Battle 10 - Peaches and Tarragon

I was expecting a lot of desserts for this battle but surprisingly nobody did the same thing! Everybody’s dish is actually pretty different which makes it pretty difficult for the judges (a.k.a me and dan).

Anyway, these are the very impressive dishes for battle peach and tarragon!

The Bake-Off Flunkie: Chicken and Peach Picatta

Cooking with Michele: Tarragon Peach Tart with Tarragon Ice Cream

Cranky Cakes: Peach and Tarragon Panna Cotta

Madeline Louise (Food, Redefined) – Baked Peach with Tarragon and Bacon Goat Cheese Filling

Nana Glen Mum’s Blog: Peach and Tarragon Verrine with Tarragon Tuilles

Savory Reviews: Peach Chutney Stuffed Pork Chops with Peach Bearnaise Sauce

The judges for this battle are Me and Dan. It’s kind of a lot of pressure, but we’ll do our best!

Results

Okay so Dan and I decided to judge this round and I immediately regretted my decision. I didn’t realize how hard our judges have it. This is tough stuff.

We did our best. Every entry was solid. And for the record, Dan and I didn’t discuss each other’s votes. We did completely independent write-ups.

———————————————————————————

Nick from Macheesmo

I love both of these ingredients, but I definitely have never cooked with both of them. After I read these entries I started to think that these two ingredients should actually be paired together more often.

Winner: Cooking with Michele. (+300)

I loved how this post was written and even though the crucial money photo of the peach tart was missing, I definitely understand how hard it is to host a dinner party and take photos so I’ll cut Michele a little slack. There were some subtle things with this post though. I loved how Michele infused the simple syrup with tarragon. And also, I’m a complete sucker for ice cream and her version looks too good. Out of all the posts, I think the ice cream was the thing I wanted to eat right away when I saw it. That could be due to how hot it is in DC these days.

Runner-up: Savory Reviews. (+100)

What can I say. The photos are great. Those chops are amazing. The filling looks killer and I bet the whole dish really tasted perfect. It’s a really inventive recipe with a great stuffing. It was a really tough call for me between winner and runner up.

Bake-off Flunkie. I would eat this for dinner tomorrow. In fact, I might. Your cutlet method looks spot on and I love the sauce reduction.

Cranky Cakes. Cranky Cakes is a previous Foodie Fights winner and she definitely delivered. The panna cotta was something that I have had, but never really seen made and the walk-through was helpful. For some reason it just didn’t quite grab me as much as the peach tart.

Food, Redefined. I would eat this as an appetizer. A great dish, but not a winner for me.

Nana Glen Mum’s Blog. Ok. So the Tuilles are cool. In fact, they look almost perfect. I almost put this post in my top two just because of the tuilles, and I think I would have in some other battles. It was largely personal preference though on what I would personally enjoy eating.

All in all this was really hard. I definitely respect the jobs the judges have been doing in the past now that I’ve been in their shoes. Hopefully, people keep participating and judging. Even though Dan and I sort of came up with this whole crazy idea, this was the first time we’ve actively participated. Who knows… maybe someday we will actually participate in a battle

Seriously, good job though everyone.

———————————————————————————

Dan from The Food in my Beard

Normally on Foodie Fights, I am an innocent bystander. the moderator with no say. The guy who watches but can’t effect what is happening. It was really fun judging this week, but also really hard. Let me explain why!

When I watch battle after battle, I tend to favor people who write good blog posts. You may know by my site that I like long posts with tons of pictures. When I see a post with no process pics, I brush it off and don’t give it a second look. I am the math teacher that fails kids for writing answers without showing work. When I first looked at these posts on Tuesday morning, I did exactly that to Madeline Louise’s Bacon Goat Cheese Peaches. Closed the tab quickly thinking I would never choose that one. As the days went on, the dish kept coming back into my mind. Working it’s way to my imagination and the

place in my brain that causes cravings. I am truly salivateing for this dish right now. It is all I can think of. I have made bacon wrapped peaches in the past, and it was eye opening. Still I did not want to choose this dish because of the lack of pictures. I re read my own words from back in the inception days of foodie fights – MOST IMPORTANT: Which would you like to eat most? I re read Madeline Louise’s blog post. I actually enjoyed her writing style and

commentary on the dish! That was it. I was sold. Congrats Madeline Louise, you have my vote for number 1 (+300).

Second place for me is the bake-off flunkie (+100). Good work incorporating the ingredients into a favorite classic of mine. Great process pics and fun blog post. Your foodie fight experience has paid off. This isn’t your first rodeo as the kids say.

I had a great time playing judge this week. Congrats to everyone cause ALL of the dishes looked great this week (as always!) See you next week when I go back to playing Richard Dawson!

————————————————————————————

Final Results

Ok. So Dan and I picked two very different dishes. Also it appears as if the voting public doesn’t really agree with us Go figure. Here are the grand totals!

Winner: Madeline Louise (Food, Redefined): Baked Peach with Tarragon and Bacon Goat Cheese Filling 300+19=319

Runner-Up: Cooking with Michele: Tarragon Peach Tart with Tarragon Ice Cream 300+8 = 308

The Bake-Off Flunkie: Chicken and Peach Picatta 100+38 = 138

Savory Reviews: Peach Chutney Stuffed Pork Chops with Peach Bearnaise Sauce 100+33 = 133

Cranky Cakes: Peach and Tarragon Panna Cotta 30

Nana Glen Mum’s Blog: Peach and Tarragon Verrine with Tarragon Tuilles 12

Another fight in the books! Win or lose, I hope everyone had a good time. If you want to participate in battle 11 which I’m sure will be just as fun as battle 10, head on over to the signup page!

<br /> <a href="http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/1914750/" mce_href="http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/1914750/">Who won Battle Peach and Tarragon?</a><span style="font-size:9px;" mce_style="font-size:9px;">(<a href="http://www.polldaddy.com" mce_href="http://www.polldaddy.com">survey</a>)</span><br />