Culinary Arts teacher Laura Craddick will host an Iron Chef Competition for her students. The winning team will receive certificates and a prize. Cooking and judging will be from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. February 6, 13, and 20, and the finale will be hosted on the 27.

“I think the competition is a great way for each student to be able to showcase their talents in the kitchen,” junior Margie Savage said. “It gives us hands on experience in what it takes to run a kitchen.”

Each date has a separate category including appetizers, Valentines Day, desserts, and ending with a Mardi Gras theme. The competitors will have to discover their own recipes that can be manipulated to fit the secret ingredient Mrs. Craddick gives them.

“I’m nervous and also very excited to see what recipes the other teams [come] up with,” sophomore Abby Coleman said. “We’ve used lots and lots of Pinterest recipes to get ideas for our dishes.”

The competition will start with nine teams, three from each of the Culinary Arts classes. Each week one team from each class will be eliminated. However, during the third week only one team will be eliminated, leaving one for the final.

“I honestly hope we stay in the competition for a few rounds, but we have some really talented competitors,” Savage said. “It’ll all come down to who works better under the pressure.”

Each date will have a panel of three judges who will determine who will advance to the next round. Judges are Nicole Hughes, Kenny Hughes, Donna Tyus, Lisa Tate, Melissa Cox, Andrea Roller, Shetonia Scires, and Sonya Gibson.

“I think my team has a really good chance to win it,” Coleman said. “Not only can we cook, but we’ve planned out what we’re doing, who’s doing what, and how we’re doing it.”

Students will not just prepare dishes. Food service careers, especially management, require knowledge and experience in cost analysis and nutritional analysis, so the students will be required to grasp these topics as part of the contest.

“The paperwork Mrs. Craddick is having us [do] helps us become familiar with our recipes and with each other’s strong suits,” Savage said. “It’s just like working in a kitchen.”