The Sharpe Refectory was transformed into a veritable Kitchen Stadium Wednesday afternoon, with about 20 Brown students vying for, among other titles, that of "most original Ratty Iron Chef."
The competition challenged students to utilize a typical selection of dinner food and condiments in the preparation of a unique entrée or dessert.
An eight-person panel of judges assessed the dishes on a scale from 1-5 based on factors including taste, texture, appearance, balance, nutritional value and creativity. Awards were given out in the categories of entrée, desert, overall culinary performance and most original.
The event was organized by Jonathan Raphael '08, University administrative dietician Bridget Visconti, Floor Manager Chris Pollock, and Production Manager Elizabeth Mersereau.
The judges included Executive Chef John O'Shea, Assistant Catering Manager Laura Lee Radtke, Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services David Greene, Assistant Manager of Retail Operations Leanne Evangelist, Assistant Director of Dining Services Claire Sidla and student judges Hari Khalsa '05 and Michael Ennis '08.
The chiming of a triangle signaled the beginning and end of the 20-minute period allotted for dish preparation. At the sounding of the start signal, contestants, all of whom were wearing traditional white chef's hats, scattered in all directions.
"I had no idea of the energy that was going to be put in (to the food preparation)," Merseau said.
Organizers agreed that the students' enthusiasm and precision exceeded expectations. One student demonstrated extreme focus and concentration as he worked with headphones in his ears. Other participants exhibited culinary perfectionism, constantly rearranging elements of the dish and working on a symmetrical or colorful presentation. Andrew Kurtzman '08 used orange juice to marinate the chicken. He then heated the chicken to absorb the liquid. "In order to survive," Kurtzman said, "I've had to learn a few things."
Competitor Andrew Kim '07 also employed a unique strategy, chilling his plate in the refrigerator. That way, by the time Kim's chopping and arranging was complete, he was able to serve the dessert on a nicely chilled plate.
Participants observed the following rules: no using equipment improperly (for example, no stir-fry on the panini grills); no outside ingredients allowed; no bribing culinary professionals; no non-edible ingredients; no entry behind the serving lines; no teamwork; rules of sanitation must be observed.
After a long and suspenseful period of deliberation and calculating on the part of the judges, prizes were awarded.
The first Ratty Iron Chef statue for most original dish was awarded to Ashley King-Bischof '07 for "Peanut Butter Eruption," which featured an ice cream cone placed in the middle of a brownie with an original peanut butter sauce "erupting" from both the ice cream cone and an apple on the dish.
King-Bischof explained that the idea for a peanut butter sauce combined with ice cream and brownie came from past discussions with friend Lena McAfee '07. "She and I thought of the peanut butter sauce," King-Bischof said, "then worked with an eruption theme where the sauce exploded out of the cone and apple." She said that going into the competition she had a rough idea of the ingredients available but there was an element of surprise. Without peanut butter, she said, "we would have been ruined."
Awards were presented in gold, silver and bronze for overall culinary performance. Gold went to Josh Ziperstein '05 for his creamy garlic butternut squash risotto cake medley. Silver went to Diana Toledo '08 for her colorful and carefully presented chicken broccoli alfredo plate. Kim earned the bronze for "Ginger Ice Cream and Pear Napoleon," which was composed of alternating layers of thinly sliced toast rounds with honey. The dessert, he said, was similar to a crispy honey cookie. Kim explained that he first toasted the bread, then sliced it in half and toasted it again, and used Ratty cups as cookie-cutters to achieve a uniform shape. Kim created ginger ice cream by mixing frozen yogurt with sliced pear chunks and ginger spice. He also used those ingredients to sauce the plate for presentation.
In the entrée category, first prize went to "Rob's Creation," by Robert Tzong '05, a spicy tofu meat combination dish. Second place went to Toledo, and third prize went to Jeff Hofmann '08 for his "Extreme Quesadilla."
In the dessert category, Alyra Melchert '08 came in first for her "Ratty Baked Apples a la Mode," which consisted of microwaved apples, sugar, butter, honey and raisins. In second place was King-Bischof for "Peanut Butter Eruption." The third-place prize recipient was Kim.
The judges described different judging strategies. Khalsa said he was "thinking back to what I ate when I was on meal plan, which was pretty much veggie burgers and pasta, so I was using that as my baseline."
O'Shea, the executive chef, said his considerations included "creativity, balance, contrast, flavor, compatibility of flavors, amount of food on the plate, if the ingredients are being over-utilized (and) nutrition: protein, carbohydrates, fat, calories."
"I'm always ready for a free meal," Greene said, noting that the food was of "a much higher quality" than he expected. Each dish demonstrated such impressive creativity, he said, that it was at times "difficult to discern" and have an idea of who should win.
Mersereau also said she was impressed by the students' energy level, which she characterized as "through the roof."
At the end of the events, Raphael said, "This was more than I imagined. I have not stopped smiling. This has been an absolute success."
Many organizers, participants and judges said they hope to see Ratty Iron Chef became an annual competition. But Greene took it one step further, saying, "We've got a lot of Iron Chefs at Brown - the next thing we need to do is take on Johnson and Wales."
