by Audrey Thorne ’19

The basic structure
Five teams, three judges, one winner. The teams were given from 4:30 pm until 6 pm to cook and plate their dishes. Each team must incorporate apples into their dish.

The teams
Al Dente Al Fresco, Working Title, Shakers and Bakers, Ratatouille, and Fernando the Destroyer.

The judges

The winning dish
Working Title won for their Chicken Cordon Bleu in a honey mustard glaze, with a provolone melt and a side of maple whipped sweet potatoes with sage butter and a Fall salad.

Ingredients
Each team received $18 in plastic Farmer’s Market currency to buy fresh ingredients from the fair. All spending in the market was rounded up to the dollar and had to occur before 4:30. In addition to produce bought at the fair, the teams had access to Annenberg’s salad bar, raw eggs, milk, and the secret ingredient: apples.

 Crunch time
“I had class from 3-5pm, so I had to buy my ingredients in advance and start cooking just over a half hour late. My group, Ratatouille, purchased homemade rigatoni for $6.50, a fresh sweet potato for $2, and seasoned almonds for $3.”

What did it feel like cooking in front of a crowd?
“Exciting. I ran in just past 5 pm to see a full production: five tables tended to by guys and girls in white aprons and hats, scurrying about, chopping and simmering. Others strolled from table to table cooing and inquiring. Friends came by taking photos. My teammates plated the pasta and uncooked apples, followed by the seared the chopped apples and sweet potatoes. To our right one team seared scallops and whipped sweet potatoes. To our left the girls cooked cranberry sauce and assembled three swans out of apple slices, one on each judge’s plate. Each team’s dish looked so different, not just in how it was cooked but also how it was presented, despite the similarities in ingredients.”