grill at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, NV
  • Royden Ellamar, Executive Chef, Sensi at the Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV

Judges[]

Meal[]

Appetizer[]

Ingredients: Pig's Feet in a Jar, Tres Leches Cake, Jicama, Culantro

Saul presented Pickled Pigs Feet Tostada w/ Tres Leches Chipotle Aioli. The aioli is a very smart usage for the Tres Leches, and the tostada format works. The green apple competes a bit with the jicama, and Chris and Marc got bones. The presentation is a bit clunky.

Mia made Arugula Salad w/ Tres Leches Crumble & Crispy Pigs Feet. Marc particularly loves the crispy pig foot, and the crumble is good. The presentation is very sloppy. Chris didn't get the culantro.

Mike made Crispy Pigs Feet Tres Leches with Jicama Salad. The presentation is absolutely beautiful. The judges love the pigs feet, and the salad is good. Not repurposing the Tres Leches doesn't work.

Royden made Tres Leches & Crispy Pigs Feet Cake w/ Jicama Slaw. The cake is very creative and works like a crab cake. The outside is crispy and the interior is nice and creamy with a good amount of pigs feet in every bite. The only complaint is that the cake is too sweet. Marc considers the dish the most successful appetizer.

Although Chef Mike did a great job with his pigs feet, the judges decide that simply putting the Tres Leches cake on the plate doesn't warrant moving forward in this competition.

Entrée[]

Ingredients: Goat Chops, Churros, Tequila, Huitlacoche

Dessert[]

Ingredients: Whole Coconut, Pepitas, Piloncillo, Yucca

Gallery[]

Notes[]

  • All four chefs are from Las Vegas, NV.
  • Both Mike and Saul would be future winners on Cutthroat Kitchen.
  • Mia would later appear on Season 18 of 'Hell's Kitchen'
Chopped Season 13
<< Season 12Season 14 >>
#01 Stacking Up#10 For Sake's Sake
#02 A Bunny Thing Happened#11 Chopping in a Winter Wonderland
#03 Class Acts, Two#12 Bird in the Pan
#04 No Kidding!#13 Thirsty for Victory
#05 Charge!#14 Trout Bout
#06 A Very Piggy Halloween#15 Belly Up
#07 Pigging Out!#16 Hecho en the Chopped Kitchen
#08 Unsung Heroes#17 Make No Mistake
#09 Happy Turkey Gizzards Day!#18 Untrained, Undaunted
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