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CHAIRMAN: The time has come to once again answer
life's most savory question.
Guys, everybody's good?
CHAIRMAN: Whose cuisine reigns supreme?
Oh, here we go!
This is "Iron Chef America."
Time?
WOMAN: 3...
Go, go, go, go!
...2...
We need to start making this happen.
...1.
Whoo-whee!
Time's up.
Oh, what a girl would do.
BROWN: A delectable Japanese tradition
has taken root in American soil.
We have been graced with the establishment
of our very own Kitchen Stadium,
where our nimble Chairman has brought together
the pungent flavors of East and West.
It is here where the best of the best from around the world
meet and face the ultimate gourmet challenge.
I'm in the zone, man!
[ Laughs ]
Oh, hi. Welcome to Kitchen Stadium.
You know, I've been busy doing some translation of Greek,
and it really helps to cast a light
on the significance of "Iron Chef"
in the ancient world.
For instance, Thales,
considered to be the father of natural philosophy,
and one of the seven sages of Greece,
famously stated that the most difficult thing in life
is to know thyself.
But in the original text, it also says right after that,
"and to know the identity of the theme
upon which the Iron Chefs create their succulent variations."
[ Laughs ] It's right there in --
Well, maybe it's -- Oh, I don't know.
It doesn't matter.
But if you are worried about all those mysteries,
don't be concerned,
'cause we're gonna reveal the answers right here and now.
Let's get to it.
In mere moments,
one Iron Chef will be pitted against our challenger,
who thirsts to discover our secret ingredient
and enter the heat of battle here in Kitchen Stadium.
The Chairman welcomes Chef Russell Jackson.
I'm Chef Russell Jackson.
I've been cooking as long as I could walk.
BROWN: As an adult,
he graduated first in his class from culinary school,
and then he worked at top restaurants
in both Los Angeles and San Francisco.
His Bay-area reputation soared after he introduced
a concept called subculture dining,
a culinary experience featuring themed dinners,
numerous courses, and mysterious dining locations
accessed with the help of secret passwords.
This approach earned Chef Jackson
the nickname "The Dissident Chef."
JACKSON: It's just a tag that I got hit with.
It stuck, it made sense,
and I think it's crazy for any chef in their right mind
to say, "Okay, I'm gonna live within this little square box,"
and that's not reality.
BROWN: So, from thinking outside of the box
to the Chairman's boxing ring,
which Iron Chef will Chef Jackson choose
to be his contender?
JACKSON: I really want to battle this chef
because I think this guy's one of the best,
and I want to see an Iron Chef cry.
I want to battle...
...Iron Chef Jose Garces.
Guys, plate.
Chef Jackson, welcome.
Chairman.
You are known as The Dissident Chef.
So, can you overthrow the establishment,
or will your uprising be put down
by clandestine culinary forces?
Chairman, anarchy rules.
We're here to rock.
I admire your enthusiasm.
Iron Chef Garces.
Are you prepared to meet this creative challenger?
Chairman, I'm always ready
when it comes to Kitchen Stadium.
Excellent.
But there is one more ingredient to this battle --
our secret ingredient,
the theme on which our chefs
will offer their succulent variations.
Today's secret ingredient is...
...rhubarb!
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Laughs ]
I'm shocked.
Rhubarb is such an intense product,
and it's really, really difficult to work with.
It goes from being perfect to overdone in a split second.
Wow.
Rhubarb is a strange ingredient to apply to savory dishes,
but we've been in many battles
that had a lot of strange ingredients,
so I think we can make it work.
And, chefs, your initial dish featuring rhubarb
must be served to the judges
during the first 20 minutes of the battle.
Then, later in the battle,
I will unveil my culinary curveball.
But that is all I will say at this time.
So now, America, with an open heart and empty stomach,
I say unto you in the words of my uncle...
...allez cuisine!
BROWN: Battle Rheum Rhabarbarum
is on here in Kitchen Stadium.
Although it looks like red celery, of course, it's not.
It's actually a member of the buckwheat family.
It hails originally from China.
We're done.
And we have two kinds of rhubarb on the altar today --
the standard rhubarb, which you're probably familiar with,
and a smaller wild rhubarb that has the same tart flavor
without all those pesky fibers of its big brother.
GARCES: As I'm grabbing the ingredient,
I'm starting to formulate the plan,
and I know that within 20 minutes,
I have to make quick decisions.
Strategy meeting now, okay?
Juice. Yeah, I need juice.
All of a sudden, that realization
that I've got to put something up in 20 minutes.
[ Laughs ] God.
All right, guys.
BROWN: Iron Chef Jose Garces comes over with a hotel pan
with a big ol' tentacle hanging out of the side of it,
so I'm thinking he's got some octopus in there.
Boys, boys.
Um...
Rhubarb, the short ones, gonna go ahead and use that
for the first dish.
Salad.
I need a couple pieces for the --
Stash.
Yeah. Get the bacon going.
Stash? Making a stash of juice.
All right. Let's rock 'em.
JACKSON: Working with rhubarb
and bringing out savory elements,
it's an immense challenge.
I mean, come on. It's rhubarb, for God's sakes.
