Flay vs. Voltaggio

CHAIRMAN: The time has come to once again answer life's most savory question. Guys, everybody's good? CHAIRMAN: Whose cuisine reigns supreme? Oh, here we go! This is "Iron Chef America." Time? WOMAN: 3... Go, go, go, go! ...2... We need to start making this happen. ...1. Whoo-whee! Time's up. Oh, what a girl would do. BROWN: A delectable Japanese tradition has taken root in American soil. We have been graced with the establishment of our very own Kitchen Stadium, where our nimble Chairman has brought together the pungent flavors of East and West. It is here where the best of the best from around the world meet and face the ultimate gourmet challenge. I'm in the zone, man! [ Laughs ] Hey, food fans. Check out some of these lesser-known culinary numbers. The average honeybee only produces 1/12 teaspoon of honey during its entire life, the longest carrot ever harvested, 16 feet, 10.5 inches, China's Beijing Duck Restaurant can seat 9,000 people at a time, and at 17,000 square feet, with 2 million BTUs of fire power, Kitchen Stadium Number One in New York City is the largest free-standing culinary coliseum in the world, and we're about to fill it smack full with awesomeness. In mere moments, one Iron Chef will be pitted against our challenger... who thirsts to discover our secret ingredient and enter the heat of battle here in Kitchen Stadium. The Chairman welcomes Chef Michael Voltaggio. VOLTAGGIO: I'm Michael Voltaggio, chef/owner of ink. and ink.sack restaurants in Los Angeles, California. I started cooking when I was 15 years old. At first, cooking for me was out of necessity. Like, I needed a job and I worked in a kitchen. I just fell in love with it, and I could never imagine myself doing anything else. If you see somebody take a bite of something that you made with your hands and you see them smile, it's, like, one of the coolest things you'll ever see or feel. I get to go to work every day and be what I wanted to be when I grow up. BROWN: When it comes to culinary competitions, Chef Voltaggio is an experienced, tough, battle-hardened chef, but now his skills will be tested as he takes on one of the Chairman's finest. I want to battle this chef because he's the O.G. Iron Chef. This guy's been in the arena, battling it out since pretty much Day 1. For me, it's a true test going up against experience. I want to battle... ...Iron Chef Bobby Flay. Chef Voltaggio, welcome. Thank you, Chairman. Your name, Voltaggio, is similar to DiMaggio, a man who once had a 56-game hitting streak. So, in Kitchen Stadium, will you strike out swinging or start a winning streak of your own? Hoping to hit a home run, Chairman. Very good. Iron Chef Flay... ...I trust you have come to Kitchen Stadium with your "A" game. I'm ready, Mr. Chairman. I'm pleased to hear that. But there is one more ingredient to this battle -- our secret ingredient... ...the theme on which our chefs will offer their succulent variations. Today's secret ingredient is... iberico! [ Cheers and applause ] FLAY: Spanish ham, iberico ham, very good ingredient. It's famous all over the world for anybody that likes food. What I'm thinking is, like, this isn't one ingredient. This is a whole bunch of ingredients. CHAIRMAN: And, chefs, your initial dish featuring iberico must be served to the judges during the first 20 minutes of the battle. Then, later in the battle, I will unveil my culinary curveball. But that is all I will say at this time. I grew up seeing Bobby Flay, and being here in Kitchen Stadium, it's kind of surreal. FLAY: I know that he's said some nice things about me, watching over the years -- "Iron Chef." It doesn't mean I'm gonna take it easy on him. That's for sure. He's gonna be very tough to beat. So now, America, with an open heart and empty stomach, I say unto you in the words of my uncle... ...allez cuisine! BROWN: Battle Iberico is on here in Kitchen Stadium. FLAY: Give me one p-- Give me one belly. Got it. BROWN: This is probably the most exotic ingredient that we have had here in Kitchen Stadium. Of course, the iberico animal very different because of its fat composition. It actually has more of the monounsaturated fats that you find in olive oil, which is often why it's called "olive oil on the hoof." Of course, we have the ham, and I understand that these are the grade that is known as bellota, which means "acorn." These pigs eat a huge amount of acorns. We also have spare ribs cut from the side of the animal. I can see those going into a pressure cooker right now over on Iron Chef Bobby Flay's side. We also have smoked belly, we have loin, and then we've got two interesting shoulder cuts -- skirt steak and what we would call the Boston butt. Guys, quick. One second. Are you guys ready? Yeah. All right, so, what's the first thing you're gonna do? I'm gonna do the tomato relish. Tell me how you're making it. Tomatoes, basil, olive oil, sugar, chile de arbol. You're gonna start on ham. I'm gonna get the peas going. You're gonna get cuttlefish going. I'm gonna get going on the first dish. We have 10 minutes till we have to start plating the first dish. What about you? I'm gonna do oils, then move on to the relish. All right, make sure you get the chile for me, okay? Got it. You're gonna start on the braising and stuff like that. Then I'll jump in and do ribs. Melon, ham. You know, I forgot my meat. I'll grab my meat. I'll get the peas. Go. Yes, chef. BROWN: So, looking around in Kitchen Stadium right now, over on Chef Voltaggio's side, we have squid being dealt with. Actually, it's cuttlefish, to be exact. Let's see. The cuttlefish is rolled, and then it's had liquid nitrogen poured in to it. Not