01x07 - Battle Live Sturgeon

[bunniefuu]

[cheering and applause]

Hello again, eating enthusiasts.

I'm Alton Brown

and this is Kitchen Stadium.

And I'm Kristen Kish,

and soon, a brave challenger

will attempt to survive

swimming in these dangerous

and delicious waters.

Tonight, which one

of our kitchen behemoths

will be called upon

to take a dive into Kitchen Stadium?

Now remember that every challenger

that those Iron Chefs face

is cooking their heart out

for the chance to win the ultimate

Kitchen Stadium accolade,

the title of Iron Legend.

[dramatic drumbeats play]

[heavenly choral music plays]

Mr. Chairman, what say

we, uh, dive right in?

[cheering and applause]

[dramatic music builds]

This titanic battle will be so enormous

that one challenger alone

might not survive it,

so I have decided there will be two.

Please welcome Chef Mei Lin

and Chef Gregory Gourdet.

[upbeat music plays]

Classically trained,

they cut their teeth

in some of America's top restaurants.

Having cooked

and competed together before,

they're no stranger to each other's

unique culinary styles.

And today, these two great friends

join forces in Kitchen Stadium.

[Mei] Gregory is a beast in the kitchen,

and we've done a lot

of competitive cooking together.

So, I love working as a team.

[Gregory] My heritage

is extremely important to me.

I am Haitian-American.

I was born in Brooklyn, raised in Queens,

but, you know,

we had Jamaican friends, Guyanese friends,

so many different cultures

represented in our community.

So, you know, my cooking

is definitely global.

[Mei] I would describe my style

as modern American cuisine

with Asian influences.

I was born in China and I came over

when I was three months old.

I was always really interested in cooking.

My entire family owned restaurants

and I started working with my dad

at my aunt's restaurant

when I was eight years old.

[Gregory] I didn't grow up cooking

whatsoever.

I actually learned how to cook

when I was in college,

so I was actually in my early twenties

when I started cooking.

[Mei] I worked for a lot of great chefs,

Marcus Samuelsson, Wolfgang Puck,

so I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve.

I'm definitely gonna bring that

to Kitchen Stadium today.

[Gregory] I'm at a turning point

where I'm opening my first restaurant.

I'm tapping into

traditional Haitian dishes

and interpret them in a modern way.

Mei is a razor-sharp technical chef.

We're definitely bringing

a lot of her Chinese heritage,

some of my Caribbean heritage.

[Mei] The Iron Chef

is gonna have a battle,

because two heads are better than one.

[cheering and applause]

Chef Lin, Chef Gourdet, welcome.

[both] Thank you, Chairman.

There are two of you,

and you will face just one Iron Chef.

He is a true culinary juggernaut,

one especially skilled at the ingredient

you will face.

His cooking spans continents.

His cuisine resides where East meets West.

Please welcome Iron Chef Ming Tsai!

[cheering and applause]

[powerful music plays]

[Alton]Iron Chef Ming Tsai

returns to Kitchen Stadium

with a point to prove,

having lost previously

in Battle Chocolate.

[Ming] I do not get intimidated

by the challengers.

I'm confident in my food,

I'm confident my food tastes good,

the flavors, the textures,

the temperatures, all of that,

but I'm not gonna lie,

there's a ton of weight on my shoulders,

but cooking is like Broadway.

It's live,

and when it's showtime, it's showtime.

Iron Chef Tsai, welcome.

Thank you, Chairman.

Iron Chef Tsai,

because your skills are so strong

in your mastery of the ingredient to come,

I have decided

you will face two worthy challengers.

-Chefs.

-Can you withstand this challenge?

Chairman, they are literally

East meets West,

and I created that, so yes.

Mmmmm!

Good luck to all of you.

Chefs, I believe

you will fall for this secret ingredient

hook, line and sinker!

Beware of what lies beneath!

Live sturgeon!

[chuckles]

Nice.

Chefs, you will have just 75 minutes

to make five stunning sturgeon dishes.

And your first dish will be due

within just 30 minutes.

So now, with an open heart

and empty stomach,

I say unto you, in the words of my uncle

Allez cuisine!

[Alton] The battle of white sturgeon

is on.

These were farm-raised fish.

Some of them are freshwater,

some are seawater.

Sturgeons have been around

since the dinosaurs

and have changed very, very little.

You know, they live

down in river and lake beds

and suck up food.

-[Mei shrieks]

-[Ming groans]

-[Kristen] Oh!

-[Alton] Yeah.

Get it, Chef!

[Mei] Let's go.

[grunting, chuckling]

-[Kristen] Oh!

-Ohh!

Oh! Mm!

[giggling]

[Mei] Oh my

[Andrew] They gotta get a live fish!

This is a creature

that has literally survived

when the dinosaurs could not,

and somehow today in our kitchen

-That's it.

-that's going to come to an end.

Um

It's the circle of life

here in Kitchen Stadium.

Smells great. Nice and fresh.

[Alton] Now these white sturgeon

are farm raised,

so they have a mild flavor

and a firm texture, kind of like chicken.

[Mei] We're gonna use everything.

[Kristen] These chefs are surely

gonna use all parts of the fish

for different textures and flavors.

First, we can get the spinal cord out.

We'll use the head. We'll use the tail.

I'll be able to use most of the skin.

Best part of sturgeon, caviar.

We're gonna use that for the first course.

[Kristen] When people think sturgeon,

they often just think about caviar,

but the flesh of the sturgeon itself

is absolutely beautiful.

-I am a huge fan.

-It can take on every form of cooking.

