By Siauw Yu Chuan
Cooking is an art that showcases creativity; a skill that heightens one’s senses; a joy that brings people together.
Rico and I were given a humble camping stove to create a Singapore Hawker Dish and a dessert for the Cooking Competition. At the competition, Rico presented his Chilli Krabby Fish with elevated soybean curd, attained the 1st place. I presented a Seafood Ramen and a Play on Coconut Dessert, attained 2nd place. Our dishes exceeded expectations and has set a new standard for scout stove cooking competition.
The Cook Off was a fulfilling experience. We taught ourselves through many trials and errors and countless attempts to get a dish or a single element right. Do not be afraid to take risks and fail, be brave enough to materialize your ideas into reality. Being able to replicate local Singaporean dishes with precision and elevate the dishes was no easy feat. We decided to surpass the limitations of a humble camping stove using modern techniques for our dishes such as sugar crystallisation and gelatinisation.
A good chef can create and innovate with the most basic equipment and ingredients, a good scout is able to adapt and conquer regardless of the circumstance he is in. "Recipes don’t work unless you use your heart!” Dylan Jones.
