“Every entree presented for judging by students ranging in ages from five to 15 at the Third Annual Orcas Island School District Student Chef Competition, was suitable to serve at a first class restaurant,” and those very words were uttered by our own first class chef and one of five on the judging panel, Christina Orchid, during the competition.

But, alas, some were not able to fulfill the criteria set forth in the requirements and grab top honors though every contestant took home gifts and ribbons and a heap of admiration from their peers.

In the morning K-5 group, the best overall “Galley Master” award went to Millie Kau and Sabrina Bailey with their perfect preparation of Jamaican jerk chicken and pineapple kabobs. The “Local Yum” winner was Lillyan Otto and Evan King serving up a savory Caribbean chicken casserole. The “Pizazz” award went to Arla and Sam Sutton with colorful Caribbean tortillas. Birdie Greening and Zora Leck won the “Burn Your Tongue” award with their zesty plantain crusted Caribbean chicken, and Kayleigh Horton and Katarina Schiller won the “Ship Shape” award by efficiently preparing Trinidad garlic pork with Caribbean black beans.

The first place winner in the 6th grade group was Monica Connell who prepared Caribbean jerk stir-fry and received perfect scores on her recipe, presentation, taste, “miss en place,” a French phrase meaning “putting in place” and cleanliness.  Finalists were Violet and Tori Sturk with their colorful jerk chicken with rice and peas and Alexis Pense with her unique St. Lucia plantains casserole.

The High School contestants were teamed up with teachers and gave us a show of a lifetime.  So much so that it took almost a half hour for the judges to determine the winner because is was so close.  In the end, however, the passion and preparation of Denis Riordan with his teacher counterpart Jill Sherman came out on top with Denis’s recipe of Caribbean crab cakes with scallion pancakes and Caribbean fruit salsa.  Katie Holley and teacher Paul Evans came in an achingly close second with a first class presentation of Caribbean jerk chicken elegantly served with a lovely fruit “mocktail.”

The whole event was captured on video by student Alexis Cuthburt and will soon be available on YouTube, and a slide show and downloadable recipes along with a blow-by-blow account of the whole day is available on the Farm to Cafeteria web site at www.orcasislandf2c.org.

An enormous amount of gratitude goes out to our sponsors: Roses, Smalldog Network Solutions, Maxdigger Productions, Doe Bay Cafe, the Reed Family, The Lawlors, Chilada’s, Tim Blanchard and Peg Manning, and the Orcas Hotel who enabled us to secure some very nice prizes and pull off a first class event for the kids.

– Murray is chair of the Orcas Island Farm to Cafeteria Program