01x04 - The Cauliflower Dish

[bunniefuu]

(gentle music)

(upbeat music)

- [Narrator] Welcome to Sparklers,

part cooking competition and travel show,

featuring some of the

world's best sparkling wines.

- So, what makes the

show extremely unique.

Is this is self-judged.

Each of us within the episode,

have the opportunity to become the judge

that oversees what goes on.

You might side with your friends.

You might side with a foe.

I don't know, we'll see.

(calm music)

- So the winner and to

all the glory goes to

Meg.

(all cheering)

(Meg laughs)

- I'm really excited.

I was definitely not

expecting to win this.

Now I have to be the judge,

and I know there's a rivalry

going on between teams.

So it's gonna be really interesting

to see how it shakes out.

So you've got George and Claire

who are like Instagram influencers

with lots of personality,

very comfortable in front of the camera.

They also like to talk a little sh*t.

Then you've got Maryam and Kaner

who they have a little history together.

It's gonna be interesting,

it's a lot of big personalities.

So they're really gonna have

to work together as a team,

to make it happen.

(soft dramatic music)

For today's main challenge,

both teams are going to be taking

on a deceivingly simple Italian dish,

which is baked cauliflower, caviar,

topped with a perfectly poached egg.

At Ca' del Bosco winery in Italy,

Chef Stephano took this

dish and transformed it

into the perfect pairing for

their fantastic sparkling wine.

- The components of this classic dish

can be very challenging

to pair wines with.

You've got cauliflower,

which is really earthy.

You've got egg,

which is classically really

hard to pair anything with.

You've got some earthiness and greenness

from the pea shoots.

So there's a lot of places

where it can go wrong,

in this dish the egg is the

most challenging component.

It's very easy to mess up,

even if you are a very skilled chef.

So it'd be really interesting

to see what they do with that.

- I'll be asking each team to create

their own perfect pairing

between the wine and the dish.

They need to use the same key ingredients,

but there is room for creativity.

It will definitely be a test

of their culinary prowess

to see how they riff on

it, to pair with the wines.

As winemaker I appreciate

complexity and subtle complexity,

So I think the person

that kind of puts

something subtle in there,

that's not super obvious

might have an advantage.

I also have to admit I love salt,

so person who probably

salts a little heavier,

might get more points for me.

Okay, so which team wants to go first?

- Let's go.

- Let's do it.

(group chattering)

- George and ClaireAlright

Let's do it first

- All rightgood luck

- Cheers

(glass clinking)

- Y'all Premier cru, we're Grand cru.

- ohhhh

that's really cute that you think that.

(group chattering)

- Let's go cook.

- Okie dokie!

(soft music)

- So we are doing the damn thing.

- Yes, we are.

- It is happening.

- We going to win today!

- We're going to crush

this. I'm so excited.

So on the outskirts,

we want to do kind of like

the mustard flower, right?

- Give it a pop of color.

- Exactly.

So we're taking the

cauliflower and the romanesco.

- Exactly.

Roasting it.

Boiling it

- And then we puree it.

- Exactly.

- We'll give it a little

bit of like smokiness

That'll be really nice and savory.

- Exactly, add a little

bit of cream in there,

Some butter to add that richness.

I think it'd be really nice

once we do the beurre blanc,

just to add like that

nice touch of acidity.

- That's exactly that Zing.

- Exactly, that Zing.

- Because with these, the poached eggs.

- Right.

Then, then the caviar on top

that we're going to do as well.

I think that little zing of

acidity will just kind of like

cut through all that fat.

- Really bright.

- Yeah.

- And then of course the poached egg

- The poached egg.

(laughing)

- (laughing)

- So now

- We will see how that goes.

we will see how that goes.

- Have you poached an egg

without the assistance of a

delightful little cup thingy?

- Yeah. Nah.

- No.

- I remember like once when

I was in high school and tech

center, I did it once.

And that was almost, that was than.

It was 10 years ago. That

was literally 10 years.