Come on over, Michael, Jess.
Let's make a pasta with it.
FIORELLO: Okay.
Rhubarb, goat cheese.
Jess, some dessert. What are you thinking?
Panna cotta, poached rhubarb. I think it'd be great.
Got it. I got a vuelve a la vida ceviche.
Make me a rhubarb granita to start, all right?
Let's go, guys.
Got your fish.
GARCES: As soon as I find out about the secret ingredient,
I come up with a strategy to make a ceviche,
make a rhubarb margarita to go with it.
Yeah, that's really my focus.
BROWN: The challenger, Chef Jackson,
has disappeared in a cloud of steam.
Right here, baby.
He's adding just some buttermilk to that liquid nitrogen.
He's basically gonna turn it into, like, a little snowstorm
if he's not careful.
JACKSON: The buttermilk snow is one of those things
I wanted to do -- something that was really funky.
That's what we're using for the salad.
I'm doing a poached, pickled rhubarb salad
with grapes fried in duck fat
and a little brown-butter-roasted pistachio.
BROWN: Sous-chef Anthony has some of the wild rhubarb
going into a vacuum sealer bag,
and his other sous-chef, Joshua --
he's juicing some of the rhubarb.
Kevin Brauch is headed over their way.
Chef Jackson, what are you gonna do for the first 20 minutes?
A bit of a new strategy game here.
What's your strategy, Chef?
Well, you know, this is
a really, really intense ingredient.
It plays into your ballpark, 'cause you're intense.
You know, it's one of those things where I really have
to think a lot about how to play with it
in a way that's gonna make it flavorful,
but not overpowering.
Okay. Have some fun with it while you're at it, Chef.
Good luck.
Good to see you.
Iron Chef Jose Garces.
Kevin, what's happening?
Where's the secret ingredient, Chef?
What's your strategy for the first 20 minutes?
First course, I'm gonna make a ceviche out of rhubarb,
so I'm gonna, like, sub out rhubarb juice for lime juice.
And it's called vuelve a la vida, which means "return to life."
You could have one after a nice hangover if you're so inclined.
I've never heard of one of those, but good luck.
Have some fun.
Thank you, Kevin.
Appreciate it.
Iron Chef Jose Garces.
All right, we've got a beautiful fish.
That's a kahala, as it is pronounced in Hawaiian.
It's a member of the amberjack family.
In the hands of Sous-chef Michael,
that fish will be for his ceviche.
[ Juicer grinding ]
All right, that was Sous-chef Jessica.
She's starting the arduous process of juicing that rhubarb.
Certainly can be juiced.
They make a soup out of this in Norway and Poland, I believe.
[ Juicer sputtering ]
Uh-oh. Yeah.
They killed the juicer.
They did.
Okay, we can talk very quickly,
'cause the rhubarb killed the juicer.
Kevin Brauch, what do you know?
So, the challenger, Chef Jackson,
is actually working on a salad,
and I think that liquid-nitrogen stuff
he was working with is going to be in that salad.
Our Iron Chef, Jose Garces,
is gonna be doing a ceviche with the rhubarb.
BROWN: Actually, rhubarb is a lot more acidic
than a great number of citruses,
including, believe it or not, limes.
To make that ceviche,
they're gonna need a lot of rhubarb juice,
and that could be a problem
because they've replaced the juicer
over on Iron Chef Garces's side...
Is this working?
...and with only 10 minutes left
to get their first dish up.
15 possible points, 5 from each judge.
If they don't get it up there,
they don't get the points, and that's bad.
Juicer's dead. [ Laughs ]
It's not dead, right?
[ Juicer grinding ]
Come on.
Dude, sounds like you're burning a tire over there.
[ Laughs, grunts ]
BRAUCH: The rhubarb seems to be getting
the better of our juicers here today.
BROWN: You know, it's not the kind of thing that juicers like
because that fiber binds them up very, very quickly.
There goes another juicer.
We're just killing them today.
Hey, don't worry, guys. We'll just buy more.
There goes the holiday bonus, Alton Brown.
There went my bonus, for sure.
Juicers are dead.
The heat is on here in Kitchen Stadium.
We'll get back to the action
when "Iron Chef America" returns.
Hi, kids. Welcome back to Kitchen Stadium.
"Iron Chef America" Battle Rhubarb raging on here
between our challenger, Chef Russell Jackson, on this side...
Are we having fun yet, guys?
Thank you, baby.
...and Iron Chef Jose Garces on this side.
They have got some pretty fine culinary minds,
but believe you me, so do our judges,
and to introduce them, we go up to Kevin Brauch.
Konban wa. Ladies and gentlemen and Alton Brown, good evening.
Here come the judges.
First up, this award-winning food writer
has churned out a plethora of newspaper and magazine articles
and penned nine books with a culinary theme.
Returning to Kitchen Stadium
from the great state of Mississippi,
this is John T. Edge.
Next, this culinary dynamo
is a leader in the sustainable-food movement.
She's also served as an experienced judge,
having served as an arbiter for both "Iron Chef America"
and the Chairman's "Next Iron Chef" competition.
She is Anya Fernald.
