Kent ISD — About an hour into the Chili Cook-Off at the Ballpark, Lowell High School senior Taryn Genovich faced a decision that could affect the team’s timing: Should the onions and garlic go into the frying pans, or should they simmer in the stockpot, freeing the pans for chorizo and Italian sausage?
Taryn chose the latter, designating one teammate to help her cook the meat while the other two finished cutting butternut squash.
The four-member team, led by Taryn, represented Kent Career Tech Center’s Advanced Culinary program in the annual chili cook-off, a fundraiser for Fans of Valley Field, a grassroots organization dedicated to the restoration of the baseball field, Sullivan Field.
“It gives them an opportunity to create a menu and then scale that menu up to a larger size,” said Jacob Bandstra, a Tech Center hospitality instructor who, along with instructor Denise Pohl, attended the event. “It also gives the students an opportunity to give back to the community, which is something that is very important in our industry.”
Pohl said the Sullivan Field project is near and dear to her heart. A few years ago, when she learned the Tech Center’s Hospitality and Culinary Arts program had an opportunity to enter a team in the competition, she jumped at the chance.
Building a Recipe
Students learned of the cook-off at the beginning of the school year, giving them time to develop a recipe and practice making it within the competition’s allowed time. Competitors could begin prepping at 11 a.m. and had two and a half hours to cook after the competition officially began at noon.
Participants competed in the categories of traditional chili and homestyle. Bandstra said the culinary program typically enters the homestyle category because it gives students more flexibility and creativity when developing their chili recipe.
“My recipe stemmed from my mom’s butternut squash soup recipe,” Taryn said. “I wanted to take the butternut squash and figure out how to turn it into a chili.”
Taryn said she leaned into fall flavors, creating squash-based chili with warm spices such as allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg. She added chorizo and Italian sausage and cream cheese for a creamy texture.
The students developed the chili’s flavor profile with feedback from Tech Center staff.
“I’m really glad we went with Taryn’s recipe,” said Lowell High School senior Landon George, who submitted his own chili recipe based on the Portuguese soup, caldo verde. “It had that fall idea that fit the time of the year, and the squash is in season, so it was a good way to feature it.”
Navigating Hiccups
Once the recipe — titled “The Gourd Stuff” — was perfected, the team spent a couple of weeks practicing the recipe within the allotted timeframe.
“We made this recipe about six times so that the day of the event we would know the time management and who would be doing what,” Taryn said.
Still, there were a few hiccups along the way. When the team discovered it had no cooking oil for the onions and garlic, they pivoted, rendering fat from the Italian sausage to use in its place.
“That’s one thing I learned, is that you need to make sure that you have everything,” Landon said with a laugh.
The fast-paced environment was nothing new for the second-year culinary students who are used to participating in similar events and work at local restaurants, they said.
While they didn’t win the competition, the students got an opportunity to meet local chefs, both professional and home cooks, while demonstrating their cooking skills.
“It’s really a lot of fun to just be out here,” said Cedar Springs High School senior Dillon Smith.
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