- Well, I'm happy you

went to culinary school.

I was, I have a relatively useless degree.

So.

- See how much I learn now.

- You're going to be great.

(laughing)

- Help me poach an egg.

- We will see, I don't know

- Eggs are hard, but I can't because.

- We're going to,

- we're going to,

- So we should probably start

with the romanesco and the

cauliflower. Right.

- Okay.

- Let's do it.

- So what we're gonna do is

we're gonna part cook it. Right?

- Right. So we're going to

boil it for a little bit,

just to soften.

- It up and break down the

proteins kind of a thing

- Exactly, And for time purposes,

we just need to take forever.

We ain't got time for that.

- Am hungry!

I have been drinking

Ca' del Bosco wine all day

I think I need.

- Its not a bad life

- Its not a bad life.

- Cooking's fun.

- Oh yeah we have got some action going.

- Do we?

- We do.

- That's on

- We do.

I think the next best thing to work on

- The beurre blanc

- What? I think the panko

- Yeah!

The panko

- Just toss it in a bit of oil.

- Yeah. toss it a little bit of oil.

I think that looks beautiful.

- I like getting in there with my hands.

George is, he went to culinary school?

Yes. You remember?

So he's I think George is

much more comfortable in the

kitchen and you're just kind

of used to moving and flowing

between the different stations.

Whereas usually when I cook I'm

at home with a glass of wine

and maybe like Dean Martin

playing, I'm like a little for

you, if that burns that's okay.

How do you decide what

rack to put this on?

- Yeah.

So the reason why we're going

on the top is because grilling

is it's coming with the

heat is coming from the top.

You're really like roasting it

and you really want to avoid

- I never really

- Yeah.

It's it's I mean, honestly,

it's it's you want direct that

- Golden

- Contact heat. Exactly.

Yeah. And it does that.

- which is what we want for

this dish. I don't know.

I think, I feel like the egg is.

- The last step.

- I think the egg is the last step,

but since we have a

little bit of time, yeah.

Why not

- Drink?

- Drink!

(both laughing)

- Yes!

- Why not drink!

- Let's practice poaching an egg.

- Oh.

That's actually,

that's brilliant because I

would love to think that we are

going to get this on the

first try and I think we will.

- Yeah.

- But just in case we're not.

- Yeah.

- Let's see.

- Let's just have fun with it.

- Let's see how it goes.

- So I've heard for poaching an egg

- You need a slight touch of vinegar.

- You need a slight touch of vinegar

- Or acid

- And some salt.

- Correct?

- So that your egg whites

don't feather away.

- Correct?

- You need to create that funnel vortex.

- Right

- This is all in theory. I don't know.

- Right.

- But also that you don't want

it like aggressively boiling.

You want like a nice light

boil or like a simmer.

- Yeah. That's what I, that's what I hear.

- I don't know.

- We shall see

- That's what I hear.

- Right now the water is at a really solid

temperature. So it's

not going to take much.

- So.

- You're doing salt and vinegar.

Oh, I think that's ready.

- Yeah.

- I think then a

- (speaking together)Turn

down a little bit more

- I feel like we need some like music

- We do need some music.

(speaking and dancing)

- I love it. I love it too much.

- Like do I just do this a broader stroke?

- Yeah.

- Like that?

- Yeah. That's perfect.

- Oh my God.

- We're poaching a damn egg, George.

- We poaching a f*cking egg

- 3.

To us little baby.

- I think you did damn good.

- Thanks George.

- Right.

- I think you did damn good.

- I had an ex-boyfriend.

That was really good at doing this.

- Nice.

- And that was about it.

- Well, he's an ex, so I

guess it wasn't that expert.

I think that's

- Look at that little baby egg

- Let's let it rest

It's a really good egg,

it's really a good egg

I'm really happy right now. Actually.

(both laughing)

- We got it on the first try

- So now the ultimate test.

- How does it how's the yolk run?

I don't know if you can see this,

but this is sexy as sh*t.

- Yeah

- And yes an egg can be sexy.

