Iron Chef America: Battle Cherry
This week’s “Iron Chef America” challenger was Chef David Walzog. He chose to challenge Iron Chef Cat Cora. The secret ingredient was cherries. The judges this week were comedian/food reporter Mo Rocca, Broadway actress Roz Ryan, and food author Jeffrey Steingarten.
Iron Chef Cat Cora served up five dishes: stuffed cherry brochette (Roz said the cherry champagne was “slamming” but she wasn’t sure about the lamb bacon), chicken liver mousse with cherry gelee, Alaskan king crab tail with cherry salsa (Jeffrey was unsure if this dish brought out the cherries enough), cherry soup (Cat called it a palette cleanser, but the judges thought of it more as a dessert), cherry risotto with duck (Mo called it extraordinary), and sour cherry empanadas (Roz loved the crust).
Chef David Walzog served up five dishes as well: coconut-cherry salad (I cracked up when, as he ate the salad out of the coconut bowl, Mo told Jeffrey he would be a great Skipper, but it was bad when Roz was almost chocking from the heat of the dish), cherry ancho glazed quail (the rice salad was quite beautiful), cherry and truffle crusted rack of lamb (Chef David gave Jeffrey some more of the tequila drink – I think he was trying to get him drunk after a few harsh comments), cherry glazed filet (Jeffrey called the meat “perfect”), and cherry cheesecake crepe souffle.
After the really hot dish from Chef David, I expected Iron Chef Cora to win and she did, but it was still fairly close. She took him 25 to 24 on taste, but he won plating by one point. The decider was originality, which Iron Chef Cora took 13 to 10 for a final score of 48 to 45.
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