RCN cook-off challenge puts top navy chefs to the test

Team CANSUBFOR presents the judges with their roasted chicken dish, complete with a side of sauteed carrots, hummus, roasted red peppers, and oven roasted potatoes.  Left: Team CFB Esquimalt’s roasted chicken and brown butter sauce dish.

Team CANSUBFOR presents the judges with their roasted chicken dish, complete with a side of sauteed carrots, hummus, roasted red peppers, and oven roasted potatoes.
Left: Team CFB Esquimalt’s roasted chicken and brown butter sauce dish.

Rachel Lallouz, Staff Writer ~

In a contest reminiscent of Chopped and Iron Chef, four navy cooks battled each other and the ingredients last Wednesday in the RCN Cooks Skills Challenge.

Two cooks to a team, they were given a few minutes to select ingredients from the Chief and Petty Officers’ Mess pantry.

Then each team was handed a black box filled with four mystery ingredients – strawberries, bacon, chicken and chocolate – to be incorporated into one entrée and one dessert.

With only two hours to create an innovative and winning feast, the teams set to work. Master Seaman Rob Williamson and Petty Officer Second Class Jason Auer comprised Team CFB Esquimalt, while Master Seaman Tommy Thouin and Master Seaman Matthew Breckon, from HMCS Victoria, comprised Team CANSUBFOR.

“We were looking for something non-traditional and for the cooks to use the skills they already have,” said CPO2 Colin Winkler, who joined CPO1 Robert Spinelli, CPO1 Mike Feltham, MS Daniel Clarke, and Lieutenant (Navy) Bryce Binder at the judging table.

Judges assessed the teams and dishes on presentation, sanitation, organization, product utilization, preparation, technical skill, and of course, taste. PO2 Auer boasted his experience cooking at the Admiral’s house, and his seafaring travels to Asia and South America gave him a much-needed edge.

But even with his experience, he found the competition challenging. “You really couldn’t prep for this competition,” he says.

“Without knowing the mystery ingredients, there was no way to predict what we could do.”

Team CANSUBFOR marinated their chicken breast in lemon juice and rosemary, and then charbroiled it for elegant criss-cross lines, before finishing it in the oven.

They served the breast on a bed of freshly made hummus garnished with roasted peppers.

Also part of their entrée was a chicken thigh marinated in red wine and rosemary, also charbroiled and finished in the oven.

Once on the plate it was drizzled with a red wine, bay leaf, and onion reduction.

Complementing the chicken “two ways” were carrots sautéed with brown sugar and oven roasted potatoes.

For dessert, the team layered chocolate mousse on a chocolate cookie, garnished the mousse with strawberry rhubarb compote, and finished the plate with whipped cream and dark chocolate spirals.

Team CFB Esquimalt pounded out their chicken breast, before stuffing it with a sautéed mixture of onion, peppers, garlic, bacon, Parmesan and dark chicken meat.

The roll was roasted and served with candied bacon, Parmesan Saratoga chips, a deep fried basil leaf, and rich brown butter sauce.

Dessert was a chocolate churro topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, with a sprinkling of crumbled cooked bacon over top. Judges deemed Team CFB Esquimalt to be the winners with a total score of 333, slightly edging out Team CANSUBFOR who scored 326.

The winning team is heading to Toronto July 2 to compete in the national navy cooking competition at the Redpath Waterfront Festival.

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