Outstanding Student Chefs Shine Again

Keenan O'Brien prepares his entry for the judges

Once again, ten outstanding students prepared and presented some of the most innovative and original recipes for judging at the second annual Student Chef Competition held on February 12. The process for a student just to make it to the competition is a testimony to howseriously they take their love for cooking as they had to submit their entry recipe along with a photo of the finished fare, so it is decided and rehearsed even before it is considered.

On the day of the competition, they come organized, rehearsed and ready to go.  Students who teamed up, like Millie Kau with Arla Sutton, learned about what it takes to create and cooperate, share and shine.  And they all did just that, perfectly and with great enthusiasm.   Some recipes, like Birdie Greening and Zora Leck’s, even took into consideration vegetarians and gluten allergies, knowing the recipes would be highlighted in the school menu.

Although everyone doesn’t receive the trophies and cash prizes in a competition, they were all already winners by getting into the competition, and their performances were genuinely professional.  Judges and audiences were duly impressed with every budding chef’s performance and recipe and “deciding the winners wasn’t easy at all,” says Janet Brownell, one of the five judges charged with the job.

After all the contestants presented their delicious recipes, the judges spent quite a while selecting the top four, using numeric grids taking into consideration not only taste, but their use of local product, health and safety in preparation, and mise en place (everything orderly and in its place when prepping and cooking); but, alas, they chose:  Millie (4th grade) and Arla (3rd) with their colorful and tasteful Salad Noodle Rolls with two dipping sauces made from scratch, Ray Doss with his original recipe for Southern Sliders on made-from-scratch biscuit buns, and Sayde Larson (3rd) with a Chicken Caesar Salad Wrap.  And the Grand Prize Overall Winner was Keenan O’Brian with his truly amazing White Bean Chicken Chili.  Keenan received a $200 prize, the other three received a $100 prize.  Everyone who competed received a Farm to Cafeteria Klean Kanteen® and an OIEF cup filled with cooking goodies and a Teezer’s gift certificate.

Congratulations to all of our incredible budding chefs and a grateful thanks to our sponsors: Rose’s, Ship Bay, Angel’s Food Catering, Doe Bay, Orcas Hotel, the Reed Family, Red Rabbit Farm, and Stoltz Kau Architects for making it financially possible.

A slide show of the event will be up on the Farm to Cafeteria web site shortly at www.orcasislandf2c.org.