Eight teams of students from different communities put their culinary skills to the test in the kitchen at Canadore College today.
It is part of Canadore College’s Next Top Chef competition.
Canadore Food & Beverage second-year student Bobby Lagassie recalls taking part in the Top Chef competition. He says it was a big reason why he decided to take the program.
“I kind of fell in love with the idea of kind of testing what the kitchen is like,” said Lagassie.
“I kind of fell in love with the way the professors actually talk to you as opposed to just everybody. You get a one on one experience with most of the chefs and if you need more help with something they will actually walk you through it.”
The competitors are tasked with creating the best culinary presentation of a three-course meal: minestrone soup, Supreme of Chicken Chasseur with Chateau Potatoes, glazed carrots, and steamed broccoli, and an individual fruit tart with raspberry coulis.
“This year’s menu is definitely ambitious, but as always, I know that we will see surprising variations and impressive results from these aspiring chefs,” said Canadore chef and school of culinary arts professor Derek Lawday in a release.
First-year Canadore Culinary student Tyler Van Fleet believes competitors should not get stressed out by the experience.
“Some would handle people watching but I think the most important thing to remember that it is good to just sometimes take yourself out of the idea that you are being judged and make sure they are having fun and you can concentrate on what you are doing and less about ‘down to the bone’ and grinding yourself about it because you want to make sure you are having fun while you are here,” said Van Fleet.
“It is a good experience not only to learn but to enjoy and tell people.”
However, speaking from experience, Lagassie believes its a stressful competition.
“It is a lot more nerve wracking when you have the students who go here actually walking around and looking at you because you kind of feel like you are being judged but you still have no idea if it is good or not and until you finish plating and you get all of your products out you are kind of just frantically feeling like you have not done enough yet and when you start seeing everything actually come together it actually is fantastic and you know that you have actually succeeded on finishing something at a college level while you are still in high school,” he said.