Team-Building in the Kitchen
By James Hill III
Pans sizzled, knives flashed across cutting boards and tensions ran high in the kitchens of Benson Marketplace as two teams of 10 students gathered for the first Iron Chef Santa Clara competition on Friday night.
According to Melissa Reynen, marketing manager of Santa Clara University Dining Services, the event served as a community and team building exercise for students, as well as an opportunity to draw attention to dining services. Bob Lubecky, who is serving his first year as Bon Appétit general manager at Santa Clara and has hosted similar events at other institutions, organized the event with Reynen.
Shortly before the event started, Lubecky met the two student teams to lay out the ground rules. With the help of one of Santa Clara's sous chefs, each team had one hour to create a three-course meal in which each course contained a secret ingredient.
As the clock struck 5 p.m., Lubecky pulled the sheet, with a showman's flourish, that hid the competition's mystery ingredient: sweet potatoes.
The atmosphere grew increasingly hectic as the student teams worked on their three dishes.
"We had full reign over the kitchen," said event participant and senior Andrew Parker. Because both teams had access to all of the kitchen's ingredients and equipment, "it was hard to decide what exactly we were going to do and how to incorporate the secret ingredient," he continued.
Each group had to choose a team name: Team Squash consisted of freshmen Kayla Clemson and Alex Nauman, and sophomores Michael Davisson, Phillip Eukel and Lauren Farwell, with sous chef Luis Acosta. Team Morimoto — named after one of the Iron Chefs on the original Japanese show and its American counterpart — consisted of freshmen Edward Kronfli and Marit Knapp, juniors Eliza Brennan and Haley Watson and Parker, assisted by sous chef David Anderson.
The competition ended sharply at 6 p.m., and both teams presented their meals to the judges. The judging panel, which included law students Samuel Jain, Peter Swiniarski and Patrick Wallen, Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies Philip Kesten and Assistant Vice President of Auxiliary Services Jane Barrantes, assessed each meal according to five scoring categories: taste, texture, timing, temperature and originality.
Team Morimoto presented a mesclun salad with sweet potato croutons and a ball of goat cheese for its appetizer. Squash countered with an autumn salad with cranberries and pecans, topped with sweet potato vinaigrette. The judges seemed enraptured by the dishes, and the race to see who would win the title of Santa Clara's first Iron Chef — and the prize of an engraved iPod shuffle — was on.
For the main course, Team Morimoto carried out a sweet potato hash with sunny-side-up eggs. Team Squash's main course was stuffed chicken breast with sweet potatoes and ricotta cheese, served with fried sweet potatoes and topped with a sweet potato alfredo sauce.
For the dessert round, Team Morimoto presented a sweet potato mousse tart with candied bacon, streusel and a strawberry puree. Team Squash brought out a country sweet potato pie, topped with a pecan brown sugar streusel and garnished with whipped cream and caramel sauce.
The intense judging period concluded shortly after 7 p.m. Kesten complimented both teams' "great creativity," and each dish received quality marks. Ultimately, there could only be one winner, and once each judge had delivered their remarks, the winner was announced: Team Squash.
Jane Barrantes said that she hopes the next Iron Chef Santa Clara event, which may come as early as next quarter, "draws a bigger crowd" the next time. She encouraged all students to throw their hat in the ring to earn the title of Santa Clara's next Iron Chef.
Contact James Hill III at jhill@scu.edu or (408) 554-4852.