Disclaimer: Screw it. Was going to post a shortened version of this, but decided against it. Here it is. Read it, don't read it. I don't care. There's pictures further down if you'd rather just look at those.
For those who don't know. I'm a Chef, have been in the industry for 10 years now. My company is running an Iron Chef competition between our 12 locations. Teams of 3 (2 Cooks who won an inter-restaurant Iron Chef Competition and their Chef) are going up against one another in regional battles currently.
This is a run down of my teams most recent Battle.
My Team = Team 1
The Competition = Team 2
Team 2 consisted of 2 guys, David and Jesse, and one girl, Natalie, all around our age.. early 20's. After introductions were made, Tyler (the host Chef) slipped away into the cooler to grab the secret ingredients. Earlier, he had thrown on 2 giant stock pots of water, claiming he had to cook off some pasta's that were left from his prep cooks. Little did we know...
He emerged from the cooler with 2 big bags in hand. Out onto the counter landed 2 fresh Lobsters, still very much alive as their claws snapped and legs clicked against the stainless steel counter top. Both teams smiled, shocked at their new found friends. These lobsters did not look happy to see us at all, joining the lobsters for the secret ingredient was grapes, red and white seedless grapes.
Welcome to Battle Lobster & Grapes
The Lobsters were placed in their own inserts for each team, and off we went to grab a table in the restaurant and work out our menus. The rules had been revised slightly for the official competitions within the company.
Each team is required to create 3 dishes. An Amuse-Bouche, essentially a finger food, it means 'to amuse the mouth'; An appetizer or dessert; and an Entree.
The scoring is essentially the same, you're marked on Plating/Presentation, Taste, and Inspired Twist (originality) for each dish. As well as Cleanliness and Waste during the competition.
As we sat down at our booth, we all stared at each other blankly. None of us had ever worked with a live lobster. Sure I'd cooked Lobster tail in my career, great accompaniment with a Steak, high ticket item, but this was Iron Chef, we couldn't simply do a Surf n Turf Steak and Lobster dish, where's the inspired twist for that?
We had a 1/2 hour to come up with our menu, and we had decided as a group that we would push the cooking time from 1hr, to 1.5 hours to account for the complexity of the ingredients. We needed that 1/2 hour, as we sat there, tossing ideas off each other for what seemed like forever. We played with the idea of a Surf n Turf, but tossed it out for lack of creativity, we could do things with just the lobster, or just the grapes, it was intertwining the two that was causing us trouble. It wasn't required that both items be used in each dish, but we wanted to have some cross-over in one of our dishes at least. With only minutes left in our half hour of menu planning, we finally nailed down our three dishes, wrote up a copy of our menu and submitted it for approval.
It was a pretty demanding menu, we had our work cut out for us:
Our Menu
Amuse-Bouche: Grape and Lobster Salsa Crustini
Entree: Pan Seared Lobster Ravioli in a Brown Butter Sauce
Dessert: Sweet French Toast Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
We had committed to making our own fresh pasta for the Ravioli, and our own Grape Jelly for the dessert, two things that could very easily end us if we made the slightest mistake during prep. They're both too time consuming for us to start over if we don't get it right the first time.
Team 2 spent the entire half hour on their menu as well. They had put together the following:
Competition's Menu
Amuse-Bouche: Grape and Lobster Crustini
Appetizer: Lobster Bisque with prawn spread crackers
Entree: Surf and Turf
They had the same idea as us for a Amuse-Bouche, but their other 2 items seemed pretty run of the mill to us, we felt good about our menu, if we could pull it off, the competition was ours.
We laid out our tools and got to work. I was tasked with making our fresh pasta for the ravioli, while Curtis went to work on our homemade Grape Jelly. Before we went about our individual tasks, we all agreed to work on the lobster together, it was an experience none of us wanted to miss. Into the cooler I went to retrieve our friendly little guy, and he was being anything but friendly, I don't think he much liked his accommodations in the metal insert. Our pots of water had reached a boil, and it was time for our friends to make the final plunge. None of us ever having handled a lobster before, I volunteered to toss him in the pot. Grabbing it by the back of it's shell, thumb underneath, fingers on top, I lifted it out of the insert. It's legs waved about wildly, claws snapping and tail slapping in the air. A quick turn and it was hovering over the pot as I dropped it just above the water, a small splash was the last we heard from the little guy.
With the lobster boiling away, I went about my task of putting together our pasta dough. It has been years since I last made fresh pasta from scratch, and it's not a process I was keen on repeating under such conditions. Grabbing a metal bowl, I weighed out some flour, grabbed a couple eggs from the cooler, cracking them in to a separate bowl, giving them a quick whisk and then tossing them in with the flour. A bit of cold water and I went to town. Hands mixing and combining the mixture. It took a while to get the right consistency, as I added more and more cold water a couple ounces at a time. Making your own dough isn't difficult, but it can certainly be time consuming. Add a little too much water and you can kiss all your hard work good bye.
Meanwhile, Curtis began chopping up some red grapes for our grape jelly. Unfortunately we didn't have any gelatin available to us in the kitchen, so we were going to have to rely on caramelizing the sugars from the grapes in order to get the thickness and consistency of a jelly. Doing this without burning a fresh fruit like grapes is easier said than done. Into a saute pan went the red grapes, to them we added sugar, a bit of water, and chardonnay. Once that was on low heat, it was time to move on.
Tony went to work on our Grape and Lobster salsa for the Amuse Bouche. Grabbing a handful of red and green grapes, we quartered them and set them aside for the lobster. Once we had that out of the way, it was time to check on our lobster. Grabbing a pair of tongs, Tony grabbed our attitude adjusted critter, much calmer now as his shell had taken on a bright beautiful red hue. We all looked at each other.. "So... how do you know when a lobster's cooked?" we asked. None of us knew the answer. It was red, it was dead.. that was all we needed. A fresh seafood cutting board came out and on went our lifeless friend. Tony grabbed the biggest knife in reach, a shimmering 12" Chef Knife, and went for it.
