Northern Ontario cooking phenom to represent Canada at World Food Championships

Chris Mask says his love of cooking started when he began "playing" with recipes in his off-hours as paramedic and firefighter.

The results were so tasty, that he ended up as a candidate for Master Chef. From there, Mask says, his interest "blossomed."

He's become such a pro in the kitchen that he has earned a spot representing Canada in the World Food Championships, in Dallas, Texas.

The recipe that earned him the spot in the big competition involved bacon.

"What I did for the recipe submission was a braised pork belly and I had a tamarind broth with that some braised fennel, some pears and a little crispy fennel front on top of it," Mask told CBC's Up North.

"It looked really good."

The competition pits cooks against each other, judged by a panel of tasters based on the appearance, taste and execution of the work. The judges will give a score out of ten for each criterion, 1 being inedible, 10 being excellent.  

Last year's event brought together over 1500 contestants, the organization's web site said.

But there's no time to sit back to admire the handiwork. Mask said there's plenty of pressure for cooks when prepping the meals.

"For World Food championships you have one hour to hammer out your first recipe," Mask said. "And then as soon as you're done that and that's submitted, recipe number two is starting."

"You yourself you know you can feel the pressure," he added. "Unfortunately in these situations there's very little wiggle room because the recipes you submit you have to stick to those two recipes. That's what you're expected to be judged on."

As for his choice of ingredients, besides the bacon, Mask says northern Ontario suppliers help give his culinary work a little edge.

"We've got a great farmer's market here in Sudbury and you can get a lot of locally sourced meats," he said. "I just actually picked up a pack of ground alpaca. I haven't cooked with it before. So might as well try."

"There's there's a pretty vibrant community here in Sudbury in terms of the farmers and the growers and the producers that do exist out there," he said. "Like there's a bison farm here in Northern Ontario -- there's actually a couple of them -- that very few people know about. And there's even a local shrimp farm. "

"It's really a shame that it's not more well promoted. I don't think a lot of people would be familiar with that or be aware that that exists."