The dominant chef

Fri, Jun 26th 2015, 09:19 PM

Chef Sheldon Tracey Sweeting has officials at the Taste of the Caribbean competition in a “pickle”. No other chef, in the history of the cooking competition has dominated a division the way he’s dominated the pastry chef of the year category. He’s won for the past three consecutive years, and that coupled with his 2004 win makes him a four-time Hall of Famer, and has had some countries calling for Sweeting to be barred from competing in the pastry division again.

While he’s uncertain if he will be allowed to compete in the division he’s won four times, and Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association officials saying yesterday that “at this point in time no determination has been made as to whether Chef Sheldon Tracey Sweeting will be able to compete,” if he cannot compete in pastry again, he says he is more than happy to step into his area of expertise.

Unbeknownst to most, Sweeting is not even a pastry chef. He cooks.

“What’s crazy is that I’m not a pastry chef. I’m a chef. I cook,” said Sweeting. “I’ll go back just to show them that I can cook.”

To accomplish what he did in pastry over the years he said meant research, study and formulating new ideas each time.

At this year’s competition, Sweeting took the win with his homemade banana bread, mango Bavarian, coconut sorbet, coconut chips, coconut tapioca pearls, banana rum sauce, caramelized banana and vanilla crunch dish.

He also returned home with a silver medal from the cheesecake competition with his chocolate orange, chocolate meringue Bavarian with lemon sponge, lemon curd ice cream, chocolate pudding cake, cinnamon tuile, tropical sauce, compressed watermelon and orange supreme.

While he’s dominated individually, the one thing that eluded the chef on the many Taste squads that he has been a member of was the Caribbean National Team of the Year title. He really wanted that win. This year he got it. It was the first time The Bahamas had won in the competition’s 16-year history.

“The win for Team Bahamas for Sheldon was the pinnacle,” said Sweeting. “That was a hard win.”

The Bahamian squad took the win over nine other countries — Barbados, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, Suriname and the United States Virgin Islands at the Hyatt Regency in Miami, Florida.

In the competition’s history, Trinidad and Tobago has dominated with five wins (2011, 2009, 2007, 2006 and 2004); Puerto Rico has three wins to its credit (2014, 2012 and 1997); Barbados has two wins (2013 and 2010); while Jamaica (2003); St. Maarten (2005); Bermuda (2000), Curacao (1999) and Aruba (1996) each had one win apiece.

And Sweeting isn’t ashamed to admit that he shed a tear or two when Team Bahamas was declared Caribbean National Team of the Year.

“I was elated. I shed a tear. I’m not ashamed to admit that, because for me it was years and years of hard work competing. For me that win was over the top,” he said.

He recalled feeling overwhelmed.

“People say men don’t cry, but after that hard work, you don’t even be thinking about it — you cry. When Marv [Cunningham] got called first [as the Bartender of the Year] we were so happy for him and then I got called second [for Pastry chef of the Year], and the judges were like, ‘Why aren’t you smiling?’ I wasn’t smiling because that wasn’t the main goal. The overall win was the goal, because we had been close several times and had never won.”

This year, Sweeting said the team’s food was on point.

“When they called us, it validated all the hard work. We were overwhelmed… overjoyed. Overall it was a team effort. Teamwork put us over the top. This group of guys, some of them may not have the name recognition as chefs of other teams I’ve been on, but team-wise, hands down this was the best team,” he said.

The chef says he pretty much executed what he planned to do.

“The dessert for the mystery basket we came up with certain concepts, and from there we were able to plug in or take out anything out of the basket. And that’s how we approached the whole competition. The components on dessert for the mystery basket competition was almost eight or nine; we just wanted to do whatever it took so we could separate ourselves,” he said.

While Sweeting shrugs off compliments regarding his personal accomplishment, he said he enjoyed it to the max.

“People make a big deal out of it, but to me competition is just learning,” he said. “This is years and years of hard work. I love to learn, that’s why I compete. It’s the only way you grow.”

After this team win his appetite for more has been awakened — and he wants more wins not only for himself, but for future national teams, and the knowledge to pass on to those teams, because he says there are certain things that can only be gotten through time and experience.

“You can be in your books all day, but you have to mesh practical and theory, and certain things you can only get through time and experience,” said Sweeting.

The team is already making plans for next year, and celebrated with a team dinner at Lukka Kairi with Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association Executive Vice-president Suzanne Pattusch.

Sweeting’s one disappointment he said is that Team Bahamas did not get its just due as far as accolades.

“It would be good if we got accolades on the national level seeing that tourism is our number one industry. It just seems like no matter how hard you work, you commit and dedicate your life to this profession and tourism, nobody acknowledges us … the athletes get all the acknowledgement. That’s puzzling,” he said. “When you hear about other chefs when they win and what their country does for them, we come home, and we don’t get acknowledged by the government. We won. It’s a big deal,” he said.

He says he competes with the national team first for himself to see where he is and his growth, his family and then country.

Next up for Sweeting will be a trip to Santiago, Cuba, with a delegation of over 300 to the 35th Annual Caribbean Festival, Feast of Fire, July 3-9. They leave on July 1. Sweeting will prepare guava fritters with the same flavor of guava duff, but in a different format, and chicken-in-the-bag with guava sauce.

He also commences preparation to participate in the 2016 Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany.

If he returns to the Taste of the Caribbean, he said he would use the competition to experiment with dishes he would want to put in the Olympics.

“You have to push yourself,” he said. “I try to step out of the box and because you want to see if you measure up to some of the best chefs around the world.”

Cheese Cake Sheldon Sweeting
Delicious cheesecake by talented Bahamian Sheldon Tracey Sweeting

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