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Challenge 1: Cara Kretz wanted to use vanilla extract in all components

Many factors went into my final dish: Vanilla Coke Grilled Skirt Steak with Mashed Purple Yams and Candied Bacon-Wrapped Onion Ring Stuffed with Spicy Black Beans. I wanted to use pure vanilla extract in all components to show that vanilla works in savory dishes as well as sweet, and I wanted to go in the direction of a “Chillin' and Grillin'” theme. Skirt steak, vanilla and black beans are used in Latin cooking, and purple yams are most often used in Hawaiian/Asian cuisine. By adding Coca-Cola, bacon, and onions, I was able to create an East/West Fusion inspired plate.

The highlight of my process was the first time I saw the intense color of the baked Purple Yam and tasted how sweet and wonderful it was! The low point also had to do with the purple yams. I learned the hard way that anthocyanin, a pigment that provides the deep purple color, chemically reacts with baking soda and turns the food green! One of my early attempts was to make a purple yam biscuit. They were beautiful until I took them out of the oven and saw they were bright green. After experimenting with different techniques, I decided the purple yams were best baked and mashed with butter and vanilla.

After trying three other dishes with the black beans and feeling none of them worked well visually on the plate, I ended up using the black beans mashed as a stuffing inside the bacon-wrapped onion ring — it was a perfect sticky base to adhere to the onion and the raw bacon. I chose to use the outer skirt steak which is slightly more chewy than the inner skirt steak since I knew I was going to marinate the steak for a long time in Coca-Cola, a natural tenderizer, along with the other ingredients.

All testers were very impressed with the taste and color of the purple yam, and there were “wow” reactions to seeing the bacon wrapped onion ring with the unexpected spicy beans inside. I had mixed reactions to using the Vanilla Coke in a marinade since some testers were used to a garlicky skirt steak and the vanilla threw off the taste.

What surprised me the most was how obsessed I became in developing the recipe and my kitchen turned into a science lab. The hardest part was narrowing down the recipes ideas to one final plate. Normally I just jump into cooking and know what I am making. These ingredients were a surprise and lots of fun to be challenged. Whether I win or not, I enjoyed the experience.

  Challenge cook Cara Kretz presented her vanilla Coke grilled skirt steak with mashed purple yams and candied bacon-wrapped onion ring stuffed with spicy black beans to the judges. Mark Black/mblack@dailyherald.com
  Challenge cook Cara Kretz presented her vanilla Coke grilled skirt steak with mashed purple yams and candied bacon-wrapped onion ring stuffed with spicy black beans to the judges. Mark Black/mblack@dailyherald.com
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