Yes, along with the kohlrabi, “canned pressed ham” is excatly what you think it is, without the brand name. They had to use it. In the first round. I bet everyone was grossed out. The other ingredients for that round were quince past and white wine. Out of the four contestants, I’d say that the most creative dish were the ham dumplings with pickled kohlrabi. One of the judges thought it was very “ambitious,” but at the same time, the spices were a bit overwhelming. Two of the contestants made a crispy pressed ham, with one serving it with pickled kohlrabi and cucumber (judges loved the lime zest used for this part of the dish, though the ham was a bit burnt), while the other combined it with quince paste apple chutney and a creamed kohlrabi – something the judges loved, along with his ginger and ham combination. The fourth chef went the sandwich route, making it with cheese and pressed ham (which I’ve dubbed “croque junk email” haha). Judges in this case liked the sandwich idea as well as the taste of the quince (great with goat cheese), but this contestant also left out a key ingredient – the kohlrabi. It would have been very nice, as it was made to be chip-like. This contestant was chopped due to the issue.
Kohlrabi was one of the mandatory ingredients in the first round
The three chefs in the second, main course round had to use root beer, papadams, slab bacon and bok choy. Halibut, an excellent pairing with bacon, was used in one of the dishes. The chef combined it with a root beer based sauce in addition to the bok choy with the bacon. Unfortunately, one of the papadams was knocked off a plate. Judges, however, loved the fusion-ness of the dish as well as its plating and spices. Another contestant also made seafood – seared scallops with bacon – and served it with a root beer vinaigrette, pickled bok choy and polenta. The plating was gorgeous and one judge noted that it reminded him of a sailboat. However, that same judge didn’t like the scallops (though he liked the bok choy, which was very kimchi like). The final remaining contestant really struggled. A pastry chef, he had no idea what to do with the papadams (he actually didn’t know what they were). He made grilled bacon steak, serving it with orzo and served the papadam on the side. He also didn’t use the best part of the bok choy – the greens. Needless to say, he was a goner.
In the dessert round, the two finalists were to use pound cake, gummy bears, beets and majorum. One contestant made beet shortcake with majorum semi freddo (the look was a little bit busy, and the beets were a bit too salad-like, according to judges), while the other made a majorum cookie with beet custard, and only topped the dish with the required pound cake. Unfortunately, though the judges loved his cookie, it wasn’t supposed to be the star of the dish, so he was penalized. And because of other issues, he was not in previous courses (including the knocked over papadam), he did not win.
Image via Wikicommons