-Yes.

-Grilling, poaching, uh, raw.

In 30 minutes,

I can get a fried sturgeon out.

[chef] When we score this,

take out the "nanochord,"

you score it right here?

We're gonna twist it a little bit,

just yank it out.

-Let's go, guys.

-Absolutely.

-We have a good game plan?

-Yes.

Whoo! Let's go!

Right now, it's time

to meet our fortunate judges.

Nilou Motamed,

Andrew Zimmern,

and joining them is our special guest,

a chef, a restaurateur,

and a true food icon,

Wolfgang Puck.

It seems that the chitchat is over

and everybody springs into action.

[Ming] Here we go.

Over on Iron Chef Tsai's side

of the world,

looks like sous-chef Ben

is gonna be responsible

for butchering down the sturgeon.

-[Ming] How's that fish look?

-[Ben] Fantastic.

[Kristen] Big job there,

but the Iron Chef

brought two of his chef de cuisines

from his restaurants,

sous-chef Ben and sous-chef Christine,

so he is surrounded by the talent

he implicitly trusts.

The fact that we have two challengers

for one Iron Chef

tells you the stakes

have never been higher.

[Kristen] We have Iron Chef Tsai,

who is a master of craft

of East-meets-West style of cooking.

He is known

for his beautiful fish preparation.

-[Alton] True.

-[Kristen] Smart, classic, clean.

We're gonna do a little vinegar steam

on the sturgeon.

Vinegar helps tenderize it.

On the challenger side with Chef Lin,

Chef Gourdet, and sous-chef Jeremy,

we have quite literally East meeting West.

[Mei] I'm getting started on the broth.

[Kristen] You have Chef Lin,

who is Chinese-influence leaning

I looked up to chef Ming Tsai growing up

watching him on TV.

It's an honor to be able

to cook alongside him today.

-Chef Gourdet, where's he from?

-Chef Gourdet is in Portland.

He leans heavily into his Haitian roots,

which is gonna be a beautiful combination.

They are masters of technique.

Watching them cook is like

watching a perfect cookbook come to life.

You know, Mei and I love bold flavors.

We love exploring technique,

so it's really

a just tremendous collaboration.

Seeing two different approaches

on sous-chef Ben and sous-chef Jeremy.

Um, Ben started

from the top of the fish, the fillet,

and then Jeremy went for that tail.

-[Alton] The notochord.

-Chef Gourdet has brought out plantains.

[Alton] Okay, plantains are basically

starchy versions of bananas.

Um, they do not taste sweet at all,

um, and is used,

certainly in Caribbean cuisine,

more like a potato.

It's gonna have

this beautiful plantain sauce

that has plantains, pineapple, ginger.

Yeah, we got this.

[Alton] Over on the Iron Chef's side,

sous-chef Christine

taking heirloom tomatoes for a whirl.

-I think they're making just tomato water.

-Okay.

[Kristen] So when you let it drain slowly,

it will drain relatively clearer.

[Alton] It tastes

kinda like a concentrated version

of vine-ripe tomato,

so it's great for c*ck and sauces.

[Ming] I'm using the tail piece.

[Alton] We can see Iron Chef Tsai

is now mixing.

I could swear he's making

like a fish-cake mixture.

He took that steamed meat,

that was steamed

over the rice-wine vinegar,

and he's mixed in some Kewpie mayonnaise,

the Japanese mayonnaise.

-Are you a Kewpie mayonnaise fan?

-I love Kewpie 'cause I love MSG.

[Alton] Some shallot and herbs went in,

so it's like a crab cake.

That's what I'm gonna guess,

that his first course

is going to be a sturgeon cake.

[Ming] Flour, egg, panko.

Goes in the deep fryer.

[Kristen] There's a part of the fish

I really hope they use.

I thought I heard them mention it,

and I really hope to see it.

You cut around the tail,

and you kind of give it a little jiggle,

and you pull it out

and the whole spinal cord,

which is, um

it looks like a big rubber straw almost.

[Alton] That's called a notochord,

instead of a spinal cord, is the thing

I'm gonna just stop you real quick.

-Okay.

-Over on

-Oh, they are doing it! Here's the move.

-Sous-chef Jeremy has

-Here's the twist.

-cut the tail, and hopefully he's

-No!

-Oh!

[Gregory] Jeremy, how's it goin'?

Having issues getting the "nano" out.

Let me try the other one.

[Kristen] Go back to this tail thing

to explain to those at home.

So what happens is we have the tail here,

which is attached to the cord,

so, when you cut around the bone

Yep, like this.

[Alton rasps]

you're loosening the meat,

but the cord is still attached.

-Then

-So when you pull the cord

And if I'd pulled your arm out,

it would've been so cool.

Working on the first dish.

Making a chicken-fried sturgeon.

[Kristen] So, it looks like on both sides,

the Iron Chef and the challengers

are doing a fried and breaded form

of sturgeon for their first course.

-Jeremy, you got that fish in?

-[Jeremy grunts] Huh?

-You got that fish on brine?

-No.

It looks like sous-chef Jeremy's

gonna try this move again,

which I want to keep an eye on.

-[Jeremy] The first one I couldn't get it.

-[Mei] Oh, wait, wait, wait.

[Jeremy exhales deeply]

-There's the twist.

-He's trying to

There's the twist.

[fish crunches and squelches]

-[Jeremy] I got it!

-[Alton] They got the cord.

There it is. There's that notochord

coming out. They got it.

-[Gregory] Good job, Jeremy.

-[Mei] Get that notochord.

-[Jeremy] Now I can breathe again.