How are the breadcrumbs?

- They're not doing

what we want them to do.

- So I dump more oil on them.

- Just put it on the heat.

- Let's put that on the heat right now.

I can handle that if you want,

if you want to start

blending the cauliflower

and romanesco.

I can handle that.

What the F?

What the f*ck?

(both laughing)

I hate you so much that you're

loving this footage of me.

Not knowing how to use this.

- Do you need assist dog?

I got you. My G.

(blander roaring)

- Nope. Nevermind. It's a me problem.

(blender roaring)

(laughing)

It definitely needs seasoning.

- Yeah. I put it a

little bit salt in there.

- Okay.

- So what you think?

- That's yummy.

- Yeah.

That's super yummy.

- Cool.

- Holy crap!

- All right, I'm gonna swish it.

- Nice. We need to do a second egg.

- Yes we do.

- It's okay. We got it.

We got it.

There's so much feathered

egg white in this.

Jesus.

I know so many people that are going to

heckle the sh*t out of me for this.

This is what you don't want to do

when you're poaching an egg.

That's gorgeous.

- It is.

You did an amazing job.

- All right. That's

fricking gorgeous, sir.

- Hopefully I don't know.

I'm trying looks kind of trash, but

- Are you kidding me? Just that kind of.

- This looks great.

Got a good amount, do you think or more?

- I think that looks really good.

Probably caviar first.

I wish we had some purple somewhere.

- That would be pretty.

- We there

- We there sure

I've learned so much from

watching you in the kitchen today.

- Really, what?

I've learned so much from you.

The way you poached that egg.

- How not to poach an egg

- No, it was.

I think you did an absolutely

amazing job for real.

- You are so sweet

- You are really f*cking good.

I'm happy that we're teammates. Honestly.

- Thank you.

- Me too. We are ready for the judge.

We're ready for Meghan.

(soft music)

- Hey, hey

- Hey guys?

- How are you?

- Doing well, How are you?

- Cheers

- Good.

- Congrats again on

winning the perfect bite.

- Huh, Thank you.

And I hope you find a

perfect bite with our dish.

(laughing)

- Oh God

- You want to tell me about it?

- So chef.

- Yes, oh well, no I am not a chef

but we tried and I think we

did really good. Honestly,

- I think so too.

- We wanted to do a little

toasted panko and just to add a

little bit of texture.

And then what we did at the

bottom was we toasted off some

of the romanesco as

well as the cauliflower.

Just to give it a little bit more depth.

And then of course my

wonderful partner here did an

absolutely amazing job, poaching the egg.

- My first time.

- You k*lled it.

- We did a little lemon zest

and George made a beautiful

beurre blanc to give it

again a little acidity,

To kind of cut through all the fat and the

richness that you're going to get in this.

- Just a light drizzle,

nothing, nothing too crazy.

So we hope you like it.

- I never thought Meg make me so nervous.

She is just going to nod at us.

- I'm keeping my poker face on.

Keep you guessing.

All right.

(laughing)

- I love it.

- Well then I'll see you

by the fireplace tonight.

- Nice.

- Thank you.

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

- Feels like survivor.

- I think, I mean.

That's really pretty.

- I think it was gorgeous.

I think we did put a lot of love into it.

- We definitely put a lot

of love into it you know,

like I didn't,

I didn't think time would

be such an issue, but.

- No. Well, yeah.

- That's scary. This was so fun.

This was so fun working with you.

- Cheers.

- Cheers

We did the damn thing.

We did the damn thing.

(soft music)

(upbeat music)

- I really loved what everybody did today.

Like I thought there was a

component from everyone's perfect

bite that we could maybe

infuse into the dish.

So we have to make.

- It was inspiring, For sure.

- It was for sure.

And I also really want to

impress Meghan and I know she's

like all about the team winning situation,

so that's my angle.

- All right.

Good call.

- All right.

Okay. So what do you think?

I feel like there are some

differences between what we want

to produce based here in Oregon

and what we have available

versus what we saw that

we should replicate,

- which was beautiful.

