Fire in the Triangle: Battle bacon and eggs

The night featured some great dishes and delicious accompaniments. 

Fire in the Triangle 2014 Coverage

Now, let's get to the food!

Each chef had to create three dishes using both secret ingredients. It was a blind tasting, so no diners knew who made what. Here's a rundown of each course, reviews and results. In each round and overall, diners (the Joes) and local media foodies including WRAL Out & About (the Pros) grade the dish on aroma, presentation, creativity and other factors. The scores listed are the final scores for each dish. Scores are out of 40 points.

While the Sriracha sauce was a highlight for several diners, Greg Semposki wasn't a fan, saying that the sweetness "overpowered the bacon."  

Karin Sadivy isn't normally a fan of sweet dressings, but really enjoyed this dish mainly because of the sauce. 

The 2012 Fire in the Triangle and Final Fire champion, Weathervane's Ryan Payne, was a professional judge for the evening. He said the secret ingredients were really present in this dish.

Blogger Jill Warren Lucas was impressed that the team perfectly poached so many eggs for the 100 plus diners. With so many eggs to make, Falcoz-Vigne said that he found himself questioning why he decided to do this particular dish. 

"When I cook the eggs, I say 'Why I do this?'" the French chef said. 

The 518 West team made these English muffins themselves, which garnered a lot of "ooohs and ahhs" among diners. 

This dish scored the highest and remained a talking point throughout the evening. 

The first scallop dish of the night left many diners looking for the secret ingredients. The bacon and the egg got a little lost in the hollandaise sauce. 

Some tables had underdone scallops, while others had ones that were overdone. 

Table six just wanted to have more bacon hollandaise sauce. 

The second of the scallop dishes, Falcoz-Vigne said he had no doubts about using the fish when he heard that it was the only fish in the kitchen pantry besides Mahi-mahi. Since scallops go well with hollandaise sauce he felt it was a great way to showcase the eggs.

Many diners were a fan of this scallop dish more so than its predecessor. 

"The flavors were the best of the two scallop dishes," Payne said. 

The cauliflower and blackberry hollandaise sauce was a highlight. 

"Wow. Just ate cauliflower and loved it," Karin Sadivy Tweeted. 

Greg Semposki liked the polenta cake's crunch but felt the eggs and bacon in this course were "non-existent."

Edible Piedmont's Fred Thompson, a pro judge for the evening, felt the use of hollandaise sauce in courses two and three was a "cheap way of trying to get eggs into the dish." 

Karl VonRoekel said he was not as pleased with the dish because he was hoping to be "slapped in the face by bacon." He got that in the next course. 

Marcey Clark, wife of Carolina Inn chef James Clark, said she knew this dish had to be from her husband. The two attended culinary school together. 

VonRoekel said the dish was bland and the bacon needed salt. 

"Any meal including Cheerwine (love Salisbury, NC) is five stars to me!" diner Kirsten Durling Tweeted. 

The quality of the poached eggs varied from table to table with some getting overcooked eggs and others getting ones that appeared slightly underdone. 

Host and Competition Dining creator Jimmy Crippen said the chefs really took a chance doing poached eggs. Professional judges might notice the skill in it, if done right, while the "Joes" might just see a runny egg. The perception could vary so much that it could hurt the chef's scores. 

"Bacon fat cookie??? Creme Caramel??? Delicious!" Steph Caronna Tweeted. 

Diner Jeff Sloyer was also a fan, calling it the best course so far.

"All around technically hard to execute but came out perfect. You had me at chocolate and bacon," he Tweeted.

Some diners, however, complained about over soggy bacon and runny egg creme. 

Greg Semposki and the majority of his table were fans of the bacon ice cream in this dish. They really enjoyed the sweet and salty mix. 

I wasn't a fan of the chunks of bacon in the ice cream, but I appeared to be in the minority. 

"The best part of course six was the ice cream with bacon," Jeff Sloyer Tweeted. While he said the crispiness of this course was "awesome," he did say that he liked course five better.

Both chefs had competed previously in Fire in the Triangle, but Falcoz-Vigne seemed to be the "breakfast secret ingredient" veteran of the two. He got Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and Joe Van Gogh coffee last year as secret ingredients. 

Falcoz-Vigne said he had originally planned to work with veal but the secret ingredients changed his plans entirely. He theorized that next round he could see butter, flour of milk as secret ingredients. 

Clark said he was stunned to see eggs as the secret ingredient, but "at least there was bacon." He said he was proud of his team and the dishes they served.

Falcoz-Vigne and Team 518 West will compete July 21 against the winner of Wednesday night's battle.