On Iron Chef America's Halloween broadcast on the Food Network, the secret ingredient was offal, which hereabouts we delicately call variety meats. I thought it was pretty sophomoric, but I suppose there was enough of the yuck factor to make it appropriate for Halloween. Personally, I'm sufficiently okay with liver, hearts, gizzards, and kidneys to not be turned off by such foods. The pig's trotters looked wonderful, in fact, and I would have loved to try Iron Chef Michael Symon's sweetbreads dish. However, I could have done without the duck's tongues and testicles and the chicken cockscombs. Besides, I didn't think the Halloween secret ingredient was challenging enough for the chefs (Michael Symon and Chris Cosentino). If I had been the Chairman, the secret ingredient would have been candy corn.
Just think of the challenge of trying to make gourmet dishes with candy corn. That's much more of a trick than making chocolate truffles with duck liver mousse filling. And the point would be to cook with candy corn, not make candy corn. Yes, I know, Martha Stewart has made her own Fig Newtons and Marshmallow Peeps, but that's not the challenge being offered in Kitchen Stadium on this occasion. Herewith, I offer my menu for the Iron Chef candy corn challenge, using products from the picture above:
Roasted candy corn salad with fresh green Jalapeno peppers
Candy corn pumpkin risotto
Chicken and candy corn fritters
Dilled candy corn bread
Chocolate candy corn pudding
I think this would be a wonderful feast (if a bit hard on the teeth), and it would be fun to see what various chefs would do with it. For example, I'm sure Iron Chefs Bobby Flay and Mario Batali would take completely different approaches to this menu. And wouldn't it be fun to see what Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto would come up with? Whose cuisine would reign supreme? Bon appetit!
1 comment:
Morimoto would probably make Candy Corn Carp. I'm thinking Baked Butternut Squash with Candy Corn would be tasty.
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