Dinner hour at the Dining Center saw a lively addition to the usual fare last Friday when Fords Against Boredom hosted this year’s DC Edition of Iron Chef, a cooking competition whose participants could only use ingredients they could find in the Dining Center. As a fascinated audience observed the action in the Sunken Lounge, where work stations with hot plates and supplies had been set up, the four competing teams worked to devise an appetizer, entree, and dessert that all used the secret ingredient: apples. And they had to do it all in under 30 minutes.
The panel of judges, which included Miriam Abaya ’14, Dean Martha Denney, Associate Director of Dining Services Anthony Condo, and Dining Center employee Jeff Gladney, sampled the food and rated the dishes based on taste, presentation, and overall quality.
One creative cookery team (made up of Isabel Gross ’17; Carolyn Poutasse, Jade Andrade, Shana Burstein, and Leah Hollander, all ’15; as well as Evan Joslin, a visiting professor of chemistry) found a place for the mandatory apples in a spinach salad (with cranberries, walnuts, and feta cheese), a dish of penne pasta (with grilled chicken and parmesan), and as topping for vanilla ice cream (the slices coated with cinnamon and a honey-chocolate glaze).
The competition was fierce, but Team 2, comprised of William Tortorelli, a visiting professor of classics, and first-year students Sarah Betti ’17, Erin Lipman ’17, and Zak Oglesby ’17, emerged victorious. Among the team’s culinary innovations was their interpretation of an Asian-influenced moo shoo pork style wrap (utilizing flour tortillas) that they assembled right on the judging table. Their prize: Dining Dollars redeemable at campus cafe, The Coop.
Photos by Thom Carroll.
Iron Chef, Dining Center Edition