-Bravo, Chef Jeremy. Bravo.

[Kristen] We were waiting,

we were waiting for it.

Still have a long ways to go.

For dish one, I'm preparing a fillet

for chicken-fried sturgeon.

[Mei] Time?

[Alton] Holy smokes,

15 minutes already gone here,

which means we're only 15 minutes away

from having to have that first course

up to our judges.

Okay, looking over at Iron Chef Tsai,

you can really feel the intensity

coming from that side of the kitchen.

He's in full battle mode

determined to make up for his loss

in Battle Chocolate.

[Kristen] And he's working

with some kimchi,

which, when I see kimchi

go into a pot like that,

I imagine kimchi soup.

[Ming] I'm doing my version of tofu.

Can't make tofu in an hour.

What I'm doing instead is using soy milk

for making the base of tofu.

[Kristen] That could be a jjigae,

which is a tofu-based soup

in Korean cuisine,

which always, always, always

has cooked kimchi.

You getting pork in there?

[Alton] Sous-chef Christine right now

is placing that pork belly

into the kimchi.

They're gonna have to get the lid

on that soon.

Sous-chef Ben continues

to meticulously break down that sturgeon,

and they're being very careful

about the shapes and sizes.

[Kristen] The sturgeon fillet is so big

that they have lots of options

to create different textures

-depending on the cuts they're making.

-Whoo-hoo!

Your caviar has come out.

-I feel like

-I'll just head on down there.

If you don't know Alton Brown,

what you should know

is that his favorite food is caviar.

It's my favorite food on planet Earth.

[Gregory] Whoo-hoo-hoo!

On the challenger side,

Chef Gourdet, there in that mixer,

he's got habanero in there,

some black pepper, allspice,

ginger, brown sugar, scallions, yuzu.

That's interesting.

-That's a jerk. That is a jerk.

-It is a jerk.

-That is a classic Jamaican jerk.

-[Gregory] I am making a jerk sauce.

It's a fantastic way to cook

that meaty piece of fish.

-[Jeremy] Head, tails, cartilage in.

-[Mei]Oui,Chef.

[Jeremy] I'm putting the lid on this guy.

[Kristen] Fish heads and fish tails

are a classic way

to impart more of that fish flavor

to a broth or a soup,

and they also have the cartilage,

which is going to break down,

and they can use that

in a dish for texture.

They're doing a great job

utilizing all parts of the fish.

-Hi, Chef.

-Hi, how are you?

Good. What are you working on?

-I'm frying the sturgeon.

-Is that where caviar is going?

Yes, it is.

The fried chicken combination with caviar

is a very, very

-Classic.

-popular chef thing.

The dynamic with Chef Gourdet,

I know you are friends,

'cause I also am part

of this friend group.

[Mei chuckles] Gregory and I

actually cook pretty similarly.

We are so excited to be cooking together

in Kitchen Stadium today.

We collaborate on every dish.

Some represent her a little bit more,

some represent me a little bit more,

like this jerk sauce,

but at the end of the day,

both of us is in each and every

single dish that we're presenting today.

So hot, it's so good.

[Alton] Four minutes and six seconds

before the first course

has to be up, chefs.

Oh, and I see the Iron Chef is plating up.

I think that's it.

I'm going up in one minute.

Tomato water with vodka.

They are serving a tomato water

with that sturgeon fish cake,

sour-cream sauce going down.

That'll create a nice tang,

and oh, what a way to elevate

with a healthy topping of caviar there.

You go and take two. Here we go.

It looks like the plating is going up

for that first course

to the judges' table

where Kristen is standing by.

Oh-h*!

-Wow.

-Yes.

Wow, wow, wow.

Chef Tsai, as you serve,

please tell us what you have.

So here you have vinegar-steamed sturgeon.

Vinegar steam helps tenderize it

and also helps get that muddy flavor away.

And of course

the babies are sturgeon caviar.

Next to it, you have a tomato water

with a little bit of vodka.

So it's a one-biter, and chase it

with the tomato water.

And that's it.

-Cheers!

-Thank you.

[Kristen] Ooh!

That disappeared quite fast.

Nilou, surprise and delight on your face.

What are we thinking?

You get that sexy velvety sturgeon,

you get the very lovely plushness

of the Kewpie mayonnaise,

which is Japanese mayo,

and the great crisp of the panko. Right?

Yeah. I wanted a little more flavor

on the fish cake,

but the tomato-water chaser

was a brilliant choice.

Yeah. This is like

a very, very sophisticated Bloody Mary.

-Yeah.

-I mean, yeah, sure, ply me with liquor.

I think this is a great kickoff.

When I think about sturgeon,

caviar comes to my mind, you know.

Instead of having a potato cake,

you have the sturgeon cake.

But what I liked,

it was really crispy outside.

-[Nilou] Yeah.

-And it wasn't oily.

I agree, it was not oily at all.

With the cake and the caviar,

a little lemon

might lift it up a little more.

[Mei] We're up next.

[Alton] A minute and 21 seconds, chefs,

to get that first course up to the judges.

Plating up the yuzu ranch used as a dip.

[Alton] Now, that's how chefs

are different from the rest of us,

taking a staple like ranch,

infusing it with yuzu,

an East Asian citrus fruit.

I like it. I'll allow it.

[Mei] Ranch is the best.

Fried-chicken sturgeon.

[Alton] And so is caviar that I see there.

Hey, if there's any caviar left over,

I'll clean it up.

You don't have to do that.

And off they go.

Got this.

[Nilou] Thank you, Chef.

