Professional chef whips up 3 chicken dishes at county fair

By Paula J. McGarvey - 08/02/2008

Chef Jim Gray prepares one of three chicken dishes in a food demonstration Friday at the Butte-Silver Bow County Fair in the Butte Civic Center. He returns Saturday to show different ways to cook pork chops.

Chef Jim Gray sautéed chicken and stirred a tasty sauce with Dijon mustard and cream Friday at the Butte-Silver Bow County Fair in the Butte Civic Center.

While people watched, Gray created three dishes: chicken Francaise, chicken Dijon and chicken Parmigiano — in just 15 minutes.

Fair board volunteer Diana Ericson doubled as the chef’s kitchen assistant. She’s the one who invited Gray to the fair.

“Other fairs have cooking demonstrations and I thought we should have one,” she said.

Gray, a chef, caterer, culinary consultant and instructor based in western Montana, gladly agreed to come. He’s also the star of the Montana television show, “Kitchen Guy.” “I think it demystifies it (cooking). If he can do it in 15 minutes, I certainly can do it in 25,” Ericson said.

Gray said that his performance at the Butte fair is the first live cooking demonstration that he had done in Montana.

Throughout his career as a chef, Gray said that people seem to have the same concerns about cooking — mostly about timing and use of spices.

Gray suggests that people purchase a meat thermo-meter to make sure their dish is cooked properly. And keep recipes simple.

“My favorite two spices are salt and pepper,” he said.

Butte’s Keli Fortune and Patty Austin attended the Kitchen Guy’s first demonstration at the fair on Friday. They asked Chef Jim a few questions, and left with copies of several chicken recipes.

“It was awesome. It was nice because they had three different dishes,” Fortune said.

“I just think it’s nice having such a variety at the fair this year,” Austin added.

Paula McGarvey may be reached via e-mail at pjmcgarvey@in-tch.com.

If you go ...

Chef Jim Gray, the “Kitchen Guy,” will give cooking demonstrations at 10:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the county fair in the Butte Civic Center. Gray will prepare pan-seared, glazed pork chops, grilled pork chops with blueberry salsa and pork chops in red wine sauce.

For information about the Kitchen Guy, visit Chef Jim Gray’s Web site at www.kitchenguy.biz.