*Crack, Snap, Chop* One claw gone.
*Crack, Snap, Chop* The other claw resting on the blue board.
*Craaaaaack!* One clean slice right through the middle, splitting the head and body of the Lobster in one go. Colors abound poured from the head and body, green, pinkish red, blue, and a creamy white filled the cutting board in the form of juices and guts. It was quite the sight, none of us knowing exactly what each part was, but knowing we weren't about to eat any of it.
*Chop!* One last slice separated the tail from the body and we were good to go.
Tossing the body, and spilled intestines into the garbage, we took each claw, one swift hit from the flat of the blade and out came the claw meat. Grabbing a pair of shears and flipping the tail over, we cut down the underside of the tail, the sound of splitting shell ringing through the kitchen, pulling the shell apart, we pulled out the tail meat and tossed away the rest of the shell. We had our lobster meat.
All of that took about 2 minutes, Tony doing an excellent job of dispatching our chosen crustacean. Looking at our meat, we came to the conclusion that the 5 or so minute he had spent in the boiling water, didn't quite cut it. The meat was still a little underdone, oops! What to do now?
I had finished kneading my pasta dough. Having reached the right consistency, I rolled it into a ball, covered it in Saran wrap and tossed it into the cooler to settle. Cleaning up my station, I turned my attention to the Lobster and Grape Salsa. With the grapes already quartered, I used the claw meat, still quite flimsy from being undercooked. Dicing it up, I tossed it in with the grapes, to that I added a generous amount of lime juice, a couple ounces of chardonnay, salt and pepper, and fresh chiffonade basil. We used the acidity of the lime juice to finish firming up the undercooked lobster. Citrus juices and other highly acidic liquids can be used to alter the structure of the protein, you'll find this approach used often in high class restaurants, marinating a fresh cut of fish with lemon or lime juice, and serving it raw. It's known as Ceviche (Seh-vee-chay), and while it does not actually cook the fish, it creates the texture and appearance of a cooked fish, firming up the protein and giving it an opaque white appearance. The meat is still very much raw, and thus must only be done with very fresh, sushi grade seafood. Wrapping up the salsa, we threw it in the cooler to marinate.
Our Jelly was coming along nicely.. slowly simmering down in the pan, the color was fantastic, a deep dark red. Curtis grabbed a loaf of Parisien bread (similar to a french loaf), and sliced off a few good sized rounds for our crustinis, then made a couple bias cuts for our Peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches. Tossing the crustinis with a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Parmesan Reggiano, we slid them onto a baking tray and into the oven til they became a beautiful golden brown.
I grabbed another stainless steel bowl, retrieved a couple eggs, and some half and half cream from the cooler. Cracking the eggs into the bowl, I added a touch of cream, a generous amount of icing sugar, and a touch of cinnamon. Whisking it all together, our french toast batter was ready to go. We still had another 40 or so minutes to go in the competition, so we wrapped it up and placed it into the cooler.
The pasta dough had been resting for about 20 minutes now, it was time to make or break our menu. I pulled it out of the cooler, took off the Saran Wrap. It had softened nicely, an audible sigh of relief escaping my lips. Our next challenge was rolling the dough. The restaurant didn't have a dough roller, or even a rolling pin! We searched frantically for something that would work, finally I found a bottle of Voga wine. For those that have never seen a bottle of Voga, it's a uniform sized round bottle from top to bottom, about the width of your average rolling pin, it should work nicely, it had to. Wrapping the bottle in Saran wrap, I cut the dough into 1/4's and sprinkled my counter with flour. Pressing the dough out with my hands initially, until it was about a 1/2" in thickness, then out came the Voga. I spent the next 25 minutes of my life rolling that bottle back and forth over that dough, what must have been 200 times. If you've never made your own pasta dough, without a pasta dough roller, it's exhausting work. Center, out to the edge, back to the center and our towards the edge again, over and over and over. More flour hits counter as I flip the dough over, ensuring it doesn't get stuck and tear. Tony would periodically poke his head over "How's it going? Having fun?" the sarcasm was off the charts amongst our own little group throughout the entire competition. "Oh yea Tony, a blast, thanks for letting Me take care of the pasta dough!"
Tony: "You'll need to get it thinner than that..."
Me: "Oh really? I thought we'd make bulletproof pasta, 1/2" thick!"
Roll.. Roll.. Roll... My wrists and arms were burning by the end of it.. but finally I had gotten the dough down to a uniform thickness of about 1 to 2 millimeters. It could have been thinner, but we needed to get these cut, sealed and cooked.
While I was rolling the dough, Tony put together the filling for our ravioli. Chopping up the Lobster tail, we added some fresh Bocconcini mozzarella, red peppers, and scallions. Bocconcini is a very fresh, mild mozzarella. Unripened it absorbs flavours very well, and would add a savoury creamy texture to our ravioli, picking up the flavours of the lobster and scallions. Tossed in a touch of extra virgin olive oil, and the filling was ready to go. Simple, but delicious. Using a large rocks glass, I cut out 14 rounds from my pasta dough. We had to make 2 of each dish, and were going to use 3 raviolis per dish, so we made 7, just incase. Throwing together a quick egg wash (Egg whites/Water), I spooned a healthy portion of our filling into the center of 7 of my rounds (about 3" in diameter), brushing the edges with the egg wash, then pressing down another round of dough ontop, crimping the edges with a fork.
Curtis worked on the garnish for our Ravioli. Taking a few fresh scallions, slicing them up into 1 inch pieces we put a cup of oil into a saute pan, added our scallion pieces and a touch of salt. Brought the oil up to about 140 degrees, cut the heat and let it settle. Tossing everything into a blender, we pureed the mixture, the scallions giving the oil a bright green color. Strained through a chinois, to give us a beautiful, bright, flavourful scallion infused oil.
