Florida Tomato Committee's annual student chef contest a delicious success
Florida Tomato Committee's annual student chef contest a delicious success
NEW YORK -- An impressive group of executive chefs, food consultants, editors and executives came together June 21 in New York City to judge the Florida Tomato Committee's annual "Best of the Best" recipe contest. The event is open to student culinary chefs in both the United States and Canada, and winners are chosen from both countries.
The contest is made available to culinary students through the institutes they attend. Recipes are submitted to the entrants' supervising instructors, who judge at the school level. Those recipes are then submitted to the Florida Tomato Committee and its public relations associates, from which finalists are chosen. Eight recipes made the final judging round this year -- four from the United States and four from Canada.
It was not easy to impress the judging panel. It included Rob Bleifer, executive chef at the Food Network; Nancy Burgos, a food consultant with JC Food Consulting in New York City; Scott Campbell, a chef and consultant; Molly Gise, an editor of a national food publication; Chef Alex Guarnaschelli of Butter Restaurant in New York City; Jason Stemm, senior account manager at Lewis & Neale Inc., the public relations firm in Manhattan that hosted the event; and Joanne Hayes, Claire Lewis and Janet Budhram, recipe testers and developers, and test kitchen assistants at Lewis & Neale.
Reggie Brown, manager of the Florida Tomato Committee; Samantha Winters, director of education and promotion for the committee; Mr. Brown's wife, Lanita; and yours truly also served on the judging panel.
The eight finalists' recipes were prepared in Lewis & Neale's on-site kitchen and served in the company's conference room. One at a time, they were presented to the judges, who were tasked with determining, on a scale of one to 10, how the recipes compared in taste, visual appeal, originality, ease of preparation and importance of tomatoes in the dish.
The eight recipes were a pasta-filled tomato bowl, reconstructed BLTs, spicy grilled steak with fresh tomato relish, tomato bisque with goat cheese flan and fresh compote, broiled blue cheese fresh tomato with tomato syrup, deconstructed fresh tomato tart, fresh tomato soup BLT style, and spicy Florida tomato chutney. The mere sound of these dishes serves as an accurate indication of how difficult it was to pick winners. But despite the challenge, the judging panel diligently assessed each dish in every category.
"We had a record number of entrees this year," said Ms. Winters. "Through this contest, we can see how trends play out in foodservice across North America. The growing popularity of tapas and small plates, for example, was strongly reflected in the finalists' recipes."
The judging experience might be compared to judging art. Every individual has his or her own unique tastes, and what is beauty to one might be unattractive to another. Despite the challenges raised by having to critique eight truly divine recipes, the judging panel made what everyone agreed were fair and accurate decisions.
The Canadian first-place winner was the spicy Florida tomato chutney. Lindsay Moffat, a student at the Culinary Arts School of Ontario, developed the recipe. The spicy-sweet chutney had fresh ginger, cumin, fennel and mustard seeds, shallots, garlic, and a touch of sugar to give it a unique sweet-spicy flavor. The judges decided that besides delicious, the dish also had a nearly endless list of potential uses. It could be served simply on crackers or toast as an appetizer or snack or served as a garnish with a main course fish, chicken or meat dish.
The winning U.S. entry was the tomato bisque with goat cheese flan and fresh compote. It was the creation of Jared Braithwaite, who attends The Culinary Institute of America. It was, the judges decided, ingenious for the student chef to add a light souffl?-like goat cheese flan to the all-time favorite tomato bisque, which was pleasantly flavored with onion, carrots, celery, garlic, Sherry wine vinegar and several complementing herbs.
"A great aspect of the contest for the Florida tomato industry is the trade press coverage it receives," said Ms. Winters. "It is also a great way for aspiring chefs and others going into the culinary field to learn about the high quality of Florida tomatoes. It inspires them to use creativity in finding new ways to incorporate and use this great product."
Ms. Winters added that it is important for the Florida Tomato Committee to provide technical information to the foodservice industry that teaches professionals the proper care, handling and preparation of tomatoes through its distribution of brochures and literature, at trade shows, and other venues. On top of that, events like the recipe contest add to the depth of information.
