Taste of the Huon 2009

Paul Cullen has emailed me with the information below about the upcoming Taste of the Huon at Ranelagh this (long) weekend. It sounds like an event not to be missed, and Rita will definitely be there:

We have a Young Chefs Competition on at A Taste of the Huon over two days - Sunday March 8 and Monday March 9. The format is along the lines of the Iron Chef program you would be familiar with, but there are some interesting twists.

Contestants are the top six professional cookery students selected by their instructors at The Skills Institute at the Launceston campus - Drysdale North. They are coming down south to see what all the fuss is about the Huon Vallley and its produce. Is it as good as everyone says? Can these young Northern chefs show the Southerners a thing or two about professional cookery? Can the contestants handle the challenge of cooking in front of 2,000 people, with cameras and microphones on them? And can they do all this in just 60 minutes? Because that's all they get...

They will be presented with a mixed basket of Huon Valley produce - expect salmon, saffron. mushrooms, wine and herbs - and are given the task of inventing a main course with accompanying vegetables or salad or garnish. They'll have to describe the dish, prepare it, present six portions to the judges and do all of this in just 60 minutes. A camera will follow their moves, projected up on to large plasma screens so that the audience can follow.

We'll be scoring them on creativity, organisation, trade skills, presentation and taste. Two chefs compete at a time, in three heats (two on Sunday, one on Monday). The highest point score wins, announced on Monday afternoon. There are some good prizes to be won.