Taste Canada Cooks The Books 2014

Wow, what a weekend. I spent most of my weekend eating amazing food and judging it at Taste Canada Cooks the Books 2014. I was at the Judges Table tasting dishes made by culinary students from across Canada, with recipes pulled from some of the top cookbooks written in Canada this year.

Taste Canada Cooks the Books 2014

Taste Canada Cooks the Book is a culinary competition pitting teams from 10 top Canadian culinary schools against each other. Each team is randomly paired with a Canadian cookbook and its author who will mentor and guide them in preparation.  The author is also on stage with them as they prepare their dish for presentation to the judges.

If you think cooking dinner for your mom is pressure, imagine cooking a recipe and answering questions about it when the recipe’s author is standing right beside you.

There were 10 schools, 10 cookbooks and 10 authors (actually more than 10 since some of the books were co-written), here’s how they were paired.

Authors, Teams and Dishes in Taste Canada Cooks the Books 2014

George Brown

prepared Herbed Ling Cod Cakes with Crisp Potato Rosti & Caper Remouladefrom Alison Malone Eathorne, Hilary Malone & Lorna Malone’s Sea Salt: Recipes from the West Coast Galley

George Brown presents Herbed Ling Cod Cakes with Crisp Potato Rosti & Caper Remoulade

George Brown team cooked Herbed Ling Cod Cakes with Crisp Potato Rosti & Caper Remoulade

Georgian College

prepared Moroccan Chicken Stew with Couscous and Homemade Harissafrom Carol Greenwood, Daphna Rabinovich & Joanna Gryfe’s Mindfull: Over 100 Delicious Recipes for Better Brain Health

Taste Canada Cooks the Books 2014

Next up, a Moroccan chicken stew from Georgian College from the cookbook Mindful #DFS14 #tcstudents @tasteCanada

Liaison College Oakville

prepared Veal Cutlet Roll-ups in Tomato Wine Sauce from Fina Scroppo’s The Healthy Italian: Cooking for the Love of Food and Family

  Liaison College Oakville team presents Veal Cutlet Roll-ups in Tomato Wine Sauce

Liaison College Oakville team cooked Veal Cutlet Roll-ups in Tomato Wine Sauce

Thistetown Collegiate

prepared Rabbit and Chourico from Carla Azevedo’s Pimentos and Piri Piri: Portuguese Comfort Cooking
(yes, you read that right, a high school competed and showed well against post-secondary culinary schools)

Amanda from Thistetown Collegiate presents Rabbit and Chourico

Rabbit & Chourico prepared by Thistletown Culinary from Carla Azevedo's @pimentopiripiri for @tastCanada Cooks the Books #tcstudents #DFS14

Liaison College Downtown

prepared Lamb Burgers with Tomato Relish from Betty Bakopoulos, Eleni Bakopoulos & Samantha Bakopoulos’ Three Sisters Back to the Beginning: Timeless Greek Recipes Made Simple

Liaison College Downtown team presents Lamb Burgers with Tomato Relish

And finally in today's marathon judging: @liaisondowntown prepares the Three Sisters Lamb Burgers with Tomato Relish. #DFS14 @tasteCanada Cooks the Books #tcstudents

Assiniboine College

p repared Bibimbap from Jennifer Bain’s Toronto Star Cookbook: More than 150 Diverse and Delicious Recipes Celebrating Ontario

Assiniboine College team at Taste Canada Cooks the Books

Taste Canada Cooks the Books 2014

Niagara College

prepared Fred & Ethel Fish Sliders from James Cunningham’s Eat Street: Recipes from the Tastiest, Messiest, and Most Irresistible Food Trucks

Niagara College presents Fred & Ethel Fish Sliders

Fred & Ethel Fish Sliders prepared by the  Niagara College team  From @jamestellsjokes @eatstreet cookbook  @TasteCanada  #tcstudents #DFS14

Humber College

prepared Japanese Curry from Lucy Waverman & Beppi Crosariol’s The Flavour Principle

Humber College presenting Japanese Curry

Taste Canada Cooks the Books 2014

St. Pius Culinary

prepared Wild Fried Chicken from David Ort’s The Canadian Craft Beer Cookbook   (Sorry David, it was the only good shot of the team in the kitchen)

St. Piux X Culinary Team at Taste Canada Cooks The Books

St. Pius X Culinary presents @ortdavid's Wild Fried Chicken from his Canadian Craft Beer Cookbook  @TasteCanada  #tcstudents #DFS14

Stratford Chefs School

prepared Malaysian Lobster Coconut Curry from Jason Lynch’s Straight from the Line: Recipes and Reflections from a Chef at Work

Taste Canada Cooks the Books 2014

And finally from @StratfordChef team Malaysian Lobster Coconut Curry from @ChefJasonLynch's Straight from the Line @TasteCanada #tcstudents #DFS14

2014 Judges

I was honoured and delighted to be included in this year’s judges along with Signe Langford, Konrad Ejbich, and Chef John Placko.

Taste Canada Cooks the Book 2014 Winners

Congratulations to all the student Chefs and culinary schools participating in this competition, it was a strong showing.

Third Place:  Assinibione Community College

Taste Canada Cooks the Books 2014

Second Place: St. Pius X Culinary Institute

St. Pius Culinary team present Wild Fried Chicken

Canada’s Best New Student Chefs: Stratford Chefs School

Stratford Chefs School team present Malaysian Lobster Coconut Curry

 

 

Alexa Clark

Alexa is a digital marketer and author with over 20 years in digital & interactive communications in the food and tech industries. Alexa's CheapEats Restaurant Guides, for both Toronto & Ottawa, were Canadian best sellers. She is a recognized authority on social media and has been named one of Canada's 20 Leading Women in Social Media.

One thought on “Taste Canada Cooks The Books 2014

  • October 22, 2014 at 10:46 am
    Permalink

    Angie Thought you might want to see this too. Congrats again.

    Reply

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