- So beautiful.

- Not Lombardy.

- Obviously we're going

to use cauliflower.

- Definitely.

- We're thinking about dressing

that up with some different

flavors. Maybe some

turkey bacon drippings.

- Yes. For the flavor.

- Yeah

- Try to get some smoke out of it.

Exactly.

- Yeah.

I love George's idea of the

beurre blanc earlier is I

think that would be cool in the puree.

I thought we could do

some rice cauliflower.

- So smart and make it crunchy

- Yeah and fry it off.

- Yes.

- And then some candied lemon.

- Ooh. A little bit of sweetness.

- Yeah, also I loved

Meghan's presentation was my,

one of my favorites really

using that bright pop of yellow.

- Eat with your eyes.

- You eat with your eyes.

- Exactly. Exactly.

The other thing is we have

to poach a perfect egg.

- It's all in the whirlpool.

- It's all in the whirlpool. You know,

you're an expert about

the whirlpool, right?

- I've I've watched things.

You got to choose your partner.

- Yeah.

Why'd you choose me?

- Hmm It's a very good

question. I think I'm nothing.

If not a strategist.

So you know what they say about

keeping your friends close.

- Dot, dot, dot. Ellipsis

- Dot, dot, dot.

- sh*t, I know where that's going.

- I need you next to me, all right.

- Let's do this.

Do this.

- I got the oven on to 400.

So we're ready to go with

that rice cauliflower.

- Would you pass me the peeler?

- Of course, here you go.

- Thank you very much.

- All right.

Let's see how this goes.

I like the idea of that

take on puffed rice,

I guess like I am just a super carb lover.

- It's also good for texture.

I mean, texture is so important.

These dishes,

they can't just be pretty cauliflower

when you get the immersion on

it, it's going to be creamy.

It'll just be clean. It'll

be nothing more than that.

- It will taste delicious.

- Yeah, of course.

And I love giving that like

other aesthetic elements. A

little risky doing this

rice cauliflower situation.

So we don't have a ton of time.

- We'll get there.

- I am not a pork eater, so I want

It does make sense. I

want to use the drippings,

but you don't Turkey

bacon is kind of lean.

So we're going to have to add some oil.

- We gonna add some oil,

to get a little bit more out of it.

A little more extraction. Absolutely.

- How do you think Claire and George did?

- Claire and George probably

knocked it out of the park.

- You're going to dissolve

the sugar in there first,

before the lemon goes in.

- All right sugar goes first.

- And then you want to stir.

- I'm just making simple syrup, you know,

normally to make a c*ck.

- I mean, we can make a c*ck

after we make the lemon.

Rice cauliflower, we gotta dehydrate it.

Otherwise we can't fry it.

That's a disaster waiting to happen.

And then we're going to do

that beurre blanc, first though

I need a sip of wine.

- Yeah, I think let's we

also probably cheers partner.

- Cheers

- And then the bacon is on

that sweet sizzle right now.

We need to save some of those drippings.

- And I'm about to be there

right now coming in lemony,

Right behind.

- Okay.

- Oh no.

Kitchen disaster.

- It's just lemon.

- You can do the butter and

wine sauce. Want to taste it?

It's fabulous.

- Yes. It's phenomenal.

Lifted. You get the kind of

aromatics out of the wine,

the butter. It gives some cream.

- I think we're going to have

to do a little like zest with

that candy because the sugar

not coming up on it. But I,

I still think that the

idea is really cool.

We should stick with it.

(hand blender roaring)

- It's getting there.

- It's getting there.

It's gotta be patient.

You can't rush a masterpiece.

- No.

- I think we should taste this,

salt and pepper, then we're

almost there.

- Hit me.

- Okay.

Definitely salt. A little

bit of pepper and some lemon.

- How's that Turkey flavor. Can

- you taste it?

- I got a little bit of it.

You got a little bit smoke.

- You want to hit it with

some pepper while I keep

- Yeah, couple cracks.

