Iron Chefs compete, prepare 'Fit to Fight' dishes

  • Published
  • By Airman James B. Bauer
  • 35th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan (AFNS) --  Five teams of culinary artists dashed to the commissary here for the secret ingredient of the base's second annual "Fit to Fight" Iron Chef competition, Oct. 27.

"The theme this year is 'Fit to Fight'," said Tech. Sgt. Amy Peterson, the 35th Force Support Squadron Falcon feeder manager. "This is a 'Fit to Fight' Iron Chef, so we are encouraging healthy cooking."

Hosted by FSS officials, five teams battled it out in the kitchen using the industrial equipment of the dining facility here.

Each team, with one exception, consisted of two individuals: a head chef and a sous-chef, or "under chef."

"The teams are given a secret ingredient, and an hour and 30 minutes to cook," Sergeant Peterson said. "With that secret ingredient, they have to prepare a main entrée, a side item, a vegetable and a dessert. All of the items must contain the secret ingredient."

The iron chefs opened their envelopes, revealing fresh pumpkin as the secret ingredient.

The teams managed to prepare a wide range of dishes, spanning from pumpkin-tinged sushi, pumpkin curry and chicken encrusted with pumpkin seeds, to pumpkin mashed potatoes, a health-conscious pumpkin cheesecake dip and pumpkin biscotti.

"I am wicked excited about this," said Rose Harris, an Air Force spouse. "I planned all of my recipes on pumpkin, so I can't tell you how happy I am the secret ingredient is pumpkin."

With the assistance of her sous-chef, Mrs. Harris decided to challenge herself by preparing only vegetarian dishes, which included pumpkin muffins and a pumpkin tofu wrap.

"The dishes are judged on presentation, flavor of the food, texture of the food, the difficulty of the recipe, use of the secret ingredient and whether or not it is a healthy item," Sergeant Peterson said. "They ... have a three-minute presentation to impress the judges with their culinary skills, knowledge of food service, and how they prepared their items."

The teams were judged on a 60-point rating scale by a panel of four judges.

Jennifer Tengco, a Navy spouse, persevered as the only sole-member team, and took third place with her pumpkin-tinged sushi, which also incorporated and reflected the local Japanese culture.

Mrs. Harris' self-goaled vegetarian challenge proved to be a great success, winning her team second place.

First place was awarded to Erin Robinson, the defending champion from Misawa AB's first Iron Chef competition last year, with the assistance of her sous-chef, James Maley, an operations assistant at the Misawa Collocated Club.

"Win or lose, this is just about having a good time," said Mrs. Robinson, the assistant club manager of the Misawa Collocated Club. "I don't get a chance to get out of my office very often, so this competition gives me a chance to cook. Being from a very large family, it was cook to survive, so I am self-taught. I love to cook and I love food."

Mrs. Robinson's "Fit to Fight" creations included a pork Florentine roulade, or roll, with fresh pumpkin, a mash of cauliflower and pumpkin, vegetable-stuffed mushrooms with pumpkin seeds and pumpkin cheesecake dip served with fresh apples and granola.

"I am a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy, but the food today was excellent," said Chief Master Sgt. McHudson Theodore, the 35th Mission Support Group chief enlisted manager, who was one of the four judges. "I thought everyone did a wonderful job. Healthy food choices and cooking correlate with our Air Force fitness standards, which is great for the warfighter as well as everyone else in general."