Iron Chef and North County Collide

Five students from North County Technical High School took home the silver Tuesday afternoon during the fourth annual St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission (CVC) cooking competition on the campus of St. Louis Community College (STLCC) at Forest Park.

The team, comprised of seniors Justin Terry, Kimisha Robinson, Jasmine McDuffie and juniors Shayne McCrady and Jael McRoberts, competed in an Iron Chef-style contest. The team was given an unknown list of ingredients from which to work and had to come up with a salad, appetizer and entrée for a panel of judges to taste and evaluate.

The panel consisted of three instructors from the STLCC culinary program. They were chefs Jeff Seaborn, Casey Shiller and John Womick.

North County competed against Clyde C. Miller Career Academy, South Technical and Normandy High School. The event, which had originally started with just North County and Clyde C. Miller Career Academy, has quickly evolved into a broader St. Louis community event.

“It’s great to see it grow into a real competition,” Kathleen “Kitty” Ratcliffe, the president of the St. Louis CVC, said following the awards ceremony. “It’s fun to watch the kids vying to be on the team and step into this competitive environment. This is a great way to expose them to how things will be in the workplace following graduation.”

North County was the last team to present its dishes to the judges. The team chose to start off with a mixed greens salad sprinkled with Gorgonzola and black pepper. Chef Siller applauded the team's efforts in ensuring the plate and salad were cold when served.

For its appetizer, the group presented short kabobs featuring small chunks of pork, baby tomatoes and jalapeños. They were served with a Thai sweet chili pepper sauce, which the judges praised.

Finally, the main dish was a seared and grilled pork tenderloin served with boiled brown rice and sautéed asparagus. Team captain Kimisha Robinson remained with the judges during their tasting, introducing the dishes and answering any questions they had. This also allowed her to listen in as the judges debated the merits of each plate.

“I took it and just saw how we could’ve done everything better. It’s all a learning experience,” Robinson said.

Following the tasting, Chef Seaborn led the judges in thanking the teams for all the work they had put in throughout the competition.

“This is such a great treat to come out here and watch the enthusiasm at the high school level,” Seaborn said.

Before handing out the medals, two individual awards were presented. David Dahl of South Technical won the Elijah Moore Award, akin to an MVP, and Robinson won the Team Leadership award for the second year in a row, receiving her second set of kitchen knives.

“Maybe I can pass this one on to some of the juniors,” Robinson said jokingly.

Clyde C. Miller Career Academy took the gold medal following the awards, with North County in second, South Technical in third and Normandy coming in fourth.

North had finished with the gold the first two years of the event, and the juniors were ready for next year.

“I intend to come back next year and win the gold,” junior Shayne McCrady said.