It's food, Jim, but not as we know it
The Ready, Steady, Chuck! Challenge Trophy - The Golden Bowl
Awarded to the Ready, Steady, Chuck! Champion at the Ready, Steady, Chuck! Challenge in Bangor, the Golden Bowl is the highest accolade a Ready, Steady, Chuck! Chef aspires to. The unique design of the Golden Bowl symbolises the principal themes of all random fusion food competitions - the artist's struggle with the medium, the concept of ultimate fusion of all ingredients, the sense of urgency experienced by competitors, and the satisfaction of a job well done.
The winners of the Golden Bowl at each year's Challenge are listed on our Competitions Page.
The Ready, Steady, Chuck! Special Achievement Award
The Special Achievement Award is given by mutual consent of all participants to the chef whose creation best expresses the qualities Most Disgusting Ingredient, Most Revolting Combination and/or Most Persistent After-Effect (see below). It has been awarded at each Challenge ever since the Banana Baby Porridge incident of 2002, and, in one exceptional case, was awarded posthumously.
Most Disgusting Ingredient
To achieve the standard necessary for this, an ingredient must exhibit a sense of disgust such that not only does it taste, smell or feel bad, it must imbue those in its immediate vicinity with a sense of aversion, abhorrence or loathing sufficient to raise the bile in their throats. A particularly good example of this is Miracle Whip.
Most Revolting Combination
To achieve this standard, ingredients which may or may not have any particularly disgusting qualities alone must be presented or prepared together in such a way that when in combination, they confer upon those experiencing the dish an unexpected level of discomfort, revulsion, shock or nausea, either through smell, appearance or taste. The combination of fresh grapefruit and cheese and onion crisps is a good example of the sort of thing the judges are looking for here.
Most Persistent After-Effect
Admittedly, this is a more subjective criterion. After-effects are influenced by many factors beyond the control of individual chefs, such as the effects tasting many different Ready, Steady, Chuck! dishes in a relatively short time span, or associated alcohol consumption (which commonly occurs during the Challenge, if only to take the taste away). However, certain dishes have been known to achieve significant long-term influences on participants and due credit is therefore awarded in such cases as appropriate.
Previous Winners of the Special Achievement Award include:
- 2002 - Melo-Banana Compote with Savoury Vegetable Parcels. It was primarily the instruction for best results prepare with breast milk that contributed strongly to this dish achieving the overall standard required for Most Revolting Combination. The uncompromising determination showed by Chef Al, demonstrated in the finished product, combined with the inedibility of the food, silenced any possible opposition.
- 2004? - Deep-Fried Cabbage in Margarine was posthumously given a Special Achievement Award in 2008 when it was suggested that Chef Andrew had, during the 2004 event, actually produced two separate dishes within the time available. This particularly horrifying one was, disappointingly, not taken to completion by the chef at the time. In honour of this creation, and to preserve it for posterity, it has been given the accolade and we have reconstructed the recipe within these pages based on what can be remembered of the occasion.
- 2005 - Choc Ice and Potato Salad Surprise. The unexpected properties of Miracle Whip, the dominant ingredient of this dish, resulted in an undisputed Special Achievement Award for Chef Andy by achieving the necessary standard in all three categories, most particularly in setting a Ready, Steady, Chuck! Challenge record for Most Persistent After-Effect of five days.
- 2006 - Italo-Irish Shandy Floater Stew. Chef Bruce's ambitious creation exemplified all the key qualities of the Special Achievement Award, as can be clearly seen in A Walk Through The Ready, Steady, Chuck! Challenge. This series of images conclusively demonstrates the absence of any practical need for this dish to have been sullied by eating on its journey from plate to lavatory.
- 2009 - Chef Kath. In an unprecedented change of precedent, Chef Kath was personally awarded the Special Achievement Award for failing to remember to use all of her ingredients when creating Fudge Fishken with a Citrus Crust - an omission which cost her the 2009 Championship. A finger of fudge is just enough to get you disqualified.