The Chef: Matthias Merges (Yusho)The Challenger: Ryan Poli (Tavernita)The Ingredient: Sea cucumber
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“You either love sea cucumber or you hate it,” Matthias Merges said. He used a pair of chopsticks to poke at one, imported live from a Tokyo fish market, and it moved a little in response. When he pulled the chopsticks away, thick strings of brown slime came away with them. The sea cucumbers in front of him, from the Kyushu region of Japan, were an opalescent blue-gray with brown and cream spots and swirls vaguely reminiscent of a Van Gogh painting.
He prepared them two ways, making both sea cucumber chips and tempura-fried sea cucumbers. For the first, he blanched the echinoderms to firm them up before slicing into them (which allowed their gooey insides to spill out), cleaning them out, and cutting them into pieces, which he dipped in tempura batter and deep-fried. The chips were made by cooking down sea cucumbers with Japanese rice, pureeing the stock, and then dehydrating it. Merges then deep-fried them until they puffed up and seasoned them with nori powder and togarashi, a chile-based Japanese spice.
Video by Michael Gebert/Sky Full of Bacon
