It might have been mid-October, but things were heating up at the French Culinary Institute where nine chefs (five students and four professionals) faced off in a culinary cook-off to crown the winner of the Tenth Annual Foods From Spain "Tapas Coast to Coast" Recipe Contest. New York's top culinary elite—André Soltner, Master Chef & Dean of Classic Studies at the French Culinary Institute, Chef Andy Nusser of Casa Mono and Bar Jamon, Chef Alex Raij of Tía Pol, and Sofia Perez, Editorat- Large at Saveur Magazine—judged the contestants' tapas on taste, originality, simplicity and appearance and effective use of Spanish ingredient, and eliminated the competition until one chef (and one student) remained standing—the winner of the $5,000 grand prize and title of Top Tapas! (Well that last part was my own embellishment, but you get the idea.)

Held for the tenth year in a row, the Foods from Spain Recipe Contest is devoted to promoting the use of Spanish products in cooking. "The goal of the contest is to familiarize students of culinary schools and professional chefs with Spanish ingredients," explained Mercedes Lamamie, Associate Marketing Director of Foods from Spain. To fulfill this goal, the recipe contest rules required contestants to use two or more Spanish ingredients from a list that included cheese or olive oil from Spain, piquillo peppers, saffron from La Mancha, Serrano ham, olives, pimentón, or Sherry wine vinegar. For their efforts, the finalists (both students and professional chefs) were awarded some serious prize money and gifts.

Professionals were awarded $5,000 for first place, $2,500 for second place, $1,500 for third, and $1,000 for fourth place. Students were awarded $1,000 for first prize, $700 for second and $500 for third. All finalists (professionals and students) were given a slew of prizes including cookware from Fagor (www. fagor.com), Simone Ortega's 1080 Recipes (www.ycmedia.com) — Spain's equivalent to the Joy of Cooking— as well as Carmencita saffron (www. carmencita.com), and Spanish products (olive oils, piquillo peppers, pimentón and Sherry vinegars) from Source Atlantique (www.foodimortgroup. com).

This year's contest brought more applicants than any other year, with 200 entries from professional chefs and 146 entries from students from 60 culinary schools across the country. All entries were blind screened by The American Center for Wine Food and The Arts (COPIA) to narrow the field to 20. A second round of judging narrowed the field to 10, and a third round at the Taste of Spain weekend at COPIA from September 22^nd-23^rd narrowed the pool down to four professional and five student finalists. Professional finalists were flown in to New York City for an all expenses paid three-day, two-night trip that included a $500 eating allowance plus a tapas crawl to all the city's best tapas spots—Boquería, El Quinto Pino and Bar Jamón. (While the student finalists were not flown to New York City, their recipes were prepared by the French Culinary Institute staff according their recipes.) And then on Friday morning, October 26^th they came together to battle it out in the kitchen.

The morning got kicked off with judging of the student dishes. The first student tapa to be presented to the panel of judges was a briny dish of Skewered Olives stuffed with Cabrales, Minced Sardines and Piquillo Peppers from Mathew Byrum of the Art Institute of Colorado Denver, followed by a dish of Poached Black Plums with Manchego and Pistachios from Miriam Craft of Pensacola Junior College. Next up was a simple but delicious Manchego and Marcona Almond Crostini with Sherry Vinegar from Paul Insera of the French Culinary Institute. The Piquizos came next—smoky chorizo and Cabrales stuffed piquillo peppers—from a Culinary Institute of America student duet of Jen Fitzsimmons and Emily Marquis. The student competition was closed out by another dish from Culinary Institute of America student Nathan Hirsch, who served a splendid hunk of glossy Roasted Cod with Olive and Piquillo Pepper Relish served over Stewed Chickpeas.

As the last plates were cleared, the judges, seated at a long table facing the open kitchen, quietly took notes on the student's dishes and readied themselves for the next round of dishes from the professional chefs. (This was a day to wear stretchy pants.)

The professional competition began with a dish from Deborah Gelman, a private chef from New York City. She served pictureperfect Fresh Sherry Vinegar Poached Fig garnished with Crispy Jamón Serrano. Next up was an oversized fried tapa—a Fried Oyster and Serrano Stuffed Piquillo Pepper with drizzled Empeltre Olive Salmariglio by chef Paul Morbidelli, the chef of the newly opened Geronimo, a Southwestern restaurant in New Haven, Connecticut. (Unbeknownst to the judges, Paul Morbidelli was also the winner of last year's Foods from Spain recipe contest.) Adam Hegsted, executive chef of Brix in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, served his terrific Spanish take on a panini next—a Marcona Almond-Crusted Jamón and Manchego Cheese Sandwich with Fig Jam. (I wanted to take home a jar of that jam for breakfast the next day.) The final dish of the morning was a Poached Quail Egg and Palacios Hot Chorizo on Crostini—one of my favorites—by chef Whitney Flood, the chef and owner of Bon Melange Catering in Venice, California.

