Gourmet Survivor 2004: The Second Challenge, Don’t Know Much Biology (by Jeremy)

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jeremy, and I’ll be bringing you your second challenge, which I promise will be far more difficult and unpleasant than the first. Consider yourself warned.

So here it is: You must select an ingredient and provide an exposition of the biological properties that make it a desirable foodstuff. Your description may be biochemical or biomechanical; it may be based in fact or an utter fabrication on your part. However, you must prepare this ingredient for consumption in a way that illustrates and take advantage of the properties you have described, whether they are accurate or not. You need not use the ingredient by itself; you may use it as just one of several ingredients in your dish.

To take an example that I do not to expect you to use: Foie gras is the fattened liver of a migratory waterfowl, which gorges itself to prepare for long-range flights and stores up energy in the form of liver fat. Foie gras therefore contains as much as 80 percent fat. To illustrate this property, I will sautee foie gras in a dry pan and grill toasts on which to serve the foie gras itself in the rendered fat. And so on.