Lisa Denyer became the first finalist in the Good Food Trading Co's quest to find the district's best everyday cook.
The quest to find the district's best everyday cook stepped up a notch this week with the semifinals taking place on Tuesday and yesterday.
The competition, being run by the Good Food
Trading Company, saw the pressure racked up for contestants who, up to this week, had been able to cook individually.
On Tuesday the first of the head-to-head semifinals took place between Deb Limmer and Lisa Denyer, with each given the same four core ingredients to work with - a deboned chicken, leeks, pancetta and sherry vinegar.
Deb chose to cut up the chicken to make chicken a la creme with pancetta and sauteed carrots, while Lisa made a Spanish-influenced stuffing, cooked her chicken whole and served it with sauteed leek and a potato rosti stack.
Already good friends, there was nothing more than an amicable rivalry between the two contestants as they prepared their meals in store.
But the thing with a semifinal is, someone has to win, and someone has to come second.
"It ended up being very close with the three in-house judges barely able to split them," says Good Food Trading Co owner Jamie Blennerhassett. In the end only half a point separated the pair which meant the deciding factor became the audience vote.
"In the end Lisa very slightly pipped Deb by scoring an average of 33.7 vs 32.8 for Deb."
The final will be held in the store on May 28.
