Eighth grade students in the Chef Club mixed food with fun at their mock Iron Chef competition on Tuesday, Dec. 8, at Schalmont Middle School in Rotterdam.
Students, advised by Diane Babin, worked to put the event together: picking the meals, the teams and the secret ingredient of garlic, working to make the event go off without a problem.
The four teams of two cooks each worked during lunch and their resource period to prepare, cook, and finalize their chosen dish for teacher and staff judges afterschool.
`Just putting it all together, it was time consuming, but it was fun,` said Lauren Chrysler who, with the help of Corin Noga, created Linguini with garlic and broccoli.
`I think we just like cooking and want to learn more about it and become better chefs,` said Elayna Johnson, whose partners Yelena Nichols and Skylark Wood created a rustica pasta dish for the event. `She [Mrs. Babin] really inspired us to make everything top notch.`
`It’s just a passion you know?` said Dominic Toma. `Both of our dads are great cooks. When you can’t go outside you can stay in and cook instead of playing video games. There’s so much you can do with it.` With the help of Jordan Vanosky, Toma also created linguine with broccoli for the judges to sample.
The four groups created a wide range of dishes, with two groups creating Linguini-based dishes with broccoli and garlic, customizing both of their creations to their own specifications, to tortellini with fresh vegetables and the garlic-infused rustica. Each dish was prepared far in advance during the day and allowed for students to put on the finishing touches at the event in front of judges and teachers.
`I never took cooking in high school or middle school and I wish I had,` said Schalmont Middle School Guidance Secretary Kathy Carney, who alongside English teacher John George and Mathematics teacher Fran Jackson, acted as judges for the event. Judges were asked to rate the food on a numeric scale, taking into account taste, presentation and other values to award a winner.
`This is a wonderful opportunity for the kids thanks to Mrs. Babin,` said Jackson. `Every dish was wonderful.`
`It was wonderful. It showed how much kids at this age can do,` said George.
`It was exciting,` said Schalmont Superintendent Dr. Valerie Kelsey, `I’m very impressed in what the kids could do, all four dishes were excellent.`
In the end, there could only be one winner, and first place went to Toma and Vanosky for their linguini and broccoli dish, which beat out Noga and Chrysler’s linguini combination for top prize, with the rustica taking third and tortellini with fresh vegetables taking fourth.
`The competition was great,` said Toma who said that he and his teammate’s heart’s stopped when he first heard the other team’s linguini announced but was relieved when he and Vanosky won the competition.
`I liked everyone’s [dishes], everyone’s were great,` said Vanosky.
Each team won a candy cane for their accomplishments that day, with third through first also being presented a ribbon. The top chefs were also given garlic pasta sauce for their accomplishments.
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