PHOTOS/ A. Hoang & A. Pan (Top right, going clockwise) Seniors Emily De Leon, Graysn Gonzalez, Alexis Ngo, Abigail Felix, Elaine Kwang, Jacob Douglas, Troy Moranchel and Katie Slu. Winners Ngo, Felix and Kwang plate their dish.
By Amy Ta,
Staff Writer
The fragrant smell of baked goods wafted through the air amidst the sound of clanging pans. Students held their dishes and carefully walked around the large tables, making their way through the door, ready to present them to the judges waiting outside.
Every year during finals, food and fashion teacher Kim Allen’s students compete in groups in an “Iron Chef” style competition to test the culinary skills they learned throughout the semester. Students have one and a half hours to prepare two dishes for three judges. The judges took three things into account when evaluating the dishes: taste, creativity and presentation.
2nd period
Seniors Abigail Felix, Alexis Ngo, Elaine Kwang and Lyndsey Liang were 2nd period’s winners. Inspired by Japanese cuisine, their two dishes consisted of handmade ramen and mochi. The team used eggs to thicken the broth and topped the ramen with soy sauce eggs and shrimp. They also served a side of ginger to help balance the richness of the broth. Their second dish was handmade mochi coated with cocoa powder.
The team’s dishes stood out to the judges, primarily for their creamy ramen broth. Despite their troubles with making the mochi dough, the three judges appreciated the smooth incorporation of Nutella with cocoa powder.
“When we presented our dishes, I was really worried about the soy sauce egg,” Liang said. “It was really, really salty. But it turned out the judges loved it. I think it worked well to balance the sweetness of the ramen broth.”
3rd period
Despite two of their group mates missing, seniors Hailey Economou, Sharon Ng and Benson Wang placed first in 3rd period’s competition. Using the pasta-making skills they learned in class, the group presented handmade ravioli with marinara sauce.
Judges praised the team’s innovative use of lemon zest in their ravioli. They noted that the lemon zest added freshness in their dishes, which greatly contrasted the heaviness of the meat filling.
“It was a little nerve-racking because the principal and other important people were judging our food,” Econonmou said. “It was scary, since we didn’t know what it tasted like. We thought it was bad, but we didn’t even know what it tasted like since we didn’t make enough to try. But the judges liked it.”
4th period
Seniors Jared Du, Joshua Levya, Jeffery Kok and Ivan Li ranked first in 4th period’s competition. The team made a full course meal for the judges, consisting of a creamy corn soup with garlic bread, beef wellington with a side of mashed potatoes and a molten lava cake for dessert. To save time, they pre-prepared the mushrooms the day before, which gave them time to assemble and cook the beef wellington in class.
The judges were impressed by the attention to details and thoughtfulness of the group. The addition of the garlic bread added some starch to the soup and the lemon water helped cleanse their pallets in between courses.
“We had four, five different things that we made,” Du said. “We knew we were capable of making them, and that would win us the competition. We knew we were winning from the start.”