By Andrew Walsh
awalsh@wbcowqel.com
Madalyn Kimmel beat out four other contestants to make it a hat trick of wins at the 6th Annual Bucyrus Future Chef Contest. The competition was put on by Lori Pennington and the rest of the food service staff at Bucyrus, and called on the contestants to channel their best early morning attitudes and concoct a delicious breakfast item. Their creations were judged on originality, kid friendliness, healthiness, and, of course, taste!
The gathering began at Bucyrus Secondary School at 5:30 pm, when the kids took their places in the kitchen and began working on their dishes. The three person panel of judges consisted of Tammy Baumberger, Becky Guinther, and Gary Auck. Baumberger is from the State Extension office, Guinther is a teacher at Pioneer Career and Technology Center of family consumer science, and Auck is the manager and head of catering at Carle’s Market. All three have been judges in the past, and they came together once more to put their tastebuds to work.
“This is a unique competition that the students really enjoy taking part in,” superintendent Kevin Kimmel said.
Kimmel continued by outlining the format. Students interested in participating submit their intended recipe to a committee at school. Those recipes are then sifted through and the top five are selected to compete in the cook-off. Those five recipes are then judged on a scorecard basis, by the above mentioned trio of judges, according the criteria also previously listed. This is a nationwide competition, with 120 schools competing across the country. The winner at Bucyrus will move on to the regional competition.
The five contestants were Christian Linn, Madalyn Kimmel, Lily Pifer, Gina Griffith, and Kaitlyn Arnett. Their creations, while keeping within the breakfast guidelines, still featured a wide variety of ingredients.
Christian came up with a turkey sausage breakfast sandwich on a bagel, and Gina Griffith submitted her “smiley face” pancakes that she has made with her grandfather every Saturday for years. Gina’s grandfather was beaming with pride as he described their Saturday morning tradition of pancakes with a sausage smile and banana eyes. They even include blueberries in the eyes. After many Saturdays of practicing together it was Gina’s turn to fly solo.
The winning dish, known as Madalyn’s Cup of Joy, consisted of “a scrambled egg in a tortilla cup.” She said that she found the recipe on Pinterest while working with her family, but it was her addition to make it more of a quiche.
Madalyn’s third win in six years means she will once more head to regionals. When questioned on the subject, Madalyn could only smile and say, “I’m pretty excited.”