Oh!

[Wolfgang] I like your style.

-There's never enough caviar, you know?

-[Gregory chuckles] I agree.

All right, Chef Gourdet, Chef Lin,

please tell the judges what you've made.

Okay, so what we made today

is a chicken-fried sturgeon

lightly brined, served with its roe,

and you're gonna use the yuzu ranch

as a dip.

-[Kristen] Fantastic.

-Enjoy.

-Thanks, chefs.

-Thank you.

It's really taking American cuisine

to the next level.

What is more American than fried chicken?

I think in the South, they have a lot

of catfish and sturgeon, probably.

It's crispy on the outside.

-Not oily.

-[Andrew] Perfect.

And the fish is so tender.

It melts in your mouth.

Nilou.

The idea of chicken-frying sturgeon

is genius.

Obviously giving us the healthiest dollop

of caviar is not hurting,

but I think that this rémoulade

with the yuzu

is where the real revelation comes for me.

Can't wait to see where they go next.

The technique and flavor building with

the seasoning spice mixture and brine,

as a chef myself is I admire it so much.

And you are correct,

this yuzu ranch

is going into my back pocket.

So I will leave you to your scoring.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

[Alton] Okay, we've got 36 minutes left

in Battle Sturgeon,

where both sides

must plate four more dishes,

and we know the challengers

are making some sort of jerk sturgeon.

We know they're

using the notochord and skin,

but don't ask me where those are going.

[Jeremy] Skin's ready.

[Alton] On the Iron Chef side,

they're making what I'm calling a jjigae,

which is a Korean tofu-based soup.

Look at this. Iron Chef Tsai.

Now he's mixing together

He's got a mixture,

there's coconut milk in there

and so far some lime juice,

and now going into that,

is that fish sauce, Iron Chef?

Yes, sir. Three Crab, my favorite.

[Alton] Little fish sauce,

which is what happens

when you pile up anchovies and salt

and let it rot for a year.

Doesn't sound very good,

and it doesn't smell very good,

but a few drops can

make a big difference to food.

[Ming] This is leche de tigre,

a Peruvian dish.

It's like a ceviche,

but they use coconut milk, coconut fat,

always has some type of chili.

[Alton] Sous-chef Ben,

now he is cooking off

some Japanese buckwheat noodles,

soba noodles,

and he also took

some little cubes of sturgeon,

and he's got those in what looks

a lot like kind of a low-temperature oil.

We can see sous-chef Christine,

that's a perforated hotel pan

with foil over it.

That looks like a smoking rig to me.

So this is a mixture equal parts

brown sugar, Lapsang tea and rice.

[Alton] So they're going

to do a tea smoke on that.

The rice is really being used as a medium.

It's the tea we're after,

but the rice

will keep the tea from burning.

It's a pro move you can do at home.

You're welcome.

Challenger side, we can see Chef Lin.

Now she's also got coconut milk.

I'm seeing it on both sides,

and fish sauce.

GG, you got any more Fresnos?

I can get you some.

[Alton] And oh, um, sous-chef Jeremy

still on sturgeon duty.

[Kristen] Sous-chef Jeremy,

what are you working on?

[Jeremy] These small loins here

are gonna be a tataki

that we're gonna serve

on the second course.

[Kristen] So tataki

is a Japanese cooking technique

that means quickly searing meat or fish

over a high heat.

[Jeremy] We're gonna

lightly salt-water poach it,

and then serve it with a coconut milk

kind of leche de tigre.

[Alton] Ah, well, there you have it,

sturgeon leche de tigre

on both sides of Kitchen Stadium.

Leche de tigre or "tiger's milk"

is a citrus-based kind of marinade.

Kind of cures the fish.

It's spicy, acidic, savory, and tangy.

Chef Gourdet's working with pearl onions.

They're purple pearl onions.

[Gregory] We are making ti malice.

It's a Haitian-inspired sauce condiment.

It's usually onions, olive oil,

and lime and vinegar.

All right, looking

at the Iron Chef side again,

Iron Chef Tsai.

[Ben] Chef.

[Alton] It looks like he's checking

on those soba noodles.

-[Ben] More lime?

-[Ming] Do it again.

[Alton] Iron Chef Tsai is here

for redemption today

and will accept nothing but perfection.

He wants those noodles

to be perfectly al dente,

so sous-chef Ben

is quickly starting again from scratch.

[Ming] Key with leeks, get the dirt out.

Try to serve Andrew, Nilou

or Wolfgang a piece of sand,

it'shasta luego,baby.

[Kristen] On the challenger side,

Chef Lin is blending up

some coriander and oil

maybe for some sort of sauce,

and now she's putting charcoal

into her pot of garlic.

No idea what that's for.

-Chef Lin?

-Yes.

Curious, we wanna know what's going on

with the charcoal and garlic.

It's going to be a charred black garlic.

[Alton] Well, that is something

I haven't seen before.

I like she's bringing new tricks

to the party.

You can see, sous-chef Jeremy,

those little tranches,

those kind of square pavers,

are going into vacuum bags.

I think that's the jerk marinade.

[Jeremy] One jerk marinated

and then one chili oil marinated.

That, to me, is how you truly

treat a piece of fish like this.

You can get away with it,

it can take on so much flavor.

-Greg's famous jerk sauce.

-[Kristen] I'll be right back.

[Alton] Okay, on the Iron Chef side,

those chopped up maitake mushrooms

have gone into a sauté pan.

-[blender whirrs]

-[Kristen] Mei, Mei!

We've got a traditional

Japanese rice cooker, Donabe, over there

Alton, you wanna be best friends?

