Showing posts with label judging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label judging. Show all posts

Friday, October 04, 2019

MEAT LIVESTOCK AUSTRALIA CHALLENGES CHEFS TO RAISE THEIR GAME


Doubletree by Hilton Kuala Lumpur emerged as the Champion of  the 2019 Golden Bull Culinary Competition at this year’s Culinaire Malaysia 2019 which was held from 24-27 September.

The five-man team beat eight other teams in creating the best beef and lamb dishes, to win a challenge tropy, cash prize of RM6,888 and medals. The 1st Runner-Up Royal Brunei Catering walked away with a challenge tropy, cash prize of RM5,888 and medals. Fudehui Group from China grabbed the 2nd runner-up spot, bagging a challenge tropy, cash prize of RM3,888 and medals.

Held in conjunction with Culinaire Malaysia, Meat Livestock Australia (MLA) is the main sponsor of the Golden Bull Culinary Competition. 
 
 
 
 
A total of nine teams from Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, China, Brunei and Taiwan cooked up a storm, pitting their culinary skills and versatility in creating beef and lamb dishes.
 
 
 
 
Judging was based on the teams who displayed best use of secondary cuts of Australian beef and lamb for appetisers and main course. Points were also awarded for cooking temperature, texture, cutting, preparation and seasoning.
 


 

For the MLA Iron Butcher Challenge, Muhamad Adam Yahya from Sama-Sama Hotel KLIA was declared the MLA Iron Butcher champion. He went home with a special knife set, a challenge trophy and a certificate of achievement.


The 1st Runner-Up was Muhammad Faizal Mokhzir from Atlas Gourment Sdn Bhd and 2nd Runner-Up was Mohamad Fauzan Abdul Rahman from Hero Market Sdn Bhd also received similar prizes.


 
This year, 21 butchers from the retail and food-service sectors competed in the preliminary rounds, cutting and portioning out beef carcass and primal cuts of lamb within the allocated 1.5 hours.
 
 
 
 
Judges watched the competitors like hawks, awarding marks for preparation and boning techniques, value-adding ideas (marination), cuts applicable to food service, clean muscle separation, time management, good hygiene practices, orderliness at work, minimisation of food wastage, cost effectiveness and presentation.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
All the quality Aussie beef and lamb for both MLA competitions were supplied by Stanbroke, Murray Pure and Thomas Foods from Australia.

Saturday, August 31, 2019

I ATE 60 MOONCAKES AND SURVIVED TO TELL THE TALE


There’s always a first time for everything, including sampling close to 60 different mooncakes in one session last week. As one of the external judging panel members invited by The Star along with veteran food writer Marian Eu Hooi Khaw, I had the chance to taste the Mid-Autumn Festival creations submitted by participating hotels and restaurants for The Star Mooncake Awards 2019.
Kudos to Metro Deputy News Editor Esther Chandran (centre) and the Star team who worked hard to co-ordinate and organise the event. The judging room was nicely set-up with participating hotels invited to showcase their own creativity in presenting their Mid-Autumn treats and packaging.
 
Competition between the various entries was stiff. As judges Marian and I had a hard time trying to cram in all that mooncakes so we had to resort to sampling a tiny piece of each; just enough to ascertain the taste and texture for scoring purpose.

We also rinsed our mouths with Chinese tea and water when the going got too cloying. A few of the newer variants caught our imagination whilst others were too over the top in the inventiveness stake.
 
Nice packaging is increasingly the name of the Mid-Autumn Festival gifting game as well. From pretty and practical tiffin carrier to fashionable designer tote, the sky’s no longer the limit for mooncake boxes now.

Red and orange hues seem to dominate possibly because the perceived auspicious symbolism evoked by these colours. Reusable packaging is also increasingly popular.

 
The Star should be lauded for holding this friendly competition as it shows Malaysian hoteliers and restaurateurs continue to raise their mooncake-making and marketing game yearly. It’s also good to know traditional baked variants still have a place in the marketplace without any compromise on quality and taste.




Read the full story in The Star here:



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