Let me just prepare you now for an inevitable part of the World Food Championships:

You will be nervous, you will be working with knives,you don’t want to go nuts.

Have you ever watched those timed competition shows where seasoned chefs of 30 years get shaky hands when time is ticking down and they can barely get their dish plated?  This will happen to you.  If it doesn’t, you should have been a brain surgeon with your nerves of steel!

I remember the first time I was in a live cooking competition.   We had 90 minutes, which seemed like an eternity, so I thought I would be fine.  However, I didn’t anticipate the impact the nerves would have on my ability to perform.  Now don’t get me wrong, I know I get that nervous energy.  In fact, as a trial attorney, I’m no stranger to nerves.  I always get a little nervous for big presentations, like when I argued before the second circuit or a closing argument to a jury in a big trial.  My knees shake and I can feel my heart race.  In those situations, the nervous energy always helped to spur me on and gave me the passion and energy for my presentation.  I always loved the boost a little nervous energy gave me.

But the nerves don’t have quite the same impact in a cooking competition.  The difference between the nerves in those situations and similar nerves in a live cooking competition is that in a courtroom, I’m not using incredibly sharp knives and I don’t have to make a food processor work.

In my first competition, I took my own equipment so I’d be familiar with it.  A food processor I had used numerous times over a decade of fun in the kitchen.  When it came time to process my vegetables, I couldn’t get it to work.  Then I realized it wasn’t plugged in.  O.K. Jennifer, breathe.  I plugged it in and I still couldn’t get it to work.  My heart began to race faster, my hands began to shake more, and the frustration level began to rise and then it became a vicious cycle.  More frustrated, more shaking, nothing working right.  I was trying to put the lid on backwards.  Oy Vey!!

If you’ve participated in cook-offs before, you know of what I speak.  If WFC will be your first foray into the world of live timed competitive cooking, don’t under estimate the impact that your nerves will have on your ability to perform at the level that you are used to.

Here are some tips on how to plan and organize so you can get a handle on your nerves and hang on to the knife handle.

Be Organized

When we get nervous, our brain can stop working.  Build in some brain back-ups so when your brain stops working in the heat of competition, you’re prepared to trigger it back in to action.

• Have ingredient lists typed out
• Have recipe cards printed out
• Pack your ingredients in an organized fashion
• Take advantage of the set-up time to organize your station
• Bring plenty of paper towels, hand sanitizer, and sanitizer wipes
• Bring one more of everything than you think you need (knives, bowls, mise en place bowls, cutting boards)

Be Prepared for Things to Go Wrong!

In the second round last year, I thought I had plenty of time before the turn in time.  And then time got away – it has a habit of doing that in a timed competition.  In the stress of the final minutes I turned away from my grilled cheese for just a little too long and I burned the first side.  I flipped it and decided I would use that as my presentation piece as they don’t eat that one.  Then I proceeded to burn the second side of the sandwich and word on the street was my presentation points for that round were very low, as they should have been.  This is, after all, the World Food Championships.

I never once burned my grilled cheese at home and always made it in plenty of time.  Look at that perfectly grilled bread!  None of my grilled cheese looked like that on game day.

All the mistakes I made in the early round that put me in the fifth slot, I learned from so in the Top Ten round I would not make the same mistakes.  Here are a few of those lessons I can pass on to you:

• Make more sauce than you need
• Make more garnishes than you need
• Bring more bread or buns than you need
• Cook more protein than you need

(Last year many people dropped things, burned things, ran out of things… you name it happened).

• Do a test run on the equipment
• Test the heat of your stove.  What level is the right level of heat for what it is you are cooking?  If you are going to burn it, do it early so you are not burning the ones you will turn into your judge
• If there are components you can finish early and set aside, put them in plastic bowls with a lid so if they get knocked over, you haven’t lost a huge element in your dish all over the floor or it’s not mixed with broken glass.
• Don’t wait until the last second to turn in.  When I presented one plate for judging one top bun was missing and my sous chef was able to run back and get it in time for the cut off.

Build in Extra Time to Breath and Calm Yourself

By the time you show up to cook at the WFC chances are you will have cooked your recipe many many many times.  As you practice have your timing down and then make sure you have at least 15 minutes to spare in getting your recipe done in the allotted period of time.

If your recipe requires every single second of time to get done then chances are you won’t beat the clock.  It is not your kitchen, you may drop a piece of protein and have to run to the pantry to get a replacement, and you have to run to the Final Table by the end of time.  This is not a hands down timing system, this is a run to the finish line system.  Several competitors in several categories got disqualified last year due to not turning in their dish in time.  It is heartbreaking when that happens.  No matter how good your dish is, if you don’t turn it in on time you, your friends are the only ones who will get to appreciate how great it is.

Good Luck and Remember Take Time to Enjoy a Little Gourmet Everyday!!