And finally,
his award-winning and critically acclaimed restaurants
can be found throughout America,
and as a former challenger chef here, he's comfortable
with the tinsel, the glitter, and the glamour
of Kitchen Stadium.
He is Jose Andres.
BROWN: Thanks, Kevin.
All right, back down on the floor,
I see a cocktail coming together over on Chef Jackson's side.
It's got rhubarb, spice, wine, some gin is in there,
a little bit of ginger beer, some seltzer, I believe,
and, of course, rhubarb juice.
JACKSON: The first 12 to 14 minutes,
it was really the most stressful point for me,
because you realize that there are so many things
that you have to get started.
You're trying to mentally juggle all these things,
and you have that realization of, like,
"I have to get this plate done."
And it was tough.
I'm not a bartender.
BROWN: Over on the Iron Chef side,
we know that they are planning to do a ceviche.
We make rhubarb ceviche sauce with juice.
We make rhubarb granita.
And we also poach rhubarb
in a Cryovac bag with citrus juice,
a little agave,
so there's three elements of rhubarb in the dish.
BROWN: And being run through the mandolin right now
without a hand guard -- oh, the humanity -- jalapeño.
Kids, I can't stress to you enough
that I don't want you to try this at home.
These people are professionals,
probably with excellent healthcare
provided by Iron Chef Garces -- just want to throw that out.
BRAUCH: Would that burn even more,
that he's working with a jalapeño?
Yeah, it would. Sure, it would.
All right, Chef Jackson just plated
some of that little baby rhubarb
that was vacuum-sealed and compressed,
along with some sherry vinegar, some sugar,
a little bit of marjoram, and rhubarb juice,
so that's essentially a quick pickle that's happened.
Over on Iron Chef Garces' side, they've got their ceviche --
kind of the Veracruz style, if you will.
Avocado, cilantro, and more granita to come.
Oh, I'm looking at the cocktail
that's being mixed up by Sous-chef Jessica.
I know a rhubarb puree went in there, along with some tequila,
some rhubarb juice, a little bit of orange liqueur,
and some lime.
Good. It's a little sweet.
Okay.
Add a little more rhubarb juice and lemon-lime juice.
How much time, guys?
1:20 to get your first courses to the judges,
and it's a race to see who's gonna get there first.
You got any strawberries?
Where do you want them?
I need to muddle a few for the cocktail.
I got the cocktail.
All right, I'm going up, guys. Going up.
Give me a little bit on each, okay?
In the bowl that's right in front of the Iron Chef,
I almost thought that was -- It is.
It's popcorn being served on top of that first course.
That's good. Perfect. That's it. On each.
Iron Chef Garces heads up. He's got 37 seconds left.
Chef Jackson right behind him with 34 seconds left.
I know Chef Jackson's behind me,
so I'm taking my sweet time getting up there.
I figured if I could trip him,
I could get past him and I could get the dish up first,
because I didn't want to wait a long time for him
to go on some long, drawn-out speech
about his illustrious dish.
Hey, guys, how are we doing today?
EDGE: Well.
Awesome.
ANDRES: Thank you.
I'm starting you off with a little rhubarb ceviche.
It's a Mexican-inspired ceviche with fresh rhubarb juice.
There's rhubarb granita on top.
Diced avocado and a rhubarb margarita.
Please enjoy.
Thank you.
BRAUCH: Chef Jackson.
It's a really nice, light salad.
Those little baby rhubarb are just really great.
We infused them with a touch of sherry vinegar, fried grapes,
a little buttermilk snow,
and the cocktail is a mixture of gin and Cocci Barolo.
Bon appé***, guys.
Thank you, Chef Jackson.
BRAUCH: So, we're gonna start
on the Iron Chef's dish, please.
FERNALD: The interesting thing for me
is I don't taste the sweetness of the rhubarb at all.
It's completely muted.
John T. Edge.
I love the textural play of the popcorn.
Quick ask about the cocktail,
because, you know, that's really my motivation in life.
I'll have two more.
Okay.
Jose Andres.
What can I tell you?
I love the excitement that is in the kitchen.
I mean, you would say, "Rhubarb? That's not exciting."
Well, guys, there's electricity in the room right now.
This ceviche -- awesome.
Acidity with rhubarb -- astonishing.
Thank you, Chef.
Let's move on to Chef Jackson's course.
And yet another cocktail.
Here, I think the cocktail
is the main force in this first course.
It's strawberries and rhubarb.
It's a classic, so very smart.
The only thing I will say is that this garnish
of the grapes, the raisins, the wild rhubarb,
if you eat it, it doesn't really work.
It's -- You find all the filaments of the rhubarb.
Yeah. Anya.
Chef Jackson used the rhubarb more as a plate in this case,
as just a bed to set some interesting ingredients.
The drink, a little on the murky side.
There is a rawness to this that I like,
and yet this is the celery moment, you know?
This is the fibrous, kind of unwieldy,
"Is this stuck between my teeth right now?" moment.
Now it is time to put your money where your mouth is.
15 points are on the line.
5 points from each of you goes a long way to telling us
who's gonna really be in the lead after the first dish.
To Alton Brown we go. The result, un momen.
