An adventure in culinary judging.
Every other year or so, I’m asked by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) to serve as a judge in the organization’s annual competition for excellence in communications at colleges and universities. It’s something I enjoy doing, and I feel comfortable filling that role because I’m relatively familiar with the field. And though I do this somewhat regularly, the CASE judging is the only judging I’ve ever been asked to do. That is, until a few weeks ago.
I had heard of the Food Network program Iron Chef America (though I had never seen it). One day I got an e-mail from Cook Commons’s Sarah Buck ’10 asking if I’d be willing to sit on a panel of judges for Middlebury’s version of the culinary cook-off.
I like to eat, I thought, so sure, “I’ll do it,” I told her. “Great,” she replied. “See you at Ross Dining Hall tomorrow night at 9:30.” Now, a couple of things jumped out at me. I normally go to bed around 9:30 or 10:00; we wouldn’t be getting started until around then, and I was told that the event would probably last two hours. And then there was the matter of it occurring the next day. I bet I wasn’t their top choice, I thought. (Indeed, I overheard Sarah telling someone the next night that they tried everyone they could think of for the final spot.) Oh, well. How hard could it be?
So the next night I showed up at Ross and quickly discovered that this was a bigger deal than I had thought. Rows of chairs had been arranged to face the judges’ table, which was flanked by a pair of tall video screens that would be displaying live feeds from two hand-held cameras. Behind the tables, in their respective prep areas, were the culinary teams from Ross and Cook Commons. Each team had a head chef and a pair of sous chefs who would be concocting multiple courses. The twist was that each team had been given a list of three possible secret ingredients and had to plan accordingly.
At 9:30 I met my fellow judges—Rachel Schiffer ’06; Patricia Zupan, the C. A. Dana Professor of Italian and Cook Commons Faculty Head; and Alex Glaser ’09, the president of KDP—and then the secret ingredients were revealed: local cheeses and an assortment of dried fruit. The competition was on.
And here was the difficult part, at least for me. The teams had one hour to conceive and create their meals, which left one hour of time to fill. So the commentator—Wonnacott Commons CRA Josh Chan ’08, decked out in a custom-made tuxedo—turned to the panel of “experts” to entertain the audience.
“So,” he asked, “why don’t you tell us what you are smelling. What are you anticipating?”
All I could smell was my own fear, especially after hearing Schiffer and Zupan lead off. They spoke authoritatively—of florets and aromas and anticipation of dates commingling with blue cheese. When it was my turn, I think I said, “I smell burning garlic.” The last judge chosen, indeed.
No matter—it was all worth it when the courses were served. Ross dished up zucchini and cucumber soup, risotto, and a strawberry tart. Cook countered with a crostini topped with dates, a balsamic reduction, cilantro, and goat cheese; a baby green salad; roasted pork tenderloin with garlic and chèvre mashed potatoes; and a baked apple and cheese plate for dessert.
Cook was the unanimous winner, though we also unanimously agreed that Ross created the best dish of the night (the soup). And at around midnight, I left Ross Dining Hall, in awe of my fellow judges and the student chefs. And happily full.
—MJ