CULINARY FACEOFF: KEY INGREDIENT COOKING CHALLENGE

By: Nora Morris

On: April 3, 2017

Cook-offs embody two of mankind’s most beloved things: food and competition. Chicago Reader recently held its Key Ingredient Cook-Off at the Museum of Broadcast Communications, and a portion of the proceeds went to Common Threads (a.k.a. Art Smith’s charity for kids).

Participating gladiators included Chris Pandel from The Bristol and Balena, Dana Cree from Blackbird, Abraham Conlon from Fat Rice, Jason Hammel from Lula Cafe, Meg Galus from NoMI, and Mark Steuer from Carriage House. These renowned chefs were asked to cook with esoteric products such as chestnut and sheep’s milk, and diners voted for their favorite dish in each ingredient category.

I was personally impressed by the creativity and tastiness of these dishes:

NOMI: Sheep milk mousse, cornflake praline, butterscotch, whipped caramel

THEWIT: stomach and tail, young carrots, fennel dust, crispy shallot, rice porridge

HOMESTEAD ON THE ROOF: Toasted chestnut flour cake, candied chestnut mousse, chestnut flour macaroon

CARNIVALE: Brown butter chestnut ice-cream, strawberry rhubarb puree, and chestnut pretzel stick

LULA CAFÉ:Sweet Jonah crab, white miso, apple, hazelnut milk

FAT RICE: Miso Munchkin

I’m especially pleased that bacon and Siracha weren’t chosen as one the key ingredients, and I hope that next year’s event will yield even more eccentric dishes.

Next Post: RENÉ REZEPI AWES TOP CHICAGO CHEFS

Chile makes some delicious, great value wines but also has the potential to produce wines of greater complexity and depth. Michel Laroche and Jorge Coderch met each other through Simon Farr, to create a joint venture dedicated to producing expressive wines from the best vineyards in the country.

Michel Laroche combines the very best of modern winemaking innovation with an innate understanding of a viticultural region’s terroir, history and traditions. But he also has an unquenchable thirst for new projects that stretch his winemaking knowledge. After extensive research, he decided that Chile had the greatest potential, most of it unexploited, to make superior fine wines.

Jorge Coderch is one of the great characters of the Chilean wine industry: his local nickname Caballo Loco (Crazy Horse) testifies to his energy and dynamism. In the early nineties Jorge realised the huge natural potential Chile had for producing great wine, and he showed what a ‘Caballo Loco’ could bring to the party: a heady cocktail of vision, drive, a total can-do attitude, and a 150% belief that making the overdue structural changes to grape growing and winemaking in Chile would realise that potential. The result is one of the great success stories of Chilean wine, Valdivieso. Jorge then went looking for a partner with whom to really explore the finer end of the spectrum of potential for making truly great wines in Chile. This is where Michel came in.

Simon Farr founded Bibendum Wine Limited in the UK in the early 80s. Bibendum has a reputation as one of the UK’s most dynamic wine merchants, and more recently as one of its most effective brand developers and builders. Simon has worked with Jorge since the early nineties, and was instrumental in developing the strategy that transformed Valdiviesointo one of the most successful Chilean wine brands. A total commitment to a consumer- and market-driven approach to the wine industry is at the centre of Simon’s vision, and these principles are at the heart of the new Michel Laroche & Jorge Coderch venture.

Katrina Muller has trained as a winemaker in both Chile and France. Having worked extensively with Michel and his team at Michel’s South of France winery, she has a comprehensive understanding of Michel’s non-interventionist philosophy and approach. As a native Chilean, Katrina is well placed to unite the two traditions and ensure Michel & Jorge’s vision is fully expressed in the wines. Katrina will work alongside Jorge’s local and international team of vine growers and winemakers.