We had our 7 pieces of ravioli ready to go. Our crustinis were golden brown and cooled. The Grape Jelly was off the heat and cooling for our Peanut butter and Jelly Sandwich. We had about 15 minutes left on the clock, Tony had thrown on a pot of water for the ravioli, already at a boil, we added some coarse kosher salt and in went the 7 Raviolis. Fingers crossed that they would hold and not come apart in the water. We turned the heat down a touch to keep it at a simmer to reduce the stress on the crimped edges. It was time to finish up each of our dishes. Tony took care of the Amuse Bouche crustini, Curtis handled the PB n J sandwich and I continued with my Ravioli.
The Amuse Bouche: Lobster and Grape Salsa Crustini
The Amuse bouche crustini was a simple finish, on a chilled 10" square plate, we took one of our golden brown crustinis, having drained the excess liquid from our Lobster and Grape salsa, a healthy portion was carefully mounded atop. Garnished with a couple Daikon (radish) sprouts.
The Entree: Pan Seared Lobster Ravioli in a Brown Butter Sauce.
I let the ravioli cook in the pasta water for about 3 or 4 minutes, fresh pasta doesn't need a lot of time, and it was still going to be pan seared. This process would finish cooking the lobster in our filling, making it fresh and firm, and allowing the juices to absorb into our melting bocconcini mozzarella. While the ravioli cooked, I took 3 or 4 cloves of garlic and minced them finely. Grabbing 2 fresh roma tomatoes, I halved them, scraped out the seeds and juices to prevent it from making our ravioli watery and soggy, then diced them up. As I pulled the ravioli from the water, I heated up 2 saute pans, tossing in a healthy amount of butter to each pan, I added the fresh minced garlic and a touch of salt and pepper. Turning the heat down low as I lightly browned the garlic, in went the ravioli with a pinch of crushed red chilies for heat. With the butter and garlic lightly browned, I seared the Ravioli, giving it a little bit of colour and letting the flavoured butter soak into the pasta. I turned off the heat, added the diced romas, tossing them lightly for 30 seconds til just until they warmed up, then plated the fresh Lobster Ravioli into hot 10" Rounds. Garnished with a drizzle of scallion infused oil and fresh chiffonade basil, it was ready for judging.
The Dessert: Sweet French Toast Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
With our bias cut parisien loaf, we spread a generous amount of peanut butter on one side, and our fresh made grape jelly on the other. Squishing them together, we then dipped the entire sandwich into our sweetened french toast batter. Placing the sandwiches on a nice hot flat grill, we grilled them to a golden brown on each side. The Peanut butter and Jam warming, teasingly oozing from the edges of the french toast. Cutting each sandwich on a bias, we angled the 2 overtop one another, then placed a small scoop of vanilla gelato atop the criss crossed tips. A bit of our fresh grape jelly drizzled over the gelato, a sprinkle of icing sugar and a fresh sprig of mint finished off the dish.
We finished our plating with seconds left on the clock. Both groups bringing out their dishes to the judging table.
The hour of judging passed by slowly.. we were very happy with how our dishes turned out, and hadn't had much of a chance to see what the other team had done. We were anxious for the results.
Finally we were called down for the judging. They went dish by dish, first up was the Amuse-Bouche.
Team 2 - Amuse-Bouche: Grape and Lobster Crustini
Description: Golden baked Crustini, topped with balsamic marinated grapes, garnished with a piece of lobster tail and a sprig of parsley.
Pros: The judges said the balsamic vinegar provided a strong contrast to the sweetness of the grapes. That it was a good looking plate, and just the right size for a Amuse-Bouche.
Cons: The lobster didn't really have a roll in this dish, as though it was added as an afterthought.
My Opinion: Their presentation was confusing. The balsamic vinegar created a dark, in my opinion, unappealing appearance to the crustini. The grapes, halved and placed in a row atop was far too uniform and did nothing for me. As for the piece of lobster sitting off to the side.. I have no idea what it was doing there, and the sprig of parsley seemingly randomly placed on the side of the plate showed an inexperience in presentation. It added no flavour to the plate and was used merely for some colour, every piece of a plate should be intended for your guests enjoyment, including garnishes. The dish tasted good, however the balsamic was a little overwhelming for my tastes.
Team 1 - Amuse-Bouche: Grape and Lobster Salsa Crustini
Description: Golden brown crustini, topped with a Grape and Lobster Salsa, chopped lobster claw, green and red grapes, tossed with a zesty lime and chardonnay dressing. Garnished with Daikon Radish Sprouts.
Pros: The plate was clean and simple. Perfect size for a Amuse-Bouche. The colours of the grapes, lobster, and sprouts played well off one another for a very appealing presentation. The taste was great, the lime and chardonnay complimenting the grapes perfectly, with the soft flavour of lobster accenting the dish.
Cons: None.
My Opinion: I was very happy with this dish. We made a couple extra for us to try in the back, and it was delicious. The tang of the lime and bite of the chardonnay played perfectly off of the grapes. The sprouts added a nice texture and presentation to the dish. I wouldn't have changed a thing.
Team 2 - Appetizer: Lobster Bisque with prawn spread crackers
Description: A thick Lobster Bisque, garnished with a full portion of Lobster Claw meat, served with 2 crustinis, covered in a poached prawn and herb spread.
Pros: The judges really enjoyed the presentation of the claw meat in the bisque. The flavour and consistency of the bisque was dead on in their eyes and the accompanying poached prawn and herb crackers added a welcome contrast to the creamy bisque.
Cons: Inspired Twist. There was nothing all that original with the lobster bisque, pretty text book approach.
My Opinion: The other team heated up some extra bisque for us in the back, it was creamy, if not a little bland. A bisque is intended to be a thick creamy consistency, but I believe they made this a little too thick, Tyler, one of the judges, tipped the bowl of bisque during the explanation of the judging and the bisque had taken on a nearly jello consistency, not even sliding in the bowl. I didn't get a chance to try the crackers, but they certainly looked good. I also enjoyed their presentation of the full claw in the bisque, but again, I'm not sure a proper bisque would be able to support the claw like that with it's consistency.
