Anaise Rivera of Reavis High School smiled in relief when her flourless chocolate cake came cleanly out of the pan. She had not expected to be on the team from the school in Burbank as it competed against other high schools in a culinary contest last week, but another student had to drop out and she was asked to fill in.
“I took over at the last minute,” Rivera said. “I’ve made the sauce, but I never made the cake before.”
Three-member teams from nine high schools in the southwest suburbs competed in Moraine Valley Community College’s High School Culinary Skills Competition April 18.
Each team had to prepare a salad, an entree consisting of airline chicken with a vegetable and starch, and flourless chocolate cake for dessert.
Most people don’t think of airplane food as fine dining, but airline chicken apparently is a premium dish. That was important for the high school students to know.
The chicken is a boneless breast with the skin on and the first wing joint attached. It got the name airline chicken because it originally was served on flights so passengers could eat it holding onto the little “drumette,” explained chef and Moraine Valley Culinary Arts Program coordinator Dean Eliacostas.
The team from Shepard High School in Palos Heights, which received the most points in the entree category, served the airline breast and drumette intact.
“It was a crisp, tiered chicken breast served on top of a bed of mashed potatoes with broccolini,” said Klaus Mandl, one of three professional chefs who judged the contest, an annual event going back at least 10 years.
Another judge, Chuck Pine, owner of Chuck’s Southern Comforts Cafés in Burbank and Darien, said the judges noticed how well Shepard senior Jabari Harvey was seasoning the breast, including under the skin.
“He seasoned the heck out of it,” Pine said. “It was juicy. The broccolini was spot on. I would have eaten every piece of it.” Pine knew, however, that entrees from several more teams and nine desserts were still coming for him to taste.
Another team, however, chopped the breast up for a dish they cooked on the stovetop and served over handmade noodles with a chopped Asian salad to start.
“Those noodles were great,” Pine said. “Everything was great.” But he and the other judges deducted points because the chicken breast was not served as intended.
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“Airline chicken breast is a premium product,” Mandl said, noting if it is cut up, “in a restaurant, you can’t charge what you should be charging.”
The students are told the entree and dessert they’ll be working with about two weeks in advance and submit a list of ingredients they will need for the entire meal, which Moraine Valley staff has ready for them at the competition.
Recognizing that the young chefs were 16- and 17-year-olds, the judges were impressed by some of their talent and passion.
“Sometimes they are better than cooks in restaurants, because these kids get a classic training,” Mandl said.
“You can tell the kids who are really into it,” Pine said. “They take charge.”
Several students said the most challenging aspect of the competition was working amid so many people.
“I feel the pressure of everybody around,” said Claire Begani, a sophomore at Richards High School in Oak Lawn. Her teammate Andrea Abarcia agreed.
“There’s a lot of movement,” Abarcia said, “and it’s hard not knowing where everything is.”
In addition to the 27 contestants and three judges, various Moraine Valley staff and students in the community college’s culinary arts program were there to help out. They hustled about the commercial-style kitchen, which though large, at times felt crowded.
“There’s a lot of people, but everyone has been super helpful and communicating well,” said Isabelle Gilbert from Shepard, the school which won last year’s competition.
“I’m actually surprisingly calm,” said Shepard senior Emily Sheppard, as she melted sugar in a pot on the range to make “caramel dust” for the chocolate cake. Her plan was to melt the sugar at 300 degrees, then spread it on parchment paper to cool. Once the caramel hardens in a sheet, she drops it so it cracks and she smashes it with a meat tenderizer.
“It turns into a dust and you can sprinkle it wherever you want,” Sheppard said. “I made it for the first time yesterday.”
Shepard culinary arts instructor Dan Solski said his students did only one dry run, because he knew practicing in the high school’s culinary classroom would not prepare them for the hectic environment and different equipment in Moraine’s culinary arts kitchen.
The commercial stoves, for example, get “really hot, really fast,” advised a Moraine student helping out. Sheppard learned that firsthand, when her first batch of caramel overcooked and had to be scrapped.
Eliacostas said the Moraine culinary instructors chose dishes that require the students to demonstrate various techniques, such as folding in egg whites.
“We want them to take the skill set they are learning in class and apply it to working in a commercial kitchen,” Eliacostas said, adding the fact that the competition is timed puts a little pressure on them. The teams have about 2.5 hours from when they start preparing the meal to when they present their desserts, the last category to be judged.
Winning the entree category carried Shepard High School to first place as the overall champion. The school received a plaque and participation gifts. Medals also were given for first, second and third place in each course of the meal. Reavis won first place for its fennel and arugula salad with apple slices and candied walnuts. Judges said the chocolate cake desserts were all very close, but Oak Lawn High School took first place primarily due to the beautiful chocolate scrolling on the plate.
Kimberly Fornek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.