Chopped: Volume 1

The chefs get a special tool in the basket to help bust open a challenging ingredient: a giant jawbreaker. Then, a trendy pastry meets a North African stew in the second basket. Rosemary and ginger must be combined into a dessert.

With a $40,000 scholarship on the line, four teen competitors open up the first basket and find a sweet drink and a juicy fruit. Then in the entree round, the teen chefs find super sophisticated ingredients.

Time to shake things up in a big, yet small way as the chefs find out that this competition has a tapas theme. In the first round, the baskets contain some beautiful Spanish ingredients, including gazpacho.

Chefs make use of ingredients that are usually thrown out. The first basket includes juicer pulp and tea bags. Then in the second round, competitors get creative with a bit of salad dressing and some paltry scraps of poultry.

Firefighters compete and get the meal started with some hearty meat-and-cheese appetizers. Will the judges enjoy them? Then in the entree round, some big errors with a non-basket-ingredient gets one of the judges upset.

When the clock starts ticking down, the chefs must rush to make appetizers with pickled pigs' feet and sweet potato chips. And one chef doesn't realize they've made a potentially costly mistake until it's too late.

In the first round, one of the competitors takes a loose interpretation of the theme. Then some unusual toppings must be on the entree pizzas. The chefs must make pizza for dessert, with candied mushrooms and salted caramel sauce.

Chefs learn that they will be making hamburgers for every round, starting with veal burgers for appetizers. Then, in the entree round, a little quail egg causes a big headache. And who has ever heard of a dessert burger?

With chocolate in the baskets, the chefs must make this perennial favorite work in the first two savory courses. Then the remaining two competitors must combine two chocolate ingredients with cherries and German layer cake.

In the first one, they find Mangalista bacon and apple chips. Then, the judges watch to see if the chefs can make dried cherries work with their pork entrees. French toast and bacon are ingredients to be made into dessert.

All three rounds are devoted to beer. Chefs must make sausages work with toasted lager and a tasty tripel ale is in the basket for the entree round. The iconic beer and pretzels must be made into dessert.

Chefs have two starchy ingredients, Chinese dumplings and Middle Eastern noodles, in the first round. Then, chefs go in different directions with rack of lamb. Will one chef recover after burning two of the mystery ingredients?

Chefs battle for the lead in the first round, as they try to figure out what to do with so-called 100-year-old eggs. Then, mango pudding must make its way into the chefs' main course dishes.