Cook-Off Entry Rules
Teams:
Teams must be made up of 4 students. All students on a team must all be at the same level of
culinary training as defined under “Tiers” and must all be from the same school or group.
All Tier 1, 2 and 3 participants must be in Grades 10–12, under the age of 19 at the time of
entry and enrolled in a high school that is within Manitoba. This applies to all schools: urban,
rural, northern, private or public, French or English. Students who enter should have at least
a 65% average in school at the time of entry.
Tier 4 participants must be over the age of 17 at the time of entry and enrolled in a postsecondary Culinary Arts program that is within Manitoba.
Please note: Each Finalist team will be provided with guidance during the Cook-Off from an
experienced chef who is familiar with the equipment in the competition kitchen. These chef
mentors will be introduced to the Finalist teams at the Team Training in early November.
Tiers:
There will be 4 Finalist teams selected for each of the 4 tiers. Teams must enter the tier that
applies to them and all members of the team must have the level of experience of that tier.
1) Culinary Arts + Commercial Cooking
2) Home Economics + Food and Nutrition
3) Aspiring Chefs – open to all high school students who do not apply to the first two tiers
4) Post-Secondary Culinary Arts
Entries:
Entries must be a main course dish (i.e. not a salad, appetizer or dessert). Soups, stews and
chilies that fit the rules below are allowed.
Entries must pertain to only one main course dish but can include multiple recipes if required
(e.g. chili and bread bowl, pasta and sauce, chicken with mixed vegetables). Dishes must
have one component of each a starch, a protein and a vegetable (e.g. vegetable chili contains
beans for protein, mixed vegetables and potatoes for starch). Dishes must serve two identical
portions; each portion will be served on a square plate, one for presentation and one for the
judges to review and taste. Plates will be provided for teams at the Cook-Off.
Dishes must be able to be prepared and plated in one hour. Ingredients brought to the
competition will not be able to be pre-measured, pre-cut, or pre-mixed, and so teams must
take into consideration all steps of preparing the dish from scratch. Pre-soaked dried goods,
such as lentils, beans and wild rice are allowed and can be brought to the competition premeasured. Frozen vegetables, fruits and meats are allowed to be defrosted prior to the
competition, but must be kept at a safe food temperature up until being used for cooking.
Dishes must use at least 5 local ingredients (collectively between recipes) and must be at least
20% local. Teams are encouraged to incorporate as many local ingredients as possible. Local
is defined as food that is grown, raised, processed and sold within Manitoba.
Extra points will be given for each local ingredient that is sustainably-produced. To earn these
extra points, teams must do research on the farm/business from which they sourced the
ingredient and write a brief description of the sustainable practices used.*
Sustainable is defined as food that fits within the Local Food Plus standards (see below or go
to www.localfoodplus.ca/certification to for details). The ingredient only needs to apply to
one of LFP standards to be considered sustainable.
Local Food Plus “Certified Local Sustainable” applies to farmers who work to:
1. Employ sustainable production systems that reduce or eliminate synthetic pesticides and
fertilizers; avoid the use of hormones, antibiotics, and genetic engineering; and conserve
soil and water. (e.g. – farm uses non-GMO vegetable seeds, uses compost, releases ladybugs
into the garden/greenhouse instead of using pesticides)
2. Provide safe and fair working conditions for on-farm labour. (e.g. – farm pays farmhands a
stipend each for on-farm labour)
3. Provide healthy and humane care for livestock. (e.g. – farm provides animals with outdoor
access, clean seasonally-appropriate living conditions and fresh water)
4. Protect and enhance wildlife habitat and biodiversity on working farm landscapes. (e.g. –
farm uses heirloom varieties, uses mulch, plants flowers that attract bees)
5. Reduce on-farm energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. (e.g. – farm uses rainbarrels, grazing animals as grass-cutters, solar-power, draft horses)
* PLEASE NOTE: Research on each local sustainable ingredient must be shown on your team’s Application Form.
If you need more space on your Form, please use the Word document and increase the row sizes in the table.
At the Cook-Off:
Each team will have a cooking station assigned to them 15 minutes prior to their tier and will
be responsible for the cleanliness of it before, during and after their tier competes. Teams
can bring any electrical appliances that will fit on their workspace and between 2 outlets.
Each team will be assigned counter approximately 15' feet of counter space.
Each team will have their own oven, which will be labeled and distinguished by team name.
All small-wares (pots, pans, tongs, cutlery, steamers, etc.) will be supplied.
Each team will have a cooking area consisting of gas burners OR gas flat-top or a combination of flattop
and grill. These areas can accommodate four medium pots at one time.
Teams will have one hour to create and present their final dishes to the judges. This hour
allotted will include the cleaning of the team’s station, which will be judged. Volunteers will
be responsible for washing dishes, but teams will be responsible for cleaning their station.
Each team will also need to briefly present their dish verbally, to highlight the local and/or
sustainable ingredients and the significance of the dish. These presentations will take place
immediately following the cooking of the dishes and each team will be given 3-5 minutes to
present. Presentation guideline questions will be given to teams prior to the competition.
Deadline:
Entries must be submitted by Friday, November 8th (by 6:00 pm), via email OR fax (not both).
Faxed copies must be legible and written in a dark ink – an event staff will email your team to
confirm when your entry has been received. Please direct all questions to the email provided.
Fax: (204) 943-0823 (ATTN: Carolyn)
Email: [email protected]
Finalist teams will be contacted by Tuesday, November 12th to compete on Friday, February
7th. There will be a mandatory Team Training at the Cook-Off venue (Winnipeg Technical
College) in November for all finalists. Finalist recipes will be allowed to be revised between
being selected and the Cook-Off and will then need to be re-submitted one week prior to the
Cook-Off, by January 31st. Details and Forms will be provided upon selection as a finalist.