Molasses Melee: Iron Chef Summer Showdown, July 22

Despite the lingering memories from our last foray into Iron Chef territory...

Chouxfly and I would like to invite our fellow LTHers to again participate in a home-grown version of friendly culinary competition and celebration.

The date: 6pm Sunday, July 22, 2012
The arena: 5457 N Normandy, Chicago IL 60656

On the morning of the event, the "secret ingredient" is posted. On the honor system, we each go out and purchase ONLY that item, and then use whatever is already in our pantry and kitchen to create something featuring that ingredient. Then we gather that evening and share our dishes.

We have space for up to eight Iron Chef Challengers (both Chouxfly and myself will be participating, so ten Chefs in all). To make it totally a surprise to all involved, I will enlist the aid of a neutral party to select the Secret Ingredient (it will be common and inexpensive... and NOT celery ).

We have two cats. Our house is child-friendly but not toddler- or baby-proof; let me know if you need to bring children and we'll obtain the services of a wrangler.

Summer Showdown 2012
LTH Iron Chef Lineup:
1. Mamagotcha
2. Chouxfly
3. JoelF
4. SueF
5. Irisarbor
6. Mr. Irisarbor
7. Cathy2
8.
9.
10.

Count Sue and I in again

I will say yes for hubby and I with the caveat that if it's beets at least hubby will definitely cancel.
and a plea to the neutral party that it PLEASE not be beets.
He really is an intense beet hater

(and a clarification that hubby will not cook, but will partake-maybe he could make a drink...LOL)

OK, the NP will be instructed that beets as well as celery are now off limits.

So glad all four of you all are back on board!

I will be out of town for this

=R=

Well, damn. Would a week later work for you, Ronnie? It would be nice to have a chance for revenge... er, strike that, I meant: to have you join us!

mamagotcha wrote:Well, damn. Would a week later work for you, Ronnie? It would be nice to have a chance for revenge... er, strike that, I meant: to have you join us!

No, but thanks, for offering. I'm also n/a on 7/29. Best to stick to your schedule. Hopefully, I'll be in for the next one.

=R=

HI,

Yes, please!

Regards,

Bumpity... three spaces left!

And one more bump to give folks another chance to jump in. Looking forward to seeing you all!

We're working on the details, but there is a possibility that Hubby will be late or non-available on Sun.
It's a client-dependent thing-
we are both so happy he gets to work on a Sunday as it is....
isn't it nice that clients put off making important project-related decisions so long that deadlines can't be realistically met?
what? me? sarcastic?
What-ev-er
I'll be there
maybe he will
sigh

What no midnight ingredient reveal?

My apologies for the late ingredient reveal... the person who had agreed to make the selection was not able to come through tonight, and I had to go to a backup plan.

Our special guest Special Ingredient Selector this month is Doug Walter, a friend of mine from Davis, CA. Doug has been the membership coordinator for the Davis Food Co-op for centuries (at least!) and he knows all about Good Food!

Doug's selection for us this month is.....



MOLASSES!



OK, chefs, let's ROLL!

I'm working on a desserty thing, and Chouxfly has started something in the bread realm. There may be an appetizer in the works as well...

The hard Thing is not to come up with something where you put molasses in it but to come up with something where you actually feature or showcase the molasses... The only thing that I can think of off the top of my head is gingerbread...

HI,

I hope there is a whole chicken in my freezer ... Molasses brined chicken with gingersnap gravy. (I will brine as much as one can in 6 hours ... too bad I wasn't up late last night).

I already have Molasses. I will need to make gingersnaps.

I have seen molasses glazed carrots and another for sweet potatoes.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

I hope there is a whole chicken in my freezer ... Molasses brined chicken with gingersnap gravy. (I will brine as much as one can in 6 hours ... too bad I wasn't up late last night).

I already have Molasses. I will need to make gingersnaps.

I have seen molasses glazed carrots and another for sweet potatoes.

Regards,

No chicken. I found pork belly bought at H-Mart. No idea what will happen ...

Regards,

Chouxfly had a brainwave and is making Shoofly Pie! (We both feel a little silly for not thinking of it earlier ) He's also making molasses-sweetened bagels, and maybe we'll do some whipped and flavored cream cheese to go with it.

I've started molasses-cilantro refrigerator pickles and a ginger-bourbon ice cream. And we are researching molasses-enhanced adult beverages.

I was hoping for peaches or some sort of fruit however I had bought some ribs yesterday figuring I could work them into anything so I'll have some type of a molasses barbecue glazed ribs and then I think a pomegranate molasses alcoholic drink so we'll hope for the weather to stay not too rainy...

SueF is bringing a desert, I won't give it away.
I'm bringing a grilled meatball, was planning on pork, but may change to chicken if Cathy2 it's also doing pork.

I was going to do peach cobbler too but it sounded like we had enough desserts so I'm going to pass it up ...

Oh my, this all sounds amazing! Can't wait to see you all... my phone number is 816-456-9014, if you need to text or call for directions or want to make sure we have some kind of serving/warming equipment ready or whatever.

