The Chef: Thai Dang (Embeya)The Challenger:Andres Padilla (Topolobampo)The Ingredient: Maguey leaf
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Thai Dang (Embeya), challenged with maguey leaves by Andres Padilla of Topolobampo, had trouble describing their flavor. “I tried to taste it—they were right. It’s not that great in your mouth,” he said. “It’s very fibrous, dense.” Grilling it added a nice aroma and flavor, though, Dang said. “I found it very umami-like in smell. A very beefy, meaty kind of smell. I’ve never smelled something like that before.”
He considered making fish, but realized that the agave leaf would overpower its delicacy. In the end, he made a variation on the Vietnamese dish bo tai chanh—beef carpaccio marinated in lime juice with chiles. “I grew up eating this,” he said. “In Vietnam, there’s a lot of food developed and created for the men to sit around and drink beer and eat it. Salty, spicy, sour.”
Ryan McCaskey of Acadia, working with pandan leaf—another inedible leaf used to add flavor to dishes. It’s often used in southeast Asian cooking, Dang said. “It’s very floral. It’s weird. I don’t know how to describe it.”
