MOUNT VERNON — High school juniors and seniors in the Northwest Career and Technical Academy’s Culinary Arts and Money and Business programs have been hard at work preparing for the third annual Kitchen Wars.
Kitchen Wars will be held at 6 p.m. May 16.
The 11 teams that will compete in this year’s competition have been busy nailing down the details of the international appetizers and mocktails they will provide guests. Each team will feature cuisine from a different country. Isaiah Martinez Zavala and Santi Davila are a part of Team B.N.Z., which will have Mexican cuisine.
The team’s dish will be pambazos, a traditional dish made from pambazo bread, which is dipped and friend in a red guajillo pepper sauce and traditionally filled with potatoes or chorizo and potatoes.“We like to explore and try new things when we cook,” Martinez Zavala said.
He said the members of the team all have a background in Mexican culture and wanted to make something they thought their grandparents would make for them.
Davila said the dish is rather spicy, so the group decided to pair it with strawberry agua fresca.
“We feel it will complement each other very well,” Davila said.
Yacir Sanchez and Joseph Montero are on Team Jade Monkey and are representing Chinese cuisine with shrimp chow mein.
“It was really the most cost effective thing we could make,” Sanchez said.
Culinary Arts teacher Lyle Hildahl said the students will present a full-dish entree for guests to see what the dish looks like, and will provide samples for the guests.
Hildahl said the students were required to figure out how much the dish cost as a whole and for samples, and how much they could potentially charge for it if they sold it in a restaurant.
Sanchez said he is excited for the big night, and with 11 teams there is stiff competition. However, he said his team has its dish ready and is working out the last of the kinks in its mocktail.
Hildahl said he is excited to see how his students do on the big night.
“I love my students. They are so resilient,” he said.
Kitchen Wars teaches the students the importance of a strong finish, of working as a team, of why preparation is important and how to maintain composure in a busy kitchen.
“They’re getting a live audition,” Hildahl said of his students experiencing a large event and busy kitchen. “I love that we do this event.”
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