Pistonheads Inaugural Cooking Competition

[zakelwe]

Ladies and Gentlemen, cooks and bottle washers, the first PistonHeads cooking competition for those fine folk who frequent this, the most tasty and calorific part of the forum, is now underway.

Below you will find the initial starting point and rules, no doubt by the time we have finished we will have fine tuned it down with many edits so that everyone leaves satiated. With no further ado :-


COMPULSORY INGREDIENTS

Chicken
Pasta - Lasagne sheets (selected because you can roll them or cut them to how you wish)

COMPETITION RULES

1. Competition open from Saturday 19th September to Sunday 27th September
2. Presentation on Monday 28th September by forum post of photograph plus description of ingredients and also a small essay why this was the best meal ever even if it turned out really bad
3. Judging in a new thread on Tuesday 29th September by peers using a poll.

COOKING RULES

1. You can cook as many courses as you wish.
2. All ingredients must be listed in the entry
3. All other single ingredients are allowed as long as they do not become the main ingredient. Onion yes, lamb no.
3. Sauces are allowed but must be cooked from scratch, bechamel ok, Lloyd Grossman Patek Indian Tai Numchukas Caribbean hot pot curry no.

Hopefully that gives everyone a lot of options and I hope the rules are pitched at just the right level not to be too authoritarian and let people have a bit of fun but also give us some goal posts to aim towards.

Please post your entry and I will copy into the below.

LIST OF ENTRIES

Zakelwe
Pferdestarke
Cactussed
BigJonMcQuimm
thegavster
Anna_S
Chim Girl
Papoo
grumbledoak
captainzep
madbadger
bazking69
trix-a-bell

Edited by zakelwe on Friday 25th September 14:04

[zakelwe]

Time is always a problem so I will pencil people in but if you don't get around it it no problem, have a go at the next one. I don't want people to feel pressurised.

As for having to list your ingredients and method that would add to the time taken, a quick photo and description and why it was the best meal ever will do.

I'm still in two minds on whether to do a pole for the winner or ask people to give marks for artistic licence and technical merit like gymnastics. That might be more fun.

Best to see how many dishes we have to judge first though

Regards
Andy

[zakelwe]

Updated the competitors.

Yes, sorry to not to make more clear but you have to use both ingredients on one plate, if you fancy doing chicken and pasta on more than one dish then feel free. This is similar to how professional masterchef is doing one round now, with two dishes. Personally I think one dish is enough with the ingredients I chose.

I'm glad someone has started already! I have been told I am away for the weekend with my mother so that will be interesting, also even after choosing the ingredients I discover I haven't actually put any thought into what I will be doing ..

Rather than a poll for the winner I am tempted to do a combined score for technical merit and artistic interpretation considering that nobody will be tasting the dishes. Let me know your thoughts.

Regards
Andy

[zakelwe]

Anna_S said:

Making mine now

Can I use chopped tinned tomatos or is that cheating?

Hi Anna, my rules were construed to get people to do as much as possible technically. Feel free to use your own judgement, I was thinking more an entire Thai dish in a can when I did that rule. Or a pot noodle

I don't want to have this bogged down on people worrying about the rules so everyone just have a big Keith Floyd glass of wine and let the Gods decide.


Regards
Andy

[zakelwe]

thegavster said:

zakelwe said:

Rather than a poll for the winner I am tempted to do a combined score for technical merit and artistic interpretation considering that nobody will be tasting the dishes. Let me know your thoughts.

I think it would be best to do a poll personally, gives everyone the change to easily have input. Otherwise people have to go through and score each one?

OK, poll it is!



Regards
Andy

[zakelwe]

thegavster said:

Got halfway through mine, then realised I'd misinterpreted some of my research.

Hence I now need to go out tomorrow and purchase some different ingredients and continue. Luckily all the stuff I'd done tonight can be put aside for tomorrow.

That spit roasted wildebeest would never get through scrutineering!

Yes, please hold onto Monday to post results so they appear as a batch and it with ramp up the excitement.. er maybe.

I'm still thinking what to do. I'm away Friday night till Saturday night so will no doubt be in Tesco's Sunday morning looking around scratching my head. Stargaze lasagne with chicken heads sticking up from the pasta? It could just work...

Regards
Andy

[zakelwe]

thegavster said:

It's a pretty rudimentary thing really, but I've never made this particular thing before so easily overlooked .

If someone works chickens feet or head into their dish they deserve a special medal .

Pie without pastry?


My sister in law once served me the parsons nose at a meal. She'd cut it off because she thought it was another piece of meat. Needless to say she is not a very good cook.

Regards
Andy

[zakelwe]

Some nice stuff there !

No pine nuts in Sainsbury's so that was a bummer. Have yet to cook it, watching the F1 at the moment. Got some 00 pasta flour and Jersey gold top milk for the sauce though.

Regards
Andy

[zakelwe]

Found I had no eggs so had to go back to Tesco's anyway and picked up some pine nuts as well. Ingredient list for stuffing is

chicken
home grown onion
pinenusts
spinach
garlic
home grown basil
chestnut mushrooms.
lardons

I did a round lasagne and cannelloni because I wanted a special shape to the dish ... yep a meal in the shape of the piston heads emblem

After a lot of fuss making the bechamel sauce and the pasta I got my resident oompa lumpa to crank up the pasta machine



Actually I might be banned already having outside assistance

2.75 hours later my fantastic pasta creation in the style of the piston heads emblem was ready ... I present ...




It looks like a monkey on crack I can't tell you what it tastes like because I'm too scared to approach the table.

Regards
Andy

[zakelwe]

Sadly though it wasn't supposed to look like that.

Having tasted it the pine nuts were great and would be a very good base for a vegetarian pasta dish done properly, as it was I thought it was pretty bleh. The pasta was good though, you can't beat a good pasta machine and when entertaining that special person adds a bit of fun if you both get involved / covered in flour ...

I'll let someone else do the next one, please choose fish fingers.

Regards

Andy

PS Sliced mushroom for the eyes.

Edited by zakelwe on Sunday 27th September 21:31

[zakelwe]

Wow, some good looking stuff there ! It was supposed to be Monday but someone got carried away and went too early

I don't seem the option to do a poll! Where is the link to put a poll in? Arrghh....

Regards
Andy

[zakelwe]

madbadger said:

zakelwe said:

Wow, some good looking stuff there ! It was supposed to be Monday but someone got carried away and went too early

I don't seem the option to do a poll! Where is the link to put a poll in? Arrghh....

Regards
Andy

Start New Topic

Then at the top under type there is a tick box for thread, poll or wiki.

You don't necessarily have the right to start a poll as a given so if the box isn't there you will have to email Mr Will. I can start it if you want to get things going.

Not sure how many entrants there are but a poll is limited to 10 options which might be a problem sometime.

Thanks mate, I don't have that option !

Now the most difficult thing, who to vote for...

Regards
Andy