So Cal Iron Chef Report Battle# 270 March 12, 1999 "Egg Confront" Greetings, Iron Chef Fans: This is the report on "Morimoto One Year Anniversary Special: Egg Confront", aired originally in Japan on March 12, 1999. Prologue: --------- This is the part 2 of the special show where Michiba visited Morimoto in New York where he was reportedly slumping (though you couldn't see that from the last week's show). In the end of that show, Michiba suggested Morimoto take a challenge from the last Iron Japanese chef, Komei Nakamura. This is consistent with Michiba trying out Nakamura on his first anniversary as second Iron Japanese. Komei was quoted as saying "there are things I couldn't see as an Iron Chef. Now I am retired from that position, I feel I grew up. There is a uphill climb you have to overcome before you truly become an Iron Chef". Theme Ingredient: ----------------- Michiba specified the theme ingredient as well. Eggs. Plain ol' chicken embryo. Freshly born 200 eggs (the hen was also present, though the bird was not part of the theme ingredient). Michiba said "egg is such a versatile material, it really shows the skill and creativity of the chefs. I look forward to what they will come up with". Three other Tetsujins were also present, watching curiously. Chin was curious what Nakamura will do with the lobster. Sakai was curious about truffles Morimoto was using. They must be subconsciously comparing the two's recipe with their own. Kobe said "This is going to be a good lesson for me....". A humble guy. Dishes: ------- Retired Iron Chef Komei Nakamura Komei said after the cooking, "It's been a while I got this nervous, but once I was in the Kitchen Stadium, I felt OK". He brought the special knife Michiba gave him on his anniversary bout. - Egg-Egg '99 Komei himself named this strange dish. It is basically a cold sesame mixed tofu dish, with deep fried egg on top, flavored with soba (buck wheat) sauce. Interesting looking dish, but I have no idea how it might taste like, and it wasn't covered during the tasting. - Shira-Uo (Whitebait) with Fuwa-Fuwa Egg a la Komei Following the cold dish is this warm dish of Shira-Uo. In direct translation, it means "white fish", though the thin bodied fish is more translucent. Often in Northern Kyusyu area of Japan, it is eaten raw and alive (yak). Yours truly have not tried this before, and am not in a hurry to do this. Komei cooked this white fish and served with spring seasonal things like na-no-hana (rape blossoms). Just before the tasting he smothered the dish with egg cooked in a soft, bubbly manner (fuwa-fuwa texture). It is said to be nice combination of seasonal flavors and contrasted texture (the fish and fuwa-fuwa egg). - Poached Egg on Sauteed Lobster and Foie Gras Komei sauteed lobster and foie gras together and placed them in a layer fashion. On the top was the delicately poached egg yolk. Sometimes referred as "onsen tamago (hot spring eggs)", it is poached in the temperature warm enough for yolk to settle but not the white. Served with nicely matched sauce (whose ingredient, I did not take note). Well, it IS lobster and foie gras. Why should they taste bad? - Crab Egg Fu Yang Komei added some truffles in crab meat, beaten egg and soy sauce mixture to add a nice aroma. The semi-regular Congressman judge Kurimoto noted the salt flavor matches very well with the egg. - Strawberry Desert and Green Tea Komei used just egg white to make this strawberry desert. He whipped the egg white to solidify, with the berries trapped inside. It is said to be an excellent closer of the meal. Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto So, the slumping Morimoto took the challenge from his prede- cessor (who quit when he slumped). First thing he did, he broke a couple of eggs and swallowed them raw (remember the original "Rocky"?). Now he is ready to take challenge. - Smoked Asparagus Wrapped in Egg White He smoked asparagus with chile to make it spicy. then he wrapped it with egg white to create a delicate dish. Tasters said the sauce he was using looked heavy and strong, but upon tasting, it was surprisingly mild. - Relish of Tofu and Salty Tuna Guts with Egg Sauce Excuse the non-appetizing translation. It was either this, or just the alphabetization of Japanese words "Zaru Tofu Syutoh with Egg Sauce". Pretty descriptive, huh? Simply put, Morimoto made tuna "shio-kara", a salt marinated tuna guts served on top of tofu, made of bamboo filter (in general, tofu is made with either silk filter for fine