Well, folks, Priority is still reeling from the shocks of Week Twelve – something told us in advance that it would not be a regular Cook Off event, but no-one could have predicted the stupefying, astounding bombshells the chefs and the judging panel served up!
no-one could have predicted the stupefying, astounding bombshells the chefs and the judging panel served up!
Shock No. 1 – KUNALAN LOSES! For the first time since the competition started, the Kunalan juggernaut, boasting five successive victories, was brought to a grinding halt. But wait – was a Kunalan curried speciality defeated fair and square by a superior dish? No such thing. Invoking Force Majeure, Act of God and other arcane clauses in the small print, Kunalan was unable to bring his dish to the starting line and hence a walkover was declared!
Kunalan’s opponent for the fixture was Constance, who all week had been plotting the downfall of the runaway leader through the strategic mechanism of a simply divine Key Lime Pie, on a crumbled biscuit base and garnished with clotted cream. Truly out of this world, and the assembled gourmets declared it would probably have turned out the winner over any competitor’s presentation. But there’s the rub – we’ll never know, will we? Kunalan still leads the pack with a 5 and 1 record, and he can still claim never to have been defeated on the table.
Shock No. 2 – JOY WINS! After a heroic but tragic run of five consecutive losses, Joy finally got points on the board with her Ayam Woku, a Manadonese speciality from Joy’s hometown. Bite-size chunks of chicken liberally dressed in a mouth-watering lime-based sauce won fans all over the dining room. The key to her success, according to the judging panel, was the recognition that Priority likes it hot! Ayam Woku is a classic South East Asian chili-intensive dish, and the taste bud-tingling flavour translated into a narrow victory over Nolan, whose Roti John would have scored higher if he had remembered the chili sauce!! It’s actually a testament to Nolan’s culinary expertise that his accidentally bland version of this perennial Singapore favourite scored as high as it did.
Shock No. 3 – WILLIAM LOSES! How could William’s outstanding kofta kebabs, exquisitely presented on a bed of dewy butternut lettuce, garnished with green capsicums and olives, have lost out to Angelia’s admittedly tasty chicken quesadillas? William’s Middle Eastern oriented dish of grilled beef and chicken skewers won abundant praise – but insufficient votes! Voting at the Cook Off is of course totally secret and confidential, but rumours are swirling of a major balloting anomaly. Will there be a recount? A re-taste? A high-level commission of enquiry? Probably not, but the cooking world’s reputation for controversy, skullduggery and high emotion is certainly being borne out in Priority’s high-tech kitchens!
So stand by, dear readers, for Week Thirteen’s fixtures:
Bryan (1 – 4) vs William (2 – 3)
Gerlynn (3 – 2) vs Joseph (3 – 2)
Kairavi (3 – 2) vs Francis (2 – 4)
So, attach dinner hooks to wrists and let’s get stuck in! (An extra point to whoever can identify that literary quote….)