something that I've seen happen here in Kitchen Stadium. We've got cantaloupe. It's in the vacuum bag, getting the air sucked out of it. That is going to make for a very dense texture. Of course, melon is a very, very popular side for ham, both in Italy and in Spain. Chef Voltaggio, welcome to Kitchen Stadium. Thank you, sir. Ingredients we've never seen before here in Kitchen Stadium. How happy are you as a challenging chef? I'm pretty happy to be here, and I'm pretty happy with this ingredient, 'cause it's definitely one that I'm familiar with, having worked with Chef Jose Andres. I know the importance of iberico. We're just gonna try not to manipulate the ingredient too much and let it speak for itself. Oh, that's right, Kevin. Chef Voltaggio worked under Jose Andres, who's been a judge and competitor here in Kitchen Stadium. Chef Andres also one of the main importers of iberico to the United States, so I am certain he's at home watching this battle. What's your strategy for your first dish in the first 20 minutes of battle here? To get it to the table in the next 12 minutes. [ Laughs ] I love you, chef. Have a good time here in Kitchen Stadium. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. VOLTAGGIO: So, the first dish, I was thinking ham and peas and melon and peas, and I couldn't quite wrap my brain around what I wanted to do, so I figured I'll just do both. So, I made a mojo verde out of the pea tendrils and just put some raw peas on there and some raw melon and put the jamón into the dish, and then Marcona almond is another ingredient that's indigenous to Spain, so we took some yogurt, infused it with almond oil, froze it in liquid nitrogen, made a snow. We're gonna snow over the entire dish. Guys, 10 minutes to plate. BROWN: Some brioche has been cut into slices over on Iron Chef Bobby Flay's side. Plums coming out over on that side of Kitchen Stadium, being split by sous-chef Allene. We've got sous-chef Renee. Two different oils being set up as we always see here in Kitchen Stadium -- the chiles and the herbs. BRAUCH: Iron Chef Bobby Flay. FLAY: Hi. How are you, sir? I have your 20-minutes strategy, Iron Chef. What is it? Just take this beautiful secret ingredient up to the table and create a carving station. I'm gonna do something like that. I think you're reading my mind. I am reading your mind. We're gonna do a little ham tasting. I love this. Bobby Flay, right now, the Iron Chef -- Get a look at this. He has a ruler on his bread. Exactly. Thank you, Iron Chef. FLAY: So, we have to have the first dish up in 20 minutes, and it's a tough one, and so what I decided to do is do, basically, a tasting of that beautiful cured ham. I did three different preparations. They're all on croutons. I made a walnut romesco, I made a quince mustard, and I also made a sherry vinegar glaze with tomatoes and basil. BROWN: Iron Chef Bobby Flay now cutting wafer-thin pieces of ham. Finest ham in the world being cut. If he drops just one of those on the floor, I will scoop in and grab it. All right, Kevin Brauch is standing by right smack-dab in the middle of Kitchen Stadium. It is public knowledge on the Internet, if you cruise the Internet... Not me! ...that I am your wing man. You are Maverick. I am Goose. But today, and for one day only, I just want to be the wing man to this beautiful secret ingredient. That is the most spectacular ham I've ever seen in my life. It's the world's best ham. No question. So, we've got, of course, 20 minutes for that first dish to get up to the judges. 5 points potential to each judge for a total of 15. These guys don't want to blow that. How much time? Chef, you're looking at 6 1/2 minutes. 6 1/2 minutes remaining to get these courses up to the judges. I got to tell you, Kevin, what I would do is simply properly cut some of that ham, put it on a plate, pour a nice glass of wine, and give it to those people. This is one of those situations. Trying to impress somebody with iberico ham is the wrong thing to do. Slice it properly, serve it properly, and walk away. This secret ingredient is in good hands today here in Kitchen Stadium. I do believe so. Adam, how we looking with the ham? Slicing right now, chef. 30 seconds. 30 seconds. We're gonna go with Alton's advice, too, right? Just serve some on the side for the judges to taste. Thank you for the idea. Oh, you're very, very welcome. Appreciate it. I'm sure you hadn't thought of that, chef. BROWN: Liquid nitrogen being used again over on Chef Voltaggio's side. Coming out of the ricer, it's just some butter being turned into little frozen butter strings. WOMAN: 15 minutes have elapsed. And we're 15 minutes into the battle here in Kitchen Stadium. That means first course to the judges in under five. Adam, did you do the side ham plates, too? Nope. Can you pass that tray? If we make it up there with this dish in less than 20 minutes, I think it's gonna be a miracle. FLAY: Renee, where's the chile? What? Where is the chile? Here, here. BROWN: The heat is on here in Kitchen Stadium. We'll get right back to the action when "Iron Chef America" returns. We are back in Kitchen Stadium. This is "Iron Chef America." Battle Iberico Pork raging between Iron Chef Bobby Flay... You have the tomato relish? Yes. Perfect. BROWN: ...and Chef Michael Voltaggio. Chef, what do you need for the first plate? VOLTAGGIO: Just snow and then I'm plating. Chefs, you've got some fine culinary minds, to be sure, but so do our judges. And to introduce them, we've got to go up to Kevin Brauch. Alton Brown, good evening. Ladies and gentlemen, konban wa. Here are the judges. Leading off, he's a roving ambassador for Italian food. His current stop -- Kitchen Stadium. This is Mario Rizzotti. Up next, she is a vivacious bon vivant and an expert in the field of luxury hospitality. She's one of the Chairman's favorite judges. She is Karine Bakhoum. Rounding out this fine panel, he is an accomplished chef and a food critic, and he's also an expert in the world of fashion. He is Hal Rubenstein. Time. Time on the first course. BROWN: Chefs, you've got three minutes to finish your first courses. All right, let's go up and check in with our judges and see what they think of today's incredible secret ingredient. BRAUCH: This is a very special ingredient, is it not? It is an amazing ingredient. It's got an excellent flavor profile, very sweet. It is the most revered ham in the world. It's not jamón. It's iberico, which is the ham of all hams. Well, thank God it's in the hands of such masterful chefs. It almost looks as good as it tastes, and the man who looks like a million dollars himself, Mr. Rubenstein. RUBENSTEIN: You're serving pork to the Jewish kid. You know, it's the forbidden meat, and I just love the stuff. [ Laughter ] It's so good that you're gonna go there anyway. Yes, we're gonna burn, but what are you gonna do? BROWN: Chef Voltaggio's getting ready to take up his first course. VOLTAGGIO: Ready! Ready! You have 20 minutes to get a dish to the judges, and that's the dish that sets the tone for the battle. It was important that I did something that would knock them off their chairs a little bit. Chef Voltaggio. My first dish, what I wanted to do is highlight just the natural flavor of the iberico. So, a plate of it simply sliced, peas and melon in a salad form, and then dusted both of them with yogurt and Marcona-almond snow. Wonderful, chef. One down, four to go. First dish is out. MAN: First dish is out. Once that plate's served in front of the judges, I have to start thinking about what the next task is. I can't afford to lose that time. BAKHOUM: Okay, this is, like, a beautiful thing. RUBENSTEIN: This is food *** right now. This is, like, amazing. You're seeing food *** live in action. I mean, you can see the marbling. Open your mouth. Ahh. But it gleams. It's the equivalent of a "D"-cut diamond. When you have something so beautiful, all you can do is put it in a great setting, and this is a great setting. Sliced to perfection, very sweet with a hint of saltiness, which is perfect, the aging of it. It's all about passion, culture, and knowing what you're doing. I love you. Shut up and eat, 'cause this is freaking unbelievable. I'm not even sure really what this is, this molecular gastronomy thing that he made. Marcona almonds. This was Marcona almonds? That's what this is, yes. It's unbelievable! BRAUCH: It's unbelievable. I have no more! [ Cockney accent ] Please, sir, can I have some more? Excuse me, judges. Look at what this secret ingredient does to our judges. BROWN: Iron Chef Flay, you have 30 seconds. Get your dish up to the judges. All right. I got off to a little bit of a rocky start 'cause there was so many little, tiny components that I had to do. I had to make a walnut romesco, like, in 10 minutes. I mean, it's almost impossible. BROWN: Iron Chef Bobby Flay heading up. BRAUCH: And we welcome Iron Chef Bobby Flay. Right under the gun, Iron Chef. It must be good. Let's see. It's a tasting of this beautiful iberico ham. They're all on croutons, but there's three different flavors. There's a quince and mustard fruit. The second one is a sherry vinegar and tomato. The third one is a walnut romesco. Fastest romesco in my life. RIZZOTTI: This is a little longer than the other two. I think that the ruler didn't work well. Well, you know. I don't have steady hands. I like my first dish today. You know, my only question was gonna be, "Did they think it was too simple?" But it's one of those ingredients that simplicity just is called for. RIZZOTTI: The very first one, the mustard, I think it overpowered a little bit the great characteristic of what a good jamón is. The other two were great. BAKHOUM: [ Normal voice ] I liked the taste of all three. The sauces made it exciting. I probably would have preferred it without the toast. If the toast were gone, it almost would have been like an iberico crudo playing on the harmony of it, on that smokiness and on the nuttiness of the iberico. BRAUCH: So coveted, Mario Rizzotti is saving a piece -- He left one?! Please! He will be auctioning this off on the Internet. He's a gentleman. He's gonna give it to me. $5. $15. I'll kiss you. Go right ahead. I don't need a kiss. I want you to enjoy it. If you don't give me a piece of that, we're never talking again. I'm gonna split it! BRAUCH: It is reckless here today in Kitchen Stadium. BROWN: All right, thank you, judges. We'll get those scores in just a couple of minutes. Let's get back to the action. How you guys doing? Good. WOMAN: Good. Adam, was there any more ham? COLE: Sliced? Scrap. Scraps? Right here, chef. BROWN: Over on the challenger's side, a biscuit dough coming together. The liquid-nitrogen frozen butter went into this dough. Now, when you cut cold butter into flour to make biscuits, keeping it cold is a bit of a challenge. Well, if you run it through liquid nitrogen and then dump it into there, guess what -- it's gonna stay frozen. I'm gonna make biscuits and gravy, so Manchego-cheese biscuit, iberico-neck gravy, some sliced jamón iberico, and then finish it with whipped maple syrup kind of marshmallow. BROWN: Over on Iron Chef Flay's side, the smoked belly now being cut by sous-chef Allene, being cut down into lardon. The next dish -- it's breakfast in a Spanish style, so it has Cabrales blue cheese, which is one of the best