Student chefs will experience the excitement of working under pressure just like the televised cooking shows when they compete in the fifth annual Whipping Up Wellness finals Thursday at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Five teams of students — hailing from the Fond du Lac, Menominee Indian, New Lisbon, Plymouth, and Saint Croix Central school districts — will prepare the nutritious, student-friendly dish they developed. Cooking begins at 9:15 a.m. in the Babcock Hall cooking lab. Between 10 and 11:30 a.m., teams must present their dish to a panel of guest judges. Students will introduce their team, describe the dish and its creation, and share student taste-test results. The judges’ evaluation also will consider taste, including the use of flavors, variety of textures, and serving temperature; appearance and presentation, including color and plate appeal; and originality, including creativity and student appeal. Results of the judging will be presented at 11:45 a.m. The five finalists for Thursday’s competition were among 68 entries of recipes in the Whipping Up Wellness Wisconsin Student Chef Competition. Each team was made up of between three and five students in grades six through 12. All recipes were to include a bean or pea (legume) ingredient. Recipes were to be easily incorporated into the school food service program and used at home. Qualifying entries will become part of the fifth annual student chef cookbook, published by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Finalists for the Whipping Up Wellness Wisconsin Student Chef Competition are from the
• Fond du Lac School District — Fond du Lac High School — The Cooking Cardinals: Supervising Teacher: Stephanie Fox;
• Menominee Indian School District — Menominee Indian Middle School — Enaemaehkiw Cepahkowak (Thunder Cooks): Supervising Teacher: LaRon Buettner;
• New Lisbon School District — New Lisbon High School — Sassy Salsa Serving Señoritas: Supervising Teacher: Rachel Morey;
• Plymouth School District — Plymouth High School — Poppin’ Plymouth Panthers: Supervising Teacher: Gale Litt; and
• Saint Croix Central School District — Saint Croix Central High School — SCC Culinary Panthers: Supervising Teacher: Courtney Hawkins.
