Chef Battle

Date: 12/4/2019

I challenge a sensei to a fight to get my money's worth. I'm a beginner but we know each other and it'll probably be more like sparring. Now the sensei is like Iron Chef Sakai out of retirement and it's a mini Iron Chef battle. It's started before I know it. We've been given identical bags of ingredients: pasta, potato, mushrooms, onion, green bell pepper, tomato, jalapeno, and cream of mushroom. I chop the potato extremely fine and fancy. Someone heckles Sakai from the sideline asking about his son, who is another renowned French chef who invented an award-winning famous dish, but he hasn't been heard from in a while, so it wasn't necessarily good heckling unless it got to him. I'm trying to make a pasta stroganoff with all the ingredients but right now it looks like ramen in chicken broth and I'm worried it will overcook. I decide to go get a secret ingredient, from the renowned wine bar in the next room through the secret entrance. A Filippino guy off the street asks to get into "The Pea Bar" also but the bouncer is on break so we have to wait. I get in, find the owner, and ask for a good wine to pair with mushrooms and tell her about my dish. She brings out a bottle for me to try that looks like Carlo Rossi but bluer and fruitier. She pours some on my hand and I taste it. Then I bring some back to the battle. I realize there are lots of layers of flavors and special preparations of each ingredient in my dish. I should probably puree the tomato and jalapeno. A third contender, some woman chef, is already done and narrating while plating, with over 15 minutes to spare. "That's a rookie move," I think, "not taking enough time." Meanwhile, I need to cook my mushrooms and onions.