blue cheeses in the world from Spain, some quail eggs, and then some of the crisped-up smoked belly, which is a really fantastic product, and a green onion sauce, as well. Did you get the belly? What? You're cutting this meat, right? Yes. It's already cut. It's on your station. COLE: Fried ham, chef? Yeah, pull it out. Pull it out. Got it. Pull it out of the fryer. BROWN: In the pressure cooker now over on Chef Voltaggio's side, some of the ribs that were rubbed in that Aleppo spice mixture, had some beer added to it. So, the last dish is iberico rhubarbecue. So, I pressure-cook the ribs, I cook the loin with smoked belly, I make a barbecue sauce out of the reduced liquid that comes out of the pressure cooker, add rhubarb juice to it. To wash it down and make sure you get one shot more of iberico flavor, we took a cannister, put fried jamón inside of it, poured a soda base over it, and then bottled it with a sweetened rhubarb syrup. BROWN: So, Chef Voltaggio's gonna make rhubarb soda pop. That's gonna be flavored with ham. Definitely a first here in Kitchen Stadium. Iron Chef Bobby Flay has removed his ribs from the pressure cooker. He's brushing on this barbecue sauce. This is my favorite dish, actually, of the whole deal. They're fall-off-the-bone ribs. They have a really nice spicy-sweet glaze to them -- apricots, pomegranates. I put some Dijon mustard in there, as well, and some smoked paprika. WOMAN: 30 minutes have elapsed. BROWN: And, with that, Battle Iberico is half over. Hup! Where's my bacon that I just cooked? BROWN: The tension is high. The pressure is mounting. We will reveal the judges' scores for that first dish when "Iron Chef America" returns. Hey, welcome back to "Iron Chef America," where Battle Iberico Pork rages on between Iron Chef Bobby Flay... You all right? Yes. ...and Chef Michael Voltaggio. Your braise is in, right? COLE: Yes, it's been in. 20 minutes more. Now, I have right here the scores for the very first dish. Let us see what we have here. Chef Voltaggio has brought in 14 points. Iron Chef Bobby Flay, 10. By 4? 14. Nice. We almost had a perfect dish, and if that carries through the rest of the battle, we're gonna finish as strong as we hope to. I've been behind before, and I rally to win. You know, I'd rather be up 4 points than down 4 points, but, obviously, Chef Voltaggio got off to a good start. I'm gonna give Iron Chef Bobby Flay a hug. He needs a hug. He needs a hug. Thank you very much. BROWN: Oh, keep in mind, somewhere along the line here the Chairman is going to throw in his culinary curveball. Now, that can be an ingredient or a piece of equipment that our chefs must incorporate into one of their remaining dishes. The use of this is worth up to 15 points. So, we'll have to keep our eyes open for that. Okay, looking back down on the floor, over on Iron Chef Bobby Flay's side, going into the carafe of the blender, some saffron, white wine vinegar, some lemon juice and Dijon, some yolk, now some canola oil. So, she's making a saffron aioli. The next dish is a broth made out of prawns and clams, a little bit of smokiness from the pork belly. It also has some crispy cured ham, as well, and a charred-tomato saffron aioli and then some fresh tarragon. I think it has great texture and flavor. BROWN: Now, you can see over on Chef Voltaggio's side, oddly enough, it looks like an aioli being put together in the old hand style. VOLTAGGIO: Making pork-fat aioli. BROWN: Ah, they used that rendered fat from the pork belly! Delicious. Black vinegar, water, salt, cuttlefish ink went down into small kind of baby potatoes. That means that those potatoes are going to absorb some of that color. VOLTAGGIO: Potatoes are gonna be out of the water in five minutes. I'll start turning them into charcoal. BROWN: There's the Chairman. The Chairman has come out, not with just one cart of culinary chaos -- two -- two carts of culinary chaos. CHAIRMAN: Chefs! Chefs! The time has come to unveil my culinary curveball. Cole, keep an eye on the stove. BROWN: Iron Chef, head on up there. Bobby, I don't have a lot of time. I would like you to utilize these Antigriddles as you prepare your four remaining dishes. BROWN: Ah, the Antigriddle. Of course, a pretty amazing piece of technology. Renee. FORSBERG: Yes. You know what you want to do here? Yes. BROWN: Instead of being very hot like a griddle, it is incredibly cold. Usually if I want to make something cold, I put it in the freezer, but...okay. Plug it in? Yes, chef. Is it on? Freeze the aioli. Aioli? Yeah. Just make like a silver-dollar size, okay? Okay. Got it. I got to think about this one for a second. BROWN: It is so cold that even certain oils will set up into almost like a leather. BRAUCH: These are not allowed in frat houses across America because people will just put everything and anything on the Antigriddle. Hazing rituals are common with Antigriddles. I didn't even think about that. These should only be given to people who really know what they're doing. Iron Chef Bobby Flay. Yes, sir. I know time is tight here, and then you're given a culinary curveball like an Antigriddle. Exactly. How does that work in your kitchen? Where are you gonna use it? We're trying to use it on our -- our broth with the shellfish and the pork. Is that saffron? It's a saffron -- yeah. Saffron aioli. BRAUCH: So, let's look at this. Iron Chef Bobby Flay is trying to freeze saffron aioli. It's not very cold. You really shouldn't touch that. We're telling people -- Is it on? Is this as cold as it's supposed to be? I'm gonna leave Iron Chef Bobby Flay alone. Look forward to see what you do with it. Me too. So, do you want me to whip the maple since we're making a pancake, or no? