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"Our ultimate competition is with ourselves. That is what my uncle told me when I would visit him as a young boy... My uncle, the man the world knows as Kaga the Chairman, has decided that although America is a young country, we now possess the proper palate to host our own Iron Chef competition, an American celebration of the world's high art of cuisine." Recaps by Chico Alexander, GSNN FACT FILE: Host ("The Chairman"): Mark Dacascos Iron Chefs: Mario Batali, Cat Cora, Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto, Michael Symon Culinary Commentator: Alton Brown Kitchen Reporter: Kevin Brauch Creator: Keiichi Tanaka (based upon "Ryori no Tetsujin/Iron Chef") EP: Eytan Keller, Stephen Kroopnick, Stu Schreiberg Origin: Kitchen Stadium America, Food Network Studios, New York City Packager: Triage Entertainment and Fuji TV for Food Network Airs: Sundays at 9p ET on Food Network Website: foodnetwork.com/ironchef  |
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Morimoto
vs. Mason: Battle Skirt Steak The challenger: Chef Sam Mason, who made a huge splash in the New York culinary scene with his jaw-dropping confections at WD50. Nowadays, he has his own kitchen at Tailor in SoHo. Today, he challenges the OG of the ICs, the silver Tetsujin Masaharu Morimoto. Gentlemen.... Prepare for battle. The Crib Sheet:
The Theme Ingredient:
Outside skirt steak. Morimoto starts by taking one of the two entire cows available to the chefs today. Mason starts by collecting marrow. This meat is more of a leveling of the playing field for both chefs, as the challenger gets to showcase his creativity versus the Iron Chef's intimidating knifework. Mason has a very hot marinade on the works while making a new piece of meat using transglutaminase. Sous-chef Saka is making ground meat with yams, while Morimoto is prepping cabbage, stuffing it with ground meat. It's being dropped into an aromatic broth. "Fifteen minutes have elapsed." Skirt steak has been added to Morimoto's pressure cooker and to a bacon-onion mixture. Mason has skirt steak in the oven and julienned potatoes on the side. Tonight's Judges: Mason is making some high-quality French fries by blanching his potatoes. Omae is cubing several fruits for a later application. The IC side has several marinades, as does the challenger. And the egg yolks that have been steamed on Mason's side... egg noodles.. "Thirty minutes have elapsed." Morimoto is steaming skirt steak, slicing sugarcane, and cubing tropical fruit. Mason counters with potato rolls, marinades, and egg noodles. The Iron Chef is marinating steak in teriyaki sauce and breaking down tomato and tofu. The challenger is making a marjoram emulsion and pumpernickel croutons. Mason has cream and skirt steak. Semi-educational moment: the ingredient on display today should actually be called "fajita", which means little belt and refers to its location on the cows' body, around what we would call the waist between the flank and the plate. Because it is constantly working, it has a lot of connective tissue, and that means a lot of flavor. And the ice cream machine is on in the challengers' kitchen. Today, it's time for skirt steak ice cream. Morimoto has started plating his skirt-steak tartare, while both sides are grilling skirt-steak. Omae is making beef and egg-drop soup. That's getting plated now. Mason has his own tartare in the works. "Fifteen minutes to go." And Sam Mason decides to take a break, or so he says. Iron Chef has tartare, teriyaki, and steak in a sake broth. Challenger has tartare, ice cream, and... did we mention ice cream? Broccoli strips are sauteeing and cauliflower puree is on the heat. Morimoto has seared skirt steak topped with that sake broth and caviar and mascarpone over his tartare. And the glued meat terrine is out on the challenger's side. Morimoto is working on wasabi for a garnish. And Mason is working on some chocolate. Challenger also has some cocoa-crusted meat. Both sides are now plating, Morimoto his cabbage number and Mason his bone-marrow custard. Challenger also has the cocoa beef with chocolate-pea demi-glace. Morimoto has a seared skirt-steak duo, ginger-rice steak, grilled and steamed steak, ground beef and cabbage, and tartare. Mason has a tartare, broccoli dish, cocoa beef, grilled steak, and skirt-steak ice cream with strawberries. "Five seconds... Three... Two ... One..." And put it down, walk away, Battle Skirt Steak is in the books. Judgment (Mason): "I wanted to highlight different techniques with dealing with skirt steak." - Skirt Tartare with Marjoram Emulsion Judgment (Morimoto): "Today I approached the secret ingredient five different ways. I wanted to create different textures. You'll see most of the dishes will have an Asian influence." - Skirt Steak Tartare with Sugarcane We had the Iron Chef serving up very tender steak, while the challenger decided to be bold and daring with his steak. But whose cuisine reigns supreme? The verdict...
... 53-46 in favor of
Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. Both chefs were equally as
creative, but it's how the dishes were arranged AND the
flavor that carried the day for the Iron Chef. But
Mason, with his batch of creativity and meat glue, is
given a ticket into a fraternity of chefs who are
waiting for another chance to prove their mettle here in
KSA. To see this episode in its entirety, go to www.foodnetwork.com/ironchef. |
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