Tasting the winning menu

Have you ever watched a food competition and wondered how hard the judges have to work tasting all that glorious food? If there are seven contesting groups, you have to taste seven of each dish; appetizer, main dish and dessert or a total of 21 dishes. For one thing, there is a saturation point of your tasting organs like nasal, palate, taste buds and the teeth (food texture). You also need good eyesight to judge the way the food has been prepared.

Your favorite food columnist was once a judge in the Young Chefs Competition organized by that gourmet society, the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs to promote and support young chefs. Contestants were identified by numbers to ensure objectivity and the dishes prepared were judged on taste, presentation and originality. A separate set of judges awarded points based on cleanliness and organization in the kitchen.

The food prepared by these aspiring chefs tasted good, very good, bad and downright horrible. The hard part in judging is that when a dish is an outstanding entry, you can eat only a small portion to prevent an overload to your taste sensations. When the winners are announced, the losing entries could be the team of your close friends. I do remember Adolf Hitler who was rejected twice from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. He ran out of money, joined the army na lang and we had World War ll. Very difficult, the job of a judge and I do not want to start World War lll.

The next best thing is to be invited to a recreation of the winning entry in a food competition. Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort & Spa team was the representative of the Visayas region for Chef Wars Classical European Category in The National Food Showdown held last September 2010 in Makati City. They were awarded, excuse me, the silver medal (no gold medal was given) and the Shangri-La’s chefs prepared three dishes using beet root as the main ingredient.

First entry was the Beetroot Symphony: Beetroot and Sea Bass Carpaccio marinated in citrus juice, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and thyme, served with Beetroot Ice Cream. Very nice fish preparation but I find it strange that an entry would be paired with an ice cream. I wanted a nice white wine with the fish and I got it, a Casa Lapostolle, Sauvignon Blanc 2007.

Maroon Harvest was the second dish, Beetroot Arborio rice with Porcini mushrooms and Cheese fondue. The rice came from the town of Arborio, Italy and it has high amylopectin starch content, perfect for risotto. You have to eat a portion of the cheese, some mushroom and the rice in one bite and wow, murag na-awakened my culinary adventure in Rome.

The main entry was the Beetroot Beef Pursuit: Herb crusted beef tenderloin served with rosemary-flavored apple-mashed potatoes in a bed of sautéed beetroot. Very complex flavors to dissect but the medium-rare beef blended well with the apples/potatoes/ beetroot mix.

Dessert was Purple Pears: Beetroot juice-Poached Pears served with Mascarpone Ricotta and Walnuts. Very generous, the Shangri-La’s Chefs to add an extra dish to close such a wonderful dinner and in my opinion, the Shangri-La’s chefs should have won the gold medal for their efforts.