Stump the Chef: Pigeon, Mashed Potatoes, Apple Juice
Host: 1 season chef, 3 random ingredients, and 3 tough judges it’s time for Stump the Chef. Today, award winning chef Matt Weaver will set his culinary skills against his toughest opponent yet. Let’s see today’s random ingredients
Female Host: Frozen apple juice, instant mash potatoes, and pigeon.
Host: Now let’s play Stump the Chef
Matt: The pigeon and the apple juice are in the bank, how easy but instant mashed potato, should I go there? Can I go there?
Host: And he’s off!
Host: Hitting a new load today Chef Matt Weaver cooking with pigeon jumping right into those instant mashed potatoes now he is also quartering up some lemon as well as some onion, no idea but he has in mind today.
How fresh do you think those instant mashed potatoes are? Oh those where dehydrated this morning, nothing but the absolute best here on Stump the Chef.
Host: Then why is he cooking with a flying disease bag?
Host: You know I feel like this is important. This means something I completely agree this is going to be the cornerstone of Matt’s meal. You know he did think the instant mashed potatoes were going to be the most difficult ingredient to deal with. Is he making a potato life preserver because I can put that on my meat boat and sail the ocean of gravy and there we have the second ingredient of the day, the frozen apple juice.
Going into a pot along with some chicken stock that tells me he’s probably making a sauce out of this. Putting a little touch of white wine in there as well you got to like that.
Host: I was hoping for a shake but what do you do?
Host: A little touch of salt along with some white pepper in there as well and it wouldn’t be complete without a little pigeon back in there.
Host: And a little bit of pigeon blood too, this is starting to look like a ritual.
Host: You might be on to something from what we’ve seen so far nothing sort of sacrificing a virgin and is going to get Matt a pass on this one.
Host: Now is he making a nest for the pigeon to sit in there, that’s why it looks like to me.
Host: Actually it looks like he’s going to be using this to mash potatoes as the base for some sort of dough. He’s got flour along with the eggs and some freshly ground pink pepper corn.
Host: Pink pepper corn, I never even heard of that before.
Host: It’s got a nice flour taste to them but they’re extremely rare very few people have seen them. Oh it’s like the sash squash of peppers, yeah, except smaller, less hairy and real.
Host: Sorry to interrupt guys but it’s time for Matt’s tangent.
Matt: Pigeons also called squab when they serve this food were highly popular in Victorian era England. Squab is still served throughout the world today and they are generally around four weeks old and are very tender due to the fact that they have not yet flown. They are easier to catch that way. Contemporary of Egypt is the country most developed in the art of racing and cooking pigeons. Now, my favorite pigeon dish is a traditional British pigeon pie and flaky crust, so good, enjoy.
Host: Meanwhile back in the kitchen.
Host: And moving on the third and final ingredient of the day, Matt has the pigeon on the grill now and I have to say that’s looking pretty good. We’ll considering that bird is really only four weeks old, I guess Matt is sacrificing a virgin and maybe has a chance now. Basting it with a little honey olive oil and some spices there you can see he stuffed the pigeon with the lemon and onion that we say him quartering earlier and then thrust it up to prepare up for grilling.
Host: That reminds me a really bad date ones.
Host: A bad experience at the restaurant?
Host: No, she tied me up, and stuffed a rag down my throat and stole my wallet and the next day I woke up without my kidney.
Host: Hey it looks like he added a little pancetta there to the pigeon there as well to help it along with the grilling. You know he has got a lot of interesting flavors going on here with the lemon and the onion is continuing the base of that and this is looking really nice.
Host: I am still looking for a donor O-positive.
Host: And it looks like he’s got a little butter and garlic going in the pan now.
Host: That reminds me of a bad date I had once.
Host: Oh my God, it looks like Matt has made Gnocchi out of the instant mash potatoes.
Host: And what’s Gnocchi and why is that impressive?
Host: Gnocchi is a type of Italian dumpling made out of many things but most commonly made up of potato but never instant mashed potato and this is something I’ve never seen before. You can see there he rolled them up a fork, boiled them for a short time now he’s finishing it off in the sautéed pan with a little butter a little garlic and he’s throwing some of those pink pepper corns on there again.
Host: I don’t care how good this looks, he’s cooking with pigeon and that is one fowl foul.
Host: Finishing off is apple juice sauce now, putting a little butter in there as the final touch.
Host: That actually reminds of a good date I had once.
Host: You know I don’t know how I’m feeling about this dish right now. Matt, you seem awfully calm for a guy that’s cooking with pigeon and instant mashed potatoes. What gives?
Matt: Well I’ve had pigeon before but I’ve never cooked with it. It reminded me of quails so there wasn’t much trepidation. Now the problem is can the judges wrap their heads around the idea of eating pigeon. If not, well they’re lost. This is going to be good.
Host: Well he’s sounding pretty confident.
Host: You know if one of the judges is a statue he’s got this one in the bag.
Host: It’s plating time!
Host: Breaking down that pigeon now after finishing it off in the oven you know this is my favorite part, we get to see how the entire dish comes together the apple juice sauce and the plate there with Gnocchi right on the bottom.
Host: This is really when his more impressive presentations to be honest with you I like where this is going.
Host: The pigeon going right on top with gnocchi there, this is really coming together well and a little more that butter apple juice sauce right on top.
Host: I think I’ve shown it right on the side.
Host: You know I got to say you have a very serious drinking problem.
Host: Looks good to me but let’s see with our judges have to say about that.
Matt: Today, I was given a can of apple concentrate, instant mashed potatoes and a pigeon. So what I’ve done have taken the apple concentrate, putting them with white wine and get a nice little sauce. I took the instant mashed potatoes and I made Gnocchi, cook them with some garlic and pink pepper corns. Then with the pigeon I treated like a quail, I stuffed it, glazed it, grilled it and roasted it. The dish I like the call the Brooklyn surprise. Try it.
Falan: I would have never ever in a million years tried anything that had pigeon in it ever. That was amazing. I love the flavor and it was tender juicy, succulent, the apple concentrate has that sweet background flavor that compliments the pigeon. It is moist and delectable and I love Gnocchi. I lived in Italy and I think that’s the best bacon baked gnocchi I’ve ever had. It’s delicious, I love it and you know thumbs up.
T.Shaw: Pigoen, say what! It’s a little different the sauce is very tasty I’m not trained in cooking anything but I know food and I love food and this is the kind of like liver gone bad and its really is like. I’m struggling when I chew a little bit so Matt you have been stumped.
Angie: I was opened minded about it, oh okay I eat squirrels, so pigeon shouldn’t be that bad but my first bite I had Gnocchi and I bit into a big chunk of really, really crunchy garlic I thought I’ve had a bone. Then I got to the pigeon and I was like okay well it’s actually little gamier than I anticipated, I thought it would be more like a dove or something a little bit lighter or quailish but everything was okay except for the pigeon. I like tree rats but not flying rats so sorry I think you were stumped.
Matt: All right.
Host: Let’s tally the votes.
Host: Survey says you were stumped/
Matt: Yeah, and that’s b*&^&%, I mean I cooked pigeon the ingredient I was given and I made it taste good if I had quail I would have passed but I had fun making it. I hope you had fun watching. Don’t be afraid of the kitchen. Thanks for joining us. See you next time.
Host: That’s it for this episode of stump the chef.
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