Moksi Aleisi Strey 2!

 

 

It was finally here!! I am not only talking about the 2nd Moksi Aleisi Strey, but also a step forward in my food critic wanna-be career. However it was on such a short notice, but I was honored to be asked by Micheal Hermelijn to be part of the technical judge team for the Moksi Aleisi Strey. For those of you, who don't know the dish, I'd recommend you to read my post from last  year first:

http://atastybit.blogspot.com/2012/11/moksi-alesi-strey.html

The day before the event, I was kinda excited and having second thoughts at the same time. What's the job of a technical judge??? (yeah, I walked with the crew last year, but still...this time I am really part of it!!). Is there something I should prepare? Am I strict enough to be a judge? I even googled if there were any advice on this subject, but unfortunately couldn't find any. So I just went with my common sense and my passion for food into the competition scene with my assistant (just kidding, it was my friend Stephanie who loves to make pictures) under the blasting sun.

Since I was part of the technical judge, my blog this year will be somewhat different. I still won't be mentioned most of the participants , but whoever did go to the event will know immediately which group is which. However the technical judge does not judge the taste, but we were allowed to taste it too, so here also my own opinion about the moksi aleisi's. There were 6 competing groups:

 Group 1
A group consisting of youngsters, who are very energetic and however amateurs, but still possess great skills. They were actually from all the amateurs, the only ones working with chef knifes. Their approach was very professional, but what amazed me the most is the spark in their eyes when they talked to me about their dish.


The decoration of their stand was simple, but the two centerpieces gave the whole stand a special touch. 

Their approach was to mix three different kinds of moksi aleisi's together, also called Moxi Moksi Aleisi. It is made with 3 different kinds of beans ( djarpesi, sebijari & sperzie bonen) and 3 different kinds of meat: shrimp, salt meat and chicken.

Unfortunately, their moksi aleisi did not taste remarkable and even tasted a bit burned.

Group 2
This group has a big advantage in that it consisted of chef/cooks, who were already working for a restaurant outlet. They were very resourceful and neat and set up the place professionally, but which is expected of such a group.They decorated their stand with many Srefidensi (independence day was the very next day) accents, but the way it was placed looked a bit chaotic.

Their competition dish is the Obe-batjauw-pinda-moksi- aleisi, (Obe-Bacalao- Peanuts- Moksi Aleisi) also known as a type of Anitri Beri.         Anitri Beri is rice mixed with bacalao, onion, tomato and pepper. The meaning of the name is literally 'funeral of hernhutter'. A bit cruel if you ask me, but hey, the name's got a nice ring to it. Obe is a black/orange fruit, which is mostly used to produce oil.

This is the only moksi aleisi that I could smell from a distance. I did not need to stand next to it to smell the heavenly smell of the bacalao. The rice got a very nice yellow color and the fresh wild thyme gave a nice contrast to it all.

And since it smelled so great, I couldn't wait to taste it. It tasted as good as I expected it should be. One thing that they could improve was the peanuts in it. It could use a longer cooking time.

Group 3
This group was very ballsy!! Sorry for my french, but Surinamese people are known for their affection for meat. However the group of vegetarians is slowly growing, but making a vegetarian moksi aleisi was really a gutsy move!

What was most remarkable of this group was how neat they worked. I mean, let's face it, whenever I cook, how much I try to keep it clean, but I'll have maybe the spices on the table, which is most likely not in line or so, but NO...they were so neat I even wondered if they were cooking.

Their vegetarian moksi aleisi is made with vegetarian bacon and tofu. They even add a vegetarian fish ball as part of the dish.

Their stand was neatly decorated, but a bit too plain for my taste.

Probably you'd think I'd be very biased, since I'm a meatatarian, but I tried hard to taste it as neutral as possible. It could use a bit more flavor for me and I don't know if it was in my head, but both the veggie bacon and the fish ball tasted artificial. (Yeah, maybe still a bit biased?) And sorry to say this, nothing beats the real bacon!!


Group 4
The perception I got from this group is that it's a group of people supposedly going out of town, but had to stay in town for this competition. So since they could not go to chillax, they brought the chillaxing to domineestraat. A very loose and relaxed group, with 2-3 of them in charge of the cooking and some of them just sitting there and not even caring to talk to anyone about what they are cooking. But probably the main reason for that was because only several knew what dish was going to be served.

