Calling all professional foodservice chefs and culinary students! This is your chance to develop creative dishes using California’s #1 cheese product – Mozzarella – for your shot at a share of $20,000 in prize money. Enter your recipe concept in the Mozzarella or Fresh Mozzarella category, or create one for each. Eight finalists will receive $2,000 a piece, and each category winner will take home an additional $2,000 for making Mozzarella the MVP of their dish.
Sponsored by the California Milk Advisory Board, The “Great Mozzarella Showdown Recipe Contest” is a search to capture the ongoing popularity of Mozzarella and how it can be used in innovative dishes. The goal is to showcase Mozzarella in different appetizers and handheld items, excluding entrées and pizzas.
Chefs are asked to submit a “recipe concept” as part of the entry requirements. Each participant will create their dish, take photographs and explain their concept to include details about the key dairy ingredients. The entry submission period is January 8 – February 16, 2024 11:59pm.
Participants will be competing for $20,000 in prize money. The eight finalists selected from the initial recipe submissions will each receive $2,000. These eight Mozzarella-centric recipes will then be evaluated by panel of judges with the winning dish (and chef) receiving an additional $2,000 for a grand total of a $4,000 awarded to the Category Champions.
A recipe featuring Fresh Mozzarella as the key ingredient. Variations of Mozzarella, such as Burrata and Stracciatella, are acceptable for use. Because pizza and entrées have been the focus of previous contests, we are encouraging chefs to develop creative uses of Mozzarella in other dayparts and cuisine types, such as appetizers, handheld items, flatbreads, salads, etc.
Note: no pizza or entree recipes will be accepted.
A recipe featuring Mozzarella as the key ingredient. Because pizza and entrées have been the focus of previous contests, we are encouraging chefs to develop creative uses of Mozzarella in other dayparts and cuisine types, such as appetizers, handheld items, flatbreads, salads, etc.
Note: no pizza or entrées recipes will be accepted.
For a list of the more than 250 varieties and style of Real California Cheese and the approved brands that produce them, please refer to the California Cheesemaker list.
