Saskatchewan born and raised Chef Dale Mackay can be seen on the Emmy nominated Bravo Series Top Chef in it’s 20th season. This season marks the first time in the show’s history that winners are featured in an international contest.
Mackay said bringing his culinary works back to the world stage for Top Chef was an incredible experience.
“It’s the biggest competition I will ever be a part of and I’m honored to be invited to take part.”
Mackay won Top Chef close to 12 years ago – and he says that much has changed in his life since then. “I was a chef in a restaurant and all I thought about was food all day. Now I am more of an entrepreneur, I have a hand in all the food – but I’m not locked to the kitchen. I spend a lot of my days running businesses rather than cooking every day”
The international flavour of the competition
“It’s one thing to compete against people in North America. Everyone can cook a bit of everything. But going against the best of Mexico, the best of Germany, the best of Poland, and Italy – all of these countries from around the world. It’s guaranteed to be super competitive.
Since his win on Top Chef Canada close to 12 years ago, Mackay has opened 5 award winning restaurants in Saskatchewan. Mackay says that while the dishes seen the program don’t necessarily make it onto the menus of his restaurants like Regina’s Avenue and Dojo Ramen – he does use techniques honed on the show.
“Rarely am I given a dish for competition that I have done before, I’ve often done pieces of them. Often I borrow pieces of what’s seen on the show. It’s not often that I redo a complete dish.”
Mackay says he has learned alot from working with chefs on the international stage.
“Seeing products that different chef’s use from different countries is interesting. Products you wouldn’t normally use. Where you might have to research and cook it a bit. Here you have a high level chef standing next to you telling you how to cook it. It’s pretty easy to learn.”
Mackay says in preparation for Top Chef he did as much research as possible, worked on things he hasn’t before, and tried new things. “Competition like this is healthy , it allows you to dive deeper into your craft.”
While Mackay wasn’t able to offer any spoilers for the season – he did have this to say.
“If you’re a fan of food competition, this is going to be the biggest season of any top chef. It’s in London, it’s in Europe. This is the first time they have ever brought winners from around the world together. It’s going to be an epic season.”
Top Chef airs on the BRAVO Network.
