With stockpots simmering and knives at the ready, four of the finest chef from hotels and conference centers in the United States and Canada will come together at Tempe Mission Palms Hotel to compete for the prestigious “Chef of the Year” crown during the Americas’ Chapter competition of the 13th Annual Copper Skillet Cook Off.
Presented by the International Association of Conference Centers, the competition is designed to showcase culinary excellence in food and beverage from around the world.
The prestigious cook off event will feature top chefs in two categories, Junior Chef and Senior Chef, as they create an entree using contents from a mystery basket. The mystery basket will contain two proteins as well as items from a pantry list. The chefs will be given 30 minutes to prepare, create and present their masterpieces to three local judges.
The celebrity judges (Jan D’Atri, Yetta Gibson and Gwen Walters) will evaluate the entrees according to set criteria. Winners of the Americas’ Chapter Copper Skillet Cook Off will advance to the final International Copper Skillet Competition in New York City on April 19th, where they will compete against the top chefs from Europe, Australia and Asia-Pacific Chapters. This finale competition will result in the naming of a Copper Skillet Global Champion.
The Copper Skillet Junior Chefs (under age 26) competitors will be:
- Austin Klug, The Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center (USA)
- Alexsandra Lalonde, St. Andrew’s Club & Conference Centre (Canada)
The Copper Skillet Senior Chefs (over age 26) competitors will be:
- Barrington Graham, St. Andrews Cub & Conference Centre (Canada)
- Sean Patrick Curry, Hilton Chicago/Oak Brook Hills Resort & Conference Center (USA)
The competition will take place from 4:45pm until 6:45pm at the Tempe Mission Palms Hotel, located at 60 E. 5th Street in Tempe.
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