Excuse me if this post is not accurate or complete. I was too enthralled to take notes.
After our hot-pot dinner, I made everyone watch Iron Chef America. There was some grumbling because Family Guy was on at the same time, but I didn’t really care because I was dying to see Rob Feenie beat Masaharu Morimoto. Not that I have anything against Morimoto, it’s just that I love Rob Feenie.
The last Iron Chef America I watched was hosted by the always lovely William Shatner. Whoever made that casting train wreck of a decision should be blackballed from Hollywood. After about two minutes of watching, I knew that the new version would be much, much better. They retained some of the campiness that made me love the original, but didn’t over-do it and they actually had commentators that knew something about food. What a brilliant concept.
I squealed when they revealed the secret ingredient: crab. There were all kinds of crab, but I think the main ones were Dungeness Crab, Blue Crab, Peekytoe Crab, and some sort of unfortunate small Japanese crab that Morimoto tossed into the deep-fat-fryer while still alive. It was exciting and stressful watching the chefs pull their pinching crabs from the pile and chop them up (again, while still alive) with parts flying everywhere. After an hour, this is what they had made:
Rob Feenie
Two kinds of crab maki – This looked incredibly good and I’d like to try making it at home. The crab was mixed with something creamy (mayo?) and then spread onto the seaweed, then the outside of the rolls had a very thin layer of salmon lox and raw tuna.
Sablefish with crab in tom yum broth – While this looked delicious, I don’t know if I’d like it all that much. I think I OD’d on sablefish the last time I was in Canada.
Crab ravioli with truffle beurre blanc – This looked amazing and when he added the truffles to the beurre blanc I wanted to cry.
Veal loin with hollandaise and crab – A beautiful roast of veal on a bed of mushrooms, with a creamy crab sauce. How could this not be good?
Peekytoe crab panna cotta with pineapple jelly – This was the one thing that didn’t quite turn out right. Something about the freezers not working. It sounds so weird, but I’d love to try it.
Masaharu Morimoto
Okay, so to be completely honest… I wasn’t really paying much attention to what Morimoto was making, so the descriptions are kinda vague.
Crab consommé – I think this was served in some sort of melon bowl with the little fried crabs as garnish.
Buttermilk crab croquette – Uh? No clue. Something deep-fried.
Crab on a paddle with crab fondue – I liked the crab on a paddle idea until he started blackening it on an open flame. It just seemed weird. The judges thought the cheese fondue overpowered the crab.
Black pepper Dungeness crab – Okay, this looked really good.
Crab rice with baked miso paste – This seemed boring.
Before the final score was revealed I asked everyone who they thought would win. I was the only one who thought Rob Feenie would win—and he won with 45 points to Morimoto’s 39! The weird thing is that Feenie won most of his points in the Creativity category, but it seemed like Morimoto was more creative. Just less successfully creative. Good thing I’m not a food critic.
So despite all the grumbling before the show, everyone was into it by the end and said it was way more exciting than they thought it would be. I was tense during the whole show and started screaming when Feenie won. Is this what it’s like for football fans? I may have just found my new sport…
