Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Iron Chef -- Battle of the Recipes (Part 1, The Battle)

[faux alton brown]
Turn on your computers for an exciting installment of the Iron Chef franchise!

This is a special episode -- Iron Chef, Battle of the Recipes -- where the sisters of [eatingclub] vancouver channel culinary masters and bring their recipes to the table, to be judged by family and friends.

That's uncompensated, no-appearance-fee-paid-to-family-and-friends, so you, precious audience of 6 readers, can be sure that they will not mince words. Only honest-to-goodness heartfelt sentiments served here.

Shaking in your boots yet, Iron Chefs? Or clogs?

So how exactly does this work? Here's our man on the ground, Kevin Brauch, to explain.

[faux kevin brauch]
Alton, TS and JS have each chosen a chef to emulate and simulate and both of them will be doing a main and a dessert.

Instead of a "secret ingredient" to work with, they have chosen recipes that have similar ingredients and will be cooking off from those recipes.

The main will be judged out of 20 points, 15 given to taste and 5 for presentation. The dessert will be judged out of 10 points, 7 for taste and 3 for presentation. Whoever chef's recipes has the most points out of 30 will be the winner of this battle.

So, ready for these two sibs to dish it out?

[faux chairman]
Today, like every day as a matter of fact, you meet in Kitchen Stadium. This is a momentous occasion. How do you feel competing against each other?

[js]
Okay.

[ts]
I feel fine.

[faux chairman]
Okay, then. So, in the words of my uncle:

Allez cuisine!

[faux alton brown]
And so the battle begins.

TS will be channelling Warren Geraghty of West, one of the top fine dining restaurants in Vancouver. West features West Coast contemporary regional cuisine, with emphasis on the use of local, seasonal British Columbian ingredients.
http://westrestaurant.com/

JS will be simulating Mario Batali, sans shorts and orange clogs, because it still has been too darn cold in Vancouver.

It even snowed a couple of days ago! Late, late February.

But things will be heating up in this kitchen pretty soon. The battle will be intense.

Whose cuisine will reign supreme?

What are they making down there, Kevin?



[faux kevin brauch]
It looks like chocolate is being broken out on both sides of the counter. Both of them has started measuring chocolate.

[faux alton brown]
Chocolate desserts, of course. There are schools of thought that say, "If it's not chocolate, it's not dessert."

[faux kevin brauch]
I'd like to have been a kid going to that school, Alton.

TS has some mystery foil packet going into the oven. As you can see in the video playback, she has roma tomatoes, garlic, shallots and olive oil in there. She's taking advantage of Kitchen Stadium's special equipment that hastens the slow-roasting process.



[ts]
This takes 5 hours in a conventional oven.

[faux kevin brauch]
On Batali's side, JS has some red wine vinegar, red pepper flakes, oregano, and olive oil in a bowl.



TS is also starting to make some sort of dough.

[ts]
Pasta dough, Kevin. For cannelloni.

[faux kevin brauch]
Cannelloni, Alton. She's making pasta for her cannelloni.

JS has said the olive oil with seasonings is the marinade for her eggplants.



[faux alton brown]
I smell some nuts being roasted. Hopefully, it's not these two nuts roasting in all the heat of the battle.

There's a wafting here -- all sorts of wafting smells actually. I smell something being charred. Smells like somebody's smoking a cigarette.

[faux kevin brauch]
The nuts are hazelnuts on JS' side, and pinenuts on TS'.

That cigarette smell is TS charring some eggplants. Also, in a pot of boiling water, tomatoes have gone in.



[faux alton brown]
She must be making some sort of tomato concassé. I see an ice water bath being prepared. And yes, she has placed those tomatoes in there.



[faux kevin brauch]
JS has started picking through parsley leaves, one by one. And mint. Parsley and mint, being picked through leaf by leaf.



She has also started processing the parsley and mint leaves, to make some sort of sauce. For what we don't know yet.

[js]
For my main.

[faux alton brown]
That was enlightening. I didn't think it was going into the dessert.

TS has blanched some parsley and is buzzing it in the food processor. Parsley oil, perhaps?



[ts]
Vinaigrette. For my main.

[faux alton brown]
These two are a laugh-a-minute. I didn't think that parsley vinaigrette was going into her dessert either.



[faux kevin brauch]
Alton, in the food processor with the parsley, TS has olive oil, white wine vinegar and lemon juice.

She has also started frying up some parsley leaves.



[faux alton brown]
That also is not going into the dessert, I would venture.

So, we have duelling sisters and they both have some sort of parsley concoction in the works. And some chocolate waiting to be turned into dessert.

