Judging the Discovered Culinary Competition

Yes, I’m putting my judges hat back on and will be judging the Discovered Culinary Competition at Nella Cucina on Monday night.

Now in its second year, the Discovered Culinary Competition gives up-and-coming Canadian chefs an opportunity to showcase their culinary talents.  In front of a live audience  and a rotating panel of judges including Toronto’s most notable chefs and food writers,  the competitors work against the clock in a black-box competition.  All to win the coveted Grand Prize of an all expenses paid trip to the North of Spain for a week-long cooking stage.

The competition begins with four contestants and lasts for 3 rounds – appetizer, entrée and dessert. At the beginning of each round, contestants are provided with a mystery basket of ingredients along with access to a stocked pantry.  Constants mush prepare their dish using all of the mystery ingredients in the limited amount of time allotted for each round (appetizer – 20 minutes; entrée – 30 minutes; dessert – 20 minutes).  Whatever is on the plate when the timer goes off is presented to the judges to be evaluated based on use of the mystery ingredients, creativity, skill, visual appearance and taste.

After each course is judged, one competitor is dropped from the competition.

Then the next round begins and they start again with a new mystery box.

The winner of each competition will move on to the semi-finals at Nella Cucina on July 13 & 14 with a chance to move on to the final competition held on July 22.  

Week 10’s competitors are:

• Karan Tsoi – BMO Institute for Learning
• Miriam Martinez Echeverria – Mercatto
• Declan Edwards – Elephant and Castle
• Shereen Brooks

Week 10’s Judges are:

• Alexa Clark – Editor in Chief, CheapEats Restaurant Guides
• Jamie Drummond – Good Food Revolution
• Peter Egger – Egger Hospitality Group