Students Ginger Spice it Up in Iron Chef Competition

Columbia is inundated with young culinary talent. After busying themselves with oft-broken dorm kitchen appliances, these food wizards can conjure dishes whose quality surpasses that of most Morningside Heights offerings.

The first Columbia Iron Chef competition, held last Friday in Lerner Party Space, was a center stage for student cooks to show off their culinary magic, as well as to indulge hungry audiences and curious judges. It was the brainchild of Robyn Burgess, CC ’10, the Columbia College Student Council’s vice president for campus life, and it was hosted by the CCSC.

The competition was based on a themed ingredient—ginger—that was announced at 11:30 a.m. to the 12 participating groups. Each team was then provided with $40 and allowed limited use of pantry items. Then the groups had to finish grocery shopping and prepare 20 sample servings for the audience and full dishes for the three official judges—all in the space of five hours.

The resulting recipes were as diverse as Columbia’s student body, and included Moroccan chicken salad, Jamaican couscous, a traditional Thai appetizer wrapped in lettuce, Korean-style fried chicken with a soy sauce base, and Indian-style bread spiced with ginger. There were also more traditional dishes, such as butter squash soups, handmade ravioli, and truffles, all with a gingery twist.

While the audience did not get to see the students actually cook the food themselves, three judges—Matt Powell, CC ’12, a member of the Columbia Culinary Society and a pastry chef; Robert Taylor, the executive director of Student Affairs and Activities and an amateur cook; and Liane Runco, a member of Columbia University Catering—offered clear opinions on the texture, presentation, general taste, and creativity of the dishes served, as well as on the harmony of their ingredients.

The food was judged on a scale of one to four in four categories: taste, originality, use of the secret ingredient, and presentation. Scores for each category were combined to determine the winners. There was a tie for first place between “Star Nose Moles,” three Columbia College first-years whose ginger carrot cupcake was Taylor’s favorite cake of the night, and “This is a Sexman Review,” whose dishes (which included a heavily praised lamb stew) incorporated the group’s Southeast Asian heritage. Third place was awarded to “The Wednesday Night Shapiro Feast,” four sophomores who whipped up pumpkin ginger soup and chocolate and ginger cream in the shape of the Columbia logo.

For students interested in next year’s Iron Chef, here’s Powell’s advice: “Don’t be afraid to go over the top.” In other words, put your raw creativity into a pot, spice it up with a little craziness, and enjoy the feast.