COOPERSTOWN, NY — On Tuesday, July 10 at 7 p.m., Philadelphia’s most talented young chefs will compete in Brewery Ommegang’s Philly Hop Chef (click for tickets) for a chance to represent the city in a cook-off at the brewery’s annual Belgium Comes to Cooperstown event. Six chefs will each create two dishes showcasing their imaginative beer and food pairing skills. The 12 dishes, all paired with Ommegang beers, will be served to a panel of judges and to all attendees. Philly Hop Chef will be held at World Cafe Live (3025 Walnut Street, 215-222-1400) and tickets are $55 per person.
“Beer and food belong together — whether as a thoughtful beverage pairing or as an ingredient — and this competition will bring together some of Philly’s best young chefs into the kitchen with our beers,” says Megan Maguire, Ommegang Market Manager. “We can’t wait to see what the chefs will dream up.”
The outstanding line-up of competing chefs includes: Joe Cicala of Le Virt├╣; Jon Cichon of LaCroix at Rittenhouse Hotel; Jason Cichonski of Ela; Nicholas Elmi of Rittenhouse Tavern; George Sabatino of Stateside; and Scott Schroeder of South Philadelphia Tap Room and American Sardine Bar. The chefs will be judged based on five pairing principles: Simple Pairing, a direct interaction between food and beer; Incorporation, utilizing beer in the cooking process; Mimicking, matching the flavor profile of a dish with the flavor profile of a beer; Story Telling, tracing the history of the dish and the beer; and Experimental, making beer the star of the dish.
The Hop Chef Competition is part of the Ommegang program known as Great Beer Deserves Great Food┬«, a national initiative dedicated to the idea that fine beer deserves its rightful place at the table with fine foods. The Philadelphia event is the final in a series of chef’s cook-offs across the U.S., culminating in a Grand Hop Chef cook-off at Ommegang’s Belgium Comes to Cooperstown festival on August 4, 2012.
In the weeks leading up to Hop Chef, people can follow the chefs on twitter (hashtag #HopChef) as they taste Ommegang beers and create their competition dishes. For more information, or to purchase tickets, please visit www.brownpapertickets.com/event/252555 or click here. You can also follow Ommegang on Twitter @BreweryOmmegang and @OmmegangPhilly.
About Hop Chef
The competition is put together by Brewery Ommegang and Chef Teddy Folkman, Ommegang Culinary Ambassador and chef/owner of DC’s beloved Granville Moore’s Gastropub. The competition is co-sponsored by Saveur Magazine, Shun Knives, Gel Pro Mats, Lodge Enamel Cookware, Cuisinart, and Chefware Branded Chef Coats. The Hop Chef Competition is also sponsored by, and benefits, Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation program, which is dedicated to ending childhood hunger in America.
About Brewery Ommegang
Brewery Ommegang opened in 1997 to craft-brew fine Belgian-style ales. The brewery creates six ales year-round as well as a range of seasonal and specialty ales. The beers have won national following by connoisseurs of fine beer and are distributed in over 40 states. The brewery is located on a 136-acre farmstead in Cooperstown, New York and offers free daily tours and tastings, as well as a Café, a well-stocked brewery store, and an online store. For more info on Brewery Ommegang, please contact info@ommegang.com, call 1-800-544-1809, or visit www.ommegang.com. Brewery Ommegang is a member of the Duvel Moortgat family of fine beers.