Pressure cookers: Four local chefs compete in world competition

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The 90-plus degree heat index that permeates the Central Florida air – hot even by Florida standards for an early November day – is nothing in comparison to the heat wave that blows through the cooking arena at the 2015 World Food Championships’ World Chef Challenge.

One of 10 cooking contests happening during the five-day event held in the community of Celebration, the World Chef Challenge runs daily for three days with the winners of each day facing off in the finals

This year, it differs from all other contests at the World Food Championship because four Chattanooga-area chefs – Eric Fulkerson of Bald Headed Bistro, Charlie Loomis of Feed Co., William Smith of Chattytown BBQ catering and Dao Le of Whirlpool Corp. – are battling each other, in addition to 19 fellow chefs, in hopes of being named World Chef Champion. Call it the Battle of Chattanooga, version 2015.

Each Chattanooga chef followed a different avenue to gain entrance into the World Chef Challenge, though Loomis’ and Fulkerson’s path were somewhat similar. Loomis got in as the winner of the Chattanooga Market’s Cast-Iron Cook-Off, while Fulkerson took first place in the market’s FiveStar Food Fight last summer. This is the first year that Chattanooga Market has been a qualifying event for the championship.

Smith, who competed in the bacon competition at the World Food Championship in Las Vegas last year, was issued an invitation for this year’s chef challenge. And Le was the winner of another qualifying cook-off – the Bougie Burger Culinary Fight Club in Atlanta.

The World Chef Challenge is divided into three parts: National chefs, chefs from Florida only, and international chefs that include chefs from the U.S. Each chef is required to prepare two dishes: one signature dish and one fusion dish, a category that this year meant using alligator. Dishes are judged using the World Food Championships’ “EAT” scoring methodology, which evaluates execution, appearance and taste.

Chefs also are judged on their knife skills; they’re given 3 1/2 minutes to filet a red snapper, 3 1/2 minutes to clean an artichoke and 2 1/2 minutes to julienne a huge carrot.

“It’s important for chefs to have good knife skills,” Le says. “It’s one of the key elements of cooking, and it helps to cook food evenly and also makes for good presentation as well.”

Each category of chefs competed separately, and the winner from each category headed for the final competition – a three-chef battle of expertise, timing and creativity.

While the Chattanooga chefs didn’t win, they still ranked well. Loomis came in third; Fulkerson came in fourth; Le came in fifth; and Smith came in seventh.

But, as Smith describes, they were all part of an event “stacked with great talent” that included Lance Toro, personal chef for actress Jacqueline Smith; Drew Smalbach, executive chef at White Manor Country Club in Philadelphia; and last year’s World Chef Champion Steven Grostick, a Food Fanatic culinary consultant chef for US Foods in Detroit.

“This is a group of a lot of good chefs – very talented,” Le says.

Regardless of the outcome, Loomis says he “had a blast.”

“I was really impressed with the level of competition.”

Despite the pressure, as a group, the Chattanooga guys looked – from the outside, at least – calm throughout the competition. It’s all about preparation, Loomis says.

“I mean, there’s always a certain level of anxiousness,” he says. “There are a lot of moving parts to this. I have to ask myself, ‘What am I gonna have to work on that I wasn’t prepared for?'”

Their dishes

“I was always told that, in these kind of competitions, you should stick with what you know,” Fulkerson says. “And the dishes that I made for this are very much me. If you know me, you know they represent me.”

In the signature-dish contest, Fulkerson chose sea bass with chanterelles and a saffron risotto that took him hours of work back home to ensure that he could make perfect risotto in the 30 minutes he was allotted at the competition.

The result? Judge Danielle Bennett, host of the TV show “BBQ Crawl,” said it was one of the best pieces of fish she’d ever had. “It was perfectly done. And I’d love to know how you did the risotto in under 30 minutes.”

For their signature dishes, Smith created Cajun-crusted ribeye with wild mushroom and onion gremolata and blue-cheese butter, while Le made cocoa-crusted lamb loin with celery-root purée.

Loomis served scallops three ways – pan-seared on a bed of creamed corn, chicken-fried and topped with hot sauce and pepper jelly; and a scallop cake topped with lemon aioli; all the styles brought raves from the judges. Michael McDearman, grill master and former World Food Champion from Cookeville, Tenn., said quite simply: “They’re the best I’ve ever tasted.”

For the fusion category, Fulkerson stuck to to his roots for the alligator dish; his grandparents are from Louisiana so he made alligator étouffée.

Loomis put a spin on hot chicken – think lots of cayenne pepper – the latest culinary craze to hit Nashville, and presented the judges with hot gator. “It’s fun and kind of funky,” he says.

Le blackened his gator and served it over goat-cheese grits with fried green cherry tomatoes on the side. Williams added blueberry cheddar to his alligator sliders and and mango salsa to his gator tacos.

“I wanted to go outside the box,” he said.

Contact Anne Braly at abraly@timesfreepress.com.