Power of the Palate: Round Two

I wanted to take a moment and share more on my journey with this year’s Power of The Palate, a cocktail competition with Black Restaurant Week and Maker’s Mark. The first part of the competition for me was to compete for the spot to represent Chicago. I had to create a cocktail using Maker’s Mark and please a live audience with samples of the drink and present it to three judges.

So I created “Investment Stock” as mentioned in my previous post. I whipped up a cocktail that checked the major boxes. It was creative. It came with a relatable story. And it represented the culinary theme of restaurant week. The judging happened at M Lounge on the Southside of the city. I remember smirking a little because I worked at a fine dining restaurant in Columbus, Ohio and the place was called “M”. I thought it was a little sign. My fellow contestants were fierce. I knew this because I knew and worked with two of the three other contestants in the past and they were both ladies that I highly respect in the industry. Listening to their stories and watching their performance, I would have been happy if any of them advanced.

I was the last to go up and present my cocktail. Going last can have it’s advantages. But it can be a double edge sword as well. There were about 30 attendees at the event watching us. After the free samples for a couple hours they were getting comfortable and a little antsy for the event to be over. The ladies that went before me were talking to the judges and with each contestant the crowd grew louder and louder in their own conversations with each other not really listening. (Maybe part of it was it was a bit hard to hear us, we didn’t have microphones).

Then it was my turn.

This was a big moment for me because I had something to prove from getting knocked out of the competition early last year. I was coming back for the big prize! This was just the first step! As I set up for my turn and was getting ready to show off my drink to the three judges I decided to get the attention of every single person in the room. “Excuse me, Everyone.” I yelled. “My name is Nigal Vann and I’m here to get a chance to represent Chicago in a national competition. Before I go for the win, I need to feel the support from my own city!” I felt like I had to do that and it got the attention that I needed to show everyone what I was about. This was the beginning…

I won the spot on the bracket to show the nation what Chicago could do. And I was able to make with Top 8 with my entry

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Fast forwarding to round two. The Bodega Challenge. You could only source ingredients from a local bodega. Above the bar I work at is a second bar called Bodega, where I usually work Saturdays. I took that as a little sign.

Now I love this competition for many reason, but my favorite reason was the excuse it gave me to research cuisines that originated from African roots. My entire theme for this competition is to mimic the flavors found in a dish. After toying around with what dish I was going for, I finally have the inspiration: malva pudding.

Malva pudding is sweet pudding from South Africa. It’s like a sponge cake meets bread pudding and has apricot jam and it usually served hot with ice cream or custard. So now the challenge for me was: how I could turn this into a cocktail. With the texture playing a big part of the dish, I wanted to make something creamy and full of body. Automatically, I think of egg white cocktails and what other cocktails are known for for the same mouthfeel I was looking for.

A whiskey flip! It was the foundation of my cocktail. Whiskey. Egg. Cream. Sugar. Now let’s make it mine. Looking at what goes into malva pudding one thing I noticed was apple cider vinegar and brown butter. I made a sugar syrup using brown butter and demerara. I browned one stick of salted butter over low heat, careful not to burn it. Then I added it to a small pot and added two cups of demerara and two cups of water to it and stir over heat until it was dissolved and mixed together evenly. I let it cool at room temperature skimmed off a bit of the film of fat that laid on top- purposely leaving some for texture. It tasted like sugar cookies. The rest was a ratio game with the other ingredients and when I had the final product, I knew I couldn’t lose this round. I had to show that confidence in the name

The Proof is in the Pudding

2oz Maker's Mark

.75oz brown butter syrup

1 barspoon Apricot jam

.25oz half and half

.25oz apple cider vinegar.

2 dashes aromatic bitters

1 whole egg (large)

Combine everything in your mixing tin and shake hard for 15- 20 seconds without ice. Add ice and shake again for 20 more seconds. Strain into a coupe glass. Avoid double straining to more of the apricot jam pieces in the drink. Let the cocktail settle and add drops of aromatic bitters on top and fresh grated coffee beans for aromatics.

When I did this live for the judges I wanted to stand out in my presentation and make it more of a performance. With the last minutes of prep I decided to turn this into a roleplay. The judges were walking into my bodega and we were gonna “improvise” with the ingredients found on their grocery list. Was it cheesy? Yes. Was it me? You know it! Check out the video https://youtu.be/id46HX-oZtQ I’m at the 7:40 mark! Cheers!

“The Proof in the Pudding” Photographer: Madelynne Ross