Lifestyle
What Happens When 4 College Students Try Their Hand at Chopped
Meet the Contestants:
Liberal Arts Honors Anthropology major Zach Kosut is the master of dorm-made Louisiana red beans and rice and has perfected the art of peeling a grapefruit.
Sam Karnes, a Plan II and International Relations major, cooks with the passion of a thousand suns.
Sarah “The Big Tuna” Fischer studies International Relations with Liberal Arts Honors and plans to cook her way through Julia Child’s “The Art of French Cooking.”
Liberal Arts Honors History major Synnevve Williams brings to the chopping board her quick wit and love of all things food related.
The Rules:
There is one entrée round and one secret ingredient that must be used in the dish. Contestants will utilize the dining hall as “the pantry” and can take advantage of heating elements such as the microwave, toaster, waffle iron, etc. to cook new items. They have ten minutes to craft their dish which will then be scored by a panel of judges on three criteria: Taste, Presentation and Creativity.
And the secret ingredient is… Goldfish!
Ten minutes zoom by as the contestant’s scavenge the dining hall to make their dishes. Then, they face the chopping block.
Meet the Judges:
From the left: Georgia Budjenska, coffee connoisseur, Caleb Cade, sass-master extroidinare and Victoria Young (that’s me).
Let the judgment commence.
Synnevve’s hummus pizza wrap with crushed goldfish sitting on a bed of fresh greens added finesse to a typically underestimated American entreé. Her crouton Stonehenge certainly earned her points for creativity and presentation.
Zach’s Southwestern, goldfish crusted chicken burger combined his passion for local flare and college-kid cuisine. This beautifully presented dish would receive nothing but praise from restauranteur, Scott Conant.
Sam created potato chicken poppers garnished with spicy cole slaw, corn relish and crushed goldfish. Taking a few tips from the televsion show, he finished the plate with a professional “spoon push” of ranch dressing that would have impressed the great Alex Guarnaschelli.
Sarah’s taco featured diced chicken, spicy slaw and goldfish for some added crunch. The four accompanying sauces included a Siracha and tobassco salsa, roasted tomatillo sauce, picante salsa and guacamole. This Maryland girl certainly knows her way with Tex-Mex flavors.
The Verdict:
So after deliberation we came to the conclusion that….
Chef Sarah’s Tex- Mex taco was the winner. Congratulations, Sarah, you are the first ever College Chopped Champion!
Have a great idea of what the next competition’s secret ingredient should be? Contact Victoria Young at victoriakyoung@utexas.edu