TOP WINNERS Jacinto and Caparas of PWU
Text and photos by Rima Jessamine M. Granali, Contributor
ASPIRING Filipino chefs proved recently there is so much more you can do with bread than just pair it with sandwich spread or coffee.
Culinary and Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM) students from 10 universities and colleges in Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon filled bento boxes with “out of the box” bread concoctions at Gardenia’s 2015 The Next Big Sandwich Hit (NBSH) finale.
Gardenia product manager Angel Gonzaga said the contest, on its third year, aims to challenge students to “see how versatile bread can be” and showcase the cooking skills and creativity of chef wannabes from diverse backgrounds.
The final 10 pairs, chosen from 20 participating schools through a series of elimination rounds, had to come up with a bento box meal with a variety of flavors—sweet, savory and sexy (or healthy), Gonzaga said.
Imagine skewered chicken, tofu twist, fried rice, a French-inspired dish, bulgogi, sushi, California maki, halo-halo cone and other desserts with bread as an ingredient.
In just 40 minutes, the finalists prepared mouth-watering dishes like pros, which they presented in bento boxes to the judges.
Celebrity chef Jeremy Favia, Gonzaga and the “Kusina Master” of Philippine television, chef Pablo “Boy” Logro, chose the three winning teams.
The winners were judged on taste, cost efficiency, interpretation of theme, creative use of Gardenia products and plating.
D’Pidabest Duo from Philippine Women’s University (PWU), Jodi Michelle Jacinto and Juan Carlo Caparas, lived up to their name, besting the nine other finalists and taking home P50,000.
The winning bento box contained “creamy toastilicious” made from Gardenia butter toast, “skewered chicken savory delight” with classic white bread and healthy “tofu-soya twist” with wheat bread. The whole bento meal cost P82.43.
Chef Armand Nening, the pair’s coach, said their teachers helped Jacinto and Caparas in conceptualizing the recipes.
“It was a collaboration actually,” Nening said. It took PWU third-year culinary students three months, with lots of “sleepless nights,” to master each recipe from elimination to the finals, he said.
Caparas, 18, said all the effort was worth it. “You just have to give it your all so in the end you won’t have regrets,” he added.
But the aspiring food entrepreneur said being able to showcase his “hidden talent” was reward enough.
For his partner Jacinto, 19, the values of teamwork and hard work were her most important takeaway from the competition.
THE OTHER winners are (left) Pestin and Rafols of LCCM, (above) Eloriaga and Francisco of MTC, and (above right) Saputil and Guinto of DLSU Dasmariñas.
“Even during practice, you have to give your best,” she said.
Jacinto, who wants to be a pastry chef, said they would not have made it to the finals without the guidance of their mentors.
Second placer John Lustre Pestin of La Consolacion College Manila’s Team Funtoastic said “cooperation and communication were the key.”
Pestin, 21, and his partner Adryx Ivan Royz Rafols won P30,000 for their French-inspired bento box.
Neatly arranged in a white box, the duo’s “Gardenia Salmon and Micro Green,” “Gardenia Chocolate Dream” and “Gardenia Mille-feuille of champorado and daing tuyo flakes” looked appetizing.
For the semifinals, the pair came up with a Filipino-French dish for the “Pinoy fiesta fusion” theme.
Apart from the learning experience, Pestin said he would cherish the friendships he developed with his cocontestants.
If “Eat Bulaga” has AlDub, Manila Tytana Colleges had Team Lubdub, which placed third and received P20,000.
Culinary Arts sophomores Ramon Adam Eloriaga, 22, and Elaine Beatrice Francisco, 21, focusing on holistic nutrition, came up with “sexy veggie teriyaki tacos,” “savory siniglad” and “sweet butterscotch mango sans rival.”
Eloriaga, who plans to pursue a master’s degree in Nutrition, said siniglad was similar to sinangag, a Filipino breakfast staple.
To advance to the finals, the teams competed with their schoolmates in the School Hop elimination round.
Gonzaga said the students were challenged to create a sandwich worth P35 or less that could be prepared for “different occasions in a day”—“Bread and Breakfast,” “Lunch Out,” “Dinner Affair,” “Workout Boost,” “After School Merienda,” “Midnight Hacks,” “Pica Picks,” “Sweet Escape,” “Study Buddy” and “Breaktime Fix.”
The winning team from each of the 20 schools went through a seven-day business implementation program to test the marketability of their sandwich.
At this stage, the teams were given budgets to sell their sandwich creations using their preferred business strategies.
The best business implementation special award was given to De La Salle University Dasmariñas’ Hexilon Anciro Saputil and Lenard Guinto.
With capital of P5,000, their Team Sandwich Mafia sold more than a thousand fajitas, their winning recipe. The team earned P3,000 in just a week, Guinto said.
For the semifinals held just before the finals, the students were tasked to prepare sandwiches for different occasions of the year like Christmas, New Year’s, Halloween, Holy Week and the rainy season.
Gonzaga said, “It’s a way of making [sandwich preparation] more relatable … . You can prepare a sandwich meal for media noche, a sandwich recipe for Valentine’s.”
Apart from the holiday-themed sandwiches, contestants were also made to prepare a dish with a “Pinoy fiesta fusion” concept.
This year’s NBSH was the biggest so far, Gonzaga said.
“Two years ago, we were doing this only in 10 schools in Metro Manila. Now we have a fresh perspective because we went to Central Luzon, north Luzon and south Luzon. The mix of students is more diverse,” she said.
The 20 universities and colleges were invited to participate based on the HRM and culinary courses they offer.
Other participating schools included Tarlac State University, Centro Escolar University Malolos, Angeles University Foundation, Cavite State University, University of the East (Manila), University of Manila, National University, Adamson University, St. Paul University Manila, University of the Cordilleras, Benguet State University, Malayan Colleges Laguna, University of Santo Tomas, Laguna State Polytechnic University, Arellano University and Polytechnic University of the Philippines.