World Food Championships 2015 Part 3: Top Ten Bacon recipes. The Super Bowl of Food Sport. My recipe for American Red Snapper Bacon Mushroom Hash and Bacon Parsnip Porridge ranked 4th in the WORLD.
Getting in the "Zone" and making Bacon history at the 2015 World Food Championships in Kissimmee FL!
To enter the Super Bowl of Food Sport is not for the faint of heart; it requires serious skill in the kitchen and a deep desire to WIN! From start to finish, WFC is a marathon food sporting event, and like any athlete in training...conditioning starts months before stepping onto the field. Even with mad cooking skills there is no guarantee for entry into such a prestigious cooking competition. In the effort to gain entry, competitors must qualifying with a winning recipe by earning a highly coveted Golden Ticket!
I had the honor of qualifying by winning not 1...but 2 Golden Tickets, in online competitions. The first winning qualifier was Penobscot McCrum #TaterTalent Recipe Contest. My Sweet & Savory Clam-Baked, Twice Baked Potato with Apricot Jezebel, got me a Golden Ticket and qualified me for the Seafood Category.
However, as First Runner-Up, fees and expenses are not paid by the sponsor. That honor goes to the First Place Winner, which happened to be my friend and food competitor, Adam Feinberg, owner of Feintasting Foods!
Rebecka Evans & Adam Feinberg WFC 2015 Celebrating my BACON Top Ten Win!! I love that like-minded people from around the World can come together, and be a part of a competition where your competitors are also your friends and biggest cheerleaders! Some people get a little cranky when it comes to winning but for the most part, foodie friends are friends for life!
Photo by Penobscot McCrum
My second Golden Ticket and cash prize of $200.00 for WFC entry fees, came from Just A Pinch® online community. Janet Tharp and her Kitchen Crew picked my Dutch Apple Baby with Blackberry Hoisin Bacon recipe, as a Blue Ribbon winner to represent their company in the Bacon Category. I presented the winning recipe at WFC 2015 as my Signature dish and received 91.75%, placing me in Bacon Top Ten Round.
Once the Food Competitor has received a Golden Ticket, endorsements, sponsorship and support from brands are in order. I was so proud to be sponsored by Hammer Stahl Cutlery with a set of glorious chefs knives, backpack, and knife case. The Boning Knife was my saving grace when it came to deboning the beautiful American Red Snapper, for my Top Ten Round, Infused Bacon Recipe. The exceptional quality and workmanship of the blade was like cutting with a laser beam; sliding through the fishes flesh like butter.
Hammer Stahl Sponsor Swag
The next step for me was to find a "Team" of qualified sous chefs to support me in Kenmore Kitchen Arena. God had a plan!! As a first timer to WFC, I had no idea who, how, what, where and when. I did, however, have an online support group of friends in the food competitor community. Kim Banick, food competitor an award-winning home cook, owner of The Prize of Cooking, and seasoned World Food Champion, offered to be my sous chef for the opening round. She reached out to me without knowing anything about me except through social media groups. God knew I needed help competing in such a prestigious event for the very first time. Kim shared her wisdom as a competitive cook as well as, her sweet spirit and gracious attitude. She also, brought with her a team of sous, Mark Banick and Kasey Brown. We cooked together, we prayed together, and we took TOP TEN in the Bacon Category!
Kim and her team were also competitors at #WFC2015 in the Chili Category and scheduled to compete the next day during my Top Ten Round....I had to find another sous, and fast! Enter my little dynamite, Kc Quaretti, owner of Chat 'n Dish and food competitor in the Dessert Category the day before. KC graciously accepted my plea for help and became my sous for Top Ten Bacon Round. Kasey Brown from the Banick team also showed up to help while the Chili-Heads were in a holding pattern.
With help from my friends and family, #WFC2015 Game Day found me and my team, belly deep in fish scales and up to our eyeballs in the most delicious BACON in the World, Wright Brand Bacon. My two sous, KC and Kasey lifted me up both physically and spiritually as we churned out one of the the best tasting recipes I've ever created; I couldn't have asked for a better team or winning result. For a first time competitor, 4th place in the World is pretty darn respectable!
Below you'll find a video produced by Wright Brand Bacon featuring a few of my bacon competitors and me, the list of Top Ten WFC 2015 Official Scores, and my winning recipe for American Red Snapper Bacon Mushroom Hash and Parsnip Porridge.
Top Ten winners, in all the categories are pre-qualified to compete at the World Food Championships 2016. I'll be returning as a veteran "Food Sport" athlete to compete in the Bacon category and ready to take home a 1ST place win in the next Super Bowl of food sport.... World Food Championships 2016!
