It’s astonishingly quiet in Lanphier’s kitchen lab. But not actually silent. Students in the four kitchen cubicles are talking to each other. They’re also responding to questions from the adults observing them. But none of the students – not one – is fooling around or engaging in the boisterous banter that can occur when adolescents are in a non-formal classroom setting. It’s the kind of quietness that happens when people of any age work together, focusing on their task.
Welcome to Lanphier High School’s Third Annual Iron Chef Competition. Sixty-one students in three Food 101 sections have been divided into four teams per class, competing to become the Iron Chefs of their respective classes.
“Iron Chef,” a competitive cooking television show, aired in Japan from 1992-1999.
Three master chefs, each specializing in different cuisines, took on challengers in a one-hour “battle” to see “whose cuisine reigns supreme.” Reruns were popular on the Food Network and in 2004 the Food Network gave Americans “our own Kitchen Stadium and our own Iron Chefs.” It’s shtick, bigtime – the Iron Chefs standing proudly, grimly on their podiums, arms defiantly crossed, fog swirling around them, as they wait for the challenger who emerges from a curtain of more fog and strides forth to “choose” an Iron Chef to battle. Each episode revolves around a “secret” theme ingredient, unveiled in a giant sarcophagus, lid rising to the ceiling, while still more fog swirls around it. The chefs’ creations are tasted by a three-judge panel, some foodknowledgeable, others not. They award up to 10 points for taste, and up to 5 each for presentation and originality in the use of the secret ingredient.
Shtick it may be, but it’s also entertaining, fascinating – often even educational – to watch what the dueling chefs create and how they go about it.
In Lanphier’s kitchen lab, there’s no swirling fog. But there’s plenty of excitement and enthusiasm. This year the “secret” ingredient is bacon, revealed ahead of time so the students could search for and/or develop recipes.
(It’s not a total secret on the televised “Iron Chef” either; contestants are given four possibilities ahead of time.) The students found most of their recipes online. Some were followed exactly; others were modified, improvised and, in some cases, combined.
Countdown begins the week of the competition, which takes place on Friday. By the end of Wednesday’s class, each team finalizes their recipes, decides what to prep on Thursday, and assigns specific tasks for Thursday prep and Friday’s competition. Most importantly, each team completed its shopping list. All ingredients would be bought that night: if a team’s list left out anything crucial, tough luck!
The driving force behind Lanphier’s Iron Chef 2011 – and the reason the students are so engaged – is Family and Consumer Science teacher Chelsey Brewer. The department was in the doldrums with dwindling enrollments when she began there as the only teacher for classes ranging from cooking, sewing, family life and consumer education. Three years later, the program utilizes three teachers and an aide. “I tell you, she’s really built this program up,” says assistant principal Brian Caton. Demand for FCS classes continues to grow. Longtime teacher Steve Rambach says “I used to help plan kids’ schedules. Thankfully I’m not doing that anymore. It would be too hard to try to fit in everybody wanting to take her classes.”
