Chestnut Battle of the Wings: Behind the Scenes

It's Coming . . .

Yes, its less than 7 days away - Chestnut's Battle of the Wings. 4 Chef's competing for top honours as they fight to create the best wings. No matter which one claims victory, we all win.

Last year they brought me in from Ottawa to be a judge which was awesome. This year, well I'm already here. And there has been buzz for the past month from the Chef's about how this battle will go down differently.

Last week I was invited behind the scenes to see the sauces being tested. It was great being in the kitchen watching how much hard work and passion goes into our food. It happened to be a regularly scheduled wing night in the caf and the above photo shows the 400 lbs of wings that is being used. Last year it was over 800 lbs for Battle of the Wings.

Aboce is a collage of some of the pictures of wings being prepared. Tossed wings, marinating wings, deep frying, sauces, spices - it was quite an afternoon. I did some video and there will eventually be a WKTV episode on Battle of the Wings.

During my tastings, I kept my thoughts and tastes to my self so as not to influence anyone, so I'm not going to comment on how yummy they all were. I will say that it's going to be a tough decision.

Above on the right is Chef Low with his wing ringer Berto who has devised a special tandoori wing.

Chef Fitzroy was preparing his special jerk wings.

Chef Olivia wasn't sure what she was going to do, so she was trying a couple of recipes. Above is a dry spiced wing.

Olivia also tried a spicy hot wing above - but a lot of the other kitchen staff found them too spicy. I didn't . . .

The executive chef, Jaco, wasn't letting others sample his secret recipe that day. But a few days ago he gave me a plate to try. I didn't have my camera so no photo, but try and imagine for yourself.

I can't wait.