Katten Muchin Rosenman Holiday Competition
by Yize Shi (Draco) 11/24/16
I was glad I could participate in the Katten Muchin Rosenman Holiday Competition, which was held at school on November 17th. It was kind of like the one I participated in two quarters ago. There were 10 culinary students in this competition, and each of us got picked a neighborhood in Chicago, and we had to make food from the region, which the neighborhood represents.
I was really lucky to have Little Italy neighborhood. I’m really confident about making Italian food, because I did my 3 months internship in an Italian restaurant, so I felt at least it’s something that I’m familiar with. I decided to make tortellini with a braised beef short rib, tomato, and cheese filling, because tortellini is my favorite stuffed pasta shape. Also, I wanted to make a really good mushroom broth to go with it, along with some sautéed mushroom, and mushroom chips. I like the idea of tortellini served with soup, and I have a really good mushroom soup recipe I liked from China. Therefore, my final decision of the dish is tortellini with mushroom soup. I put in so much energy and time into this, because I really want to prove myself. I spent more than 20 hours in total to develop the recipe and to prep for it.
Unfortunately, I did not win, but I still glad that I participated it. I was dignifiedly more confident than last time. I was more organized, and I was the first one to finish prepping in the kitchen. Many people said they like my dish, even one lady said that she does not like mushrooms but she likes my dish. I’m glad and I will definitely participate in more competitions like this to sharpen my skills.
