After four preliminary episodes, the Chopped All Stars Finale was aired. As you know from Angela’s article, Chef Marcus Samuelsson was the overall winner. He won $50,000 for his charity of choice, the Careers through Culinary Arts Program, which is a charity that teaches disadvantaged teenagers to cook. This article will follow him through the episode and show how he won.
Chef Marcus Samuelsson was born Kassahun Tsegie in Ethiopia. His mother died from tuberculosis when he was three years old and a family in Sweden adopted him and his sister. Marcus Samuelsson cooks with a classically simple Scandinavian style but brings his international heritage into his flavors.
The judges for the Finale were Amanda Freitag, Chris Santos, and Anne Burrell. The contestants were Michael Symon, Penny Davidi, Jeffrey Saad, and Marcus Samuelsson.
Appetizer Round
The secret ingredients for this round were galia melon, Chinese okra, pistachios, and beef heart. The Chinese okra is a very fibrous vegetable and is commonly dried and used as loofahs. Chef Michael Symon forgot to plate his okra and was eliminated for this mistake.
Entrée Round
The secret ingredients for this round were rainbow chard, bonito, hard cider, and couscous. Marcus brought a new technique to the kitchen by smoking his chard. Penny barely made it through the last round and was finally chopped here. She was not aware that bonito fish skin should never be served, as it is too thick to eat. Penny also had issues by having a heavy hand with saffron.
Penny Davidi was trying to change the public opinion of her. Unfortunately she just reinforced the idea that she is egotistic. Her leaving remark was that the judges were wrong in their decision because she is an expert in spices.
Dessert Round
The secret ingredients for this round were panforte, pancetta, pink currants, and crème fraîche. Jeffrey Saad made the massive mistake of using a premade sauce on his dessert. It was Chopped All Stars and everything should have been made by hand. Jeffrey had problems through the whole competition with his presentation. While his flavors were excellent, it was Marcus Samuelsson who edged ahead.
Marcus Samuelsson was crowned the Chopped All Stars Champion. He really deserved it by showing consistent effort through the whole competition. Congratulations Chef Marcus Samuelsson!
What do you think of Penny Davidi’s attitude in this episode?
