Young chefs compete in Youth Center cooking challenge

  • Published
  • By Bud Cordova
  • Nucleus writer
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  Frantic stirring, mixing and frying as the time remaining is called out combines with the hurried rush to get food to plates in a gourmet presentation.

This is the scene during the last few minutes at the  "Iron Chef Competition" at the Youth Center. It is the culminating event for the past 12 weeks of preparation for students.

The kids, who range in age from 9 to 13, have been learning to cook with Youth Center Lead Child and Youth Programs Assistant Heather Hutzell.

"As a group we decided we wanted to learn more about cooking," Hutzell said.

As the program progressed, the kids started asking questions about food from other countries, allowing for the lessons to cover the cultural aspects of food.

"The students did a breakfast around the world one week during the program," Hutzell said.

The group covered Brazilian smoothies, French parfaits and old-fashioned American breakfast.

Hutzell said one aspect she taught was how to make healthier versions of certain dishes.

The "Iron Chef Competition" split the students into two teams with six members per team.

The groups then had to make an appetizer, entrée and dessert in 70 minutes.

The judges were food and recipe blogger and "Military Spouse" magazine guest columnist Olivia Smith, Nexus Brewery chef and manager Joaquin Wells and Kirtland Air Force Base's very own Senior Master Sgt. Maurice Robinson with 377th Force Support Squadron.

The judges had to evaluate each team on plating, taste, use of secret ingredient and cleanliness.

"I'm a little bit nervous about what the secret ingredient is going to be," said Iron Chef participant Gabi Dorsey, 13.

For this challenge the secret ingredient was dried cranberries. This ingredient had to be incorporated into each dish the teams prepared.

"This is some serious business going on here," Robinson said as he watched the kids preparing the food.

Smith commented on how great each group's teamwork was as they helped each other from start to finish. Wells agreed, adding that the experience was awesome and rewarding.

Team One's plates were Bruschetta with tomato, basil and cranberry for the appetizer; Italian-style meatballs of chicken with cranberry over spaghetti for the entrée; plus a parfait of pineapple, strawberry and cranberry over vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Team Two took a picnic-themed approach in honor of Memorial  Day weekend. They created Italian antipasto skewers of cheese, meats and fruits for their appetizer; cranberry hamburger sliders for their entrée; and for dessert they did skewers of fresh fruit with fruit icing for dipping.

The judges gave each team rave reviews.

But at the end of the challenge, one team's cuisine had to reign supreme.

Team One won, with the judge's favorites being the meatballs and the bruschetta. 

"I feel really, really good now that we won," said Team One captain Genevieve Wilkinson, 9.

In parting Robinson complemented the students, "I can tell you are military kids just from the team work I watched, the way you all stepped up to overcome obstacles and that you did it all while having fun with each other."