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Hmm... it's time for Tolkien's There and Back Again (e.g, The Hobbit) - Cooking-Dojo Edition!
This posting is going to be told backwards because the goal was to advance in the MasterChef, Season 3 Casting Call!
Does the QuinJa survive the journey to "Hell's Kitchen?"
Nov 12: ~1:30pm
As I leave around, last known contestant was number 336...
Q: [I should've showed up later in the day... there would've been less of a wait time and my food would not been out in the cold for 4-5hrs! Might have been a different outcome...]
In my bracket of 20, four people advanced... the QuinJa is defeated! Two dishes that I saw advanced where some kind of quiche (Ack! Quiche tastes good even when cold! Good strategic move on that person's part!) and a seafood dish (looks like meatballs of crawfish and other seafood) in bon-bon looking bread - the plating was 3 "sliders."
I did some research earlier and apparently a pierogi dish had advanced in an earlier casting... I'm pretty disappointed... I started to wonder if I should have played it safe and made, Spinach Gnocchi or Ratatouille Nicoise or Mushrooms a la Grecque - surely these dishes would have survived the cold!
Here are the Signature Dishes of Season 2.
Can't say that it was "fun" or a "good experience" but I hope it's a good story!
Nov 12: ~11:00am
The Casting Call said that there would be no means to reheat or keep our plates warm (a cardinal rule in restaurants) before service AND that cold food would be taken into account (e.g., not penalized) by the taster.
The scoring criteria were Presentation, Taste, Ingredients and Techniques.
Throughout the competition, it may have seemed like "nerves" but I was just focused on wiping out the competition! I blocked out everything... but here's what I overheard...
The woman on my left made some kind of cream of something soup. The tester said that the soup had broken (e.g., cream had separated from the broth, it was no longer uniform). She explained that the food was sitting in the cold for 4 hours!
The guy on my right smoked a whole hog at 6pm the previous night, woke up at 3am and drove down to DC with his Pulled Pork Sandwich. I'm certain that pulled pork (or any BBQ) tastes great right off the smoker/grill. When it's cold, it tastes horrible! I confirmed this theory because he was nice enough to offer me a taste. Hmm... would Pulled Pork ever advance in a MasterChef competition? I mean Crisp N Juicy, Five Guys, and Pizza taste great but would these "Main Street Foods" ever advance?
When I was in line earlier (10:45am), I got to meet Chef Gordon Ramsay... he seems like a good guy and his staff is my England and they were pretty organized and very nice!
They filmed this interaction... I wonder if it will make the cut and be shown on TV?!
Q: Hi Chef!
R: How are you?
Q: Good Chef!
R: So what have you made for us today?
Q: Triple Q. They call me Q. So Q's Roasted Quail and Red Quinoa. SO TASTY IT'S SINFUL!
R: [Well, that's quite scandalous. I'm not sure if this is right show for that.]
He laughed and everybody in the line near me broke out as well!
QQQ: Q's Roasted Quail with Sweet Pepper Red Quinoa with Mango/Peach Puree
I "solomized"... termed made up in allusion to the Biblical story with King Solomon where he ruled to cut the baby in two... halved the quail and put the quiona in between to make it look like a bigger bird... OK, it's a horrible pun (especially given recent scandals in collegiate sports... prayers and thoughts to victims) but the Fox Network is known to be edgy...
(Photo courtesy of Kyle.)
(Photo courtesy of Chinh.)
Taster vs. QuinJa:
He said my quinoa was undercooked. (Secretly, I agreed with him. I had cooked it for like 45-60 minutes in chicken stock - normally it takes about 20 minutes. See recipe below for further analysis.)
He carried plastic utensils but switched to my metal ones to check my quail. He checked under the wing and then tore it to pieces. It looked rubbery. WTF? I woke up and roasted the quails and immediately put into my tubberware (well, actually Pyrex container)... I had heat packs too!
I surmise that putting the hot quails in a CLOSED container led to the buildup of STEAM... further boiling my quails and making them rubbery when cold! When I tried out for Food Network, I showed up at 8am (sat inside a hotel) and got interviewed at 10am. I miscalculating, even with heat packs, of standing outside in the cold for 4 hours! *sigh* But those that advanced had the same problems... well, except the guy who brought a full-sized grill to cook his food in line! Another woman brought a full-sized hot box!
Undercooked quinoa... that's all he said...
Looking back, I should've cooked everything the night before and served it cold... *sigh*
I took a risk in making poultry (quails are super delicate... you can't go rare because of salmonella and you can easily overcook). Also, grain products are tought to pull off... (pasta or risotto in competitions).
