Tournament of Champions ™

Baker:

Elizabeth Falkner

Season:

Tournament of Champions ™ Season 01

Week:

Challenge:

Kung Pao Pork Stir Fry

The Great British Baking Show ™

Kung Pao Pork Stir Fry with Spaghetti Squash Salad

Voice-over: "This is a pork stir fry. The pork blade steak has been pressure cooked to achieve a tender consistency. There are two types of squash, both spaghetti and butternut. Finally, for the sour component, a ton of different citrus is in the spicy sauce beneath."

Things we learned during cooking:

Elizabeth Falkner cubed the pork and pressure cooked it for tenderness, since, she said, blade steak is tough
She used a different pressure cooker for the spaghetti squash
She used the deep fat fryer to make 'fries' out of butternut squash. These fries were flavored with doubanjiang for the required sourness
The spaghetti squash salad was flavored with zest of lemon and lime

What the Judges said ...

Culinary Learnings inspired by Tournament of Champions ™

A little sweeter than the ordinary radish, the watermelon radish has a mild taste and is great for pickling and for salads. The color is incredible - a vibrant magenta surrounded by green, similar to a watermelon.

Watermelon Radishes have a crisp texture and can be eaten like an apple or carrot. In the first season of Tournament of Champions, we saw Michael Voltaggio make pickled 'noodles' out of a watermelon radish with a spiralizer.

Watermelon radishes ferment pretty quickly and the smell is pungent after a few days, so it works well to quick-pickle and serve immediately.

If necessary, store watermelon radish in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. When shopping, choose radishes that are full of color with firm well formed roots and green tops.

Watermelon Radishes

Fregula is a tiny pasta shape. It is made by sprinkling salty water over flour and rolling the wet flour with the fingertips to make tiny beads - looks a lot like couscous at the stage. Then fregula is toasted, giving it a nutty flavor and a golden brown color.

Because it is toasted, it takes longer than other pasta to be cooked through. Most often, it is added to strong liquids or seasoned sauces and left for around 45 minutes to cook through.

What is Fregula (aka Fregola)?

Thai "Yum" salads are typically tossed just before serving with some or all of:

chili fish sauce
shallots
chiles
lime juice
sugar
lemongrass
kaffir lime leaves
cilantro
green onion
ginger
galangal
khaminkhao (“white turmeric”)

Thai Yum Salads

Microwaving avocado helps to keep the lovely green color for hours due to the fact that the heat from the microwave denatures the "PPO Protein" (also called the enzyme Polyphenol oxidase). This protein, when exposed to oxygen, is responsible for turning the avocado pulp brown via oxidation. The microwave alters the structure of this protein, disabling it and thus slowing oxidation.

Separately, the hormone that causes green bananas and unripe avocados to ripen is not PPO protein, but ethylene. When unripe items are put into a brown bag and microwaved, the concentration of PPO increases and speeds up the ripening process.

Keeping avocado green