South Peace Historical Society

    • Home
    • About / Contact Us
    • About Dorthea Horton
    • About This Collection
    • Bibliography
    • Brief History of the Peace
    • Credits
    • South Peace Historical Society Archives (External Link)
  • Table of Contents

    • Part 1: First Nations of the Peace River Region
    • Part 2: The Fur Trade Era
    • Part 3: Transportation and Communication
    • Part 4: Old Timers and the Price of Land
    • Part 5: Dawson Creek: The Story of the Community
    • Part 6: Mysteries, Adventures and Indian Legends
    • Part 7: Arts, Crafts and Recreation
    • Part 8: Agriculture
    • Part 9: Church Histories
    • Part 10: Schools
    • Part 11: Health Care
    • Part 12: Industries and Enterprises
    • Part 13: Policing the Peace
    • Part 14: Pouce Coupe, Rolla, and Other South Peace Communities
    • Part 15: Chetwynd and the Fort St. John Area
    • Part 16: The Alberta Peace
    • Part 17: Natural History of the Peace River Region
    • Part 18: Interviews with Old Timers
    • Part 19: Remembering Our Veterans

  •  

BN10-26: Local Chefs Cooking for Gold

Recent History – 2000

Nov. 10, 2000

By Mark Nielsen, Daily News Staff

Three local chefs put their skills to the test at a culinary competition in Grande Prairie recently, and emerged with four shining medals.

Justin Duncan, Kevin Rechsteiner, and Travis Kinakin competed as Team Caruso’s in the professional division at Foodfest 2000, discovering the value of teamwork in the process.

It was a “black box” style competition. In other words, they’re given a box full of ingredients and given free reign to do what they can with them.

The trio had no idea what the ingredients were until the night before, and once the competition began, they had only two hours to cook.

The result was wild boar, pan seared accompanied by green lentils, and glazed rutabaga for the main entree. The appetizer was sauteed apple tower with mild cheddar, and dessert was banana-kiwi crepes with a citrus syrup.

They had to make three servings of each — two for the judges and one for display at Crystal Gardens.

Even with the help of cookbooks signed out of the library at Northern Lights College, deciding what to do with the items was not an easy task.

“It took us two hours to cook it, it took us seven hours to figure out what we were going to make,” said Kinakin.

“The decision-making was the hardest part,” said Duncan. “We had six different ways to do the boar and we finally picked one.”

Matters weren’t helped by the fact that none of them had ever dealt with wild boar before.

“We were thinking that we were going to get beef, pork or poultry, and then when they told us it was wild boar, we just kind of, our jaws just kind of dropped,” said Kinakin.

Duncan concentrated on the boar, Kinakin on the appetizer, and Rechsteiner on the dessert, but they also helped each other out so that they could meet the deadline.

And the results were impressive enough for them to be awarded four medals Ñ a gold for presentation, a silver for teamwork, a silver for originality, and a bronze for best use of products. There were eight teams in the professional division.

The three knew each other from Northern Lights College. Duncan, now a chef at the Alaska Cafe who won two silvers and a certificate at last year’s Foodfest, talked Rechsteiner and Kinakin into joining him.

Caruso’s chipped in some money for gas and a hotel room while Northern Lights College let them borrow some equipment.

“It was something that none of us ever cooked before,” said Duncan of the wild boar.

“Or tasted,” Rechsteiner chimed in.

“It was actually quite good. It was very tasty. We ate the leftovers,” said Duncan.

This article is taken from the Peace River Block Daily News, Dawson Creek, with the permission of the publisher. The Daily News retains all rights relating to this material. The information in this article is intended solely for research or general interest purposes.

« BN10-25: Supernault Wins $10,000 with Essay

BN10-27: James Brown Wins Governor-General’s Academic Medal »

© 2023 South Peace Historical Society. All Rights Reserved.