Top Chef Competition

There are lots of fun ways to do this competition, it depends how many youth are involved and the access you have to cooking equipment. We originally wanted to have this outside in the church parking lot using camping stoves so that the girls could pass off outdoor cooking skills for their camp certification, but we have too many youth and it got complicated. So.... we opted for an easier version which was this:

A Pancake Cook-off

We gave each leader a paper with an outline and rules of the cook-off a few weeks in advance so that everyone could plan. Here is a copy of our handout.

Next week for YM/YW we are having the Top Chef cook-off. I mentioned it to all of you a few weeks ago. We decided that it would probably be easiest, if we made it a pancake competition in the gym instead of cooking outside in the parking lot.

Here's how it's going to work:

Each class will be competing as a team -- Beehives, Deacons, Mia Maids, Teachers, and Laurels. Priests.

Everyone on your team has to participate in some way.

You can cook any type of pancake that you want -- unique recipe; mix-ins, syrups, etc. Bring enough batter so that your team can cook and eat pancakes. There will be some special ingredients on a center table that you can use to enhance your pancakes so you can experiment and decide which combination you think is a "winner."At a certain time, all the teams will bring a plate of their winning pancake to the judges table where some ward members will judge the entries on the following:

Taste 15 points
Presentation 10 points
Teamwork 10 points
Cleanup 15 points
Creativity 10 points

While the judges are scoring all the entries, we will use that time to clean up. Cleanup points will be added to each team score after the cleanup period has officially ended (a horn will blow or something like that). The winning team will get a prize. Your team will need to bring the following things on Wednesday night.

Pancake batter (enough for your group). Note: We had several kids on our team who wanted to bring their family pancake recipe. That might be a good way to get enough batter for your group. Then you can sample all those recipes create some kind of fantastic pancake using one of those batters.
Toppings or syrup for your pancakes.
or more plug in type griddles and an extension cord. Cooking tinsels.

I will provide: Paper plates, forks, butter, a few syrups, some items you can use to create a special pancake like: liquorish, bacon, chocolate chips, skittles, coconut, nuts, etc.

Here's the time schedule:

Setup 7:00 to 7:20
Cooking & tasting 7:20 to 7:50
All dishes to the judges table 8:& 00
Judging and Cleanup 8:00 to 8:15
Final tally of scores and announcement of the winner 8:15
8:15 to 8:20 Pancake eating contest (we will draw names and pick 5 people to compete)

P.S. Rumor has it that the Deacons are going to "take us all down" so bring your "A" game.