This is really embarrassing. I’m sitting here on my couch, relaxing after a long day, enjoying Iron Chef America: The Alaskan King Crab Battle, between Bobby Flay and the challenger, Amanda Freitag. I’m not even hungry; I had a satisfying dinner of pasta, pesto, roasted vegetables, spinach and feta sausage and grated manchego cheese. And yeah, I topped it off with a handful of chocolate chips.
So being well-sated, you’d think I could watch Iron Chef without being so tempted … but no. Allow me to chronicle my salivation stimuli:
… and we’re not even to the judgment portion of the program yet, and that’s what usually really gets me going. So how’d my drooling work for me during the presentation?
The challenger got me going with her crab salad with smoked paprika oil and avocado mousse, lemon and lime. The inspired crab crouton had me wiping my chin, and I could have done with a sip or two of that chowder. The pasta bored me and I didn’t salivate, and the green eggs and ham (like an eggs Benedict) didn’t really tempt me either, though I was intrigued by the crab pancake. Is there something wrong with me that the raw veal chop was more appealing to me than the challenger’s take on Veal Oscar?
Crab and salmon “cooked” in a warm Asian vinaigrette got me salivating as soon as Flay began his presentation. And holy crabcakes, Batman — mango sauce? Oh yeah…. Now, Bobby’s egg concoction got me excited, but when his coconut curry was presented, I was in full salivation mode. Did I mention how embarrassing my Pavlovian response to good food can be? Get me some of that gumbo, post haste; you should see the rich, brown roux. I’d totally lick that bowl.
Flay kicked the challenger’s ass in my opinion, and the judges agreed. Flay only won by one point, which validates the fact that I’d eat any of the challenger’s dishes if they were put in front of me. So thanks, Iron Chef America, for a pleasurable hour of drool.
I’m thinking I might have a medical condition, although the Mayo clinic tells me that excessive salivation is usually not a cause for concern. Incidentally, they left watching Iron Chef America off their possible causes list, a gross error of negligence if you ask me.
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Feb 23, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
I also watched this episode and wished I could be a judge. I knew the score would be close.