Jeff Kangs heart dropped when he was told he had 30 minutes to come up with a recipe for crocodile. And not just a recipe he had to cook the dish in that timeframe, too.
Hed eaten crocodile once before and, of its taste, could only say Im not a fan.
But chefs are accustomed to stress so Kang just went to work. In front of an audience at Mondays Roasted competition at the Food Expo trade show, he poached and deep fried the crocodile and then served it with far more appetizing seared eye of sirloin, garnished with a black garlic and parsnip puree.
His composure under pressure, presentation on the plate and tasteful creations earned him top marks in the 2012 B.C. Chef of the Year competition. The junior sous-chef at Diva at the Met outcooked nine other chefs to earn the honour of representing the province at the national competition sponsored by the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association.
Dan Craig of Delta Burnaby was runner-up, with William Tse of the Sandbar on Granville Island coming in third. (Tse also competed in the Chinese Chef of the Year, earning a silver medal.)
In a small utilitarian room behind the competition kitchen at the convention centre, three judges critiqued each of the three course: Bruno Marti, chef/owner of La Belle Auberge (and described as the godfather of Vancouver cuisine), Margaret Chisholm, executive chef at Culinary Capers, and Bob Kovachevich, corporate chef at Executive Hotels.
They took their job seriously because they take the title of B.C. Chef of the Year seriously. The winning chef would be defending the provinces reputation.
We are the best province in the country and we should stay that way, Marti said. But as brutally honest he could be in his comments on the dishes that appeared before him, he had nothing but admiration for the 10 young chefs who were willing to put their egos on the line for the competition. Its a miracle to cook something like this in half an hour.
