While most students attended the Varsity girls basketball game on Wednesday, March 6, several others participated in a cook-off at Parkway North. Seniors Matt Sanders, Brian Peoples, and junior Nick Ceriotti competed to win the cooking challenge sponsored by Kendall College.
Five teams–one from each Parkway high school and one from Lafayette high school–were given only six ingredients to make two dishes: an appetizer and a main course. They were required to use: chilies, mango, Swiss char, shrimp, chicken, and rice noodles.
The students creations were judged by chefs from Kendall college and Alumni.
“Sometimes I get a little scared because I’m the one who has to taste this stuff,” Brian Scheiber, an alumnus, said.
Christopher Koetke, the Vice President of the School of Culinary Arts at Kendall College, holds student cooking events about once a month. He used to work at one of the top 10 restaurants in Chicago, but then received a job offer in St. Louis.
“I fell in love with teaching, there’s nothing better,” Koetke said.
Junior Nick Ceriotti volunteered to compete with his peers because he has always liked to cook. He includes culinary arts in his options of future careers.
“I like putting themes on my dishes,” Ceriotti said, although he was critiqued by the chefs for doing so. Koetke says this type of cooking, where time and ingredients are limited, is difficult even for professionals.[vsw id=”GjW65TcHfVE” source=”youtube” width=”300″ height=”243″ autoplay=”no”]
