Area chef whips up winning round in TV competition

Winning the first round of the “Show-Me Chefs” competition is awesome Poplar Bluff chef Lorelei Morris admits, but it’s been challenging not talking about her experiences on the show.

The first round of the fourth “Show-Me Chefs” show aired Oct. 6. It is produced by Missouri State University’s Media Journalism and Film Department in the Springfield area.

Morris won the episode and will move into the semifinal round, which will be aired in a few weeks. While she competed in March, Morris was not allowed to talk about the event until her segment aired. She held a viewing party recently for her family and friends at Bread + Butter, where she works in Poplar Bluff.

Poplar Bluff Chef Lorelei Morris recently won her first round in the Show-Me Chefs competition, and has moved into the semi finals.Photo provided by Show-Me Chefs

She can now share her experiences about the first round of competition. While her family and friends said she appeared “cool” and ”calm” on the show, it was “pretty surreal” to her.

Admitting she was “really nervous,” Morris said, she was “excited to watch the segment, inside you feel shaky from nerves, but you try not to let others know.”

After watching the show, her older brother said it appeared “ice was going through your veins.”

Morris competed against Chef Paul Allen, who trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York and is a chef on yachts.

Comparing each of their training, Morris said, “he has an actual education with instructors.”

Morris describes herself as a self-taught cook and baker, who grew up in Piedmont with a grandmother who loved to bake and a mother who prepared everything homemade. They became Morris’ inspiration and cooking for her invokes warm memories of her family. Following in their footsteps, Morris mixed their creativity into her cooking and baking style, which is what first captured the attention of the show’s producers.

“I know I can put flavors together,” she said, “I do well under pressure and when it is stressful I go into a think mode. I prayed I executed it well.

“I was a little intimidated.”

She decided to “go in and put my best efforts and my best food out there.”

Preparing for the event, she continued watching cooking shows like “Chopped” and reading cookbooks. She did watch videos of how to break down squid, since she had never worked with them, she said.

Contestants are presented mystery baskets of ingredients prior to each round. Ground goat meat was featured in the appetizer basket. A little thing like never cooking goat meat didn’t slow down Morris. Treating it like ground beef, she had 20 minutes to dazzle the judges and she won the appetizer round.

While she had 35 minutes to prepare her entree, Morris again had a surprise ingredient - duck. She had never prepared duck, but she had watched friends prepare it in a Korean style.

She related to the fond memories of her friends and family and “the cookbooks I have read.” She knew the duck’s skin had to be crisp and meat rare to medium rare. She turned the vegetables into Kimchi, a staple in the Korean diet. Again, she captured the judges’ accolades and won the entree round.

“I was terrified in the entree round, but not all that worried about the dessert round,” she said.

In the dessert round, she whipped up fruit tea, lavender custard and a fruit compote topped with fried crumbled cheese curds to make a clean sweep of the first round of competition.

Morris explained the contest was an “exciting step in a bigger area with other chefs.” Calling the experience wonderful, Morris said she made friends with great people.

Six more chefs will compete in three more initial rounds prior to the semi-finals. The semi-finalist will move into finals.

The winner will be featured on the cover of a magazine produced by the show, receive $3,000 and have bragging rights.

Since most people are not able to watch the television station locally, they may go to www.showmechef.net to view the contest, Morris said.

Morris admits she finds the hardest part is to “keep my face very stoic. It is really hard keeping my mouth shut” about the event.