The San Luis Obispo High School Iron Chef competition, hosted by FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America) and advised by Family and Consumer Science teacher Lisa Washmuth and Ben Richardson, took place January 11 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
The cooking competition consisted of four groups, with students and teachers alike, creating an appetizer, main course and dessert. The dishes had to incorporate the “secret ingredient” of plantains into each of their dishes. A panel of four judges chose the winning team.
The winning team consisted of History teacher Eva di Santo, English teacher Craig Stewart, Librarian Jennifer Sawyer, and Kim Garcia, the sister of di Santo and fill in for Jimmie Johnson.
“Our team name was SLOHS Culinary Cats. Not one of us on the team had ever cooked a plantain before this competition. It turns out one can use plantain in all of its states…meaning from really green to really black.. I started competing in the Iron Chef Competition four years ago with Craig Stewart in order to support our FCCLA program. Craig and I are what I call, ‘fly by the seat of our pants’ chefs…we sort of improvise and wing it. Well, we had a blast but came in last place, so we decided that we needed to bring on some real chefs. We asked Jen Sawyer to join our team and math teacher Jimmie Johnson, who dubbed himself, ‘chopper boy’ came on board too. Both of them are phenomenal cooks. We did well, but still did not clinch the coveted position of first…until this year,” said di Santo.
The courses that were prepared by the winning team were Spicy Dominican Plantain Soup with Plantain Chips for the appetizer, Caribbean Plantain Crusted Mahi Mahi topped with Fresh Pineapple Salsa & Mangu (mashed plantain) with a Lime Vinaigrette Slaw for the main course and Haitain Plantain Crepes topped with Plantains Foster and Coconut Brown Sugar Sauce for dessert. Their menu was called Plantains All Around the World.
Another group consisted of senior Niki Lauritzen and Morro Bay senior, Maddy Schultz.
“I chose to participate because I’m an FCCLA officer and we had a team drop out last minute. I met my partner the Tuesday before the competition, so I was doing this cooking competition with someone who I had only met once before for like an hour and a half and it was really cool,” said Lauritzen.
There was a five-dollar entree fee and the audience was allowed to participate in an auction that is going on simultaneously during competition. The audience received a sample of each course from each group.
Make sure to check out FCCLA in room 513 every Thursday!
