Friday, September 12, 2014

CIC Alum Ulfet Ralph Wins the Chef's Challenge at the Asheville Wine and Food Festival!

Congratulations to CIC alum Ulfet Ozyabasligil Ralph for winning the Asheville Wine and Food Festival's Chef's Challenge! Ulfet, representing Charleston's Blom Supper Club, was the first woman to win this competition. 

This is "the highlight of the festival: the final competition in the annual Chefs Challenge, a cooking competition that pits regional chefs against each other in an Iron Chef-style battle," wrote the Mountain Express newspaper. "Each chef is given an hour and a secret ingredient — this year it was a whole rabbit — and expected to create a dish that will impress the panel of judges, most of whom are chefs themselves. This year the panel included James Beard favorite William Dissen of the Market Place and Susi Gott Seguret of the Seasonal School of Culinary Arts." http://mountainx.com/food/taste-of-success-regional-chefs-battle-it-out-at-chefs-challenge/

"One hour and two portable burners were all each chef had to contend with, along with a table laced with various items supplied by the French Broad Food Co-op," Seguret wrote in the Festival's official blog.  She described Ulfet's dish as "a richly infused leg perched atop a blend of apples, squash and mushrooms, more sweet than savory, with the kidneys used in the poaching liquid, and the ensemble finished off with butter, this plate was awarded especial detailed attention, with braised cherry tomatoes adding a final touch of color and another sprinkling of marigold petals contrasting in brightness with the dark velvety quality of the sauce." http://www.ashevillewineandfood.com/blog/rabbit-rabbit-rabbit-final-chefs-challenge
Ulfet is currently chef at The Culinary Vegetable Institute in Milan, Ohio. http://www.culinaryvegetableinstitute.com/

Chef, you did your school proud!

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