MISD culinary students compete in Discovery Kitchen Cookoff

MIDLAND, Texas (KOSA) - Midland ISD held the first ever Discovery Kitchen Cookoff Thursday afternoon at Coleman High School.

Culinary students from Midland, Legacy, and Coleman High School competed in a “Chopped” style cookoff.

45 minutes to put together something yummy for the judges and the teams did not disappoint.

Chartwells, the company tasked with school lunches for MISD students, hosted the cookoff to strengthen and encourage the skills of culinary students.

Teams were given a mystery basket of five ingredients…mole, dragon fruit, bacon, doritos, and gouda. They were then asked to choose three to create an entrée.

“I think it makes them feel more important because they are being shown off for their skills whether they are going to use it later or not. It also brings the community together. There’s a lot of people here from the community. Parents get to see what their kids actually do at school. The board members and everyone gets to see where all their money goes,” said Chartwell’s marketing specialist Elizabeth Karvonen.

All three teams said the time constraint was a challenge, but the Legacy team had to face it shorthanded.

The other two teams had five members, but Legacy’s Teen Titans only had three. Before the cookoff, they were even prepared to compete with two people.

“We were going to go with just two of us and we were going to have to do everything, but we found somebody that was willing to help us. When we had like five minutes left, I was like I don’t think we are going to finish this, but we were able to get it done. My original plan was three tacos, but then I thought that’s a lot of tacos for them just tasting it so we went down to one,” said legacy senior Alexis Carrazco.

The judges loved every dish the teams cooked, but only one could take the cake.

“The school and team that had the highest scores today is the Midland High School Cooks.”

Midland High walked away victorious and their name will be engraved on the trophy and it will stay on campus for a year.

“I was kind of, I wasn’t expecting it, but I was like “I doubt we’re gonna win”...just a little voice in the back of the head,” said Midland junior Jose Mtanous.

The Discovery Kitchen Cookoff will be an annual event and the trophy will travel to whichever school wins next year.

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