The winning dish, courtesy of Sadia Henry. The smoked salmon and cream cheese omelette is garnished with slices of cucumber and cantaloupe.

Break an egg and make an 'egg-cellent' omelette was the only instruction needed by finalists of The Gleaner/National Egg Farmers Association (NEFA)-sponsored 'Eggs are Egg-cellent' competition last Wednesday. But only one omelette could be deemed the best and it was that of 26-year-old caterer, Sadia Henry.

Henry edged out the other three finalists with her smoked salmon and cream cheese omelette, which she said was inspired by her love for salmon.

The four finalists, Pat Hyatt, Sadia Henry, Sharon Edwards and Michael Royes, were selected to participate in the cook-off based on their creative recipes submitted to The Gleaner in October, which was observed as National Egg Month. They were each given 20 minutes to prepare their omelettes and were judged on presentation, taste, texture/moistness and the 'want-more' factor. Taste and texture carried the largest weight with maximum points of 30 each.

Top score - 83

Sadia Henry goes through the paces. - photos by Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

After taking turns in the kitchen, contestants had to dish out a serving of their omelette for the judges. At the end of the process, Henry got the top prize with a score of 83. She was followed by Sharon Edwards with a callaloo cheese omelette. Michael Royce and Pat Hyatt prepared a fluffy ackee omelette and ole Jamaican omelette respectively, but Royce was given the edge.

The top three got cheques valued at $40,000 $25,000 and $15,000 along with two trays of eggs. Hyatt received a consolation prize of two trays.

The competition, which took place at Little-White and Associates on Braemar Avenue in St Andrew, was part of the celebrations for National Egg Month. Activities for the month were funded by the Private Sector Development Programme (PSDP), a joint initiative of the European Union and the Government of Jamaica.

Judges

The judges were; Dr Heather Little-White, Joy Hall, a PSDP representative and Sheryl McLeod from the Egg Industry Cluster.

Henry, who also won the seafood contest at this year's Little Ochie Seafood Carnival, said she felt relieved and has definite plans for the cash prize. "I want to study culinary arts in Canada next year, so I will be using the money to put towards my school fee. I love catering and I don't see myself doing anything else", she said. The recipes were published in last week Thursday's Food section of The Gleaner.

latoya.grindley@gleanerjm.com

Michael Royes is ready to show off his omelette to the judges.

Pat Hyatt proudly holds her ole Jamaican omelette just before the judging.