Round four of the Discovered Culinary Competition

Last night (December 12th) was the fourth evening of competition in the Discovered Culinary Competition - the search for Canada's top up and coming chef. The competition is put on by the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA) and sponsored by Discover and Nella Cucina. (Round three wrap up here.)

The Competition is run a bit like the Iron Chef series of challenges: each competitor is given a basket of ingredients and has a fixed amount of time to prepare a dish. In this preliminary set of rounds, the quest is to find 16 finalists to compete at the CRFA Show in March. The grand prize winner will spend 10 days in Spain cooking under the tutelage of a Michelin-star chef.

Each night begins with four chefs who must prepare an appetizer, which is then judged and one contestant is eliminated. The remaining three competitors prepare a main course, which is judged, leaving two contestants for the final course: dessert.

This time we got to taste the dishes in order to write a better recap of the event - we've inserted our notes after each result.

Competing in Round 4 were:

• John Koplimae -- Entremetier @ The Drake Hotel
• Debu Saha -- Chef/Owner @ Debu’s Nouvelle Indian Cuisine
• Tyler Smith -- Sous Chef @ Whistle Bear Golf and Country Club
• Jesse Vallins -- Chef de Cuisine @ Trevor Kitchen and Bar

And the judges were:

• Emanuela Constantini - Private Chef, Caterer and Teacher George Brown College
• Tom Field - Corporate Chef for Alto-Shaam Canada
• Craig Harding - Executive Chef and Owner of Campagnolo

Mystery Basket One: Appetizers (10 minutes to debone the fish; 20 minutes preparation)

In each course, tensions run high as the clock ticks down. The first mystery basket contained a whole sea bream (a delicate white fish), lime, cilantro, and green and red cherry tomatoes.

• Debu Saha pan-seared the sea bream and served it with tandoori-style spices, which actually highlighted the fish nicely, though my compatriots found it too spicy. It was served with a tomato-coriander confit, and potatoes (see slideshow).
• Next, John Koplimae presented his dish, also pan-seared, though accompanied by a fresh tomato-cilantro salad. The salad was very fresh and the tastes were clean on the palate. Overall, very good.
• Tyler Smith created an interesting ceviche out of his sea bream, which he paired with hoisin sauce - truly fusion at it's most creative. This he served with a cilantro-tomato salad and a lime garnish.
• Jesse Vallins prepared a sea bream tartare on a bed of tomatoes with more of the cilanto in the garnishes, including the drizzle.

Eliminated: Tyler Smith

Our take:

Unlike the official judges, Gayle and I both thought that the ceviche was strong enough to be kept in. Gayle and Marcus both found Chef Debu's sea bream too spicy, though I thought it really showcased the fish nicely. Gayle says, "The spices were right but they were too powerful for the other flavours on the plate (out of scale)." I, on the other hand, was somewhat surprised that it could stand up to the tandoori-style seasonings.

The sea bream tartare was an interesting experiment, though as Gayle put it, it was just not the right ingredient. I thought it required something with a more robust texture as well as taste, she equally found it too bland to stand up as a tartare.

Verdict: Gayle and I both would have kept the ceviche and dropped the tartare.

Mystery Basket Two: the Entree (30 minutes)

This time the mystery baskets were opened to reveal Libertaire pork bellies, cranberries, bourbon vanilla, and celery root.

• Debu Saha prepared a saffron rice pilau, spicy cranberry chutney, celery root South Indian style, and pork belly with garlic and cloves.
• John Koplimae prepared his pork belly seared with maple and hoisin on a bed of smashed potato-apple-celery root (julienned celery root), and a cranberry sauce with lime-lemon zest.
• Jesse Vallins roasted his pork belly and served it with fondant with celery root, and a maple-vanilla-cranberry compote.

This time, Debu Saha was eliminated.

Our take:

We both really enjoyed John Koplimae's smashed potatoes with the apple and julienned celery root. Gayle was disappointed that once again her favourite dish was eliminated. She liked the combination of flavours in Debu's dish and how they worked together. I found that the pork didn't take on the clove and garlic seasoning as well as I would have liked, but the rest of his items were delicious.

I quite enjoyed the traditional combination that John presented though there were odd surprising crunchy bits from the skin. The dish would definitely been improved by removing the skin. My favourite part of Chef Jesse's dish was the celery root. It was also a fairly traditional combination with a cranberry compote dressing the roast pork belly. Forced to elimate one item, I think I would have chosen John's simply because of the hard bits in the skin.

Mystery Basket Three: Dessert (20 minutes)

The third mystery basket bore an oddly Christmas-y mix of ingredients: a finished fruit cake (the English style), Egg nog, canned pumpkin, and pecans. It presented an interesting challenge: how to use the fruit cake as just one ingredient in a well thought-out dessert.

• John Koplimae presented first: pumpkin crepes with pureed fruit cake mousse, an egg nog glaze, and toasted pecans, served with a side dish of warmed bourbon egg nog with a sliver of fruit cake to echo the main.
• Jesse Vallins created fruit cake french toast with pumpkin whipped cream and an egg nog caramel drizzle.

The Winner

After all was said and done, John Koplimae was the winner. He advances to the finals in March along with 15 other finalists. Two of the 16 will be chosen at siliar events in British Columbia, and two spots go to audience favourites. You can vote on the Discovered Culinary Competition facebook page.

Our take

This last round was a tough one. It was really close - they were very different dishes and it really came down to comfort food (french toast) vs evidence of skill (the crepes). Gayle says she had a very strong inclination to declare the french toast the winner upon tasting it, though when she got the crepe she realized why they had given Chef John the award. Although it was a difficult choice, she agreed with the judges.

I still preferred the french toast slightly. I think (for me) it was a comfort food thing, and I really enjoyed the pumpkin whipped cream that accompanied it. Faced with both items on a menu, and having tasted them both now, I would gravitate toward the french toast. But it's close, let me tell you. Very close.

Congratulations to Chef John!