TIDES & TABLES: Top chefs think outside the box at Taste of Tillamook

Published 5:00 am Thursday, March 27, 2008

What is the taste of Tillamook County? That’s what top regional chefs set out to define and highlight at the sixth annual Taste of Tillamook County celebration, held March 15 and 16 at the Tillamook County Fairgrounds.

The Black Box Cooking Competition is Tillamook County’s version of the Food Channel’s Iron Chef, or Bravo’s Top Chef Competition, where chefs cook against the clock using specified ingredients. Only here, everything is live and in real time. There is no chance for editing, voiceovers or commercial breaks. Cows, ready for milking, graze nearby in misty fields and fishing boats are working just offshore, providing just some of the bounty for which Tillamook County is known. This year, the directors of the Taste of Tillamook invited four top chefs to compete in a cook-off using these great ingredients and more. This is reality cooking at its best.

Chef Geoff Gunn, right, poses with winning chef Chris Holen of Baked Alaska and The Schooner Twelfth Street Bistro.Given just one hour of time to prepare a three-course meal, chefs arrive at the competition just in time to survey the bounty of local ingredients and exotic spices available to them. The “secret ingredients,” including seafood and meats, are kept hidden until just minutes before the showdown begins.

Organizing and emceeing the Black Box event is the highly talented and vivacious Geoff Gunn, executive chef for the Lumberyard Rotisserie and Grill in Cannon Beach. Gunn first appeared some years back as a contestant at the event, competing opposite famed three-time Black Box winner, Chef John Newman, owner/chef of Newmans at 988 in Cannon Beach and culinary instructor and mentor for students at the Tongue Point Job Corps. Gunn jokes that competing was too much work and he now prefers his present position.

Chef de Cuisine Josh Anderson of the Blackfish Café in Lincoln City went head-to-head with Executive Chef Chris Holen of Astoria’ Baked Alaska and The Schooner Twelfth Street Bistro during the Black Box Cooking Competition at the Taste of Tillamook County March 16.This year, chefs had a wall of flavors and fresh ingredients to select from for their impromptu cooking competition, including organic microgreens, fingerling potatoes, ginger, shallots, mangoes, baby tomatoes, beautiful giant organic carrots, chilis, peppers, wild mushrooms and fruits and vegetables of every shape and color. Dry ingredients included Arborio rice, tapioca, sunflower seeds and more. In order to allow chefs to showcase their specialties, Gunn allows chefs to bring their own secondary ingredients, such as spices. The only twist is that they must share those ingredients with their competition.

Saturday’s Black Box competition pitted Portland Sous Chef Lamont Hansen of 3 Doors Down Café against Chef Piet (pronounced Pete) Vanden Hogan, executive chef of the Pelican Pub and Brewery in Pacific City. Judges included Newman, Oregon State Representative Deborah Boone, Chef Zeb Johnson (food service manager for the Tillamook Cheese Farmhouse Café), Rosemary Camozzi (editor of Oregon Coast Magazine) and Cameron Nagel (founder/co-publisher of Northwest Palate Magazine).

Black Box winner Vanden Hogan and his sous chef, Jed Adylotte, arrived one hour ahead of the competition to survey the ingredients. “Without knowing the secret ingredients until just five minutes before the competition started, we basically just tried to figure out what we could prepare in one hour,” says Vanden Hogan. “I can taste ingredients in my mind, which really helps.” The two worked as a team, with Vanden Hogan acting as the “quarterback.” The first course, an Asian cabbage salad topped with shrimp sautéed with ancho chili and whole cumin seed, was dressed in a sweet rice vinaigrette and topped with a slaw of mango, papaya, daikon and fresh lemon juice and zest. Next came red curry carrot and coconut bisque, with whole steamed clams and Dungeness crab, seasoned with fresh cilantro. For the entrée, the chefs served fresh rosemary-crusted Pacific snapper over Israeli couscous with caramelized fennel and a sweet and sour tomato-based agro dolce sauce with a blood orange reduction sauce and microgreens. I can’t wait to eat at their restaurant.

