Final round of the 2015 Golden Spoon Contest: Excitedly encoding “Black Box”

There are only a few returning chefs among the 15 teams in the final round. There was a general feeling of worry and anxiety among the contestants. Even experienced and talented chefs like the one from Lotte Hotel Hanoi - a winner of two previous rounds - felt the pressure to the point of uncertainty in what to prepare. Some chefs recall the information provided about the final round, remember the advice, but still feel worried. “While judges were preparing the ingredients in the super market there was a tortoise near the box. I wondered if they will put in a tortoise or snake in the black box this year. If I got the box that had these ingredients then it would be the end for me because I have never cooked these type of dishes in my restaurant,” shared Chef Tran Thai Bao.

Champion of the 2014 Golden Spoon contest Chef Tran Thai Bao from Caravelle Saigon shared his experiences: “If you don’t know yet what are the main ingredients then you need to understand associated spices. For instance, we divide them into different groups: the starch group will include sweet potato, cassava; associated protein could be egg. With those ingredients then what we can do? We can think of some small dishes to use, perhaps, for decoration. Normally everyone focus too much on the main ingredients and forgets about the associated ingredients.

“Every team has prepared many different scenarios, such as if they have fish or prawns then they will know what to do. If they are duck, dove, quail, beef or pork, what can they make? Even if they consider stewing, steaming, grilling, or fry they must eliminate dishes that take a lot time to do. It is more of a challenge if they have eel or tortoise -then what can they do? Anything can happen,” shared Chef Bao. “With duck I will do two dishes: stewed duck thigh and duck breast will be breaded, seasoned with the spices provided, then fried.

“For the duck innards I will cook with broth to make a sauce. We can use the fat with some chopped garlic or ginger and fry with potato or sweet potato to have a side dish. Anyway, I have thought about it during a month and tried to prepare in my mind more than 10 scenarios. So when I meet these situations I can improvise immediately. However I couldn’t share with my team members my concerns, because I am afraid that I will make them more worried and they won’t be calm and focused. I want them to feel as comfortable as possible. Best to wait until I know what ingredients are in the box, then I will assign the task for each of them.”

The champion of the 2014 Golden Spoon contest also shared that the four dishes in the menu must connect with the theme of the party table complement one another. The teams must use the typical spices provided in the black box as well other ingredients. The theme can be created at the time of receiving the ingredients. You need to prioritize the dish which doesn’t take a lot of time. When I thought of the Christmas Party Table, I have thought of it and practiced four to five times until it was perfect. Every time when I practiced I usually stood there just to look and see if it is good enough. I also prepared a tall candle that weighed 25 kg. Besides that I also prepared champagne and specialized tools to hold the champagne after lighting the candles.

Picture: Chef Bao Thai Tran conducted the last step calmly: pouring champagne by a special tool.

“The team leader needs to communicate with his team members often to ensure that they can respond to next steps as well as carefully mind the time. Moreover, the leader needs to let their team members know what is needed for the next steps. Composure is very important. You must be calm and there is one thing that you need to ensure, which is you have to complete all dishes with all ingredients provided in this unexpected situation. All try their best to complete the contest. Don’t worry too much about winning or losing, because it will cause you more pressure and stress.”

Picture: Keeping calm and resolute in this professional contest is very important

Only Real Gold Can Withstand The Flame

Many chefs said that they have issues with composure when they are about to enter the contest. They feel nervous in front of other, stronger, teams as well as the judges. Chef Bao shared more from his own experience: “There are challenges that the judges did on purpose to ensure that we can overcome them. It is important that we have to overcome it by ourselves!”

According to general comment from the judge, skill and techniques of all chefs improve every year. They have impressive and creative dishes such as, salad with jelly fish and rice noodle soup with shrimp, etc. They know how to use common ingredients fluently with different spices as well as new seasoning to create impressive dishes. Therefore the requirement of the contest this year will be harder in this “Secret ingredient – black box” section. “All ingredients in each box will be different completely, maybe there are some associated ingredient will be the same but not all will be the same,” commented Mrs. Bui Thi Suong, cuisine artisan and judge.

Mrs. Suong highlights that to compete and win, the chefs need to be confident, experienced, creative and flexible, as well as adapted with the situation which is completely dictated to them. It is just like when you test the purity of gold through fire. So all chefs need to develop an excellent menu, organize their work properly and coordinate among together in the team.

“I also believe that all the teams have the capacity to overcome themselves. I still can’t predict any results until I see the reaction in their face when they get to see what’s inside the box.

“On the other hand, if we consider the advantages among these teams, each team will have their own strength, so the opportunities can be shared equally among of them. That is what creates the excitement and passion in the final round.”

All the pictures used in this article have been taken from the 2014 Golden Spoon contest

Tan Trung