The 5th Annual San Diego Teen Iron Chef Competition

Last week I was one of ten people that judged this competition at Mira Mesa High School, had a great time, and was proud to be part of this great competition for high school students. This is a great experience for the competitors who had done a great job.

The 5th Annual San Diego Teen Iron Chef Competition

How our version of Iron Chef works:
This year we have three teams competing against one another. They are between ages 16 and 18. Some of these students had never cooked or handled a knife before coming into this classroom. Others may have been in my class in previous years. But they are all excited and nervous to be cooking in front of you guys.

Students are able to work on some of their ideas, go shopping and do a small amount of measuring the day before for an hour. They are not allowed to do any actual cooking ahead of time. For the Final Cook-off, the teams will be preparing the menu from the preliminary competitions, but they are free to make any changes or eliminations they see fit.

On the day of the competition, they will be presented with two secret ingredients that must be incorporated into at least one of their three courses.

We judged the teams on teamwork/leadership, safety and sanitation/ organization, flavor and final presentation. We walked around and watched what they where doing. We (judges) where ask to have a seat during the last five minutes of cooking.

The teams presented their final dishes to the judges to taste and discuss any notes that the judges made during the competition. All the competitors did a great job under major pressure of time and experience.

Timing:
1. 1 hour cook
2. 10 minutes plate
3. 30 minutes includes presentation and judging
4. Announce the winning team

Congratulations to the team that won at Mira Mesa High, they will be moving on to the final cook-off between Mira Mesa and Scripps Ranch that is coming up on the 22nd of April.

Zhee Zhee Aguirre did a great job putting this event together. For the fifth year. I was proud to be part of it.

Tags: Blog