There were 48 students from 21 different high schools competing in two heats as C-CAP’s 2010 preliminary competitions began this past week.
Things were tense and intense as the first heat got underway in the kitchens at MetroTech High School in Phoenix. Justly so, as it turned out.
Chef Glenn Humphrey, of the Arizona Culinary Institute, is leading the judging. While he opens his quick review saying, “We’re not here to make you nervous,” his note that the preliminary to C-CAP’s final cooking competition is “ a new step to your future” reminds everyone that the stakes are high.
He also reminds them cooking should be a joy but the 22 students in the first heat manage only weak grins as they wait for the start signal to begin their omelets.
Besides Humphrey, there are five other chefs servings as judges for the first preliminary. Tracey Fierros, a chef with Canyon Ranch in Tucson; Ron Kindersfater, publisher of Restaurateur of Arizona; Noah Srebnick, owner of Urban Chef Outfitters; Gwen Ashley Walters, of Pen and Fork Communications; and Alan Zeman, of southwestern originals and an executive chef with Rational, USA.
They all walk slowly through the kitchen, clutching clipboards and stopping to make notes. Omelets are finished quickly, and judging begins the minute they begin hitting the presentation tables.
Within minutes, it’s on to salads. Different organizational strategies mean some start putting together a vinaigrette, while others lay out vegetables and begin cutting. Tracey Fierros walks through, tasting.
“I taste everyone’s vinaigrette to see the flavors before the vegetables are in, so that I can taste the difference,” she explains.
She and the other judges walk through the kitchen again and again, tasting, taking notes and doling out an occasional suggestion, which manifests as a quick demonstration as often as a question.
Salads come out for presentation slowly at first, with most showing exacting and careful attention to plating.
A brief wrap up that includes a quick overview of techniques and presentation quickly leads to the second heat, with 26 more hopeful young chefs.
Maybe it’s the later hour. There seems to be a higher energy level simmering away in the kitchen, as omelets are moved rapidly from skillet to plate to presentation. It might be a little too rapid, as Chef Humphrey will point out later.
Salads, too, with swiftly moving knives cutting crisply through batons of peppers and jicama, are being pulled together with little hesitation.
The judges circle through the kitchen again and again, making more notes and observing carefully. Even so, these students maintain their cool. It’s clear that, as serious and intense as they all are, many of them are genuinely enjoying this time in the kitchen.
Chef Humphrey reiterates the predominant tone as he begins his wrap up. It’s a big accomplishment simply to make the focused effort needed to enter this kind of competition.
But this is only the first step, and the finals, he emphasizes, will require more practice and focus. “Keep in mind the price of a chicken and a couple f pounds of potatoes,” he urges them, “against the cost of a college education.”
That’s something nearly every one of these students has in mind already.
As Jesus C., of MetroTech said as he put his plated salad out for presentation, “This was hell on earth. I loved it; but every minute I think whether I am doing the right step for my career.”
It's a reminder that, for many, this competition means the difference between a power start to their professional education and a major struggle to fund books and tuition.
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