Greenville chefs Victoria Moore and Teryi Youngblood beat back their challengers in the Euphoria Culinary Cook-Off for the second year in a row.

The Upcountry's Home Team of Moore, chef of the Lazy Goat, and Youngblood, pastry chef of Soby’s, faced off with the Away Team of chefs Whitney Miller and Daryl Shular. 

In 60 minutes, with four mystery ingredients, each team had to create two dishes – one sweet and one savory. The ingredients were monkfish, chorizo sausage, chai tea and honey.

Despite Miller and Shular’s impressive credentials – she’s the first Fox Masterchef winner and he’s a member of the International Culinary Olympic Team 2012 – reigning champs Moore and Youngblood held on to their title.

Last year, Moore and Youngblood defeated Chef Andre Jones of The Green Room in Greenville and Chef Michael Kramer of the Tasting Room Wine Café in Houston in a 45-minute contest.

In an earlier competition, “The NOLA smackdown,” Chef Heidi Trull of Grits and Groceries and her partner, Haley Bitterman, corporate executive chef for the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group in New Orleans, were declared winners over Shun Li and Drew Dzejak, pastry chef and executive chef, respectively, of the Grill Room of the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans. 

Trull grew up near Sumter but worked as a chef in New Orleans for a number of years before she and her husband, Joe moved to Belton to open Grits and Groceries. Both worked at Emeril Lagasse’s Nola.