I'm taking part in MasterChef Krakow Edition?! Amazing Experience! TIP!!
Good Evening Food Lovers
What a wonderful experience was this!! As I have a couple of colleagues who love to cook as well, we decided to kick off a Krakow MasterChef event and the first edition was awesome!
The idea:
- 4 Chef's
- 4 rounds (every 2 weeks one Chef)
- Everyone may take a +1
- 3 dishes (starter,main,dessert)
- Separately (anonymous) voting for each dish
- Winner get's a nice bottle of Scotch!
So, as we're all quite competitive... (I mean, I am not as competitive as my French friend as that's almost impossible to achieve but, I DO WANT TO WIN THIS COMPETITION OF COURSE!!!) I've created an 'official' voting form for all of us:
So yeah, as you can see this is the voting card. For every dish, you vote separately (0-10 score). As we wanted to keep the pressure on it, we decided to have the possibility to vote on the presentation (25% weight) and taste (75% weight) of each dish.
The voting is done straight after everyone finished a dish when the Chef is not at the table anymore.
R O U N D 1
The host of our first round is my friend from France who cooks a lot, and actually is very great at it. He traveled a lot around the globe and when he did, he took local cooking classes. It could be very risky to let him start as it will directly show on what kind of level we're competing, but on the other hand, it gives more motivation for us to win. Also, the one who kicks of this event has the most pressure on his shoulders so, will this let him panic and mess up the dishes????
Well, I need to say that at least there was nothing wrong with the presentation of the table, 10+.
Of course, we kicked off the evening first with a nice single malt whiskey and terribly great wine before kicking our Chef to his kitchen.
First dish on the way
The dish: Salmon gravlax on toasted bread with fresh chutney and dill, with a tartar of salmon-mango served on a slice of roasted pineapple. Excellent choice, even a better taste!
I know, the portion looks quite big but as it was quite a light dish, it was great. Especially how the mango and salmon tartar came together as 1, it was so very much appreciated.
The Main Dish
The dish: This was a classic risotto, served with marinaded shrimps(olive oil, garlic, lemon, ginger, thyme). I still hear him saying 'I chose a safe dish, risotto'. Well, I must say that it was very risky as it's not that as simple as it looks to make a good risotto, but in this case, it worked out quite well. I really liked the presentation of the dish, definitely a 10 worthy. The taste? It was very good, especially the shrimps were very well spiced. The risotto was good, but I didn't like that it was a bit too cheesy (parmesan). Beside of this, a great dish worthy to pay for if I had this in a restaurant.
And, as last but not least, DESSERT
The dish: pannacotta with a mango coulis. Usually, I am not a big fan of sweet desserts, actually, I almost never buy it when I'm in a restaurant, but at this evening I needed to give this a try and I am very glad that I did!!! I never, but seriously never had such a great dessert in my entire life. I agree that the presentation could have been a bit better, but when I had this new taste sensation in my mouth, the presentation didn't even bother me for a second anymore.
This was an unforgettable evening with friends, colleagues and +1's. I think we all can say that the pressure is high now, but also that we look forward to the next rounds!!
Of course, I will keep you all posted during the next weeks. Let's see who will be Krakow's next MasterChef!!