Male: One seasoned chef, three random ingredients, and three tough judges. It’s time for Stump the Chef. Today award winning chef Matt Weaver will set his creative culinary skills against his toughest opponent yet, lets see today’s random ingredients.
Female: Licorice, Alligator, and a Mystery can?
Male: Now, let’s play Stump the Chef.
Matt: Mystery can?
Male: And he’s off.
Male: Well, an exciting day in the Stump the Chef kitchen here. It looks like Matt is jumping right into this mystery can to find out what he has to work with. He is already got alligator, he has got licorice, and he’s got—
Matt: Oh, creamed corn. I have already got alligator and licorice guys, alright if you are going to get weird on me, I m going to get weird on you.
Male: Matt is countering the challenge with his counter weird challenge. So, let’s see what he does.
Male: I can’t imagine anything but something weird coming out of alligator, licorice, and creamed corn. Let’s see Matt's reaction one more time when he heard he had a mystery can to work with, does not look happy. And I can’t blame him.
Male: Back and to the left.
Male: Dicing up the licorice now, you know Matt is going to have to use this ingredient very sparingly. It is a potent taste, and I don’t think I have ever seen anyone use it in a dish.
Male: Well, you know my family being hearty folk, we actually use the left over licorice from fairs to garnish our meals.
Male: Really? So you were the bearded lady? So now it looks like Matt is throwing a mere poi into the sauté pan.
Male: You know it is a common misconception that mere poi is French for look at my feet. But it is actually named after the guy who had the chef make it for him.
Male: Always the fountain of useless knowledge. It looks like Matt’s going to be using this as the base for his meal. It’s made up of diced onion, diced carrot, as well as some diced celery mixed up in there. It is used in a lot of cooking as the basis for soups, for stock, and for many meals.
Male: Well let’s see how he makes his mere poi, weird.
Male: Sorry to interrupt guys, but its time for Matt’s tangent!
Matt: Licorice plants have 40 inch roots, which contain a compound called Glycyrrhiza, which is actually fifty times sweeter than sugar, bitter flavors partly mask the sweetness, and gives licorice its distinct flavor, which is similar to anis or fennel seed. Found wild in Asia and southern Europe. Licorice roots are dried, cut into sticks and sold as sweets.
Licorice candy or confectionary is made from the flavor extract of the roots, combined with sugar and gelatin. My favorite way to enjoy licorice is actually to drink it. I enjoy dark stout European beers, flavored with licorice and cocoa. Enjoy.
Male: Meanwhile, back in the kitchen.
Male: And here is our third ingredient of the day, the alligator being ground up and put into a bowl, it looks like Matt is going to be making some sort of alligator mixture for us today.
Male: Ground alligator is the best alligator because whole alligators tend to bit back.
Male: Absolutely true. He is putting the creamed corn right on top of that, looks like he has strained it and got all the juices out. And now it looks like he is going to be sprinkling that licorice right on top. I guess Matt’s decided to throw caution to the wind and throw all three stump ingredients and mash them together today.
Male: Well when I wasn’t the bearded lady, I was wrestling alligators in the carnival. And let me tell you the ones that lost, they ended up being dinner. And you can fix just about anything with alligator and have it taste good.
Male: It looks that way, creamed corn, licorice, some red pepper flakes, a little bit of salt. He has got the mere poi waiting in the wings there, not exactly sure where this is going. But I guess he has got my attention. Cracking open a couple of eggs into this mixture. Do you have any ideas where he is going with this?
Male: Uh, the only thing I could guess is by adding eggs he is going to make it kind of congealed together a little bit so he can do baking or frying or some king of patty for that mixture.
Male: You may be right he is throwing a little flower in there too. That would give it a nice little breading, almost like an alligator crab cake perhaps.
Male: Ah, that is an interesting thought, and there goes the mere poi.
Male: Absolutely, it has got a nice color on it. You can see he sautéed it for awhile. Put some carmelization on it. It is going to have some really interesting flavors with the onions, carrots, celery, alligator, creamed corn, and licorice. I am not sure I am with him on this one, but one thing is clear, he has definitely gotten weird here today. So that’s what Matt had up his sleeve today, he took this alligator mixture and actually put it into a lollipop pan?
Male: Uh yeah but you know, to be honest that is not that weird to me because being carnie folk and all we always put our food on a stick.
Male: You can see there he put it into patties, put sticks on each one popped them into the freezer, and now he is deep frying them.
Male: You know you put some powdered sugar on those things and you got yourself funnel cakes easy.
Male: Lets head down to the kitchen and find out what’s going through Matt's mind at this moment. Matt three really tough ingredients today, what the hell are you doing?
Matt: Alligator, licorice, and then you give me a can of creamed corn. Like that’s supposed to help. Today I am using the licorice as the fennel seed in Italian sausage. It also inspired me to be a little whimsical. So I am using the lollipops. Presentation and innovation will be fantastic today. Flavor, its licorice, we’ll see.
Male: Well, Matt you have got the innovation, you got the presentation, but if you don’t have the taste, you’re just going to get stumped. That’s like carnie law.
Male: It’s plating time.
Male: Well like it or not you have got to say Matt gave it his all today. Three of the most difficult ingredients he has gotten yet, and just look at that dish. I got to say so far, I think it looks pretty good.
Male: I think I agree, he does have the presentation down here, he does have innovation, I have to go back. Is it going to have the taste though? That’s what I want to know, but props to Matt, because he really gave it his all today.
Male: Well the taste is going to be up to the judges, Matt seems pretty unsure about it himself. Let’s see what they have to say.
Male: Looks good to me, but let’s see what our judges have to say about it.
Matt: Gentleman today I was given alligator, licorice, and creamed corn. So I have thrown all the culinary rules out the door. I have made Lollipops for you out of alligator and licorice. I call it the black alligator swampcicle. Dig in.
Drew: So actually that was pretty good. I am not a licorice fan, but I did taste the alligator and the creamed corn. And I would say actually Matt you passed, I actually like that.
Gilbert: You know what Mat, that’s not too bad. Everything except for the licorice I am feeling. The licorice really is a breaker for me though because I really don’t like licorice at all. So I definitely taste it in there, everything else the other two ingredients, the creamed corn, and the alligator great. If only that licorice wasn’t in there, I am going to say you have been stumped.
Flynn: For something named the swampcicle, I really expected something maybe a little bit more spicy, to go with the flavors. I mean it is edible, but I don’t think I would order this at a restaurant. I do like alligator. I do like licorice; I am going to have to give you a stumped sir.
Matt: Ok.
Flynn: Matt you have been stumped.
Matt: Alright.
Male: Let’s see the verdict. Close but no cigar, you have been stumped.
Matt: Yeah I got stumped. I mean alligator, licorice, and then a mystery can? What’s that all about? I did get one out of three. So I guess that is a personal victory. And yes I tasted it. It did need some spice. I had fun making the popsicles though; I hope you had fun watching. Don’t cook with licorice, see you next time.
Male: That’s it for this episode of Stump the Chef.
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