Tournament of Champions ™
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Italian Fried Chicken with Baba Ganoush
Italian Fried Chicken with Baba Ganoush and Whipped Creme Fraiche
Joe Sasto constructed an Italian-influenced fried chicken dish built around a tortilla-pressed thigh and globe eggplant in two forms.
Joe: "I see the eggplant, I see the hand mixer. To me, that screams baba ganoush." The chicken thigh was smashed flat in a tortilla press and vacuum-sealed in a wet brine.
Joe: "We got lemon juice, pickle juice, ginger, chicken bouillon. I want to do a wet brine. I'm going to get a lot of really impactful flavors in here in the vacuum seal chamber, which compresses that marinade into the chicken."
For the batter, Joe made a deliberate choice to use whipped eggs: Joe: "I see that hand mixer staring me down, and that's when I decide to use eggs into my dredge. I normally wouldn't put eggs into my batter because I want a thinner, lighter, crispier coating. But I know if I whip the eggs and aerate them, I'm going to be able to get that airy lightness." One eggplant was charred on the grill and blended with the handheld mixer into baba ganoush. A second smashed eggplant round was placed between the plate and the chicken. A black garlic glaze was mopped onto the fried chicken:
Joe: "Mashed black garlic. It's part of my glaze. Fried chicken is inherently rich, so I want to build up a really intense, flavorful glaze."
With 90 seconds remaining: Joe: "I know I needed to use the hand mixer again. So with a little bit of time left, I made some whipped creme fraiche."
Voiceover (Justin Warner): "Judges, this is Italian fried chicken. The chicken thigh was smashed in a tortilla press, then vacuum-sealed with preserved lemon juice, some pickle juice, and sesame seed for crunch. In terms of the eggplant, one was charred and then turned into a baba ganoush that you'll see on the bottom of the plate. Another use of the eggplant, the round that you will see smashed between the plate and the chicken itself. Lastly, you'll notice a bit of creme fraiche there that was whipped and seasoned with that hand mixer right towards the end of the cook."
{Judge}: "It's interesting to call it an Italian approach. I don't know if it's Italian, but it's certainly delicious."
{Judge}: "The eggplant is obviously here served in two ways, and the handheld mixer was used to really great effect here to create a very smooth baba ganoush. Smoking delicious."
{Judge}: "That kind of gameplay of quick pickling so that it has the illusion of a brine overnight, which is salty and bright, is brilliant for the breading."
{Judge}: "I think one of the smartest things that the chef did was add sesame seeds to it. The batter is delicious. It's those little details. That's what it takes to get noticed in TOC."
{Judge}: "First of all, it's beautiful. Visually stunning. But I would have to say I was looking for more chicken. There's a lot of breading on this. Pressed, but maybe pressed too much, I would have to say. But it's a very lovely dish. I'd be happy to pay for that."
Final Score: 83. WINNER.
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