Jimmy Fallon, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashton Kutcher and Liam Payne Play "Secret Ingredient" With Mario Batali

Players take turns guessing the unusual component hidden in various courses

By Zach Johnson Jun 22, 2017 12:50 PMTags

Mario Batali should never put these dishes on the menu.

The chef appeared on The Tonight Show Wednesday, where host Jimmy Fallon and guests Vanessa Hudgens, Ashton Kutcher and Liam Payne took turns guessing the unusual secret ingredient hidden in each course of Batali's gourmet three-course meal. To keep things fair, Fallon told the audience, "We'll write down our guesses and reveal our answers one at a time."

To their surprise, the first course included a splash of Jägermeister.

"Today we have an herbal shanghai soup dumplings with organic bean curd. There is, however, a secret ingredient. It may be delicious," Batali said. "Tell us what you think. Taste, taste, taste!"

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Celeb Food Fights
Andrew Lipovsky/NBC

The three men were in the dark, but a confident Hudgens announced, "Oh, I know!" But, to the So You Think You Can Dance host's surprise, Scope spearmint mouthwash wasn't a component in the course. Payne was a bit closer when he guessed licorice—or, as he spelled it, "licquirish."

Batali then revealed that the second course was "a pizza bianco with spring vegetables, burrata and pecorino dusted with crushed red chili flakes, available in many of my restaurants for $72 apiece." The mystery ingredient was marshmallow fluff, which made Fallon want to "throw up." In fact, he and Kutcher fought over the barf bucket that was hidden underneath the host's seat.

In the end, only Fallon was able to identify the secret ingredient.

"To end things, we have not one, but two desserts. In front of you are two things: New York style individual cheesecakes alongside Roman gelato with a sliver of buttered pistachio brittle. But can you guess the secret ingredients?" Batali asked them. "Each one is worth 1,000 points."

To find out what the secret ingredients were, watch the video now.

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