Iron Chefs compete, prepare 'Fit to Fight' dishes

  • Published
  • By Airman James B. Bauer
  • 35th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan --  Five teams of culinary artists frantically dashed to the Misawa Air Base commissary for the secret ingredient of the base's second annual "Fit to Fight" Iron Chef competition, Oct. 27, held at the Grissom Dining Facility.

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

Hosted by the FSS, five teams battled it out in the kitchen using the industrial facilities of the DFAC.

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

"The teams are given a secret ingredient, and an hour and 30 minutes to cook," said Tech. Sgt. Peterson. "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 the secret ingredient -- fresh pumpkin. Despite the challenging, festive 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, Harris, despite not being a vegetarian, decided to challenge herself by only preparing 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," said Tech. Sgt. Peterson. "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, Top Chef-style, by a panel of four judges.

Jennifer Tengco, a Navy spouse, persevered as the only sole-member team and took third place for her tenacious efforts with her standout 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's first Iron Chef competition last year, with the assistance of her sous-chef, James Maley, operations assistant at the Misawa Collocated Club.

"Win or lose, this is just about having a good time," said 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 the delicious 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, 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."

Mr. Jerry Hicks from the Coastal Pacific Food Distributors was also among the panel of judges. CPFD is responsible for providing food to the Grissom Dining Facility, one of 60 locations stretching from Japan to Singapore, and all war ships in the region.

"I thought the event was amazing," said Hicks. "It's really nice for an installation like this to get the community involved, and the leadership here was great in putting everything together. We appreciate seeing an event like this put on since it raises morale for everyone and is something we can be a part of instead of just delivering them food. I am retired Army, so I can relate to fitness and health. I think the 'Fit to Fight' theme was perfect for this event due to its importance in the Air Force, and all other branches of the service."