King of the Mountain Chef’s Challenge 2012 and Fennel Pollen Sautéed Trout Fillet on Parsnip and Apple Puree

It seems that most of us have become obsessed with all things related to food, cooking and chefs over the last several years.  With the ever increasing popularity and number of food television shows, food and wine festivals and food-centric events, chefs have been elevated to almost rockstar status.  With this star status comes the ability to not only bring people together around great food and inspire us, but to do it in conjunction with a great cause.

Now, more than ever, chefs and people in the food industry are leveraging their ability to reach broad audiences to create and support charitable foundations and to raise money to support the needs of others in their own and surrounding communities.

We recently attended an event that was a perfect example of this concept.  The 2012 King of the Mountain Chef’s Challenge, held at The Barn Pavilion at The Farm Old Edwards Inn and Spa, in Highlands, North Carolina brought together some of the region’s best chefs to raise money to support the Fragile Kids Foundation.

The Fragile Kids Foundation, based in Atlanta, Georgia supports medically fragile children and their families.  Matt Eberz, of Sam Call Productions, and the event creator, said that he chose this particular organization based on a long-term relationship with the foundation.  His own children are in the healthcare field and he understands the need that exists to help these children.

The King of the Mountain Chef’s Challenge, in its third year, was a great success selling out with approximately 190 guests.  Hosted at The Barn Pavilion, it was the perfect venue for this day of Food Network-like entertainment with a chef’s challenge rivaling that of Iron Chef.  Here is a brief video of the event.

It was a very entertaining and eventful afternoon as four chefs battled in their version of Kitchen Stadium for the title of “King of the Mountain”.  Guests were treated to special food presentations prepared by guest chefs throughout the day.  The silent auction items included artwork, private dinners, fine wines and trips to benefit Fragile Kids Foundation.  The culmination of the day was a fabulous four-course meal prepared by the participating chefs and their culinary teams.

It was great as always to see some of our good friends and chefs that were participating in the event.  We enjoy all of their restaurants, so we had no favorites going in to the day.  Our motto was to “Let the battle begin!”

Chef Johannes Klapdohr, of Old Edwards Inn and Spa, was in the hunt to retain his crown after beating Chef Nicholas Figel (Cypress Restaurant) last year.  Other chefs from the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau in competition for the title of King of the Mountain title were John Fleer of Canyon Kitchen at Lonesome Valley (Cashiers, NC) and  Mat Kowal of Gamekeeper’s Tavern (Sapphire, NC).

Justin Ward was the only chef from the lowlands….an Atlantan, filling in for Chef Nicholas Figel, who was unable to attend.  Ward is an Instructor at The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of Atlanta and former owner of Harvest Restaurant & Cosecha Restaurant in Atlanta.

This mountain version of Iron Chef was a bit more challenging than the one that you are familiar with on television.  You may not be aware that the chefs on television know several days in advance what their secret ingredient will be, while these chefs were completely unaware of the secret ingredients.  To further complicate matters, rather than just one secret ingredient, which is the focus on Iron Chef television, this chef’s challenge had three secret ingredients awaiting them in their baskets.

The four chefs were paired off and competed in first round challenges with the winners competing head to head for the title “King of the Mountain”.  Each round brought new secret ingredients to the competing chefs.

The judges for this competition included Executive Chef Denny Trantham of Grove Park Inn (Asheville, NC) and Kevin Ouzts, Owner and Executive Chef of The Spotted Trotter in Atlanta, GA.  There was also a guest from the audience chosen to be a judge for each of the challenges.

Shelley Skiles Sawyer, Managing Food Editor of Flavors Magazine, was the emcee for the day sharing the floor with Steve Day, Operations Manager of WHLC FM in Highlands and J.T. Fields, Owner of  Mountain Fresh Grocery and Wine Market.

The mood was intense in the room as the challengers arrived, selected their mystery baskets and went to work.  The first competition paired Chefs Fleer and Ward in a battle using a mystery basket of quail, coffee beans and citrus to create three separate dishes. This heated battle over a forty minute span resulted in Chef Ward advancing to the final round.

Round two was a match between defending champion Chef Klapdohr and Chef Kowal.  This time the mystery basket included a little trip to the tropics with Prawns, coconut, mangos and bananas.  Once again, the battle was intense as the chefs raced to prepare three dishes from the secret ingredients.  Chef Klapdohr emerged as the winner and headed to the finals against Chef Ward.

Trout, radicchio and carrots were the three mystery ingredients in the battle between Chefs Klapdohr and Ward.  This was the third and final challenge.  Once again, these chefs had 40 grueling minutes to prepare and plate their three presentations for the judges.  In a tough decision for the judges, Chef Klapdohr emerged as the victor to retain his crown and the title of “King of the Mountain”.  However, the real winner was the Fragile Kids Foundation that will benefit from the generosity of the chefs and patrons of this event.

Matt Ebertz had this to say about the event, “If you want to know if the event was successful, simply ask the guests and the participants.  In our case, the guests loved the excitement of watching great chefs battle at a real Chef’s Challenge, and the food they prepared was amazing.  As for the competing chefs, every chef who has participated, judged or observed the competition says the same two things; first, this is a real chef’s competition that requires experience and talent, not luck and assistance. Second, they want to win it. “

If you have the opportunity to see an event like this, you will truly understand the intensity and level of talent and creativity that it takes to create and beautifully plate three unique dishes from three mystery ingredients and do it all in just forty minutes.  It gives me an even greater appreciation for the work these chefs do on a daily basis in their own restaurants and kitchens.

If you would like to learn more about The Fragile Kids Foundation,  you can visit their website at www.fragilekids.org.

Chef Klapdohr has shared his recipe for one of his winning dishes, Fennel Pollen Sautéed Trout Fillet on Parsnip and Apple Puree.  This stunning dish will ensure that you are a superstar chef in your own home.

Bon Appétit!