First thing is first, congratulations to both teams for a pile of amazing dishes. I so wish that we could find a way to taste them all, it is darn hard to do this with pictures! I will also say that the descriptions of all of the dishes this time are exceptional and make it so no questions are needed! Thanks! So with nothing further here we go…..
Team USA
Dish 1 – Appetizers – A big risk with this dish, anytime four bites are submitted at once you are really putting yourself out there!
Appearance – 3 – no need to go into detail and for me any problems would just be nit picking, this is as nice as anything I would get in any restaurant. Excellent colors, love the addition of the tea pot, well done. The prep photos really walk you through the step by step executions as well.
Creativity – 3 – Hard to look for deductions here! The tea has been used in multiple ways, as a dry rub, dough ingredient, brine, and cure, as well as the traditional form as a drink. As well the use of so many different teas and tea ingredients is worth noting . Not much more could be done!
Technique – 2.75 – We have curing, bringing, grilling, indirect grilling, marinating and on and on, all done to perfection. My one minor issue is the flow of the dish, I think for an appetizer we have too much, for myself I think the belly and the chicken would have been good or alternatively the salmon and the gyoza. Creating all 4 displayed exceptional skill but I don’t feel they all necessarily fit together on one plate to start a meal.
Dish 2 Main
Appearance – 3– I debated on this for a long time, going between 2.75 and 3. I do not necessarily love the potatoes in the four corners. I would prefer one pile of potato myself. This is the only reason for any possible deduction. The duck is the dish in the competition that from looks I want to jump in and tackle like no other, it looks utterly amazing. For that reason I stuck with 3. As well it is very nice how the prep pictures really walk you through the preparation of the duck.
Creativity – 3 – Many types of tea used and in every single component of the dish. I love how you have taken classic dishes and turned them on their head, such as sweet potatoes and pecans and tea smoked duck. This category refers to creativity with use of the secret ingredient, so while some of the dishes may be somewhat traditional (tea smoked duck etc…) it has to be noted how tea was placed with every single aspect of this dish.
Technique – 3 - As was stated above this is the first dish done on the WSM. We have a steaming, followed by low temp smoking and finally a little high heat to finish it off. Add to that the finesse of the sauces, dressings and oils and you have a real winner.
Dish 3
Appearance – 3 – While not my cup of tea (had to toss a pun in) as far as the classic style of plating I do think it is beautiful. The pears look good enough to eat and I really do like the cookies being shaped like tea pots.
Creativity – 2.75 – Let me start by saying this is a beautiful dish that took a lot of effort. I appreciate how tea was infused in all aspects of the dish, I find the yogurt cheese cream to be exceptionaly creative. I will say that while serving the tea with no additions is classic and tasteful, not to mention tasty it probably isn’t enough creativity wise for this competition. What looks to some like a simple dish here is actually very well thought out.
Technique – 3 – While we have homemade cookies with tea powder, infused tea cream and tea poached pears, not your everyday dishes for the grill!
Cohesion – 3- Not much extra to say I would love to sit down and eat that entire meal, it flows for me!
TOTAL – 29.5 30
Team Sweeden
Dish 1 – My kind of salad
Appearance – 2.75 - I will admit to a little bias with my love of cured meats but looking at the plate I just want to jump in. The greens looks a little scattered which is the reason for the deduction.
Creativity – 2.75 – This dish is immensely creative. The problem is the category is the creativity with the use of the tea. While I love the idea of infusing a cure of dry tea and smoking with tea I do think another component could have been added with the sauce. As well possible another type of tea.
Technique – 3 – Exceptionally done, I love that we have another wsm dish! I really think this would have been one darn tasty dish!
Dish 2
Appearance – 3, lots of care taken and looks great!
Creativity – 3 - Multiple teas and used in different ways. I love the use of the tea in a marinade for the chicken and again in the potatoes. Love that there are a couple different teas used.
Technique – 2.75 Well done overall. The chicken looks like it could have used a little more char, this is where it would be so much nicer to taste it! Not sure if the basalmic will help much in such small quantity!
Dish 3
Appearance – 3 – Please send me a slice along with the cocktail!
Creativity – 2.75 Love the drink, definite full marks there. Also am so intrigued and impressed by the ice cream, I do feel that for full marks in the category however there would have been some aspects of tea in both the cake as well as the meringue…..
Technique – 3 - Well lets see we have homemade lump (that is insane by the way and thanks for the prep photo, please tell me more). Then we have meringue, home made ice cream and cake, no complaints here!
Cohesion – 3 -The same as for Team America this flows nicely for me and I would love to sit down and eat it all!
TOTAL – 29 / 30
Thanks for all the efforts, sorry for any critical comments, it’s always the hardest part!
Clark
