Competition teaches student chefs how to stand the heat
PROVIDENCE -- In New England, lobster is always a hit. So even though a dish featuring the luxurious seafood alongside ravioli might not have been a winner anywhere else, it beat out venison, rabbit, pork, red snapper, and Irish stew at a recent cooking competition here.
The meet, held at Johnson & Wales University, pitted three students from its culinary school against students from New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vt. Rebecca Angoff's signature of lobster and ravioli, served with corn-flavored broth, won the top prize and a chance for the student chef to compete nationally.
Now in its fifth year, the S. Pellegrino ``Almost Famous Chef Competition" features culinary students from across the United States and Canada. Angoff, who attends NECI, is one of 10 regional finalists who will gather at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, Calif. , later this month. The national winner receives a cash prize and a one-year job with a nationally recognized chef.
Angoff and the other New England contestants were judged by local chefs, who turned out to be a tough group to please. They did cave when three of the six students didn't set out their food in time. As every diner knows, delays also plague restaurant kitchens, so there was unanimous sympathy from the chefs -- but the students lost points. ``It's an experience issue," said Dante de Magistris of Dante restaurant in Cambridge. Other judges were Eric Brennan of Boston's Excelsior, Andy Husbands of the South End's Tremont 647 and neighboring Sister Sorel, Jason Santos of Somerville's
Most of the students had never competed before, so technical mishaps became common as the cooks raced around in their two-hour time frame. Then came the moment to present six perfect plates to the judges. Angoff, the first to go, barely cleared her deadline as little pitchers of corn broth were raced to the judges' table. Her ``liquid ravioli" were supposed to explode with rich shallot-butter juices when the judges bit into them, but they failed to (some filling must have leaked into the cooking water).
Another student didn't cook one of the components of her dish long enough. Bethany Tolbert of J&W rested Southern-inspired pork tenderloin medallions on dark red-cabbage rolls stuffed with apples, pecans, and jasmine rice. But the tough cabbage leaves were ``clearly inedible," said Santos, and while a few judges liked the sweet apple bourbon sauce, others thought it might better suit ice cream.
One student let his food sit too long. Harald Rohrmoser from Germany, the most experienced J&W student in the group, prepared venison medallions, calves' liver, potato croquettes rolled in crushed macadamias, and baby vegetables glazed with anise honey. When the pretty plates were presented to the judges, many recognized the texture of food held too long in a warming oven. Rohrmoser was one who had missed his presentation deadline and the elegantly rich meat juices turned ``thick like molasses," said Brennan.
J&W student Justin Howell's Irish and Scottish background inspired his homey ``steak pies." He filled ramekins with beef and sausage simmered in Guinness stout, then crowned the little dishes with puff pastry crust imprinted with a shamrock.The simplicity was promising, but his pastry was undercooked and his sauce lacked salt.
Next up was Gabe Feit of NECI, among the three who finished on time. His Asian-inspired dish, which he attributed to a Buddhist upbringing, was met with approval by the judges, who liked the spicy daikon kimchee and fresh plum salad. But too much tepid white rice overwhelmed the plate and the pan-seared red snapper was lifeless (due to poor-quality fish, said the judges).
Last came NECI's Takeshi Nishikawa, who had the unenviable job of butchering two whole rabbits in order to prepare braised legs, pan-seared loins, and roasted racks. Nishikawa's oven never reached the 500 - degree temperature he required, so his tasty rabbit was late. Santos, the Gargoyles chef, thought the accompanying cremini risotto was more like ``cream of mushroom soup." All the judges pronounced the carrots and parsnips professionally julienned, the parsnips too lemony.
In the end, the most confident students were humbled. ``They chose some fairly difficult dishes," said Husbands, the South End chef. ``But if I was in their shoes I would have practiced more."
Winner Angoff soon heads to California to make her signature dish. By then she'll have figured out how to keep the juices in her ravioli. And of course it won't hurt if the West Coast judges like lobster as much as New Englanders do.
