I love grilling. Especially veggies. There is something magical about lighting up the grill and cooking food over a fire that makes everything taste better. We are year round grillers. When I had the opportunity to check out Macy’s Grilling Guru competition at Ross Park Mall, I was thrilled. On top of that, Marc Forgione was the celebrity chef in attendance, I knew I had to go.
We showed up a little early on Saturday to check out the Macy’s Fair in the parking lot before the Grilling Guru Competition started. The fair featured a car show and activities for kids. There was face painting, fun fair snacks, ice carving, and the Franktuary food truck. A fun time for the family.
The event took place under a tent and featured three competitors. We were able to watch them cook their recipe from lighting the grill to serving Chef Marc Forgione their dishes and watch him take his first bite. I was surprised at how calm they all seemed waiting for the competition to begin.
The first competitor was Devon Delaney making her Sea to Shining Sea Crab Sliders with Firecracker Chow Chow and Avocado Tartar Cream. She created some fresh crab cakes and grilled them. She said that it is important to make sure the crab cakes get very cold before grilling.
The second competitor was Kathleen-Holly McGee making Holly’s Best All-American BBQ Chicken. It featured apple cider vinegar and apple sauce. I never thought of cooking chicken with applesauce. I thought it was a unique idea.
The third contestant was Josh LeDuc making Grilled Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms stuffed with chard, golden raisins, pine nuts, and feta. These looked fantastic. He suggests serving them as a side dish, but they look like a fab meal to me. I need to experiment with this soon.
Chef Marc Forgione watched the competitors and interacted with the audience during the competition. He had a few ideas that I loved. He said that recipes are not religion. The recipe police won’t come find you if you do it differently. This really speaks to how I cook. I like to get some ingredients and use my cooking knowledge to make something exciting. It was cool to see him because I am a huge Iron Chef fan.
He also offered some samples of his food. First was this shrimp marinated using his new Bloody Mary Mix, Batch 22. It was well cooked and good. I would love to try the Bloody Mary mix in an actually Bloody Mary.
The second offering was steak with chimichurri sauce and drizzled with olive oil. This was my favorite bite. I loved the brightness of the chimichurri sauce.
After all of the entertainment, it was time to announce the winner. Marc Forgione chose Devon Delaney’s crab cakes. He said that he thought it was unique and had tons of flavor. Plus, it is hard to give him something he has never tried before and he never had grilled crab before.
Congratulations to Devon Delaney who will move on to the next phase of the competition!
Disclaimer: I am a member of the Everywhere Society and Everywhere has provided me with compensation for this post about Macy’s Culinary Council. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.