Nov 12: 8:15am
Thanks to my gal pal Sheila for transporting me to Trinity Washington University for the tryouts... I am number "181" (maybe I got it backwards and it was "181"). Note that in AZN culture, "8" is a lucky number so I'm feeling good...
It's COLD... people in line are complaining but I block it all out... I mean, it takes tremendous INTESTINAL FORTITUDE to become the MasterChef right?
Nov 12: ~6:00am RECIPE AND COOKING - QQQ
Strategize-wise... I had timed my dish to be completed in 30minutes (I watch too many cooking battling shows like QuickFire Challenges on Top Chef and Chopped... I wasn't sure if they would force me to do my dish in 30min in later rounds.)
Note: As in earlier posting, I don't usually go into exactness but I timed this down like a NASCAR pit crew...
RED QUINOA:
1. Fine chop sweet red peppers.
2. In a pot, boil about 2.5 Cups of chicken stock.
3. In a small saute pan, sweat red peppers with some olive oil.
4. Add quinoa.
5. Deglaze with white wine. (For quinoa, I find that acid, like lemon juice, or white wine is necessary to kill the smell of "feet" that quinoa has! On this fateful day, I think I kept the quinoa too long on the saute pan!)
6. Add quinoa and peppers to the pot of chicken stock.
7. Cook for 20 minutes... the quinoa will open up and you'll see white strands coming out of them... that's how you know it's "done."
Total Time: ~30 minutes
ROASTED QUAIL:
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Preheat a saute pan (med-high).
3. Half the quails.
2. Drizzle with olive oil and then aggressively season with cumin and crushed red pepper.
4. About 3 minutes have elapsed... sear for 90 seconds.
5. Flip and sear for 90 seconds.
6. Finish in the oven for about 5 minutes.
Total Time: ~10 minues
MANGO/PEACH PUREE:
1. Chop red onion (1/4 onion), garlic (2 cloves), one mango (cubes), one peach (cubes).
2. In saute pan, add half of the mango and aggressively season with cardamom!
Note: You need to check the ripeness of the mango. If it's hard like an apple, then saute it first to soften. If really ripe, sweat half of the onions and garlic first.
3. Sweat half of the onions and garlic.
4. Remove from pan and add to blender. Add some heavy cream.
5. Pulse until pureed.
6. Add the peach (only to dampen the taste of mango), remaining mango, and red onions. Pulse again but keep some "applesauce" texture.
7. Add crushed red pepper and salt.
Total Time: ~10 minutes
So Order of Operations:
1. Start boiling chicken stock.
2. Mise en place. Chop garlic, onion, sweet peepers.
3. Should be about 5 minutes in... preheat oven to 350F.
4. As quails sear, start sweating for the mango and quinoa dishes.
5. Put quinoa in the chicken stock.
6. Take quails out.
7. Start using the blender to finish the puree.
Nov 8: ~9pm (I missed the call but here's the voicemail...)
"Hi [QuinJa]. This is Katie calling from MasterChef. I'm just calling because we are really hoping that we will be meeting this Saturday in Washington DC at our open casting call. It's gonna be at Trinity University located at... in the Trinity gymnasium. The call is going to be from 10am to 6pm but because Gordon Ramsay has confirmed that he's gonna be there, we highly suggest that you get there early. If you have any questions, you can visit us at our website... or you can feel free to give me a call back at... Again, my name is Katie from MasterChef and we are really looking forward to meeting you to week. So give us a call back or we will see you Saturday. Take Care. Bye."
Some questions to my application that I thought were unique:
IF YOU WIN THE TITLE OF MASTERCHEF, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR DREAM TO COME OUT OF THIS OPPORTUNITY?
With a PhD in chemical engineering, I think it's natural to pursue further expertise in molecular gastronomy! I'd love to become a subject matter expert and travel around the country and college campuses to teach it! Hey, science can be FUN and TASTY!
WHAT OR WHO IS YOUR MOTIVATION FOR DOING THE SHOW?
I got my PhD as part of my dad's last request. My mom is a cook and she was pregnant with me while dodging gunfire as a war refugee from Vietnam. Gotta make mom proud! I was training in the mixed martial arts (judo, taekwondo, akido) but my sparring partners were 50lbs heavier so I was suffering concussions! Size doesn't matter (there are weight classes in martial arts) in culinary competitions!
DESCRIBE YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT CHEF GORDON RAMSAY:
Like a drill sergeant. Tough during boot camp but you'll thank him later when you're in battle!
THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR THE SUPPORT AND WISHES! LIKE EVERYTHING I DO IN LIFE, I GO BALLS-THRU THE WALL! IN HINDSIGHT, WHILE THERE WOULD BE TACTICAL CHANGES, I STILL WOULD HAVE PLAYED TO "WIN" - LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO BE SCARED! HIYA!
