Iron Chef: The Battle Continues

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
61

Anticipation…
Anticipation…
It’s making me wait…

Sorry to get these in right under the deadline. I do take these quite seriously (especially after seeing how seriously the Chefs take it), and I always want to give insightful, intelligent responses.

I must say for an overtime battle, I was much more impressed with this menu than the one with the full-time lobster battle. Everything sounds delicious. I must say that of all the presentations I’ve judged, these dishes seem to me to be the best tasting IRL of any. I still have to deduct points for presentation and creativity, but damn these sound good.

Chef Troy:

Consomme: Fantastic. Normally I would agree with many of the other judges and say I prefer heartier soups, but I think given your other dishes and the theme ingredient, I must say this is an excellent start. A great introduction to the theme ingredient. I think the medley of different wild mushrooms would work wonderfully together.

Ragout: Garlic, butter, mushrooms. Hmmmmm. I think you have seen into my soul and created a dish that will make it sing. Great dish.

Pot Roast:: Very Good. I was wondering why you would trim the fat and the connective tissue from the cut? I would think you would want to keep them there to help the flavor and texture when you are cooking the cut for as long as 4 hours. The gravy sounds very earthy, and again, right up my alley. The presentation also screams: Classic Comfort Food, to me. I also agree that the mashed potatoes could use a little something, and I think truffle oil would be a perfect addition.

Fajitas Ahhh Portabellas, the substitute for meat for vegetarians everywhere. This dish sounds good, but, IMHO, could’ve used more spicyness in the fajita itself. A little bit bland of a dish. The guacamole sounds great though.

Risotto: Back to making my life wonderful. This dish sounds fantastic. I may question it’s place in the tasting, but I can’t question that it sounds wonderful, and is a great articulation of the theme ingredient.

Morels: At this point, you would have to serve me a candied twig (oops sorry Scylla) to rouse my anger. I’m not sure how this dish would hold together or taste, but I will defer to your wisdom.

After the lobster battle, I harangued you for the lack of expression of the theme ingredient and the paltriness of your menu. With these dishes you have fully redeemed yourself in my eyes. I would have liked a bit more by way of description of the presentation (i/e how the consomme was put into tiny little white cups with a fluffy top), but overall one of your best efforts.

Fenris

Mini Mu Shu Sounds very good. Being a big fan of hoison sauce, I especially like this dish. I’m not sure I’d have used the portabella here, but they should work just fine. A good start.

Truffle Fritata This sounds like a fantastic dish. Normally, I am not a big fan of truffles, but I think with this dish, they would be great. I disagree with some of the judges, I think “mushrooms” and eggs can mix very well together in a single dish. Again, my experience with truffles is somewhat limited, but you have earned my respect enough to trust you. Great dish.

Beef Wellington Well smack me on the ass and call me a cab. This sounds to die for. I’ve gone over the recipe twice and I can’t think of a single bad thing to say. WOW! The meat is fantastic, but then you add the mushrrom/burgandy gravy and you sent me to heaven. When I first saw the theme ingredient, I was hoping somebody would combine mushrooms and a hearty red wine. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

** Dessert** A simple, tasty ending to the tasting.

Fenris, I also harangued you for what I saw was a lack of spine and creativity. You also, have redeemed yourself. Perhaps another dish to show a more earthy side of the theme ingredient, but all in all, fantastic. Can I have a nother piece of the Wellington please?

Both the Challenger and the Iron Chef have truly outdone themselves. Again, here are my scores:

Iron Chef Troy: 19
Fenris: 19.

I regret I couldn’t pick a winner. Well Done both of you.

62

The scores are in. A very well-fought battle, and I am truly impressed by the chefs in this round. I believe that this was one of the finer menus done out of all the Iron Chef Battles.
So, Whose Cuisine Reigns Supreme?

Challenger Fenris!

Let’s see how the scores came out:


          Chef Troy     Fenris

Scylla      19            18
wring       13            16
Hugh Jass   16            18
Verrain     19            18
Hamlet      19            19
______________________________

Totals      86            89

[sub]Even though Juniper200 posted comments, I did not receive scores via email, so they were not counted.[/sub]

The scoring came down to points, and this was a very close battle.

