Tortang Talong with XO Sauce
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Tortang Talong (Grilled Eggplant) with XO Sauce
A toast to Rhoda's first food memory.
While prepping: "My third course is Tortang Talong, also known as torta, which is a grilled eggplant omelette. It's usually eaten with banana ketchup, but instead of that, I'm making XO sauce. I want it to be a toast to my first food memory. I remember an eggplant and thinking, oh, I actually like this."
At service: "This is a toast to my very first food memories. This is called torta, grilled eggplant, shallow fried on a pan. XO sauce instead of the banana ketchup."
On the XO: "Just blended it so that it kind of mimics banana ketchup."
On the eggplant texture she was after: "Just soft."
{Judge}: "It's crispy and yet soggy. I understand where it's coming from, growing up in Thailand, but the XO sauce doesn't taste like XO. It's more like shrimp paste relish to me."
{Guest}: "I'm like the defense lawyer she didn't hire, but it was a revelation to me. I love the creaminess of the interior."
{Guest}: "I really like the eggplant."
{Judge}: "When you got that little crispy edge, it was perfectly fried. I thought it was delicious."
Final table: {Judge}: "I don't think you did service to the XO by blending it."
{Guest}: "I feel you lost a lot of texture there."
{Judge}: "I was all over this dish. It is soft. It is fried eggplant. I was a big fan of it."