Team 1 - Dessert: Sweet French Toast Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Description: A Sweet French Toast Battered Bread, seared til crisp and golden brown, homemade grape jelly and peanut butter slathered in between, served with a small scoop of Vanilla Gelato, a drizzle of jelly and a light dusting of icing sugar.
Pros: Presentation on this was fantastic. A great looking plate, colourful and eye catching. Creating our own grape jelly from scratch impressed the judges.
Cons: The judges found that the peanut butter overwhelmed the jelly. And said that a PB n J sandwich was not 'inspired' or original.
My Opinion: I had to pick my jaw up off the floor as I listened to this judging. We made an extra one of these and ate it in the back. The jelly tasted fantastic, easily distinguishable from the peanut butter, the sweetness of the french toast crust, slightly warm, mixed with the vanilla gelato was mouth watering. I could take the complaint that they couldn't taste the jelly, perhaps we didn't spread it evenly enough on the one they ate.. but the comment about this not having an 'inspired twist' had Tony, Curtis and myself all look at each other. We maintained our cool during the judging, taking the criticism as it was offered without retort. I'd love to see you find any restaurant in Canada, possibly the world, where you can sit down and be served a French Toast Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich, if that isn't an inspired twist, I have no idea what is. This dessert was delicious, we made it again on our return to my restaurant after people in the restaurant had seen the pictures, and received nothing but rave reviews.
Team 2 - Entree: Surf and Turf
Description: Grilled 11oz NY Steak, served with lobster and a Béarnaise Sauce. Accompanied by Potato Au Gratin, and caramelized onions, grapes and beans.
Pros: The judges really enjoyed the potatoes and vegetables on this dish. Potato au Gratin is essentially very thinly sliced potatoes, steamed with cheese melted inbetween each layer. Their vegetables were a caramelized onion and grape mixture, atop a bed of pan seared green beans.
Cons: There was no Inspired Twist, a simple case of Surf and Turf that you could find at any number of restaurants in any town. The presentation was lacking. The NY steak was under seasoned.
My Opinion: The judges hit on some good points with this one. The presentation of this plate was horrible. There were 2 or 3 inches between each item on the plate, not appetizing at all. There was nothing inspired about this dish, we couldn't believe they even did a Surf and Turf, and then when we saw it, they didn't even do it well. There were 3 bits of lobster placed across the top of the steak, then smothered in a Béarnaise sauce, did nothing for the presentation. We didn't get to try the steak, but we did get to try their vegetables. I think the one bite of their veggies that I had doubled my sodium intake for the day. All I could taste was salt, I didn't spit it out, out of respect for the other team, but I had to wash it down with water just to get the salt off my tongue. I don't know how they wow'd the judges with that veg, maybe I just got a bad bite, but I was not impressed. Also, much like their Amuse-Bouche, they threw on a deep fried basil leaf. It had nothing to do with the dish, there was no basil used anywhere in their entire dish, merely for presentation purposes once again, just seemed like a poor choice to me.
Team 1 - Entree: Pan Seared Lobster Ravioli in a Brown Butter Sauce
Description: Freshly made Ravioli, stuffed with lobster, bocconcini mozzarella, green onion, and herbs/spices. Pan seared with fresh chopped garlic, a touch of crushed chilies and diced roma tomato, then garnished with a drizzle of Scallion infused oil and fresh chiffonade basil.
Pros: The filling melted together beautifully, each ingredient playing off each other inside that fresh ravioli shell. The judges really enjoyed the taste, the lightly browned butter and garlic with a hint of heat from the chilies and a fresh light taste of the scallion infused oil. We got props for taking a chance with making our own fresh pasta. They loved the plating, simple but pretty.
Cons: The edges of our ravioli were a little doughy, mostly due to us not being able to get the dough thin enough during preparation, without a pasta dough roller it takes a lot of time to get it as thin as needed, but they said it was a small critique considering the circumstances. They also felt that it was lacking in creativity, lobster ravioli is done in many places.
My Opinion: I couldn't fault them for the critiques. Although considering the task of making our own fresh pasta dough, the inspired twist I think was there, it's not something you're going to see a lot of in these competitions. We ate the one extra ravioli that we made in the back after plating this up. The flavours really did melt together, it was delicious. We all noticed the doughy edges, but wrote it off as a risk we had to take. I really enjoyed this dish, and was very happy with it's final presentation. It was certainly miles beyond what the other team had produced for their entree in originality, difficulty, presentation and taste.
And the winner is...
*Drum Roll*
Team 2
You read that right folks. We lost. We couldn't believe that we lost. We were all in shock, even the other team seemed surprised to hear the final verdict. We got up from the judging table, offered our congratulations to the other team, hand shakes and congratulations out of the way, we headed to the back to get ready for the trip home. Not wanting to start a scene or disrespect the other team we kept quiet til we exited the restaurant.
Once we were out of earshot, we started discussing the competition's results. The judges for the competition were 3 managers from Team 2's restaurant. Which in and of itself is a horrible choice. Perhaps our own opinions are just as biased as their judging was, but we couldn't even begin to grasp the idea that we lost. When the judges were discussing each dish, they sounded like they knew nothing about food, or food presentation. Nothing was mentioned of the useless garnishes placed on the competitions dishes, and they marked each of our Amuse-Bouche crustinis as equal in presentation. Again, perhaps I'm biased, but looking at the pictures of each crustini dish, there's really no contest for me as to which one looks more appealing. Our difficulty and originality was leaps and bounds beyond theirs for both the Appy/Dessert pairing and the Entrees. Everything on our plates was meant to be incorporated into the enjoyment of the dish, no useless garnishes, fresh, appealing, clean plates.
I hate to say we were unfairly judged, but we couldn't come up with any other conclusion. A bisque as thick as jello? Sure it looked great, but that's not a bisque.
