Give me and Tim a chicken, a box full of secret ingredients, and a small crowded table in the middle of the sweaty Food Fair on a blazing hot day in St. Thomas, and what'll we do? We'll whip up a 5-Way Papaya Chicken dish that'll sweep the competition to secure the title of the first ever "VI Ultimate Chef". That's right...ULTIMATE.
We arrived on St. Thomas in the early afternoon and cruised through the already packed Food Fair to secure the spot we wanted for our make-shift kitchen. We unpacked our knives (the only thing we were allowed to bring) and geared up to throw down with 6 other two-person teams of talented Virgin Islands Chefs. What an honor it was to be invited to compete with this group: St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix, Tortola and Water Island were all well represented by their premier chefs.
A solid crowd gathered several deep in front of our tent while we were briefed on the rules and ingredients we had to use: Local Organic Honey, Papaya, Chicken or Fish. We got acquainted with the table of community pantry goods and started brainstorming ideas. Firing thoughts back and forth between us, a few dishes started to bud before our final concept evolved, the clock had already started and we were off...
We got busy cleaning and breaking down our ingredients. Papaya- check! I started to work on the first of our two Papaya Sauces (sometimes perfection requires more than one go) while Tim made easy work of slicing paper-thin sheets of papaya for a unique interpretation of a "cannoli". The crowd buzzed with excitement and chattered about how quickly all the chef's moved, "look at that knife!", "how are they doing that?!", "they're not even measuring anything!". Chicken- season, sear, slather- check! ...Honey- check! One after another ingredients lined up to be transformed into delicious details in a tasty homage to "fresh" and "local".
As time ran down, we sprinted to the finish line- quickly plating...plantain mash-yucca cake-more mash-another yucca cake-canoli-fresh herbs-slaw-chicken-seeds-slaw- TIME!!! Move along to the judges table, grab a beer and breathe! One by one, all of the dishes made their way to the judges where smiles and knowing nods affirmed each chef of a job well done. Then, the prizes were brought out. A $1000 check from Banco Popular, a gift certificate from a local restaurant supply, and a sparkling Versace plate to be engraved with the winning name. Everyone waited for the moment of truth, and then it came.
The winner...of the first ever...VI Ultimate Chef Challenge...is..."Ma-hay-o-tay-nai-um"!!! What?!? That's me, right? Hands in the air, celebrating victory...hoping I wasn't revelling too soon (only my name could be slaughtered that badly, right? As our shirts say, "Mathayom...unpronounceable since 1972"). Sure enough. We had won and a whirlwind of photos, interviews, congratulations and love came showering down. Definitely an "ultimate" honor! And now we have a crown to defend in 2010 (or a Versace plate, anyway)!
Links:
Banco Popular 2009 Ultimate Chef Challenge Website
Chef Challenge Photos on Flickr
Download Free 2009 Ultimate Chef Challenge Commemorative Cookbook
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