Thank you, judges.
The tension is high, the pressure is mounting,
and you know what?
We're gonna add to that
when we read these scores for the first courses,
when "Iron Chef America" returns.
Hi, food fans. Welcome back to Kitchen Stadium.
This is "Iron Chef America."
Battle Rhubarb raging on
between our challenger over on this side,
Chef Russell Jackson...
I need your nuts, too, baby.
...and we've got Iron Chef Jose Garces over on this side.
In my hand, right now I have the scores for the first course,
which, of course, had to be served to the judges
within the first 20 minutes of the battle.
Let's see where they came out.
Wow -- The Iron Chef does pretty well,
with 13 points out of a possible 15.
The challenger -- 9 points.
That puts him a little bit behind.
Could it be the difference here in Kitchen Stadium?
We'll have to wait and find out.
Oh, and keep in mind somewhere along the line here very soon,
the Chairman's gonna be tossing in
his culinary curveball of the day.
We'll watch for that.
Now, back down on the floor, the challenger, Chef Jackson,
has -- That mixture is the aromatics --
the garlic, carrots, shallots.
It's gone into a sealing bag.
Duck fat also in that, with some other rhubarb.
JACKSON: For the next dish, we're making
a savory roasted rhubarb.
We want to bring out the savory elements of rhubarb,
so brandy in the back, crush it all the way down,
try to get some of that brandy flavor into the rhubarb,
and drop that into just a light poach --
about 15 minutes.
Bing -- It's perfect.
BROWN: Now, observe.
The Chairman has appeared up at the altar
with the cart of culinary chaos!
CHAIRMAN: Chefs! Chefs!
The time has come to unveil my culinary curveball.
So, here's the new twist, the curveball.
Come on, Jose! Let's go!
GARCES: You know, to be honest,
one of the most stressful things is the curve,
and it's always difficult.
What are you gonna do?
I would like you to incorporate...
apple juice...
GARCES: Apple juice.
JACKSON: [ Laughs ]
...into at least one of your four remaining dishes.
Thank you.
That works, that works, that works. You got it?
Cocktail?
Sorry. Luck of the draw, sweetie.
[ Laughs ] Fine.
Have fun.
Oh, my God.
Chairman throws a pitcher of apple juice at us,
and it is truly a curveball.
I could do that again.
Apple juice. Really? Now?
15 minutes ago, it would have been perfect.
[ Laughs ] God.
Josh. All right, so, you know what I'm thinking?
Finish with the soup a little bit,
then we're gonna just do a quick reduction of it.
Okay.
All right.
Here. Hit me with here.
Hit me with there. Put it in the middle.
BROWN: All right, so, we heard
Chef Jackson's adding apple juice to a cocktail and his soup,
but we have not heard from Iron Chef Garces yet.
Kevin, can you find out what his plan is?
BRAUCH: Iron Chef Garces.
Yes?
Wow. Apple juice.
I'm also gonna drink a little bit. Yeah.
FIORELLO: Coming in. Coming through.
No cocktail? No obvious apple-juice application?
I'm gonna add it in to some of my different components.
So, we're making a hot-wing sauce.
I think it'll go perfect in there.
MOGARDO: Time!
Wonderful.
Okay. Time check, time check, time check.
Time, please.
20, 20.
20 minutes to go.
BROWN: Good investigative work there, Kevin Brauch.
So, it's going into their hot-wing sauce,
which also has a rhubarb puree, soy sauce,
some sriracha, and agave.
We're using a lot of Asian influences
for one of our courses.
It's a Chinese fried chicken with rhubarb and apple glaze.
That's gonna get some grilled, charred rhubarb.
And we did a rhubarb kimchi and some nice, steamed buns,
so the judges will be able to make themselves
a little chicken-rhubarb kimchi bun.
BROWN: All right, so next to that hot-wing sauce,
there's another red concoction that's a combination of --
I think glucose is in there, some rhubarb juice,
a little bit of tomato, some shallot, smoked paprika.
GARCES: I made a rhubarb smoked-paprika glaze
for the whole octopus
we cooked in aromatics and some rhubarb.
BROWN: Over with Sous-chef Michael,
now, he's got a pasta dough in the works
for the rhubarb ravioli the Iron Chef mentioned
at the very beginning of the battle.
GARCES: So, we made a rhubarb and goat-cheese stuffed pasta.
You know, the filling is, like, rhubarb puree
with a little bit of goat cheese piped into it.
So, the orbs are frozen when they go into the pasta,
but then when it hits the pasta water, it gets hot again.
BROWN: Over on Chef Jackson's side of planet Earth,
that's some rhubarb going into those wee ramekins.
And now this batter that's almost like a crepe batter
is going on top of it.
It's egg, milk, flour, a little bit of salt,
so I'm gonna call that a clafouti,
which, of course, typically is a kind of eggy custard
that's done in a pan with cherries.
JACKSON: I wanted to take something classical in nature
and make a twist on it and make a clafouti.
So, going with that, we're gonna go ahead
and make very, very tasty ice cream.
BROWN: All right, coming out of the mixer
over on Chef Jackson's side,
that was that kind of pork mousse-y stuff
that's now going over to the blast --
no, it's going to the ice-cream machine.