texture, or cotton for firmness. I have no idea what texture bamboo filtering produce). The dish is served, obviously, with egg based sauce. - Fried Egg Touchi (Bean Paste) Sauce This is a plain old fried egg. Except it was precision cooked at exactly 190 degree Celsius (it was actually deep fried, as opposed to grilled), served with the special sauce prepared with touchi (spicy bean paste), peanut oil, starch and water. the richness of the sauce multiply the flavor of the egg. The match was said to be unbelievable. The expert judge Hosogi was very pleased with this one. "This is the one!". - Plum Custard in Hot Pot Chawan-mushi (steamed hot pot) is made by mixing ingredients with beaten egg and steamed in a teacup sized covered pot. Morimoto made the hot pot with pickled plum. This is such a delicate dish where light sourness of plum is combined with sweetness of egg, yet neither is killing the other. Other than unusual choice of plum as its ingredient, a very basic Japanese recipe. - Truffels Rice in Omelet The highlight of the evening. Morimoto steamed rice mixed with truffles and butter. He then prepared the "dashi-maki tamago", which is basically the same thing as the thick egg piece you find at sushi bar. It takes a trained skill to make this, and Morimoto said "It's been a while I did this... See if I can still do it". Next time you go to sushi bar, you might ask the chef if he does his own eggs. Most places nowadays, buy the eggs already cooked. But this is a critical piece in judging the skill level of the chef. I for one, always choose the sushi bar where the chef does his own egg (and good at it). Anyway, Morimoto does the egg good, and he actually roll the truffle rice in the egg while cooking. The result is a special ome-rice where the nicely scented and flavored rice comes with the sweet egg wrapper. It is served with ketchup based sauce. Hosogi thought the truffles were actually too fine, but it sure tastes good. - Egg Liquor Soda with Tofu Stick This is a very Morimoto-like desert. He mixed egg with Japanese Sake, and flavored with Sprite. It was served with fried Koya-tofu stick. A very radical dish with traditional material (less Sprite). Egg-sake combination when served hot, is a Japanese traditional cold remedy. It really warms you up. But its flavor takes some getting used to. Morimoto sweetened the liquor with soda, so everyone can enjoy it. Now, a little about Koya Tofu. When you say tofu, you imagine a white, soft cube. Well, Koya tofu is somewhat yellow, and hard when dry. Very hard. That is, until you boil it good. It was developed by monks in Mt. Koya a few century ago as a mean to preserve food. I don't know exactly how it is made, but it has a mildly sweet flavor. Morimoto made sticks with this sweet yellow tofu, then deep fried it to make something look like a bread stick. Now, if you noticed, unlike Komei, who used other key materials like lobster, foie gras, and crab, etc. liberally, Morimoto pretty much stuck with eggs. No fish, no meat. He said of this later that he wanted to bring about the essence of eggs by not using other materials. That is his answer to Michiba's challenge last week, the mysterious word "Gusetsu -- equip the clumsiness". Michiba explained that it means you should not hide your weakness, but rather, play it out with all your might what you think is right. So Morimoto did it all with just eggs, and very little else. Now, even for a tetsujin, it is tough to beat lobster and foie gras with eggs, especially with not-so-expert judges. I think Morimoto did excellently, it still remains to be seen how it comes out in the end. And Now the spoiler!!! Don't read this if you don't want to know. S P O I L E R ! ! ! ! The judges gave it to Previous Iron Japanese, Nakamura. The vote was 4-0, though each judge awarded only one point advantage to Nakamura. So the points were reasonably close. Despite the defeat, I think Morimoto had his immediate goal achieved; i.e., to regain confidence in his way. Chen (Iron Chinese) commented on Morimoto, "He made some astonishing dishes tonight. He is great". Nakamura said "He has an inspiration I can't even begin to imagine. Once he went over the hill, he will be a great tetsujin". Michiba gives tough marks for both chefs. "I could see each has about three shortcomings. I'm sure they'll improve and overcome those". So, till next week (I believe the show will air around 6:50PM), when the semi regular judge Tenmei Kanoh brings in his favorite chef to challenge Sakai, Ciao. -ICR