Cook-Off Challenge with US Potatoes in Cebu

March 4, 2019 Ruth Dela Cruz

Cook-Off Challenge with US Potatoes in Cebu

When I started blogging, I never knew I would face different challenges – like modelling, hosting and
even joining cooking challenges.

And even if I have done it so many times during events, I still feel nervous and excited.

This is the second part of the US Potato Safari 6 event in Cebu City. Potatoes USA brought bloggers and chefs in Cebu to taste different innovative dishes using US Potatoes and to come up with our own
recipe.

You can read the first part my travel blog series here.

I was teamed with Chef Mckoy (of Chili’s) and Chef Dale (of Vikings Bacolod) for the challenge.

We were given a budget of Php 1,500 to buy our ingredients and the things we need for our recipe.

Here we are, shopping for our ingredients

I like that they consult with each other before buying ingredients – making sure that they could both use the ingredients and eliminate wastage. We were only asked to come up with 1 recipe, but they have so many ideas and the thought of three.

Three recipes in an hour made me nervous. I cook at home, and it usually takes me an hour to cook one dish. Haha 😀😀😀

This is the beautiful view of our cook-off challenge venue

Anyway, I let them lead and I told them I could help in simple tasks like mixing and breading. I didn’t want to ruin the dish. ✌️😀

While cooking, Chef Dale shares some interesting tips and cooking hacks to make sure you get the flavor of every ingredient and eliminate wastage.

Chef Mckoy used fresh potato to make shoestring beddings for the tempura.

Shout out to some of my favorite brands and products we use at home.

Cutting the cook time by half, we used US Dehydrated Potatoes for our croquette 🥔🥔🥔

My yummy contribution. 🥔🥔🥔
No need to peel, mash and mix potatoes that would eat up our time. Thank you to US Dehydrated Potatoes!

I love that they are both game when I said, let’s do “candid cooking” shot! Haha

After an hour, we were called for presentation and judging.

While Group 1 was presenting, I was worried that our dishes would turn cold. Chef Nadine said that was what they usually feel when they see us ((bloggers) or people taking too much time taking photos of the food. 😀

Truly, like any good things, timing is everything. ❤️

Even if I didn’t really cook the dishes, I felt like I was the stage mom cheering while Chef Dale and Chef Mckoy were presenting.

Here are the dishes that we came up with using different US Potato variants:

Soup made of mushroom, shrimp, and onion stock with chorizo and potatoes to give it rich thickness and flavor. We used shrimp head breaded with US Potato Dehydrated Flakes as a garnishing.

Tempura breaded with US Dehydrated Potato Granules and Flakes served in the bedding of shoestring potatoes, and two sauces.

Our take on Steak and Potato: Porterhouse Steak served with Potato Cake (with cilantro, garlic and mushroom stock) and Croquetta. The sauce is also made with US Dehydrated Potato Flakes.

Thank you Chef Mckoy and Chef Dale! I had a lot of fun learning from both of you! ❤️

Such an honor to work with two chefs from the restaurants I love.

The winning dish: Paella using US Potatoes!

Congratulations Team Paella!

We didn’t win the challenge but I sure learned a lot about new ways of cooking and how versatile US Potatoes are! I cannot wait to re-create the dishes at home.

At the end of the program, we got our Graduation certificate and gifts from Potatoes USA. So awesome! Every chef was raving about the apron which was made by Hogsmith!

Thank you Potatoes USA!

I am glad that even if I didn’t get to pursue a career from the degree I earned from college (I have a Bachelor's Degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management), opportunities come my way to practice my skills – and even learn more from the different chefs in the industry.