Tickets for 2014 Cook of the Week Challenge cook-off on sale today
Celebrity chefs demonstrations, gourmet nibbles and a heated cooking competition. We've got all that on tap at the Nov. 3 Cook of the Week Challenge Final Four Cook-off and we want you to join us.
Tickets cost $20 and go on sale today at events.dailyherald.com.
Doors to the ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Schaumburg open at 6:30 p.m. Once inside, you'll be treated to appetizers and product samples from our dozen-plus sponsors. One beverage ticket is included with admission and a cash bar will be available.
Attendees also have the chance to buy raffle tickets benefiting the Northern Illinois Food Bank. Cooking classes, cookbooks, dining certificates, theater tickets and other fun items will be among the prizes.
The highlight of the evening is, of course, the cook-off that pits four suburban home cooks (to be revealed Oct. 22) in a timed culinary contest. They will have one hour to prepare a meal using mystery basket ingredients and items pulled from a common pantry. Contestants will present their dishes to a panel of judges and by the end of the evening we will name the Daily Herald's Cook of the Year 2014.
Gale Gand, celebrity chef, TV personality and cookbook author, will be on hand to judge and she'll give a cooking demonstration before the panel sits down to sample the contestants' creations. Other demonstrations will be presented by chef Tony Scruggs, a finalist on Fox's “MasterChef” now running the kitchen at Old Crow Smokehouse in Schaumburg, and Now Foods corporate chef Suzy Singh, also a “MasterChef” alum.
After following this contest since late August, you'll want to be on hand to see who best handles the heat of the kitchen.