But now the world (OK, everyone who watches Food Network) knows how awesome Edward Lee is, too.
Tonight on Iron Chef America Chef Lee took on the new Iron Chef, Jose Garces. Alton Brown pronounced himself Vice Chairman for the night, as we were sadly without the Chairman's presence. That seemed to suit Alton, he's always complaining that he never gets to eat the things he's smelling and talking about.
For those not familiar with this show, Iron Chef America is based on a Japanese show that I highly recommend. A challenger selects which of the Iron Chefs he wishes to cook against, they are given a secret ingredient, and they have one hour to create five dishes for three judges. They are then judged based on taste, plating, and originality, with taste having the strongest weighting.
Bobby Flay is one of the better known and oft challenged Iron Chefs, so I was really excited to see Chef Lee challenge Iron Chef Garces. You can get a full bio of Chef Garces here, but he is the least tried of all the Iron Chefs. You might have seen him on a previous season of the show The Next Iron Chef, you might have heard of one of his restraunts in Philadelphia, or you might have picked up a copy of his cook book Latin Evolution
.He specializes in the cuisines of Spain and Latin America, trying to bring to the fore what came before while showing off the potential of dishes. Garces says his mantra is that 'authentic' and 'innovative' are not contradictory words. A very nice change from Bobby Flay's southwestern style everything. I admit to a bit of disappointment over the choice of judges for this episode.Of the three, one admitted to having never eaten any of the secret ingredients and one of the other two is notable mostly for his fashion designing. It's always fun to see two foodie judges contradict and subtly snub one another.
But I haven't gotten to the most interesting part of the show yet: the Secret Ingredient. Rumor has is that the contestants are given a list of five possible secret ingredients ahead of time, so that they can prepare potential menus. However, nobody can get that confirmed; we are left to speculate. Tonight's Secret Ingredient was... Tongue and Cheek! Ignoring any and all possible puns, what was presented to the challengers was tongue (beef, lamb, and duck) and cheek (beef and halibut). This presents a challenge, as both of these need to be cooked for longer times to avoid toughness. Our chefs got around this by using lots and lots of pressure cookers.
I think one of the most notable parts of Battle Tongue and Cheek was the somewhat relaxed pace of the two contestants. Normally the chefs jog around the kitchen and move at a hurried pace. Neither chef tonight displayed that frenetic energy. Both moved briskly but smoothly, with the challenger Chef Lee bringing a bit of pressure as he finished his plating with nearly a full minute to spare. Panicked plating that goes down at the last second is much more typical of challengers on Iron Chef America, but as one viewer commented to me "Not that I know him, but seeing how his restaurant is-- I couldn't imagine a frantic kitchen."
I'm missing nuances, but generally speaking, here are the dishes as presented to the judges:
As challenger, Chef Lee presented first. He described the secret ingredients as "historically humble" and usually "misunderstood" and told the judges that he planned to pair them with "equally modest" ingredients so that the secret ingredients would shine. His first dish was a cow tongue Reuben, served with a pickled okra mayonnaise and some sauerkraut soup with a cow tongue crouton. It was a little sandwich square, reminiscent of the itty BLTs served at 610. The second dish presented to the judges was a duck tongue wrapped in Thai basil and tempura deep-fried. It was served over a tongue curry broth with mussels that were, I believe, cooked in the same broth. It sounds disjointed, but apparently the tastes were wonderful together and had a very inviting smell. Halibut cheeks stuffed with a shrimp something-or-other were served third. I would give you more details, but I was too busy drooling at the screen. The general consensus of my viewing party was that it looked "really good, really really good." However good it was, the fourth dish was the one that wowed the judges. It was a lamb tongue and pork cheek arancini. If you follow that link, Chef Lee's looked about a million times better than the ones in the picture there. They were served in a wide bowl with this lovely green sauce. The fifth and final dish was a braised beef cheek served over corn grits with bourbon iced tea in a mason jar. The beef cheek was cooked in a barbecue sauce that included local sorghum molasses and black (fermented) garlic. His presentation included corn husks and some of the paper from the garlic. I think the bourbon made this a particularly hard act to follow.
Iron Chef Garces presented his take on the secret ingredient "with the world as a backdrop." His first dish was a deconstructed greek salad using the beef tongue, served with a lot of little dips and dots of things all over the plate, like a preserved lemon cream and a kalamata olive puree. His second dish took the tasters to Asia with a pork cheek bao that was served with a little salad of pickled stuff in a mason jar. The third dish was an italian beef cheek pappardalle, which my spell-check absolutely hates. In reality, it was a yummy looking noodle dish made with pine nuts and presented to the judges to eat out of a clear blue glass bowl with a ridiculously long fork. Iron Chef Garces' very small fourth dish was a bit lost on an expanse of white plate, but it was a slightly salty Halibut al Ajillo--Spanish-style halibut cheeks with garlic and I think some chorizo. The fifth dish, to me, had the most interesting presentation, but then I'm a fan of lots of little bowls of ingredients. This final dish was a do-it-yourself trip to Mexico City, with the secret ingredients as taco filling. I would love to tell you what all the little bowls of things to put with it were, but at this point my notes are just too scribbled and drool covered to make it out. One was a sauce made with chilies that was a bit on the spicy side for one of the judges.
After a break (and a commercial for those of us at home) the judges came to their decisions. Chef Garces was given twenty-five for taste, eleven for plating, and twelve for originality. Chef Lee was also given twenty-five for taste, but he broke free from any potential tie by being awarded fourteens in both plating and originality.
For deliciousness that you can taste yourself, and a truly fine dining experience, 610 Magnolia is absolutely one of the best places in town to eat. Even with constraints on time and ingredients, Chef Edward Lee was able to prove the superiority of the wonderful things he prepares. Might be worth seeing what he can do when he has plenty of time, hmm?
You can watch this episode at 1 am tonight (tomorrow) and again on the 11th at 9 pm eastern.
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