DALLAS, Texas, Jan. 24, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — For most cooks, climbing the ranks in Food Sport can take years. But for one Minnesota Food Champ, it only took two appearances to claim a Category Championship title at the World Food Championships (WFC). As the newest World Invitational Steak Champion, Ryan Hegland’s $10,000 award-winning steak earned him a seat at the $100,000 Final Table Challenge this May.The self-taught cook’s love for culinary was first sparked by watching his mother and grandmother working in the kitchen growing up. However, his culinary passion did not fully come to fruition until Hegland embarked on a journey to learn how to make his own sausage. “Through the process of making the sausages, I bought my first smoker,” said Hegland. “As anyone who owns a smoker will tell you, once you start, you can’t stop.”From there, Hegland began cooking traditional barbecue meats and, eventually, formed his competitive team, Marburg Brothers BBQ. His team has been competing in the Kansas City Barbecue Society circuit for seven years. In 2016, Hegland made the transition to break away from just barbecue tournaments and started cooking in steak competitions, specifically through the Steak Cookoff Association (SCA).“I cooked in my first SCA contest, thinking I knew how to cook a good steak. After finishing at the very tail end [of the competition], I took a year off. [During that time] I attended the judging class and studied other techniques to become more competitive,” explained Hegland.After taking time off to perfect his craft, Hegland won a steak contest that qualified him for his first WFC appearance. His first impression of Food Sport was thrilling and inspired him to continue improving his cooking skills.“My first year competing at WFC was in 2018 at Orange Beach, Alabama. It was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot. I didn’t do as well as I had hoped, but as soon as it was over, we started practicing and preparing for the 2019 contest,” recalls Hegland.At the 2019 Main Event this past October in Dallas, Hegland proved that practice makes perfect. He managed to wow both the SCA sanctioning and E.A.T.
World Food Championships
8657124186
Keela@mmacreative.com
Wall St Business News, Latest and Up-to-date Business Stories from Newsmakers of Tomorrow