American Red Snapper Bacon Mushroom Hash and Bacon Parsnip Porridge
Ingredients
- 1 3 pound whole American Red Snapper
- 1 pound Applewood Smoked Wright Brand Bacon divided
- 2 large 1 large russet potato skins on (about 2 cups) peeled and diced Optional: Penobscot Potato Skins
- 4-5 parsnips (about 1/12 cups) peeled and diced
- 1 ear fresh corn
- 1 cup canned creamed corn
- ⅔ cups chopped leeks white part only
- 5 clove garlic minced, divided
- 1 cup Challenge European butter divided
- 2 cups chicken stock plus ½ cup more if necessary for consistency
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 3 cups mixed mushrooms Enoki, Shiitake, Beech cleaned and rough chopped
- ½ medium onion diced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil divided, and more if needed,
- 2 cups vegetable oil for frying
- Juice from ½ lemon
- 3 tablespoon fresh thyme divided
- 1 tablespoon fancy pimientos chopped
- 6 each whole okra, sliced
- ½ cup corn meal
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
For the American Red Snapper
- Scale and clean whole red snapper, leaving skin on. Optional: remove skin
- Cut into 4-3 once portions, dry fish with paper towel. Season with salt and pepper
For the American Red Snapper
- To make compound butter, combine 1 ½ sticks room temperature butter, juice from ½ lemon, 2 tablespoon fresh or dried thyme. Refrigerate until ready to use
- In a medium sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter
- Place seasoned American Red Snapper skin side down in hot pan and cook on first side for 3 minutes, gently flip fish and cook until done. Remove fish from pan and rest until ready to plate
For the Bacon Corn Porridge
- Cook ½ pound diced Wright Brand Bacon in a saucepan over medium heat until crisp, remove bacon and set aside (reserve out ¼ cup cooked bacon crumbles for garnish)
- Pour off bacon fat
- Cut fresh corn from cob
- In the same pan, dry roast fresh corn, remove from pan and set aside
- Add 1 tablespoon butter
- Chop leeks using white parts only, sauté leeks, and garlic until translucent
- Add chicken stock and deglaze pan
- Add diced Penobscot potatoes, and diced parsnips
- Cook until potatoes and parsnips are fork tender
- Using an immersion blender, blend potato and parsnip until smooth
- Add creamed corn and fresh roasted corn, add additional stock if mixture is too thick (should be the consistency of clam chowder) bring to a boil, cook for 2-3 mounts
- Reduce heat, and simmer over medium heat until ready to serve, about 30 minutes
- About 5 minutes prior to serving stir in, ½ cup heavy cream, cook another 2-3 minutes
For the Bacon Mushroom Potato Hash
- Using two sauce pans, prepare mushrooms and potatoes separately, you will combine later.
- Rough chop mushrooms
Mushrooms
- In a medium statue pan, melt 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter over medium high heat
- Add mushrooms and sauté until juices release
- season with salt and pepper, taste
- Continue cooking until mushroom are caramelized, add more oil as necessary, cut the heat and set aside until ready to combine
Potatoes
- In separate sauce pan, cook remaining ½ pound bacon until crisp, remove bacon and set aside, remove excess bacon fat.
- Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter to pan
- Cook diced onion, and potatoes for 15 minutes or until crispy and caramelized, season with salt and pepper. Taste for seasoning.
- Add 2 tablespoons chopped thyme and stir to combine.
- Combine cooked mushrooms with cooked potatoes and cook over medium heat until all ingredients are hot. Cut heat to low
- Okra: In a small bowl, combine corn meal, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper. Slice Orka in half, lengthwise, dredge in corn meal mix. Add 1 vegetable cup oil to pan and sauté over medium heat until crisp. Light salt and use for garnish
To Plate
- Divide hash into half of each bowl/plate
- Pour porridge in the other half of bowl/plate. Some of the porridge will run into the hash, this is ok
- Place a piece of cooked American red Snapper over the plated ingredients.
- Place a teaspoon of compound butter on top of each fish filet, right before serving
- Garnish with chopped bacon crumbles, fresh chopped thyme, lemon zest and slices of lemon and chopped pimientos
2015 Bacon World Food Championships American red Snapper with Wild Mushroom Hash and Parsnip Bacon Porridge. Winner 4th in the World
World Food Championships 2015 - OFFICIAL TOP 10 SCORES
BACON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
| BACON
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2015 |
Official Scores | |||||
| Place | Competitor | Signature Dish | Structured Build | Round 1 | Top 10 | Final Score |
|
1 |
Mirbeau (Coe, Stephen) |
96.625 |
95 |
95.8125 |
93.875 |
94.65 |
|
2 |
Cuisine with Colleen (Curley, Colleen) |
94.625 |
85.5 |
90.0625 |
86.5 |
87.925 |
|
3 |
Sugarfire Smokehouse (Johnson, Mike) |
89.5 |
90.375 |
89.9375 |
86.5 |
87.875 |
|
4 |
At Home with Rebecka (Evans, Rebecka) |
91.75 |
84.5 |
88.125 |
86.75 |
87.3 |
|
5 |
Katherine Foster (Foster, Katherine) |
90.75 |
90.625 |
90.6875 |
81.75 |
85.325 |
|
6 |
Apple Valley BBQ (White, Justin) |
92.875 |
90.125 |
91.5 |
80.375 |
84.825 |
|
7 |
Q Borough Culinarians (Ashby, Adrian) |
93 |
91.75 |
92.375 |
78.5 |
84.05 |
|
8 |
Farleys (Trumpold, Elizabeth ) |
92.875 |
81.5 |
87.1875 |
81.75 |
83.925 |
|
9 |
Blazin' Blues BBQ (Richard, Dan) |
90.125 |
91.25 |
90.6875 |
78.5 |
83.375 |
|
10 |
Two Smokin Guys,NY (Galuski, Dave) |
85.875 |
89 |
87.4375 |
77.375 |
81.4 |
KC Quaretti
Rebecka, it was an HONOR to be asked to be your sous chef! You are talented, caring, and one classy lady! I would cook with you anytime and anywhere! To everyone; this is an amazing dish!!!!
athomewithrebecka
Kc, I'm blessed to have you in my kitchen at #WFC2015 and plan to cook with you again in the future. Wish I could sous for you this coming year!!! Thank you for everything...I adore you!