PAN Competition still has the sauce

The annual PAN Com-petition, hosted by CB Foods, is all about well- herbed, well-cooked, mouthwatering, jerked chicken that most Jamaicans have grown to crave and love. But what is some delicious jerked chicken without a balanced sauce to top it all off?

PAN competitors have delivered scrumptious jerked chicken accompanied by tasty sauces for years. So it is no surprise that the 2019 instalment of the competition remained true to that tradition.

The PAN 2019 grand finals which concluded on October 27, was held at Grizzly’s Plantation Cove, St Ann. The event saw chefs competing in the PAN chicken competition as well as the Miracle Lick D Spot Sauce Competition. The latter was dominated by Jody-Ann Huei who placed first; Denroy Bloomfield who placed second; and Charmaine Pryce who landed the number three spot.

Jody-Ann Huie’s sauce is beloved by judges and also placed first place in the Regional 2 sauce competition in Black River, St Elizabeth, in September. The PAN chef says her sauce was concocted not long before the start of the competition.“I wasn’t sure I would even get to enter. There was another person meant to enter, and they ended up falling out of the competition. I got called to come in around Wednesday before the competition. I worked on the sauce the following day, Thursday.” she said.

Huie’s sauce raised eyebrows and delighted palates at the Regional 2 Competition, where she won overall for the region as well as landed first place in the Miracle Lick D Spot Sauce segment.

The grand finals revealed even more contestants showing up with sorrel-based sauces. “I heard that more competitors came out with sorrel-based sauces this time, maybe in some attempt to recreate what I did at Regional 2. Luckily, I still came out on top for grand finals.”

secret sauce

Although unwilling to share the secrets of her magical sauce, Jody-Ann shed some light on some of its basic ingredients: “The main ingredient is sorrel. I also use Pineapple Swizzle and all-natural seasonings like scallion and pepper. What I do is blend them up and add it to the pineapple swizzle,” she said.

After making a tremendous impact on this year’s PAN chicken competition, Huie plans on taking her sauce to the next level by attaching her family name to a bottled version of her winning sauce.

Second-place winner in the Miracle Lick D Spot Sauce Competition, Denroy Bloomfield, notes that he had made his sauce just days before the competition as well. Bloomfield swept the award for first place during the Regional 1 segment of the competition. He has chosen not to disclose the ingredients of his secret sauce. Third-place winner in the Miracle Lick D Spot Sauce Competition, Charmaine Pryce, also wowed judges with her winning sauce.

“It felt great making it to grand finals and placing third in the [Miracle Lick D Spot] Sauce Competition. It felt like I won because I didn’t receive any negative feedback on the chicken, really,” said Pryce on how it felt making it so far in the PAN 2019 Competition.

While most contestants leaned more towards making a last-minute sauce, Charmaine experimented with more than five different flavors before settling on the special concoction that landed her the number-three spot and a cash prize of $10,000, courtesy of Miracle.

Jody-Ann Huie received the biggest cash prize, taking home $25,000, while Denroy Bloomfield collected a cash prize of $15,000.

St Thomas’ Kerisa Wright emerged as the overall winner of PAN 2019, followed by Denton Gordon and Jody-Ann Huie, who landed second and third place, respectively.

PAN 2019 was a major success, pulling hundreds of patrons out to enjoy an occasion filled with good food and fun for the family. The event included an incredible entertainment package which featured performances by Tarrus Riley and Agent Sasco.