All said and done, we had a blast with the battle. We may not have won, but we were all happy with the dishes we produced.
Cheers,
Ravyn
For those who don't know. I'm a Chef, have been in the industry for 10 years now. My company is running an Iron Chef competition between our 12 locations. Teams of 3 (2 Cooks who won an inter-restaurant Iron Chef Competition and their Chef) are going up against one another in regional battles currently.
This is a run down of my teams most recent Battle.
My Team = Team 1
The Competition = Team 2
Team 2 consisted of 2 guys, David and Jesse, and one girl, Natalie, all around our age.. early 20's. After introductions were made, Tyler (the host Chef) slipped away into the cooler to grab the secret ingredients. Earlier, he had thrown on 2 giant stock pots of water, claiming he had to cook off some pasta's that were left from his prep cooks. Little did we know...
He emerged from the cooler with 2 big bags in hand. Out onto the counter landed 2 fresh Lobsters, still very much alive as their claws snapped and legs clicked against the stainless steel counter top. Both teams smiled, shocked at their new found friends. These lobsters did not look happy to see us at all, joining the lobsters for the secret ingredient was grapes, red and white seedless grapes.
Welcome to Battle Lobster & Grapes
The Lobsters were placed in their own inserts for each team, and off we went to grab a table in the restaurant and work out our menus. The rules had been revised slightly for the official competitions within the company.
Each team is required to create 3 dishes. An Amuse-Bouche, essentially a finger food, it means 'to amuse the mouth'; An appetizer or dessert; and an Entree.
The scoring is essentially the same, you're marked on Plating/Presentation, Taste, and Inspired Twist (originality) for each dish. As well as Cleanliness and Waste during the competition.
As we sat down at our booth, we all stared at each other blankly. None of us had ever worked with a live lobster. Sure I'd cooked Lobster tail in my career, great accompaniment with a Steak, high ticket item, but this was Iron Chef, we couldn't simply do a Surf n Turf Steak and Lobster dish, where's the inspired twist for that?
We had a 1/2 hour to come up with our menu, and we had decided as a group that we would push the cooking time from 1hr, to 1.5 hours to account for the complexity of the ingredients. We needed that 1/2 hour, as we sat there, tossing ideas off each other for what seemed like forever. We played with the idea of a Surf n Turf, but tossed it out for lack of creativity, we could do things with just the lobster, or just the grapes, it was intertwining the two that was causing us trouble. It wasn't required that both items be used in each dish, but we wanted to have some cross-over in one of our dishes at least. With only minutes left in our half hour of menu planning, we finally nailed down our three dishes, wrote up a copy of our menu and submitted it for approval.
It was a pretty demanding menu, we had our work cut out for us:
Our Menu
Amuse-Bouche: Grape and Lobster Salsa Crustini
Entree: Pan Seared Lobster Ravioli in a Brown Butter Sauce
Dessert: Sweet French Toast Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
We had committed to making our own fresh pasta for the Ravioli, and our own Grape Jelly for the dessert, two things that could very easily end us if we made the slightest mistake during prep. They're both too time consuming for us to start over if we don't get it right the first time.
Team 2 spent the entire half hour on their menu as well. They had put together the following:
Competition's Menu
Amuse-Bouche: Grape and Lobster Crustini
Appetizer: Lobster Bisque with prawn spread crackers
Entree: Surf and Turf
They had the same idea as us for a Amuse-Bouche, but their other 2 items seemed pretty run of the mill to us, we felt good about our menu, if we could pull it off, the competition was ours.
We laid out our tools and got to work. I was tasked with making our fresh pasta for the ravioli, while Curtis went to work on our homemade Grape Jelly. Before we went about our individual tasks, we all agreed to work on the lobster together, it was an experience none of us wanted to miss. Into the cooler I went to retrieve our friendly little guy, and he was being anything but friendly, I don't think he much liked his accommodations in the metal insert. Our pots of water had reached a boil, and it was time for our friends to make the final plunge. None of us ever having handled a lobster before, I volunteered to toss him in the pot. Grabbing it by the back of it's shell, thumb underneath, fingers on top, I lifted it out of the insert. It's legs waved about wildly, claws snapping and tail slapping in the air. A quick turn and it was hovering over the pot as I dropped it just above the water, a small splash was the last we heard from the little guy.
With the lobster boiling away, I went about my task of putting together our pasta dough. It has been years since I last made fresh pasta from scratch, and it's not a process I was keen on repeating under such conditions. Grabbing a metal bowl, I weighed out some flour, grabbed a couple eggs from the cooler, cracking them in to a separate bowl, giving them a quick whisk and then tossing them in with the flour. A bit of cold water and I went to town. Hands mixing and combining the mixture. It took a while to get the right consistency, as I added more and more cold water a couple ounces at a time. Making your own dough isn't difficult, but it can certainly be time consuming. Add a little too much water and you can kiss all your hard work good bye.
Meanwhile, Curtis began chopping up some red grapes for our grape jelly. Unfortunately we didn't have any gelatin available to us in the kitchen, so we were going to have to rely on caramelizing the sugars from the grapes in order to get the thickness and consistency of a jelly. Doing this without burning a fresh fruit like grapes is easier said than done. Into a saute pan went the red grapes, to them we added sugar, a bit of water, and chardonnay. Once that was on low heat, it was time to move on.
Tony went to work on our Grape and Lobster salsa for the Amuse Bouche. Grabbing a handful of red and green grapes, we quartered them and set them aside for the lobster. Once we had that out of the way, it was time to check on our lobster. Grabbing a pair of tongs, Tony grabbed our attitude adjusted critter, much calmer now as his shell had taken on a bright beautiful red hue. We all looked at each other.. "So... how do you know when a lobster's cooked?" we asked. None of us knew the answer. It was red, it was dead.. that was all we needed. A fresh seafood cutting board came out and on went our lifeless friend. Tony grabbed the biggest knife in reach, a shimmering 12" Chef Knife, and went for it.
