Schools

High School Chefs Compete for Scholarships at Monroe

The competition was for two $30,000 full scholarships to the culinary school.

It wasn't Iron Chef or Top Chef, and no one was Chopped.

But there were $30,000 full scholarships at stake for two high school students competing Saturday at 's America's Best High School Chef.

Chef Frank Costantino, dean of the School of Hospitality Management and the Culinary Arts, said the students competed in three rounds. The first two were knife skills and the market basket with salad, for which the students were aware of the ingredients.

For the final round, 10 students had to make two identical dishes using all the ingredients in a mystery basket. Four other students in the final round created desserts.

The mystery basket competitors "were given a whole chicken, mushrooms, tomatoes, goat cheese, fingerling potatoes and haricot verts," or green beans, Costantino said.

The students could also choose from additional ingredients including wine, nuts, heavy cream, eggs, garlic, shallots, onions, celery root and herbs.

Five judges, included last year's two winners, circulated among the student chefs making notes on what they were observing.

Gabriela Grande of Brooklyn, who was one of the winners last year and is now attending Monroe College, said she remembered how she felt when she was competing.

"I got nervous in the second round," she said. "But I got in the finals and did what I did."

Grande said the students are not just graded on how the food tastes and is presented.

"They are also graded on organization, sanitation and the way they work with the product," she said, as one student competitor asked an assistant to get a mop so a spill could be cleaned up.

Costantino said he chose the mystery basket ingredients because the students could make a range of simple, tasty dishes.

"I wanted to see them take a chicken apart," he said, adding that the goat cheese could be used with the potatoes or the chicken, as a melted topping or a stuffing.

The pastry and dessert students had an hour and a half to complete their dishes. The main course competitors had an hour.

Raven White, 17, of Manhattan finished with seven minutes to spare.

The Vanguard High School senior said she was probably the only student competing who wasn't in a culinary program.

"It was hard," White said. "I was a nervous wreck."

She said she was using her home cooking experience to get her through the competition.

"So basically my heart and soul is in the cooking," White said.

Her dish was a pan-seared chicken breast, with a side of string beans, sauteed fingerling potatoes with garlic and a bocconcini salad.

"It came out pretty good," White said.

White's mother, Vanessa Cortez, said her daughter has already been accepted at Monroe College. Getting the full scholarship "would be an added bonus," she said.

White has wanted to be a chef since she was 4 or 5, Cortez said. "I'm very proud of her."

Sadé Aguila of Cambria Heights in Queens is a senior at the Food and Finance High School in Manhattan.

She stuffed chicken breasts with goat cheese, mushrooms and red pepper. She said she burned her first attempt at sauteed haricot verts with roasted garlic sauce, but she had enough time to start over and do it properly.

The competition was "intense," she said.

"But the time we were given was enough to execute the dish," Aguila said.

11:30 a.m., March 6, 2011
UPDATE
: According to a spokesman, Monroe College ended up giving scholarships to every student in the competition. Each student who was not a finalist got $3,000 just for participating in the competition. All of the scholarships are applicable to attending Monroe College only.

The top winners in the Culinary Arts division were:  

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  • First Place ($30,000): Sade Aquila, 17, Cambria Heights, Queens, Food & Finance High School in Manhattan.
  • Second Place ($4,500):  Taibot Amusa, 17, Port Richmond High School, Staten Island
  • Third Place ($4,000): Douglas Baum, 17, Totenville High School, Staten Island

The top winners in the Baking & Pastry division were:  

  • First Place ($30,000):  Donika Watson, 17, Food & Finance High School, Brooklyn
  • Second Place ($4,500):  Brenda Lara, Port Richmond High School, Staten Island
  • Third Place ($4,000): Amanda Figuerou, Truman High School, The Bronx
  • Fourth Place ($3,000): Vaneysha Gonzalez, Carlos Daniels High School, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico 

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