Mmmmmmm double molasses mai tais are taking the edge off of being outside over the hot grill

HI,

I am bringing twice cooked porkbelly (braised in molasses, crisped and glazed with molasses), pickled peaches (no molasses) and a non-leafy salad with a molasses dressing.

I never spent so much time thinking about molasses in my life.

Regards,

How do we nominate a header quote? Because I think "I never spent so much time thinking about molasses in my life" would be a great one!

The ice cream is turning out fantastic. The house is still somewhat of a wreck.

I found an article talking about molasses-sweetened pickles from 1945... I can't figure out how to print it out, but I'll link it here in case anyone is curious.

Good news- frank is home from wk!

Another fine time -- next round is at our place.
Seven Challengers Met in Molasses Melee -- and hey, we're all winners again.

JoelF's Chicken Meatballs and Butternut Squash with Miso Molasses Glaze, Rice Noodle Salad with Korean pickles (cucumbers, bell pepper and chives from my garden)

IMG_8576 by joelfinkle, on Flickr

Irisarbor's Smoked Ribs with Molasses Glaze (not pictured, peach molasses BBQ sauce)

IMG_8573 by joelfinkle, on Flickr

Irisarbor's Mai Tai (includes molasses, pomegranite molasses and sweet tea vodka)

IMG_8568 by joelfinkle, on Flickr

Chouxfly's Bagels (using molasses for malt sugar) (not pictured, mamagotchi's refrigerator pickles)

IMG_8561 by joelfinkle, on Flickr

Chouxfly's Dark and Stormy (includes molasses)

IMG_8560 by joelfinkle, on Flickr

Cathy2's Braised and Broiled Molasses Pork Belly and Carrot Molasses slaw

IMG_8575 by joelfinkle, on Flickr

Dessert Prep

IMG_8585 by joelfinkle, on Flickr

SueF's Molasses Tuile, Cheesecake Ice Cream with Molasses Candied Pecans, Molasses Chocolate Sauce

IMG_8578 by joelfinkle, on Flickr

Chouxfly's Shoofly Pie and Mamagotchi's Molasses Ice Cream

IMG_8583 by joelfinkle, on Flickr

IMG_8581 by joelfinkle, on Flickr

Great pics, thanks for sharing!

Here's my Flickr set from our evening...

Thanks to our wonderful and creative chefs for once again rising to the challenge... I think we all did a great job (although I personally thought Irisarbor's ribs and sauce were especially magnificent). Looking forward to the next battle with you all!

HI,

I had a terrific time. What you can cook with molasses has certainly expanded.

Thank you for hosting and inspiring this event.

Regards,
Cathy


Molasses dressing: equal portions of molasses, cider vinegar and olive oil.

On this occasion, I grated carrots, added this dressing, then adjusted taste with salt and pepper. I contemplated adding finely minced green onions (or onions), but my green onions didn't look prime.

Twice-cooked pork belly

The pork belly (from H-Mart) was already cut into 1 inch wide strips. I cut the strips into roughly 2-inch lengths. They were braised for two hours until the meat was tender in:

- 1 quart water (adjust to cover)
- 3 star anise
- small cinnamon stick
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1/4-1/2 cup molasses
- 1 teaspoon peppercorns

After two hours, I removed the porkbelly to a single layer on a tray, then put an equal sized tray on top. Let it cool down on the counter, then added a weight and put it in the refrigerator. I dumped the braising liquid.*

Before serving:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Sliced the skin off the porkbelly, then cut into 1/3 inch strips. These were fried for cracklins. If I did it over again, I might leave the skin on.

Arranged porkbelly on a rack over a baking pan. Roasted for 20 minutes on the upper quarter of the oven. (actually 15, then let it coast for the last 5 minutes).

Because of the high moisture content from the braising, there was a lot of popping noises from the oven and frying pan.

Due to these being transported, I lightly tented the roasted pork belly and wrapped a towel to retain heat. Once at the final location, I added a glaze to the porkbelly:

1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon apricot jam (this could have been honey, but didn't find any)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon water

*The jelly clinging to the chilled porkbelly was pretty good tasting. I regretted tossing the braising stock. If you were doing a headcheese using this mixture, it might be worth a shot. (Maybe concentrate the jelly by reducing the braising liquid)

Everything was sooo good.
I think my tastebuds are on overload today.

What really surprised me the most was how the double-molasses mai-tais actually tasted BETTER with the sweet tea vodka than with plain vodka (I had no rum)
The astringency of the tea flavoring played really nicely with the sweetness of the two molasses' and the two juices'

molasses sweetener
1 part pomegranate molasses
1 part original molasses
2 parts la croix lime
whisk together till liquid

For 1 Double Molasses Mai-Tai
Fill a tall glass with ice
1/2 oz molasses sweetener
1 1/2 oz sweet tea vodka
2 oz pineapple juice
2 oz cran-raspberry juice
fill with La Croix lime

garnish as desired, stir and enjoy