Mexican Chefs Win Iron Chef Competition at 2012 Hot & Spicy Festival
Mexican chef Jonatan Gómez-Luna Torres and his assistant Julio Mora Mackey won the Iron Chef competition at the Hot & Spicy Festival. The festival took place on July 21 and 22 at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto.
This is the seventh consecutive year that Mexico has been represented at this competition and the second time that a Mexican chef has won.
On Saturday, July 21, the semifinal round of the international competition featured chefs Gómez Luna and Mora Mackey going head to head with Canadian chef Nick Liu, in front of a large crowd.
The Mexican chefs served up a typical Mexican dish of chicken in an adobo sauce made with traditional Mexican ingredients such as dry chiles and spices along with local Ontario greens. The chefs used currants as a secret ingredient, which the jury correctly identified. The dish won Gómez Luna positive comments and reviews from the judges, and was sent to the final round.
On the jury for the semi final round were Elizabeth Baird, writer and food columnist at the Toronto Sun and SunMedia; Steven D'Souza, from CBC Television; the Mexican Claudia Huerta, owner of El Cilantro Catering; and Melanie Fernandez, Director of Community Programmes at Harbourfront.
In the final round on Sunday July 22, the Mexican chefs faced American chef Ross Warhol. The Mexican chefs spent 30 minutes preparing a dish of quail in a delicate mole, served with a purée of sweet potato with vanilla, cinnamon and maple syrup, using garlic as a secret ingredient.
Once the judges finished their deliberations, Jonatán Gómez Luna was declared the triumphant winner, and the audience filled the kitchen area to congratulate the Mexican chef.
The Consul General Mauricio Toussaint attended the event accompanied by the Deputy Consul Santiago Mateos, the Coordinator of Community Affairs and the Institute for Mexicans Abroad (IME) Adriana Becerra, and the Consulate's Cultural Attaché, Gerardo Ochoa Sandy.
The event was covered by the local CBC News, Toronto's main newspapers and electronic news sources, the Consulate's webpage and social media such as Facebook and Twitter.