Oh!

-The Iranians, best caviar in the world.

-The best.

[Wolfgang] The Iranians knew

and kept the best one for themselves.

[Nilou] Golden osetra in Iran

is like nothing I've ever had before.

Yeah, totally.

[Kristen] Mm!

[Alton] I love this stuff.

Do they know you have that?

-Yeah, I asked.

-Okay, good.

So, when I'm not talking,

you'll know what I'm doing.

This traditional Japanese rice pot,

it's made out of a clay.

It stays hot very, very evenly.

Glad to see one.

Uh, chefs, you might be interested

in the scores from your first course.

Um, Iron Chef Tsai,

you have garnered 20 points, sir,

out of 25 for your first course.

Thank you.

[Alton] The challengers,

Chef Lin, Chef Gourdet,

twenty-one points.

-You lead the Iron Chef by one point.

-[Ming] Grrr!

Chefs, take a picture.

You've got a one-point lead.

-Good job.

-Keep going, guys.

[Kristen] Another notch of pressure

for the Iron Chef

who is intent on redeeming himself

from his previous defeat.

This is a historic battle,

dare I say, prehistoric.

-No, you didn't.

-I did.

-Did you practice that joke?

-Maybe.

We have the tailpiece of the sturgeon.

Love using everything in its entirety.

No waste.

[Alton] Do you know what she's doing?

She took them out having already

been cooked in the pressure cooker

and then put them in the oven on a Silpat.

I think she's dehydrating them

to add another form of texture,

so there's meat floss.

[Alton] They're using a lot

of chunks of fish.

[Kristen] And also,

Chef Gourdet over at the fryer,

they marinated fish skin and now,

they're deep-frying it.

Opening up their smokers.

-We got smokers on both sides.

-[Ming] Has to be smoked.

[Alton] On the Iron Chef side,

those tea-smoked sturgeon pieces

might be done.

-[Ming] Tough.

-[Christine] You want more heat?

[Ming] I want you to start over.

[Alton] I guess he wants a redo

of the tea-smoked sturgeon too.

[Ming] Let's do this, guys.

Chef Tsai, what are you working on?

-I have no idea!

-So many things.

I am calling a Chinese takeout.

I'd love to get some moo goo gai pan.

No, this is coulibiac.

This is a classic Russian dish,

and I used to make it at Fauchon

every freakin' day.

So I've taken that inspiration.

I'm doing my mushroom layer,

I have a soba layer,

then I do a sturgeon layer à la poached,

and I cover it with truffles

and puff pastry on top. Coulibiac.

So it's basically a layered baked pastry,

so when you cut into it,

you get a cross-section

of all those beautiful ingredients

that he has just wonderfully named off.

It's also called a pot pie.

-Good luck, Chef.

-Thank you.

[Alton] All right, dairy has been added

to this mushroom and leek mixture

on the Iron Chef side.

I think I know what he's gonna do.

-I can tell you.

-No, don't!

No, I don't want you to tell me.

I wanna have to guess.

-You already actually really know?

-I do.

-Okay, come here.

-So, you're

-Is he making, um, coulibiac?

-[Kristen] He is.

[Alton] Okay.

Delicious.

-Time?

-[Alton] 22 minutes and 12 seconds, Chef.

Looking at the way the courses

are shaping up

For me, the only course is caviar.

I think we're gonna have smoked sturgeon

on both sides.

[Kristen] Yeah, I think we are,

and a leche de tigre.

[Alton] On the Iron Chef side,

we're gonna have the jjigae, or jji-gae,

depending on how you pronounce it.

The tofu soup.

There's the soy-milk tofu there.

He's gonna have to add the sturgeon

to that.

Just don't know how or where.

Shifting to the challenger side.

They'll do a kombu cure.

This is a very Japanese move.

They're doing sashimi-thin

cuts of the sturgeon

and laying it directly onto the kombu,

which does a kind of cure as a crudo.

So not only does curing add the flavor

and the salinity we're looking for,

but it also changes the texture

just a little bit.

Umami b*mb.

We'll, of course, keep an eye on this

to see where it goes.

Chef Gourdet, what are you working on?

I have some cartilage

we've pressure-cooked tender.

-We'll fry it.

-[Kristen] Cartilage.

[Alton] So skin being used,

we've got literally the spinal cord,

the notochord out of that fish,

being used.

We've got head and tail,

giving us a bunch of flavor

and I'm still not sure

what they're doing with that broth.

I see Chef Lin is working

with shiitake mushrooms.

-Chef, how are those gonna be used?

-For the shabu-shabu.

[Kristen] Oh, sothat's

what the broth is for.

[Alton] Shabu-shabu, I bet that's gonna

go with the rice out of the Donabe.

So shabu-shabu,

if you're a fan of Japanese cuisine,

Osaka is where it was invented,

and shabu-shabu is an onomatopoeia,

which means swish-swish.

Apparently in Japan

when you swish-swish something

it goes shabu-shabu.

Thank you, give me those.

[Kristen] On the Iron Chef side,

sous-chef Christine has got pork belly,

which came out of the pressure cooker

and is now on the flat top.

Sturgeon being added to that.

That's going to have some depth of flavor,

but I still can't figure out

what that's for.

We're gonna do like

a surf-and-turf sisig.

[Alton] Sisig, it's a Filipino dish

where you take all the meat

off a pig head,

and you chop it up, and you fry it

with chicken livers and onions

and toss it all in coconut vinegar,

which is sweeter and milder

than apple-cider vinegar. It's delicious.

