Lee County high schoolers win Chopped-style cooking contest

ALBANY — Budding chefs Madi Herzog and Arielle Richardson of Lee County High School emerged victorious Friday after battling it out for kitchen supremacy with other high school students during the High School Chopped cooking competition hosted by the Albany Technical College Culinary Arts Department.

The competition, which is part of the ATC culinary department’s Move On When Ready program that the technical college offers in both Lee County and Randolph Clay high schools, pitted two, two-person teams from each school against each other in a timed, multiple-round, elimination contest modeled after “Chopped” on TV’s Food Network.

Albany Technical College Culinary Arts Department Head Chef Todd White, who oversaw the competition, said it was designed as a way for the young chefs-in-training to gain important experience, where they could use their many talents while having a good time.

“It’s a fun activity to get our teachers and our (students) together to compete and create some good, nutritious and delightful food,” explained White. “They get a lot (out of it). They get a sense of urgency, time, teamwork, flavor profiles, sanitation, safety, menu-building, (and) a little bit of stress management. There’s a little bit of everything involved. It’s a valuable lesson, and we try to get them to have fun while they’re doing it, so they’re encouraged to do it again.”

Even though the experience was designed to be fun, the four teams competing took things rather seriously and did their best to impress judges Brad McEwen from The Albany Herald, Tosin Fakile from Fox-31, radio personality Jaxon Riley, and Joy Knighton, dean of the Culinary Arts Department.

After a brief introduction of the judges and the competitors, who were not identified by their high school until after the competition, things got under way with the four teams being allotted 20 minutes to prepare an appetizer of their choosing, using items from the stadium kitchen in ATC’s Kirkland Center and at least one mystery item from a cart full of food items chosen by ATC Chef Matthew Beard.

The first appetizer round featured stiff competition and a few hiccups as each team figured out how to properly communicate on the fly and deal with working against the timer.

When the dust settled, the Randolph Clay team of Chanel Wilburn and Kameryn Green was eliminated after their bacon and grits appetizer failed to win out over a chicken quesadilla, a chicken taco and a ground-turkey cheese dip with chips offered by their competitors.

With one team then watching from the sidelines, the competition moved to the entree round, where the three remaining teams were given 50 minutes to prepare a main course that would hopefully wow the judges and move them into the final round.

As with the first round, the second round allowed students to use any items they found in the kitchen, along with at least one item from another cart of food stuffs supplied by Beard.

With non-culinary arts students from both schools cheering them on, all three of the teams managed to prepare, plate and serve their entrees in the allotted time. After careful tasting by the judges, the Randolph Clay team of Kayla Edwards and Mylian Harris was chopped.

Although Edwards and Harris were both commended by the judges for their cheesy beef and rice dish, it wasn’t strong enough to top the other two dishes, which included a Cajun-style salmon filet served over a bed of rice with a pepper and onion rue, and a creamy ground-beef covered pasta dish.

The two ousted combantants were not entirely put out of the contest, however, as a new twist allowed the team with the most points through two rounds to choose a member from the eliminated team to help them in the final round.

Herzog and Richardson chose Harris, leaving Edwards to join the Lee County team of Cymone Pauley and Rachael Slappey for the elimination round.

In the final, championship round, the two teams were given 30 minutes to prepare a dessert dish for the judges, again using items from the kitchen as well as items from Beard’s third cart full of goodies.

With the added twist of each team having a new member, the important skill of communication became all the more important for each group, something both teams appeared to handle well, according to Knighton.

The dessert competition proved to be the closest round of them all with the team of Pauley and Slappey whipping up some banana pancakes and fruit with a cream cheese and cherry glaze, while the team of Herzog and Richardson served chocolate-covered Rice Krispy treats with a side pineapple and sweetened yogurt.

In the end, Herzog and Richardson not only had the highest marks in the dessert round, they had maintained the lead they established through the other two rounds and were named the winning team.

Although the winning duo got to take home bragging rights, all the competitors got to take home an ATC chef’s coat, as well as the knowledge that they were able to compete at a high level in front of an audience.

“I saw a lot of thinking outside the box with these younger, high school students,” said White of the competition. “They created some dishes out of thin air really (and) in a timely manner. They were organized, they followed directions, they buckled down and completed their tasks and I believe our judges were happy. We were very excited and very happy, too. Learning and having fun is what it’s all about.”

Learning and having fun was not only something the winning team did during Friday’s competition, it is also at the heart of why both of them got into the culinary classes in the first place.

“I joined culinary because I love food and I wanted to learn how to make food,” said Richardson. “Food is a big part of my life and of my family’s.”

Herzog agreed, saying, “I really enjoy cooking, and I see myself doing it in the future.”

The winning team was also humble in their victory, making sure to give credit to their culinary arts teachers, Lillie Parham and Kevin Austin.

“We’re just honored to be given this award,” said Richardson. “We worked hard and our teachers, Ms. Parham and Chef Austin, have both taught us all we know. We appreciate all the hard work they have done over the course of the school year.”