To celebrate Rob’s extremely brief pass through Carrboro for an interview, we had a new Servery challenge last weekend!! Steven is a pro at making sushi rice, so we decided to see exactly how far you could push its deliciousness with a Sushi Servery Challenge! Unfortunately, I was too busy being outraged for a lot of the competition to remember what people named theirs, so I’ve had to make some up:
1. Mexican Roll–Patricia
Scrambled eggs, salsa, sushi rice, seaweed
I was legitimately shocked when this ended up tasting kind of good. Maybe because all you could really taste was the salsa. I would eat this again, actually.
2. Minimalist Roll–Joe
Craisins, Rice, Seaweed
Joe seemed to suffer from a fit of indecision while waiting to wrap his roll and ended up only putting dried cranberries in. So it tasted pretty much like sushi rice with a little sweetness. Luckily I love sushi rice!
3. Pantry Attack Roll–Rob
Pretzels, peanut butter, sprinkles, Heath Bar Shell ice cream topping, rice, seaweed, probably some other things
This roll was ridiculous. Also, didn’t really hold together so it was hard to eat. In consequence, the bite of it I got was mostly pretzel and heath bar ice cream topping, which tasted okay. I’m not sure what all ingredients tasted together would have been like.
4. Sandwich Roll–Rachel
Cucumber, tomato, cheese, pickle, rice, seaweed, maybe something else?
This roll was also pretty much impossible to eat the normal way. The bite I got tasted like pickle. Because I’m pretty sure all that was in it was pickle. Other people got bites of other things, and Rachel claimed this made her roll psychic.
5. Trying Too Hard Roll–Steven
Cucumbers, red cabbage, black sesame seeds, rice, seaweed
Steven has never really understood the deal with Servery Challenges despite my constantly trying to explain them and being part of at least a few. He seems to think that it’s all about presentation and combining flavors that you already know will taste good and being all professional and planning ahead. He just doesn’t get that Servery Challenges are THE OPPOSITE of all of these things. In days of yore, they happened spontaneously, when everyone had precisely ten minutes to run into the servery, frantically grab some things, and hurriedly construct something back at the table while someone found a celebrity judge (i.e. Dr. Gustin or a prospie or someone). It’s all about discovering the beauty of randomness and not thinking before acting. Actually, most of my college life was about discovering those things.
Can you guess who won? Since we were in my kitchen, there was no celebrity guest judge, so we decided by popular vote. I forgot how incredibly sneaky Rob can be. He is all about psychological games and voting with strategy. So naturally he won. I think because all anyone could taste of his was peanut butter and pretzel. And I am all for peanut butter and pretzels. Although I still do not recommend making this roll if that’s what you want.
Long live the Servery challenge!