So Cal Iron Chef Report Battle# 287 July 23, 1999 "Jumbo Mushroom Confront" Greetings, Iron Chef Fans: This is a report on Jumbo Mushroom Confront, aired originally in Japan on July 23, 1999. After the unannounced week off (AND A PAINFUL ONE AT THAT), the show resumed the regular schedule (thank god). What a relief. Oh, before I get into this week's battle, let me note that (without getting into any details to blow off your fun) next week and the one after that, are two of the classic confronts you will not want to miss, if you are a true IC fan. I know, since I watched these shows while I was in Japan this summer. I will not tell you why for now, but you should decide for yourself. I think they are the Top-10 IC materials. Tonight's show was good. But it's only an hors d'oeuvre for the next week!! Prologue: --------- Now, the show for this week. When talk about mushroom dishes, we tend to classify them as autumn dishes. Incorrectly. In reality, the mushrooms taste the best (in Japan) around the end of the rainy season, which is toward the end of July in Japan. The show was originally aired in Japan on July 23. So to celebrate the best mushroom tasting season, the Gourmet Academy invited a mushroom specialist as the challenger. Challenger: ----------- Syoji Yamaoka (43) is said to be the No. 1 mushroom chef. French chef by training, he is an owner chef of the restaurant "Mushroom" in Ebisu, Tokyo. He went to France for training at age of 27, when he discovered the variety of wild mushrooms and fell in love. Five years later when he came back, he continued to explore mountains for mushrooms and studied them. In 1993, at 36 years of age, he opened the restaurant "Mushroom". Everything in the store are themed around mushrooms. It is to the point that his wife says "He is so much into mushrooms, sometimes he scares me". Iron Chef: ---------- Iron Italian Katsuhiko Kobe was preselected to take Yamaoka's challenge. Of course, Italians eat lots of mushrooms, too, so it is an interesting choice of competitors. Theme Ingredient: ----------------- Jumbo Mushroom from Australia. According to Hattori, they are basically the same specie of mushrooms as you get them at normal grocers. Being left alone, they will grow to be big. VERY BIG. Some of them looked to be more than five inches in diameter. So how do they taste like? Hattori says "They tend to be flat". Well, we don't generally expect mushroom to be of sensual flavor, but it is not bland like potato; it has own flavor of sort. So it is up to the chef to make use of them, or skillfully override them to create something new. It is indeed an interesting material. Dishes: ------- Challenger Syoji Yamaoka This is a mushroom crazed man. He gets anything mushroom, including mold, cookie cutter, desk lamp, etc. So there was no way he would satisfy himself with just the theme jumbo mushroom. He utilized the rich supply of other mushrooms in the KS, as well as some he brought in on his own. - Chip de Mushroom Yamaoka deep fried the mushroom to reduce its water content from 70% to about 10%, so it can be flavored. He sliced them and served with Avocado and homard lobster dip sauce. The rich dip and the aroma of mushrooms match well. - Fresh Mushroom Salad Yamaoka made grapefruit jule and laid sliced mushroom on it, then refrigerated them. Toward the end of the hour, he laid sea urchin, caviar on them and served with what appeared to be mayo based sauce. Semi-regular judge Tenmei Kano liked the fruit jule very much. Judge Kishi (yes, she's back!) pointed out that despite its boiling, the mushroom still had some bitterness left, except that it actually enhances the flavor. - Baked Mushroom and Snapper This is an aggressively creative dish. Yamaoka smoked mushroom using various other kind of mushrooms, then he wraps them in caul (the net-like pork fat) with red snapper meat, and cooked in the oven. It is said that the flavor of mushroom is alive and well in this unique dish. Kishi described it as "complicated flavor". Kanoh said the pork fat works well to enhance the flavor. - Mushroom Soup Yamaoka was cooking all sorts of mushroom to ultimately make this complicated soup. Alas, I cannot keep track of what mushroom are prepared how. Lot of mushrooms are known for their medicinal effect, and this dish does have the medicinal theme, as well. But the tasting was not shown on this interesting dish. - Roasted Jumbo Mushroom "Since we have such an impressive mushroom, I thought I have to make something that leaves the original shape of the mushroom intact". So Yamaoka made a thick cut steak out of this jumbo mushroom. I didn't take down any comments from the judges, but they weren't so impressed with this however an impressive looking dish. Iron Chef Katsuhiko Kobe As for Kobe, he stuck with the theme ingredient and did not wander around like his challenger did. But nonetheless, he came up with a pretty impressive looking course meal. - Dome Salad This mushroom based salad is accentuated by the pickled mushroom he arranged around the dish, and the dome shaped cover using the mushroom. Judges praised the pickled mushroom, but Tenmei Kano complained (being a photographer by profession) that it looked ugly. - Mushroom Panini Kobe baked mushroom top on the stove while pressed from the top using heavy copper saucepan. Using that, he sandwiched the mushroom salad as if they are hamburger buns, then wrapped in Italian newspaper (just like Morimoto does it with NY Times often). Judges liked the fresh idea, except the actress judge, Isshiki said "But the bread tastes better...". - Mushroom a la Cappuccino I don't know how he used mushroom on this middle-of-the-course refreshment, but they said "The match between cold foie gras and cinnamon is very emotional. The complicated flavor brings out the best of mushroom flavor". I can't imagine.... But they didn't show the tasting of this one, so I will never know. - Troffie with Mushroom and Truffles Sauce Troffie is a hand curled pasta (and Kobe did it so quickly and skillfully). He says the rolled pasta captures sauce and flavor well to bring out the best flavor of the ingredients. Despite its heavy appearance, it is a fairly light dish. The salty flavor of gorgonzola cheese brings out the sweetness of the mushroom. Kano craved this dish. Without saying much (which he usually does), he just said "Yeah, it's GOOD". - Aqua Pazza Forget the Cappuccino. Forget the Panini. This is Kobe's highlight dish for the evening. He placed to Kinki (Rock Cod like fish) in a skillet, cover them with sliced mushrooms, especially the stem part, and cooked on the stove. Supposed to be a traditional recipe of southern Italy. Judges praised the nice contrast of texture that come from the mushroom stems. Kishi found blackened red chili that is giving a nice spicy flavor to the dish, which she praised. Judges: ------- Tenmei Kanoh -- Semi-regular judge: Photographer by profession Sae Isshiki -- Guest Judge: Actress Kazuhiko Kato -- Guest Judge: Musician Asako Kishi -- Semi-regular judge: Culinary critique And Now the spoiler!!! Don't read this if you don't want to know. S P O I L E R ! ! ! Iron Italian Kobe won. Vote was close 2-2. Kanoh Isshiki Kato Kishi Total ----- ------- ---- ----- ----- Yamaoka 18 16 15 15 64 Kobe 17 15 17 18 67 Well, our East German judge Asako Kishi prevailed. Tenmei Kanoh actually gave it to the challenger by a point. Both sides' dishes were very good, but not particularly great. So it was just the points of view that divided the winner and the loser. I felt Yamaoka prepared five independent dishes of rich variety. Kobe did a nice theme course meal. Yamaoka played around with various kind of mushrooms. Kobe stuck with one theme mushroom. I am not saying which is better, but tonight, Kobe prevailed. So! Once again, it was good tonight, but DO NOT FORGET NEXT WEEK!!!! Well then, till next week, Ciao. -ICR