An annual cooking competition that pits five teams of culinary competitors who grill, fry, sauté and sear their way to the title of top Chilkat Chef kicks off this Saturday, Oct. 11 at Harriett Hall.
The event marks the sixth Chilkat Chef cooking competition and banquet meal, an event that aims to highlight the Chilkat Valley’s food systems and has increasingly focused on utilizing local ingredients.
“The meal is going to be all locally sourced, from Harry Rietze at Haines Packing who is donating the fish, to the produce purchased from Four Winds Farm and Sunnyside Farm,” said founder and director of the Chilkat Valley Food Hub, Erika Merklin.
Merklin said food has also been donated from the Victory Garden and Henderson Community Farm. The event includes a banquet-style meal with grilled salmon and local ingredients, a live dessert auction, fish printing and more.
Teams can bring up to 10 raw, uncooked ingredients and will be provided five mystery, locally sourced ingredients that won’t be revealed until the competition begins. The teams will have 10 minutes to plan and 50 minutes to cook. They must use every mystery ingredient provided and the dishes will be judged based on presentation, taste, texture, creativity and use of mystery ingredients. This year’s judges are former Fiddlehead Restaurant owner Deborah Marshall, Haines Packing owner Harry Rietze, and commercial fisher Macky Cassidy.
Team leaders this year include Patty Brown, Tiffany DeWitt, Jen Marschke, Robert Musseman and Julia Billings.
Billings, who is team captain of The Salmon Sirens, said this is her first year competing in Chilkat Chef, but she was a participant last year.
“It was fun to watch last year and I’m excited to be part of the action,” she said.
Billings said that she, along with team members Amanda Brandon, Hannah Reeves, Chrissie White and Ramie Carlson, aims to focus on “flavors of the sea” to create a Bento box-style dish.
“Our strategy is to use as many parts of the salmon as possible and to try and create different textures and flavors,’ Billings said. “Chrissie and I are total cooking nerds so we got together (Tuesday) and practiced a bunch of our recipes.”
The Salmon Sirens will also be wearing costumes, Billings said, who hopes their flair will lend itself to the competition.
Chilkat Chef starts at 5 p.m. at Harriett Hall. Tickets are $30 for individuals and $75 for families and can be purchased online at lynncanalfoodweb.org.
All proceeds from the event go to Henderson Community Farm and Experimental Orchard, a Lynn Canal Food Web project, Merklin said. Merklin is the project lead and is working with Ecotrust, an Oregon nonprofit that is funding the development of the community garden that provides food to volunteers who work the garden, the Chilkat Valley Food Hub, Haines Assisted Living, and Haines Senior Center. The event is also sponsored by Chilkat Forever and Lynn Canal Conservation.