Tell me, for the love of God,
that's not gonna be a pork ice cream.
Kevin Brauch, do me a favor
and get over to that ice-cream machine.
BRAUCH: Chef Jackson.
Hi, baby.
What the heck?
It's rhubarb, bacon.
Bacon. Bacon, rhubarb.
Ice cream. Ice cream.
It's gonna be an ice cream. Yes.
All right, bacon rhubarb ice cream.
Well, I had that at lunch. That's no big deal.
The cooking continues,
and the chefs must cope with the Chairman's culinary curveball
when "Iron Chef America" returns.
Hi, kids -- Welcome back to Kitchen Stadium,
"Iron Chef America" Battle Rhubarb.
Things are really heating up around here,
so let's just get back to the battle, okay?
All right, look at the poultry
that we have out now on Chef Jackson's side,
trussed up in a pan.
That is guinea hen.
They're very, very lean, a little bit on the gamey side,
but, oh, so tasty.
And we can see the rhubarb Yorkshire puddings
are out of the oven, as well.
Call that done.
Remember, he made those earlier
with just egg, milk, flour, and some of the rhubarb pieces.
JACKSON: My fourth dish is a poached guinea hen
with a sexy little Yorkshire pudding made with rhubarb.
Guinea hen is by far the most underrated.
It's the Rodney Dangerfield of fowl.
It just doesn't get its just due.
BROWN: And Chef Jackson brings over his plates.
He's ready to begin plating...
What's the time?
...with 10 minutes remaining.
10 minutes. Yeah, no way.
10 minutes to the end of the world.
Over on Iron Chef Garces' side of the kitchen,
we've got one mixture being cooled down.
Looks a lot like an ice cream
being worked by Sous-chef Jessica.
She also has what may be a panna cotta
or, I don't know, maybe another ice cream.
It's a mixture of cream, sugar, and vanilla right now.
It's bubbling away kind of fast and furious.
And that cornmeal crisp
for what I'm thinking is going to become a streusel
has come out of the convection oven.
GARCES: We did poached rhubarb panna cotta
with rhubarb sorbet,
and it has that curveball with the apple juice in it, as well.
And it's really just meant to, like, give the judges' palates,
like, a break from the, like, rhubarb savory onslaught,
and, like, be more, like, a mellow,
like, sweet, like, ending to a pretty big meal.
BROWN: I just want to tell you
we've got some extraordinarily large scallops out
over on that side.
And look what they're -- They're cutting them.
Well, that's a pasta cutter that's used typically
to cut either pasta shapes
or ridged potato chips.
BRAUCH: Which we love.
The nice thing about that is putting that texture on top
will allow more surface area
to be charred and to become crispy.
But it's not a tool that I've ever seen used on scallops.
JACKSON: For the savory roasted-rhubarb dish,
we're making a roast scallop and goat-cheese espuma.
Some people are gonna want a little bit more cream.
Some are gonna want a little bit more tart.
Some are gonna want a little bit more sweet,
and this gives you that opportunity
to play with the dish a little bit, interact with it,
and pull it together for yourself
to create that perfect bite.
Look, guys. I'm looking at chips being made.
Oh, wait, they're scallops.
BROWN: You know what?
That is a pretty great little trick,
because you could just halve a big scallop
using that ridged cutter,
and you get a beautiful, beautiful crispy doneness
on the outside of that scallop.
And we've got just under eight minutes.
Sous-chef Joshua is now straining that soup
that was the mixture of rhubarb, some aromatics.
And the Chairman's culinary curveball,
the apple juice, went in there, as well.
JACKSON: For our next dish,
we're gonna make a cold rhubarb soup.
We pass it through what we call a Superbag,
and it's a very, very fine bag
that separates all the solids away
and just gives us that almost consommé-like broth.
BROWN: Over on Iron Chef Garces' side,
one perfect octopus tentacle is down on the grill.
GARCES: Chef, I'll take the compressed.
The Iron Chef calls for some of the rhubarb
that was sealed up in the vacuum bag.
That rhubarb is hitting the grill, as well,
and that octopus is getting the glaze
of more of the Spanish red sauce.
And with just six minutes left,
the Iron Chef brings out his plates.
Looking back over on Chef Jackson's side,
the guinea hen is out.
It is being plated with that Yorkshire pudding
that's got the rhubarb in it.
Strawberry has gone down on the other side of that.
We also know that there is a rhubarb clafouti,
which I imagine is gonna be
the center hub of his dessert course.
Oh, they're plating over on Iron Chef Garces' side.
Wow, he cut that tentacle into two wee little bites.
It's getting little pieces of that cooked rhubarb.
They are reconstructing the tentacle.
BRAUCH: The $6-million octopus.
It's a $6-million octopus.
GARCES: So, there's a play on rhubarb as, like, a tentacle.
Kind of cut the tentacles and place the rhubarb
in between each one so that you'll get
that smoked-paprika-glazed octopus,
as well as the compressed rhubarb,
which has a similar texture.
BROWN: His dessert plate is happening.
It's in the hands of Sous-chef Jessica.
