MasterChef

Masterchef is a television program which consists in a cooking competition .

It first appeared in 1990 in the UK . And began to be broadcast by the BBC in 2005.

Was transported to worldwide with the same logo for over 40 countries

Masterchef has 4 major versions: Masterchef series , Masterchef : The Professionals for professional chefs ; Featuring Masterchef where celebrities are competitors , and Junior Masterchef , criated  and adapted for children .

The most watched program worldwide is Masterchef Australia which already has 5 edition .

This program consists of 3 steps . The first consists of auditions , where each element confeciona a dish for the judges to taste , go to step 2 50 what better convince the panel of judges . In the second step , the 50 competitors demonstrate their skills , depending on what the judges will require . This phase will be eliminated as they have less qualities to reach the top 24 . The third and final stage is where 24 contestants show their skills in various competitions both individual and team , and where they learn new skills . Every week there are elimination challenges where 1 person is eliminated until they were only 2 contestants who will compete for the title of Masterchef .

"Anyone Can Cook"

    Everyone knows the movie “Ratatouille”.

    The whole story is based on one’s belief, said by the character “Gusteau” at the beginning: anyone can cook.

    Despite being a cartoon, it shows many things in the restaurant industry, since it’s based in real life.

    Through the character “Colette”, only women working in the Gusteau’s restaurant, and the main character “Remy”, we can see the passion and determination that it takes if we want to work with the best in the field, and be one of them.

    The message is clear: the blessing of having a gift can appear anywhere, but we only can succeed if we work hard, give our best and never give up.

    It also demonstrates how a kitchen works, what different workstations has, the stressful environment that can be and how they have the supplies.

    To conclude, using a Gusteau’s quote: "Good food is like music you can taste, color you can smell. There is excellence all around you. You need only to be aware to stop and savor it".

Culinary Wizardry

The Fat Duck is a small establishement in the village of Bray in Berkshire. This restaurante is under the stewardship of Chef Heston Blumenthal and the canadian Head Chef Jonny Lake.

            The restaurant opened on 1995 in a 16^th century building wich had previously been used as a public house.

            The restaurant became famous because of the dishes using molecular gastronomy principles and nowdays The Fat Duck is considered one of the best restaurants in the world that allowed in 2004 this establishment receive three Michelin stars.

            Heston Blumenthal or the “mad” professor, as is known, is recognized because the eccentricity of his dishes and his kitchen develops delicacies with big impact, fun and flavour.

            On february 27 of 2009, the chef decided to close the restaurant for a investigation after a few customers have reported food poisonning, there are suspicions that is an unidentid virus. The chef is obsessed with hygiene and makes periodic tests, but this test never revealed any problems in food.

            Now, if you are excited about this restaurant, you can required a reservation, but you have to do a reservation two month in advance. The tasting menu just cost 135 libras what is 161,54 euros.

Curiosity: The Fat Duck have portuguese wine for sale. Here you can find all of the portuguese wine that The Fat Duck is selling and the prices.

Don’t forget to consult for your information:

Web page: http://www.thefatduck.co.uk/

Chef Chakall

Chakall is a real cooking lover. He was born in Argentina, but after traveling a lot, he decided to choose Portugal as his residence.

He began working in his mother's restaurant, which sparked his interest in cooking.

Despite having a degree in journalism, he decided to devote himself exclusively to gastronomy.

He made several trips to acquire new culinary knowledge that use for the confection of his dishes, which makes him one of the best known professionals in the field of gastronomy.

His dishes are common, created with simple foods.  He has his own garden, where he produces his own products, sowing, cultivating and harvesting them, eventually creating divine recipes.

Nowadays, he already have edited books in various languages, such as "Best Portuguese Cookbook", "Best Innovative Cookbook" and won an award in the category of Best Television Celebrity Cookbook, with the book "Fast cooking for Good Humor".

He also has several television programs in Germany, France, China and Portugal, being the "Chakall & Flea" the best known with two editions.

 The recent is "Chakall with a hint of ..", transmitted these days, which is attended by special guests on all programs.

Chakall shows new ways of cooking and that with travelling we can discover new and wonderful products to use on our dishes.

Chiado’s Prince

Chiado´s prince is the name which the great José Avillez is known.

In the last September it was opened the new restaurant Café Lisboa, as the name says his location is in Lisbon, in Saint Carlos Nacional Theather. Where Chef Avillez want to recover the lost tastes of Lisbon greatest dishes, like the classic cream pie with cinnamon or the Lisbon pie which is made with meat cook in their own juices and brandy.

This is his fourth restaurant in Chiado (Cantinho do Avillez, Belcanto and Pizzaria Lisboa).

José came thundering in the world of gastronomy. He is graduated in Business Communication and Marketing, then his thesis is about Portuguese Gastronomy, when he realizing his passion for the food.

He started his career in restaurant “Forte do Guincho” in Cascais. He worked with considerable names in the world food, like Alain Ducasse, Ferran Adrià. He was a trainee in the best restaurant in the world, El Bulli in Roses, Barcelona.

That is why he is one of the most known, daring and spoken chefs in the Portuguese Food History.

Service during Moche Rip Curl Pro 2013

Everyone knows about the surf competition Rip Curl Pro, and a lot of people come to see and/or participate in it.

So, when we were told that we would have to do a service to promote the region to foreigners and people from other regions of the country, we knew that it would be quite a task and it would also imply a considerable number of food samples.

The tasting menu was easy to do:

•  wraps of sauté vegetables with mayonnaise sauce and dill

• mackerel canapés with pepper jam

•  and poached pears in red wine with “crème fraîche”.

Arriving at the beach, first we had to finish the samples and to plate them up, but then, it was time to show people what we got.

In spite of the anxiety at the beginning, it was awesome. And do you know what was the best thing, that made me smile from the heart, if that’s possible? People trying out the food, I seeing their faces of satisfaction, and they saying how good it was. That little thing was the reward of all the work that we had.