What will happen next? Be back after this commercial break.



[faux alton brown]
We're back, and the battle is raging on fast and furious. TS has started rolling out her dough, taking out the ruler and measuring cut pieces.

We've heard her say that these were for her cannelloni.



[faux kevin brauch]
TS has also started mixing up her charred eggplant that has been peeled, her tomatoes concassé, the pinenuts she toasted earlier, some thyme and some tahini.

[faux alton brown]
That looks like baba ganoush. I'm guessing that this is going to be the filling for the cannelloni she's measuring out now.



[faux kevin brauch]
That's right, Alton. TS is now filling her pasta sheets with the baba ganoush mixture.

There seems to be trouble with the measurements that Chef Warren Geraghty has given her for the pasta sheets. She has decided to cut a portion off of each sheet.

Both JS and TS have now switched gears and have started working with the chocolate.

Both have melted their dark chocolate, with TS using hot espresso to melt hers.



On JS' side, she has whipped out the mini food processor and buzzed together the hazelnuts that were roasted earlier, along with confectioner's sugar and cocoa powder.

Both JS and TS have started separating eggs.

*bleep*bleep*bleep*

[faux alton brown]
Some colourful language on JS' side of the counter there. Kevin, can you check what's causing all that swearing?



[faux kevin brauch]
It's the eggs, Alton. While separating the eggs, one of the yolks broke into the whites. She needs to start over.

[faux alton brown]
She probably needs to whip up those egg whites. Any trace amount of egg yolk, or any fat, will prevent that from whipping nicely.

[faux kevin brauch]
Alton, JS has added egg yolks and butter into the mixer, as well as some imported hazelnut paste. Also getting mixed in are some brewed espresso, vanilla extract, and melted chocolate.

She also has her egg whites being beaten in another mixer.

With her chocolate-hazelnut mixture, she has just folded in the ground hazelnut and cocoa powder mixture from earlier.



[faux alton brown]
I believe her chocolate dessert will be some sort of cake that uses egg whites as leavening.



[faux alton brown]
And there she is right now, pouring her batter into muffin tins and ramekins.

That was certainly a colourful linguistic interlude from JS. What's going on at TS' side?

[faux kevin brauch]
TS has started whisking egg yolks and sugar over a bain marie. She seems to be having trouble keeping the whisking going.

[faux alton brown]
That would get me huffing and puffing in purple language.

[ts]
My arms are a little tired.

[js]
Wuss! A little whisking never hurt anybody.

[faux alton brown]
There's some trash-talking going on down there between the two sisters. It really is hot in this kitchen. Tempers are flaring and we are down to the wire.

*bleep*bleep*bleep*

[faux alton brown]
What is going on down there? I have never heard this much swearing at Kitchen Stadium.

[faux kevin brauch]
Well, they do edit all that kind of language out. It's still JS this time, muttering that she forgot to boil some eggs. Now she has to hustle.

TS has finished whisking the egg yolk and sugar mixture over the bain marie. She has also whipped some egg whites to stiff peaks.



[faux alton brown]
TS' egg yolk mixture has thickened up to a "ribbon stage". I believe she should be folding together these two mixtures with her espresso-melted chocolate.



[faux kevin brauch]
That is correct. Her batter's completed and her cake has gone into the oven.

Yet another smell wafting towards you, Alton. That is the slow-roasted tomatoes and shallots from TS's side.



[faux kevin brauch]
Again, those are roma tomatoes, garlic, shallots and olive oil. TS is now taking off the tomato and shallot skins and is coarsely chopping the mixture. She has also added some parsley into the mix.
[faux alton brown]
Do we still not see any mackerel on either side, Kevin?



[faux kevin brauch]
Not yet, Alton. JS' cakes are out of the oven, cooling on the counter.



TS' cake has also been pulled out of the oven. There seems to be no round cutters in Kitchen Stadium today, Alton. She has cut those rounds out by hand with a paring knife.

JS has started working on her main, it would seem. On the grill are eggplants that have been tossed in that olive oil marinade.



And JS has put the grilled eggplants back in the olive oil marinade.



[faux kevin brauch]
Still more work on the dessert on TS' side.

TS is layering the small cake rounds...

[faux alton brown]
Is that aluminum foil?

[ts]
There are no molds here either!



[faux kevin brauch]
Yes, TS is using aluminum foil as makeshift molds. She is layering the cakes with espresso-flavored whipped cream.



She has also painted some melted chocolate on a piece of parchment paper.

[faux alton brown]
All that time spent on dessert; I certainly do hope TS will have enough time to work on her main.

Ah, I see mackerel being pulled out by both combatants.



