Last night was the first season finale of Chopped Canada and I have to say that the ingredients were quite interesting. In true Chopped style, the first round required contestants to use not only chicken livers, but also watermelon, green onions and dulse (a dried and salty, purple coloured food that is somewhat similar to nori). With the livers, the first thing I thought of was pâté, which is what two of the contestants made – one combined the (rehydrated) dulse with Greek yogurt with chicken liver pâté (which judges loved, despite the fact that this contestant was missing the watermelon) while another served it with deep fried watermelon (judges didn’t like this one as much. The watermelon, which was fried with cornmeal, ended up being a bit soggy from the grease). The other two dishes were a chicken liver parfait with dulse, green onion and fennel salad, using the watermelon juice as a dressing (some judges noted that the watermelon wasn’t pronounced enough, that they could barely taste it) and another was a little over-creative, making “deconstructed” green onions with chicken livers and grilled watermelon. This was a very interesting dish. Though the presentation was beautiful, there was a lack of flavour and probably a bit too “out there” for some of the judges. He was chopped.
Geoduck
Ingredients for the main course were: chicharon (fried pork rinds), black garlic, candied apple and geoduck (pronounced gooeyduck, it is a clam with a very long “neck”), a very interesting list of ingredients. One of the contestants decided to go a fusion route (perhaps to impress Susur Lee?), presenting an “around the world” sort of dish with noodles from Asia (from what I saw, it resembled the e-fu noodles that Chinese restaurants serve at the end of a multi-course banquet) with pickled black garlic and geoduck and grilled candied apples. The judges seemed to like it, though Chef Lee thought it was a little too “all over the place.” Another made geoduck with black garlic and a candied apple cream sauce. One issue she had was that she forgot to add the chicharon (the second contestant with missing ingredients!), but the judges were otherwise positive, especially towards how she cooked the geoduck. The third contestant decided to keep in touch with his Indian roots, making a garam masala (his mom’s recipe!) geoduck with chicharon sofrito. One of the judges liked the geoduck itself, but thought the candied apples he served along with it didn’t work too well. Another didn’t like the geoduck as it was a little over-cooked. However, this wasn’t the contestant chopped. Instead, the chef whose dish with global elements had to go. Perhaps he shouldn’t have added cheese to the noodles.
Dessert ingredients included cheese pierogies, birch syrup, kiwi and cacao nibs. I was surprised at the lack of additional fruits in the dishes. I would have probably added either pears or apples, along with the kiwi – cheese goes well with either of the two, after all. Desserts made included a cacao nib and perogie with a crème fraîche mousse with a basil crème anglaise (a very interesting combination, according to the judges) while the other contestant presented a cacao nib cake with birch syrup glazed pierogies. One of the judges loved the cake, but found an entire clove in his dessert, which obviously knocked off a few points for the contestant. Another judge thought the taste was a bit bitter and that the taste wasn’t cooperating with the birch syrup. However he was picked the winner, despite this issue and the fact that he, along with the other finalist both had missing ingredients in earlier rounds.
Chopped Canada has been renewed for a second season. Though Dean will be back as a host, one of my favourite judges, Vikram Vij, will not be returning.
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