Student chefs reflect on competition

Published 9:45 am Wednesday, March 21, 2018

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — A pair of Baldwin High School seniors got a taste of what cooking in front of a crowd is like last week.

Last Wednesday marked the second annual Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) Student Chef Cooking Competition and BHS students Taliyyah Tucker and Kiara Daniels made up one of the seven teams competing for the top three spots. Their recipe, “Kale and Kraisin Salad,” may not have placed, but even making it to the competition was a huge accomplishment as the finalists were selected out of 35 recipes submitted to the GaDOE in December. This was also the first year Baldwin High School entered the competition.

Daniels said she became interested in competing after her advisor told her about the competition earlier this school year. She and Tucker had partnered in cooking contests through the FCCLA (Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America) in the past and even made it to nationals on that level, so the two seniors came together again to vie for the GaDOE statewide title. When the time came to develop a recipe they at first wanted to do a sandwich, but later settled on their Kale and Kraisin Salad with chopped kale, craisins, apples, red onions, banana peppers and croutons. Submitted recipes had to meet a few requirements like featuring Georgia-grown ingredients and the recipes also had to be something that could realistically be served in school cafeterias. One final necessary ingredient remained — the dressing. Chef James Barwick mentored the two girls and had them get dressing input from their fellow students.

“What I had them do was do a taste-testing for the students,” Barwick said. “The original recipe called for an Italian dressing, but I asked them to test with the Italian dressing and also more of a fruity raspberry dressing and get the feedback. Once they did that they noticed the students liked the raspberry vinaigrette better.”

Barwick helped the girls do the nutritional analysis on their dish and also beefed up their presentation on the plate. With the recipe and necessary nutritional analysis finalized the girls submitted their recipe and heard in January that they were named among the seven finalists. They made the trip to William S. Hutchings College & Career Academy in Macon last Wednesday to square off against the six other teams. First, students went through an orientation and toured the facility’s kitchen. What followed was not too different from watching a cooking competition on television.

“After the tour they gave us two hours to prep our meals,” Daniels said. “They just set us loose after that. Everything was set up. They had stations in the kitchen, and everything that was on your recipe list was on your table.”

Competitors were asked to make four plates of their submitted recipes, three for the judges and one for presentation purposes. Both Daniels and Tucker said the added pressure of cooking in front of the audience brought about a little more nervousness than they’re used to from previous cooking competitions.

“We compete all the time, but not with people watching us,” Daniels said. “We’re used to just the two or three judges, but there were others watching at the competition. That made me nervous.”

After completing the task students were asked to present their dishes to the judges (all three are chefs) by outlining how they were prepared. 

“It was a great experience,” said Daniels. “This was the second year they’ve done this, so I wish I would’ve known earlier to do it last year so we could have done better this year because we would have had more experience. It was a nice experience working with other groups in the kitchen.”

“To see them actually work on it, take pride in it, and then do the competition — I was amazed at the competition with the recipes that everybody did and the presentation of everything,” Barwick said.

The school chef added that the GaDOE competition is something BHS will keep participating in, as one prospective student chef went to last week’s event as an observer. Barwick also said the school’s culinary and agriculture programs are going to partner to grow ingredients that can be used in the school cafeteria.

“We are getting students that want to be a part of this actually growing herbs, lettuces, and other stuff we’ll use here,” he said. “It will show them how you can start with a seed and grow.”

Though Daniels and Tucker said they enjoyed their experience in the student chef competition, neither is planning to make it their careers. Tucker is going to attend Georgia Southern and major in accounting while Daniels said she has been accepted to Augusta University where she wants to study biology on her way to becoming a biology teacher.