"There are tremendous benefits in influencing upcoming foodservice operators and chefs to think outside the box with Florida tomatoes," said Ms. Winters. "This contest truly demonstrates how versatile Florida tomatoes are and how creative chefs can be in finding new and exciting ways to offer this delicious and highly nutritious product to diners across North America."
The contest is made available to culinary students through the institutes they attend. Recipes are submitted to the entrants' supervising instructors, who judge at the school level. Those recipes are then submitted to the Florida Tomato Committee and its public relations associates, from which finalists are chosen. Eight recipes made the final judging round this year -- four from the United States and four from Canada.
It was not easy to impress the judging panel. It included Rob Bleifer, executive chef at the Food Network; Nancy Burgos, a food consultant with JC Food Consulting in New York City; Scott Campbell, a chef and consultant; Molly Gise, an editor of a national food publication; Chef Alex Guarnaschelli of Butter Restaurant in New York City; Jason Stemm, senior account manager at Lewis & Neale Inc., the public relations firm in Manhattan that hosted the event; and Joanne Hayes, Claire Lewis and Janet Budhram, recipe testers and developers, and test kitchen assistants at Lewis & Neale.
Reggie Brown, manager of the Florida Tomato Committee; Samantha Winters, director of education and promotion for the committee; Mr. Brown's wife, Lanita; and yours truly also served on the judging panel.
The eight finalists' recipes were prepared in Lewis & Neale's on-site kitchen and served in the company's conference room. One at a time, they were presented to the judges, who were tasked with determining, on a scale of one to 10, how the recipes compared in taste, visual appeal, originality, ease of preparation and importance of tomatoes in the dish.
The eight recipes were a pasta-filled tomato bowl, reconstructed BLTs, spicy grilled steak with fresh tomato relish, tomato bisque with goat cheese flan and fresh compote, broiled blue cheese fresh tomato with tomato syrup, deconstructed fresh tomato tart, fresh tomato soup BLT style, and spicy Florida tomato chutney. The mere sound of these dishes serves as an accurate indication of how difficult it was to pick winners. But despite the challenge, the judging panel diligently assessed each dish in every category.
"We had a record number of entrees this year," said Ms. Winters. "Through this contest, we can see how trends play out in foodservice across North America. The growing popularity of tapas and small plates, for example, was strongly reflected in the finalists' recipes."
The judging experience might be compared to judging art. Every individual has his or her own unique tastes, and what is beauty to one might be unattractive to another. Despite the challenges raised by having to critique eight truly divine recipes, the judging panel made what everyone agreed were fair and accurate decisions.
The Canadian first-place winner was the spicy Florida tomato chutney. Lindsay Moffat, a student at the Culinary Arts School of Ontario, developed the recipe. The spicy-sweet chutney had fresh ginger, cumin, fennel and mustard seeds, shallots, garlic, and a touch of sugar to give it a unique sweet-spicy flavor. The judges decided that besides delicious, the dish also had a nearly endless list of potential uses. It could be served simply on crackers or toast as an appetizer or snack or served as a garnish with a main course fish, chicken or meat dish.
The winning U.S. entry was the tomato bisque with goat cheese flan and fresh compote. It was the creation of Jared Braithwaite, who attends The Culinary Institute of America. It was, the judges decided, ingenious for the student chef to add a light souffl?-like goat cheese flan to the all-time favorite tomato bisque, which was pleasantly flavored with onion, carrots, celery, garlic, Sherry wine vinegar and several complementing herbs.
"A great aspect of the contest for the Florida tomato industry is the trade press coverage it receives," said Ms. Winters. "It is also a great way for aspiring chefs and others going into the culinary field to learn about the high quality of Florida tomatoes. It inspires them to use creativity in finding new ways to incorporate and use this great product."
Ms. Winters added that it is important for the Florida Tomato Committee to provide technical information to the foodservice industry that teaches professionals the proper care, handling and preparation of tomatoes through its distribution of brochures and literature, at trade shows, and other venues. On top of that, events like the recipe contest add to the depth of information.
"There are tremendous benefits in influencing upcoming foodservice operators and chefs to think outside the box with Florida tomatoes," said Ms. Winters. "This contest truly demonstrates how versatile Florida tomatoes are and how creative chefs can be in finding new and exciting ways to offer this delicious and highly nutritious product to diners across North America."