[Kristen] Do I see a little bit

of summer truffle happening over there?

-[Ming] In honor of Monsieur Paul Bocuse

-Truffles?

-Oh.

-[Wolfgang] What?

Adding truffle to your coulibiac

is a Paul Bocuse move.

Paul Bocuse, of course,

the world-renowned chef,

who modernized French cuisine.

[Kristen] He's topping that

with puff pastry

and getting that into the oven.

-[Alton] We are now at 15 minutes.

-Let's do this.

You guys almost ready to plate?

[Kristen] Over on the challenger side

Wait, I'm not sure

what Chef Lin is working on.

Chef Lin, what do you have there?

Got the Three Cup sauce working,

we're just getting it reduced,

cooking out that rice wine.

-I need notochord. Yes.

-[Gregory] Cord right here.

[Kristen] I'm gonna get a closer look

at that notochord.

Chef Gregory,

where's this notochord going?

This is gonna get simmered

in the Three Cup sauce.

-[Kristen] How are you feeling?

-It's a push, but we're gonna get it done.

-[Mei] I need the chili oils poached.

-[Jeremy]Oui.[sighs]

[Alton] Oh, okay, look I'm pretty sure

they're gonna put

that chili oil-poached sturgeon

in that Three Cup sauce.

That's also going to have the notochord,

which alone won't bring a ton of flavor,

but the chewy, almost calamari-like

texture should be delicious.

Oh, that broth is delicious.

Smells like victory!

[Alton] All right, look at this.

The Iron Chef now adding cold butter

to his soup mixture.

Smart technique

that adds a smooth, glossy finish.

On the challenger side, that's the rice

that's gonna go

with the sturgeon shabu-shabu dish.

That's got all the crunchy bits,

it's got sturgeon skin.

[Alton] And to go along

with this rice party

is the shabu-shabu, the broth

to cook the kombu-cured sturgeon in.

Three minutes, chefs.

[Kristen] Chef Gourdet

now has jerk-poached sturgeon

on the binchotan grill,

adding some last-minute heat.

Kind of risky since you wanna make sure

this fish is nice and moist.

I need fish!

Over on Iron Chef Tsai's side,

I'm excited about this whole jjigae thing,

which he's putting a fried, like,

kimchi-marinated sturgeon over it.

-Kind of like

-It's a tonkatsu! It's a tonkatsu.

He made sturgeon tonkatsu.

-[Ming] Tonkatsu.

-[Kristen] So smart, Chef.

Tonkatsu, of course, is a Japanese dish

of deep-fried pork cutlets.

So I'm seeing that pork belly

and sturgeon,

which is a riff on that Filipino dish,

and now he's plating

his leche de tigre sturgeon dish.

Over on the challenger side, I see nori

going down on the chili-poached sturgeon,

and under that layer

is the Three Cup sauce with the notochord.

[Alton] Everything is kind of hiding

underneath that nori.

-[Kristen] Chef Gourdet is plating jerk.

-[Alton] And that's that plantain mixture.

[Kristen] Chef Lin has put down

that tataki-smoked sturgeon,

and they're pairing that

with their leche de tigre.

[Alton] There were similarities,

but plating style, not so much.

Things are kind of free-form,

very colorful on the challenger side.

Iron Chef Ming Tsai far more meticulous

in placing everything on the plate.

-[Ming] Looks good.

-[Alton] 30-second mark.

Oh my God.

[Kristen] Chef Gourdet has fried cartilage

on that jerk sturgeon.

[Alton] And the coulibiac

is out of the oven in the nick of time!

Five, four, three, two, one.

And Battle Sturgeon is complete

here in Kitchen Stadium.

-Wow. [chuckles]

-Rough.

[sighs] Ugh!

Judges, if you will

please move to the judging table

and our challengers, Chef Lin and Gourdet,

they will be plating first.

Battle Sturgeon was absolutely insane.

It was very stressful.

Uh, I mean,

it was still really fun. [laughs]

We did really well, and I'm really excited

to serve the judges today.

[Ming] Every dish came out

exactly how we planned.

This is chefs on chefs,

and may the best chef win.

[heavenly choral music plays,

dramatic drum beats]

Judges, welcome to the table

that's named for you.

Chef Puck, such an honor to have you here.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

The Battle, of course, Sturgeon,

and, as you know, going into this now,

you awarded Iron Chef Ming Tsai 20 points

for the first course,

but the challengers 21.

You are awarding the points

based on taste, presentation,

and use of the secret ingredient,

so you have 75 more points

to divvy out amongst the next four courses

for each chef.

Oh!

-Looks beautiful.

-[Nilou] Wow.

What's happening?

Ooh, look at the color.

Can I take a picture of that?

[Mei] Of course, Chef.

-You don't need to ask permission.

-[Wolfgang] You're right.

Before you talk

about this individual dish,

if you just talk about

your general approach to the challenge.

Our goal was to use

as much of the sturgeon

and as many preparations as possible,

from the head to the tail, inside and out.

Wonderful approach.

Tell us about the dish.

So today in front of you,

you have smoked sturgeon tataki

with a coconut leche de tigre

with three types of oils.

We have a black garlic oil,

a coriander oil, and chili oil.

I love the presentation.

The bowl, the smoke you've got,

I think

it really enhances the fish perfectly.

I think it's interesting,

but most of all, it's delicious.

The texture and flavor

that you got out of this sturgeon,

it is creamy,

it is buttery, it is velvety,

and then you get the hit of acid,

and then you get the spice.

This dish, I think it's pretty perfect.

