Bacon ice cream on ICA

[ingridsf]

Cora, who lost big on taste to challenger Neal Fraser in the taste category, created an…unusual dish during Pork Battle last night. The dish also included sautéed blueberries, a sweet little pork cutlet, and a streusel topping composed of flour and lard, among other things. Only ICA Judge Harry Smith loved the bacon ice cream; even Steingarten demurred, and visibly calmed down when Burke soothed him with crispy pork skin, a more conventional fat-delivery system. The third Judge, 80s celebrity author turned wine writer Jay McInerney, said the bacon ice cream freaked him out. Well, scaffolding masquerading as shoulder pads freaked me out, Jay. We all have our fears.

Am I the only one who saw it? Because I would have thought the words, “bacon + ice cream,” would spark lardophiles and dreamyfrozendessertophiles into a spirited debate.

edited because I messed up on the challenger's name.

Edited January 24, 2006 by ingridsf (log)

[docsconz]

I didn't see it, but have had and enjoyed bacon ice cream before. I'm surprised Steingarten didn't get it, unless it just wasn't very good. The Pacojet is an amazing toy.

[eje]

Haven't seen it yet. Hopefully it will be on the TiVo when I get home tonight.

I don't see why bacon ice cream would necessarily be bad. The physical properties of lard are really very close to those of butter.

As long as you somehow get proper emulsification and keep the total fat content to "normal" ice cream levels, I'm for it. Freeze me a pigsickle.

On the other hand, I've made some extra rich custard ice cream recipes and thought they were just too much.

[MGLloyd]

If someone put bacon ice cream in front of me, I would most definitely dig in. Perhaps a nice maple or apple ice cream with added bacon. But I would also try a straight bacon ice cream. Final judgement would depend on the taste and texture.

[Daniel]

I made toffee covered bacon and then put it in vanilla ice cream.. Its a reposted picture, but I think its worth seeing again..

Edited January 24, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[docsconz]

...but is it worth eating again?

[Daniel]

It was so good.. I will make it again for the super bowl and give you my feelings after the novelty has worn off.

[mochihead]

Daniel, they should have had YOU as challenger, or guest Iron Chef. I think your Pig Fest would have won hands down.

Why do the chefs keep shying away from the skin? There was only one dish with the pork skin cripified. I still remember the turkey battle where they didn't even have a dish that featured the crispy skin. HEATHENS!

[I_call_the_duck]

...but is it worth eating again?

←

What's not to like? Bacon? Ice cream? Two of my favorite things.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

...but is it worth eating again?

←

What's not to like? Bacon? Ice cream? Two of my favorite things.

←

Ah, but it is Kosher?

[Daniel]

Thank you for the compliment.. These people are trained chefs who have just an hour.. I am someone who spent and Friday night and Saturday with my girl friend preparing.. Although, I do agree they really didnt do the animal justice, I am not the person to do it..

But I believe Cora didnt show an appreciation for the Pig.. It was poorly represented in the cuts of meats used as well as the preparations.. She was trying to make the pork work in dishes as opposed to showing off the beast.. Dont wrap some pork in a lettuce leaf.. Make the skin the wrap.. Make a bacon and pig liver dumpling.. Serve it in a pig consomme.. Some blood clot.. Use the tail, the trotter, the ears, the jowels.. The ribs..Her dessert was kind of silly..

Edited January 24, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[tetsujustin]

On the subject of the actual battle, I must say I wasn't greatly impressed with either of the chef's dishes, although I believe Chef Fraser really did explain himself well on why he put out dishes that were all on the heavy side. I would have liked to see him attempt something more on the side of an appetizer though as it seemed to me as if they were all entrees. I would've eaten that smoked/roasted/crisped piece of butt in a second though.

Another indication to me that ICA isn't rigged (after much debating in my head after Cat Cora beat Alex Lee) Cora is now at the .500 mark at 2 and 2. Although people would have probably cried murder if Chef Fraser lost.

Did anyone else really like the judges too? I think they really didn't let back and actually spoke what they thought. I was highly satisfied with the comment that the first guy gave on Chef Cora's dish, as it looked to me that it wouldn't have been a bad dish, but it probably wasn't out of this world. More of these guys. Less of the niceness.

Dangit, Daniel, now i'm gonna have to try toffee covered bacon.

[eslamprey]

I saw that episode; Cat Cora did get trounced, but the bacon ice cream sounded pretty good - I'd try it, especially if it had toffee covered bacon in it. A nice variation of butter crunch.

