New Year's Eve Countdown Duo
As seen on TV
Which Show?
Who made this dish?
In this challenge, the randomizer selected the following conditions that had to be met by each chef:
Protein: Swordfish
Product: King Trumpet Mushrooms
Equipment: Blowtorch
Style: New Year's Eve Dinner
Wildcard Ingredients: Canned Beets
Multi-Course New Year's Eve Countdown: Swordfish Tataki and King Trumpet Mushroom Scallop.
Marcel presented two separate plates as a multi-course countdown. For the first course, swordfish was fabricated, briefly poached, then marinated in canned beet juice, mirin, and soy in a Japanese tataki preparation. The blowtorch was used to caramelise the exterior, drawing out the natural sugars from the beets and the soy. This was plated over pickled golden beets with a salad of lentils (a symbol of New Year's prosperity), mushrooms, chives, and beet vinaigrette, draped with a pan sauce. For the second course, king trumpet mushrooms were peeled, cut into scallop shapes, and blowtorched with brown butter and a touch of sugar until caramelised. A champagne cream sauce was built from swordfish scraps, shallots, mushrooms, and cream. Each mushroom scallop was topped with caviar, accompanied by lentil mushroom salad tying both courses together.
Hubert Keller was impressed that Marcel prepared two distinct dishes in 35 minutes, calling it spectacular. He praised the combination of beets with the swordfish, noting they came together beautifully when eaten as one.
Maneet Chauhan singled out the blowtorched king trumpet scallop as her favourite element, calling the sear really smart and impressive.
Susan Feninger praised the presentation and noted the swordfish was cooked perfectly, but felt the trumpet mushroom needed more salt and acid.
Marcel scored 79.
