Lobster with Vanilla & Pumpkin
As seen on TV
Which Show?
Who made this dish?
Josh: "So just skewering the lobster tail to keep it straight while it cooks so it doesn't curl up."
Josh: "So the dish is the lobster tail, the tempura claw sauce, vanilla butter sauce, the fish stock and fino sherry reduction sauce. Kaffir lime leaf oil and a pumpkin puree with some crispy kombu and pickled dulse."
Aktar: "What's the hardest thing on here? Most challenging?"
Josh: "I mean, really, it's just getting the lobster cookery right."
Josh: "I'm just getting on my pumpkin puree and my vanilla butter sauce. So we've got the shallots. I'm going to add mushrooms, fino sherry. Then goes fish stock, vanilla cream, blend in butter."
Josh: "Delicious. The vanilla comes through nicely."
Aktar: "Pumpkin puree? Is that going to be the only pumpkin element on the plate?"
Josh: "No. I'm going to roast some dice of pumpkin in a bit of butter, add some dashi stock."
{Narrator}: "Pumpkin puree is topped with crispy kombu. Josh's sauce has split a bit, so Aktar is saying if he has a little xanthan gum, it will just bring it back together, and it will hold the sauce to keep it unified, emulsified."
{Narrator}: "Then we just need some pickled dulse on top of these knuckles. Fish stock, kaffir lime leaf green oil, roasted pumpkin pieces complete the dish."
VETERAN ROUND (Aktar Islam): Aktar: "Are you happy with the texture of that lobster tail?"
Josh: "The tail I'll go another minute on the first cook is slightly under, but the claws, I'm very happy with."
Vince: "Perfect. Very nice."
Aktar: "The vanilla sauce, is the vanilla coming through as much as you would like?"
Josh: "Yeah, the vanilla's there. I can still taste it."
Abbie: "I was worried it would be a bit too overpowering, but I think it's just subtle enough to complement it."
Aktar: "You've got a small amount of pickled dulse on the plate. Is that enough to counterbalance all the richness?"
Josh: "No, I think what I would do is chop through it and put it again through the sauce."
Dana: "I wish I had more of the pickled dulse."
Josh on self-scoring: "Three points off for the tail, the split sauce, and not enough acid."
Aktar's summary: "The cooking of the claw itself was great. The lobster tail was seasoned well, but it was undercooked. The flavour of vanilla was prominent, and that worked so well with the sweetness of the lobster. For me, the dish was crying out for something raw, something fresh. This has makings of a wonderful fish course, but it was let down by a couple of errors."
Aktar closing: "It's hard when things go wrong in this kitchen, but you got your dish to the pass. You held your nerve, well done."
Peer scores: Josh self 7, Dana 8, Abbie 9, Vince 8. Aktar's score: 7.