On Sunday afternoon, I got to judge the competition along with Leigh Ann Hieronymus (from the CBS cooking segment, “Cook and Tell with Leigh Ann”), Chef Alan Joynson (program director for Tillamook County Hospitality and Recreation program), Angela Warren (Tillamook branch manager, Bank of Astoria) and Jennifer Purcell (TOTC event coordinator).

With Chef Gunn once again as emcee, competitors Chris Holen (executive chef/owner of Astoria’s Baked Alaska and The Schooner Twelfth Street Bistro), and Chef de Cuisine Josh Anderson (the Blackfish Café in Lincoln City) suited up in their chef’s jackets just five minutes prior to the competition. This was their first peek at the meats and seafood available for incorporating into their dishes.

As soon as they’d unpacked their knives and culinary utensils, they were introduced to the audience and the cooking got underway. With the clock ticking, the two chefs immediately set to work, running around gathering ingredients, slicing, chopping, heating skillets and more, with energy and intensity. With his jet black hair and dark complexion, Chef Anderson looked the perfect counterpoint to fair-haired Holen. As much as Gunn tried to coax the chefs into talking and sharing their secrets, they barely said a word – both intent on preparing their dishes in the allotted time. Typically for this competition, chefs are allowed to bring a sous chef, but when Blackfish Café’s sous chef was not available, Chef Holen decided to forgo his helper too in order to keep the competition balanced.

In a surprising twist of events, both chefs chose surprisingly similar ingredients for their entrees, both preparing risotto with Tillamook cheese and steamed clams.

About 10 minutes into the competition, delicious smells erupted as Anderson sautéed apple wood-smoked bacon and onions, and Holen sautéed garlic and onions, pouring in wine to make a reduction sauce.

As things heated up, Anderson was busy shucking oysters and cracking crab with the spine of his cleaver while Holen sliced Napa cabbage, garlic, jalapeños and ginger for his take on a hot and sour soup.

When the fast-paced hour was up, it was time for the judges to get busy. As judges, we were asked to rate each dish on a 10-point system based on creativity, flavor and presentation.

Anderson was the first chef to plate up. He started with a marigold-colored carrot and elephant garlic soup with chunks of sweet Dungeness crab, topped with what he called “instant crème fraiche” – Tillamook sour cream. The soup was rich and creamy and the sweetness of the carrots blended deliciously with the crab. Next came a freshly shucked baked Pacific oyster topped with apple wood-smoked bacon, sautéed onions and grated Tillamook mozzarella cheese. I could have eaten a dozen of these. For his entrée, Anderson prepared a saffron-infused risotto made with clams, rockfish, asparagus and flat-leaf parsley. For my taste, a heavy-handed hit of saffron overwhelmed the dish and didn’t allow the fresh flavors of the seafood to sing.

Holen wowed the judges with a salad of fresh shiitake and button mushrooms marinated in pinot noir and balsamic vinegar with shallots and garlic. Served atop a bed of microgreens dressed simply with olive oil and sea salt with a side of perfectly ripe sliced avocado, it was an outstanding dish that will forever linger in my mind. Holen’s hot and sour soup, made with a broth flavored with ginger, hot peppers and lime, was poured over freshly sliced Napa cabbage. The cabbage was crisp and the flavors were bright. Holen’s entrée, a buttery rich risotto, was lightly seasoned with saffron and grated cheese. Steamed clams and delicate spears of asparagus graced the dish. All of the ingredients were perfectly seasoned, allowing each flavor to shine.

Judges voted, and while each chef did a great job, Holen emerged as the winner. He accepted his Oscar-like trophy in triumph with his beaming 1-year-old daughter Anna and his wife Jennifer at his side.

Mark your calendars for next year. In addition to the Black Box competitions, the annual Taste of Tillamook is a great family event, featuring beverages and food from wineries, breweries and food vendors from the Tillamook County area. Live music, face painting and blind tastings of Tillamook ice cream all add to the festivities. Proceeds go to food programs such as the Regional Food Bank of Tillamook County, a division of the Oregon Food Bank, and Food Roots, a locally based nonprofit community food organization dedicated to growing a sustainable food system on the North Coast.

For information on 2009 events, visit the Web site at www.tasteoftillamookcounty.com