WHEN THE INVITATION CAME to witness The Black Box Culinary Challenge, it seemed ages since I attended such an event. The last one was about four years ago and hotels and independent restaurants were competing in a cook-off inside a ballroom.

The Black Box is a project of the Meat and Livestock Australia, an organization composed of producers who provide R&D and marketing services for the red meat industry. It uses a black box, literally, to contain the secret ingredient which the 11 competitors will have to use in the main dish of four courses. The box will also hold the names of the winners in the end.

But unlike the previous challenges, the 2010 version doesn?t show the actual cooking. That?s what surprised me as I entered the Rockwell tent. The ingredient was revealed the day before and then recipes were written. The cooking was done in the respective kitchens of the competitors. Those were brought to the site for judging and then dinner followed where each of the institutions involved had two tables for their guests to taste their entries.

For a food writer, it?s the cooking that gives competitions drama. Especially when there?s a time limit. This on-the-spot set up will show how talented and how coordinated the team is. To be told that there was to be no cooking on site is a letdown. Oh, well, at least we get to taste some of the dishes.

Food writers were assigned to certain tables and each competitor invited guests to the event. My place was at the Malacañang Palace table. My next surprise was seeing Luigi Bernas as part of the group. He is the husband of Luli Arroyo and so is the presidential son-in-law. When I met him the first time he was part of the Slow Food Movement in Manila and then later was part of the group that organized the Food Symposium on Vanishing Food at the Ayala Library.

Apart from Malacañang Palace the participants included three hotels (Makati Shangri-La, Manila Pavillion, Marriott); an airline catering company (MacroAsia); three restaurants (Ninyo Fusion Cuisine, Purple Feet, Lolo Dad?s Café Manila); and three schools (Centro Escolar University, College of the Holy Spirit, Enderun College). In The Black Box, students can be pitted with professionals.

Secret ingredient

The secret ingredient was D-rump, the back part of the beef that is one of the less tender cuts. But while that was important to use in the main course, all the other courses were as important because the best among the 11 entries were cited. Included in the scoring was the table arrangement.

Best appetizer went to Malacañang Palace which was a Shiraz braised lamb shoulder with celery compote and aspic of fruit, dairy and vegetables.

Best soup was Lolo Dad?s Peppered Beef Carpaccio on Spiced Velouté with Petite Popover. MacroAsia won for its main course of Braised Beef in Port Wine Sauce and Anna Potato.

For best dessert it was Makati Shangri-La?s entry with the very long description?Chocolate Tonka Bean Mousse with Candied Chestnut in Chocolate Tube on Nectarine Marshmallow Mango Coriander Pudding with Mango Tagiatelli foam Warm ChocolatE Lava Cake with Coffee and Blueberry Cherry Compote and Spiced Tuille. Just imagine a mousse, cake and pudding all on one plate. The hotel also won for its table setting.

Yet the most awaited announcement that night was the top three overall winners. The Black Box revealed Makati Shangri-La as first place, Lolo Dad?s Manila as second place and Marriot Hotel as third place.

The team of Makati Shangri-La will be going to the finals of the Black Box Culinary Challenge. No one can tell me where that will be though there were guesses like Chile, Korea and, another surprise, Manila.

In 2008 the finals was in Dubai. The Philippine representative was Lolo Dad?s. First place was South Korea?s Grand Intercontinental Hotel Seoul, second was Singapore?s Swissotel The Stamford and third was Sri Lanka?s Hilton Colombo.

E-mail the author at pinoyfood04@yahoo.com