With pluck aplenty, four chefs charge into the competition. But will spaghetti in a can spell trouble for them in the first round? In the entree course, everybody raids the pantry for potatoes that they think will complement the tile fish from the basket. A very tough final basket, which includes cocktail franks, has the two final chefs puzzled. Can they come up with creative, delicious desserts?
Getting piggy with it for Halloween, the chefs have to cook with snouts in the first round. Then with fear in their Halloween-loving hearts, the competitors open up the second basket to find a dangerously hot ingredient and popping candy. The judges are in for a main course that is both frightening and delightfully surprising. The finalists pull out all the stops to make lollipops and cereal bars into devilishly delicious desserts.
In the appetizer round, three out of the four chefs make a similar choice with a tricky basket ingredient: Will the fourth chef's different approach work in his favor? Then for the entrees, the competitors attempt to make delicious Cornish hen dishes, knowing that a nicely cooked bird in the pan could be worth a trip to the final round. And in the dessert round, neither the judges nor the chefs have any idea what to expect on the plates after a wild fiasco with the ice cream machine.
The chefs must combine cocoa mix with Japanese peppers in challenging fish-course round. Then in the entree round — a big, big, oops! — one chef accidentally drops pork belly onto the floor! But it's what happens when the chef picks the meat up off the floor that shocks the judges most. Then can an ice-cream-truck treat go well with wheat grass? The two finalists attempt to make great, green desserts.
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?
Four returning losers — chefs who made big mistakes in their first competition — are dead set on not repeating history in the Chopped Kitchen. Having practiced and prepared to do better, the chefs open up the appetizer basket and fight to stay in it: but one pulpo and fava bean appetizer will not be good enough. Then, in the entree round, the chefs have to stay sharp to cook with cactus and manage their time well. And when the two finalists find a classic cookie and a tangy fruit in the dessert basket, make no mistake both of these former losers really want to win it!
