June 5, 2009

Juenes Commis Rotisseurs Competition

June 5, 2009

Mel Miners, Vice-Chargé de Presse

Fifteen plus one – that is the number of Chaine members required to judge a Juenes Commis Rotisseurs Competition.  The “plus one” was Beat Hegnauer Baillie Honoraire who decided on the ingredients for the “Black Box”.  The rules dictate that the ingredients should give the competitors a challenge for their skills and for educational purposes. The ingredients should consist of local and other origins to help in the challenge.  This year, the mandatory items were:

Flat Iron Steak
Fresh whole Striped Bass
Fresh Mussels
Fresh Green Asparagus
Yellow Baby Potato
King Oyster Mushrooms
Bitter Sweet Chocolate
Fresh Blueberries

Then, three Professional members are required as kitchen judges. The three were:

Dario Oteruelo, Grand Officier Maitre Rotisseur
Jan Hansen, Chef Rotisseur
Gerd Steinmeyer, Chef Grillardin

They, along with the competitors, are required to be at the kitchen by 7am for briefing, followed by menu writing and the execution of the competition.

Unfortunately, the number of competitors was severely restricted this year as SAIT was renovating all but one of its kitchens.  Thus, we were only able to accept six entrants.  They were:

Sean Cutler, Calgary Golf & Country Club
Lauren Funk, Rouge
Matthew Isakeit, Hotel Arts
Dylan Lemmens, Post Hotel
Stephanie Schnepf, Olives
Josh Stoddart, Il Sogno

The Tasting Jury is composed of six professional and six non-professional members.  This years panel was comprised of:

Valli Arlette, Argentier Honoraire
Roger Baekeland, Echanson du Canada
Jürgen Bahr, Vice Chancelier Argentier
Susan Bauerfind, Dame del la Chaine
Kevin Birch, Maitre Rotisseur
Carol Buchanan, Vice Conseiller Gastronomique
Shaun Desaulnier, Maitre Rotisseur
Max Labhardt, Maitre Rotisseur
Thierry Meret, Chef Rôtisseur
Mel Miners, Vice Charge de Presse
Liana Robberecht, Chef Rotisseur
Kenneth Titcomb, Chef Rotisseur

At eleven o’clock, the Tasting Jury assembled for briefing and then at precisely 11:30 am, began the challenge of ranking the entries.  As you can see from the photos, the judges put all their efforts into ranking the entries on:

Appearance
Originality
Taste

he competitors were divided in two flights separated by one hour.  The first entries came out in flights of three competitor’s dishes:

First – the three appetizers
Second – the three mains
Third – the three desserts.

The judges then had a short respite before proceeding with the second flight of entrants.

Once the scoring sheets were handed to the Supervisor, the participants were allowed to come into the judging room and see their entries along with those of the other competitors.

he winner of the competition and the Bronze Medal was Stephanie Schnepf of Olives.  She now has the honour of going to Victoria to compete in the National Juenes Commis Competition this October.

We also wish to thank the Member Establishments for supporting their employees in this competition.  Without their help and support, we would not have a challenging competition and a viable industry.  The last picture is of the Hotel Arts Group and the fans of Stephanie.

SAIT, its employees and Cindy Findlay, Bailli Régional receive an accolade from our Bailliage for their support of this competition.  Without it, we would not have such a wonderful facility to hold our competition.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge Helmut Schoderbek for the use of some of his pictures.

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