It’s locally grown.
That’s the only hint you get. The secret ingredient is still under wraps for next week’s Ultimate Chef Challenge III, so four county culinary wizards are going to have to put their skills of improvisation to the test at the benefit of Charterhouse Center for Families in Stockton. The chefs will be asked to cook three dishes (appetizer, entr&eacutee, dessert) with an ingredient that will be identified as the competition begins. The chefs will have one hour to cook, and the dishes will be presented to a panel of four judges. The Charterhouse Center works to help families in the community become sustainable, which means assisting with education and job training. And part of that training is in the culinary arts, making the Chef Challenge a good tie-in, said Mikey Kamienski, executive director of the Charterhouse Center. The participating chefs will be Julio Camberos of Black Tie Gourmet, the defending champion Michael Post of Papapavlos Ruben Larrazolo of Alebrijes Mexican Bistro and Richard Hyman of Le Bistro. Camberos said he’s confident with a lot of ingredients, but if he could pick, he’d love to work with one specific local food. “You can do a lot with corn,” he said. “You can do chips, desserts … all kinds of stuff with corn. You can even fill your gas tank with corn.”
As for Larrazolo, he favors fruit.