Cooking Competition

Had a competitive Sunday night here in Stavanger. Jen Kessy and I were asked to compete in a cooking competition for a Norwegian TV show with an American chef that lives here in Stavanger. The teams were from Norway, Brazil and the USA. The other players invited were Emmanuel Rego and Ana Paula from Brazil and Iver Horrem and Nila Ann Hakedal for Norway. All 3 chefs were cooking some type of fish. Our chef was named Craig and he was an award winning BBQ chef. He had the Webber Grill all ready to roll as we were going to show 'em how we do it in the states.

We had 20 minutes in which to make our meal. We made grilled salmon, cole slaw and potato salad. The salmon was probably the best salmon I have ever tasted. Craig had taken some small mesquite wood chips and soaked them in beer for awhile. When he put the salmon on the grill he put some of the beer soaked wood chips on the charcoal and covered it up. This smoked the salmon with a mesquite and beer flavor. He then basted the salmon with brown sugar and dijon mustard and topped it off with some chives. I made the cole slaw. I thinly sliced up some red onion and then seeped in red wine vinegar and then sliced up some cabbage. Mixed it all up with a bit of parsley. Jen sauteed the onions and added the already cooked bacon. Her job was to set up the table half way into the show so I took over for her on the potato salad. I mixed it all up with the already cooked potatoes to make a type of potato salad. I have to say I kind of liked this potato salad and cole slaw. Not a big mayonnaise guy and both of these dishes had no mayo in them.

The norwegian team made halibut with some type of sauce on it. For their side dish they had asparagus with a cream sauce on top of it. The Brazilians cooked salt cod which is cod that has been dried and salted first, then cooked in some type of broth to make it soft again. They also had some type of fried potatoes or something like that. For dessert they made a mango puree with a dollop of whip cream on top.

All 3 dishes were good but I have to say hands down the salmon that Craig cooked was by far the best fish. The norwegian halibut was good. The brazilian salt cod was okay. I felt it was a little bit tough which is kind of to be expected of a fish that has been dried and salted then cooked. The norwegian asparagus was probably the best vegetable but then I am majorly partial to asparagus. The brazilian mango puree was the only dessert so it won that catagory but I think it would have won anyways. It was really good and super easy to make. The brazilians ended up winning because part of the competition was about animation and they begin to sing and dance while they cooked. Jen, Craig and I did none of that. Next time, if there is one, Jen and I are going to sing a rendition of Born in the USA or Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Needless to say we all had fun and the food was much much better than we would get at the hotel! The coolest thing is, what Craig cooked could easily be cooked camping out in the middle of nowhere! I kept telling him that, as I thought it was the coolest thing. Next time I go camping I am going to make that dish. With just a small bit of preperation, you can have a gourment meal out in the sticks. Loved it!