Six chefs from IACC Americas, Australia Asia Pacific and European member venues competed for the Global Copper Skillet at Convene Midtown East on April 19.
The event served as the final stage in a three-part competition. The following day, during the IACC- Americas Awards Banquet, Canadian and Australian chefs were named as the Global Copper Skillet winners and took home the coveted Copper Skillet award.
Barrington Graham, first cook at St. Andrew’s Club and Conference Centre, located in Toronto, Canada, took the Senior Category Copper Skillet for his winning dish of a five-spice maple glazed duck breast and pepper crusted pork on potato hash with a tomato and olive relish and asparagus tips.
Jesse Hughes, general manager and executive chef at Vue Grand Hotel in Victoria, Australia, took the Junior Category Copper Skillet for his winning dish of soy-glazed duck breast with soba noodles, pickled salad and pork dumplings.
In the competition, the chefs were presented with basic pantry items along with a “mystery basket” of proteins. They were given 30 minutes to prepare, create and present their creations to local area judges.
“Each year this competition showcases the best chefs from IACC’s three chapters, and this year we saw extraordinary talent and incredible camaraderie from all six competing chefs,” says Alex Cabanas, IACC’s president.
For the second year in the 12-year history of the Copper Skillet competition, IACC introduced a Junior Chef category where IACC conference venue chefs under the age of 26 competed in the cook-off.