The winning dish in the provincial Young Chef Culinary Challenge hosted by Saskatchewan Polytechnic was a sous-vide and pan seared chicken breast, with a black garlic and mustard seed gremolatta, confit yam bars with toasted hemp seeds and flowers and a corn foam tart.
MaKenna Rai is now heading to the nationals in Edmonton in May.
She is a Sask Poly Culinary Arts graduate.
The young chef says she practiced for about a month for the provincial competition, figuring out what her dish would be and then making and presenting it five days a week.
Rai says she isn’t feeling nervous yet about the nationals.
She competed last year and came in second, so she hopes that will give her an edge, knowing what to expect.
This competition is from the Canadian Culinary Federation, a not-for-profit organization that unites chefs and cooks in the dedication to professional excellence.

L to R: 3rd place, Josef McKay, 1st place Makenna Rai, 2nd place Pacey Jones