Recap: OKC chef Kevin Lee went on Food Network's 'Bobby's Triple Threat.' Here's how he did

Oklahoma City's chef Kevin Lee made his return to the Food Network Tuesday on an episode "Bobby's Triple Threat," where he was narrowly defeated after holding a commanding lead for most of the show.

Lee is no stranger to time in the Food Network spotlight, having won against Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli on her show "Alex vs. America," as well as having competed on "Beat Bobby Flay," " Guy's Grocery Games " and " Superchef Grudge Match ." Lee also competed on Season 5 of "Tournament of Champions," where he made it to the quarterfinals before being knocked out of the competition.

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Lee went toe to toe with Flay's titans — Michael Voltaggio, Tiffany Derry and Brooke Williamson — looking to defeat all three for a $25,000 prize. Williamson's round against Lee was touted as something of a rematch after Lee knocked her out of "Tournament of Champions" in the first round.

The show format is simple: For the first two rounds, Flay chooses two ingredients and the challenger picks the titan they'll compete against. Dishes can be worth up to 10 points. In the final round, the challenger chooses two ingredients to face off against the final titan with, creating a dish worth up to 20 points.

A single judge scores all three rounds in blind tastings.

The judge for Lee's episode of "Triple Threat" was Lucinda Scala Quinn, a renowned cookbook author and senior vice president and editorial director of food at Martha Stewart Omnimedia.

Round 1: Kevin Lee vs. Tiffany Derry

Flay chose scallops and fresh ginger as the two ingredients for Round 1, which Lee called "a gift" before choosing to compete against Derry in the first round.

The pair then had 45 minutes to create two dishes using the ingredients.

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Derry offered up a scallop crudo with sour orange, peanuts and ginger and a pan-seared scallop with maitake mushrooms and ginger sauce. Lee served a pan-seared scallop with ginger uni butter and ginger gremolata and a scallop crudo with a ginger soy sauce.

Scala Quinn gave Lee a score of 8 points and Derry a score of 5 points.

Round 2: Kevin Lee vs. Michael Voltaggio

Flay chose cognac and beef tenderloin as the two ingredients for Round 2, and Lee chose to compete against Voltaggio, leaving his rematch with Williamson for the final round.

"Brooke is someone I have to be very careful with," Lee said. "It only makes sense I'd save her for last with my secret ingredients because I'm going to need every little point I can get."

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Lee opted for serving a pan-seared beef tenderloin with a cognac peppercorn sauce and a beef tartare with a cognac blue cheese sauce. Voltaggio made Steak Diane with a cognac peppercorn sauce and a beef tartare ssam with a daikon wrapper as his two dishes for the round.

Scala Quinn gave Lee a score of 9 points and Voltaggio a score of 6 points.

Round 3: Kevin Lee vs. Brooke Williamson

A single dish worth 20 points would decide the final score as Lee's secret ingredients — sweet potatoes and kimchi — were revealed.

With the score standing at 17 to 11 points in Lee's favor, it all came down to the rematch with Williamson.

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"Kevin and I have history," Williamson said. "A win today would feel like I've vindicated myself and show Kevin that I can beat him."

Williamson's dish for the final round was a kimchi, bacon, sweet potato and peanut cabbage roll with a kimchi shrimp sauce, while Lee prepared gochujang-glazed pork chops with sweet potato grits and kimchi collard greens.

Did Kevin Lee win 'Bobby's Triple Threat?'

Scala Quinn criticized Lee's dish as not highlighting his chosen secret ingredients enough.

"I loved, Kevin, the way you nailed that pork chop," Scala Quinn said. "Unfortunately that was my favorite part of the dish and you were supposed to highlight the kimchi and the sweet potato."

She called Williamson's cabbage rolls "absolutely sublime," saying the dish was "glorious."

Scala Quinn awarded Lee's final round dish 11 points, giving Williamson 18 points to send the titans to a one point victory with a final score of 29 to 28 over Lee despite his commanding lead from earlier rounds.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Recap: OKC chef Kevin Lee went on Food Network's 'Bobby's Triple Threat.' Here's how he did