*Crack, Snap, Chop* One claw gone.
*Crack, Snap, Chop* The other claw resting on the blue board.
*Craaaaaack!* One clean slice right through the middle, splitting the head and body of the Lobster in one go. Colors abound poured from the head and body, green, pinkish red, blue, and a creamy white filled the cutting board in the form of juices and guts. It was quite the sight, none of us knowing exactly what each part was, but knowing we weren't about to eat any of it.
*Chop!* One last slice separated the tail from the body and we were good to go.
Tossing the body, and spilled intestines into the garbage, we took each claw, one swift hit from the flat of the blade and out came the claw meat. Grabbing a pair of shears and flipping the tail over, we cut down the underside of the tail, the sound of splitting shell ringing through the kitchen, pulling the shell apart, we pulled out the tail meat and tossed away the rest of the shell. We had our lobster meat.
All of that took about 2 minutes, Tony doing an excellent job of dispatching our chosen crustacean. Looking at our meat, we came to the conclusion that the 5 or so minute he had spent in the boiling water, didn't quite cut it. The meat was still a little underdone, oops! What to do now?
I had finished kneading my pasta dough. Having reached the right consistency, I rolled it into a ball, covered it in Saran wrap and tossed it into the cooler to settle. Cleaning up my station, I turned my attention to the Lobster and Grape Salsa. With the grapes already quartered, I used the claw meat, still quite flimsy from being undercooked. Dicing it up, I tossed it in with the grapes, to that I added a generous amount of lime juice, a couple ounces of chardonnay, salt and pepper, and fresh chiffonade basil. We used the acidity of the lime juice to finish firming up the undercooked lobster. Citrus juices and other highly acidic liquids can be used to alter the structure of the protein, you'll find this approach used often in high class restaurants, marinating a fresh cut of fish with lemon or lime juice, and serving it raw. It's known as Ceviche (Seh-vee-chay), and while it does not actually cook the fish, it creates the texture and appearance of a cooked fish, firming up the protein and giving it an opaque white appearance. The meat is still very much raw, and thus must only be done with very fresh, sushi grade seafood. Wrapping up the salsa, we threw it in the cooler to marinate.
Our Jelly was coming along nicely.. slowly simmering down in the pan, the color was fantastic, a deep dark red. Curtis grabbed a loaf of Parisien bread (similar to a french loaf), and sliced off a few good sized rounds for our crustinis, then made a couple bias cuts for our Peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches. Tossing the crustinis with a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Parmesan Reggiano, we slid them onto a baking tray and into the oven til they became a beautiful golden brown.
I grabbed another stainless steel bowl, retrieved a couple eggs, and some half and half cream from the cooler. Cracking the eggs into the bowl, I added a touch of cream, a generous amount of icing sugar, and a touch of cinnamon. Whisking it all together, our french toast batter was ready to go. We still had another 40 or so minutes to go in the competition, so we wrapped it up and placed it into the cooler.
The pasta dough had been resting for about 20 minutes now, it was time to make or break our menu. I pulled it out of the cooler, took off the Saran Wrap. It had softened nicely, an audible sigh of relief escaping my lips. Our next challenge was rolling the dough. The restaurant didn't have a dough roller, or even a rolling pin! We searched frantically for something that would work, finally I found a bottle of Voga wine. For those that have never seen a bottle of Voga, it's a uniform sized round bottle from top to bottom, about the width of your average rolling pin, it should work nicely, it had to. Wrapping the bottle in Saran wrap, I cut the dough into 1/4's and sprinkled my counter with flour. Pressing the dough out with my hands initially, until it was about a 1/2" in thickness, then out came the Voga. I spent the next 25 minutes of my life rolling that bottle back and forth over that dough, what must have been 200 times. If you've never made your own pasta dough, without a pasta dough roller, it's exhausting work. Center, out to the edge, back to the center and our towards the edge again, over and over and over. More flour hits counter as I flip the dough over, ensuring it doesn't get stuck and tear. Tony would periodically poke his head over "How's it going? Having fun?" the sarcasm was off the charts amongst our own little group throughout the entire competition. "Oh yea Tony, a blast, thanks for letting Me take care of the pasta dough!"
Tony: "You'll need to get it thinner than that..."
Me: "Oh really? I thought we'd make bulletproof pasta, 1/2" thick!"
Roll.. Roll.. Roll... My wrists and arms were burning by the end of it.. but finally I had gotten the dough down to a uniform thickness of about 1 to 2 millimeters. It could have been thinner, but we needed to get these cut, sealed and cooked.
While I was rolling the dough, Tony put together the filling for our ravioli. Chopping up the Lobster tail, we added some fresh Bocconcini mozzarella, red peppers, and scallions. Bocconcini is a very fresh, mild mozzarella. Unripened it absorbs flavours very well, and would add a savoury creamy texture to our ravioli, picking up the flavours of the lobster and scallions. Tossed in a touch of extra virgin olive oil, and the filling was ready to go. Simple, but delicious. Using a large rocks glass, I cut out 14 rounds from my pasta dough. We had to make 2 of each dish, and were going to use 3 raviolis per dish, so we made 7, just incase. Throwing together a quick egg wash (Egg whites/Water), I spooned a healthy portion of our filling into the center of 7 of my rounds (about 3" in diameter), brushing the edges with the egg wash, then pressing down another round of dough ontop, crimping the edges with a fork.
Curtis worked on the garnish for our Ravioli. Taking a few fresh scallions, slicing them up into 1 inch pieces we put a cup of oil into a saute pan, added our scallion pieces and a touch of salt. Brought the oil up to about 140 degrees, cut the heat and let it settle. Tossing everything into a blender, we pureed the mixture, the scallions giving the oil a bright green color. Strained through a chinois, to give us a beautiful, bright, flavourful scallion infused oil.
