Juniors and sophomores in Westfield Technical Academy’s Graphic Arts & Communication and Culinary Arts collaborated for the fourth annual “Chef Showdown.
Steven Forni’s Graphics Arts & Communication students did all the scheduling and planning and chose the secret ingredients for the three-day competition, while chefs Eric Rogers and Nicolas Leslie’s students competed in a timed elimination contest.
On the first day of the competition, the culinary students prepared breakfast for guest judges that included Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski, using three secret ingredients — ramen, banana peppers and cheese whiz. The teams made omelets and breakfast burritos.
On the second day, the winning cooks chose their teammates and prepared international dishes. On the third day, the winning cooks from day two again chose their crew, preparing beef tenderloin and crawfish as the secret ingredients and competed against each other for the winner of the Chef Showdown.
Forni has now asked his students to team up to edit the footage and produce three half-hour segments of the show by May 22, which will appear on the Westfield Community TV’s YouTube channel when completed.
As for the winner of the cooking competition, watch for all three episodes of Chef Showdown on Westfield Community TV, coming in June.