Dubois-Pike Countywide Chopped
Jasper’s dream team put their preparation and skills together to try their best during the competition. “I think we’re going to win,” comments Senior Justin Persohn.
April 13, 2018 marked a special moment in history for the culinary program as they hosted the first ever Dubois-Pike Chopped competition. “I thought ‘let’s get the schools together like a sports team,'” said Kyla Beier, the culinary teacher. Beier had
Pike Central’s team works hard to get their bread toasted and sausage cooked. “It was good, stressful, but it worked out in the end,” commented Pike Senior Taylor Deffendoll.
been planning for months.
The teams consisted of Pike Central, Southridge, Forest Park, and Jasper. Jasper’s team was voted on by the students. Team members were seniors Shelby Roach, Dustin Bayer, Adi Welp, Caden Dugan, Justin Persohn, and Olivia Yarbrough. Originally Rachel Fleck was on the team, but unfortunately she couldn’t make it, so Yarbrough stepped in. The team designed their own aprons for the event. An apron they all signed also hung in their purple kitchen.
Before the competition, there was tons of stress as the teams prepared themselves for the revealing of the secret ingredients. Every team had to look around their kitchens to find out where everything was. Jasper, having the home advantage, had the least amount of stress with the kitchen, but a lot when it came to them wishing to prove themselves in the competition. “As a disadvantage, I gave them the purple kitchen because it has a broken sink, so they had to go to yellow kitchen to wash their dishes,” added Beier, trying to keep things as even as possible. That wasn’t the only stressing moment. Mr. Elrod live streamed the entire event throughout the school. “It felt scary on the live,” claimed Southridge student, Nora Reyes. “I’m just nervous” added Cole Oeding, from Forest Park.
The secret ingredients were finally revealed to be pineapple, avocado, and sausage. Students rushed to begin cooking as they went from cupboard to kitchen for all they needed. “We’re working together
Senior Dustin Bayer hurriedly scrambled to get their dish plates on to the Judges table with the help of his team.
with no phone for a recipe,” said Pike freshman, Charlotte Dudenhoeffer. The Jasper students worked together with the rest of the teams doing the same. Everyone was hard at work cooking within the given time crunch desperate to finish on time.
As time closed in with less than five minutes on the clock, students placed their plates onto the judges table, with Jasper placing their plate last minute. The judges, Chef Brian Mendenhall from Sullivan University; Shirly Messmer, former JMS FACS teacher; and Mason Herzog, former JHS ’16 Grad and
’18 Sullivan Grad looked upon the food to begin judging them based on not only looks, but taste and preparation as well. ” All the dishes looked amazing,” said Herzog, gazing upon the dishes in front of him. “I liked Forest Park’s food,” commented Chef Brian as he judged the dishes. “The crunch was a shocker,” added Messmer. As the judges finished up, the students went to clean up their kitchens before the final verdict was announced.
Soon, the judges were ready to say their final comments. Herzog took the giant Chopped Butterknife and stood by the school ribbons. One-by-one, teams were eliminated. In the end Jasper’s ribbon was left, making them the first Dubois-Pike Chopped champions. “I think we did a good job working together,” exclaimed Adi Welp. Beier hopes to have more years of competition with winners from all over.
