Monday, March 02, 2009

Scott's cuisine reigned supreme!

On Saturday night, Casa Wickstrom's very own Kitchen Stadium was home to an epic dessert battle. Four teams competed for the title of Iron Chef!

The dinner party/dessert competition was the ultimate culinary adventure. You should try it! Here's how:


1. Determine a theme for your Iron Chef battle

We served a light dinner (baked potatoes with a million toppings, retro sodas, green salad and warm bread), which was followed by the dessert battle.


We managed to incorporate the dinner into the festivities, though, by taking a cue from
Top Chef. In a "Quickfire Challenge," each guest was tasked with creating their dinner by assembling a delectable and irresistible baked potato using the ingredients provided. Before consuming the masterpiece, the Chairwoman (moi) evaluated the creations on plating and originality. She (I) then named a winner who had the advantage of determining the order of contestants for Battle Dessert.

Toppings included greek yogurt/sour cream, fresh veggies, olive tapanade, green chili-cheese sauce, homemade chili, etc. My centerpiece was my utensil container (tied with a red grosgrain ribbon).

A blurry picture of the ever-gorgeous Kara, pre-battle.

Rachel chose asethetics over taste (and ate it as shown).

Harley gave a colorful description of his tater tower and broccoli gardens.

And Scott and Bethany worked together (though only one potato was a masterpiece).

Behold, Scott's "Quickfire Challenge"-winning spud.

2. Write a script!
I watched an entire episode of Iron Chef with my pause button at the ready to carefully record commentary from the show (Host Alton Brown has some serious zingers). I then chose a host (husbands love this!) and made him wear a bow tie (and this). The colorful commentary was especially fun during the actual battle.

E-mail me at heywickstroms@gmail.com for your very own copy of my script.

Sadly the fake mustache was forgotten in the final pre-party rush.

3. Assemble the secret ingredient(s)
Choosing ingredients was definitely fun! We provided a multitude of choices and access to anything in our kitchen. We also allowed guests to bring one secret weapon to incorporate into their dish. Contestants brought marshmallow fluff, chocolate bars, bacon (suck ups!) and peanut butter.

4. Organize the battlefield
We allowed chefs five minutes to check out the kitchen and ask questions before competing. I also labeled the cabinets which housed critical tools and ingredients for easy access.

5. Set ground rules
Each team was given a time
limit of 20 minutes and did not see the secret ingredients until just before the battle began. Two teams then battled and presented one plated dish each, which was tasted and rated by secret ballot. Each judge (everyone who wasn't cooking) could award the teams up to 20 points: 10 points for taste, five points for plating and five points for originality in the use of the secret ingredient(s).

The two teams who battled second were no
t allowed to discuss stragegy with one another before competing.

At the end of the night, the points were tallied, averaged and an Iron Chef was named.
In the heat of battle.
A giant "sundae" with ice cream, half-baked brownies and cookie dough, homemade caramel, apples, white chocolate and a cherry. It was "artfully" presented in my punch bowl.

The "Chocolate Brick Road" with a berry/banana smoothie.

Krispie Kreme islands in paradise with chocolate-dipped popcorn and hand-mixed ice cream.

6. Details make it special
All of our chefs wore magic chefs hats (which made them cook better) and I kept my table setting simple -- graphic red and white checked dishes, tablecloth and napkins, and white serving dishes.

The ultimate trophy (a reproduction Oscar purchased at the Party Store) even sported a matching red checked apron (with the caption "Kiss the Chef").
Even Anderson loved the costumes! See, everyone likes to dress up.

In the end, it was Scott's cuisine that reigned supreme. He's the Iron Chef to beat:
Breakfast: a twinkie with whipped cream over a chocolate pancake and chocolate-dipped bacon (surprisingly delish!) and apple/pineapple "hashbrowns on the side."

Print Page

13 comments:

Rachel said...

man that artsy caramel stuff looks good. Sad Ben didn't make the blog. THANKS AGAIN GIRL!

DC Diva said...

I woke up craving the giant, artsy, sundae... is that weird? Must be the buried cookie dough. Loved the party, loved the guests (and their dates), loved the theme, loved the dinner, loved the hats (and missing mustache)...

WICKSTROMS REIGN SUPREME. PERIOD.

Now about this burger joint...

Can't wait for Thursday! :)

DC Diva said...

Reviewing the pics...

Um, Kara, bananas... placement... WHAT?

becky said...

WENDY -- I TOTALLY THOUGHT THAT TOO! I was dying!!!!!

Also, Rach, Ben's back made the cut. I only had one picture of him and he wasn't look at the camera. Can you send him over and we'll pose a new picture solely for the purposes of this blog? Mmmmkay, thanks. :)

jen said...

you host the best gatherings - so creative! looks like a lot of fun.

Jessica F. said...

You are the best party planner EVER!!!

Kara said...

That party rocked my world. I'm still holding out for a recount, though. How can anything w/ marshmallow cream lose?

BTW, re: banana picture. Placement was a complete joke. Had NO idea it would end up on your blog... but thanks Becky.

Holly said...

LOVED IT! Looks like it turned out wonderful!!!

becky said...

Kara -- LOL! I actually LOVE that picture. Placement aside, it's a great group photo! :) You guys are cute.

Ashley McNair said...

What an awesome party! You are so creative Becky and the chefs made amazing desserts!

Gel said...

That looked so fun. How did you plan that with everything going on!! you are amazing!

Ming said...

It's time to come clean. I hear all about your fabulous parties from Wendy and each time she sends me to your blog to check out all the fun details and I thought it was finally time to skip the middle woman and come out. So here I am. I think your parties are so fabulous and I too am in love with Rob Pattinson! Can we just be friends now? I mean we did have a short lived wardship back in Orem, but I'm ready to take this to the next level :) haha. Okay, I'm being a dork right now, but for real why weren't we tighter back in Orem? From everything I hear from Wendy you are so much fun and I don't know if she's told you, but I too have a thing for throwing parties. Love it! I'm all about theme parties and especially dressing up. I love soaking up all your party details for fun ideas. So, I hear you're moving back west this summer...any chance you'll end up in Colorado? Think about it. :) Can we just be friends now?

kristilee said...

Becky...I CANNOT WAIT for you to get your creative little head out here and plan some rockin' parties (I desperately hope I'll be invited to one of them). I love reading about the events you put together...so inspiring!