I entered an Iron Chef competition and we had an hour but we lost. Now, I wanna find a good strategy to practice for next year so that any secret ingredient they throw at me and my team, we'd be able to get started right away with it.
So I know I need to practice timing and all. Like let's say the secret ingredient I have to work with is nutmeg, that's a good secret ingredient to train with because then if they give another spice like cloves or cinnamon or anything like that, I can STILL use the same recipe, but just add that spice instead of the original one.
Please I need help-I wanna amaze the judges next year at creativity and difficulty and I wanna be one of the people with that competitve edge. Thanks guys!! ; P
Aside from losing because of time, (you said and all), look at your weaknesses & what you could improve on. I would look at a variety of cookbooks at different cusines to familiarize yourself with the ingredients. Watch Food Network, but watch a variety of the cooking shows – Italian etc. Look at your strong points and embellish those. Work with tools that are familiar to you, knives, cooking appliances etc. Practice as often as possible and on other people that will give you good input re taste and how you can tweak the recipe or method. Good luck.
Creative Thinking, Innovation, Creativity Training
#1 by Dawn S on June 14, 2009 - 1:59 am
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This is not an easy question because I know nothing about your culinary background and experience. But the secret ingredient is supposed to be the main focus of the dish, and chances are spice is not gonna be an secret ingredient. However, there are a few things that you could do to prepare for the competition:
1. Watch all the Iron Chef episodes especially the Japanese version, which could certainly help in terms of creativity.
2. Try using different ingredients that you have never used before. Let say Chinese shrimp paste is an extremely difficult ingredient to use. It can be your best friend if you use it right. But it can also be your worse enemy if you use it wrong. Find out how Chinese chef use it and then twist or intergrate it into something you always work with. I have seen French chef using Chinese shrimp paste. And if you can do that too, you have a chance to go up against the Iron Chefs.
3. Practice practice practice! The thing with most of the chefs is the more experience you have, the better you are.
4. Pick the weakest Iron Chef to compete with.
Good Luck
References :
#2 by In the Kitchen on June 14, 2009 - 2:49 am
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Aside from losing because of time, (you said and all), look at your weaknesses & what you could improve on. I would look at a variety of cookbooks at different cusines to familiarize yourself with the ingredients. Watch Food Network, but watch a variety of the cooking shows – Italian etc. Look at your strong points and embellish those. Work with tools that are familiar to you, knives, cooking appliances etc. Practice as often as possible and on other people that will give you good input re taste and how you can tweak the recipe or method. Good luck.
References :