Cat Cora is best known for being the first female Iron Chef on Iron Chef America and the co-host of Around the World in 80 Plates.
Cat’s grandfather, father and godfather were restaurateurs. Continuing their legacy, she has multiple restaurants in the U.S., at locations such as San Francisco International Airport, Bush Intercontinental Airport and at Disney’s Boardwalk Resort.
Cat’s first restaurant in Asia is Ocean Restaurant by Cat Cora located inside S.E.A. Aquarium.
Cat participated in a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) on April 12 where she shared cooking tips and her philosophy on life.
We have gathered five of her tastiest answers to whet your appetite. Don’t read this when you’re hungry.
1: What is one great dish every home cook should know how to make, and do you have any tips on making it?
Cat: Oooh. Everyone should know how to make a great roasted chicken. It’s something classic that everyone can do. And it’s not going to break the budget in case you over- or undercook it. And one of the first things that young chefs learn how to make is how to roast a great chicken. That is one dish that everyone should know how to make. If you can do that, you can do a lot of other things.
I think the biggest tip is to really give it a good slathering of good olive oil, a really nice quality olive oil like a cold press. Always look for cold press olive oil, that will always be high quality, good salt and pepper, and put lemon and various herbs, like thyme, parsley, oregano, rub that on the skin, and then after you squeeze the lemons over the chicken, then put the remainder leftover lemon inside the cavity of the chicken to infuse more citrus into it. And that will really keep your chicken nice and moist.
Roast it slowly if you can at 350 °F (177 °C) for a good hour to hour and fifteen minutes. Keep basting with juices, the dripping juices, add some more olive oil, just to keep it moist.
Credit: Max’s Roasted Chicken by TheCulinaryGreek
2: What’s the most underrated and overrated dish?
Most underrated dish is a lot of the old ones, like Stroganoff, classics our mom made – those are super underrated. Look at this mac and cheese craze now – look at how we’re obsessed with mac and cheese but there are a lot of dishes like Stroganoff that can be elevated to a whole new level.
For overrated, I think dishes that are overrated are dishes that only use expensive ingredients. Like dishes that cost an arm and a leg, like Lobster truffles, everything is very high end and expensive. When I think you could have great dishes that are just classics. Those are dishes to me that are super overrated.
I love those things, don’t get me wrong! But everyday classic dishes you grew up with can be just as phenomenal.
Credit: Beef Stroganoff with unpolished red rice by Alpha
3: Honestly, how did the bacon ice cream taste? I watched that episode of Iron Chef and was so curious! Care to share the secret?
Aw that’s so sweet, thank you so much! Bacon ice cream actually tastes pretty fantastic. And if you put some good crumble on it, and some fresh blueberries, it’s even better. It’s pretty freakin’ amazing. Two of my favorite things, ice cream and bacon.
Credit: Bacon sundae by Sam Howzit
4: I love peanut butter! What’s your favorite peanut butter-based recipe, if you have one?
OMG! I’m a peanut butter fanatic. If I could have one last food, it would probably be that, on a spoon. There’s a great African food made with peanut butter that I love to make. African peanut stew, made with peanut butter and chicken, it’s really really spicy.
Credit: Peanut chicken soup by John Tolva
5: What’s the most bizarre thing you’ve ever eaten?
Oh, I would definitely have to say fried bull testicles. Definitely the craziest thing that someone has cooked for me. It was pretty wild. They tasted like chicken? Everybody says that, so it’s kind of a running joke, but anytime you taste something weird, it tasted like chicken. But it tasted like a little chicken meatball, because that’s what it is. That’s probably the oddest thing, and I’ve eaten alligator, and turtle, and things like that as well. I’ve eaten some really wild things, particularly in Asia.
Credit: Crochet ball bag by Luke Martinelli
Cat Cora is back at RWS!
If you want to catch her in person, we’re happy to announce that Cat Cora will be back at Resorts World Sentosa from 2 to 7 May 2014.
There will be a Master Class with Cat Cora on 3 May where Cat will be demonstrating how to prepare two signature dishes:
- 42°C Sous Vide Salmon
- Seared Hokkaido Scallops
This event is open to the public.
Find out more on the website or you can call 6577 6688 or e-mail dining@rwsentosa.com to grab a seat.
[Update: The Master Class is now open to public.]
