Chef Uwe president and our director of Kitchens at the Intercontinental hotel was amongst the elite in Dubai. He would be asked to organize from the smallest junior chef event to amazing, full of life cooking demonstrations and culinary experiences. Still to this day his mentoring has instilled me a lot of that passion to compete, organize and address large audiences.
He called me to his office and asked me to look over some competition papers, which I did. It was strange as the competition involved using these small but very efficient, no fat, no frill grills.
After reading the whole presentation, I asked chef, what da? As I had not realized what the grill was all about and who was the man behind the huge success in the US, I read one more time the presentation and to my dismay, I had completely failed to realize that this was a George Foreman Grill Competition!!!!!
George Edward Foreman is a retired American professional boxer, former two-time World Heavyweight Champion, Olympic gold medalist, ordained minister, author, and entrepreneur.
I was going to be part of an amazing night of fun, cooking and stand by one of the greatest boxers of all time.
I worked all night to prepare the rules of the competition and presented my thoughts to Chef Uwe first thing in the morning. I had not slept all night, the adrenaline of possibly meeting in person George Foreman, a world heavy weight champion boxer, an Olympic Gold medalist and man that stood toe to toe with Mohammad Ali, in “Rumble in the Jungle was too much. It simply meant too much not to be part of the Royal Grill-athon.
Chef adjusted a few things, and the Invitations were ready to be sent through a blast email from the Emirates Culinary Guild to the entire fortitude of hotel Chefs in the UAE.
As a Professional, having participated in organizing the rules, I could not par take in the competition but I could have demonstrated two dishes the same night the Elite of Dubai were competing for best grill master 2006. Disappointment set in but it was not going to deter my strong commitment. I worked on my recipes and was ready for the demo.
On the night of the competition held at Jumeirah Beach Hotel, the huge ballroom was filled with Chefs, General Managers, F&B Directors and people from all walks of life.
After a grueling 45 minutes of grilling and 45 minutes of judging deliberation, the winners were announced.
George Foreman called all the winners up and presented them with the winner’s medals and certificates. I believe the winner was Sacha Trimmer now Vice President of Culinary at the Atlantis on the Palm, Dubai.
As I had finished my presentation, I was asked by the local media to express my opinion about the grill and George Foreman. As my interview was rolling, I was called up on stage to be presented a certificate of participation. I excused myself and walked on stage where my crazy nature took over and danced around with my fists up as a boxer does in a ring.
I can still see the look of disbelief from George who being the sport he is put up his fists in an absolute stunned fashion and laughed.
The best was yet to come as George Foreman announced in front of the thousands attending that I would join him in presenting 5 cooking demonstrations in Mercato Mall....My Heart is still beating like the drums in Rumble in The Jungle!!!!!