It's kind of a sherbet. They've also got the panna cotta.
They've got this cornmeal streusel.
There's more on that plate than usually in a whole battle.
It's not only, like, one technique of rhubarb, it's five.
BROWN: Oh, look at these little pulled-sugar doodads
coming out over in the hands of Sous-chef Jessica.
BRAUCH: Wouldn't that be great if it was rhubarb fiber?
It's rhubarb-flavored sugar -- Maybe it is.
You know what? It is.
Is it really?
It's candied rhubarb strings.
GARCES: Candied rhubarb strings, yeah.
Candied rhubarb strings.
That's really bad for your teeth, though,
because not only is it gonna get stuck,
it's got the sugar on it.
Well, no, because at the end of the meal,
you can floss with it.
It's better than a toothpick.
Two minutes, by the way.
Two minutes remaining in Kitchen Stadium.
That Rosa Regale wine going into some stemware.
You see that slight effervescence that it has.
I like that stuff.
Sparkling red.
Another cocktail. Let's see.
There's some beer in there, along with some ginger,
some lime, a little bit of rhubarb liqueur,
and the Chairman's curveball, the apple juice.
Chef, you got the pasta?
All right, there's that pasta
with the frozen rhubarb and goat cheese.
Sous-chef Michael's working on that.
All right, now, he's got to work quick.
We got 1:20!
Back over on the challenger's side of the world,
the seared scallop,
that's now down on that goat-cheese espuma.
The roasted rhubarb is right next to that.
Oh, there's the rhubarb-bacon ice cream.
That's down.
Clafouti.
The clafouti will end up there
on the dessert plate.
The challenger's putting some diced guanciale in that bowl
where the cold rhubarb soup is headed.
All right, the pasta. Okay. Here comes the pasta.
One minute, chefs!
One minute to go.
GARCES: It kind of came down to the wire.
Photo finish. What can I say?
I mean, Michael likes to make me suffer, so he did it.
Good job, Mike. [ Laughs ]
Put them on. Put them on. Just put them in.
BRAUCH: 20 seconds, chefs. 20 seconds.
BROWN: 15, actually.
15!
His rhubarb-glazed octopus, that's down.
His dessert plate is down. His Chinese fried chicken, down.
All he needs is that pasta.
It's gonna be close. 10 seconds.
9, 8, 7, 6,
5...
Five seconds.
...4, 3, 2, 1.
3, 2, 1.
And put it down and walk away.
[ Buzzer ]
Battle Rhubarb is history here in Kitchen Stadium.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Good job.
[ Laughs ]
It's all good. Hey.
Did you have fun?
I had a blast.
BROWN: Well, the cooking is certainly over here,
and it's a sad sight.
But, hey, we've got judgment coming up.
And to explain how it's gonna work, we go to Kevin Brauch.
Kevin?
I can do that, Alton Brown.
Okay, everyone, here's how it works.
Each judge can award a chef up to 30 points.
There are 10 points possible for taste,
5 points for plating design,
5 points for their originality
in the use of our secret theme ingredient,
another 5 points for the use
of the Chairman's culinary curveball.
And, as always, may the better chef prevail.
BROWN: And, of course, Kevin,
there are the additional 5 points per judge
that were awarded for the first dish.
And, if you recall,
the Iron Chef is leading by 4 points,
so it is still technically anyone's game.
Now, let us go up to the Chairman
and get the judgment underway.
Iron Chef Garces.
Chairman.
Please tell us what your strategy was
for today's secret ingredient.
GARCES: Well, rhubarb can be quite acidic,
and what we wanted to do was balance that acidity
with a little sweetness.
And for this dish, we've used Spain as the inspiration.
And so we poached octopus
and did a rhubarb smoked-paprika glaze with it.
There's a rhubarb romesco, a little bit of lemon aioli,
fennel, and some confit potatoes.
ANDRES: I love the risk you took making sure
that rhubarb and octopus would be talking to each other.
Brilliant. Very creative.
Taking tradition and moving tradition forward.
Thank you, Chef. Thank you.
Very well done.
I love the rhubarb glaze on the octopus.
You could have easily lost the flavor of the rhubarb,
and as a standalone,
just taking a bite of the octopus alone,
you still taste the rhubarb.
There's a lot of talk in culinary circles
about deconstruction of dishes.
And I like this as a construction project.
You built a better octopus.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Iron Chef. Next course, please.
Thank you, Chairman.
Iron Chef.
Okay, so, for this course,
we went to Italy for inspiration.
We did a rhubarb-stuffed pasta.
It has a little bit of goat cheese, sage, brown butter.
It also has some black truffle and Parmesan.
So, please enjoy.
Chef Garces, it's an excellent dish --
an untraditional ingredient, like rhubarb,
partnering to perfection
with a dish that we are all familiar with.
FERNALD: I think the truffles and the cheese and the sage
could have been thought through a bit more.
And the conversation is not coming together
for me between those two elements.
Very well.
I think Chef Garces has managed
to put rhubarb front and center.
It's a ***, little thing, this rhubarb,
and it makes for a ***, little dish,
a dish I happen to really like.
Did you like it, too?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, what's happening here?