Fenris, you are now our Iron Chef. Congratulations! May your cuisine reign long in Kitchen Stadium.

63

Wow, I hate to use cliches but both these chefs deserve to win. Again, kudos.

64

That’s weird; I emailed them about 20 minutes before you posted. Seriously. If they ever show up, you’ll see that I gave it to Fenris as well.

Congrats to our new Iron Chef!

65

::weeps openly with joy at the honor::

Iron Chef Troy, it has been a pleasure and an honor to compete against you. Knowing your skill forced me to strive harder than I ever have before! It was a privilege sir, a privilege!

Iron Chef Fenris

66

It seems only just that Fenris should win, considering that if the last set of scores for the lobster battle had arrived in time to be counted, they would have broken the tie in his favor.

Java, don’t count on me to judge the next round. I think I need to lay out for a battle or two, although I’ll watch with interest.

67

LOL!

68

:: kicking a loose button mushroom into an empty lobster shell::

SCORE!!!

oops. I thought everyone had gone. um.

How 'bout them bears? :smiley:

69

Hello?

Anyone?

Hello?

Is this thing on?

IC Fenris

70

exhalted conquorer of the noble mushroom! all hail ye!

71

I’ll start a new thread in a few days, if you’re up for battle. With Chef Troy bowing out I’m afraid that our pool of challengers/judges is becoming smaller with each consecutive thread.

So, if we can recruit some more people to be involved (Zenster where are you?), I’ll be happy to start a new thread.

72

I’ll try my hand at judging. As I mentioned to Fenris in another thread I don’t have knowledge of the truly exotic stuff that they sometimes use on the TV show, but I love to eat and I think these threads are some of the most creative.

I’ve browsed the past Iron Chef threads, but it’s been a while. If someone could point out the current scoring rules/criteria I’d be most appreciative.

73

Woo-hoo! Welcome, Fredge!

I believe that Chairman Java is using the rules from here.

74

What!

I didn’t realize there were slots open?

Sign me up. I loves to judge me some food. Just no konnyaku please. I don’t know exactly what it is, but I don’t likes the look of it.

75

I’ve been meaning to dig this up… This Chairman is dying to get back into the kitchen. I’m trying to sweet-talk our original Chairman, Scylla into coming back for just one more round, so I can challenge our new Iron Chef, Fenris.
Think about it. Two former chairmen (ok, chairpeople since I don’t quite fit into the ‘men’ bit) going head to head in an epic epicurean battle.

You know you want it.

C’mon, Scylla… please?

76

Yes! Iron Chef SDMB is back, and just in time to prep me for the Iron Chef marathon over Thanksgiving. The Bizarre Iron Chef Ingredients thread has made me very anxious to see the Battle Octopus (up to now, my favorite has been Battle Eel - Battle Octopus sounds even better).

Come on Scylla! You need to get back at those that doubted your candied sticks!

77

By the way, for convenience, here are the rules for Judges, as posted in the thread linked above:

My rules for judges: (Much of this has been borrowed from Chairman Scylla’s second Iron Chef thread.)

“Each judge will be required to post a thoughtful critique of each dish presented” within 24 hours of the end of the contest. Please e-mail me your scores.

“As in the last contest, scoring will follow the Iron Chef concept. Ten points for taste, five for creativity, five for presentation. There will be a maximum total of twenty points.” You may not give the same number of points to both chefs.

78

I hope this is still the right thread to volunteer to be a judge. I want dibs on being the annoyingly vapid actress, pwetty pwease? giggles incessantly

79

“the” annoyingly vapid giggling actress position has been filled, tho’ since we have more than 4 judges we may have additional gigglers in the crowd. :: frowning perplexedly, and yet in a stunningly attractive manner before collapsing from yet another fit of feminine giggles from behind the gloved hand ::

80

Um. lest that sounded bitchy at all, please let me extend a hand in welcome to the judges bench, too, Ok???