Glauser was one of 10 Taste of Nova Scotia chefs to faceoff on the Saltscapes culinary stage for the recent black-box competition. “I was a bit hesitant to participate at first, even the most experienced chef gets a bit nervous when faced with the daunting ‘black box’ of secret ingredients,” says Glauser whose mystery items included double-smoked bacon and pork tenderloin, maple syrup, rainbow carrots and flax flour. “When all of the secret ingredients were unveiled, I was delighted.”
Working with his volunteer sous-chef from the audience, Glauser prepared pork medallions with cranberry ginger lime sauce, served on creamy goat cheese mashed potatoes with Asian rainbow carrot and veggie slaw. “It’s been a long time since I’ve competed in front of a few hundred people with the clock ticking and a volunteer assistant from the audience who I’d never met,” says Glauser. “Surprisingly it was a lot of fun, and winning first prize made it even more so…and I would like to re-connect with my sous chef. I want to personally thank her by inviting her down to the restaurant for dinner sometime this season.”
The parade of duelling chefs included Earlene Busch (Chanterelle Country Inn & Cottages), Les Stevens (Harbor City Bar and Grill, Delta Halifax), Terry Vassallo (Trattoria della Nonna), Peter Welton (Port Pub & Bistro), Chris Velden (Ryan Duffy’s), Jamie Mullett (Delta Hotels), Roger Joharchy (Inn on the Lake), Shelley Steventon (Old Fish Factory) and Dale Nichols (Digby Pines).
