Charleston's Marriott Town Center will be the site for a Farm2Fork weekend Feb. 5 and 6 with the West Virginia Winter Food Festival and Cast Iron Cook-Off. A number of the Festival events are open to the public and are free of any admission charge.
The Cast Iron Cook-Off itself, now in its 11th year, is considered West Virginia's premier culinary event. This year, it is being held Feb. 6. It is the centerpiece of the weekend and is open to the public without admission charge. Chefs from all over the state come together in a competition that requires they prepare Farm2Table dishes using local farm products that they incorporate into their finest re-interpretations of traditional Appalachian fare. The greater the extent to which chefs feature West Virginia farm products in their recipes, the higher the judges rate their dishes.
There are five competitors this year:
n Chef Matt Welsch is the owner and Executive Chef at the Vagabond Kitchen, in Wheeling. In 2013, Chef Welsch, began what he calls his Vagabond Chef Project. He rode his motorcycle to more than 60 different restaurants and culinary communities across the country, putting over 13,000 miles in the saddle.
n Chef Jason Fleck, the Executive Chef at the 1863 Grill, in Elkins, describes fresh fish as his culinary specialty, and his signature dish is Grilled Scallops with a Cilantro/Mango Aioli and served with mushroom risotto and steamed asparagus.
n Chef Scott MacGregor, the Executive Sous Chef for Snowshoe Mountain Resort, describes his food as "comfort fusion" and names as his signature dish, Potato Encrusted Grouper with tomato caper in herb beurre blanc.
n Chef Stephen Owens is the Executive Chef and owner of the Buffalo Diner, in Buffalo. Several years ago, as a high school ProStart (culinary) student, he was one of the members of a Cast Iron Cook-Off team. And now, after his training at Johnson and Wales University, he has come back home to West Virginia to own his own restaurant and to use "great ingredients that are fresh and locally grown, and let them speak for themselves."
n Chef Robert Osborn is Executive Chef for the Mountaineer Casino and Resort in New Cumberland. "Cooking is an art," Chef Osborn describes. "First, you sense it with your eyes, then with smell, and then only finally with taste. I want my customers to walk out of the restaurant saying 'WOW.'"
The weekend festivities actually begin at noon on Feb. 5, with the Junior Cast Iron Cook-Off. This competition, now in its second year, is modeled on the more established Cast Iron Cook-Off, but provides an opportunity for teams of high school culinary and agricultural students, along with their teacher and a member of the school cafeteria staff, to try their culinary skills.
There are multiple Farm2Table, as well as Farm2School, aspects to this particular event. Many of the ingredients used in preparing the dishes are not merely West Virginia products or locally grown, but will actually have been raised by agricultural students at the high school. The goal for the recipes that are developed for this Cook-Off, is not only to "wow" the judges, but the expectation is that they can also be adapted for use in the school cafeteria.
In addition to the dishes that the teams prepare for the judges as part of the competition, they also prepare sample tastings for the audience. This cook-off is open to the public and there is no charge for admission.
At 7:30 p.m. Feb. 5, the Winter Food Festival will feature an incredible Farm2Fork dine around, called appropriately "Tastes from the Mountains," featuring a menu with a New Appalachian Cuisine theme and virtually all West Virginia products. The gourmet entrées, which include leg of lamb, short ribs, trout, chicken and pork belly, were all procured and provided by the West Virginia Department of Agriculture from specialty farms around the state.
The Marriott's Executive Chef, John Ecstadt, is preparing charcuterie in-house from a pig grown by Terry Hauser and his Agricultural students at Tucker County High School.
Even the vegetables have a special pedigree. During the summer, Chef-Instructor Brian Covell, at Monongalia County Technical Education Center, selected vegetables and berries from local farmers, and then he and his students flash froze them for this dinner. Other vegetables, they pickled and canned such as watermelon rinds, Chow Chow, bread and butter pickles, and Giardiniera for a relish buffet.
Chef Covell's extra ordinary culinary talents have won him the opportunity to be part of another of the weekend's events. As the winner of last year's Junior Cast Iron Cook-Off, he has been nominated to challenge in a Throw-down Chef Geoff Krauss, owner and executive chef of Thyme Bistro, in Weston, who was last year's Cast Iron Cook-Off grand champion. This Farm2Table Throw-down is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 6, in the Marriott ballroom at the same time as the Cast Iron Cook-Off; both events are open to the public without charge.
Cooking demonstrations are being held in the Marriott ballroom concurrently with the competitions on Saturday. Featured chefs include: Rich Arbaugh, executive chef and owner of South Hills Market Cafe, Larry Perry, Director of the Mountwest Culinary Academy in Huntington, and John Eckstadt, Executive Chef at the Marriott Town Center.
Watching the chefs and their teams compete, and learning cooking techniques from the demonstration, can be very interesting, not only to foodies, but to the general public as well - but it certainly does make you hungry. This year, the Winter Food Festival audience has the opportunity to taste gourmet small plates prepared by those doing the demonstrations along with other notable West Virginia chefs.
One of the items featured is Cast Iron Seared Duck Breast with Apple Fennel Slaw, Brandied Apple Balsamic Gastrique, Local FireFly Farms Goat Cheese.
There is also the opportunity to pair these specialty dishes with select West Virginia craft micro-brews and West Virginia wines available for purchase.
Still another Farm2Fork feature of the Festival is that throughout Saturday there is a West Virginia specialty farm products and value added Exhibit Hall & Trade Show. Farmers and specialty producers set up booths that feature their West Virginia gourmet products. This event is open to the public and there is no admission charge.
For those who are interested in seeing the very best of West Virginia farm products, presents an excellent opportunity, the West Virginia Winter Food Festival and Cast Iron Cook-Off offer many wonderful events. For any true "foodie," this weekend is an absolute must. Tickets and more information are available for specific events at castironcookoff.org.
Send questions or comments to Allen Arnold at aarnold@wvfarm2u.org.