We had our 7 pieces of ravioli ready to go. Our crustinis were golden brown and cooled. The Grape Jelly was off the heat and cooling for our Peanut butter and Jelly Sandwich. We had about 15 minutes left on the clock, Tony had thrown on a pot of water for the ravioli, already at a boil, we added some coarse kosher salt and in went the 7 Raviolis. Fingers crossed that they would hold and not come apart in the water. We turned the heat down a touch to keep it at a simmer to reduce the stress on the crimped edges. It was time to finish up each of our dishes. Tony took care of the Amuse Bouche crustini, Curtis handled the PB n J sandwich and I continued with my Ravioli.
The Amuse Bouche: Lobster and Grape Salsa Crustini
The Amuse bouche crustini was a simple finish, on a chilled 10" square plate, we took one of our golden brown crustinis, having drained the excess liquid from our Lobster and Grape salsa, a healthy portion was carefully mounded atop. Garnished with a couple Daikon (radish) sprouts.
The Entree: Pan Seared Lobster Ravioli in a Brown Butter Sauce.
I let the ravioli cook in the pasta water for about 3 or 4 minutes, fresh pasta doesn't need a lot of time, and it was still going to be pan seared. This process would finish cooking the lobster in our filling, making it fresh and firm, and allowing the juices to absorb into our melting bocconcini mozzarella. While the ravioli cooked, I took 3 or 4 cloves of garlic and minced them finely. Grabbing 2 fresh roma tomatoes, I halved them, scraped out the seeds and juices to prevent it from making our ravioli watery and soggy, then diced them up. As I pulled the ravioli from the water, I heated up 2 saute pans, tossing in a healthy amount of butter to each pan, I added the fresh minced garlic and a touch of salt and pepper. Turning the heat down low as I lightly browned the garlic, in went the ravioli with a pinch of crushed red chilies for heat. With the butter and garlic lightly browned, I seared the Ravioli, giving it a little bit of colour and letting the flavoured butter soak into the pasta. I turned off the heat, added the diced romas, tossing them lightly for 30 seconds til just until they warmed up, then plated the fresh Lobster Ravioli into hot 10" Rounds. Garnished with a drizzle of scallion infused oil and fresh chiffonade basil, it was ready for judging.
The Dessert: Sweet French Toast Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
With our bias cut parisien loaf, we spread a generous amount of peanut butter on one side, and our fresh made grape jelly on the other. Squishing them together, we then dipped the entire sandwich into our sweetened french toast batter. Placing the sandwiches on a nice hot flat grill, we grilled them to a golden brown on each side. The Peanut butter and Jam warming, teasingly oozing from the edges of the french toast. Cutting each sandwich on a bias, we angled the 2 overtop one another, then placed a small scoop of vanilla gelato atop the criss crossed tips. A bit of our fresh grape jelly drizzled over the gelato, a sprinkle of icing sugar and a fresh sprig of mint finished off the dish.
We finished our plating with seconds left on the clock. Both groups bringing out their dishes to the judging table.
The hour of judging passed by slowly.. we were very happy with how our dishes turned out, and hadn't had much of a chance to see what the other team had done. We were anxious for the results.
Finally we were called down for the judging. They went dish by dish, first up was the Amuse-Bouche.
Team 2 - Amuse-Bouche: Grape and Lobster Crustini
Description: Golden baked Crustini, topped with balsamic marinated grapes, garnished with a piece of lobster tail and a sprig of parsley.
Pros: The judges said the balsamic vinegar provided a strong contrast to the sweetness of the grapes. That it was a good looking plate, and just the right size for a Amuse-Bouche.
Cons: The lobster didn't really have a roll in this dish, as though it was added as an afterthought.
My Opinion: Their presentation was confusing. The balsamic vinegar created a dark, in my opinion, unappealing appearance to the crustini. The grapes, halved and placed in a row atop was far too uniform and did nothing for me. As for the piece of lobster sitting off to the side.. I have no idea what it was doing there, and the sprig of parsley seemingly randomly placed on the side of the plate showed an inexperience in presentation. It added no flavour to the plate and was used merely for some colour, every piece of a plate should be intended for your guests enjoyment, including garnishes. The dish tasted good, however the balsamic was a little overwhelming for my tastes.
Team 1 - Amuse-Bouche: Grape and Lobster Salsa Crustini
Description: Golden brown crustini, topped with a Grape and Lobster Salsa, chopped lobster claw, green and red grapes, tossed with a zesty lime and chardonnay dressing. Garnished with Daikon Radish Sprouts.
Pros: The plate was clean and simple. Perfect size for a Amuse-Bouche. The colours of the grapes, lobster, and sprouts played well off one another for a very appealing presentation. The taste was great, the lime and chardonnay complimenting the grapes perfectly, with the soft flavour of lobster accenting the dish.
Cons: None.
My Opinion: I was very happy with this dish. We made a couple extra for us to try in the back, and it was delicious. The tang of the lime and bite of the chardonnay played perfectly off of the grapes. The sprouts added a nice texture and presentation to the dish. I wouldn't have changed a thing.
Team 2 - Appetizer: Lobster Bisque with prawn spread crackers
Description: A thick Lobster Bisque, garnished with a full portion of Lobster Claw meat, served with 2 crustinis, covered in a poached prawn and herb spread.
Pros: The judges really enjoyed the presentation of the claw meat in the bisque. The flavour and consistency of the bisque was dead on in their eyes and the accompanying poached prawn and herb crackers added a welcome contrast to the creamy bisque.
Cons: Inspired Twist. There was nothing all that original with the lobster bisque, pretty text book approach.
My Opinion: The other team heated up some extra bisque for us in the back, it was creamy, if not a little bland. A bisque is intended to be a thick creamy consistency, but I believe they made this a little too thick, Tyler, one of the judges, tipped the bowl of bisque during the explanation of the judging and the bisque had taken on a nearly jello consistency, not even sliding in the bowl. I didn't get a chance to try the crackers, but they certainly looked good. I also enjoyed their presentation of the full claw in the bisque, but again, I'm not sure a proper bisque would be able to support the claw like that with it's consistency.
