St. Michael’s cook off results are in!
The annual Battle of the Tongs continued to bring the heat as five community chefs competed to see who could grill up the best BBQ chicken.
This year’s competition marked the 5th year St. Michael’s Assisted Living has hosted the event.
During the battle, held Sunday, Aug. 6, each chef had their opportunity to wow the judges. The BBQ chicken was judged on five different categories including presentation, tenderness, texture, creativeness and flavor.
Competition judges were randomly selected from the audience to ensure fairness. The results were close, but Pat Stiehl took home the first place prize, followed by St. Michael’s cook Tim Tillman and the third place prize, a rubber chicken, was awarded to Vic Saunders.
“It’s fun to see the banter back and forth between the chefs while the chicken is cooking. Everyone enjoyed themselves,” said Tiffany Olson, Administrator at St. Michael’s, “Cory Isakson did Facebook Live during the event and interviewed the chefs. That was neat way to share with people who couldn’t attend.”
The audience, which has grown to include a large amount of community members, has an opportunity to sample each of the competitor’s chickens. However, that doesn’t provide enough food for the entire audience.
“Shawn Gunderson has a big huge flip grill and volunteered to not only cook to compete but to cook all the extra chicken that we serve to the whole crowd,” Tiffany explained.