The Next GCC Challenge

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Goodweed of the North said:
But I'm thinking that we might do away with competing against each other, but rather, have our entries rated on thier own strengths, maybe with critiques about what was great, and what was not so great. Each entry would be up for scrutiny by the DC community.

Whatcha think?

The main problem I see with this is that critiquing can be tricky to do tactfully, and to accept tactfully. It's very easy to hurt someone's feelings without meaning to, especially if the person feels some sort of accomplishment in what is being critiqued. And there is potential for hurt if some people seem to get consistantly good critiques and others seem to get consistantly good but could be better critiques. The lack of annonymity in the critiquing could potentially open up the idea that some people had "favorites". It might also scare participants away if they know the qualities of their food are going to get analyzed and picked apart. And it might scare some people away from critiquing because they don't want to accidentally hurt a friend's feelings.

With the voting system, a lot more people seem to comment on the entries than vote on them and the voting is annonymous. This means there is not as great a chance of there being any perceived favoritism for repeat contestants. It also means people can vote without fear of accidentally hurting a friend's feelings by not voting for them.

The other problem I see with it is that to give a proper critique of something it has to be tried. It's very difficult to imagine what something will taste like and what the strengths and weaknesses of a dish are based on just the recipe and a picture. Someone who wanted to critique multiple entries would need to make and try multiple entries. That could be difficult to do given financial and time restraints, and given the availability of required ingredients.

With the voting system, it was as much about the creativity of the food made as it was about how good the food was. It's easier to look at the entries and determine how well they fit the challenge, how creative they were and a generalization of how good they are than it is to give a breakdown of their qualities.

Those are my thoughts.
Longwindette out. :)
 
PF--I don't know--my pantry has more than five ingredients in it...I was tossing out an idea. The other thought is to make sure the "key" ingredients are not expensive or hard to acquire. Make it a "stretch your brain" sort of thing with ingredients in the freezer/pantry. Not "I have to go buy this stuff to participate."

I meant, are we picking 5 specific ingredients plus pantry to make one dish or a meal?
 
A goodwind from the north, p.a.g.
To follow Fee, I also suggest not restricting the challenge to app-ent-dess-sip. Contrary to convention, it is alien to most people, like insisting that the next dish is a secundo. Make one dish, or five iron chef dishes, doesn't matter, we will heap praise and critique either way. Breaking up the challenge into four categories also clogs up the board.

shitake mushrooms
tomatillos, or green tomatoes
shrimp
chocolate
sweet potato
rice
pasta, your choice
egg
milk
butter
olive oil
lime
lemon
cilantro
parsley
lemon grass

looks challenging...
 
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We had decided to get away from the competitive part of this challenge, and instead focus on choosing a secret ingredient or theme that will stretch the participant's cullinary skills by getting them to think creatively. The mushroom challenge and convenience store challenges perfectly exemplified this idea. The entries were well out of the box and yet were creative and successfull. No one made anything that was just bad. All recipes gave everyone new ideas for what can be done with common foods. I mean, we had ice cream and sweet rolls made from mushrooms, and they were great. We had coctails that featured mushrooms as well. Who'd of thunk it?

Succesful recipes are shared with everyone so that others may enjoy making and tasting them.

GCC isn't about making the best food so that we can hold up our heads and say - "Look at me!" It's about testing our limits, to help us become better, and show us new techniques and discover new flavors. Food becomes an art form, and the participants, the artists. It also teaches us how to present food in a way to make it more apealing.

The competition part was fun and allowed us to gauge our strengths. But I'm thinking that we might do away with competing against each other, but rather, have our entries rated on thier own strengths, maybe with critiques about what was great, and what was not so great. Each entry would be up for scrutiny by the DC community.

Whatcha think?

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

Yep, I agree. I think the overall way we structured the last few worked well but I agree that the voting can go. Three courses and a beverage makes it easy to do and puts everyone on the same challenge field.
 
