all this talk about cheese made me think it was a sign when tongiht's iron chef america battle was the battle of the CHEESE!! (italian cheeses, specifically.) often i root hard for the challengers on iron chef america, b/c i think bobby flay is a cocky jackass, but tonight iron chef mario batali won my heart with his humor and his intriguing use of cheese (he had a little too much veal for my taste. but the challenger used a FEMUR in one of his dishes--which the judges loved! EWWWW!).
the best part is that alton brown's comments are somehow always in earshot of batali, so when floor commentator kevin brausch asks alton something like, "have you ever deep-fried a calzone?" and alton replies, "kevin, there are few foodstuffs i haven't put into a deep fryer," batali is primed to say in an exaggerated accent, "that's becuz i'm from the south!" to which kevin replied, "alton, i think the iron chef is making fun of you." hee.
also, i like when ted allen (from queer eye) is a judge. he always says such neat things about the food--and he will always be in my heart for the queer eye opening credits, where he purposefully grabs a whisk and strides away.
food network is really on fire tonight (metaphorically speaking): now they're having a pizza competition! what is better than cheese? cheese on bread with STUFF! food network, i love you. but you make me so darn hungry!
9 comments:
I wasn't all that impressed by last night's challenger. I thought his plating managed to be both sloppy and fussy at the same time. But he was dealt a tough hand -- with a table full of Italian cheeses, it seemed like he mostly gave up on his own cuisine and ended up doing a Mario Batali impression -- pretty much a guaranteed losing strategy. The judges mentioned the cheese appetizer plate (the one with the red pepper cannoli) as being Batali-esque. I thought the plate with the veal marrow was also very much in the Mario stylee (Batali is down with the "variety meats" at his restaurants, at least as far as I can see from the menus).
yeah, that's the other reason i wasn't rooting for him. obviously he was at a disadvantage, but isn't he an italian chef too? i don't get why his dishes weren't more creative. and why he thought having so many salads was a good idea. *shrug* usually there's a fair amount of tension re: who will win--usually i think it could go either way--but last night was a rout.
my favorite challenger so far has been the cute guy with the dreadlocks whose name i forget now--but again, i hate bobby flay, so that may have had something to do with why i wanted him to win. :)
I watched a little bit of that pizza competition - what was up with that one guy who was tossing the multicolored dough? I wonder if it was edible, because it looked like play-doh to me. Purple and pink dough - not as appetizing to me.
heh, no, that wasn't meant to be eaten (though i imagine it was technically edible). i saw a lot of the dough for the acrobatic portion start off on the floor. the acrobat from team california also had dyed dough--a big reddish-orange dough-thing, to "bring the california sun to the judges" (he spun it over their heads).
but i agree--i am all about innovative pizza, but that doesn't mean i wantto eat pizza that's oddly colored.
it touched the guy's shirt, too - I was like...mmmmm...play-doh pizza with lint!
(I once had toast from a loaf of bright-pink challah. toast was fine but I balked at sandwiches)
was it pink for any particular reason?
i believe it was strictly a novelty item. then again this was Florida, and they like bright colors there.
(and if you're making hamentaschen....I haven't had one in YEARS!)
do you have a flavor preference (among cherry, apricot, and chocolate chip)?
as long as it isn't prune (that or poppyseed are the only flavors I remember) I have no particular preference :-)
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