Chefs vie in culinary competition
As tourism week comes to a close, the Belize Tourism Board has sponsored several contests for industry professionals. At the Radisson, twelve Chefs have been baking, steaming and frying, all in an effort to appease the palates of the judges in the culinary competition. News 5’s Jose Sanchez stopped by the hotel this afternoon to find out what was cooking.
Marcus Paparozzi, Kitchen Judge
“We’ve brought twelve up and coming new chef from the resorts and restaurants from the area. They’re are all competing in the first annual Taste of Belize, which is here at the Radisson. We have a group of six this morning that competed and three of them will be coming back tonight at 6:00 to compete with three from this six that are competing this afternoon.”
Duane Lizama, Chef, Royal Palms Villas
“What I’m doing is making La Isla Bonita Conch Special, which consists of conch sautéed in some fresh olive oil. What I’ll do is, I’ll add some milk to get that nice fresh coconut milk with some onions, tomato, bell pepper, some cilantro and some habanero sauce serving with my pork chops and my royal potatoes.”
Jose Sanchez
“So this is the Isla Bonita?”
Duane Lizama
“Special.”
Jose Sanchez
“Are you working on a temptation island special too?”
Duane Lizama
“Well we have a temptation rice, but I’m not allowed to give the secret at this moment.”
Glenn Schwendinger, Chef, Rendezvous
“We are preparing a pepper garlic medallions with…roasted vegetables toasted with wangla seeds and a salad of green mango, dried shrimp and peanuts sautéed in lime juice with conch ceviche style.”
Ainsle Castro, Chef, Radisson Fort George
“Right here I’m making a white wine sauce. It goes with my grill pork loin, served on top of it with my kebobs and some nice roast potatoes.”
Jose Sanchez
“Glenn I have a question for you, why do Chef’s wear white and what’s with the hat?”
Glenn Schwendinger
“They told me to wear one.”
Jose Sanchez
“But there is a good reason though?”
Glenn Schwendinger
“It’s for hygiene, to keep hair out of food. That’s why everybody wears white, so you can tell when you’re dirty, to change yourself.”
Jose Sanchez
“I noticed you were having a little drink there, is that kosher?
Glenn Schwendinger
“Most chefs I know do drink, and we at Rendezvous, we have our own winery, so it’s more important that I keep on drinking.”
Jose Sanchez
“What makes you, a Belizean man, get into the kitchen? You don’t see a lot of men in the kitchen.”
Ainsle Castro
“I’ve been a cook from very young, my mother showed me how to cook, so I just picked up the trade. The chef likes how I work and bigged me up.”
Jose Sanchez
“Impress a lot of girls with it?”
Ainsle Castro
“Sometimes. The workers like how I do my buffet. I do all the buffets, Italian, seafood and Jamaican.”
Jose Sanchez
“So when you get married, who’ll do the cooking in the house? You or the wife?”
Ainsle Castro
“I usually cook for her, so she’s straight.”
Marcus Paparozzi
“The food of course is from Belize and it has to have the flavor of Belize using products from Belize. And the first round was very successful, the second round looks like it’s going to do just as well tonight, it should be very exciting.”
The winner will be announced at the BTB Gala tonight at the Radisson. The recipes used in the contest will be published.
