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July 30, 2010
GOING OUT
Cooking challenge
Search for the Super Chef
It is no secret that Filipinos love food. In fact, it is one of the things that bind Filipino families together. This is evident when we prepare lavish feasts during special occasions and invite friends and relatives to share the bounty. A lot of families even have secret recipes passed on from generation to generation.
Thanks to a number of past and present cultural influences, Filipino dishes have evolved into flavorful offerings that drew inspiration from Spanish, Chinese, and Western cuisines. Still, what we always come up with remain unmistakably dedicated to the distinctive Filipino palate.
This was evident during the media launch of SM Hypermarket’s 2010 SM Super chefs competition at Taste Asia in SM Mall of Asia, which was hosted by celebrity chef Tristan Encarnation. There, guests were able to watch several cooking experts in action as they presented different versions of popular Pinoy viands.
Chef Paul Sia, sous chef of Unilever Food Solutions, showed everyone how to cook menudo with surprising ingredients not normally found in menudo such as liver spread, chorizo bilbao, and saffron (kasubha). Ms. Caren Bayhon-Yrastorza, a mom who maintains a food website, shared her version of caldereta where she layered ingredients in a big casserole. What’s unique about her style was that she used about a dozen fresh tomatoes instead of commercial tomato sauce plus a small bottle of pitted and stuffed olives. Tasting both dishes was a treat to the palate.
Event attendees also marveled at the two adobo versions prepared by Sysu Group of Companies’ Chef Deejay Santos. He cooked Kikkoman Rosemary Scented Chicken Pork Adobo and Lee Kum Kee Chinese Chicken Pork Adobo which deviated from the regular adobo I make at home but are equally very flavorful. Now I know that I could cut sprigs of rosemary from my backyard and use them to make my adobo more aromatic!
Learn new and more ways how to cook these three Filipino favorite foods: adobo, menudo, and caldereta! Watch out for SM Hypermarket’s 2010 SM Super chefs competition on TV. This contest will feature tests that will challenge the contestants’ culinary talents. The elimination and final rounds are to be televised over the Asian Food Channel starting July 22, 2010 at 6:30 p.m.
SM Super Chefs at SM Hypermarket screening schedule
- Two-minuter coverage of the Elimination Rounds will be aired at 6:30 PM on the following dates:
- 1st Round: July 22 (with replays on July 23, 24 and 25)
- 2nd Round: July 29 (with replays on July 30, 31 and August 1)
- 3rd Round: August 5 (with replays on August 6, 7 and 8)
- 4th Round: August 12 (with replays on August 13, 14 and 15)
Finals Round will be aired every Wednesdays, 6:30 PM with replays on Saturdays at 6:00 – 6:30 PM.
- 1st Round: August 25 and August 28 (Replay)
- 2nd Round: September 1 and September 4 (Replay)
- 3rd Round: September 8 and September 11 (Replay)
- Final Round: September 15 and September 18 (Replay)
Each participant went through a cooking audition in different SM branches on specified dates last June. Three winners were chosen for each branch. They will then face off in live cooking challenges against the winners from other branches until only 12 remain. These 12 finalists will then compete in four more rounds.
The show is hosted by celebrity chef Tristan Encarnacion. Competitors will have to please the discriminating palates of a distinguished panel of judges composed of restaurateur and chef Rolando Laudico, culinary school proprietor and chef Reggie Aspiras, and broadcaster and food enthusiast Winnie Cordero.
The cook who comes out on top and claims the title of SM Super Chef 2010 will be awarded a dream kitchen showcase worth P100,000 and go on a four-day all-expense-paid trip to Singapore for a culinary training.
SM Super Chefs was introduced by SM Hypermarket and began as a cooking demo in 2004. It aimed to invigorate the Filipinos’ love for food. The event used to feature some of the country’s best-known celebrity chefs who gave shoppers cooking tips on how to use a variety of fresh ingredients available in the supermarket.
In 2009, the concept further developed into a customer cook-off. Here, selected participants were asked to shop for ingredients inside SM Hypermarket and cook them right there. This year, Super Chefs takes on its most exciting challenge ever. - Text by RMF
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