Vancouver competitor Rags Narine, co-owner and head chef of Cartems Donuterie, represented Vancouver on a national level by recently competing against 42 fiercely competitive doughnut pros from across North America on Food Network Canada’s new competition show “Donut Showdown”
A shop that just opened over a year ago, Cartems Donuterie offers a wide variety of gourmet doughnut flavours including maker’s bourbon bacon and earl grey.
I had the pleasure of visiting Cartems for an interview with Rags. We chat about his experience on this series, taking the risk of leaving his full-time pastry chef gig to start his very own doughnut shop, his signature recipes (which include vegan and gluten free doughnuts), how Cartem’s differs from any other doughnut shop around, and of course.. I learned to make their delicious doughnuts.
In each episode, they begin with three colourful competitors tasked with creating a batch of doughnuts using three bizarre and unusual secret ingredients.
Hosted by Danny Boome (“The Chew”, “Recipe Rehab”), and judged by David Rocco (“David Rocco’s Amalfi Getaway”), Maggie McKeown (“Recipe to Riches”) and Zane Caplansky (Caplansky’s Delicatessen). The judges will get a taste of each offering, critiquing each doughnut on taste, presentation and creativity. The competitor with the weakest donut will be sent home, and the remaining two competitors must go head-to-head in a final battle to make a large batch of doughnuts based on a theme chosen by the judges.
At the end of each episode just one competitor will taste victory, leaving with a sweet $10,000 prize.
Catch Cartems episode on Tuesday, May 7 at 10:30 p.m, and cheer them along as they not only battle for doughnut superiority, but represent Vancouver’s leading doughnut industry.
Written & Hosted by Felix Kay, a contributor at Vancity Buzz. Stay in touch with Felix on Twitter at @TheFelixKay.
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