I'm really impressed for a dish

that is so visually stunning

how much restraint there actually is,

how they have matched the sauce

to the vessel it comes in. Phenomenal.

Um, Chefs, thank you.

We look forward to your next courses.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

[Nilou] Keep 'em comin'.

-[Alton] Ah, here we go.

-[Andrew] Oh, wow.

-[Alton] Thank you, Chef.

-You're welcome.

-Great.

-Chefs, please tell us what you've made.

[Gregory] You have

a chili-oil-poached sturgeon

with Three Cup sauce and crispy nori.

[Mei] Three Cup chicken

is a very homey Taiwanese dish,

and so I kinda made a riff on that.

We actually have the notochord

in the Three Cup sauce,

kind of acting like SpaghettiOs.

[Gregory] And we finished it

with the crispy nori,

which simulates sturgeon skin.

The texture of the spinal cord

is exactly the texture

of, like, a very al dente SpaghettiO,

and it's really fun to find it

kind of buried

in this very unctuous, thick sauce.

The nori is such a fun play,

but I feel like it maybe hid

all the beautiful stuff under.

[Andrew] Took a bite, loved the flavor.

Sweet and crunchy, hot, spicy, creamy,

but the smartest choice

was to use the spinal cord,

an ingredient that nobody else uses.

And the best compliment in certain

types of Chinese cookery

is to turn to the chef and tell them

you appreciate the QQ of the dish.

The QQ. Yup.

-The bounciness.

-[Nilou] Mm!

Chefs, you have achieved collective QQ.

I have to ask you all, what is SpaghettiO?

[all laugh heartily]

He's just a humble Austrian cook.

I didn't grow up in the right place!

Whatever it is, if they compare

that with SpaghettiO,

I might go out and buy a can.

I think the whole presentation, I think,

and the flavors are very, very complex.

-So congratulations.

-Thank you, Chef.

Chefs, thank you.

We look forward to the next course.

Thank you.

[Andrew] Oh!

-[chuckling]

-[Nilou] Oh.

[Andrew] That looks spectacular.

Chefs, tell us what you've done here.

[Mei] You have my version

of a hotpot, shabu-shabu if you will.

So we took the sturgeon loin,

and we cured it.

It is served with a sturgeon broth

made from the head and tail

as well as fins.

We're finishing it

with a sturgeon Donabe rice.

I don't remember a shabu-shabu

where I simply wanted to drink the broth.

[chuckles lightly] I've eaten my share

of this type of dish

in other parts of the world,

and the elements here are exquisite.

To me, the only negative was

maybe the fish

could have been a little better cut.

It was very hard to put it in,

take it out.

But all in all,

I think it's a delicious, delicious dish.

This is a very special presentation,

but the skin is a little bit bitter,

a little bit salty

and not my favorite part

of what you have made.

Chefs, thank you so much.

We look forward to another.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

[Nilou] Here we go.

-Here we go.

-[Andrew] Oh, wow.

-[Nilou whispers] Wow.

-Chefs, what's up?

[Gregory] So for our last course,

the sturgeon,

it's been cooked sous-vide

with a jerk sauce.

So the jerk being inspired

by my Caribbean heritage.

While jerk is a Jamaican condiment,

oftentimes there's ginger and soy sauce

and, you know, that was brought over

by Chinese immigrants.

So this dish really connects our cultures,

very much so.

The pearl onions are inspired

by a Haitian dish called ti malice,

which is a Haitian onion condiment,

and we're very proud of this course

that we have this evening.

This was the melding of East-West

that I think is the crowning achievement

of the five-course experience.

I'm It

Aghh!

[all laugh]

What was that?

A lot of feelings. A lot of feels.

I thought the sturgeon,

the taste was delicious,

but I think maybe

I would have cut it a little thicker

to keep it a little more moist.

The jerk is so incredibly deep in flavor,

the plantain and the pineapple

just brings you right back

to somewhere tropical.

I feel like I've been transported back

to my last trip to Jamaica.

The little details of herbs and flowers

that you've used

really both enhance the beauty

and enhance the flavor, so well done.

Thank you for an extraordinary meal,

five amazing courses.

Thank you for your work.

-Thank you.

-[Wolfgang] Thank you.

Brilliant ending to the progression.

-They honored the ingredient.

-Yes.

[Andrew] Fish bones, spinal cord,

center-cut top loin.

It was a really brilliant use

of the sturgeon.

-Yeah.

-Next up, we have Iron Chef Tsai.

-Oh.

-Hi, thank you.

Hello.

[Kristen] Oh, wow. Thank you.

Iron Chef, welcome to the table.

Thank you.

Can you tell us just a little bit about

your general approach to the challenge?

I wanted to take you around the world.

The first step is Peru.

This is my version of leche de tigre.

So you have a coconut-based sauce

with a little bit of shallots,

tea-smoked sturgeon

with this Lapsang souchong smoke.

-Mix it all together.

-[Nilou] Mmm!

As they would say in Peru,

this is a fiesta for the senses.

You get the creaminess of the coconut,

the spiciness from the chili,

the piquancy from the shallots.

Perhaps it's the smoke on the fish,

I love the flavor,

but the texture of the fish to me

is just a tiny bit, um, maybe overdone.

I was charmed by the tea smoking

since smoke,

nice Jewish boy from New York,

takes so well to sturgeon.

This was a very successful dish.

[Ming] Thank you.

I thought the fish,

the smokiness came perfectly through.

I thought it was an interesting pairing

with the Latin flavor.

The coconut milk

gave it this little sweetness

and richness to it.

