“Pressure, Pressure, Pressure! … lasting memories”
– coming straight from WHEN ROONEY MEETS GERRARD!
FATFACE… from the sound of it, you knew it was going to be a cooking competition. But, no one knew the competition was going to be one very intensive experience from start through to the end. Along the way, making many new friends through our united passion for universal cuisine
When Rooney meets Gerrard – our team name came through Alex and I enthusiasm with football. Wayne Rooney represent Manchester United and Steven Gerrard is the captain of Liverpool FC. We want to illustrate our passion in watching football and compete in the Fatface Cookathon competition.
The first round started in the early month of May; A personalized dish to be tasted by fellow competitors and judges. We wanted to provide a combination of when east meets tradition Beijing. Our signature dish: Foil baked Mediterranean Mackerel served on crispy 排子 was truly an innovation out of our quick one minute brain storming session. The main ingredient Mackerel was because we wanted the audience to taste something different, yet incredible healthy. Whereas the crispy 排字 is to identify that both of us are from Beijing. The result was spectacular. Everyone seemed to enjoy the end result and even got us a little fan group going! When came to the voting, even though we were allowed to vote for our dish first… our taste buds were completely blown away by Jerry’s Sri Lankan Prawn Curry! Receiving our primary vote!
With the preliminary round done, we were selected to be part of the finals. The day started as two very nervous cooks arriving at the location, trying to find inspiration for competition dishes. Even though we were had confidence in our secret weapon – Vanilla pods, we were very cautious regarding the limited timing we had on our hands. Personally, I have never realized that peeling and cutting some garlic would take me at least 15 minutes!
When we opened the mystery box of ingredients for our first round competition, the pieces in my head fixed together… Tofu, Mushrooms, Lemon and garlic! Perfect, for a traditional French crème mushroom crepe.
Many of the judges were impressed by our presentation and use of ingredients. So, first round secure, moving into the second round.
Second round, we faced our hurdle. Duck breast is an extremely difficult ingredient to get rid of its actual gamey flavor. Therefore, plenty of marinating was prepared for this challenge. So, out comes garlic, chili, soy sauce, yellow wine and onion, all put together with the duck breast and let it rest for at least 30 minutes. Whilst that was preparing, I decided to take our chance with the vanilla pod and make a traditional English rice pudding. A mixture of pan fried rice, milk, butter and vanilla, was looking wow over the female votes in the crowd. It all started very well initially, with a milky vanilla flavor covering the venue. But, the positive effect didn’t last, as I had to quickly take the pudding off the stove in favor of the duck.
The duck, after its initial marinating was coming off well, with some gentle cooking and sauces, it came off better than we expected. The only fall back was being cooked a little longer than we expected. But no worries, we were still able to present it to the audiences and sure enough, the plate was as clean as a whistle! The wait for the result between ourselves and A cut from above was nerve racking, their sensational fajita looked and tasted very authentic. This resulted in them hands down going into the finals rather than When Rooney meets Gerrard.
The overall experience of the event was unforgettable; from the different types of dishes (as many as I am able to get my hands on) I was experience a better understanding of the personality of the chefs and their background. All praises must also go out to Hsu “Fatbuddah” and his team of extremely efficient volunteers – apart from one who ran off before the event started… hehe. If it was not for them, I am sure most of the audiences would have woken up with very bad stomach pain the next morning. The volunteers ensured we had clean kitchen equipments at all times and their speed and efficiency needs to be praised.
The Fatface Cookathon, I believe will be a significant event in the Beijing calendar for years to come. It is a combination of friendship, education, rush and of course amazing food! Jerry’s wonderful cooking eventually took the prize away for this year. But I’m sure there will be even more teams looking to compete and be crowned as Fatface Cookathon winner in 2015!
Casually written by
Alistair
(the better half of When Rooney meets Gerrard! 
)