The North Country Union Junior High Sizzling Falcons prepare servings of their Vermont vegetable frittata during Saturday's Junior Iron Chef competition in Essex Junction. Pictured above, from left to right, in the front row are: Jordan Howell, Zoe Lucas and Kristina Lemieux. In the back row: Brian Bilodeau and Brianna Hawksworth. Not pictured is Tristan Slicer. Photos by Richard Creaser
ESSEX — By anyone's accounting the task before the Junior Iron Chefs was daunting: Awaken before the sun, travel halfway across the state and then create a dish that makes vegetables appealing to children. While it sounds like a task of Herculean proportions, teams from four local schools chose to undertake it.
All of that was just part of the challenge for participants in the Vermont Food Education Every Day (VTFEED)-sponsored Third Annual Junior Iron Chef competition at the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds in Essex Junction on Saturday.
New to this year's competition were two teams of middle schoolers from Craftsbury Academy and a team from North Country Union Junior High School. Returning for encore performances were Bonneau's Bunch representing the Troy Elementary school and the Flour Rangers battling on behalf of Lake Region Union High School.
Unlike the television series for which the competition is named (though there are no affiliations beyond the name event organizers pointed out), the competitors are aware of the ingredients that are available for the day’s battle. Individually uninspiring, the ingredients were whipped, fried, stirred and molded into delectable creations in a mere 90 minutes time.
Transforming a rutabaga or plain cornmeal into something appetizing is no job for the weak-hearted. Add in a few of the contest rules and that
Jeremiah Lasher of the Craftsbury Academy Carnivorous Vegans plates the team's fritters in the dying minutes of the Junior Iron Chef competition. The team's presentation was top-notch with tastefully arranged apple slices and cream adorning the golden brown fritters.
task grows ever more daunting. Any aspiring chef can transform pedestrian carrots into something delectable by wrapping them in a slice of bacon. But what do you do when the proteins allowed amount to eggs, beans and tofu?
"If you want vegetables to taste good, you have to get the juices out," said Lily Dunbar of Craftsbury Academy's Squash Squishers team. "If you get the water out, you end up with a lot of flavor."
The Squash Squishers tackled adversity right from the start. When they arrived at the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds they discovered that they would not be permitted to use the propane tank and cooker they had brought along. Instead they were forced to send a team advisor to the hardware store to pick up a pair of gas powered hibachis.
Kestrel Owens struggled to attain the proper temperature for his polenta. He stirred vigorously as teammate Olivia Jones carefully added more cornmeal to the mixture. The importance of the polenta could not be understated. It was to form the crust of the team's South of the (Canadian) Border Pizza.
"I'm trying to thicken up the polenta which isn't working as well as it was yesterday," he said, a note of despondency detectable in his voice. "We usually have a bigger stove with more heat. They wouldn't let us bring it in."
As a newcomer to the event, Mr. Owens was unaware of the rolling blackouts that plagued last year's competition. The sheer volume of crockpots, electric griddles, stand mixers and food processors proved too much for the Blue Ribbon Hall's electrical system. Every few minutes a cry of dismay would arise from the assembled teams as yet another circuit blew and someone else lost power. The move to gas seemed a prudent choice by the event's organizers.
Over at the Sizzlin' Falcons cooking station the team worked diligently on its Vermont vegetable frittata. The Falcons definitely received points for personal style. Jordan Howell rocked her shades even as the team executed first one and then a second successful frittata flip.
"They've really been practicing the flip," the Falcons’ team coach Emily Mehr said. "To see both flips turn out is pretty exciting for them."
Indeed the flipping prompted a celebration the likes of which maybe hasn’t been seen since the Boston Red Sox "reversed the curse." There was much hooting and hollering and slapping of hands on a flip well done.
With nary an oven in sight Craftsbury Academy's Squash Squishers South of the (Canadian) Border Pizza presents a delicious use of in-season produce. The low heat from their improvised cooking apparatus prevented the dish from turning out as it had in previous trial runs but still presented a beautiful and tasty dish all the same.
The frittata recipe in use was one carefully cultivated over the past few months. The team undertook a series of taste-testing to ensure that not only was the food palatable to their peers, a key component of the overall competition, but also would garner the group as many style points as possible. Falcon Brian Bilodeau expressed well-placed confidence in his team's product.