I'm very excited

where the next stop gonna be.

Iron Chef, thanks.

We look forward to the next course.

Thank you.

[Andrew] Good Lord!

-[Kristen] Thank you.

-[Wolfgang] Thank you.

Iron Chef Tsai, what have you made for us?

So we're going east towards Asia.

This is a version of soondubu jjigae,

which is tofu stew.

The piece of sturgeon was marinated

for 30 minutes

in the kimchi pickling juice.

This is a form

that depends upon freshly made tofu,

and yet you have completely replaced that.

-Correct.

-So you made a soft-steamed custard.

-With soy milk.

-[Alton] With soy milk.

-Aren't you clever?

-[Kristen] Very.

[Nilou] Yeah.

This is why you are Iron Chef Ming Tsai.

On technical merit alone, I'm blown away.

Mic drop.

-Thank you, sir.

-[Kristen] Chef Puck.

If this would be a huge swimming pool

or an island,

I wanna be in there.

The color looks so beautiful.

And I think it's a great balance

to the sauce with a little spice,

and then the crispiness

of the breaded sturgeon on top.

In my mouth,

it feels like I'm on a holiday.

-It's so good.

-Aww.

Thank you, Chef.

Iron Chef Tsai, thank you.

We look forward to the next dish.

-That's magic.

-[Andrew] Superb.

[Nilou] Sisig!

[Kristen] Thank you very much.

[Nilou] Smells great.

Iron Chef, let the world tour continue.

So we are going towards the Philippines.

My chef at Blue Dragon is from Manila,

and we used to have sisig on the menu,

which is made from braised pig's head.

This is a sturgeon challenge,

so I wanted to do a surf-and-turf sisig,

so we have pork belly with sturgeon.

And one of the keys of sisig

is the palm vinegar.

We deglazed big-time with that vinegar.

I gotta tell you, you're so right

about that coconut and vinegar.

The flavors are so good.

This is just a really fun way

to deal with that center-cut top loin

of the sturgeon.

-Thank you.

-I love the spiciness on it.

Everything comes together beautifully,

and you'll get a spoonful of flavor.

The flavor profile is nothing

like the other dishes you served.

There's brightness, there's acid,

and then perfectly cooked piece of fish.

It's just great.

-We look forward to your final dish.

-Thank you.

[Nilou] Thank you.

This, for me, is, like,

the most craveable

-Hugely.

-plate of food that I feel I've eaten.

Masterful.

Ohh!

The drama, the drama.

All right.

[Nilou]Oh là là.

Chef, please tell us what we have.

This is a combination

of France and Russia.

When I worked at a place called Fauchon,

we used to make coulibiac,

traditional Russian dish,

usually made with day-old brioche dough.

So my layer on the bottom

is actually soba noodles.

Then the third layer is traditionally

always mushrooms of some sort,

so we sautéed maitake mushrooms

with shallots and leeks,

then shaved summer truffles

on top of that.

So that's my coulibiac.

My glasses are all fogged up.

[all laugh]

Mine too.

Mmm! Just smelling it,

the butter of the puff pastry

with the truffles and the fish in here.

It's almost as good as sex, I think so.

-Almost.

-[Wolfgang] Yeah.

[chuckles]

It's comfort, it has flavor.

Such a delicious dish.

Maybe I'll put it

on our restaurant's menu too

if you let me.

I would be honored.

Mm! The pastry is a thing of beauty.

I mean, look at these magnificent layers,

and then you get these beautiful morsels

of perfectly cooked sturgeon.

You've put a full stop

on your beautiful tour

of the world you're given us. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

This is a wonderful homage.

The vegetables, the truffles,

and this perfect dome of puff pastry.

-Just magnificent.

-Thank you.

Iron Chef Tsai, thank you for an amazing

journey around the world through sturgeon.

-It was a beautiful meal.

-[Alton] Thank you, Chef.

-[Andrew] Superb.

-[all] Thank you, Chef.

Well, judges, you have dined

and it is now time to pay,

not with a credit card,

but with your scoring cards,

so Kristen and I will go up.

You go do what you do.

They are such extraordinary chefs.

I feel like this is going to be

one difficult decision.

[Alton] Will it be Chef Gourdet

and Chef Lin's Chinese-Haitian cuisine

or Iron Chef Tsai's

globally inspired sturgeon menu?

Well, Mr. Chairman, who is going to land

the big win in this battle?

Chef Lin.

Chef Gourdet.

Iron Chef Tsai.

You have managed to weather this storm.

In this watery w*r,

two worthy challengers

faced down a true master of fish.

The question is

who is thebigfish

and who became bait?

The winner is

[suspenseful orchestral music builds]

Iron Chef Tsai.

[Christine] Yes!

[cheering and applause]

[triumphant music plays]

-[Ming mumbles]

-[Gregory chuckles]

[Ming] Thank you. Oh my God.

-Thank you, Chairman.

-[Christine squeals excitedly]

[Alton] Well, food fans,

there you have it.

The Chairman has declared

Iron Chef Ming Tsai

the winner in Battle Sturgeon.

It was clearly a tough decision

for the judges,

with just one point separating them

in our tightest battle yet,

but ultimately, the scales were tipped

in the Iron Chef's favor.

-See what I did? Scales?

-I got that one. Yep.

[Alton] So, Chef Lin and Chef Gourdet

are indeed out of contention,

meaning Chef Choi will face

all five Iron Chefs in a final showdown

with a shot at becoming

the first Iron Legend.

Chairman.

The Chairman has just three words.

Final battle!

[closing theme music plays]