The Nashville Scene’s sixteenth annual Iron Fork competitors came about Saturday in Centennial Park — this yr as a part of the Music Metropolis Meals & Wine Pageant, dropped at you for the primary time by Scene mother or father firm FW Publishing.
As all the time, the competitors featured 4 proficient native cooks, who went face to face making dishes for our panel of judges (Mark Eggerding of US Meals, longtime Scene contributor Chris Chamberlain, Foodies of Nashville founder Sam Corley and Two Ten Jack’s Jess Benefield) utilizing a secret ingredient revealed moments earlier than the competitors started. This yr’s secret ingredient, introduced by Eggerding: Chef’s Line Mayonnaise. That revelation went down extra easily with a few of our opponents than others.
As our cooks cooked, three native mixologists competed within the drink-making portion of the evening’s festivities, hosted by Chris Mallon — proprietor of the Tennessee Whiskey Workshop and president of the U.S. Bartenders’ Guild’s Nashville chapter. The key ingredient for that competitors? Natural tamarind paste. Our competing mixologists have been Harrison Deakin of Harriet’s Nashville, Nick Dolan of Maiz de la Vida and Scott Perlowski of Golden Sound. Perlowski finally received that contest together with his tackle a Paper Airplane, made utilizing Tito’s Vodka.
Chris Crary, Jess Lambert, Giovanna Orsino and Edgar Victoria will go face to face on April 26 on the Scene-presented occasion
With a one-hour time restrict and staggered begin occasions, cooks Chris Crary of 1 Kitchen, Jess Lambert of Etch and and so forth., Giovanna Orsino of Tutti da Gio and Edgar Victoria of Alebrije raided the pantry and started working. In the end, every chef put collectively a dish that showcased his or her distinctive abilities whereas additionally incorporating mayo: Lambert with a crab cake-centric dish with a mayo-based salad and cranberry-molasses drizzle and cauliflower puree; Crary with patatas bravas and steak with a walnut romesco sauce, kale and pickled shallots; Victoria with a “Mexican surf-and-turf,” that includes a pipián sauce and a mayo-enhanced cilantro inexperienced goddess dressing; and Orsino with a Sicilian tuna tartare with a sizzling sauce, orange peppers, parsley and mayo.
Ultimately — with only one level separating first place from second — the 2025 Iron Fork winner was Lambert, who wowed the judges along with her incorporation of mayo all through the dish, in addition to her group’s potential to deep-fry outdoor. (No simple feat, our judges inform us.)
Iron Fork MCs Jerome Moore and yours actually auctioned off a dish apiece from every of our cooks, with proceeds going towards our charitable companions: The Nashville Meals Mission, Have a good time Nashville Cultural Pageant and the Centennial Park Conservancy. These proceeds totaled roughly $1,000.
A giant thank-you to our sponsors, our charitable companions, our judges and our cooks. See pictures of Saturday’s motion from Angelina Castillo and Hamilton Matthew Masters above.
