I have a bet with my wife that on the original iron chef (the japanese version) that a meat (red meat, pork, poultry, fish - animal protein if you will) was made into a dessert by a Iron Chef or challenger no more than 5 times.
I can only think of one episode off the top of my head fish personally, (I think Sakai made some fish flavored ice cream) so I think I have the easy win here.
Help me win this bet!
You lose - from this site: we have:
Lamb belly saute and bell pepper sorbet
Shochu sorbet - from Battle oxtail
Tuna dessert cassis flavor, served with Pinon des Charentis
and from this site,
Anglerfish Liver Dessert
Sweet Potato Ice Cream (Battle Black Pig)
Duck and Sweet Bean Paste Dessert
Duck and Mushroom Saute with Lemon Sorbet
Lemon and Basil Sorbet (Battle Lamb)
Mango and Pork Belly Pie (it was the 5th course)
Fragrant Olive Wine Dessert (Battle Shark Fin)
Squid Ink Gelato
That was a sucker’s bet – if you watched the show regularly, you would know how common it is for meals to end with some sort of fish-flavored dessert. (My personal favorite was ice cream made from fresh male cod roe…in other words, raw fish sperm.)
Sakai also made trout-flavored ice cream on the debut episode of Iron Chef America.
It’s the squid ink gelato that I remember best.
I’ll help by moving this thread from General Questions to Cafe Society.
Gfactor
General Questions Moderator
I had that once at Der Wienerschnitzel.
Well, if I can’t win the bet, at least I can point our that fish roe is/are fact eggs, not sperm…
These days on Iron Chef America both the Iron Chefs and the challengers always seem to endeavor to make a dessert course with the theme ingredient, even if said ingredient is a meat product. But there have been fewer “bizarre” ingredients on ICA so no one has quite matched the famous Fish Roe Ice Cream yet.
Not always. Roe can refer to milt (soft roe) from the male. Cite: http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-506696/article-9064043
The last IA I watched was the Turkey episode. In it Alton et al acted like the sound of the ice cream maker was the kiss of death.
Does that match everyone else’s memories? Does meat ice cream tend to be made by the losing chefs on the American show?
Someone turning on the ice cream maker on ICA is a bit of a running joke like the secret word on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse…Alton almost always goes nuts, especially if the theme isn’t a typical ice cream flavor. It isn’t necessarily the kiss of death though.
Yes, it was definitely fish semen ice cream. It’s indelibly etched in my memory, and no amount of brain bleach will remove it.
In support of brain bleach merchants everywhere, here’s the visual evidence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra0UmoMiw5U
The ice cream maker’s turned on @ 3:15 or so.
It’s called shirako and although it’s frequently presented as “fish sperm” for the ick factor, it’s really fish testes, not sperm. Now, you might not find this much more comforting but there’s nothing odd about the taste. (I’m not sure it might make such good ice cream, though!)
The thought of getting squicked about eating fish milt but enjoying eating fish eggs just doesn’t lodge in the brain and stick. Same for fish testicles, with or without milt. And I do, sadly, enjoy salmon roe sushi. I say sadly not because of the squick factor, but because it’s expensive.
I just checked this video and they’re using tarako which is smoked cod eggs, not milt. There was no mention of shirako at all.
FTR tarako and mentaiko (the spicy Korean version) pasta is delicious. I’m still not sold on the ice cream, unless it’s some sort of savoury sherbet.