- Yeah, Whatever you think.

- A little bit creamier

- Right on. Right on.

Don't eat all that bacon, Kaner

I think we might be able to use it later.

- I haven't touched it

- Okay, great.

I actually think this is a really,

really great consistency right now.

I think we should bake it off,

but I want to get closer to

being done with some other

things before we do.

And I think we should

warm the plates, you know,

give Meghan a nice warm plate.

- Warming the plates is a

nice technique. I like that.

I'm a fan of that.

- Nobody's going to

complain about garlic chips,

extra garlic chips.

This is going to be

riced cauliflower puffs.

So there's this element of

crunch and we're just trying it.

I've never done this before.

(laughing)

- So I am gonna get

this ready for our eggs.

- When you poach an egg, here's the thing.

I'm, I'm nervous.

- I've watched it done a

million times. I tried it once.

I had interesting success.

- Man, the stresses is

on, one egg in one egg in,

did I break it then I break

it. No, I didn't break.

- It. No, it's a happy egg.

- Man. Oh man.

This poached egg business,

makes me nervous.

- It looks poached.

- It looks poached.

We're going to go for it.

- Yeah.

It might be overdone.

I might be under done.

I don't know. We're gonna

use those pea tendrils.

- Let's expose them because they are.

- They are beautiful.

How are you feeling?

- Feel ready.

- How you feeling?

You need some wine?

- Yeah, I need the, I need 2011.

Ca' del Bosco Annamaria Clementi please.

- I don't hate you for that request.

That is a beautiful request.

Candied lemon out. Pull it out.

Oh,

it looks so pretty with all

those that crystallized sugar

and everything in there.

Now's the time we have to decide.

- Bacon or no bacon.

- Yeah, exactly

- I say no.

- You say no.

- I don't think it needs it

- Huge rookie mistake right now,

which is I haven't tasted this

puree and I started plating

it.

- Sometimes rookies make good mistakes.

- It's the most tense part.

Anybody watching would know.

I'm going to be very nervous about that.

- Am gonna go circle around.

- Okay.

- Okay. I love it.

I love it. Let's just build, go, go, go.

Starting to come together.

Meg's secret weapon earlier

was a lot of caviar.

- That's a secret weapon. I

think we should replicate it,

- Nothing wrong with it,

But I think we should honor it for sure.

Wow. That looks so good.

That Kaner flair.

- Hey

- Hey hey

Well, do you want to do a

tiny little sprinkle of salt?

Cause we didn't season the eggs. Right?

I put a tiny bit, but

- A little bit doesn't hurt, right?

- Yeah. And I know we have

the salt in the caviar,

But I underestimated

that factor, earlier. So.

- Maybe caviar pocket right in the pocket.

- Pocket.

Let's do.

- We gotta go more.

- And got it in the true fashion

of what we've learned today

is more, is more, more,

especially with caviar.

There's no losing with

more caviar. Ah beauty.

- What do you think?

- I think it's perfect!

(soft music)

- Hey Meg.

- Hi team.

- Wow. Hi there.

- Welcome.

- Thank you!

- Can we get you some

wine first and foremost?

- Yes, I would love some wine.

- We prepared you something.

- We did, we made a thing.

We really wanted to

honor the original dish

created,

But we also wanted to highlight

the flair of everybody who

competed today. And so we

incorporated an element.

I think on almost every competitor.

we have the cauliflower

puree pretty traditional,

but we added a really nice

beurre blanc as inspiration from

George.

And then we went ahead and

created some candied lemon,

which we thought would be

actually a little bit of an homage

to you. And as you can see,

we have garnished the whole

plate with lemon and we poached

an egg. Like we saw on the show,

fingers crossed.

- Classically.

- Of course caviar.

And we did use more caviar.

Than earlier today

- More is more

- More was the theme. So.

(suspenseful music)

- Trying to keep my poker face

like Greg did earlier today.

- You did a great job.

- We respect that.

- Thank you!

