December Chopped Challenge Results thread (WINNER: B&TCoonhound))

ENTRY 1:

Alright, chorizo, peppermint, shittake mushrooms, and russian imperial stout. This will be fun.

First off, the ingredients... we found the following:
Wellshire Chorizo links, 12 ounce pack from Whole Foods
Gourmet Shiitake Mushrooms, one pack from Calandro's
Peppermint candies, 12 pieces from the fiance's office
Russian Imperial Stout, one 22 ounce bottle of homebrew based on a Brewstock kit

Ground turkey, potatoes, garlic, and greens were going to be used for sure, and we also ended up using some butter and a variety of spices, plus a little flour and corn starch.



To get started we broke out the food processor and made quick work of the 12 peppermint pieces, reducing them to a rough ground powder. These would come into play in two of the later steps.



Once that was done, we prepared the main dish, a chorizo meatloaf. We took all 12 ounces of chorizo, sliced up and processed until finely chopped, then cut it with about 8 ounces of ground turkey to help the meatloaf stick together. We also added an egg, fresh minced garlic, and breadcrumbs, plus cajun seasoning, paprika, and minced onion.



Once we had the meatloaf mixed together nicely it was time to season the skillet. In order to get the cast-iron skillet good and ready for the chorizo we prepared a little chorizo butter, consisting of a small piece of the chorizo meat, garlic, flaked red pepper, paprika, salt, pepper, and butter. Plus we added a little bit (at most 1/4) of the crushed peppermint to spread the joy around.

Once the skillet was heated and ready the meatloaf was added and into the oven it went, at 350 for 45 minutes.



The next step was one of the easier ones, we took four red potatoes and sliced them thin, in order to pan fry them as a base for the meatloaf and the sauce we were about to make. Nothing much to this, just some red potatoes, olive oil, garlic powder, and cajun seasoning.

While the meatloaf was cooking and the potatoes were frying, it was time to make the stout shiitake sauce to top it all off. To start it out we took two tablespoons of olive oil and two tablespoons of butter and got it melted and combined in the sauce pan. Once it was hot we added the mushroom caps to let them saute and cook a little, before adding 12 ounces of the homebrewed Russian Imperial Stout, a spoon of minced garlic, a teaspoon of sugar, a teaspoon of salt, and a tablespoon of balsamic vinaigrette. The balsamic was very strong at first but as the sauce blended and reduced it toned down and the stout and mushroom flavors were dominant. In the end we added a tablsepoon or so of flour to thicken it up.



While that was cooking, the last prepared item was the salad dressing, a peppermint stout. We took the last 8 ounces of Russian Imperial Stout (where did those extra two ounces go? Taste test!) added 4 tablespoons of olive oil, and let that get to a simmer on the stove. Once it had a good simmer we added the last 3/4 or so of the peppermint candies and whisked vigorously until it had all dissolved into the dressing. A little corn starch to thicken it up some, and we had a great salad dressing.


From there everything was about cooked and it was time for the plating.

So here you go: a Chorizo meatloaf atop pan-fried potatoes topped with a Shiitake Russian Imperial Stout sauce. Served alongside a mixed greens salad with a Russian Imperial Stout Peppermint dressing.

Entry 3:

Chorizo with stout sautéed shiitake mushrooms and onions over Imperial Stout and peppermint steamed wild rice, with peppermint candied sweet potatoes.









This preparation started with an Imperial stout reduction with peppermint, garlic and soy sauce. The reduction serves as flavoring for the rice and a deglazing component for the chorizo, sautéed onions and mushrooms.







Cooked a wild and white rice mixture with chicken broth and a little stout reduction. This is intended to serve as the base for the plated entrée. Then cooked the chorizo and deglazed the sauté pan with the stout reduction, added butter and sautéed the mushrooms with onions.







Cooked the sweet potatoes in about two tablespoons of butter, two tablespoons of peppermint and a tablespoon of water.







Plated chorizo, mushrooms and shiitake over rice with the candied sweet potatoes:







Fork view:







Delicious.

Entry 5:


Peppermint candied red peppers. Chorizo link poached in RIS, and then roasted. Shiitake mushroom and goat cheese ravioli topped with chorizo cream sauce.


