Iron Chef America: Battle Kampachi
This week, Iron Chef Morimoto was challenged by Chef Fortunato Nicotra. The secret ingredient? Kampachi! Judges were Queer Eye’s Ted Allen, Kelly Choi (host of “Eat Out New York”), and John Nihof (a professor at the Culinary Institute of America).
Chef Morimoto presented six dishes (at least that is what I counted) instead of five. He had kampachi temura (of which Ted said the batter was perfect), kampachi tartare, 5 spice rubbed whole kampachi, miso braised kampachi and daikon, and finally kampachi and rice bowl. Chef Nicotra presented five dishes: kampachi crudo tasting, kampachi tagliata, kampachi and two potato cannelloni (which Ted said the sweet potato worked better, but Kelly thought it married together well), kampachi tail (Ted loved the large salt block it was served on), and steamed kampachi with razor clam chowder.
When it came to the judging, it really wasn’t close. Morimoto won for taste and plating and the two chefs tied for originality, so Morimoto reigned supreme again!
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January 23rd, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Was there any surprise that they would have picked Morimoto as the Iron Chef for this challenge? Kampachi is a perfect ingredient for Japanese cooking.