Fun With Carbs

What would you do with these miscellaneous ingredients?

Alaskan king crab, tomatillos, fennel, horseradish root, blue cornmeal, mango chutney and Boursin cheese. GO.

What do these fairly incongruous ingredients have in common? They were the seven items chosen for the ‘Boiling Point’ competition held during the 2010 Culinary Olympics at the University of Connecticut Thursday.

The 16 three-person teams competing in the ‘Iron Chef’-like event had 90 minutes and just two small butane burners at their disposal to create three small ‘tapas’ plates that incorporated all seven ingredients, plus their choice of additional items from a nearby pantry.

Fun With Carbs was honored to be part of this event’s four-person judging panel, along with UConn VP of student affairs John Saddlemire, Bon Appetit contributing writer Rand Richards Cooper and Lincoln Technical Institute culinary program manager Richard Moriarty.  The four of us were tasked with tasting 48 creative and inventive tapas, crafted by UConn’s talented Department of Dining Services chefs. It wasn’t as easy as it sounds…

I learned a lot during my first stint as a cooking-competition judge. Though spending an afternoon tasting plate after plate of delicious bites is truly a dream come true, here’s what they don’t necessarily tell you.

1.) You have to pace yourself. We didn’t start tasting until after 2 p.m. and I hadn’t had anything to eat since egg whites with spinach around 9 a.m. But by plate 7 or 8, I was ready for sweatpants. It still would have been a belly-busting day, but maybe I would have taken fewer bites in the beginning.

2.) You have to take great notes. Though the tapas themselves were surprisingly varied (the chefs showed real creativity and skill) there were a lot of repetitive ingredients. Lots of crab-and-shrimp combinations. Lots of prosciutto. Almost everyone did something with mango. Without our clearly written notes, we would have had a hard time deciding on winners at the end of the day.

3.) Yes, you can have too much of a good thing. I was stoked when I saw Alaskan king crab as the ‘protein’ for the Boiling Point competition, and a big tray of raw shrimp in the pantry. No one loves seafood as much as this girl. But by plate 15, I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to see a crustacean again. The same went for the Boursin cheese, which was increasingly rich with each bite. And did I mention that the pantry supplies included ‘extra heavy cream’ with 40% butterfat?

4.) Do not make dinner plans for later. Seriously. I was planning to eat with my friend Jeff at Willington Pizza. We met up anyway, but I pretty much just had beer. When Jeff ordered the pizzeria’s Seafood Casino pie, I had to turn away.

The winning entries:

Third Place: Ginger Crab Salsa Verde; Mozzarella and Prosciutto Stuffed Cabbage with an Apple Glaze; Shrimp on Toast with Horseradish Boursin and green onions

Second Place: Prosciutto Fennel Crab Roll; Shrimp and Crab Fennel sausage; Crab Cake with Tomatillo Salsa

First Place: Mango Chutney & Apple Pear Napoleon; Blue Corn Crab Leg with Garlic Horseradish Aioli;  Shrimp and Tomatillo Crepe with a Mango Beurre Blanc

The winning team, which served plate number 10, was the only one to do a ‘dessert’ as one of their three tapas. The napoleon was stacked with fried wontons and layered with the fruit spreads. By that point, our palates most definitely needed something sweet. The crepe was very inventive and the crab legs rolled in blue cornmeal were a welcome change from a lot of the cornmeal-dusted shrimp we saw.

In addition to the popular ‘Boiling Point’ competition, chefs also competed in a recipe contest judged by local culinary school directors and restaurateurs, and a cake-decorating competition with a ‘Woodstock’ theme.

The event was a whole lot of fun, and I walked away with serious respect for UConn’s culinary team. Not only do they effectively feed thousands of hungry students all day, but they do it with flair and artistry. This seems like a wonderful opportunity for them to showcase their talents.

Photos below….