140 minutes… of fear
Arriving
at Tien Son Sports Hall, teams of North Central Coast regions had quickly
gathered necessary ingredients before the cooking session started as well as
brought the banquet table display into group discussion. Among all hustle and
bustle of the surroundings, a young chef was calmly concentrating on his team’s
table presentation. That chef is Phan Duy Quy – leader of Team no. 63 from
Grand Sunrise Hotel Da Nang.
People
usually recognize him for his tall, brawny shape and sweats streaming
continuously from his face; which drew him even more attention from the crowd
in the cooking session. During 140 minutes, Quy and his team briskly carried
out the intended menu within the time allotted. His moves were sharp, showing
the professionalism and desire to win. He seemingly involved in every stage
from processing, cooking, seasoning, garnishing to displaying on the table.
Chef Phan Duy Quy is prepping for his team’s table display.
During
the competition day, Quy didn’t seem to take a break. The chef, born 1993,
rushed back and forth from the cooking station to the oven, from the display
table back to the cooking station. His energy was greatly applauded by
spectators, among who are his students from Netspace School of Culinary Arts.
Quy did well until the last minute. When the time was up, he dropped his tools
in relief. The chef profusely perspired after a 140-minute marathon in the
cooking station.
In
a brief interview after the cooking session, Quy said, “This is the first time
I competed in the Golden Spoon Awards, so I do not have much experience. I also
would want to showcase various types of spice and herbs that I myself found,
however, there was not enough time. Luckily, I finished everything just in
time. In the end, things went pretty well thanks to my team’s support including
my girlfriend’s”.
Taste quest in Hon
Tau
Articulating
fluently while hurriedly finalizing the menu, Quy told us the story of his
team’s journey to find new spices. “In order to create our own menu, I spent a
lot of thought. Coming from the theme Hometown
flavor in the age of global integration, I decided to introduce specialties
of Que Son – my maternal hometown. The place is famous for different types of
spice and inexpensive ingredients that not many people have heard of. It is
also where I lived most of my childhood”, said he.
Unhesitant,
Quy and his teammates started a “pilgrim” to the forest of Hon Tau, a mountainous
area forming the provincial border between Duy Xuyen, Nong Son and Que Son of
Quang Nam with the area of nearly 100 sq. km consisting of rugged cliffs of Nha
Muoi, Cu Hang, Mat Rang and multiple large caves. Hon Tau is known for being
the military base of revolutionary forces during the final years of Resistance
War Against America.
The
journey in search of spices lasted two days one night. “Although we already
have some spices in hand to use, we still embark this trip in hope of building
a more colorful and diverse menu. This is the first trekking trip we have made,
hence, were quite inexperienced. Day one, everything went on well until the sun
came down. We didn’t bring enough food; and it began to rain so heavily that we
could not either retreat or move forward. We decided to camp there one night.
The morning after that, on the way down, we fortunately met a local who showed
us where to find the wild leaves such as shiny-leaf prickly-ash, peperomia,
gamboge, bush okra, pandan, ixora, moringa, etc.”.
The
men brought all the leaves they found from the trip to the prelim,
incorporating them with Quang Nam’s produce to create an impressive menu.
Besides the seafood, meat and dessert courses, they cooked three different
entrées which includes: Spurdog salad
with tamarind leaf and chay fruit fish paste – Yam bean noodle rolled salad and
Cau Mong veal with Tra Que herbs – Three-layer seafood roll – Hot stoned giant
river prawn with Hong Dao wine, A Mot pepper, smashed purple sweet potato,
pandan leaf and assorted greens salad; Deo Le chicken and wild star fruit vine
served with Que Son yam bean noodle; Que Son sweet potato served with moringa
nitrogen ice cream.
Quy
said, “The menu I created follow our intinerary in search for wild moringa at
the foot, star fruit vine in the middle, pandan leaf, gamboge, shiny-leaf
prickly-ash, bush okra on the flank and tamarind leaf on the top of the
mountain. Our banquet table is also arranged in this way”.
The banquet table is inspired by the journey to Hon Tau of Team no. 63. At the bottom – foot of the mountain – is Que Son sweet potato served with moringa nitrogen ice cream; the middle Deo Le chicken and wild star fruit vine served with Que Son yam bean noodle; the peak spurdog salad with tamarind leaf and chay fruit fish paste– Yam bean noodle rolled salad and Cau Mong veal with Tra Que herbs – Three-layer seafood roll.
Bring local produces
to a new level
Not
only leaving audience and the judge panel with admiration for the
aforementioned journey, the menu also introduced various local produces such as
Cau Mong veal, Tra Que herbs, Non Nuoc stones, Hong Dao wine, A Mot pepper, Que
Son sweet potato and yam bean noodle. Team no. 63 brought along new tastes for
the dishes by exploring and improvising in the ways to process ingredients.
Quy
was not hesitant to mix all leaves and wild flowers found into a unique, tasty
leafy salad which was served with giant river prawn steamed using Non Nuoc hot
stones and Hong Dao wine, and A Mot pepper, smashed purple sweet potato with
pandan leaf.
The
young teacher of Western kitchen shared, “This is the first time I made this
kind of salad. It is an experiment that crossed my mind after the trip. The
salad includes gamboge which gives fresh acidity, peperomia that tastes
slightly sour, shiny-leaf prickly-ash that provides minty and citrus flavors,
moringa that possesses great health benefits and bush okra which has umami
taste. All of them create a mixture of sweet-sour flavor and aroma which
enhance the distinct taste of giant river prawn.
Hot stoned giant river prawn with Hong Dao wine, A Mot pepper, smashed purple sweet potato, pandan leaf and assorted greens salad received a lot of compliments from the judge panel.
One
more special thing about this dish is the giant river prawn cooked with Non
Nuoc hot stones. Quy told us he used lava stones from Non Nuoc mountain. The
advantage of cooking food using hot stones is that the dish can reserve its
healthy nutrients, the meat will be cooked through but still better remains
juiciness and meaty sweetness than normal grilling methods.
Judge
Vu Kim Anh – former Deputy Director, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture,
Sports and Tourism, commented on the menu, “I was impressed by your team’s
performance. Especially, I really like A Mot pepper from the forest of Tay
Giang that you adopted in your recipes. It is a special condiment that Co Tu
ethnic community prefers. Besides, you make good use of Vietnamese local spices
into your dishes, which helps elevates their tastes to a whole new level. However,
the spurdog salad with tamarind leaf and chay fruit fish paste is too sour for
me”.
After
the competition, his team was one of eight second place finishes and qualified
for the final round. When asked about his future plan, Quy said, “During the prelim,
I had a mild success introducing local specialties of my maternal hometown, Que
Son. In order to prepare for the coming final round, I intend to showcase those
from Thang Binh, my paternal land. Though that could make or break our team’s
performance, our ultimate purpose is to learn and introduce delicious fare to
promote our local cuisine”.
By Tran Phong