[ Laughs ]
Maybe I'm the traditionalist here.
Thank you, Iron Chef. Next course, please.
Thank you.
Iron Chef.
So, for this course, we went to Asia for inspiration.
So, we have a crispy Chinese fried chicken
that has a rhubarb-and-apple-juice glaze.
You have rhubarb kimchi,
which also has a little of the apple juice,
fresh, grated apple, cilantro leaf,
and a little fish sauce,
and you have some steamed buns,
in which you can make your own little bonbon.
Please, enjoy.
Chef, can you describe the cocktail?
Oh, sure, the cocktail --
it's a lager with apple juice, rhubarb,
a little bit of pisco, as well.
A great thing -- You've done a very good dish.
Very playful.
You let the guest help himself.
FERNALD: The chicken is brilliant.
That, in and of itself,
is one of the best things I've ever eaten this evening.
Really delicious.
Thank you.
And I love the spice and the way that spice
is just cut by this really delicious cocktail.
Beer and rhubarb is a great combination.
Yeah.
It's wonderful.
The cocktail's very refreshing.
This is a real drink.
Judges, please discuss the use
of the culinary curveball in this course.
I see it being used in the most basic way possible,
not with the level of creativity that we expect
given the rest of the food that we're eating.
EDGE: But it's not exactly the boldest thing
to work with to start.
But what about a granita or a gelée or something
which actually lets it stand alone a bit more?
True.
He's using it kind of like sugar.
Thank you, Iron Chef. Next course, please.
Thank you, Chairman.
Iron Chef.
So, for your last course,
we wanted to bring you back to the States
after taking you around the globe.
And, in this dish, we also incorporated
the Chairman's apple-juice curve.
So, right in front of you, you have rhubarb ice cream.
There is a rhubarb panna cotta.
There's poached rhubarb with strawberries.
You also have a rhubarb-and-apple-juice Bellini.
It will bring you some effervescence
and kind of pair up with the dessert.
And I think that is everything.
I don't think there could be much more.
The secret ingredient is there.
This poached rhubarb in the center of the plate
is incredibly tender and delicious.
EDGE: It's also really texturally compelling, too.
It reminds you it's rhubarb. It's cooked perfectly.
ANDRES: And then, you have the Bellini,
and you are like,
"Wow, we've been traveling around the world,
and I'm not tired."
I want to start another trip right after.
[ Laughs ]
So, would you have used apple juice in this
if the Chairman had not thrown you the curveball?
Most likely not, but actually, the apple juice is there
creating subtleties within the flavors.
I love the ambition in the whole menu.
Going to so many countries and putting the rhubarb
in such an unconventional context is really daring.
But I wish we'd seen some more creativity
instead of just relying on it as a kind of complicated sugar.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you, judges.
Iron Chef Garces, thank you for an excellent meal.
Thank you, Chairman.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Thank you. That was a really good meal.
GARCES: I'm feeling good about a victory today.
We started 13 to 9, so we're up 4.
There is nothing I'm worried about.
I'm feeling good. This is gonna be a slam dunk.
Maybe. We'll see. [ Laughs ]
You never know. [ Laughs ]
BROWN: Coming up, the challenger, Chef Jackson,
will put his dishes to the test.
Welcome back, food fans.
This is "Iron Chef America" Battle Rhubarb.
Iron Chef Garces has tempted the palates of our judges.
It's a ***, little thing, this rhubarb,
and it makes for a ***, little dish,
a dish I happen to really like.
BROWN: And now let's see
what challenger Chef Jackson has to offer.
Right here, baby.
Chef Jackson.
Chairman.
Please tell us what your strategy was
for today's secret ingredient.
Today was really about having an opportunity
to have some fun with rhubarb.
The first dish that you have is really a play
on strawberries and rhubarb.
There's a cold rhubarb soup
with a little bit of diced guanciale
and a strawberry extract oil.
We really wanted to utilize the Chairman's culinary curveball.
We used apple juice in our soup finish.
It was a nice surprise.
Granted, you could have told me 15 minutes earlier,
but I'm all good with it, so, bon appé***.
ANDRES: I love this soup.
I think it's a great way to start a meal.
You have there components
that makes this a very playful dish.
And I love playful dishes, especially at the beginning.
Awesome. Awesome. That's a huge honor to hear.
FERNALD: The one element
that's a little bit out of balance for me
is the culinary curveball.
It doesn't stand out.
And this soup is so rich,
and so that apple's just lost in that.
Yeah. I agree.
I don't even really get much of an undertone of apple in it.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you, judges.
Thank you.
Thank you, Chef. Next course, please.
Chef.
When you think of rhubarb, you think cobblers and purees,
and we wanted to bring out something
a little bit more savory to it.
So we impregnated rhubarb
with a little bit of brandy and sugar,
and then we pan-roasted that on the flat top.
And then you've got a goat-cheese espuma
and a roasted scallop.
So, the idea is you want to try to get that perfect bite
of a little bit of everything together.
I love the dish. Visually, it's astonishing.
It's beautiful.
But I have a feeling like, right now,
the scallop and the rhubarb
are not really talking to each other.
