Hampton Roads students compete in culinary cookoff

Ready, set, cook.

Twenty-one Hampton Roads high school students, all wanna-be chefs, had two hours to prepare a two-course French meal last week in the Careers through Culinary Arts cookoff.

No peeking at the recipe.

The Poulet Chasseur avec Pommes de Terre Chateau and Crepes Sucrees with Creme Patissiere and sauce au Chocolat – otherwise known as Hunter’s Chicken with Turned, Sauteed Potatoes with Dessert Crepes with Pastry Cream and Chocolate Sauce – had to be created from memory.

“I’ve practiced every day for two weeks, 2½ hours a day,” said Robert Anderson, a Norview senior, who, like his classmates, wore a chef hat and white apron while standing behind a numbered station.

The oversized offensive tackle from the Pilots’ football team,  knows how to cook more than beans and franks. While the right way to tournet a potato might stump the most dedicated homemaker, it’s second nature to these students.

“Take a deep breath. It’s 9:20 now. You may begin,” bellowed Greg Retz, one of six judges overseeing the competition at the Culinary Institute of Virginia.

 Students were not just judged on final taste. While they labored in cramped kitchens, judges observed their habits, sanitation and final presentation.

“Clean as you go,” advised judge Denise Simmons, a chef at Meriwether Godsey. “Space is always tight in a kitchen. There’s never enough room for what you’re doing.”

Norview’s Erika Jones flattened her chicken breast by unloading on it with a silver skillet. Cox High School’s Carlie Steiner separated eggs by hand.

“Hands are our best tools in the kitchen. If you don’t want any whites in the yolks, it’s best to do it this way,” said Steiner, careful to scrub after handling the final egg.

Corey Petterson stirred his crepe batter constantly. “You don’t want anything caught in the edges,” said the Salem senior, using a whisk.

Lindsay Fuller didn’t blink while the judges passed her station. The Oscar Smith senior carefully measured a cup of flour for crepes.

“The first time I was scared every time the judges walked by,” she said. “Now, I’m used to it.”

Moments after pouring vanilla extract into his mixture, Western Branch’s Charlie Banks dug out a plastic spoon and savored the taste. Tasting food for flavor is one of the standard rules of culinary school.

“You’ve got to make sure it’s not horrible,” he said.

Brianna Sichette tackled the potatoes with aplomb. Tourneting potatoes is cumbersome and takes practice. Each potato had to be ¾-inch thick with seven sides, shaped like a football. The Oscar Smith senior was an artist with a knife.

“I cannot tournet to save my life,” Tallwood’s Heather Shaw groaned. “Mine won’t look very pretty.”

Jessica Mapp’s potatoes were already boiling. The Landstown senior pierced one lightly with a knife and shook her head.

“You’re not quite ready,” she said.

Jones finished up chopping tarragon. Tomatoes were next. The chicken dish required her to concasse the tomatoes, a technique that ensures each is peeled, seeded and chopped to specific dimensions. Jones plopped hers into boiling water for 15 seconds, then plunged them into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Skins came off like magic.

Shaw didn’t have her chicken in the oven yet. While she pounded with her mallet, Kearsta Lao had a familiar request.

“Can I borrow your salt and pepper?” asked the Ocean Lakes senior.

Though all students brought their own pots, pans and measuring devices, salt and pepper were not on the list.

Mapp burned her butter in the seething skillet but is unfazed.

“It’s just butter,” she says. “It’s not like it was the whole crepe.”

Speaking of burn, Jay Cousin’s station suddenly resembled a Japanese steak house. Flames shot up from his skillet – a jolting moment for anyone close by – though the Grassfield senior quickly extinguished them.

“The oil touched the flame,” he explained. 

Retz  drew their attention to the time. “You have 60 minutes remaining,” he said.

Hans Schadler, chef at Rivers Inn Seafood Grill and a judge, lingered at Jessica Mapp’s station and sampled her crepe batter.

“Good flavor but grainy,” he advised the Landstown senior.

Alexis Bowen gave a thumbs up to her chicken sauce, adding a dash of pepper. She kept a steady eye on her watch, timing her chicken, baking in a nearby oven. Overcooking can’t be corrected, prompting the Ocean Lakes senior her to check doneness with a meat thermometer.

It read 140 degrees. “It needs to be 150,” she said.

A wonderful aroma overtook the kitchen, largely reflective of the chicken sauce simmering in many skillets. A hint of mushrooms and the accompanying spices infiltrated the air.

Granby’s Michael Carter-Hill frowned as one of his crepes fell apart.

Norview’s Erika Jones picked up her pace while checking the clock. She had already completed both plates of her chicken dish. One plate was for presentation only; the second was for judges’ tastings.

Sydney Meers was impressed by her time management. Owner and chef of Portsmouth restaurant Stove, Meers noted the difference between being quick versus being fast in the kitchen.

“Quick is good,” he said. “Fast means rushing and cutting corners.”

As if on cue, Retz had an update. “No need to panic. You have 30 minutes. Keep rolling.”

Many made artwork with their chocolate sauce – squirting it from a plastic bottle with precision. They folded crepes in various manner – some triangular, some like cigars.

Cousin designed tulips on his crepe plates. Steiner dotted each crepe with chocolate in her quest to create a butterfly. She crafted two antenna with a thin line of chocolate sauce and lamented her unsteady hand.

“You don’t want your shaking to show,” she said, wiping a stray spot of chocolate from her plate by vigorously rubbing with a napkin.

No food on the rim of the plate. That’s another mainstay of gourmet presentation. While Anderson celebrated with a fist pump after completing having completed the entire meal, Devin Sansone wore a frustrated expression. As he threw out scraps of a torn-up crepe from his pan, Sichette informed him, “Your pastry cream is burning.”

“It has been a horrible day,” says the Maury senior, who arrived late because he put his 15-year-old bloodhound to sleep at the vet’s office earlier in the morning. Another crepe disintegrates.

A half dozen students didn’t finish in the allotted time but were allowed to complete the meal, even though it cost them judges’ points.

The presentation table showed off the fanned chicken with sauce on top, along with the carefully cut potatoes. Each was presented with a personal flair, some symmetrical, others not.

Most dessert plates were beauties with cleverly folded crepes and artistic chocolate sauce. The presentation table was a spectacle. Cell phone cameras dominated the picture taking.

Other students from Chesapeake Schools who participated were: Hickory’s Carl Barbee; Oscar Smith’s Diamond Boyd, Douglass Brooks, Michael Finlayson; and Great Bridge’s Danielle Hanson and Branton Joaquin. Prizes were scholarships ranging from $500 to $85,000, some to the most prestigious culinary schools in the nation, including Johnson & Wales.

The judging results won’t be announced until a breakfast April 29. But Sydney Meers, owner and chef of Portsmouth restaurant Stove, had kind words for the young chefs.

“This is the first time I’ve been to a competition where everybody is good,” he said. “If you stay in the culinary field, they’ll be more competitions. Remember the things you learn today and don’t watch too much Food Channel.”