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Iron Chefs:
Update: The Hot Food Competition team won the American Culinary Federation's Northeast Regional Conference Student Team competition in Toronto, Canada, on March 18. They go to national competition in Philadelphia in July. By 9:30 a.m., Columbus State's Hot Food Competition team has already been practicing for three hours. The five students, all members of the college's Chef Apprenticeship program, still have one more run-through to go. "Twenty seconds," says Ian Rough, a team advisor and executive chef at Martini. The chatter dies down as students don aprons and line up to start their routine. At Rough's word, they swing into action. Four of the students gather around a small work table, all intent on their own, well-rehearsed tasks. Olivia Geisler deliberately feeds vegetables into a food processor, while Jonathan Basch prepares other vegetables. Gabriel Selbo slowly stirs chocolate for a garnish, while to his right, Mitchell Barr takes a lobster from the fridge and expertly cuts it in half. Alternate team member Amy Glaser patrols the workstation, monitoring the work to make sure it goes smoothly. They've still got 80 minutes to go.
The competition includes a 75-minute knife skills test, followed by a cooking competition. The students must prepare a gourmet four-course meal from scratch and present it to the judges, all in 90 minutes. "They don't have any time to sit and think about what they're doing," Rough said. "They've got to know." For added pressure, the judges spend the 90 minutes inspecting the students' work and quizzing them on techniques, Rough said. And the judges have a copy of the menu, so if something goes wrong there's no covering it up. The menu features "contemporary American cuisine with a French influence." It starts with a chicken consommé, then goes to a "bacon and eggs" salad with bacon lardoons, truffle onion cream and poached quail egg on micro greens. Next up is pan-fried Dover Sole with lobster sausage and wild mushroom risotto, and for dessert comes pistachio financier. A curl of tempered chocolate rises over the dessert--that's Selbo's job, and making the wisp of solid chocolate is difficult even under more leisurely conditions.  The first course: Chicken consomme with a braided "cracker."Students took different routes into the program. Selbo got interested in the program after deciding medical school wasn't for him. Basch said he's been interesting in cooking since he was 15, and learned of the Columbus State program while working for a chef. "Once I heard about the program, I said if I'm really serious about cooking, then I should sign up," Basch said. At the end of the Chef Apprenticeship program, students earn an associate degree in Hospitality Management and the title of journeyman chef. The program enjoys a reputation for turning out quality graduates, Rough said. Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, which owns Martini, employs about 15 chef apprentices from Columbus State. Columbus State students and grads are behind the stove in some of Columbus' nicest eateries, including Barcelona, Trattoria Roma, Luce, Bravo Italian Kitchen, Elemental and the Lakes Golf & Country Club. "It's great having that kind of energy in your restaurant," Rough said.
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Barr (right) and Selbo work against the clock during a recent practice.