"The no tac category is the most difficult to score"

Mavy Jaichenco, a chef from Lago Puelo (Chubut/Argentina), is one of the 29 judges at the Argentine Pizza and Empanada Championship, and the Pan-American Pizza Championship. In her fifth tournament as judge of the gastronomic tournaments, Mavy tells us about her experience in this type of competition, the extravagant tastes of the participants and the relevance that the no tc pizzas are having.

Mavy in the competitions that take place in Costa Salguero. (Photo: Mariano Pisani)

Mariano: How does it feel to be a judge for the fifth time in a tournament as important as these?

Mavy Jaichenco: Happy, honored because there is a lot of work, both from APYCE and from the participants, and I always have the honor to be invited again. I had a great time because they treat you spectacularly well and it's a show.

M: As a juror, what was the strangest thing you saw in these five years?

MJ: In the last championship, which was two years ago before the pandemic, the strangest thing was an alligator empanada. I had never tried it. That was the weirdest thing and surprisingly I loved it. It was very well done. He was a pizza maker from Mesopotamia. I loved.

M: How do you see the participants in the tournament? Are they under a lot of pressure or are they relaxed?

MJ: They come half nervous, poor thing. The truth is that I understand them and respect them a lot because you have to be there. There are participants who come directly from work and none stop working. There are some who, if you start chatting, tell you "I came from the pizzeria. Yesterday I worked all day, I came here without sleeping and today I'm here." There are people who come from Campana and they come from the whole week of working, and they arrive between tired and nervous. They come very happy because it's good to demonstrate the pizza. Pizza is the most consumed food in the world. I bank them a lot. And this year is awesome. Year after year it was changing and improving.

M: Was there any innovation of a chef that you have seen and rated?

MJ: What we saw that encouraged more people to participate. They are not only pizza chefs who work in pizzerias, but also some cooks who dared and came preparing. It's been around for years, but this year the theme of gluten-free pizza came out stronger, which is very good, and some toppings (ingredients that are put on top of the pizza, like pepperoni). Until now they brought figs to a participant from Turkey and olives that a cook brought from his olive tree and let them ripen on the tree. It has another flavor and I did not know it.

M: Now gluten-free pizzas are experiencing innovation. How does it feel to rate this type of pizza that now has a boom in the gastronomic world?

MJ: APYCE, what's good about it, is that they give you a regulation telling you what things you have to take into account to rate the different types of pizza, for example the Neapolitan without tac. This one, what is good about it, is that they were encouraged to use more mixtures of their own flours. They don't use the purchased sin tac, they make it. They put almond flour, buckwheat, putting together percentages. They are very good. It is not the classic one with common flour because they do not have gluten. I found very good. Apart from being an innovation, it is also an approach to people who choose to eat without tacc or cannot eat with tacc. Sounds like an alternative to me. It's not the jerk. A very well achieved pizza dough, that seemed spectacular to me.

M: Has it ever happened to you that a participant has made a pizza that is more heavy than the normal ones?

MJ: Somebody can go through there. Not generally. I always say: "You have to take into account how to rate a pizza." That is why APYCE teaches you and guides you how to do it. Some clues to know how to rate that one in particular. For example, the mold, the floor, whether or not it has the ingredients. Obviously if it's raw, it's raw. That cannot be changed. But then if you like it or not, it's the topping. Then you score the dough, the topping. This year we have six categories to score per pizza category, such as taste, cooking, technique and dough. We try to be as fair as we can. They are flavors. That is very sensitive, but we try.

M: What is the most difficult category to score in this championship?

MJ: I think the most difficult is the no tac. I think so because for us it is still a new flavor. Like it's pizza and, in some, it's pizza and it's not pizza. I think that this is the most complicated for our palate. But, little by little, we understand.