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Has to be whipped. Quick question about the culinary curveball. You guys have been showing a lot of cold. The liquid nitro -- You guys are fans of that. The Antigriddle -- Do you like that? Your thoughts. I mean, we're happy with it. I would have rather had it in the first course when I was serving a cold dish, but now I'll just try and figure out how to put a cold ingredient onto a hot dish. So, do you have any idea yet? Yeah, we're gonna whip up some maple syrup and just freeze the maple syrup on it and serve that with our biscuits and gravy, like breakfast. He's like a scientist, but he's a chef. Good luck with the last 20 minutes of the battle. I'm just a ghetto child trying to make it. BROWN: All right, chefs. You have 17 minutes left in this battle. All right, I'm looking at this pasta dough being cut over on Chef Voltaggio's side. They made that very quickly with some A.P. flour, some acorn starch, and eggs. We're gonna feed the judges the same thing the pigs ate -- acorn. I was trained very traditionally, so I want to showcase my ability to just cook, too, and not do showy things. So, we wanted to make pasta, but, again, we want to put a twist on it, so, I'm thinking acorn starch, make egg noodles out of it. What goes with egg noodles is beef bourguignon. So, taking all the flavors -- the red wine, the carrots, and all of that stuff, and pressure cooking it with the iberico neck so that you get something that they've had before, but not with these ingredients. WOMAN: 15 minutes to go. Antigriddle's not really working as it's supposed to be. What's going on here? So, they're checking. His is working, they think. This is not cold. It's supposed to be way colder than that. BROWN: Yeah, if you can put your hand on it comfortably, it's not working. FLAY: I think we're resetting the machines right now or it wasn't plugged in properly. Is his working? BROWN: The chefs cope with the Chairman's culinary curveball when "Iron Chef America" returns. We are back in Kitchen Stadium. This is "Iron Chef America." The clock is ticking away on Battle Iberico Pork raging between Iron Chef Bobby Flay... FLAY: Where's the plums I just cooked? Oh! BROWN: ...and Chef Michael Voltaggio. Cole, your gravy ready? DICKINSON: Yeah, I'm ready. Adam, cuttlefish. How we looking? COLE: I'm slicing it right now. BROWN: All right, let's get you caught up. The Chairman's culinary curveball, the Antigriddles, have been reset and are frosting up nicely. Those kinds of things happen in Kitchen Stadium all the time. You just got to go with it. BROWN: But as our Antigriddles are getting icy cold, our competition is getting red hot. All right, here's a piece of this skirt steak that is being cut over on Iron Chef Bobby Flay's side. The skirt steak, very quickly grilled, almost medium-rare. Obviously, a lot of people wouldn't cook pork medium-rare, but in this case, you need to. And then I sliced it against the grain and I made a salad -- plum agrodolce, which is fresh plums, sweet and sour. So, some honey, some vinegar, and I put some crispy capers on there and some pine nuts. BROWN: The quail eggs going down on top of that Cabrales cheese on the Iron Chef's side, and now that's getting the smoked belly lardon. Where's the green onion sauce? No, this isn't green -- This is not good. What do you mean? It's got to be -- I need more scallions in here. Okay. This is, like -- All right. Mostly green. Guys, Bobby's plating. We got to move. DICKINSON: Yes, sir. Bobby. Like this? No, greener. All right. Come on, come on. Okay. BROWN: Over on Chef Voltaggio's side, cuttlefish that was frozen in liquid nitrogen at the beginning of the battle now out, and now they're using the fact that it is rock-hard to run it through the deli slicer into basically little noodles. VOLTAGGIO: For my next dish, I'm gonna make cuttlefish carbonara, so I'm making a broth out of the ham, making lardons out of the ham, and tying it all together with ingredients like eggs and cuttlefish. We thought it would be subtle enough to allow the jamón flavor to come through the entire dish. BROWN: Now, check out this potato action over on Chef Voltaggio's side. So, they cooked the potatoes in the squid ink and allowed that squid ink to dry out, and it has created something that looks like charcoal. Fascinating maneuver. Over on Iron Chef Bobby Flay's side, that skirt steak that was grilled going down with the sauce with the plums, a little bit of red wine vinegar with some honey. So, an agrodolce, basically. Iron Chef Bobby Flay's gonna be serving that almost like a salad. That makes sense. The challenger is plating his Manchego-cheese biscuit. That's down on top of a whipped maple mixture. Now, that's the maple syrup, water, xanthan gum -- It's basically a marshmallow. Interesting presentation that's getting a little bit of the shaved ham onto it. Gravy, got it. BROWN: And now it's being smothered with their iberico gravy. Ham also going onto the shellfish soup over on Iron Chef Bobby Flay's side. That's a beautiful dish with that smoky tomato broth, shrimp, and clams. That's being finished with some fresh tarragon. Guys, we got to start plating everything now -- everything. FLAY: Look at those ribs. ARNOLD: They're beautiful. Yes? Yes. BROWN: With just over five minutes remaining in the battle, this is a great time to check in with our judges. I'm completely and utterly distracted by one of the great sights in cooking, which is Bobby Flay standing in front of a rack of ribs. BRAUCH: Yes. This is Christmas. Let's remember, you as a trio judged him four points lesser than the challenger. But