The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) held the "Central Asian Chef Battle" from April 13 to 15 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. This year, the competition was held for the second time in a team format. A total of 12 teams, each consisting of three chefs, participated in the competition, with three teams advancing to the final round to compete for the grand prize – the "Golden" trophy, gold medals, and a trip to Dubai, UAE, with the opportunity to work with American beef in that country.

In the preliminary rounds, the chef teams had to prepare four dishes: appetizers, salads/cold appetizers, hot appetizers, and main courses. To showcase their skills, they were provided with alternative cuts of American beef: flank and tri-tip. The Chefs Hub team from Kazakhstan, the Colosseum team from Uzbekistan, and Ratatouille from Kyrgyzstan made it to the finals.

For the final dishes, the finalists were given a set of mandatory ingredients and American Top Sirloin Butt Cap (Picanha) beef. The degree of doneness for the beef (grilling and roasting) was not to exceed medium. The competition heated up in the finals, and after a fierce battle, the Ratatouille team from Kyrgyzstan emerged victorious.

The judging panel consisted of highly qualified chefs from each participating country: Yegor Danilenko from Kazakhstan, Sarvar Ganiev from Uzbekistan, Akhmat Rakhimov from Kyrgyzstan, and Mirza Ahmadov from Azerbaijan. The head judge was invited chef-speaker Jorge Sevilla, who emphasized the growing level of training and professionalism among the participants in working with American beef, the diversity of ideas for beef dishes, and the flavor variety of the culinary masterpieces presented. At the same time, Chef Jorge noted that none of the finalists used the Top Sirloin Butt Cap with surface fat; all had removed this fat.

The competition was organized and conducted by USMEF with the support of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Texas Beef Council. Event partners included BSPiK KZ, Ars-Di UZ, the Gastronomica UZ culinary studio, and the companies Brown UZ and Delicom KZ.

Source: USMEF