[faux kevin brauch]
TS is pan-frying hers while JS is using the grill.



[faux alton brown]
Ah, the smell of oily fish. It is quite intoxicating. Look at those grill marks on the fish!



[faux kevin brauch]
TS has also started frying up her cannelloni.

[faux alton brown]
Fried dough is always a winner in my book. Those are the cannelloni with the baba ganoush filling.

JS has started plating her dessert.




Now we wait for her main.



[faux kevin brauch]
Alton, TS has pulled out her roasted tomato-shallot sauce and the parsley she fried earlier. She's ready to plate her main.




[faux kevin brauch]
First goes the roasted tomato-shallot sauce, then the pieces of fried cannelloni. The fish goes on top with drizzle of parsley vinaigrette around the plate, then the fried parsley.

On the other side, JS is frantically peeling those cooled eggs to mix into her parsley dressing.

[js]
That's salsa verde.



[faux kevin brauch]
Salsa verde, Alton. That's the mint and parsley leaves she was picking earlier, with anchovies, extra-virgin olive oil, capers, the zest and juice of a lemon, and hard-boiled eggs.

[faux alton brown]
Anchovies. I see she has oily fish on oily fish.




[faux kevin brauch]
JS has also started to plate her main. The grilled mackerel goes on top of the marinated grilled eggplant, then the salsa verde goes around the plate. She has also reserved some of her chopped hardboiled eggs as garnish.

TS just hurriedly mixed together some cinnamon with sugar. And here she is plating her dessert as well.



[faux kevin brauch]
TS has placed that painted chocolate from earlier around each cake and whipped cream tower.

[faux alton brown]
Timing is essential in this case, as you want to do this when the chocolate has hardened but is pliable enough to form into a round.



[faux kevin brauch]
The chocolate has molded around the cake perfectly, Alton. TS is now adding more espresso-flavored whipped cream on top and finishing with the cinnamon sugar she just made.

[faux alton brown]
Time's up!

Walk away, contestants.

Iron Chef -- Battle of the Recipes is over!


Mario Batali, Molto Italiano (p.304)
Grilled Mackerel and Eggplant with Salsa Verde
[js]
The grilled mackerel is sitting on top of some eggplant that have been marinated in olive oil, oregano, red pepper flakes and red wine vinegar. The eggplant is also grilled. In the salsa verde, there is parsley and a little mint, with anchovies, olive oil, capers, lemon zest and juice, and hardboiled eggs. Enjoy.


Warren Geraghty, West: The Cookbook (pp.97-98)
Fillet of Mackerel with Cannelloni of Smoked Eggplant and Pine Nuts
[ts]
We have pan-fried mackerel sitting on top of cannelloni that has a filling of charred eggplant, tomatoes, tahini and pine nuts. We also have a slow-roasted tomato and shallot sauce, as well as a tangy parsley vinaigrette. And finally, we have some crispy-fried parsley lightly seasoned with salt. Enjoy.


Gina DePalma (pastry chef), The Babbo Cookbook (p.281)
Chocolate Hazelnut Cake
[js]
Chocolate and hazelnut are a wonderful combination. This is the cake in its unadorned self, with only the slightest kiss of espresso. Enjoy.


Rhonda Viani (pastry chef), West: The Cookbook (pp. 213-215)
Chocolate Cappuccino Cake
[ts]
This is a dark chocolate cake flavored with espresso. It's layered with espresso whipped cream and wrapped with dark chocolate. Finally, it is finished with a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar. Enjoy.

[faux alton brown]
There you have it, precious audience of half a dozen readers, our two main dishes and two desserts.

Whose cuisine reigns supreme?

___________________________

[js & ts]
This post is complete on its own and is our participatory entry for the February edition of Foodbuzz's 24, 24, 24 event.

Tasting and Judging, plus the announcement of the winner of [eatingclub] vancouver's Iron Chef -- Battle of the Recipes will be announced in a separate post. In the meantime, we invite you, our readers, to act as judges as well and leave your comments on the dishes too.

Stay tuned for Part 2!

Don't want to miss Part 2, Tasting & Judging? Why not subscribe to [eatingclub] vancouver? Subscribe via reader. Or, subscribe via email. Thanks!

[update] Part 2 is posted!

[eatingclub] vancouver 24, 24, 24 posts:
Behind the Scenes -- The Making of Artisan Gelato
A Starry, Starry Night in Vancouver -- Evoking the Philippine Christmas Spirit
Iron Chef -- Battle of the Recipes (Part 1, The Battle)
Iron Chef -- Battle of the Recipes (Part 2, Tasting and Judging)


Recipes used in today's battle are from: