ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Chef Ryan Lukow unseated reigning champion Chef Courtney Davenport on Sunday to win the Allentown Fair’s annual Iron Chef cooking competition.
Lukow, who works as the sous chef of Savory Grille in Hereford Township, Berks County, blocked a three-peat for Davenport, executive sous chef at The Shelby in Lower Macungie Township, who won the contest in 2022 and 2023.
Sharing a temporary kitchen-slash-stage erected within the Allentown Agri-Plex, the finalists were tasked with improvising two dishes in one hour, incorporating an eclectic basket of surprise ingredients.
Between the two entries, each chef had to include buttermilk pancake mix, pumpkin pie flavored milk, acorn squash, canned quail eggs in water, bok choy, salmon, chocolate covered raisins, pork belly, sugar cane, pumpkin puree, pepper relish and clams.
“The taste of the food is always the most important,” but is not the only thing judges evaluate, said Susan Roth, a judge in Sunday’s contest and an eight-time winner herself. “We’re looking for plate presentation, technique… and that they stay cool under pressure.”
In the final round, Lukow turned in a Thai-influenced coconut seafood broth with clams, bok choy and a “pickled” quail egg. For his second dish, he made pumpkin spice cake with salted caramel apple glaze.
“We’re looking for plate presentation, technique … and that they stay cool under pressure.”Susan Roth, one of the judges
Davenport prepared his take on ramen with pork belly, salmon, clams and shrimp, plus a sweet and savory pumpkin and preserves dish.
After announcing the winner, judges said it was a tough decision. Lukow set himself apart with an innovative use of the provided ingredients and strong technique, they said, while Davenport fell just a bit short with the presentation of his ramen dish.
“Chef Ryan, all the way through – even looking back at Friday, yesterday and today in this competition – he was very innovative in the way he used the ingredients in the basket and came up with creative and original ways to use those items,” Roth said.
To appear in Sunday’s final, Lukow had to first best three other Lehigh Valley chefs.
In the semifinal earlier Sunday afternoon, he faced Esteban Morales, director of dining services for Fountain View at Logan Square, a luxury retirement community in Philadelphia.
Lukow won the right to face Davenport by making a Spanish-influenced variation on tamales with with a jicama and dragonfruit salsa.
“It was a tough competition, with a lot of camaraderie between all of us. We all know each other from ether working together, or we were friends to begin with,” said Lukow. “It’s just great to compete with such tough competition.”
For his part, Davenport said Sunday that he’ll be back next year to try and reclaim his crown.