that wasn't on ribs. That's an angry Bobby Flay out there. I know. He's a very determined Iron Chef. There's still a level of confidence that you see with him on his side of the kitchen that is fascinating to watch. That's poetry in motion from an Iron Chef. Yes. There's poetry in motion right there. Go take a look. Bobby with the ribs. Oh! Oh! There we go. I told you. Told you, told you, told you, told you, told you. BROWN: Judges, try to keep it together up there, okay? Now let's get back to the battle. Stick blender coming back into action over on Chef Voltaggio's side. That's the ham scraps, the chicken stock, some onion. It's kind of a ham foam. All right, the acorn noodles coming down on Chef Voltaggio's plate. It's almost being served like a beef bourguignon, with those braised pieces of the shoulder. I've got to let these eggs go until we're ready to plate. Are we ready to plate? Yeah, we're plating now, dude. Adam, bring it. We got to get it on the plate now. All right. All right. BROWN:: The rib plate almost done over on Iron Chef Bobby Flay's side. Iberico rib, apricot, pomegranate flavor, smoked-paprika glaze. Beautiful, beautiful plate. This is gorgeous. ARNOLD: It's gorgeous. BROWN: All right, there's that foam going down onto a plate on the challenger's side. All right, now, that's the cuttlefish they quickly cooked. That's kind of cuttlefish noodles and hot butter. It's carbonara. Instead of a thick cream sauce, they made a ham foam. So, an interesting play there. We've got kind of a rhubarb barbecue with charcoal potatoes, and now that wonderful and strange-sounding rhubarb-ham soda joins the plate. If there's anything here today I'm interested in tasting in Kitchen Stadium, it's that ham soda. BRAUCH: We deserve -- We deserve us some ham soda. That's my mulligan for the season. Over on Iron Chef Bobby Flay's side, putting some more of the aioli out on the Antigriddles, which you see. Very, very cold surface. The challenger's Antigriddle doesn't look quite that cold yet. Bobby, is your Antigriddle working, sir? Now it is. Guys, get some of the whip over on chef's Antigriddle. BROWN: You know, these are gentlemen, and gentlemen, especially Iron Chefs, share, so they are working together. Some of that marshmallow mixture going down on the Antigriddle. Marshmallows and aioli coming together like cats and dogs. Kevin Brauch, you were responsible for plugging in the Antigriddles. Now we are seeing the truest form of this curveball. Chef Bobby, do you mind? FLAY: No, go ahead. Chef Voltaggio -- he's decided to go over and help the Antigriddle a little bit... BRAUCH: Are you serious? ...by dumping liquid nitrogen on top of it. You know, cold on cold. WOMAN: One minute to go. BROWN: 60-second mark here at Kitchen Stadium. All right. Now let's take a quick look back over the challengers' menu. We know they've got the biscuits and gravy almost being served with this kind of marshmallow swoop. We've got this cuttlefish being served carbonara-style, the iberico shoulder pieces cooked in a bourguignon style with acorn noodles, and the rhubarb barbecue with charcoal potatoes and that unusual ham soda. Okay, there we see what that Antigriddle is capable of with the Iron Chef flipping over that aioli, which is frozen. That's how it needs to be. There we go. WOMAN: 30 seconds to go. BROWN: All right, 30 seconds. Just time for a quick review of the Iron Chef's menu. He's serving the Spanish breakfast with smoked lardon, the skirt steak salad with plum agrodolce, the ham-and-shellfish soup, and, of course, his highly anticipated iberico ribs. Give me a spatula. WOMAN: 10 seconds to go. BROWN: And we are at the 10-second mark. 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1. Put the food down! Battle Iberico is over, is history, here in Kitchen Stadium. Nice. Fairly done. Thank you. Thank you. Good job. First Iron Chef. I thought the battle was very difficult. They're always difficult, though. There's never an easy "Iron Chef" battle, that's for sure. FLAY: Good job, dude. Thanks, man. We got all the food on the plate, and it tasted good, and we had a good time doing it. We exceeded our expectations for ourselves. Well, kids, the cooking may be over, but we still have judgment to look forward to. First, we got to go up to Kevin Brauch, who is going to explain how the scoring works. Kevin? Absolutely, Alton. Okay, everyone. Here's how it works. Each judge can award a chef up to 30 points, with 10 points possible for taste, 5 points for plating design -- how they've laid out their food for presentation to our judges -- 5 points for their originality in the use of our secret theme ingredient, 5 points for the Chairman's culinary curveball, and, as always, may the better chef prevail. BROWN: And, of course, all those points will be added to the scores from the first dish, where the challenger came out 4 points ahead of the Iron Chef. Nicely done, Kevin Brauch. All right, let's go up to the Chairman and get the judgment under way. Chef Voltaggio. Yes, Mr. Chairman? Please tell us what your strategy was for today's secret ingredient. Well, iberico is such an amazing ingredient, so the idea is that you have to be creative with it in this setting, but, at the same time, not mask the natural flavor of the pork. We're starting with biscuits and gravy. So, we made a Manchego-cheese biscuit. We used the shorter neck part to make the ground gravy, and then we put some of the jamón on the side, as well, because if you were to eat biscuits and gravy, sometimes you'd have a breakfast meat on the side. Why not have jamón iberico? And then we used the Chairman's curveball to make a maple semifreddo