Registrations are now open to participate in the fourth edition of “Extra Cuoca – The talent of women for extra virgin olive oil” 2024, the national competition designed to enhance the talent of professional chefs who, through their recipes, enhance the characteristics of quality and uses of extra virgin olive oil in the kitchen. Registrations will remain open until June 30, 2024.
New to the 2024 edition is the introduction of a side section of the competition called “Extra Telling – Narrators of oil, cuisine, landscapes and territories” designed to reward women who deal with communication on the topic of oil evo and who, through their professionalism, are able to transmit the values and knowledge, including culinary ones, linked to the world of oil and to celebrate the characteristics of the territories and landscapes with a high olive-growing vocation. Communication works, published and disseminated in the current or previous year or created ad hoc, can be submitted as self-nominations for the three competing categories: blogger, videomaker (with videos lasting a maximum of two minutes) and writer/ journalists/communicators.
Promoted by the Coordination Committee of the Ercole Olivario Award and by the National Association of Women of Oil APS, in partnership with Lady Chef (Women’s Department of the FIC – Italian Chefs Federation) and with the television program Agrisapori; the competition aims to enhance the professionalism of the cooks and the conscious use of oil in the kitchen, rewarding recipes that reveal particular mastery and creativity in enhancing the organoleptic properties of one of the finalist oils in the XXXII edition of the Ercole Olivario National Award and of the third edition of La Goccia d’Ercole, produced in the cook’s territory of origin or in the area in which she carries out her professional activity.
Peculiarities of Extra Cuoca, the first competition in Italy to reward exceptionally talented professional chefs, are the training dedicated to chefs, which takes place according to different modes of use and in parallel with the competition, with a focus on the sensorial characteristics of extra virgin oils, the nutritional aspects, the uses of oil in the kitchen and the pairings in the dining room, the biodiversity linked to the production area, and the promotion of the individual participating chefs, pursued through the conduct of interviews and the publication of content on social channels and the media.
Professional chefs will be able to register for free at Extra Cuoca 2024 by Sunday 30 June 2024, by completing the online registration form (available, together with the regulations, on the website https://extracuoca.it/iscriveti/). For information contact the Organizational Secretariat of the “EXTRACUOCA” Competition c/o Promocamera – Special Agency Chamber of Commerce of Umbria Tel. 075.9660.589 – 639 [email protected].
Participants will have the opportunity to send a maximum of four recipes, one for each of the four competing categories: Starters and other preparations (finger food, side dishes, savory pies, sandwiches, cocktails), First Courses, Second Courses and Desserts.
The entries, complete with photos of the finished dish, will be subjected to scrutiny by a panel made up of experts in the sector, who will assign them a score based on seven parameters: the attention paid to the sensorial profile of the chosen oil, the care in choosing the ingredients used, the valorization of local products, the pleasantness that can be deduced from the description of the recipe, the aesthetic aspect that can be assessed from the photo of the dish, the healthiness and nutritional profile of the proposed dish and finally the originality, creativity and innovation as added values.
Once the ranking has been formed, we will proceed to the next phase of announcing the finalists, who will participate in the final “Cooking Challenge”, where they will perform their preparations in front of a kitchen commissioner in person at the University of Flavors in Perugia.
The final jury, made up of a food technologist, acting as President, three international cooking judges, an olive oil taster and a kitchen commissioner, will taste the dishes and express their opinion by assigning a score based on specific criteria evaluation: the Mise en place and cleanliness, the valorisation of the extra virgin olive oil used, the professional preparation, the management of food waste and sustainability, the aesthetic aspect and service, and the taste (pleasant flavor in harmony with the type of food employed and correct use of condiments).
This was followed by the announcement of the 8 winning chefs, the first and second classified for each competition category.
