Aspiring Iron Chefs test skills
Competes against HCC
Carla Bradley
Issue date: 4/27/09 Section: Entertainment
Four San Jacinto culinary art students from North campus competed against a Houston Community College culinary art team recently in the hope of winning $1000 in college scholarships for each member.
The competition, "Hot, Hot, Haute," is a student-oriented contest designed to test how well students can cook an appetizer, entrée and dessert under pressure. Natalia Balciunas, Martin De Santiago, Blake Halliday and Marilu Peralta completed the team.
To win a place on the team, students in the culinary arts program at North had to endure an internal competition with classmates. They had to prepare dishes, explain what they created and have judges critique their dishes. Deciding factors also included student attendance, attitude, punctuality, grades, culinary skills and the ability to work under pressure.
"I expect for the students to come professionally, prepared, have a sense of urgency and represent San Jacinto best as possible," Steven Rudd, culinary art department chair, said.
He expected the four competing students to give their all and to use this competition as preparation for other competitions along the line.
The competition echoed some elements of the popular Food Network Japanese import Iron?Chef and its American counterpart Iron Chef America.
The students were told they had to use secret ingredients to make their food. If they did not use the ingredients, they would have points reduced from their total score.
Both teams had an hour to cook all three courses. They then presented the dishes to five judges and explained what they did to make the meal. The judges scored on the appearance and taste of each meal.
"I felt good about the meal," Halliday said. "I felt impressed with how we moved and happy with the end result."
Halliday prepared eggplant parmesan with sautéed chorizo, a Mexican pork sausage, with cayenne pepper as an appetizer.
"It was easy when we knew what to cook," Peralta said. "I knew what was wrong with my plate."
The competition, "Hot, Hot, Haute," is a student-oriented contest designed to test how well students can cook an appetizer, entrée and dessert under pressure. Natalia Balciunas, Martin De Santiago, Blake Halliday and Marilu Peralta completed the team.
To win a place on the team, students in the culinary arts program at North had to endure an internal competition with classmates. They had to prepare dishes, explain what they created and have judges critique their dishes. Deciding factors also included student attendance, attitude, punctuality, grades, culinary skills and the ability to work under pressure.
"I expect for the students to come professionally, prepared, have a sense of urgency and represent San Jacinto best as possible," Steven Rudd, culinary art department chair, said.
He expected the four competing students to give their all and to use this competition as preparation for other competitions along the line.
The competition echoed some elements of the popular Food Network Japanese import Iron?Chef and its American counterpart Iron Chef America.
The students were told they had to use secret ingredients to make their food. If they did not use the ingredients, they would have points reduced from their total score.
Both teams had an hour to cook all three courses. They then presented the dishes to five judges and explained what they did to make the meal. The judges scored on the appearance and taste of each meal.
"I felt good about the meal," Halliday said. "I felt impressed with how we moved and happy with the end result."
Halliday prepared eggplant parmesan with sautéed chorizo, a Mexican pork sausage, with cayenne pepper as an appetizer.
"It was easy when we knew what to cook," Peralta said. "I knew what was wrong with my plate."
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