Navy Seaman Rick Longoria and Petty Officer 2nd Class Melissa De La Fuente work on their four-course meal Wednesday during the Iron Chef competition at Misawa Air Base, Japan. (T.D. Flack/Stars and Stripes)
Navy Seaman Rick Longoria and Petty Officer 2nd Class Melissa De La Fuente work on their four-course meal Wednesday during the Iron Chef competition at Misawa Air Base, Japan. (T.D. Flack/Stars and Stripes)
Janeen Alley cuts into the secret ingredient 'fresh pumpkin' Wednesday during the Iron Chef competition at Misawa Air Base, Japan. (T.D. Flack/Stars and Stripes)
Erin Robinson and her sous chef James Maley start working on their four-course meal in the Iron Chef competition Wednesday at Misawa Air Base, Japan. Robinson, who won the contest last year, took it again Wednesday with Maley. (T.D. Flack/Stars and Stripes)
Fresh pumpkin was the secret ingredient in the Iron Chef competition Wednesday at Misawa Air Base, Japan. (T.D. Flack/Stars and Stripes)
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — The secret ingredient in Wednesday’s Iron Chef competition wasn’t as secret as hoped.
When the ingredient – pumpkin – was announced, contestants jumped into the air, laughing and saying that they had hoped it would be pumpkin that they would have to mix into four dishes during the 1 hour and 45 minute competition.
“Yesterday we were joking around that it would be pumpkin,” said Erin Robinson, who took top honors with chef James Maley. She said she had come up with a game plan for the ingredient.
Robinson said her experience winning the competition last year helped when the clock starting ticking Wednesday.
“Most of the other competitors were freaked out with cooking in a commercial kitchen,” she said. “I knew my environment.”
Robinson and Maley’s championship dishes included: Pork Florentine Roulade glazed in a pumpkin puree; a cauliflower pumpkin mash; vegetable stuffed mushrooms with pumpkin seeds; and a pumpkin cheese dip served with fresh apples and granola.
“I think presentation-wise it was ... cohesive, fresh, very fall and very fit to fight,” she said.
