As I finish snarking Worst Cooks in America, Iron Chef America comes on (in a rerun) with Chef Duff Goldman from Ace of Cakes and I comment that I'd love to see him take on Mike Symon. The time comes to choose an Iron Chef to challenge, and Duff says that he wants to challenge the man who took his laugh, his haircut, and his love of bacon, his doppelganger, Mike Symon. Ok, I have to snark this! Secret ingredient: 2 ingredients, this time, chilis and chocolate.
Duff says he's going to show he can cook by cooking classics and making them awesome. Symon pretends to be surprised about being described as bald as he rubs pork with cocoa powder and has one of his sous chefs making chocolate pasta. Ooh, chocolate stout going into a dutch oven on the Iron Chef side. Symon goes up to the judging table to pour champagne for the judges, and a friend comments on FB that they need to show more closeups of Nigella.
Duff complains about Symon not telling him that the sheet pans don't fit in the oven, and Symon laughs and tells him where the half sheet pans are. Yay, sportsmanship! Duff is playing with meringue, and now I want to try chili meringues instead of peppermint ones. Even without Bobby Flay being on the floor, who will be the first to make a mojo with the theme ingredients? Duff uses a drill to excavate serrano peppers and I get more ideas. Dave and I used to joke that if we were on Next Food Network Star back when they allowed pairs compete together, our theme would be bringing the garage into the kitchen, using various tools in cooking. Symon moans as he cuts into pork belly. Just don't light a cigarette around those gas implements!
Alton has gotten to the point of yelling to Duff's peanut gallery to shut up with the cheering and noisemakers. I love Duff's look of mock surprise as Alton predicts what he's planning to do with his tuille batter/dough. Ooh, poblanos and triple sec, I can see that being really good. Duff's cheering section has taken the foam finger idea one step further with an inflatable finger.
In one of the commercials, we see Jeff Mauro talking about visiting other chefs and then using what they do as inspiration to make new sandwiches. I like that, since I still kinda wondered how sustainable the Sandwich King idea was.
Turns out Mike Symon is the first to do a mole, with his moan-worthy pork belly. Dried cacao pods as a serving vessel for the lobster dish almost as a play on Lobster Thermidor, I like it. Also, Duff melts pure cocoa butter to cook scallops in...interesting. Apparently Duff doesn't think he's getting enough props for this, and Alton argues back that it's easier to notice what he's doing if his cheering section is quieter and that maybe Duff should worry less about Alton's attention and more about there only being 7 minutes left. Symon tries to steal Duff's baseball cap, and Duff tells Symon that he can have the hat if he wins.
Alton is thrilled that the Chairman is gone, since he gets to play Vice-Chairman (insert jokes about the game Mao here) and eat for once. One of the judges tells Symon she's not really a pork fan, and it seems clear that, despite being really hot, she drops off his list of women he'd consider. We learn that Symon does indeed pronounce the word as "sherbert," and I immediately flash back to elementary school and the amount of teasing that one boy got because his last name was Sherbert.
In the end, Symon gets the win and the hat with a landslide win. Alton quotes Peanuts to finish up. Not as much snarkiness in this episode of SnarkFood, but it was an enjoyable episode.
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