How does this work? Do you all make the dish and post it or something? Not that I'm participating, lol, just curious. Sounds like it may be interesting to follow...
 
I meant, are we picking 5 specific ingredients plus pantry to make one dish or a meal?

That was my thought--here are the five key ingredients, and here's what's in the pantry/fridge that you can add. I guess it could be make an appetizer and then if you're not voted out, you can go to the next round with the next 5 ingredients and what's in the pantry? I don't shop for meals, I go with what I have, and that's what I thought-go with what people have and see what people can do with that by stretching their minds. I, for one, do not have access to venison, so venison would be out for me. I do have access to wild rice and maple syrup. Others may not, so those ingredients would be out. These things could be in the pantry, I suppose, but I think the items should be stuff that is readily available to all DCers--US, Canada, Europe, China, Australia, etc.
 
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That was my thought--here are the five key ingredients, and here's what's in the pantry/fridge that you can add. I guess it could be make an appetizer and then if you're not voted out, you can go to the next round with the next 5 ingredients and what's in the pantry? I don't shop for meals, I go with what I have, and that's what I thought-go with what people have and see what people can do with that by stretching their minds. I, for one, do not have access to venison, so venison would be out for me. I do have access to wild rice and maple syrup. Others may not, so those ingredients would be out. These things could be in the pantry, I suppose, but I think the items should be stuff that is readily available to all DCers--US, Canada, Europe, China, Australia, etc.

Sounds like a "Pantry Challenge" and that could be fun. :) Come up with a dish (or meal) using X and also Y from the pantry!!

Not all cooking "challenges" need to be a GCC or called a GCC or be in that format (beverage, app, entree and dessert). This summer we tried the "What's Your Best... Burger". I have hoped to do more but summer is not really the time for these things. Maybe this fall we can do some more of the "What's Your Best... "ones this fall and winter.
 
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The pasta dish I made last week was exactly that--I had certain things on hand, too tired to go out and get anything, so I had to use what was in the fridge/freezer/pantry--my best effort at something I could make within 20 minutes and was, as I called it, a "throw together" dish. The chili I made on Saturday was the same--I dug in the freezer, found frozen pinto beans, steak, and went from there with tomatoes I needed to sauce, etc. I guess it is kinda like the thread "I only have these three ingredients..." The five key ingredients I cited were just an example...and the pantry list was some (by no means all) of what I have on hand.
 
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How does this work? Do you all make the dish and post it or something? Not that I'm participating, lol, just curious. Sounds like it may be interesting to follow...

We have been going with an ingredient (like mushrooms) to be used in appetizer, entree, dessert and beverage or place to shop (convenience store) with same meal plan. They have been fun. Now just tossing around a few ideas for the next challenge.

Look for the 'GCC" Threads here: Cooking Contests - Discuss Cooking - Cooking Forums
to see what we've done before.:chef:
 
I'm getting ready to cook...it's cool enough now that I can stand the heat in the kitchen.
 
I know people are discussing a pantry challenge, but I had and idea for a future challenge that I wanted to suggest before I forget. I'm having my wisdom teeth out soon and am looking for tasty ideas for while I'm stuck on pureed/soft foods. (See thread under Cooking Questions if you have suggestions.) It made me think that it may be fun to do a sort of limitation challenge, to make people get really creative. For example, cook a great meal for someone with food allergies. There's a lady who comes into my work who is allergic to everything in the garlic/onion family, and that might be tricky to get around for me, since those are staples in most of the savory food I cook. That's just one idea. Vegetarian challenge, cooking for a diabetic (though I know some people may have an advantage there). I even once knew a family who had one kid who was allergic to soy, nuts, and wheat and another who was only allergic to 2 of those, but was also lactose intolerant. Cooking a gourmet meal with that family in mind may be a real challenge! Just an idea to consider in the future. :)
 
Did we ever decide if we were going to another challenge? I know everyone is busy getting ready for the holidays...maybe January?
 
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