The baton of rhubarb is beautiful,
and the sear on the outside is gorgeous.
FERNALD: The rhubarb was such a lovely presentation.
If he could have sliced it like a truffle
on top of the scallop, it would have come together.
I agree, but I like that he pushed the envelope
in trying to present the rhubarb
like it was a piece of meat.
Yeah. Now we know why people don't cook rhubarb with their steak.
[ Laughs ] Yeah.
Thank you, Chef. Next course, please.
Thank you.
Chef.
Thank you. Another savory play.
We've gone ahead and done a guinea hen that we've poached.
We've made a Yorkshire pudding with a lot of rhubarb in there.
And then we did a compression with the strawberries,
tossed those with a touch of Banyuls vinegar
and a touch of sugar.
I'm in love with the strawberry.
I don't know if it's good or bad
because the secret ingredient is rhubarb.
Right.
But I'm in love with this strawberry.
If the Chairman's curveball is apple juice,
then I keep returning to the strawberries.
Well, this is my favorite strawberry so far.
Awesome.
I'm not sure I'm as in love with it as Chef Andres is.
And I taste a lot of rhubarb
in that strawberry preparation.
It's almost like a little, savory, rhubarb-strawberry pie
in one bite, which is interesting.
I love this strawberry.
So, do you like the strawberry?
It's not -- You didn't understood me,
or I've been unbelievably clear.
I'm not gonna say anything else about this strawberry
because I think America knows
what I think about this strawberry.
[ Laughter ]
I love it.
Thank you, judges.
Thank you, Chef. Next course, please.
Thank you. Absolutely.
Chef.
Sweets, right?
Something simple, something playful, a little bit classic.
Clafouti with rhubarb.
We've gone a beautiful Armagnac-and-rhubarb ice cream.
Fastest batch of ice cream I've cranked in a while there.
You know?
[ Laughs ]
Because it's me,
I have to put a little bit of bacon in there.
You can't go wrong -- I hope. [ Laughs ]
The clafouti's delicious --
definitely on the sweet side,
but really balancing out the acidity in the rhubarb.
Yeah, I would have that any day.
Awesome.
I love that you say,
"I wanted to go in the traditional way,"
because I see you always pushing.
But this is a nice, simple dessert.
EDGE: The most successful thing about this dish
is the texture of the crust on the clafouti.
I like the clafouti by itself.
Once I add the Armagnac,
the Armagnac overpowers the clafouti for me.
Judges, please give us your overall assessment
of Chef Jackson's meal.
I mean, this chef knows how to bring the flavors forward.
And so, how you're competing,
and you keep finding new things --
crunchiness, nuttiness, acidity.
But like in the scallop dish,
it's in those moments that sometimes,
I think he's trying to play two melodies at the same time.
And the melodies maybe don't have the same rhythm.
EDGE: The guinea hen was diverting.
The scallop was diverting.
And how bold it would be, in Kitchen Stadium,
to just cook rhubarb.
I feel like Chef Jackson had one standout element
in each of the dishes that he presented to us,
and I wish that he'd had the courage
to stick with that more concise vision
instead of needing to show us all of his tricks.
Thank you, judges.
Thank you, Chairman.
Chef Jackson, thank you for a wonderful meal.
Thank you, Chairman.
Thank you very much for the challenge.
It was wonderful.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Great job.
A little bit of a mixed reaction from the judges.
Anya -- You know, that was a little rough.
You know, a bit of the Nancy Kerrigan,
right at the knees -- boom.
I had a vision. It was pushing the edge a little bit.
I'm proud of my crew. I'm proud of the work that I did.
I think we made some really sexy food.
The final tally of scores in the categories
of plating, originality,
and the innovative use of the Chairman's culinary curveball
when "Iron Chef America" returns.
Welcome back to "Iron Chef America."
Our final course, the results, is ready to serve.
This has been Battle Rhubarb.
Let's head on up to the Chairman
to find out whose cuisine reigned supreme.
Today, two champions met
in Battle Rhubarb here in Kitchen Stadium.
Chef Jackson.
Chairman.
Iron Chef Garces.
The judges have spoken.
And the winner is...
...Iron Chef Garces.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Good one, man.
Thanks, Iron Chef.
BROWN: Though the challenger won
in the use of the culinary curveball and tied in plating,
his taste and originality
could not defeat the Iron Chef this day.
JACKSON: You know, I'm definitely bummed.
In the end, I've had, like, the most amazing experience.
It's just -- Oh, my God, you know?
It's like, "I got to do this.
"I got to be a part of this amazing organization for a day
and walk through these kitchens and have an amazing day."
And that is the way that culinary justice is served
here in Kitchen Stadium.
You know, this battle reminds me
of a famous quote by Groucho Marx,
who was once asked in an interview
what he knew about life.
And he answered, "Art is art, water is water,
"East is East, West is West,
"and, if you take cranberries and cook them like applesauce,
they taste more like prunes than rhubarb does."
I don't have any idea what that means,
but it's the only quote that I could find about rhubarb.
I'm Alton Brown.
On behalf of the Chairman, Kevin Brauch,
and everyone here in Kitchen Stadium,
I bid you good eating.
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.