![Senior Jason Kim added final touches to the Ahi tuna salads, Senior Anup Sankarraman worked on the layered fruit parfait, and Senior Ohad Beck grilled the Ahi tuna. “I was at a restaurant a couple of weeks when I saw [the Ahi tuna salad], so I thought it would be a good choice to make it,” senior Ohad Beck said. Photos by Justin Kim.](https://www.elestoque.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/5-1500w.png)
“TIME!” senior Anna Tedijanto shouted. All the teams are required to raise their hands in the air, no longer able to add final touches to their dishes.
The challenge of making the food was over for the contestants, but another hurdle was on the horizon. Four teams competed for the championship: BBC, Edibles, Shakers and Bakers and Tomato Tomahto Potato Pohtahto. Three judges, English teacher Jessica Kaufman, science department chair Andrew Goldenkranz and food services director Debbie Herrera, decided on the winner of Master Chef on Feb. 13 at the rally court during lunch.
Recognition and Community, Leadership sections that are trying more health conscious projects such as the food drive and health fair, decided on the new rules. Instead of naming the competition Iron Chef like previous years, the student commissions decided to change the name to Master Chef for 2015. There are no more secret ingredients and student teams can pick any food they wanted to make as long as it was healthy.
“This year there is the healthy living fair, so we feel like it will be cool to coincide with Masterchef,” junior Naomi Wang, a member of Recognition Committee said. “Health is a really big trend now and people are really into it.”
Judges look at the dishes with respect to criteria such as taste, presentation and originality. Edibles won the competition with a Ahi tuna salad, layered vanilla and chocolate pudding and sugar-free smoothie.
“We practiced really hard and stayed up until 12 last night,” Sankarraman said. “We spent a lot of time making our ingredients. It took us a lot of time to think about the kind of dish that we want to make.”
Members of Edibles: seniors Anup Sankarraman, Ohad Beck, Joshua Tsuei and Jason Kim
Learn how Edibles made the winning Ahi tuna salad:
- Marinate the tuna with salt, pepper, olive oil and cover it with sesame seeds.
- Sear the tuna for three minutes.
- Make the dressing from organic honey, champagne vinegar, olive oil, lemon, black pepper, salt, garlic and apple vinegar.
- Place the sliced tuna over the salad with dressing and top the salad with tangerine slices, cranberries, goat cheese, and walnuts.
