TT culinary team wins gold, silver, bronze

​Members of the 2019 National Culinary Team, who took part in the Taste of the Caribbean competition in Miami that ended last evening took away gold, silver and bronze medals in individual categories, and a silver in the team category.
TT’s junior chef Jodi Eversley, topped her category for the gold while pastry chef Keenan Lezama copped a bronze medal.
Mixologist Isaiah Trumpet, who competed in four categories won silver for his non-alcoholic beverage, due to his age (19), he was restricted from tasting any of his cocktails during the entire competition based on US law. Notwithstanding, Isaiah won the gold medal in the Best Non-Alcoholic cocktail and a silver medal for his overall bartender performance.
On top of that, Team TT won the silver medal in the Team of the Year competition.
The team was led by team captain Jeremy Lovell, who is also the chef at Courtyard by Marriott, and also included senior chefs Shonelle Greenidge and Gerard Cox, who together with the winners are all students from the TTHospitality and Tourism Institute (TTHTI).
It was the first time TT fielded a team of students to compete against seasoned and professional chefs and mixologists from the rest of the Caribbean.
The team itself prepared for the judges, an appetiser - soused shrimp nestled on sour pickled peppers, pepper pumpkin line with chive emulsion, lemon zest pan seared shrimp on top charred corn & eggplant, sweet pimento sauce garnished with cayenne dusted corals.
Then came the entree - pulled brisket infused with bayleaf Trinbago BBQ sauce, roasted garlic/geera chicken roulade on spicy tomato coulis, local provision & polenta pudding topped with carrot chutney, Angostura aromatic bitters coconut infused carrot curve ending with cheesy vegetable fondue.
And for dessert - sweet potato sponge layered with curry mousse, tamarind marsala jelly, topped with saffron and cinnamon creme fraiche, nutmeg macaroon sticks, sweet mango pull, bandania air and amchar fruit, fresh thyme crumble and candied beetroot gastrique. Source: Newsday, June 26, 2019

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