Maybe a bit rude, but the group made me think of what people say " je hebt werkpaarden en sierpaarden" meaning that in a group you will always have persons working their ass off and persons, who will only be there just to be there and look good.

The only thing that they added to their stand was banners of the company they work for and some office plants.


Their special touches to their dish was the fachong pepper and the stuffed wings. They made two different kinds:
- Godo Godo-> made with sebijari, mixed meat and of course the stuffed wing and fachong pepper
- Ala kondre -> made with agu tere (pig's tail), smoked chicken and wurst and no beans/peas in it.

Their rice was very mushy, but taste was not bad. I expected more heat from their fachong pepper, which was more sweet than spicy.

Group 5
This group have one big strong point and that is their cook. She knows so much about Srefidensi and Moksi aleisi that I believe that some visitors only come for her knowledge and stories. And the most important thing is, she's willing to share her knowledge about these 2 subjects. She gave me two advices for cooking Moksi Aleisi. One is have a cloth covering the lid of your pan/pot. Another thing I've learned from her is that if you want your moksi aleisi not be so mushy, put a plastic bag in the rice and the rice will slowly but surely dry up. It sounded so strange to me. I mean...is there a scientific explanation to it? But next to her, there was also another group that used this method, so probably something to research later? The only thing I would like to recommend is to use a new (out of the package) plastic bag.


Her stand was decorated with all kinds of Srefidensi accents and many items from back in the days. It was nice to see those items, but all added up made the stand look cluttery.


This group made 3 different kinds of moksi aleisi. The most remarkable one was the one with the botro pesi (butter peas). The way the peas look made me think of soybean, but unfortunately was not cooked long enough to be soft as butter. The moksi aleisi tasted good, but did not leave a lasting impression.

Group 6
This group had the biggest stand, but the size was because this group consisted of both promo team and competition team. Only 1/3 of the stand members were in charge of the competition dish and all the others focus on their promo items.


The main set-up was also focused on promoting their company's products and not on the competition. The cook was giving his utmost, but it kinda felt as if he was left alone with this task. He did have 1-2 helpers to assist him with keeping the area clean and some cutting and cleaning.

His dish was the Masoes/ Black-eye pesi moksi aleisi. The most appealing of this dish was the way he tried to make a ying yang from these two different types of moksi aleisi. His strength lies in plating the dish.

This dish was kinda mushy, but actually tasted good, but a bit boring. His side dish made with tofu and bean sprouts was very delicious. They had a great chance to become prizewinners, but unfortunately some of the judges tasted uncooked rice in it.

The winner of the best moksi aleisi was the group of Torarica and for those of you who does not know it yet, they were group 2 in my blog. They did indeed win it fair and square. The only thing they'd need to improve is their plating creativity.


If I have to evaluate this event, I have to say that it went way better than last year. Some of the improvements:
- all the garbage bins near that area were empty
- the portable sinks were a great help to the participants. It looked way better than last year, where participants had to wash their stuff next to their stand
- all participants worked pretty much to hygienic standards. However some are still stubborn about putting on gloves before cutting their ingredients.

While talking to some visitors, there were some suggestions for the organization:
- adding a bigi sma ( mostly an old lady, who knows a lot about the dish) to the jury
- have a teach-in with the participants. Some mentioned that a bean/peas type is part of a Moksi Aleisi

My own  suggestion is to give both the participants and the visitors a time, when they can sell/buy their Moksi Aleisi. I saw enthusiastic people around 10:30 already looking for moksi aleisi when the time it's supposed to be ready is around 1:00 pm. At the end, I saw them leaving just before 1:00pm with several meals from Popeyes.

If I have to evaluate being part of the technical judge crew, I'm glad I was 'the assistant' of Mr. Hermelijn. I can learn so much from him about cooking, the ingredients and the several aspects to look at. It was so much fun to see the different groups, having their own approach and probably their own reason for taking part in this competition. For whatever reason it might be, I am proud of this year's participants. They made it hard for the technical judges to find errors.