I ground peppermint candy pieces in my Vitamix into a powder. I made syrup with it. I julienned sweet red peppers, then added them to the syrup. I cooked to about 230F.
I poached the chorizo links in Russian style imperial stout. I cut it with some water because it kept getting foamy and boiling over. After 20 minutes, I roasted them in the convection oven placed directly on the rack.
I sautéed chopped Shiitake mushrooms in olive oil. I seasoned with herbs de province, salt, and pepper. I deglazed with more RIS. After cooling, I added fresh parmesan and soft goat cheese. I combined it with a fork.
I dished a tablespoon of the mushroom mixture onto a wonton wrapper, painted the edges with egg yolk, covered with another wrapper, then cut with a small drinking glass.
I boiled the ravioli 2-3 minutes then removed to drain.
I sautéed some loose, ground chorizo until done. I removed it. In about 2 TBS butter, I made a béchamel with sharp cheddar, cream, and some of the ground chorizo. I topped the ravioli with it.

Entry 7:

When the four ingredients were made official, I had no idea how I was going to be in this one. First of all, I abhor hard peppermint candy, and then there was the challenge to make all four ingredients work on the same plate. A combination of three were easy, but the chorizo and candy worked against each other. When I make a double cut pork chop, I sometimes like to do a pea puree with mint, so I began to think of the combination of both pork and mint. Originally, I thought of doing chorizo and shiitake on a stick, dipping it into a fondue of heated candy and beer somehow, but I abandoned that idea.

Then I began to think about the Russian stout, and what it really is. It's not actually brewed in Russia, but rather it's a style of stout which originated in London as an export TO Russia. So I began to think about what Russia is known for exporting to Europe so I could play off of that concept, and I immediately thought of caviar. How about turning Russian Imperial Stout into caviar for the win? Sounds like a plan, but I've never spherified anything with carbonation or alcohol, so I had no idea if this crazy plan would work.

I wanted to take the bitterness from the RIS, so I simmered it in a sauce pot to burn off the alcohol with a little bit of Abita root beer to take the bite out of it. Then I used a stick blender to incorporate powdered agar agar and let that simmer for a few minutes. The whole premise was to then drop this liquid into a vat of chilled oil, in hopes that it forms tiny pearls. I tried dipping chopsticks into the liquid, but it didn't yield enough drip. I then had to improvise by rinsing out an almost depleted Zatarains mustard squeezable container, rather than an ideal syringe which I didn't have. I found that I needed to regulate the opening with my thumb because the opening was making too large a sphere. These tiny spheres floated to the bottom of the vat and were retrieved by straining. Because I didn't have a syringe, there were some pearls that were either too large or kidney bean shape because they stuck together. I needed to pick through these to get the consistency I wanted, and the final product was better than I thought it would turn out. Russian Imperial Stout caviar.



Now I had to turn to another unknown, that being the damned peppermint candy. I did research on how to liquify it. Some baked it in the oven in a cookie cutter, while others double boiled it. I went with the latter, and not much happened. I needed to cover it with a pan in order for it to heat better, but I think the steam coming from around the pan settled into the candy. I poured out some on wax paper, hoping that as it would cool I could sort of mold it into what would look like gari (the ginger you see accompanying sushi plates), since the blend of white and red should yield a pink. This turned out to be a disaster because I think that some water vapors that were curling around the pan/lid, ended up dripping down into the candy. When I spooned some onto wax paper and placed in the freezer, it never set. It ended up to be this sort of goo. My next plan was then thwarted, because I wanted to form three spoons out of the candy for the vehicle of a trio of caviar. I then would have shperified the liquid that the dried shiitake were reconstituted in, and also the liquid emitted from the chorizo during the sous vide cooking. Since I didn't find any way to form spoons, and the five chorizo not putting off that much liquid, I now needed to go in a different direction.

I then decided to try to mix the candy goo with powdered wasabi and water, and the results were fantastic.


I'm almost in the clear since I've got the stout nailed as well as the fricking peppermint. Now I'm thinking about making a mushroom duxelle and rolling some sort of maki or I could make chorizo stuffed shiitake bites with Russian stout caviar.

I utilized some short grain sticky rice for this, then rolled.




My final submission is this:

The ones I can see look great... too bad photobucket is blocked at work.

And to comment...they all look amazing!

I have two frontrunners in my head, but as the Ted Allen of this bitch, I'll wait until later to give thoughts.

I'll have to.

RIS caviar, now that's pretty cool.

quote:

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RIS caviar, now that's pretty cool.

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Yes. He/she getting out agar agar and shite? Damn.

Everyone will need to step up their game.

how does the voting work?

#1 - entry 4 - made my mouth water

#2 - entry 1

#3 - entry 3