They diced, they sliced, they minced, they chopped, they grilled, they pureed and they sauteed, often all at once.

If there is a lesson to be learned from watching two local top chefs compete against each other in last weekend’s Iron Horse Chef competition, it was this – professional chefs are not like you and me.

While it’s an effort to get grilled fish, corn on the cob, green beans and a salad on the table in my house before deepest night falls, the two competitors prepared a five-course meal for four in an hour. That’s how long it takes me to think about what I want to make for dinner, much less cook it.

El Moro co-owner and executive chef Sean Clark sent out in succession a watermelon, peach, cucumber and feta salad; a ricotta-filled crepe, a cucumber-ginger limeade, a succotash-topped grilled pork loin and sweet corn ice cream.

Ore House chef Cliff Bornheim presented the four judges with a cabbage, okra and tomato salad with crumbled chorizo sausage and Belford cheese, homemade pasta primavera, jagerschnitzel, a cabbage, carrot and tomato slaw with cilantro dressing and a raspberry and basil crème brulee.

Really. In one hour. I’m not kidding. There are witnesses.

Want to know what else separates professional chefs from mere mortal cooks? Layers – complex flavors and ingredients layered one on top of the other. Saturday, no dish went unadorned.

For Clark, it was not enough to make his own ricotta cheese, heating milk slowly, adding fresh lemon, letting it sit in a strainer for precious minutes. He used it to fill airy, on-the-spot crepes, which he folded and placed over a red pepper puree, topped with sauteed vegetables, chorizo, a bit more cheese and some fresh herbs. Count – that’s seven elements in a single dish. And that was an appetizer.

Bornheim was not to be outdone, of course, conjuring an entrée straight from northern Europe. He cut the James Ranch Whey-Good pork cutlet in half, dredged it in flour and lightly sauteed it. Had it been me, I would have called it good right there. But no, he cooked down shredded red cabbage with red wine vinegar, sugar and apple cider into aromatic tenderness, made his own spaetzle noodles to accompany it and crowned the pork with a portobello mushroom cream sauce. Think the Alps on a plate.

Both chefs accomplished all this en plein air at the Durango Farmers Market in front of a crowd with television cameras and reporters 6 inches away. People marveled at them as they pureed sauces and julienned vegetables and cooked cream on one burner while keeping an eye on the grill with the other.

And no one got hurt – no pot exploded, no grill alighted in flames, no 8-inch chef’s knife went flying – a miracle to you and me, but just another day in the life of a professional chef.

Two young men obviously in the restaurant business watched Bornheim as he plated one of his salads.

“There’s no sauce on that,” one said with alarm.

“Oh, I believe there is,” his friend responded with assurance.

The contest morning dawned clear and hot and the chefs were given their orders, per television’s popular “Iron Chef” cooking show. The secret ingredient was the protein, as it often is on TV, this time James Ranch chorizo sausage and the pork loin. (Ground pork was a third option, but neither chef used it.)

Announcers Cody Reinheimer, manager of the Durango Farmers Market, and City Councilor Christina Rinderle gave each $75 to spend at the market to create their dishes, $10 of which they were to use to buy curveball ingredients for their competitor. Clark gifted Bornheim with okra, that Southern delicacy; Bornheim threw Japanese turnips, jalapeños and dill Clark’s way.

The two dove into the market melee with GoPro cameras strapped to their chests and came back with the meals’ treasures – corn, tomatoes, tomatillos, red peppers, cucumbers, potatoes, green beans, carrots, eggs and yellow squash for Clark; red cabbage, shishito peppers, Japanese turnips, carrots, yellow squash, zucchini, onion, tomatoes, Belford cheese and raspberries for Bornheim.

Each chef was also allowed to bring five ingredients with him. Bornheim chose extra-virgin olive oil, hard cider, portobello mushrooms, eggs and herbs, while Clark toted peaches, lemons, almonds, watermelon and feta cheese. He also brought a freezer for the ice cream, while his competitor arrived with an electric pasta maker.

“You’ve only got an hour, and you’ve only got the Farmers Market, and you’ve only got two burners and a grill,” Bornheim said. “I’d say that’s what made it hard.”

To say nothing of the carnival atmosphere surrounding the two chefs as they cooked, with announcers entreating the audience to come closer and exhorting each entourage to shout encouragement. Families and restaurant compatriots for each chef arrived with promotional signs, good cheer and beautiful babies. One El Moro enthusiast stashed his 8-week-old in the shade of the tablecloth covering Clark’s prep table.

The judges, a cheese maker, a restaurant manager, a Farmers Market shopper and a city councilor, were advised on their criteria. They were to rank each dish, allotting up to 20 points for taste and best use of Farmers Market bounty and 15 points each for presentation and creativity.

“Dick, what do you taste?” Christina Rinderle asked her fellow city councilor Dick White, a novice at judging a food contest.

“I’m still eating,” he grumbled.

“It’s weird to be watched eating,” said Sandra Gaviott, the cheese maker, as the audience hung on their every bite.

In the end, Bornheim, who almost didn’t make the contest because he was in the emergency room getting stitches at midnight, edged out Clark by the merest half point.

Back at his table, being consoled by his El Moro and Steamworks partners, Clark jested he was hanging up his cleavers and retiring from the food business.

“Sean Clark, out!” he said, laughing.

One admirer told him he should have won.

“I know,” he said with fake gravity. “There’s no justice.”

On the winner’s side, Bornheim hoisted his 9-month old daughter, Verabella, into his arms and credited his narrow victory to making his own pasta.

“People don’t expect you to make pasta in a tent,” he said.

The baby, unperturbed by the cameras and the crowd, chewed happily on a Farmers Market peach.

phasterok@durangoherald.com