Accompanied by the buzz and glee that comes with the hatching of springtime, the Great Amazing Duck Race is coming back this April for its third year, with King Cole Ducks Ltd. inviting culinary students to rise, shine, race and cook in their daylong Farm-to-Fork competition.
The competition is inspired, of course, by ducks, local food, farm-to-fork, and yes, as the name indicates, the Amazing Race (with perhaps a pinch of Masterchef). There’s no time for waddling here: Ontario’s top culinary students will eagerly race through 4 legs of competition, ending up in a culinary lab for the final cook off.
2016’s competition is taking place on Saturday, April 2, from the “crack of dawn to dusk” – a farmer’s day (6 a.m. to 6 p.m.) – starting at King Cole Duck Farms in Newmarket. The rac
e is open to Ontario College second-year culinary students.
The idea is for culinary students to experience a day in the life of a duck farmer, as they compete for the Great Amazing Duck Race Chef Championship. At the quack of dawn, competitors on the farm find and collect their eggs, then move to another location to cut their duck and show off their knife skills, before racing via subway to another secret location to scavenge ingredients, which they then use at the final leg: the cook off.
This great video from the 2013 race moves through the 4 legs of the race. Stage 1 is the hunt – find and collect the eggs on the farm. Stage 2 is all about the cut – students showcase their knife skill talent, cutting and deboning whole ducks. Stage 3 is an exciting acquiring of the ingredients – 2013’s secret location was at the renowned St. Lawrence Market. And of course, Stage 4 is in the kitchen – students wow judges with their duck appetizers and entrees.
You’ll see in the video that 2013’s bragging rights belonged to winners Tabitha Hendricks and Scott McInerney (photo above), representing Niagara College.
The event serves as a great example of what can grow from school
-farm relationships: a fusion of education, local food, fun competition, food literacy and culinary skills.
Visit the King Cole Ducks website for more information. The deadline to enter 2016’s Great Amazing Duck Race has now passed.