Up to the Challenge

By Chad Austin

Marsha Strickland enjoys watching the Food Network's Iron Chef program, in which chefs must cook a multicourse meal using secret and special ingredients in under an hour.

"You never know what the final dishes are going to be," says Strickland, a chef at NC State's Fountain Dining Hall. "I enjoy watching them come up with different dishes and the creativity the chefs demonstrate on the show."

Strickland and other chefs at NC State will put their skills and creativity to the test at NC State's fourth annual Chef's Challenge, which will be held this Thursday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Fountain Dining Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

Marsha Strickland will represent Fountain Dining Hall in NC State's annual Chef's Challenge.

The challenge features four teams of two chefs representing each dining hall on campus and University Catering who compete in a live cooking competition. The teams will prepare a main dish according to a pre-set list of rules.

A panel of celebrity guests and culinary experts will judge each dish according to culinary skill, creativity, presentation, composition, and, of course, taste. The winning dish will be served at the campus dining halls on a later date.

"It's just two people, a cutting board and two burners," says Bill Brizzolara, executive chef at NC State and organizer of the challenge. "And they only have an hour. You have to be organized, and you have to be efficient to pull that off.

"There is usually big commotion at the beginning when they're getting started, and big commotion at the end when they're finishing up and trying to get to the judges on time."

The Chef's Challenge is the main event of NC State's annual Culinary Showcase Week, which is designed to demonstrate the culinary talent of the chefs on the university dining staff and provide a culinary education experience for the campus community.

This year's competition will feature vegetarian dishes. Strickland and her fellow chef and teammate Yves Ruiz will be preparing spinach risotto with red pepper cream sauce and watercress soup. The vegetarian theme adds a little more intrigue to this year's competition, Strickland says.

"It causes you to think a little bit more," she says. "You have to come up with a vegetarian dish that you think everyone will like."

Joe Nalley, who, along with fellow chef Troy Privette, will represent Clark Dining Hall in the competition, says the competition is friendly, yet serious.

"It's a fun, friendly competition, but everyone does want to win," Nalley says. "But there's no sabotaging going on. No one's pouring vinegar in someone else's sauce."