It’s not often that I am asked to be a food judge, so I jumped at the chance to evaluate dishes prepared by students at the Jr Iron Chef VT held in Essex, Vermont. Hosted by The Burlington School Food Project and Vermont Food Education Every Day (FEED) a Farm to School program run as a partnership of three Vermont non-profit organizations: Food Works at Two Rivers Center, Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT), and Shelburne Farms.
Jr Iron Chef VT is a statewide competition where middle and high school students gain hands-on experience preparing and cooking nutritious, farm-fresh foods. The purpose is to highlight local agriculture and encourage students to make healthy eating choices and understand more about nutrition, farm-fresh foods, the culinary arts and school food systems.
Small groups from over 50 school districts set up table top kitchens with portable stove tops, cutting boards and knives to prepare recipes they had honed over the past few months. Given the time frame of 1 1/2 hours, parents, siblings and curious onlookers wandered around the large hall, while the judges panel were sequestered in a nearby room. Our job was to evaluate the dishes as they arrived, marking points for appearance, flavor, creativity and quantity of local food that was in each recipe.
The first to arrive was a simple corn muffin, served on a paper plate with a dab of butter ( light and flaky, yet lacked creativity), follow by a stacked and layered root vegetable dish, decorated with a small poached egg and a sprig of parsley ( superb presentation, but not enough flavor). The rest of the dishes began to arrive quickly, somosas, bruschetta, frittatas, tortillas, soups, and soon the table was filled with small paper plates. The tablecloth was smeared with a rainbow of colors from the beets, carrots, winter squash either dripping and leaking over the sides of the small plates and bowls. There was a rush of food coming and going, each dish carefully analyzed, and points given for each category for a final tally.
It was especially helpful to have a middle school student on our judges panel, reminding us that students in a lunch room like to have recognizable food items, rather than a fanciful presentation. He liked the dishes that could be eaten with hands rather than fork and knife. He told us that kids ordered their lunches at the start of the day based on the name, rather than selecting it in a lunch line, so the title had to be familiar. His eyes widened when a grilled cheese sandwich arrived, yet one bite revealed too many onions, and the layered carrots and winter squash turned a familiar comfort food into a nightmare. Food preparation for the kitchen staff was also key, noted an executive chef from New England Culinary Institute (NECI) , so there was clearly more to weigh than just the basics.
In the end, we selected an outstanding chowder, prepared by the Cougar Team from the Crossett Brook Middle School in Duxbury, VT. The recipe included 16 Vermont ingredients, including apples, eggs, cheddar cheese, carrots, celeriac, parsnips, potatoes, rutabaga, turnips and winter squash. A flavorful dumpling was served in the soup, giving it real sustenance for a school lunch or for a family meal at home.
The best part is that all the recipes are available on the Jr. Iron Chef website. Bon Appetit!
