So Cal Iron Chef Report: 10/16/1998 "Veal Confront" Greetings, Iron Chef fans. This report is on the veal confront, originally aired in Japan on October 16, 1998. Challenger: ----------- The challenger of the week, Kyoko Kagata is a female chef that has challenged, and won over Iron Chinese Chen 5 years ago (re: "Scallops Confront", 3/20/1994). Not only it is rare to have a female challenger, she was the first one to show up in the Kitchen Stadium and also the first female chef to have won. She was working at Royal Park Hotel in Tokyo, trained under Chef Shimamura (a well known and respected French chef in Japan). She got married in 1996 with a colleague, but the marriage ended up in divorce just one year later. She then resigned the Hotel job. This past April, she became the chef at her uncle's newly opened French restaurant in Gotemba (60 miles south west of Tokyo) called "Ann Mon Reve" -- Anne of Green Gables in English, for those literal fans. She said she wanted the challenge for her "new self". Later in the show, the master chef Shimamura, showed up to watch his pupil doing her best. Iron Chef: ---------- Iron Chinese Chen was picked once again, to take her challenge. He stated "the last time, I was thinking 'what a cute girl' and wasn't concentrating. That was a professional insult on my part, and I paid for it. I will do my best this time". Theme: ------ French produced milk-fed veal. Baby back rib and leg meat. It was described as "three star restaurant material", costing about 800,000 yen, or about $ 6,600 (note: yen was quite a bit cheaper agaisnt dollar then). Dishes: ------- Challenger Kagata - Veal thigh Culpaccio A simple dish flavored with cheese parmesan, basil and lemon juice. - Veal Potofu with Cheese Sauce Kagata wrapped veal meat in vegetables and cooked in the pressure cooker. Sweetness of vegetables matches the cheese sauce (she used Gouda, Cammanvale, and Italian Blue Cheese) to enhance the taste of milk-fed veal. One of her best dishes. Judges praised its lightness, "It tastes like veal, but it is so light, I could be fooled'. - Veal Peaupillette Cutlet She stretched the meat then wrapped foie gras and scampi dipped in fon-de-beau. She then dressed the meat in starch and sauteed it on skillet. Minced truffles were sprinkled on top. It was said to be unbelievably tender for a cutlet. - Roasted Veal Back Rib covered with Crushed Chestnut One of the best looking dish for the evening. Kagata dressed baby back rib with crushed chestnuts and placed in the pan with butter, laurel and garlic, put then in oven. Judges described it as sweet, very elegant. Asako Kishi, the gourmet critic, said when Kagata showed up the first time around, she was young and fearless. This time around, she was very carefully thinking and it shows. Iron Chef Chen In case you were wondering, Chinese generally don't eat veal. So what's a good Chinese chef to do? Chen decided to be adventurous. She deviated from his normal Chinese recipe and ventured into French style cooking. He used foie gras. Truffles. Even pasta. He was asked if he is thinking of his challenger being French, he said "Not really. But I thought I might deviate from Chinese recipe and experiment some". - Veal and Foie Gras Wrapped in Kinugasa Mushroom Chen minced veal and foie gras in the blender then wrapped in Kinugasa mushroom and cooked. - Roasted Veal coated with White Sesame Seed Chen coated veal slice with egg and sesame seed (normally flour and bread are used for cutlet) to make cutlet. Sesame seed will add nice aroma and keep the deep fried dish somewhat lighter. Tenmei Kano, the semi-regular judge, described it as "a nostalgic flavor". - Sauteed Veal and Avocado Chen flavored veal and avocado with milk and sauteed, then served on a bowl made with spring roll skin. - Roasted Veal in Salt Wall This evening's classic. Chen wrapped marinated fruit (banana, pineapple, etc.) with slice of veal, then wrapped it in the caul (the pork fat that looks like a net) coated with starch, then cooked in hot oil lightly. He then wrapped it in grape leaf and built the salt wall around it, cooked in the oven. He said "The veal has very little fat and had a color and texture of almost a pork. So I added some extra fat for flavor". This dish really has no nationality, an "ethnic mixture of good kind". - Ma Po Veal Pasta Now the Schezuan meets pasta. The secret ingredient, pumpkin, added a subtle sweetness to this spicy Szechwan sauce, that made Kishi say it's a "brand new flavor". Afterward: ---------- Kagata: "Last time it was so busy to do all the cooking in just one hour. It was no different this time. I was so happy to see Chef Shimamura came to watch me. The outcome? It doesn't matter. I did my best". Chen: "I really tried hard this time. But it was fun. I tried all sorts of things. I hope it works". The Decision: (SPOILER!!!!) ------------- SPOILER!! SPOILER!!! SPOILER!!!! SPOILER!!!!! SPOILER!!!!!! SPOILER!!!!!!! SPOILER!!!!!!!! SPOILER!! SPOILER!!! SPOILER!!!! SPOILER!!!!! SPOILER!!!!!! SPOILER!!!!!!! SPOILER!!!!!!!! SPOILER!! SPOILER!!! SPOILER!!!! SPOILER!!!!! SPOILER!!!!!! SPOILER!!!!!!! SPOILER!!!!!!!! And the winner is!!! Iron Chef Chen. The vote was 4-0. The judges liked Chen's aggressively experimental style. And apparently they all worked. Watch out Morimoto. Here comes Chen. One notable detail: Tenmei Kano, the semi-regular judge, who once said he is proud of not giving out the "perfect" 20 points, gave 20 points again. Ever since he gave 20 to Ron Siegel, he may have become softer. Asako Kishi, on the other hand, gave Chen 19, and Kagata, 17. Such a tough grader for a soft spoken lady. Overall, I felt this was fairly high level show. Chef Kagata more or less surprised me for the sensual and inspirational style of cooking, though not as much as Chen did. Chen is the only Iron Chef who presides from the very start of the show (Sakai is second Iron French and Morimoto is third Iron Japanese), and he is still getting better and better. An amazing guy. OK, that's a wrap for this week. Till the next show, Ciao. -ICR