** The images for this blog were made possible by Victuals Magazine and Stephanie Boldewijn **
For more images, please visit https://www.facebook.com/Victuals.Magazine

Cooking like a professional chef at SHTTC

For those of you who are not aware of its existence yet, SHTTC stands for the foundation Suriname Hospitality and Tourism Training Centre. Their main purpose is to provide professional guidance and training to people in the tourism and hospitality industry. If you want to know more about this foundation, check them out at their website: http://sshttc.org/nl/

When I received an invitation from Micheal Hermelijn, the teacher of the practical class of the chef's training course, I could not wait for the class to begin. However it was kinda of a hassle to be there on time (4pm), but for this time attending the class late was unavoidable since I get off work at 3.30 the earliest. When I finally arrived, I was already half an hour late.

I was totally astonished how professionally the room was put together. The room is very spacy and all equipment was made of stainless steel and I counted 4 complete kitchen stations. Each station includes a range with 4 stovetops, an oven, a shared grill top and flat top, a shared deep fryer; all under an extractor hood and a counter with a commercial washbasin. I am in love with the set up.

So when I walked in fashionably late, everybody was already busy prepping the 3-course meal that they need to have finished at the end of the class. The class was divided into groups of 3-4 and I was put into one of the groups. The first course they prepped was the caramel vanilla pudding and there were really many restrictions: no garde beater, no touching the food with your hands, only with tools, no slouching at the counter, chef's jacket and hair cap is a must.




For someone like me, who is mostly used to home cooking, where everything is allowed, it was a totally different experience.
The next step was the appetizer: Thai chicken rice noodle soup with chicken quenelles

"Quenelle

A quenelle is a mixture of creamed fish, chicken, or meat, sometimes combined with breadcrumbs, with a light egg binding. It is usually poached. Wikipedia"

It always looked so much fun and easy to do when watching chefs on TV making the quenelles, but in reality, it was not easy at all. I felt so clumsy when I gave it a try. The chicken quenelles are seasoned with salt, sugar, pepper and fish sauce.
The chicken broth was prepared by first blanching the chicken and then putting it in water to get a clear broth.

And the most important meal of the course if most definitely the entrée: rice with grilled fish and mango sauce.


The mango sauce is prepared with fresh mango's, fresh pepper, djira and some mango juice.

However every group received the same menu and instructions, but you see a different presentation with every menu item. Some were even using a technique that they just learned from a guest lecturer last week. The best part!!? I'm part of the taste committee, yay!

Except for one failed pudding, all items were made remarkably well. Some better than others, but it was obvious everyone gave an extra effort to think about the final presentation of their creation. Whether it's a mango rose on the rice or a cherry on top of the pudding, they thought it up themselves.

It was really like a peak into a commercial kitchen, where people are busy preparing the food to be served. All aroma's, the smoke coming from the grilled fish, the students giving their utmost to present a good product. I know that most people despise working in the kitchen, but I believe that you need to have a heart for it. If you don't love the smoke, hate it when YOU smell like food, then the kitchen is not a workplace for you. For lovers, it's a heavenly place to be in, for others, it's a hell, where you will need to cope with the heat and the grease.

 

But if you're really serious about learning the knicks and knacks of cooking like a professional chef, please check out more information about the 15 month course here:

http://sshttc.org/nl/index.php/2012-04-26-01-13-48/cook-training

 

 

Amazon Flavors 2013

After last year's Amazon flavors, I could not wait for this year's. For those of you who haven't read it yet. Here are the pages:
http://atastybit.blogspot.com/2012/11/amazon-flavors-culinary-weekend-to.html
http://atastybit.blogspot.com/2012/11/amazon-flavors-culinary-weekend-to_22.html

Last year I had so many information that I wanted to share with my readers, that I could not do it in one single blog. I had to divide into two sections, so that I could give my readers a thorough walk-through of my experience. This year....it was kinda different!

The first remarkable thing about this year is the media exposure of this event. It could be because I'm so isolated from media outlets, but I hardly notice anything that had to do with Amazon Flavors. Just to give you a head's up, my only media outlet is Facebook or e-mail. And I haven't noticed any postings or whatsoever on Facebook: the media when it comes to reaching everyone on a budget.

