Manila, Philippines – The East Meets West culinary competition run by the Irish Government Food Board (Bord Bia), attracted a large entry of over 100 participants, with innovative Filipino recipes submitted from a diverse range of chefs, culinary students, food influencers and home cooks. Marion Rogan, EU Pork & Beef Programme Manager said “We were thrilled with the level of entries and the quality of the recipes submitted to the competition as this is our first culinary competition in the Philippines. Our aim to raise awareness of the high quality and unique taste of European and Irish pork and beef.”
Our world-renowned chef judging panel comprised of Chef Billy King of Le Chef Restaurant at The Manor Hotel Baguio, Chef Mark Hagan of Grand Hyatt Manila – Bonifacio Global City and Chef Philip John Golding of Disciples de Escoffier International Asia – Philippines and Bord Bia representatives.
The top ten finalists were carefully selected and announced on September 7th, 2020 and include:
- Filipino chefs
- Jeffrey Ayento, Recipe Consultant from Cagayan de Oro.
- Nathaniel Deocaris, Chef, from Cainta, Rizal.
- Francis Dave Lacson Selorio, Executive Chef at Crypto Café & Restaurant from Iloilo City.
- Food influencers
- Nathaniel Uy @thehungrychef, a cook by profession.
- Alexis Manuel Deocaris @ForkSpoonManila, an established food blogger.
- Karla Ramos @karlaroundtheworld, a cooking aficionado.
- Filipino culinary students
- Marichu Jung from Apicius Culinary Arts – Parañaque.
- Kenneth Villanueva from University of Batangas.
- Donie Bigcas of Center for Culinary Arts – Manila.
- Home cook
- Karl Kenneth Watson, Financial advisor from Caloocan City.
The judging panel selected recipes that showed innovative culinary techniques and twists such as; charcoaled coconut sauce, pureed quenelle pumpkin, fondant potato and pineapple foam and sweet potato puree and pineapple atchara.
The panel of judges were delighted by the creative recipes that featured common, regional, and indigenous Filipino ingredients like Pork in Country: Baked Laing-Stuffed Pork Belly, served with Rambutan Sauce and Adlai, garnished with Pansit-pansitan. This recipe was created by Francis Dave Lacson Selorio, whose inspiration is from his childhood.
Another interesting recipe, was an Ilocano dish called Bagnet Pipian with Fermented Shrimp Sauce proposed by Nathaniel Uy. His intention was to represent the cuisine of the Philippines as ever changing, but deeply rooted in history and tradition.
The top ten finalists received a cooking kit including Irish pork & beef cuts and the campaign’s official apron. They will present both their pork and beef recipe using Irish meat cuts in their own creative way for the final round.
Submission will be reviewed according to the following criteria to select the top five winners
- Creativity (40% of the score).
- Presentation (30% of the score).
- Video Introduction (30% of the score).
The final selection of the five winners and their winning recipes will be announced in October. The winners will win an exciting culinary tour to Ireland, planned for 2021. This trip will give the winners a once-in-a-lifetime chance to visit Irish food producers and top restaurants in Ireland to get a first-hand feel for the excellent quality of the Irish produce. They will also get the opportunity to attend a Billy King cooking class with the legendary Irish Chef plus other prizes.
For more details and updates of the European Pork and Beef Campaign in the Philippines, a campaign financed with aid from the European Union, visit https://europeanporkbeef.com/ph. Please visit our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/EUPorkandBeefPH/
