The Wildcard Challenge: Blindfolded Ingredient Selection!

The Late Night Gourmet

The Late Night Gourmet

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This challenge is stolen from the concept behind the American cooking show, Chopped. On that show, each competitor has a mystery basket consisting of 4 ingredients that they don't know about until the round begins. Those who advance to the next round made the best use of those ingredients. Sometimes they're weird ingredients that the chefs have never seen before. Other times, they're prepared ingredients (like leftover lasagna).

This challenge is just for fun, and I won't be declaring a winner. But, the most creative applications will probably get the most emojis in my response to your dish. :chef:

The Rules
  • To simulate that uncertainty, I'd like to encourage those of you crazy enough to accept this challenge to "blindly" select 4 ingredients from your refrigerator and/or pantry.
  • Please first post what your ingredients are, and then post separately what you intend to do, and how it turned out.
  • Ingredients should be selected using the following criteria:
    • You don't have to actually blindfold yourself, but try to reach into your pantry or refrigerator without looking and pick the first thing you touch.
    • Try not to reach for things if you generally know where they are (i.e., I know I have a bag of flour on a certain part of a certain shelf, but I'll try not to "find" it intentionally).
    • EXAMPLE: You know that you have a carton of heavy cream toward the back of the refrigerator, and on the way there you accidentally touch a Chinese carry-out box with 2-day-old sweet-and-sour chicken. That sweet-and-sour chicken has just become an ingredient in your challenge.
  • At least 1 ingredient comes from each area so it's not all pantry or all refrigerated. You can decide however you like whether to have 3 pantry, 3 refrigerator, or an equal number of each. Note: "pantry" = "anything that's not refrigerated".
  • If you're really feeling adventurous, add the freezer as part of the ingredient pool for the refrigerator.
  • If you have someone else who can do it for you, have them pick the ingredients.
  • Try to highlight the ingredients as much as you can, and not bury them. A single grain of rice from that Chinese carry-out wouldn't be in the spirit of the challenge.
  • You don't have to use all of a prepared ingredient. While just using a grain of rice wouldn't be in the spirit of the challenge, you could decide to use just the chicken, or just the rice, or just the vegetables, or you could cut the breading off the chicken and use that.
  • You can use any other ingredients you like to add to the 4 ingredients.
  • The show has a time limit for each round (20 minutes for the Appetizer round and 30 minutes each for the entree and desert rounds), but you certainly don't have to impose that on yourself. I will probably try to see how close I get to the time, depending on what I decide to make.
I will be doing this challenge sometime soon so you can see what I'm talking about if you're not sure.
 
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Sounds like a whole lot of crazy fun! I'll have a go at choosing tomorrow. :D What counts as 'pantry' - I don't have an actual one just cupboards, dawers and a pull out 'larder'.
 
morning glory said:
What counts as 'pantry' - I don't have an actual one just cupboards, dawers and a pull out 'larder'.
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However you divvy up your kitchen is your business: I use the term "pantry" to refer to anything that's not refrigerated (so, if you leave out fruits like I do, that theoretically could count, too).
 
I just updated the post to note that there won't be a winner, and to add this rules clarification:

You don't have to use all of a prepared ingredient. While just using a grain of rice from the leftover carry-out wouldn't be in the spirit of the challenge, you could decide to use just the chicken, or just the rice, or just the vegetables, or you could cut the breading off the chicken and use that (or any combination).
 
Well I picked out my 4 main ingredients from the fridge and the cupboard. It could have been very interesting if I'd gone a bit more to the left or to the right, but the ingredients went together quite well.

The ingredients were an onion from my veg box, a tray with 3 softening tomatoes in, the tail end of a packet of basmati rice (could have been lentils, paella rice or risotto rice), and half a carton of butter beans from the fridge (which could just as easily been yoghurt, or paneer, or Brussel sprouts!). I shall post what I did with them later on (it's 2.30 in the UK now).
 
Elawin said:
The ingredients were an onion from my veg box, a tray with 3 softening tomatoes in, the tail end of a packet of basmati rice (could have been lentils, paella rice or risotto rice), and half a carton of butter beans from the fridge (which could just as easily been yoghurt, or paneer, or Brussel sprouts!). I shall post what I did with them later on (it's 2.30 in the UK now).
Click to expand...

You had a lucky dip there! Onion, tomato, rice and butter beans - I could do lots with that. Perhaps you have a very harmonious fridge/cupboard.
 
This is what I got - the mushroom dust is a bit rogue but as its only used for dusting finished dishes then no problem. The noodles were the fridge item - I don't know why they were in the fridge but they were. This is too easy!

20180302_141647.jpg
 
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