It is that I got an invitation from my friend, Jill-Joy Landburg, again that I knew that it was held in the weekend 1-3 November.  But I thought, it has to be because I was so busy with work that I might have missed the media coverage. I remember that last year they had a breakdown of all the chefs, who were gonna participate in the Chef's competition. I'm not sure if they did that this year.
But no sweat, I was psyched to participate in the program of the day:

I probably missed the first one about the food trends, since I got there when Ms. Liz started talking about meat. It was really educational for me and these are some of the tips:
- never rinse American beef (actually all kinds of beef, but since she was from America). Just dab   
  with a napkin or so to dab the juices, but never rinse it with lemon/vinegar water. Rinsing makes the
  meat lose its natural juices.
- never press the meat or poke the meat after searing it. Searing the meat creates a grilled film
  over the meat, which keeps the natural juices inside. If you're gonna poke or press the meat after it,
  it will cause the meat to lose its natural juices.
- the more marble, the more done you can cook the beef that's still tender
- 14-18 days aged meat is more tender than fresh meat.
- when it comes to pork, the whiter the meat, the tougher the meat.
- when cutting beef, cut across the grain and not with the grain.

And the best thing about the workshop is the tasting of the different pieces of meat: the difference between choice and select meat, along and across the grain, pork well done vs. pork done the right way. It was a real eye-opener how a simple thing as cutting it differently can affect the texture of your meat.

Chef Gerrit Greveling was accompanied by the MC Ramon Beuk. The MC is the best thing the organization did this year!! He knew a lot about food and has the talent to keep the audience amused. Chef Gerrit is a Michelin Star Master Chef. For this event, he specially prepared an earthy dish with potatoes, cooking cream and truffles. I never had truffles, but I pretty much like its earthiness. And I don't expect anything less from a Michelin Star chef.

Thereafter, we got to taste some pastries from Chef Monti. The whole intention of his workshop is to promote PreGel, an instant product to make pastries within minutes. For more information, please check this site: http://www.pregelamerica.com

I don't know if it has to do with the product or the constant flow of pastries one after another, I got a bit overwhelmed with the taste of PreGel. Call me old fashion, but I like the pastries made from scratch. The pastries made with this product look really gorgeous, but for me it tasted a bit too sweet and I don't know if it's in my head, but it kinda tasted instant/artificial.

Starting at the pastry workshop, visitors are starting to become very chatty. Constantly the visitors needed to be shushed. This was really irritating. It is not only a nuisance for the rest of the visitors, but most of all, very disrespectful to the person giving the workshop.

For instance, during the workshop of Master Sommelier Noel. He seems like a very kind person with a soft voice. At some point, it seemed like he gave up trying to overpower the chattering of all the people, who got their glasses filled with wine. For a wine tasting, the pourers were very heavy-handed. And I gotta say, we got about 10 different kind of wines and unfortunately I was not amused with the line up of the wines. The two wines that did it for me were the Trapiche Merlot and Trapiche Syrah.

I gotta say, this year they really invited some impressive people over for the event:

- Chef Gerrit Greveling - A Michelin Star Master Chef
- Chef Monti- Pastry chef with 30 year's experience in Ritz Carlton
- Noel Van Wittenbergh- just recently awarded with the title 'Best Sommelier of the Netherlands'
- MC Ramon Beuk, who is known for his TV shows like 'back to my roti'

Overall, I have to say that this year's event did not meet my expectations. However the price of a day pass went from $100,- (including lunch) to SRD75,- ( about 1/3 of the price), the whole set up was a bit chaotic. Visitors don't need to sign up for any workshops/ seminars anymore, but just walk in at anytime they'd like. The group of visitors also seemed like a different group compared with last year. Last year, the visitors were eager to gain knowledge and this year's group seemed more interested in having fun and enjoying themselves than listening to anything the invited speakers had to say.

Next to that, the focus of such an event is supposed to be on the chef competition, but with all the seminars happening at the same time the competition lose its attention. I only went on Saturday, so I don't know if Sunday was better with the Iron chef battle.

A positive change in the program was the several food stands, providing lunch options. There was choice between Spice Quest (however I do believe that they were selling Dumpling's #1 menu items), Indian food (roti and snacks) and Creole ( every day a different menu).

But my compliments to the following participants, who highlighted Amazon Flavors :

- Ramon Beuk -> you contributed to a greater experience during the seminars and made many attempts to shush the crowd, while at the same time trying not to show your annoyance.

- Lavazza -> it really gave me a boost of energy whenever I was really in need of it. And I'm sure I was not the only one appreciating this.


- Jethro Wirht- one of our Surinamese culinary pride. I was not present during his battle, but he won the 3rd edition of the International Iron Chef battle of Amazon Flavors. With this victory, he did not only put himself into a higher level, but creates a role model for the Surinamese culinary world.