HMS students compete in Iron Chef competition

Homewood Middle's budding chefs served up tikka masala, meatloaf, baked Alaska, stir fry and more - all made with a special secret ingredient - as part of family and consumer sciences teacher Briana Morton's annual "Iron Chef" competition.

The competition on April 27 started with eighth graders in the morning and seventh graders in the afternoon. Each dish was tasted and judged by a panel of school teachers and administrators.

Morton said the competing classes had been learning cooking skills all semester, and 48 hours before the competition, she let the teams know the secret ingredient their recipe must include: applesauce. 

The recipes teams came up with included apple-glazed vegetable stir fry, applesauce waffles, pulled pork quesadillas with apple salsa and more. Morton said this year's seventh graders were ambitious in the kitchen, with one team attempting baked Alaska, a recipe Morton said she's never even tried before. The eighth grade class had more experience with the "Iron Chef" competition and went for tamer recipes. Morton said she encouraged them to be willing to try something bold.

"Cooking is an experience and an experiment. You're going to have failures," Morton said. "I applaud their fearlessness in the kitchen."

The HMS PTO's education enhancement funding provided ingredients for the competition.

Judges tasted the dishes and rated them based on flavor, difficulty, creativity, use of the secret ingredient and plating. Morton said she was also looking for teamwork among the members of each team. Some of the judges have served in that role multiple years.

"I think it's important to have someone with a critical eye who remembers they are children," Morton said, adding she is often more critical of her students than the judges because "they are capable of so much more than they give away."

In the eighth grade competition, the winning team was Ruby Sloan, Fatima Sylla and Maddie Garrity with their recipe for tikka masala. Two recipes - applesauce donuts and pulled pork quesadillas with apple salsa - tied for runner-up.

The seventh grade winners were Madison Woods and Anna Li Bateman, who created bacon-wrapped meatloaf "cupcakes" and applesauce macaroni and cheese. The runner-up recipe was applesauce ice cream.

The "ultimate Iron Chef" team was the eighth grade winners. Morton said in addition to bragging rights, she's hoping to get the winners onto a local TV news cooking segment and meet with nutrition staff about adding the recipe to the HMS cafeteria's menu.