It’s All About the Bacon

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Jason Sandford

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WNC Chefs Challenge 2011, Week 1

Wine & Food Festival

Bacon makes everything better.

That’s the running joke, but the cooks facing off in the opening round of the 2011 WNC Chefs Challenge on Monday night proved that it’s really no laughing matter at all.

First a refresher on the challenge, now in its second year: Two three-member teams face off in a series of heats until the field is narrowed to a group that competes for the overall crown in August at the WNC Magazine Asheville Wine & Food Festival. The teams are presented with a secret ingredient they have to incorporate into their dishes. The six dishes served at each competition are scored by diners in areas such as aroma, presentation, and creativity. Everybody’s a critic, and in the end, the team with the most points wins.

Bob Bowles, founder of the wine and food festival and a member of Slow Food Asheville, enthusiastically emceed the proceedings. When he announced that Benton’s country ham and bacon would be the night’s secret ingredient, he triggered squeals of hungry excitement.

The featured teams of the night—Bistro on Biltmore Estate and Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community—had been cooking all day by the time the first dish was served about 6:30 p.m., and a few sharp noses had already picked out the ingredient they knew meant great tastes to come. Cucina24 restaurant on Wall Street provided an elegant, comfortable setting. Every seat was full.

The first dish arrived and everyone got down to business. A butternut squash and country ham ravioli got things off to a good start, and a satisfying soft, seared scallop served with a black trumpet and goat cheese tart followed. A tiny halved quail served with crawfish and a pepper slaw arrived next, but didn’t quite have the same impact as the next dish—three pancetta-wrapped pork tenderloins served with brussels sprouts and a big bacon bouquet met with nods of appreciation.

The final dessert dishes also thrilled the 100-plus diners. A caramel apple-almond tart scented with smoked bacon completed the feeling of fine comfort food all around for many, while a fluffy Benton’s bacon-ricotta pound cake served with bacon brittle and caramel-bacon ice cream really hit the sweet spot. In fact, a number of ticket-holders couldn’t stop raving about the brilliant combination of bacon-flavored pound cake, chocolate, and ice cream. A star was born.

In the end, only 641 points separated the two teams out of more than 18,000 tallied—a mere 5.3 percent difference. Bistro on Biltmore Estate won with 6,406 points to Deerfield’s 5,765 points. The Bistro team’s pancetta-wrapped pork tenderloin was the highest rated dish of the night.

Bistro on Biltmore Estate
Team: Chef Michael Gonzales, Sean Carroll & Rachel Vomorole
Menu:
• Butternut squash and country ham ravioli with piquillo peppers and cippolini onions served with an applebutter squash puree, featuring bacon-lemon butter and candied pecans
• Pancetta-wrapped pork tenderloin, featuring bacon-cranberry spoon bread with smoked pork jus, parsnips, and brussels sprouts
• Benton’s bacon-ricotta pound cake served with a Marcona almond and bacon brittle and caramel-bacon ice cream

Deerfield Community
Team: Chef Cary Shackelford, Corbett Reed & Zoe Davis
Menu:
• Black trumpet and goat cheese tart with Benton’s ham and Shitake crisps served with a seared scallop with a ginger-pear-apricot glaze and rice crisps
• Halved quail with crawfish bacon sauce served with pepper slaw and black quinoa with saffron aioli and smoked pepper garnish
• Caramel apple-almond tart scented with smoked bacon and served with chocolate and lemon-velvet cream

Guest blogger Jason Sandford writes regularly about Asheville on his blog, Ashvegas.