- I can't say anything.

So I'll see you guys by the

fire a little bit later.

- We'll be there.

- Okay.

We'll be out soon

- Thanks judge.

Thanks Meg.

- You got it.

- All right. No matter what cheers.

- What do you think?

She liked it?

Let's be honest.

- It was hard for her to hide that smile.

I saw a smile.

- I'm a red head. I

can speak our language.

- Oh yeah. You got that.

You got that going on.

- It's non-verbal

- Yeah.

She also had two bites.

That's one more than one.

- I Was thinking if she

goes for a second bite.

- A telltale sign. Thanks

for being my teammate.

- Thanks for having me.

(glass clinks)

- Back to enemies tomorrow.

- Friends close, but yeah, exactly.

You already beat me to

it. Let's get outta here.

Let's go to the fire.

- Let's go, let's go!

(soft music)

- Hey Meg.

- Hey crew,

- Oh my God.

- Hey.

- Hello.

- So I'm now convinced the

judge's job might be the most

difficult because you guys

did such an amazing job.

Both teams,

like, I literally would not be

disappointed to see either of

your dishes at like a

Michelin star restaurant.

- Wow!

- Like they,

I was really blown away.

- Wow.

- Cheers to you.

- So George and Claire,

like you guys, my goodness,

your, your dish was perfectly plated.

It was gorgeous.

It was your first time poaching

an egg. The egg was perfect.

I loved the, the elements in contrast.

I loved the toasted panko on the outside.

It had a healthy portion of caviar,

Which of course I love.

And the saltiness played

really well with the wine.

I'd say if I had a critique,

my only critique would be that

maybe the cauliflower wasn't

super obvious,

but maybe that's what played

so well with the wine.

So

- Subtleties.

- Maryam and Matthew also incredible.

I loved how you guys pulled

in elements from each of the

perfect bites earlier in the day.

I thought that was really great.

Paid homage to all of your

teammates, which I loved.

I thought that was an amazing idea.

I loved the healthy

amount of caviar you had.

(all laughing)

I loved how your candy lemon

played off of the bacon

drippings. That was amazing.

If I had to have a critique,

I would say the only thing was it may be,

could have used slightly more

salt that's that was about it,

but it was an incredibly hard decision.

It was really hard not to

eat all of both dishes.

If am being honest.

So again, this is like

such a hard decision.

Like I would,

if y'all would plate another

plate for me right now,

I would eat both like instantly.

So the dish that won,

the pairing with the Ca' del

Bosco, maybe worked slightly

better, was more harmonious.

I also realize you're

going to judge me later.

(all laughing)

- Smart woman.

- And you know, I love you all.

So,

The winner of the Ca' del Bosco episode is

George and Claire.

- What?

- Wow.

- Oh my!

- Wow.

- Congratulations guys!

- You thought your egg was total crap.

And then I broke into

the egg and it was like,

Damn that was your first poached egg.

Like that was really good.

- You k*lled it! You k*lled it!

- I loved the salt and paired

really well with the wine.

So congrats!

- Oh my God!

- Cheers!

- Well done guys!

- Everybody. I will live to

fight another day, you know,

and we're proud of what we did.

- Absolutely, always

And it was, it was great to

come together and cook with you.

It was great. And worthy

opponents, you know.

- Your dish was.

- You guys k*lled it!

- So George is winning with

six points while the rest of us

are all tied for second, with

- three points each,

- I think we all know that.

- You guys did an absolutely amazing job.

- The challenge today is

going to be to do the oyster

preparation of your choice,

and then pair 'em up with this,

which is delicious.

- I am excited to shuck some oysters.

- One thing I haven't mentioned yet,

I've never shucked an oyster in my life.

- Oh God!

- It's t*rture.

- Now comes the really scary part.

- I'm left-handed

so this should be fun.

- I got it.

- Oh, it's open.

Yes.

- Take a deep breath.

It's going to be okay.

- So how do you think it went?

- It was, it was kind of rough.

- I am still nervous.