By Madelyn Ostendorf
The CYentists, a team of Iowa State University Culinary Science Club students, took home first place at the Taste-Student Competition hosted by the Iowa Pork Producers Association.
The team of culinary food science majors - Evelyn Greenbury, senior, Christabel Forney, senior, Izabele Jaime, junior and Julain Sinkler, senior - attended the annual competition at the Iowa Culinary Institute at Des Moines Area Community College. Competing teams are given a cut of pork to work into their recipes and, after turning in their plans, have two hours to make and plate the dish.
“Our team is unique because we're competing out of a culinary food science program instead of a culinary program like many other teams,” Greenbury said. “This forces us to think about the competition differently because we know we may not bring the same level of technical skills to the table as the other teams do. But where our technical skills may not be as strong as other teams, we have a strong foundation in the science of how foods interact with each other when creating recipes.”
This year, the team presented a Japanese-fusion-inspired dish, a red wine and miso glazed pork loin with togarashi Brussels sprouts and potato mochi. The team won with similar inspiration the previous year, so the CYentists decided to build on their success.
“We were just brainstorming ideas, and Evelyn and I both thought up miso and wine at the same time,” Sinkler said. “That main dish was the focal point for our practices. We tried so many sides, like purple rice and rainbow carrots. We knew the pork was the star, and we ended up having one meeting to pair the right sides.”
Each team is given two hours to create their dishes, though some steps, like brining the pork loin, were allowed to be done before the event. As the CYentists entered the industrial kitchens, they encountered their first challenge.
“The students from DMACC and Kirkwood are full-time culinary students, and we are food science students,” Jaime said. “We learn basic culinary concepts, but culinary students go much more in-depth. Some of our team members had never worked in an industrial kitchen before.”
After getting oriented with the kitchen, the students began searing potatoes and shredding Brussels sprouts. Forney said it was important for the team to trust their instincts and not get too shaken up by the competition.
“We all know how to cook pork,” Jaime said. “Sometimes just using the basics gets the job done. I get in my head and worry that they aren’t going to like the dish or that our dish wasn’t creative enough. It is just a piece of pork with some potatoes and sprouts, after all. But focusing on doing the simple things really well goes a long way.”
Jaime said the team had a “TV show moment” when their thermometer fell on the floor and broke. They did not have a backup and had to rely on their knowledge of food safety and the visual indicators of the pork.
“It turned out perfect,” Sinkler said. “We were shooting for a medium-rare and hit that perfectly. It’s definitely a reminder to pack several backups of our equipment.”
The team agreed that the entire experience was a great chance to put their knowledge into practice and learn how to act under pressure. Jaime said she hopes there will be multiple teams of CYentists competing with each other in the future.