“You are on the clock. You have one hour.”
Within minutes the Canadian Food Championships come alive as professional chefs and amateur cooks slice and dice, mince and chop. In no time, the smell of bacon drifts across Edmonton’s Centennial Plaza located just south of the downtown public library.
A huge open-air white tent stretches from one end of the plaza to the other shielding about 20 portable kitchens from the elements. Compact with barely enough space for two people, the stations are complete with stove, microwave, toaster oven, barbecue and assorted appliances.
St. Albert’s own Daniel Ducharme, a graduate of St. Albert Catholic high and now a chef at the Royal Glenora Club, entered the bacon category in hopes of creating The Ultimate BLT.
Along with sous chef Sarah McConnell, the team cooks a cider-braised bacon in a pressure cooker, bakes bacon brioche buns, pickles iceberg lettuce and fries up green tomatoes.
“It was a crazy idea and we made it all work,” said Ducharme minutes after the competition was over.
Perhaps the craziest and riskiest attempt was making BLT buns from scratch. After mixing the dough, he rolls it into small balls and drops them in a pan. Ducharme then tents the pan with a plastic wrap and places it on a pot of steaming water to provide heat for rising.
Rising bread dough is fickle at the best of times. But the cool, rainy weather acts as an unexpected force. The dough barely rises and Ducharme is sweating. He tents the pan with foil to keep more heat in.
Dave Omar, executive chef at Zinc located in the Art Gallery of Alberta, stands behind a knee-high picket fence separating the public from competitors. He notes that Ducharme’s attempt at bread making is possibly the most difficult venture on tap and hopes the judges will recognize his efforts.
Bacon is a versatile ingredient and other teams are introducing assorted dishes from bacon-wrapped rack of lamb and bacon and maple tarts to lobster tail with bacon sushi rolls and tortellini with back bacon and goat cheese.
“This is the first time the World Food Championships are in Canada and they are excited about the diversity and the welcoming they received. The organizers were amazed and didn’t expect something on this scale,” noted Omar.
The Canadian Food Championships are a partnership between Taste of Edmonton and the World Food Championships (WFC).
The WFC are a natural offshoot of MMA Creative, a traditional advertising agency based out of Cookeville, Tennessee, a university town with a population of about 30,000.
“Clients ranged from hospitals to trucking companies,” said MMA’s Randall McCloud, principal VP of interactive services and computer whiz.
Through word of mouth MMA developed partnerships with the Kansas City Barbecue Society and the International Chili Society, two organizations that draw big numbers at food competitions.
“Each had championships. But we saw that one piece of the puzzle was missing. Why not integrate other food categories. As we developed the competition, we saw it was much bigger than we originally thought,” explained McCloud.
The first three World Food Championships were held in Las Vegas. In its fourth year, the championships have been moved to Florida.
While the WFC was developing down south, the Events Edmonton board was challenging general manager Paul Lucas to come up with fresh ideas for Taste of Edmonton.
Scrolling through the Internet, Lucas discovered the championships and approached MMA. At the same time, MMA was looking to expand internationally.
“Mike McCloud, the CEO, was impressed with our level of professionalism, the look of the venue, the way we set things up and how friendly and open we were. He was also surprised at how diverse our ethnicities are compared to the United States,” Lucas said.
A delegation was sent to Las Vegas and a three-year franchise contract for the Canadian Food Championships was signed.
Now running the championships with wit and a high-powered computer, the McCloud brothers are enjoying the easy-going vibe and excitement displayed at the semi-finals.
There is no denying that reality cooking competitions serve up real sizzle when it comes to TV viewing. It’s fun to watch all the last minute glitches materialize into edible presentations despite the backstabbing, inflated egos, meltdowns and frantic rushing.
But the CFC competitions are surprisingly friendly with light banter swinging back and forth from chef to chef. You can feel genuine camaraderie. Many are friends or have moved in the same culinary circles and support each other’s endeavours.
Bellerose High graduate Lindsay Porter has every reason to dance to the finals. She placed at the finals in two categories – seafood and pasta.
“I was happy and a little surprised. There were so many talented people and I didn’t know if I’d place. But I’m pretty thrilled,” Porter said.
“Everyone was a good competitor. Everyone got their food turned in on time. The seafood really seemed like a strong competition. There were more chefs.”
In the preliminaries, she made a seafood dish Chilaquiles with mussels, shrimp and scallops and a pasta dish dubbed Roasted Truffle Corn Pasta.
A graduate of NAIT’s culinary program, Porter is now executive chef at Edmonton’s El Cortez and both her entries were Mexican inspired.
A long-time food competitor, she enjoys the challenge of creating artistic dishes. To give her younger chefs experience, she brings them along as part of the team. In this competition, Alex Murray is the sous chef.
“I like to bring my cooks. It breaks the monotony of the kitchen,” says Porter.
While Murray runs dough through the pasta maker to form slender tagliatelle, Porter barbecues corn, fries up bacon and whips up a salsa.
“This is mostly for fun,” Murray says. “If you’re in it for the money, you’re in it for the wrong reasons.”
Tu Le, co-owner of the St. Albert Jack’s Burger Shack, discovered that even a disappointing entry could carry its own rewards.
Le had made a Turducken Meatball Sub for the sandwich category. However the meatballs were not fully seasoned, the duck was less tender than desired and he forgot flour to make gravy. For a chef that prides himself on creating good food, Tu was dissatisfied with his presentation.
But the judges saw it differently and he was awarded fifth place and a berth to compete in the Edmonton finals.
After the announcement of finalists, Le admitted he had no idea how judges would score.
“I was on the fence. It could have gone either way.”
For the finals, he will present a Fried Chicken Biscuit with a secret cream soda ingredient. Porter, who participates in the Saturday finals, is still working on her menu.
She closes saying, “It’s a great event for Edmonton. To start here and to go to Florida shows there is a great culinary scene here.”
The last day of competition is Saturday. The seafood competition starts at 9 a.m., pasta is at 12 noon and burgers goes at 3 p.m.
The first prize in each category is $2,500 and $1,500 travel expenses to the World Food Championships. Second place winners receive $1,000 and a paid entry. Third place winners receive $500 and are placed on standby in case the other two cannot attend.
Results are posted as they come in at canadianfoodchampionships.ca.
