Iron Chef America: Battle Spinach
This week, Iron Chef Bobby Flay was challenged by Chef Akira Back, who had trained under Morimoto. The secret ingredient was spinach. Judges were restaurateur Donatella Apara, actress Cady Huffman and Jeffrey Steingarten.
Chef Back presented six dishes: tomato and spinach gelee (Cady felt the tomato was overpowering), chawan mushi (Jeffrey got bent out of shape about the “inedible garnish”), chicken and spinach shabu-shabu, new age nabe, spinach yuzu sake, and spinach wrapped kobe and potato foam. Chef Flay presented five dishes: spinach and oyster bisque (Cady thought it was beautifully done), spinach and feta soufflé (Jeffrey said it was delicious), spinach tamale (Donatella didn’t really taste the spinach in the tamale itself), spinach macaroni and cheese, and an homage to the steakhouse (with creamed spinach).
When it came to the judging, it really wasn’t close at all. Flay won taste by a score of 23 to 17 and originally by a score of 11 to 8. Back did take plating, by a score of 13 to 11.
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