America's Culinary Cup

Halibut Rolled with Shrimp Farce Under a Nori-Set Veil with Melted Leeks, Mussels, Hazelnuts, and Clam-Brown Butter Sauce 

Buddha (creator of this dish): "I immediately have a dish in mind. Halibut. We're going to pipe a shrimp mousse, and then we're just going to roll it up and valentine it. And then I was thinking of, like, a veil that would cover the dish. This dish was on my last summer menu, and everyone loved it." 

Buddha (consistency strategy): "I like the idea of, like, covering the fish so it's more of consistency because I can't see it." 

Buddha (overview): "Today, me and Matt will be making halibut stuffed with a shrimp farce with mussels, leeks, and hazelnuts. Matt is butchering the fish. While he is butchering the fish, I need to get the brine on. Halibut actually does not taste that great if it's not brined. Halibut is a large fish. Don't have to worry about tiny bones. And we only have two and a half hours to make 30 dishes." 

Buddha (cooking method): "I decided to go for poaching because we can sous vide, which means we can manipulate the fish. And that's super important when you want consistency." 

Buddha (the gamble on the veil): "We're going to achieve consistency by covering our fish with this beautiful veil that will kind of blanket everything and really make it look consistent. But lucky Matt, I kind of went for a gamble. The thing is, to be honest, this is the first time I've made it. I came up with the idea, but my head chef developed it and she did it. But I never made the recipe. So the risks of making this veil is that it will break, it will not come out delicate, or it could be too chewy and really just ruin the whole dish." 

Buddha (gelling agent): "We're working with a gelatin setting agent that has to be super thin because they're judging us on consistency. And so the most important part is that I have a consistent level of jelly spread out throughout my whole table."  

Buddha (presenting to judges): "Halibut that's been rolled and stuffed with a shrimp farce, covered with a veil that encases melted leeks and mussels, and finished off with a beautiful sauce made with clam juice." 

Buddha (veil composition): "So the veil is made with calentura delicata (squash), thyme, some lemon peel. I then blended some nori into it. I set it with kappa carrageenan." 

Buddha (after judging): "Me and Matt, we worked fantastically together. We definitely used each other to our best capability, and we did something that was incredible."