Sean Currid « Smart Kitchen

Sean Currid

Scottsdale Mac & Cheese Throwdown 2011

Smart Kitchen's Peking Mac & Cheese

The second annual Mac & Cheese Throwdown was a lot of fun. Great people and great food. We were pretty happy with the showing of our Peking Mac & Cheese made with Beehive Cheese’s Barely Buzzed Cheese and Promontory Cheese, accompanied by Green Onion, Pancetta and Peking Duck Skin. If you want to make the Smart Kitchen Competition Mac & Cheese our recipe is up in the recipe section of Smart Kitchen.

Susie Timm & Mark Lynch at the Door of the Sold Out Event.

Sean Currid the Returning Champ

Sean's Lobster Mac & Cheese Food Modeling

The event was held for fun and to support the American Cheese Society and their mission of educating the public about great domestic cheeses. The American Cheese Society was a sponsor too. Other sponsors included: Cheese Chick Productions, Diya Marketing, Girl Meets Fork, Rogue Creamery, Beehive Cheese, Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, Bellwether Cheese, Cabot Creamery, Rothkase Cheese, and Cypress Grove Chevre.

Eric O'Neill @ the Smart Kitchen Booth

The competitors were: Joel La Tondress, Hotdish INC, Eric O’Neill, SmartKitchen.com, Mike Bouwens, 5th and Wine, Kevin Wemlinger, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse, Tony Morales, Desert Smoke BBQ, Sean Currid, Cafe ZuZu at Hotel Valley Ho, and Trisha Steadman, Sugar Shack.

The Mac & Cheese 2011 Contestants (and the crowd)

Everyone had so much fun, it felt like just a few minutes before the winners were announced.

Susie T, Kirti D & Christing H Announce the Winners

The results were that the champ, Sean Currid, was overturned. Congratulations to Mike Bouwens of 5th & Wine who took top honors. Sean Currid of the Hotel Valley Ho & Cafe ZuZu may have to hot rod that terrific lobster mac & cheese for next year. Smart Kitchen did not win first prize but we did get a number of votes in the people’s choice category and some good points in the judging.

And Aletha M, won a free month of Smart Kitchen in our on-site drawing. Congratulations to her.

See you next at the Perfect Turkey on November 9th.

Happy Cooking!

P Chef

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Bloggers / Chad Burnett / Girl Meats Fork / Graeme Blair / Sean Currid / SK Chef / Smart Kitchen News / Steven Butler / Teaching Chef — 1 Comment
9
Mar 11

The Grill Cheese Throwdown 2011

At Smart Kitchen we were very excited to get back in competitive action at the Grilled Cheese Throwdown in Scottsdale on March 6, 2011.

The De-Constructed Grilled Cheese Sandwich from Smart Kitchen

Our entry was a Deconstructed Grilled Cheese Sandwich, served open-faced with thyme infused gruyere cheese and garnished with a fine julienne of tomatoes and prosciutto over which were drizzled micro-greens, white truffle oil and Hawaiian smoked sea salt. We got some raves and have the recipe for the Smart Kitchen Grilled Cheese Sandwich up at Smart Kitchen.com. We did not win the contest, though we hear we did get two nice scores from two of the three judges. Apparently, one of the judges was not as ecstatic about our entry and that sank us.

To see the crowning of the victor, Sean Currid of Cafe Zuzu watch the video. We could swear we saw some well-earned tears of joy on his face.

The Contestants and Organizers of the Grilled Cheese Throwdown 2011

We want to thank Susie Timm of Girl Meats Fork (second from right) for organizing the event. We also want to salute Sean Currid of Cafe Zuzu on his impressive Cheese Crown, and congratulate the other worthy contestants.