2010 Winter Kitchen Challenge — Selecting Your Cooking Competition Menu

Celebrate the comfort of winter with a selection of hand-picked produce and the highest quality meats for your exciting Kitchen Challenge party. Our cornucopia is stocked with hearty vegetables and an array of tasty grains to suit your fancy. With a full pantry of complementary herbs, spices and staples, the cooking possibilities are endless! We are glad to provide for special dietary needs – please let us know.

Which daring Kitchen Challenge ingredients will teams face in this culinary showdown?
The main ingredients you choose will be the foundation of an exciting 5-star gourmet meal!

 

•    Gingerbread Baby Cakes with Aunt Mimi’s Bourbon Cream Sauce
•    Pumpkin Brioche Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce
•    Crespelli Gianduja: Crepes filled with Hazelnut-Chocolate Cream
•    Warm Scharffen Berger Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce
•    Dulce de Leche Quatro Leches Cakes
•    Mini Apple Upside-Down Cornmeal Cakes with Soft Whipped Cream
•    Almond Butter Cake with Poached Oranges
•    Mexican Chocolate Soufflés with Soft Cinnamon Whipped Cream

The teams have 60 minutes to wield their culinary prowess and submit for judging a fully plated meal. They are judged on taste, creativity and teamwork. In addition, to encourage team building, each team will elect an MVP for their team. MVPs win a cookbook (our popular recipe card deck), and the winning team members exchange hi-fives with Parties That Cook embroidered oven mitts.

Upon arrival, guests are welcomed with a beverage of your choice and hors d’œuvres.  During the first half hour, guests have an opportunity to mingle, meet their chefs, and skim the extensive pantry to get their creative juices flowing.  They will find cooking stations outfitted with kitchen equipment and tools, fresh produce cleaned and prepped, and tables set for an elegant sit-down dinner. We will stream music personalized to your group’s taste.

 

Once all your guests have arrived and are comfortably settled, your Lead Chef will kick-off the competition with an introduction to the Challenge, competition guidelines and rules of engagement. At this point, the chef will introduce the Challenge Ingredients you have selected. This is followed by an interactive cooking demonstration where your guests will learn kitchen tips and tricks and knife skills -- applicable to both the novice and the gourmet chef -- which they can use to get an edge against the competition, and for a lifetime. The guests are divided into teams - either predetermined by you or chosen by the chef.  

 

Prior to the competition start bell, each team will have 10 minutes to confer, collaborate and strategize on the cuisine theme and carve out a menu that will shred and fry the competition. They will also whisk-up a catchy team name and choose a team leader. We encourage a divide-and-conquer strategy for the battle, so each team will form subgroups to tackle the protein, starch, vegetable and dessert. A professional chef is dedicated to each team as coach. We will also provide recipe packets, in case any team needs a dash of inspiration or prefers spoon-fed directions.  The Lead Chef then rings the start bell for 60 minutes of competitive cooking and triggers the race to the pantry stocked with delectably fresh ingredients.  (Will the items you need be there or is it back to the drawing board?!).

 

At the 60th minute, each team will present their entry -- a plate exhibiting all 3 components and complete with creative plate presentation, and a dessert -- for show and tell and judging submission. Each Team Leader is given a couple of minutes to sell and market the team’s creation. The teams will then proceed to plate and sit down to enjoy the 4-star gourmet meal they have whipped up. Our wait staff will ensure the best professional and top restaurant-quality service as your guests enjoy the fruits of their labor.

 

During the meal, the judges will assess the dishes submitted based on these criteria: taste, seasoning, appearance, texture as well as the originality of the dish, and plate presentation.  There will be several category winners – best protein, best starch, best vegetable, best dessert and best plate presentation – and a grand overall winner.  The Lead Chef will announce the MVP from each team at the end of the main course, and the category winners and winning team during dessert.  MVPs will get a set of the Parties That Cook Sumptuous Small Plates recipe deck by Bibby Gignilliat (a $17.95 value each) and winning team members will get a specially designed Parties That Cook oven mitt each (a $12 value each). 

 

At Parties That Cook Kitchen Challenge, nobody gets a "You’re fired."  Everybody gets fired up!