Shelburne students compete in Jr. Chef event

The kitchen at the Inn at Shelburne Farms over the past several months has been home to the culinary genius of four Shelburne Community School students as they prepared for their biggest competition of the year: Jr. Iron Chef Vermont.

Michael Lewis, Olen Purcell, John Rodgers and Thomas Schramm have worked since January under the leadership of executive chef John Patterson and chef de cuisine Michael Merrifield to perfect their signature dish, “Perogi Wan Kenobi,” a caramelized onion pierogi with potato and Shelburne Farms cheddar, topped with a tart cherry and parsley chimichurri.

Jr. Iron Chef VT is a statewide culinary competition challenging teams of middle and high school students to engage in improving their own health and the health of their community by creating dishes comprised of locally grown, nutritious ingredients.

The annual event invites teams of three to five students from all over the state to cook up an original recipe in under 90 minutes. Every dish is judged by a panel of food professionals and advocates, and awards are given out based on five categories: execution, taste, creativity, teamwork, and use of local ingredients.

“Last year we went thinking we were going to win but then you get there, and you realize there is so much more that goes into it,” Patterson said. “It’s a really good way for kids to be introduced to food and Vermont, and is really great in that the agricultural community is so tied in. I grew up with very different food and a very different understanding.”

The team went through about four to five different iterations of the dish, eliminating options like dumplings and crepes before landing on their signature pierogi.

“We knew we had to get a filling and it had to be vegetarian,” said Lewis, speaking about the elimination process. “We had a vote and I wanted to do a crepe or a dumpling, but this is close to a dumpling.”

“We had dumplings and an idea for a crepe cake with roasted parsnip, apples and melted cabbage,” Rodgers added, “and we actually incorporated the melted cabbage into this dish.”

Each student took to their station on Wednesday night’s practice filling, shaping, searing and plating but not without a few passing jokes and a slew of playful banter to fill the air.

Patterson turned on the clock for the last practice to acquaint the team with the pressure of time.

“There’s all these things that you just don’t really anticipate,” he said. “Like I told them, ‘“You’re going to have to yell.’”

The team even managed to think of what would happen in the worst-case scenario of competitor sabotage.

Hannah Corbin, educator at Shelburne Farms who also worked with the team, jokingly asked, “Are you expecting to be sabotaged?”

The three junior chefs let out a resounding “Yes!” followed by a burst of laughter.

Some students on the team expressed an interest in a future as a chef, like Rodgers, who spends his weekends perfecting his sourdough and focaccia recipe, but others just enjoyed the time spent with friends.

“They get to learn a lot,” said Patterson. “They get to do it with their friends but then there’s also an interest in cooking.”

Purcell, who was a member of the team last year that created a signature ramen dish, explained that the skills learned this year were much different.

“With ramen against perogies, we worked on a lot of our knife skills this time, because there’s not much to cut with ramen,” he said.

Although the team didn’t walk out with any wins this year, Patterson explained that the team walked away with much more: a sense of teamwork.

“Honestly, I’m the one who’s a nervous wreck through it,” he said, adding that the group hit a hiccup in the competition when they realized they needed two presentation options. “We plated everything, and then it was like, ‘Oh, no, we need another one.’” That was a really great thing to see where they came together and then figure out how to put one together. It’s another teamwork exercise, but you can’t really practice those.”