Having a pallette that was raised more on the subtle nuances of Hardees and Burger King, there was some discussion as to whether I would have the requisite background to judge this contest correctly. However, the idea of being able to give a more bucolic and inexperienced determination to the proceedings seemed to be appealing. So, given my experience in these matters, when I did my judging it was more on the “gosh that looks purdy” and “wonder how that would taste with ketchup” scale than anything else. Sort of like having a Russian judge at a Miss World contest, if you catch my drift.
But I dither. Since it’s late and time is a-wastin’, I’ll dispense with detailed comments on each presentation (since the contest is late now anyway) and limit my notes to just general views on each.
JavaMaven : I agree that it was an interesting “country” touch with the sausage and eggs as the first course. As I had pointed out in another thread, I’d recently had a rather bad experience with sausage and eggs and was delighted to see them on the menu. I was, however, a little taken aback by the dessert description as having a “creamy, molten center” as it made me believe that I might end up biting into lava. I did like the “green” theme that snuck through a few of the dishes and thought it made the “springtime” theme more consistant throughout the meal.
Chef Troy : I must admit to a small conflict of interest here as Troy is my assistant editor on Teemings and fear that if I fail to give him high marks he might begin to sneak insidious typos into each piece he edits. Be that as it may, the creole style impressed me very much and I appreciate his avoiding the temptation to ease out and just prepare Louisiana Bunny Burgers. Also impressive was the dessert; with just the ears sticking out, it rather gave the impression that the rest of the bunny had melted into the champagne glass like the Wicked Witch of the West.
robgruver : Sadly, I was less than impressed by this entry but I’ve given my promise to at least attempt to say something nice about each entry. But, haggis? Haggis?? Well, at any rate the Scottish theme was carried out very well throughout the meal and the notation on the salad of “a variety of dressings to please your taste buds” leads this reviewer to believe that this is where the ketchup comes in. The Whiskey Ice Cream was also a delightful surprise, although after the haggis one might be tempted to dispense with the ice cream part.
Zenster : I was more impressed with Zenster’s international style, what with Canadian, Southwestern, Mexican, and South African flavorings combining into one meal. One suspects, however, that the excuse of “computer problems” was simply a faux so he would have the time to jet around the world to obtain ingredients. On going through the recipes, hower, it seems that a few are very simplistic (i.e, scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes.) I also attempted on of his recipes myself : the Saffron Treble Cream, but as the only latex balloons I could find in the house were lubricated condoms, I fear the results were not quite as he might have envisioned.
All in all, though, I was very impressed with all of the contestants and their creativity and skill. I will be finalizing my scores and sending them into Scylla later this morning. May God have mercy on your souls.
[Edited by Eutychus55 on 04-29-2001 at 05:11 AM]
