S.Pellegrino 2010 Almost Famous Chef Competition Mystery Basket

Pages

About

S.Pellegrino 2010 Almost Famous Chef Competition Mystery Basket

on March 06th, 2010

Print This Post

06 Mar

: The first part of the competition is over; hats up!

By Sophie Gayot

Part one of the S.Pellegrino® Almost Famous Chef® Competition, held for the eighth time this year, is The Mystery Basket competition. The rules are very strict (there is a full page of them), but the basics are that the eleven contestants have 2 hours to create a dish with the featured ingredients and prepare 10 identical plates to be served to the judges. This year’s mystery ingredients were organic chicken, mushrooms and eggs. The contestants—all chefs in training— had a long list of other produce they were allowed to use, including flavors from the “Asian pantry,” the “Mediterranean pantry” and the “Latin pantry.”

While the kitchen of The Culinary Institute of America, Greystone, was in full swing, chef Fabio Viviani from Firenze Osteria (and who loves to be on camera) interviewed the contestants and the judges. The coverage was streamed live for the first time in the event’s history.

Then came my part: the judging. Over the course of four hours, chef Michel Richard of Citronelle (one of GAYOT’s Top 40 U.S. Restaurants), chef Rick Moonen of rm Seafood (Las Vegas), chef Wade Wiestling of The Oceanaire Seafood Room (12 locations in the US), chef Ralph Pagano of Kitchensynx.com, chef Andrew Ellerby of ONE Restaurant (Toronto, Canada), chef Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana (Modena, Italy), Food & Wine magazine’s editor in chief Dana Cowin, Bon Appétit Magazine’s restaurant editor Andrew Knowlton, Toronton National Post’s columnist Bonnie Stern, last’s year winner David Awad and I discovered the plates one by one, as they were presented and explained by the students. The good thing: though the dishes were based on similar ingredients, each of them was very different in creativity, execution, presentation and taste.

See the pictures below for all the details.

You can click on each photo to enlarge.

: Dan Luckey, Mid-Atlantic Region, The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College

: Dan Luckey in the kitchen

: Dan Luckey presenting his dish to the judges

: Dan Luckey’s dish: my rating 5/10. Pan seared organic chicken breast with chicken mousse, sautéed chickpeas and mushroom, potato and parsnip risotto with reduction sauce

: Laura Torresin, Italy, ALMA

: Laura Torresin in the kitchen

: Laura Torresin presenting her dish to the judges

: Laura Torresin’s dish: my rating 3/10. Italian risotto made with chicken stock, garnished with vegetables individually prepared and “mimosa” eggs

: Justine de Valicourt, Canada, Institut de Tourisme et d’Hôtellerie du Québec

: Justine de Valicourt in the kitchen

: Justine de Valicourt presenting her dish to the judges

: Justine de Valicourt’s dish: my rating 6/10. Chicken breast stuffed with mushrooms, warm emulsion in the way of Béarnaise

: Amanda Digges, Northeast Region Lincoln Culinary Institute – Hartford, CT

: Amanda Digges in the kitchen

: Amanda Digges presenting her dish to the judges

: Amanda Digges’ dish: my rating 6/10. Chicken française with mushroom ragu, potato and parsnip purée, and sautéed swiss chard

: Peter Clark, New England Region, New England Culinary Institute

: Peter Clark in the kitchen

: Peter Clark presenting his dish to the judges

: Peter Clark’s dish: my rating 6/10. Seared chicken “scallops”: Seared chicken breast, mushroom jalapeño spatzel and herbed chicken jus

: Johnathan Lynch, South Central Region, Nicholls State University – Chef John Folse Culinary Institute

: Johnathan Lynch creating his dish

: Johnathan Lynch presenting his dish to the judges

: Johnathan Lynch’s dish: my rating 5/10. Poached chicken with creole sauce, creamed spinach & mushrooms breaded, fried egg

: Apilada Sani, West Region, The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of California – Los Angeles

: Apilada Sani in the kitchen

: Apilada Sani presenting her dish to the judges

: Apilada Sani’s dish: my rating 6/10. Chicken roulade served with mixed mushrooms, spatzel and veal reduction

: Timothy DeVore, Southeast Region Johnson & Wales University – Charlotte

: Timothy DeVore in the kitchen

: Timothy DeVore presenting his dish to the judges

: Timothy DeVore’s dish: my rating 6/10. Sage seared chicken with creamed leek and mushroom parsley financier, turnip tourne and apple beurre blanc

: Luis Young, South Region, Johnson & Wales University – North Miami

: Luis Young in the kitchen

: Luis Young presenting his dish to the judges

: Luis Young’s dish: my rating 7/10. Chicken breast roulade, herb-scented potatoes, sautéed wild mushrooms, organic soft boiled egg and thyme-lemon sauce

: Robert Crawford, Mountain Region, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

: Chicken in the making

: Robert Crawford presenting his dish to the judges

: Robert Crawford’s dish: my rating 9/10. Pan roasted chicken breast stuffed with wild mushrooms and tomatoes, served on barley pearls and edamame purée

: Brian Schreiber, North Central Region, Kendall College

: Brian Schreiber in the kitchen

: Brian Schreiber presenting his dish to the judges

: Brian Schreiber’s dish: my rating 8/10. Red wine chicken under a brick with parsnip polenta, warm wild mushroom and arugula salad with truffled egg and red wine reduction

: The judges (missing Michel Richard)

: Chefs Michel Richard & Fabio Viviani

: In front of the judges

: Chefs Fabio Viviani & Rick Moonen with Sophie Gayot

: All the plates

: The contestants with Sophie Gayot

: CIA Greystone

: CIA Greystone entrance

: The Mystery Basket: eggs, mushrooms, chicken

: The Asian Pantry

: The Mediterranean Pantry

: The Latin Pantry

: The kitchen at CIA Greystone

: An overview of the available ingredients

: More ingredients

: An impressive fridge

: The first part of the competition is over; hats up!

You can click on each photo to enlarge.

Posted in: Events,Gastronomy,Sophie Gayot | | Comments (5)

Tags: Almost Famous Chef Competition, S.Pellegrino, sophie gayot judging judge

5 Comments »

The competition was very solid in 2010. I’m glad Sophie was pleased with my dish.

Comment by Robert Crawford — March 13, 2010 @ 5:25 pm
I watch the event on the live feeds from the San Pellegino website. It was awesome. I loved how it was real tv and not produced reality! All the chefs dishes looked deliscious. Looking forward to see it again on the web next year.

Comment by Julie — March 14, 2010 @ 9:44 am
[...] four hours of tasting yesterday for The Mystery Basket, two hours today for The Signature Dish, and one hour of voting and deliberation, the results are [...]

Pingback by GAYOT’s Blog The 2010 Almost Famous Chef Winners Are… — March 19, 2010 @ 5:24 pm
[...] big fan of S. Pellegrino, both their water and their awards. For the last few years, we’ve helped judge their cooking competition for young chefs. Last year, GAYOT.com was even able to attend the gala [...]

Pingback by GAYOT’s Blog World’s Best Restaurants — April 28, 2010 @ 4:29 pm
[...] Culinary Institute, during which students prepare a two-course menu in 45 minutes using a “mystery basket” of ingredients. Celebrity judges will decide who walks away with a $500 [...]

Pingback by GAYOT’s Blog Chicago Locavore Challenge is On — September 8, 2010 @ 5:24 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

GAYOT's Blog

Pages

Categories

Archives