Chef Lo grabs top spot with polenta

By BARBARA ANN HORTON

Staff Writer

Winning the “Show-Me Chefs” competition Sunday left Lorelei Morris of Poplar Bluff feeling surreal and speechless.

“I am still amazed at the things I’ve accomplished,” said Morris, admitting while she was challenged, “I did more than I thought I was capable of doing.”

In the final round, Morris competed against Marty Lowry of Springfield, Missouri, an executive chef with an American Culinary Federation certification.

A difference in the final contest, the chefs were never told who won each event.

Winning the $3,000 in prize money was cool, but being immortalized in a cookbook and on the cover of a magazine is exciting, Morris said. She has been invited back for the all star season next year, when part of the event will be team competition.

She’s going to spend her $3,000 to take her family on a vacation to University Studio Orlando Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Her family includes son, Mikal; daughters, Dasla and Grace; grandson, Angel; and Morris’ boyfriend, Daniel.

Morris hopes to go on to other competition, as well as “do what I do here at Bread + Butter.”

“I did so much better than I thought I would,” she said. The event was “incredibly nerve racking, exciting and really a fantastic experience.”

Morris always plans to improve her basic techniques and skills.

“I like to learn. There is always room for improvement. I always strive for perfection. Education and learning are never a bad thing,” she said.

Another bonus was making friends and a lot of connections during the competition.

“I appreciate the opportunity and experience,” she said.

During the final challenge, Morris had a few unexpected things happen.

In the appetizer round, quail eggs, lotus root and beef jerky sticks were among the items in her basket. She whipped up a dish of huevos rancheros.

The basket for the entree round had a glass bottle with a list rolled up inside. The list said two proteins, one citrus, one vegetable, etc. and the contestants were allowed to go to the pantry and shop. After they shopped, the contest staff explained this is too easy and had the contestants exchange ingredients.

Her competitor had gathered 35 items from the pantry and she had to use every one of them in her dish.

“Oh, my God, it was so bad,” she said.

Just a few of the items were a gallon of milk, ketchup, polenta and pork tenderloin.

She made a pork medallion over polenta with salsa.

Contestants had collected so many items thinking they might not get to return to the pantry, but “we still got to go to the pantry to get seasoning,” Morris said.

“I just kept looking at it thinking, this thing is going to do me in,” she said. “It worked in my favor. It challenged my creativity to come up with what I might do to use so much stuff.”

Desserts are one of Morris’ strongest areas. Her basket had blue cheese, Sun Chips, pineapple jell squares and bitter melon.

Morris said, the bitter melon “was terrible. My face showed it all.”

She made a blue cheese and blueberry pound cake topped with a blueberry mousse, and a fruit compote containing blueberries, blackberries, bitter melon and a pineapple gel cube, which would not break down.

Calling the gel “weird,” she mixed everything together and poured it over the cake. She used the Sun Chips to make a brittle to crush and sprinkle on top.

The new top chef is scheduled to go to Clearwater High School in Piedmont and speak to a cooking class Dec. 3. This summer, she taught a Poplar Bluff class how to make icing for cupcakes and she’s open to invitations to talk with classes and groups.

Show-Me Chefs is an award-winning broadcast and webcast culinary competition series produced by the Missouri State University Department of Media, Journalism and Film. It features talent from Southeast Missouri and strives to build relationships with the local and regional culinary community.

Since most people are not able to watch the television station in the Poplar Bluff area, they may go to www.showmechef.net to view the contest on YouTube, Morris said.