Our last episode for this season was produced at the Santa Barbara City College where I am an adjunct professor for advanced pastry. The college has a two year culinary program that includes hands on instruction. Chef Randy Bublitz, head of the culinary program, recruited three students to be part of the episode.
The format for the show features three advanced students that are provided with a selection of mystery ingredients. They are then taken to The Berry Man Produce company and have five minutes to gather ingredients for their competition from within the 20,000 foot warehouse that has coolers you can drive a fork lift inside. This local Santa Barbara company is owned and operated by Santa Barbara resident Guy DeMangeon. The Berry Man started on a shoestring in 1989, when Guy began selling sweet, succulent local strawberries out of the back of his truck. Going from restaurant backdoor to restaurant backdoor, starting with a few, the number grew as Guy's reputation spread. The inventory grew along with his reputation; more and more chefs asked Guy to carry more and more items.
Dreams can become reality; The Berry Man's success is living proof. Today, there is much, much more than just berries -- or even produce. We carry convenience items like a full line of dairy including milk, eggs, conventional, as well as specialty cheeses, state of the art creme fraiche, fresh squeezed fruit and vegetable juices, prepared deli salads, an amazing salsa fresca, fresh and frozen pastas, Asian seaweed salads, exotic mushrooms and truffles, olive oils, flowers, exotic produce, delectable desserts and more.
"The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of"
Back to the show. Our contestants are Lucas Da Silva Chagas, Tim Levadnuk & Omar Uribe. The student chefs were given local cultured abalone from The Cultured Abalone mariculture farm to prepare as an appetizer. Abalone is now somewhat exotic on a restaurant menu due to the lack of a wild catch. The harvesting of wild abalone was terminated in the early 1990s due to overfishing.
Now, aquaculture is the only source for this very California mollusk. I brought the requisite pounding mallets and gave the young Turks the one minute abalone prep speech. The main course secret ingredient was rack of lamb. I have seen some TV shows that bring in absolutely idiotic ingredients like movie candies to challenge the rookies. Since I had to taste the results, I wanted something I like to eat.
Contestants are given 30 minutes to prepare each course and then present their dishes to be judged. The judging panel consisted of myself, Chef Randy Bublitz and Vanessa Craig who was a recent contestant on the Food Network's Allstar Academy.
First Course Cultured Abalone
Entree Rack of Lamb
And the winner is...
Omar Uribe with his abalone "Tomatillo & Mushrooms" and "Rack of Lamb on Polenta, Berry Jam"
And the runner ups...
Put on your apron, grab your food processor, put on your crown and hang on to your whisk. Learn to eat like royalty for a pittance. I'll provide the recipes, the rest is up to you.
Tastefully,
Michael's Catering specializes in modern California-French, European and American cuisine. Consider our catering service for your next dinner party, wine reception or banquet.
All recipes copyright 2015 Michael Hutchings, All Rights Reserved
Food and People Photo Credits William Conlin YTS Video Productions
Special thanks to Craig Case and YTS Video Productions
