Durham wins first showdown in festival

Running with a fork

By: Rob DeWalt | The New Mexican
Published online: Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Want to know what it's like to taste 21 different chicken/trout dishes in one sitting? Ask me, because that's exactly what happened to me as a judge at the Nov. 5 Chef's Showdown presented by the inaugural Santa Fe Harvest Festival (http://harvestfestival.santafe.com) at Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino. The event, a fundraiser for local nonprofit Cooking With Kids, drew curious food enthusiasts, resort guests and gamblers who probably wondered what all the white coats and notepads were doing at the bar ... I mean kitchen.

More than 20 local chefs competed to make it to the second elimination round, and it was a serious uphill battle for some of them. Each chef was given a different station — Asian, pizza, etc. — at the hotel's Painted Parrot buffet, and they weren't allowed to use any special ingredients from their restaurant or home kitchens. They didn't have a sous chef to boss around, either.

The competitors each received a basket containing chicken breast, pancetta, rainbow trout, chiles (chipotle, dried red), goat cheese and artichoke hearts, and they were then tasked with making one dish in about 45 minutes. The more ingredients used, the higher the points given, but points could always be deducted later for appearance and taste by myself and fellow judge, Santa Fe Reporter food writer Zane Fischer.

I haven't had chicken or trout since this competition, and I'm not going to embarrass a chef just to tell you why. I will say, however, that the first rule of serving chicken is to actually cook it first. Enough said. The judging was completely blind, so Mr. Fischer and I had no way to cheat, although a few of the plates we sampled could be attributed to particular chefs based on their complexity and presentation.

Emerging victorious from the first round were 12 semifinalists who were then whittled down to four finalists: Rocky Durham of the Santa Fe Community College Culinary Arts program (and many great restaurants and culinary events in and around Santa Fe), Kirstin Griffin of Cafe Café, Eric Hall of Fuego at La Posada Inn and Spa and Steve Lemon of Ó Eating House.

On Sunday, the finalists battled at Eldorado Hotel & Spa, and they had some serious talent on hand for the judging: chef and cookbook author Sara Moulton of Food Network and PBS; Esquire magazine's 2011 Chef of the Year and former Santa Fe resident John Rivera Sedlar; and James Beard Award-winning chef, and restaurateur and cookbook author Bradley Ogden.

The chefs performed admirably and under incredible pressure, but alas — there could only be one winner. Ladies and gentlemen, a heartfelt congratulations to chef Rocky Durham, who predicted he'd win in the days leading up to the show and never doubted it for a second! Rocky wowed the judges with an appetizer, entrée and dessert crafted from ingredients chosen by event organizers and judges. And he left that night $1,000 richer. Take a look at the stellar menu Durham created for the competition — on the spot — and it's easy to see why he was crowned the champ:

Appetizer: Pastry triangles with crimini duxelle, stir fry/salad mélange with crabmeat and chapulines (grasshoppers!), red chile oil scented with cumin and coriander and other spices.

Second course: Southern-fried chicken thighs with a twist on the traditional New Mexico "Christmas" chile combo. For the red, Durham created cranberry compote with chile morita (smoked red jalapeños). For the green component, he whipped up a sort of Waldorf salad (apples, walnuts, local goat's cheese, a hint of habañero pepper and cilantro-lemon vinaigrette). Also on a plate: a chicken thigh with a walnut-shallot stuffing, chicken chicharrón, and a lemon brulée.

Dessert: Apple tamales with "gringo-mole" masa and apple crème anglaise and antelope-shaped sesame tuile cookies.

Contact Rob DeWalt at rdewalt@sfnewmexican.com or follow him at twitter.com/sfnmTASTE