Junior Savannah Huffman knows from watching Iron Chef and Chopped, her favorite cooking shows, that something always goes wrong on the day of a culinary competition.
At the Iron Chef North Texas Competition, however, everything went smoothly for the team from the Richardson High School Culinary Magnet.
Huffman, along with Stacy Rodriguez, Lauren Domingos, and Ralyn Ivy took first place out of 10 teams.
They had to cook and plate an appetizer, entree, two sides, and a dessert in one hour and 45 minutes.
Each dish had to include a secret ingredient, apples, that was revealed to the teams 15 minutes before the competition.
“We were ready for the time limit because we had lots of Saturday practices where we had learned to cook within a certain time,” Huffman said. “The ingredient was a shock though. We were hoping that it would be beets.”
Huffman, who was in charge of the dessert portion, made an apple toffee cake with butter sauce, whipped cream, and tuille cookies.
The last five minutes of the competition were the most stressful, Huffman said, with everyone scrambling to plate their dishes.
“The judges told me I should’ve used a different plate,” she said. “But, he also told me he wanted to marry my food, so that was good.”
This is the second year in a row the Culinary Magnet team has won the competition. The judges noted that they worked cleanly and effectively as a team.
“We were so surprised when they announced we won,” Huffman said. “I’m so happy for the team – we really are like a family.”