on the plate, as well. Very nice. How would you suggest us to eat this? Just dive in, as if you were, you know -- you were hung over from the night before and you wanted biscuits and gravy. That's the bite right there. There you go. That's it. Karine? I know how to make the perfect bite. I don't need any instruction. Yes, you do. I do not. Here it is, babe. RIZZOTTI: Wow. Amore. RUBENSTEIN: Biscuits and gravy is never a pretty dish. It's kind of clumsy. I've learned to sort of close my eyes and eat it, 'cause I really do like the sinfulness of the taste. This exceeded that. Thank you very much. It'd be a great way to wake up in the morning. BAKHOUM: Amazing use of the curveball. Never had anything like it. The curveball was sensational. There was this element of surprise. It has an amazing texture. Thank you very much. If you see the Chairman has an empty plate, that's a good symptom. He's got nothing this time. Chef. So, in this dish, we poached an egg, we covered it in a broth that we made out of jamón, and then basically made a carbonara, or a no-carb carbonara, because the noodles are actually cuttlefish, and then they're finished with lardon, and the idea is just sort of mix everything as a sauce and eat it like you would a spaghetti carbonara. So, mix? Mix it all together? VOLTAGGIO: Absolutely. BAKHOUM: Okay, this is the fun part. RIZZOTI: Wow. Definitely in originality, from me, you're getting a 5. Cuttlefish is such a blank canvas, too, so it really takes on the flavor of the jamón. Oh, guys, this is amazing. BAKHOUM: It's fantastic. It doesn't taste fishy at all. It's really an incredible sleight of hand. If you wouldn't tell people it's cuttlefish, I think that some of them might hardly figure it out. This almost tastes like pasta. Very good. I had reservations at the beginning because I'm one of those people in the anti-foam camp. Sure. However, the moment you mix it all together, it really does look like carbonara. I looked at the dish one way, and suddenly it was transformed into something else. You should do like he says all the time. We have to come here with an empty stomach... Open mind. ...and an open mind. Absolutely. Chef. So, bellota translates to "acorn." So, we made acorn-starch egg noodles, and then we made the flavors of beef bourguignon, but using the neck of the iberico. We braised it with red wine -- all the traditional flavors. RIZZOTTI: I don't know how they say it in Spanish, but in Italian, I'd say "Mamma mia!" It's amazing. It's incredibly tender. I mean, it's missing a little of the depth of the beef. It doesn't have that sort of -- It's lighter, though. It doesn't have that deep heartiness of it. I like it. Given my druthers, I like when it's heartier, and, yeah, 'cause that's just -- to me, bourguignon is winter and 2 1/2 feet of snow. Well, considering it's not 2 1/2 feet of snow, it's light and satisfying. It's an incredible variation. It really is. Guys, we are in the best restaurant available in all the world, huh? We're so lucky to be even having this. I mean, it's so -- You can't even find the secret ingredient in most restaurants. See if you can get that leg on the plane with you. Yeah, for sure. Chef. So, this is basically our iberico rhubarbecue. The rib itself is glazed in rhubarb barbecue sauce. The pork chop is glazed in the same. In Spain, the fishermen would cook the potatoes in the seawater and allow the salt to crystallize on the outside of the potato. So, we took it a step further, added black vinegar and squid ink to it to make it look like charcoal, and then to dip the potatoes, we made an iberico-fat aioli, and then what we have here is a jamón and rhubarb soda. BAKHOUM: It's too cute. RIZZOTTI: Oh, wow. Oh, it totally smells like pork! They smell like pork. It smells like bacon! I'm not loving the soda. It's very unique. Let's put it this way. It's funny. Just the juiciest piece of pork you had. Karine, put the fork down. Hal, put the fork down. I'm eating with my fingers. Don't worry about it. I'm not that precious. To do this in 60 minutes, it is quite amazing. Good rib. I give you an A+ on interesting. It's my least favorite... The soda? of the dish-- No, the whole thing. These, I think, are brilliant, but the whole thing is not making me swoon over the secret ingredient. Visually, this is so exciting when it comes to the table, whereas the other ones, we were kind of quizzical when it came to the table and then were amazed by the harmony. In this case, I felt like I'm eating courses as side dishes. They're not as harmonious. That said, I ate the whole pork chop. [ Laughs ] [ Laughing ] There's nothing left. Chef Voltaggio, thank you for an excellent meal. [ Cheers and applause ] It's such a great feeling to listen to anyone talk positively about your food, let alone the judges on "Iron Chef." Thank you, judges. Win or lose, I already won. Today's challenger's score in the category of taste and flavor, when "Iron Chef America" returns. Welcome back, food fans. Our challenger, Chef Michael Voltaggio, has presented his menu featuring secret ingredient iberico pork. Now it is time for Iron Chef Bobby Flay to face the judges. Iron Chef Flay... please tell us what your strategy was for today's secret ingredient. Incredible ingredient today, Mr. Chairman. I had a Spanish restaurant for 15 years called Bolo. When I saw that ingredient, the first thing I thought of was Spain. So, a lot of these dishes are inspired by that. This course is breakfast, Spanish-style. It has a Cabrales blue cheese crème fraîche on the bottom, with some fried quail eggs, a little bit of green onion vinaigrette, and then the crispy lardon on top. BAKHOUM: Mmm! Spanish green eggs and ham. Exactly. This was like brunch at Bolo. I loved Bolo. It was one of my favorite places in town. Best reason to go to 22nd street. Thank you so much. It's wonderful to come back to something you think you know. It's eggs and ham, but it's done in the best possible way. It's like all the best flavors of Spain. And the belly -- You used the belly to do the lardon? I used the smoked belly. Yes, exactly. That's just so flavorful. I would even throw in there a little bit more of the belly. FLAY: Even more? Yeah, because just we want to still make sure that prevails over the rest of the dish. I always find if you use too much smoked product, it becomes so rich, it almost becomes inedible. Thank you, Iron Chef. Next course, please. I could eat that for breakfast several times a week. You'd just have to call Bobby Flay and come and cook it for you. Yes. My personal chef. Iron Chef. For the next course, we have a charred skirt steak of the iberico pig that has a red plum agrodolce with some crispy capers and toasted pine nuts. It's amazing. Good amount of fat on the outside, so it actually created a nice char. It's incredibly light. Mmm! See? It's just like with the boeuf bourguignon. It's got that element of the beef, yet it's much lighter. They don't sell this in the supermarket, right? Hard to find. Yeah, for $200 a pound. And then there is something that brings up some kind of freshness. There's red wine vinegar and honey I used for the agrodolce. There's so many dancing flavors. And none of them took over the flavor of the meat, which is good. I don't see why we had to have so little skirt steak. There's very, very little. He doesn't like us. Well, you guys have 10 dishes today, so it's all about portion control. Molto buono. Grazie. Iron Chef. Okay, for the next course, the ham is fried and crispy, and we made a broth out of shrimp stock and clam stock and tomatoes. And I also used the Antigriddle, the curveball. We made a saffron aioli and froze it and then put it on top of the charred tomato, so now it's starting to melt. RIZZOTTI: So, you combined, for the broth, seafood and meat. Exactly right. A unique paella approach. Well, I mean, I think that shellfish and pork go incredibly well together. RIZZOTI: Most of the time, the seafood broth would always overpower the meat, but right here, the pork still prevailed. Very unique. The aioli that you made with the Antigriddle is unbelievable. It's so good. It's so full of flavor. But it was really the coolness against the heat of the broth that, for me, was very exciting. Thank you. See, now you need that big piece of ciabatta bread. Exactly. BAKHOUM: Seriously. This will look terrible on camera for me to do this with my fingers. You know you can pick the plate and just go like -- Well, that's what I was waiting for. Don't worry about the camera. If it was my house, that's what I'd be doing right now. Iron Chef. Okay, for your final course of the day, the ribs. I cooked these in a pressure cooker. I then took them out, put them into the oven with a glaze of apricots, pomegranate, molasses, Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, and smoked paprika. BAKHOUM: Mmm! [ Sniffs ] I don't think we even need to eat it. Oh, yeah. The aroma is so amazing. Oh, yeah, we do. [ Laughs ] It's very simple. There's Astaire and Rogers, and then there's Bobby Flay and ribs. All right! BAKHOUM: Said it all! I've been waiting for this the whole meal. Except I have a bone to pick with you. Actually, I have two bones to pick with you. I can only get two of these? We have more. Another rack, please. [ Laughter ] Oh, yum. It's weird to be eating ribs that are light. It seems to have flavor with no weight. I may never want to eat a normal pig again. Yeah, it's good stuff. I mean, it's amazing. There's so much flavor in the fat of this animal. I think Hal's a little bit happy. Look at his thumb. Look at his fingers. See you later. [ Laughs ] Can we get some towelettes? You're happy as a pig and -- you know. A pig and ribs, right. Iron Chef Flay, thank you for a fantastic meal. Thank you. [ Cheers and applause ] I really liked our dishes today, but we'll see, you know? Chef Voltaggio did a fantastic job. I'm not gonna shake your hand, but thank you. [ Laughter ] Let's get you caught up on where we stand in our scoring. The scores for taste are coming in, and the challenger received 25 for a total of 39 points. Iron Chef Flay received 29 for taste, and he has 39, as well. We've got ourselves a tied game, folks. The final tally of scores when "Iron Chef America" returns. Welcome back to "Iron Chef America." Our final result is just around the corner. Today, two champions met in Battle Iberico here in Kitchen Stadium. Chef Voltaggio. Iron Chef Flay. The judges have spoken, and the winner is... ...Iron Chef Flay. [ Cheers and applause ] BROWN: Despite the challenger's 4-point lead after the first dish, Iron Chef Bobby Flay swept the remaining categories and secured an impressive comeback victory. I got off to a little shaky start, but then I kind of got it together. I just went into overdrive, and I love the way we ended. And that is the way the big, gooey, delicious cookie crumbles here in Kitchen Stadium. Say, if you think that you've got a dispute you'd like to settle with an Iron Chef, just drop me a card and maybe your résumé to Alton Brown, 100 Chairman Way, Iron Town, USA, and, please, remember to include your blood type and next of kin. I'm Alton Brown. On behalf of the Chairman, Kevin Brauch, and everyone here in Kitchen Stadium, I bid you good eating. -- Captions by VITAC -- Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.