Tournament of Champions ™
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Citrus-Grilled Venison Chops with Asparagus Salad
Citrus-Grilled Venison Chops with Asparagus Salad and Blackberry Thyme Veal Jus
Adam Greenberg created a steakhouse-inspired venison chop with a clean, classical flavor profile and refined technique.
Adam: "I want to do a citrus marinated venison chop. It elevates the flavor of the venison being lean. I'm going to use the tenderizer."
The chops were blade tenderized and marinated with orange and lemon zest and orange juice. Adam: "I think the real essence of citrus, like the real flavor of citrus, is in the peel. Zesting with a really good zester is such a great way to impart that flavor."
For the asparagus, Adam peeled the stalks before preparing them two ways: Adam: "A chef I worked for showed me we peel the asparagus. What happens is it makes the tenderness of the base match what is at the top, and you eat all the way through the asparagus without as much waste."
The asparagus was featured both raw and blanched in a salad with multi-citrus supremes. Adam: "I want to be able to feature asparagus two different ways, raw and cooked. We're going to combine that with a bunch of citrus segments. I've got orange, blood orange, in there."
A blackberry and thyme veal jus provided a rich, tart element: Adam: "BlackBerry works well with venison. It's a little bit tart, a little sweet. We're going to blend that in the blender. There's a little fresh thyme in there as well."
Voiceover (Tiffany Faison): "Right in front of you, we have citrus-kissed and grilled venison chops with a citrusy asparagus salad and a blackberry thyme veal jus. The venison chops were blade tenderized and marinated with orange and lemon zest and orange juice, then grilled and finished with lemon zest on top. The asparagus salad is both raw and lightly blanched. You will also find supremes of navel and blood orange in there and a little bit of extra virgin olive oil."
{Judge}: "Classic flavors to cook venison. Another perfect cook on that venison chop."
{Judge}: "I love the fact that the chef went citrus in sort of the orange way versus the lemon or lime way."
{Judge}: "The fact that the chef actually took the asparagus and peeled out those outer layers to make them a lot more tender. I just wish they took it a step further and cut them down a little bit and maybe gave them a little saute. I think that we just needed a little bit more finesse."
{Judge}: "Another really nice execution of a venison chop, but the blackberry is not quite coalescing as well as I had hoped it would. Citrusy coming through very well. What I feel is missing on this plate, because everything is so lean and citrusy, is you need that fat to bring those high notes. A good dish, but not so balanced and a little bit rushed."
Final Score: 80.
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