After two days of sizzling, wok-hot competition that had 75 accomplished chefs from around the world slicing, dicing and cooking in the heart of New York City's bustling Times Square, Szechuan cuisine master Chen Yichun took top honors in NTD Televisions Fifth International Chinese Culinary Competition. The winning chefs tasty Sweet & Sour Chicken Breast and Dry Roasted Fish impressed the judges enough to net him the $10,000
Gold Prize.
The Sept. 27-28 morning-to-evening event squared off four chefs at a time preparing dishes in mobile kitchens set up at 47th Street and Broadway. The set was designed in the architectural style of the ancient Chinese Tang Dynasty (618-907) capital of Changan. Chefs created dishes from five traditional Chinese cuisines: Cantonese, Huaiyang, Northeastern, Shandong and Szechuan.
Sponsor NTD Television, which broadcast the competition live around the globe, serves up the annual showcase of traditional Chinese kitchen skills to shine a spotlight on authentic recipes, which utilize only natural ingredients. Tasting sessions open to the public provided diners with delicacies and flavors to savor that not generally available from take-out restaurants, many of which end to use artificial ingredients such as MSG.
"Chinese cuisine has thousands of years of history. The dietary and culinary principles inherent in it, such as the quest for harmony between human beings and nature, are reflections of traditional Chinese philosophy, " said Zhong Lee, president of NTD.
Chef Yichun, who demonstrated only a portion of Szechuan cuisines more than 20 compound flavors and close to 40 techniques, which range from stir-frying to dry-braising, was fired up for the competition. The careful mixing of Szechuan pepper corn (Zanthoxylum bungeanum) with other seasonings imparted various distinct flavors to his dishes.
In an interview with NTD, the chef pointed out, " People characterize Szechuan cuisine as spicy, but that is just one flavor of Szechuan, not all of it. "
Yichun continued, " The principle that five flavors salty, sweet, ma (stinging), spicy and sour should harmonize is expressed flawlessly in Szechuan cuisine. Ma is the number one flavor of the hundreds of Szechuan cuisine flavors."
Taking the competitions two Silver Awards and $3,000 in prize money were Chefs Hsieh Wen-Chang and Zhao Kefeng. Bronze awards and $1,000 went to Chefs Alex Zhong, Masayuki Kanda and Huang Yuyang.
In addition to the Chinese Culinary Competition main event, there was also a West Meets East Fire Up the Wok Challenge featuring Western chefs preparing Kung Pao Chicken, a classic Sichuan dish. The culinary cultural exchange featured the versatile stovetop talents of Juilieta Ballesteros, who is regarded as one of New York's best Mexican cuisine chefs, along with Antoine Camin, executive chef of Orsay, and several celebrities from the Food Network and Bravo.
