Samantha Greenidge and Mikalee Williams are the winners of the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) Food and Rum Festival Junior Chef Cook Off’s inaugural competition.
On Sunday, October 16, at the Sapodilla restaurant located at the Barbados Community College (BCC), eight nervous but confident semi-finalists ranging from ages 17 to 21, participated in the festival’s inaugural cook off competition.
They were Aliah Hazzard; Shacoby Riley; Deryka Grazette; Samantha Greenidge; Mikalee Williams; Zedekiah Parris; Reese-Ann Alleyne, and Destiny Alleyne,
Before the competition got underway, Chef and trainer Peter Edey described it as a “new age cooking format unlike others” seen before in Barbados and stressed it was because the event was utilising WorldSkills assessment standards.
Lead Officer for the WorldSkills Barbados Programme, Dario Walcott, in explaining the standards and rating methods to be employed, said these included checking for knife skills, the time it took to complete the dish, use of the correct coloured cooking board, hygiene and sanitary measures, kitchen safety and wastage, plating presentation and of course taste.
The competition was judged by Certified Sous Chef Steve Philips, Angela Garraway, Rashi Cummins and BCC’s Chef Instructor, Natalia Reid.
During the semi-finals, each competitor had to choose one protein from a selection that included pork tenderloin, chicken breast and stripped marlin fish fillets. In addition, they were allowed 10 minutes to choose their starch and vegetables from a wide variety of items including sweet potatoes, rice, tacos, cassava, broccoli, carrots spinach, beets and squash. Afterwards, each participant was afforded 45 minutes to prepare and plate his/her dish.
The morning started with semi-finals round 1 where Destiny Alleyne, Deryka Grazette, Zedekiah Parris and Mikalee Williams faced off. The next round saw Reese-Ann Alleyne, Samantha Greenidge, Aliah Hazzard and Shacoby Riley ‘going at it’.
Some of the dishes prepared were: Chicken tacos with a citrus sauce and red cabbage slaw; blackened marlin served with a curry and chutney aioli sauce, an English potato and squash mash and steamed vegetables; cassava crisps, fried chicken tenders with rum and mustard sauce; and white rice with pan-seared marlin dressed in a green Verde sauce and sautéed red onions.
Shortly after, the judges deliberated and made the difficult decision to narrow the competitors down to four finalists. However, before announcing the finalists, the judges commended the participants and acknowledged they had all done a “very good job”.
Emphasising that they were impressed by the level of skills and product knowledge of the young people, the judges also noted the competitors had only received three weeks of training and had all worked well under pressure.
The four chosen to move on to the finals were Reese-Ann Alleyne, Deryka Grazette, Samantha Greenidge and Mikalee Williams.
For the finals, the allotted time was still 45 minutes; however, the young chefs all received a mystery basket of ingredients which challenged them to create their own special dish. The basket comprised Eclipse biscuits, flying fish, fresh thyme, sweet potatoes and Mount Gay Eclipse Rum.
Eighteen-year-old Samantha’s dish was panee flying fish served with sweet potato croquettes, sautéed vegetables and dressed with an Espagnole sauce infused with Mount Gay Eclipse rum.
Reese-Ann Alleyne aged 17, prepared tempura flying fish stuffed with eclipse biscuits with a white roux sauce, sweet potato crisps and steamed vegetables.
Sweet potato pancakes were served with fried flying fish strips drizzled in a sorrel and rum glaze sauce and Bajan coleslaw was prepared by 19-year-old Deryka Grazette.
Twenty-one-year-old Mikalee’s dish was fried herb-crusted Eclipse biscuit flying fish served with deep-fried medallion cut sweet potatoes and Mount Gay Eclipse rum infused beet sauce.
Co-hosts Paula Anne Jackman and Chef Edey announced the two winners. They were Samantha Greenidge and Mikalee Williams, who won full scholarships to pursue studies at the Jean and Norma Holder Hospitality Institute.
The Barbados Government Information Service (BGIS) spoke to the two young ladies about their achievements after the announcement. Samantha stated: “It was definitely a lot of pressure, it wasn’t easy. I had to really go back to the basics and work on my knife skills, and work on my tasting and incorporating flavours and stuff like that. But overall when it came down to it, I was confident in my dish and what I produced. I am overcome with joy and I am very happy.”
Overall, she said the competition was a “fun experience” and advised that next year when it is held, young people should “Go for it”.
“You never know the outcome. If you really want to be a chef, you can definitely do it and Chef Peter Edey is a really good trainer; he’s a really good teacher,” Samantha said.
Shock and surprise were the sentiments coming from a speechless Mikalee who said “I didn’t see it coming”. She pointed out that when she saw the mystery Box items it jumped her.
“I was like ‘what I’m supposed to do with these, that gine pull off a decent enough dish that I could win it?’ and I was so mad at myself. When I plated up the stuff I was like ‘alright, well somebody else got this in the bag, I gine just go home and smile’. So, when I hear my name and see my name it was a big surprise,” Mikalee stated.
She said winning the competition meant the world to her because “I can further my studies in culinary arts and I ain’t got to worry about it [money]. You do need a push and I needed that push.”
Chef Peter Edey, who had trained and work with the competitors leading up to the competition, had this to say: “These participants they were all great…. I felt very, very good just watching them perform. I’m very, very proud, and given the fact that they only had three Saturdays to train, to see how they performed on the stage how confident and competent they were, oh man, they made me happy.”
All the participants were presented with product gift bags from sponsor Roberts Manufacturing Co. Ltd., professional knife sets and a ticket to the Food and Rum Festival Chef Classics event.
The BTMI’s Food and Rum Festival Junior Chef Cook Off competition was held under the theme “Feed The Future”. Part of the proceeds from this year’s festival will be used to provide the full scholarship for Mikalee and Samantha to attend the Jean and Norma Holder Hospitality Institute, Hastings, Christ Church.