Team 1 - Dessert: Sweet French Toast Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Description: A Sweet French Toast Battered Bread, seared til crisp and golden brown, homemade grape jelly and peanut butter slathered in between, served with a small scoop of Vanilla Gelato, a drizzle of jelly and a light dusting of icing sugar.
Pros: Presentation on this was fantastic. A great looking plate, colourful and eye catching. Creating our own grape jelly from scratch impressed the judges.
Cons: The judges found that the peanut butter overwhelmed the jelly. And said that a PB n J sandwich was not 'inspired' or original.
My Opinion: I had to pick my jaw up off the floor as I listened to this judging. We made an extra one of these and ate it in the back. The jelly tasted fantastic, easily distinguishable from the peanut butter, the sweetness of the french toast crust, slightly warm, mixed with the vanilla gelato was mouth watering. I could take the complaint that they couldn't taste the jelly, perhaps we didn't spread it evenly enough on the one they ate.. but the comment about this not having an 'inspired twist' had Tony, Curtis and myself all look at each other. We maintained our cool during the judging, taking the criticism as it was offered without retort. I'd love to see you find any restaurant in Canada, possibly the world, where you can sit down and be served a French Toast Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich, if that isn't an inspired twist, I have no idea what is. This dessert was delicious, we made it again on our return to my restaurant after people in the restaurant had seen the pictures, and received nothing but rave reviews.
Team 2 - Entree: Surf and Turf
Description: Grilled 11oz NY Steak, served with lobster and a Béarnaise Sauce. Accompanied by Potato Au Gratin, and caramelized onions, grapes and beans.
Pros: The judges really enjoyed the potatoes and vegetables on this dish. Potato au Gratin is essentially very thinly sliced potatoes, steamed with cheese melted inbetween each layer. Their vegetables were a caramelized onion and grape mixture, atop a bed of pan seared green beans.
Cons: There was no Inspired Twist, a simple case of Surf and Turf that you could find at any number of restaurants in any town. The presentation was lacking. The NY steak was under seasoned.
My Opinion: The judges hit on some good points with this one. The presentation of this plate was horrible. There were 2 or 3 inches between each item on the plate, not appetizing at all. There was nothing inspired about this dish, we couldn't believe they even did a Surf and Turf, and then when we saw it, they didn't even do it well. There were 3 bits of lobster placed across the top of the steak, then smothered in a Béarnaise sauce, did nothing for the presentation. We didn't get to try the steak, but we did get to try their vegetables. I think the one bite of their veggies that I had doubled my sodium intake for the day. All I could taste was salt, I didn't spit it out, out of respect for the other team, but I had to wash it down with water just to get the salt off my tongue. I don't know how they wow'd the judges with that veg, maybe I just got a bad bite, but I was not impressed. Also, much like their Amuse-Bouche, they threw on a deep fried basil leaf. It had nothing to do with the dish, there was no basil used anywhere in their entire dish, merely for presentation purposes once again, just seemed like a poor choice to me.
Team 1 - Entree: Pan Seared Lobster Ravioli in a Brown Butter Sauce
Description: Freshly made Ravioli, stuffed with lobster, bocconcini mozzarella, green onion, and herbs/spices. Pan seared with fresh chopped garlic, a touch of crushed chilies and diced roma tomato, then garnished with a drizzle of Scallion infused oil and fresh chiffonade basil.
Pros: The filling melted together beautifully, each ingredient playing off each other inside that fresh ravioli shell. The judges really enjoyed the taste, the lightly browned butter and garlic with a hint of heat from the chilies and a fresh light taste of the scallion infused oil. We got props for taking a chance with making our own fresh pasta. They loved the plating, simple but pretty.
Cons: The edges of our ravioli were a little doughy, mostly due to us not being able to get the dough thin enough during preparation, without a pasta dough roller it takes a lot of time to get it as thin as needed, but they said it was a small critique considering the circumstances. They also felt that it was lacking in creativity, lobster ravioli is done in many places.
My Opinion: I couldn't fault them for the critiques. Although considering the task of making our own fresh pasta dough, the inspired twist I think was there, it's not something you're going to see a lot of in these competitions. We ate the one extra ravioli that we made in the back after plating this up. The flavours really did melt together, it was delicious. We all noticed the doughy edges, but wrote it off as a risk we had to take. I really enjoyed this dish, and was very happy with it's final presentation. It was certainly miles beyond what the other team had produced for their entree in originality, difficulty, presentation and taste.
And the winner is...
*Drum Roll*
Team 2
You read that right folks. We lost. We couldn't believe that we lost. We were all in shock, even the other team seemed surprised to hear the final verdict. We got up from the judging table, offered our congratulations to the other team, hand shakes and congratulations out of the way, we headed to the back to get ready for the trip home. Not wanting to start a scene or disrespect the other team we kept quiet til we exited the restaurant.
Once we were out of earshot, we started discussing the competition's results. The judges for the competition were 3 managers from Team 2's restaurant. Which in and of itself is a horrible choice. Perhaps our own opinions are just as biased as their judging was, but we couldn't even begin to grasp the idea that we lost. When the judges were discussing each dish, they sounded like they knew nothing about food, or food presentation. Nothing was mentioned of the useless garnishes placed on the competitions dishes, and they marked each of our Amuse-Bouche crustinis as equal in presentation. Again, perhaps I'm biased, but looking at the pictures of each crustini dish, there's really no contest for me as to which one looks more appealing. Our difficulty and originality was leaps and bounds beyond theirs for both the Appy/Dessert pairing and the Entrees. Everything on our plates was meant to be incorporated into the enjoyment of the dish, no useless garnishes, fresh, appealing, clean plates.
I hate to say we were unfairly judged, but we couldn't come up with any other conclusion. A bisque as thick as jello? Sure it looked great, but that's not a bisque.
All said and done, we had a blast with the battle. We may not have won, but we were all happy with the dishes we produced.
Cheers,
Ravyn
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