Cornwall, Ontario, February 2017…Seven chefs from IACC-member properties across Canada gathered to compete for the coveted Canadian Copper Skillet at the NAV Centre, where the winners edged one step closer to the International Copper Skillet Competition finale to be held this April at IACC-Americas Connect. “The Canadian competition has previously been held in Toronto,” said Ian Bentley, the NAV Centre’s director of conference services and food and beverage. “This year we wanted to represent Cornwall and our region of Canada, though it's a celebration of culinary talent from across the country."
Jessica Neville, chef at NAV Centre, took the “Junior Category Canada Copper Skillet Award” for her winning dish in the cook-off. Local judges named Neville the winner for her dish of Asian noodle with duck vegetable stir fry and red wine Tahini paste.
Kent Phillips, executive chef at Ivey Spencer Leadership Centre, took the coveted “Senior Category Copper Skillet Award” for his winning dish of garlic shrimp, duck confit potato hash, sun-dried tomato Brussels sprouts, green apple-gooseberry slaw, and quick pickle golden beets.
In the Canadian Copper Skillet competition, the chefs were presented with basic pantry items along with a "mystery basket" of proteins. They were given 30 minutes to prepare, create, and present their creations to local area judges. During the cooking stage, event announcer Michael Smith, one of Canada’s best-known chefs, commented on a very important skill some of the competitors were putting to use. “Watch how many chefs are tasting their food,” he said. “We often like to say a cook’s single best tool is their tongue . . . it’s a basic skill but a skill that’s often overlooked.” He went on to say, "We're not trying to trip them up, this is what a chef can expect to face every day. Any chef worth their salt should be able to come up with a meal on the fly when presented with an ingredient."
For the third year in the 13-year history of the Copper Skillet Competition, IACC introduced a Junior Chef category where IACC conference venue chefs under the age of 26 competed in the cook-off.
The winners of the upcoming US and Canadian cook-off competition, to be held later this month, will go on to compete with other chefs from IACC chapters around the world at the International Copper Skillet Competition to be held during the IACC-Americas Connect conference in April 2017 at UCLA Luskin Conference Center in Los Angeles. Here the 14th International Copper Skillet Global Champion will be named.
The popular Copper Skillet Competition was introduced in 2004 to highlight the artistry and skill of the best chefs from IACC-member conference venues around the world, and to honor their culinary contributions to the shared goal of providing an outstanding conference venue experience.
Image Details Image 1 – L to R: Judge Chef Michael Smith, Junior Category Winner Jessica Neville, Senior Category Winner Kent Phillips, Judge Chef Javier Alarco and Judge Peter Hum, food critic. Image 2 – L to R: Senior Category Winning Dish by Kent Phillips and Junior Category Winning Dish by Jessica Neville
