photo: The top three winners from the competition
Rising Vancouver Chefs Compete in Black Box Culinary Competition
Vancouver, January 14, 2010 - Up and coming chefs from Vancouver's top restaurants competed for the top prize in the 14th Annual Black Box Competition on January 13, 2010, hosted by The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of Vancouver. Jasper Cruickshank of Aramark Canada took Gold in the competition, finishing first of the 11 chefs competing.
Competitors were given just under two and a half hours to create an appetizer and an entrée, using the mystery items in the Black Box, which this year were whole local sole and whole fresh duck. Jasper's winning dishes were an appetizer of pan seared sole with leek fondue stuffed gougères and a sour apple reduction, and an entrée of pan roasted duck breast, with potato pavé, a carrot purée confit, tomato relish and natural jus.
At the awards ceremony following the competition, guests from Vancouver's hospitality scene witnessed the awarding of second place to Nick Surowy from The Fairmont Waterfront, with third place going to Jonathan Boerboom of The Fairmont Pacific Rim.
Jonathan, a graduate of The International Culinary School, and currently working with David Wong, Canada's representative for the Bocuse d'Or Competition 2009, acknowledged the role that schooling played in preparing him for competing. "All through our training, we were able to take part in a number of competitions and were taught the skills that are really important to do well in them" he said.
Donald Gyurkovits, Instructor at The International Culinary School and President of the BC Chefs Association, said that competitors are becoming more creative every year in the ways they create their dishes, "using techniques and equipment that we would never have previously thought of using to cook food."
The competing chefs were selected by their Executive Chefs on the basis of career potential, current position and experience, which cannot exceed three years. The panel of judges assessing the culinary creations was selected from top industry professionals, culinary media and award-winning executive chefs. The identities of the competitors were not revealed until the judging was complete, allowing judges to critique each dish with complete objectivity.