The Culinary Institute shone brightly at the recent Canadian Chef Tournament when Chef Craig Youdale won gold.

Youdale, who has worked at the Institute for five years, flew up to the national competition in late August not really expecting to walk away the winner.

"Things just went right for me that day," Youdale said. "It's like any profession."

He participated in the three-day hot-cooking competition in late August, representing P.E.I. It was the first time he had ever competed by himself at that level.

"It gives you a good feeling," Youdale said of his win.

It was held at Expo Quebec in a room capable of seating 600 people. The chefs competed on a stage in front of the crowd with an emcee on stage for entertainement. There were always cameras on their hands while they were cooking, putting the image up on TV screens so the audience could watch them.

"It was on a stage that was like a music concert," Youdale explained.

Two chefs would get up at a time and cook on the stage with their provincial flag set up next to them.

"It was very professional."

He and the 11 other competitors took part in what is called black box competition.

That means there are no rules as to what they can make except that their ingredients are shown to them just at the beginning of their allotted time. Each chef has two minutes to decide what they're making after seeing their six ingredients. Everyone is given 30 minutes to make a meal.

"And you had to announce what you're making to the crowd," Youdale said of the two minutes in which he had to decide.

Youdale added there was a stopwatch counting down the time and the final plate with the meal taken away at the end of the thirty minutes whether it was done or not.

On his first tray he had a carrot, a green pepper, some barley, an apple, some beef tenderloin and some rye whiskey. With it he made toasted barley risotto with julienne carrots and peppers and an apple whiskey sauce.

The chefs were graded on presentation, how they worked, time management and the meal's level of difficulty to prepare. They had to make the meal twice over the three days and were scored each time by two world-certified judges. Each judge gave a score out of 100 so at the end of the tournament each chef had a score out of 400.

For his second attempt Youdale was given fresh bass, broccoli, bean sprouts, red pepper, potato and white wine. With those ingrediants he whipped up braised bass in a white wine sauce, stir-fry veggies and potatoes with three sauces.

Given the level of the competition and the crowds that were in front of him, Youdale said he was unbelievably nervous beforehand.

"I don't think there's anything I've done in my life that made me as nervous."

The only thing that might have compared he said was maybe the first time he taught.

"That's what it was like."

Youdale said he found some comfort from his competitors who were very supportive.

"No one wants anyone to do badly."

He had some support before he left from fellow chef and Culinary Arts instructor Tim McRoberts who competed last year and finished third. Before Youdale left, McRoberts helped him practice for the competition and gave him some useful information.

"That was a huge help," Youdale said.

The invitation for this year's competition went out to McRoberts, but at his request someone else went.

Cooking is something of an instinct for Youdale. He explained that he's cooked since he was a teenager but really didn't discover his passion for it until after he had graduated from Carleton with a bio-chemistry degree. "I've always cooked, since I was 14 years old," Youdale said.

His university degree was just to pay the bills, he said so he enrolled in a two-year culinary program similar to the on the Culinary Institute offers. About a month or so into the course Youdale was hooked.

When he was offered the position with the Institute he said it was like a dream come true since he really wanted to be a teacher.

"Professionally, the most exciting day of my life was the day I found out I had this job."

Surprisingly, Youdale said he sees skills he's obtained in a chemistry lab being of use in the kitchen. Many of the thought patterns are the same and that time management, has the same value in both places, he explained.

"In a lot of ways they're the same," Youdale said.

He said he hopes that when students have a chance to view the tape they'll use it as a training tool and think about how much they could get done in 28 minutes and how much farther they have to go professionally. He described it as a litmus test for the students to see where they want to go.

Youdale explained most of all he feels fortunate just to have had the opportunity to compete.

"It gives me a sort of personal credibility, testing myself," Youdale said. "I feel lucky to have the chance to do it."