| Mrs. Boro: Chefs’ pork recipes leave judges eating high on the hog |
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By: JEANNE BRAGG, Post Columnist
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Posted: Sunday, January 31, 2010 7:12 am
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Jeanne Bragg and Steve Hayslip sample the pork dish presented by Puleo’s Grille at the recent Tennessee Pork Producers’ Evening of Elegance competition. TMP/M. Pirtle
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I had the honor of judging the Tennessee Pork Producers Association annual Taste of Elegance Contest at the Doubletree Hotel recently.
In conjunction with the yearly meeting, local chefs are invited to compete in a cook-off, with the winner advancing to national competition.
Phyllis Ferguson, association executive vice president, invited me after another judge reneged. Lucky me. Our job was to taste pork prepared by nine different judges and choose a winner, no easy task.
Initially intimidated when I walked in the door, pork producer and friend John L. Batey greeted me. I knew I’d be OK.
Other judges included Channel 5 morning news anchor Steve Hayslip and Chef Christopher Newton, a popular Nashville caterer, with “celebrity” judges at each table.
Tammy Algood, food marketing specialist of the University of Tennessee’s Homes Extension program, was on hand to guide us through the mechanics.
The other two judges were real pros, and we realized early on that our tastes and judgments were running alone the same lines. We got down to business quickly.
We went from station to station where each chef prepared his or her dish, with clipboards for grading according to appearance, presentation and taste. Then the games began.
Chef Laurie Potts of the Wild Horse Saloon prepared a rack of pork brined in cider and sorghum molasses stuffed with cheese grits, smoked white cheddar, bacon and sweet potatoes. She won the prize for best use of Tennessee products, and her food was delicious.
Chef Dylan Mackin of the ’Boro’s Five Senses was inspired by the cooking of his grandparents who lived in the Azores, and he had their charming picture on his table.
Dylan fabricated grandmother’s pork “barbeque” and said when his grandmother found out he was a chef it was one of the biggest surprises of her life, because he was so skinny as a child.
Dylan had a delicious Calde Sopa with homemade chorizo on the side.
Chef Mark Shelton of Puleo’s Grill, also in the ’Boro, made a wonderful Asian stuffed pork accompanied by peppers, Napa cabbage, shitake mushrooms and ginger (yum)!
This year’s first-place winner was Joe DeGuira of Loew’s Vanderbilt Plaza who prepared squares of pork and pork belly atop risotto with vegetables. Those squares of pork all but melted in your mouth.
Second place went to Rick Kahre, owner/chef of J & M Catering in Nashville.
Chef Kahre operates a cafe on the first floor of the Bridgestone Firestone Building off Briley Parkway which is open the to public (I plan to visit soon).
He prepared Hawaiian pork using pork spinalis (a rare cut of the tenderloin) marinated in a soy marinade served with Asian pineapple sake sauce. The sauce perfectly enhanced the pork, accompanied by Hawaiian rice and fried bananas (that I’m still dreaming of).
Third-place winner was Forrest Shelton of Cascades Restaurant at Opryland Hotel.
Chef Shelton prepared smoky braised Karubi rib with Carolina gold pilau and madeira red eye gravy. Yum again. I’ve had a difficult time finding out what “Karubi ribs” are, but one description said “a pork rib without the top layer of fat and skin.”
All I know is if I see them on a menu, I’ll be ordering them.
With such stiff competition, it was very difficult to pick a winner but all of us were in agreement on the top three.
Some judges supplied their recipes (most of which were VERY AMBITIOUS: read, complicated) but I’ll be glad to share them if you’ll e-mail me at jbragg@murfreesboropost .com.
But for now, I’m off to find a banana to fry.
‘Til next week. |
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