After sampling these dishes, the judges toiled silently, weighing effective use of Spanish ingredients, simplicity, originality, taste, and appearance. After about 15 painstaking minutes, the winners were called out and the awards ceremony began.

In the student category, first place was awarded to Nathan Hirsch, a student at the CIA, Hyde Park, New York, who served the Roasted Cod with an Olive and Piquillo Pepper Relish over Stewed Chickpeas. Second prize went to Jen Fitzsimmons and Emily Marquis, both students at the CIA, for their Piquizos — smoky chorizo and Cabrales stuffed piquillo peppers. And in third place was Paul Inserra, a student at the FCI, for his Manchego and Marcona Almond Crostini.

In the professional category, the fourth prize of $1,000 went to Paul Morbidelli for his Fried Oyster Serrano Stuffed Piquillo Pepper. While this dish packed in many ingredients from Spain, it was the least favorite of the judges, who felt it was a bit too complicated and used too many ingredients. "The oyster dish was not crispy enough," said FCI's André Soltner, who also felt it failed technically.

Third place, a prize award of $1,500, went to Adam Hegsted for his Marcona Almond-Crusted Jamón and Manchego Sandwich with Fig Jam. While the judges liked the flavors of this dish, again they saw its weakness in its excess. "The sandwich was busy," said Saveur's Sophie Perez. "It was a little too much and a little too big." Tia Pol's chef Alex Raij agreed. "The scale was too big, and the fig jam should have been inside the sandwich, not as a condiment on the side."

Second place, an award of $2,500, went to Whitney Flood's Poached Quail Egg and Palacios Hot Chorizo on Crostini. While this tapa took second place, this was Casa Mono chef Andy Nusser's favorite dish. "I loved the quail egg and thought this was the best of the professional dishes," he said. "It was right up my alley. I love the portability of it. While the originality was very low, execution was perfect, and poaching a quail egg in duck fat! Come on, that's brilliant!" He does have a point.

Ultimately, the Grand Prize went to Deborah Gelman's Fresh Sherry Vinegar-Poached Figs with Crispy Serrano Ham. She was awarded an engraved paella pan and $5,000 from Foods from Spain. "There was no question in my mind that this was my favorite," said Chef Soltner. "It was neat, simple and tasty." The other judges agreed. "The hardest thing is to have restraint and not use all these ingredients," said Chef Nusser. "The most refreshing dish we saw was the fig because she only used the two ingredients and she could have stuffed that fig, and she didn't. She held back. That's really hard to do."

But it was not just restraint that led the judges to award Gellman First Prize; it was taste. "When you eat tapas, you want something small that excites your palate," added Saveur’s Perez "I'd want to end my night with that fig."

Gelman, who entered the contest once before without success, beamed at the judges’ praises and explained that the dish was an expression of her love of Spanish ingredients. "I love Jamón Serrano and figs are so sexy in the mouthfeel. I love the combination of fruits and meat," she said. "The sweet-sour of the poaching liquid and the salty crunchy of the jamón is also a nice contrast. I cannot wait to go back to Barcelona."

As the contestants mingled and chatted after the winners were announced, Chef Nusser reflected on the day's events. "I think this is a great event and that it was really positive to use a culinary school like FCI to promote Spanish ingredients and Spain." Perez agreed, and added that credit should be given to chefs like Nusser and Raij for opening people's minds to the wonder of foods from Spain. "This contest really encourages students to venture into new territory," she said. "And it's nice that chefs like Alex and Andy are doing this because they turn people on to the foods of Spain."

Andrea Strong is the author of The Strong Buzz, a daily blog and twice weekly e-zine (www.thestrongbuzz.com) devoted to New York City's food scene. Her writing appears weekly in The New York Post, and has also appeared in New York Magazine and The New York Times. She is co-author of Sparks in The Kitchen, with Katy Sparks (Knopf 2006) and has appeared on Bravo's Top Chef, PBS’s Diary of a Foodie, and Food Network's Heavyweights.