Pork is great with all types of fruit and sweet things, like apples and maple syrup.

Edited January 24, 2006 by eslamprey (log)

[jsolomon]

Throw in a tabasco swirl, and I'd sidle up to the bacon ice cream feed trough.

[sdelgato]

(kinda off topic) but I had "Kentucky Fried Ice Cream" at Moto (Chicago) a year or so ago... It was interesting to say the least. I loved it but I wouldn't (couldn't) eat more than a scoop however. More than a scoop would be over the top.

[mikeycook]

I first became aware of Bacon Ice Cream when reading about british chef Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck, who has a Bacon and Egg Ice Cream on his menu. It is apparently a signature dish of his. That being said, I can't say for sure he was the originator, but he certainly made it a dish other chefs were aware of.

[edsel]

I didn't see it, but have had and enjoyed bacon ice cream before. I'm surprised Steingarten didn't get it, unless it just wasn't very good. The Pacojet is an amazing toy. ←

I wasn't watching very closely, but I don't recall seeing a Pacojet - just the conventional commercial ice cream machine. Could that have been part of the problem? Maybe bacon doesn't work well without the Paco's smoothing effect.

I, too, was surprized that Steingarten didn't love the bacon ice cream. There must have been something wrong with the texture.

[akebono]

do you cats agree...

compared to the Japanese version of Iron Chef,

in the American version, you get the sense that

anybody can win. sometimes it seems that the Iron Chefs

on the American version are at a judging disadvantage right out of the gate.

as opposed to the Japanese version where it seemed that

the Iron Chefs were always the favorites...

dunno, whatcha think?

[docsconz]

I didn't see it, but have had and enjoyed bacon ice cream before. I'm surprised Steingarten didn't get it, unless it just wasn't very good. The Pacojet is an amazing toy. ←

I wasn't watching very closely, but I don't recall seeing a Pacojet - just the conventional commercial ice cream machine. Could that have been part of the problem? Maybe bacon doesn't work well without the Paco's smoothing effect.

I, too, was surprized that Steingarten didn't love the bacon ice cream. There must have been something wrong with the texture.

←

The bacon ice cream I had was made with a Pacojet. Since I didn't see this episode, I had no idea what she did or didn't use. Whatever, she used I imagine that something wasn't right. since there is little not to love about bacon flavor, I would suspect the texture was off. Had she used a Pacojet, they probably would have loved it.

[docsconz]

do you cats agree...

compared to the Japanese version of Iron Chef,

in the American version, you get the sense that

anybody can win. sometimes it seems that the Iron Chefs

on the American version are at a judging disadvantage right out of the gate.

as opposed to the Japanese version where it seemed that

the Iron Chefs were always the favorites...

dunno, whatcha think?

←

I've only seen a few episodes and haven't seen the Iron Chef lose despite what appeared to me to be losing efforts at least in a few so my impression would be opposite. That clearly is based on a very limited sample though.

[ingridsf]

I don't know that I agree there *must* have been something off about the taste or texture. What struck me was that Harry Smith appeared delighted at hearing the words, "bacon ice cream," and nearly swooned when he took his first bite while Jay MacInerney said the notion of bacon ice cream freaked him out. And, unsurprisingly, said he didn't care for it when he did taste it.

Steingarten's written about how food likes/dislikes are strongly influenced by familiarity. So it doesn't seem surprising that he was more pleased by the familiar, i.e., nice, crispy pork skin attached to said pork than to the unfamiliar, i.e., bacon ice cream.

As far as the whole dish went, the component that seemed out of place was the cutlet. It was just...leaning there against the lard streusel, on top of the blueberries, ice cream cream melting away on top. I felt sorry for you, poor, lost-looking little cutlet. You should have been schnitzel. Instead, you were...I'm not really sure what. The protein element in Oinkberry Crunch?

[Leonard Kim]

In the first season, the Iron Chef Americans went 7-3, which is pretty much the same winning percentage as the original Iron Chefs.

In the second season, the Iron Chef Americans went 7-5-2. Two of the Iron Chefs (Morimoto and Cora) are batting .500 overall, and Cora actually had a losing record in the second season.

So yeah, I'd say compared to the Japanese show, the challengers have a better shot at taking it.

[chappie]

Daniel,

I want to know more about the kind of bacon you used in your toffee pork bits. It looks really good.

[ingridsf]

Daniel,

I want to know more about the kind of bacon you used in your toffee pork bits. It looks really good.

←

Me too! (It's making me hungry.)