"It's going to win because it's made by us, the Sizzling Falcons!" he said. "I'm pretty sure we're the only ones doing a frittata. I've seen a lot of burritos going out for other teams."
The group had experimented with a number of vegetable combinations, some with mixed success, Mr. Bilodeau said.
"We tried some with beets but it turned everything red," he said. "We liked this recipe because the texture was a lot finer."
Back at the Craftsbury station the Carnivorous Vegans turned out a dish that appeared to maximize both kid appeal and presentation. The fritters were crunchy and golden brown, topped with fresh cream and sliced apples. The level of care applied to the presentation was best exemplified by culinary master-in-waiting Jeremiah Lasher as he applied the finishing touches to the team's creation.
At the Squash Squishers table, the team grappled with its next major obstacle. The inability to get the right temperature on the polenta left the
Craftsbury Academy's Kestrel Owens (left) and Olivia Jones grapple with the task of preparing the polenta base for the Squash Squishers' South of the (Canadian) Border Pizza at the Junior Iron Chef competition at the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds on Saturday morning.
crust of their pizza softer than what they had expected.
"Why did this have to happen to us?" Mr. Owens declared in exasperation.
Using a mold, the team was able to extract portions of their pizza with minimal grief. Despite a slightly undercooked base, the pizza turned out wonderfully. Piled high with a combination of winter squash "sauce", slices of Cabot cheddar, black beans and shredded carrot, it was a thing of beauty.
Though the local teams did not place in any of the prize categories the experience was in itself a reward.
"Rather than just learning how to cook it was also a team-building kind of activity," coach Allison Van Akkeren said. "It's about learning how to work together on a project. It's about delegating tasks and working together to make something new."
The premise behind the competition is also one that coincides with efforts by local schools to increase awareness of healthy eating, said Josée Brandstetter, the NCUJHS school nurse and a team advisor for the Sizzling Falcons. In addition to its farm-to-school program, the junior high has implemented a healthy snack period into the students' day. The snacks vary from day to day and include a selection of fruits and vegetables that might seem more exotic than the traditional fare many students are exposed to.
"When we first started with the snack we included a bit of salt or ranch dressing to go with the veggie sticks," Ms. Brandstetter said. "Now the students are excited about seeing what the snack is going to be, and more kids are trying it without the dressing."
With the start of the Junior Iron Chef high school competition under way, the Lake Region Flour Rangers launched into action to prepare their dish Eggs Orleans. Pictured from left to right are: Kris Viens, Samantha Bogar and Remi Kinney. Not pictured are Hannah Glodgett and Victoria Perkins.
Timing is everything in the snack program, she said. Presented mid-morning the foods are coming out at a time without competition from other sometimes less healthy choices.
"It's not about forcing anyone to eat something they don't want to eat," Ms. Brandstetter said. "It's about the exposure to different, healthier food choices. Raw turnip or raw beets don't have to taste bad."
As much as the Junior Iron Chef competition is about showcasing local foods and healthy eating, it is equally about engaging students and their community. If not for the aid of Anna Schulz, Craftsbury Academy's local foods coordinator, the Craftsbury students may never have attended the competition, Ms. Van Akkeren said.
"There's been interest in this competition for a few years, but we'd never had someone willing to step up and lead a team," she said. "Anna stepped up and we set up this team just to do Junior Iron Chef. What we've learned here is something we hope we can introduce to the lunch program."
That too is one of the critical criteria of the competition. Not only must the students prepare a dish using local ingredients and create food that’s appealing to their peers but also the final product must be replicable in the school's lunch program.
Guided by the students and assisted by their mentors, each of the teams produced a dish that can and should grace their lunch menus in the weeks and years to come. Everything else is just cheddar on the pizza pie.
Representing the Craftsbury Academy Carnivorous Vegans were: Raleigh Chauvin, Jeremiah Lasher, Taylor Phelps and Melanie Sergiev. The Craftsbury Academy Squash Squishers were: Lily Dunbar, Olivia Jones, Mael Lescouezec. Troy Elementary's Bonneau's Bunch were: Nicole Baraw, Derrick Daigle, Emily Dobler and Lyndsey Wood. The Lake Region Flour Rangers were: Samatha Bogar, Hannah Glodgett, Remington Kinney, Victoria Perkins and Kristopher Viens.
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