#culinarystudents

Last night I attended Cooks The Books, at Mildred’s Temple Kitchen, an event held in conjunction with tonight’s Taste Canada Gala. 

Mildred’s Temple Kitchen is owned by Donna Dooher, who is also the National Chair of Taste Canada.

Cooks the Books is a cooking competition that invites Canadian culinary students from across the nation to compete for the title of Canada’s Best New Student Chefs.

For the first time the students will be challenged to develop and write their own unique recipes to experience and discover the dynamic world of food writing. The students will be evaluated on their kitchen performance, sensory delivery, as well as their technical recipe writing skills. The winners will be announced at the 2018 Taste Canada Awards Gala where they’ll be presented with prizes and a letter of recommendation, and the Gold winning team will be awarded with the Taste Canada trophy to display at their school.

This experience will help these talented students deal with the pressures cooking in a professional kitchen, and let them have a chance to meet Canada’s top food writers and chefs at the Taste Canada Awards Gala. 

PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS

Assiniboine Community College – Brandon, Manitoba

Centennial College – Toronto, Ontario

Conestoga College – Kitchener, Ontario

Fanshawe College – London, Ontario

Liaison College of Culinary Arts – Kitchener, Ontario

Liaison College of Culinary Arts –  Toronto, Ontario

Thistletown Collegiate High School – Toronto, Ontario

Tension filled the air as the teams started cooking.

They had 45 minutes to produce their finest work. Time to plate created a frenzied atmosphere as the students rushed to finish their plates and everyone swooped in close to take photos.

Every drop of sauce has to be meticulously placed.

And then they were done. These are some of the dishes that were produced.

It was now in the judge’s hands.

JUDGES

Annabelle Waugh is a freelance recipe developer, editor, food stylist, and chef instructor. 

Christine Tizzard is a Newfoundland native and has been passionate about food, film, fashion and television for as long as she can remember. Her latest cookbook, Honest To Goodness (Whitecap Books) was released in Spring 2017 and it is not surprising that it is packed with mouth-watering, family-friendly recipes.

Dennis The Prescott is a chef, cookbook author, and food photographer based in Moncton, New Brunswick. Prescott has amassed a devoted community of over 500K social media followers. His National bestselling cookbook, “Eat Delicious” (William Morrow/HarperCollins) was named one of the Globe & Mail’s best cookbooks of 2017.

Jennifer Emilson is a recipe developer, cook, baker, wife, cat servant and author of The Lemon Apron blog. She makes the most of in-season and local produce that surrounds her in Ontario and her goal is to make cooking practical, accessible and most of all, fun!