Battle Pineapple The Follow Through

So I guess I was reading the room wrong. Chef Symon won Battle Pineapple pretty handily, with a score of 50 to 41.

Incidentally, he used Speck, which makes this the second time I've seen that on a food show this week. The impression Top Chef Masters left me with was that it was some kind of breading technique, but apparently according to AB, it's actually a form of proscuitto?

Guess what that means it's time for!

According to our friends at Wikipedia:

Speck is a distinctively juniper-flavored ham originally from Tyrol, a historical region that since 1918 partially lies in Austria and partially in Italy. Speck's origins at the intersection of two culinary worlds is reflected in its synthesis of salt-curing and smoking.

...and there you go. Apparently, if your going to google Speck, you gotta be a bit more specific. That was the 6 or 8th result down. But Speck Electronics (shout out!) is doing great. lol!

Because I Can't Edit...

I have an Iron Chef follow up...

One of the dishes was especially interesting to me - they took fresh tuna loin, cored out the center with an apple corer, cored out a slice of pineapple, and then inserted the pineapple into the center. Then they took some Thai basil, and wrapped the basil and the pineapple and tuna loin in this big thing that sort of looked like a fajita, but it was thin like a piece of puff pastry. The name is entirely escaping me right now. Grr...

At any rate, they then pan seared it, unwrapped, sliced and served. So you get this delicious piece of bright red tuna with this perfect little spot of yellow in the center. It looked delicious and fun - I'd love to try it!

New Iron Chef!

I've made little secret of my entirely in my head love affair with Michael Symon, and guess who was on Iron Chef America in an all new episode this past Sunday?! My boy, Chef Symon!

His competitor is Chef Akhtar Nawab, the executive chef at elettaria in NYC, and he comes to elettaria via Louisville Kentucky, San Franscisco, and a Indian mama. Aah, the mama! :)

They are in Battle Pineapple, and I was kind of hating it for Chef Symon because I often feel like they stack the ingredients for or against one chef or the other, and I didn't feel like pineapple looked that great for my boy, but he seemed pretty stoked. So maybe I'm reading the room wrong here. We'll see.

If your FAST, turn on Food Network right now, and you can see it. If not, check out elettaria online:

Elettaria NYC

ETA: Follow up. I was reading the room wrong, because Chef Symon won the battle, 50 to 41. There you go.