Victory! The BenGusto™ Buddy Cooking Class celebrated Friday night after their success at the first student-run “IB Iron Chef” competition at South Lakes High School.
The BenGusto™ Buddy Team: Jair, Sam, Halle, Ben, Patrick, and CJ (from left to right).
The team, which consisted of BenGusto teammates Ben Gaiarin, Halle Taylor, Sam Nicol, Patrick Green, Jair Valenzuela, and CJ Waller, showed the Reston public what handmade pasta is all about. The gourmands used the pasta-making skills they learned last class (missed last class? Check out the article here: The “BenGusto™ Buddy Cooking Class” Begins) to lift them to glory in a competitive clash against 17 other student teams.
Serving the handmade pasta at IB Iron Chef.
A hungry crowd of people gathers around the BenGusto™ chefs.
To feed a hungry crowd of 150 people, the BenGusto™ team relied on their great organization to dish out pasta at never-before-seen speeds. The young chefs took inspiration from Henry Ford’s assembly line in order to plate all the dish’s components efficiently. Ben and Sam were in charge of plating the handmade spaghetti pasta, which was cooked in a delightful fresh cherry tomato sauce with a hint of saffron, for each hungry customer. The line then moved on to Chef CJ, who gave three drops of basil oil around the pasta as a professional decoration. Jair was stationed next to CJ to offer clean plates to the public. Finally, the pasta was given a sprinkle of freshly grated parmigiano reggiano by chef mates Halle and Patrick. Great chemistry in the kitchen!
Ben serves up some fresh pasta.
CJ drops a little basil oil on a customer’s plate for extra flavor and color.
Halle and Patrick are in charge of grating the parmigiano reggiano.
After all the customers had eaten, and while the votes were being counted, the BenGusto™ team put on a pasta-making demonstration to share their knowledge to the public. Just like they had practiced in class, the team made a nest, formed a ball of dough, and had a blast trying out different types of pasta shapes with other young gourmands interested in the pasta art.
The pasta-making demonstration.
The icing on the cake: the BenGusto™ team was crowned the “IB Iron Chef” team of the year! Hoopla!
The team receives an award of kitchen spoons.
Congrads to you and the team….Bravo
Go BenGusto…
Uncle Johnny
Grazie, Uncle Johnny!
Congratulations Ben. Not only for the pasta ( which sounds terrific, by the way ) but, most of all, for the great Social Work you are doing giving your friends something fun and attractive to do and teaching them an art and a system that will help them for the rest of their lives!
Another great job! *****
Grazie, Riccardo! Yes, the goal of the BenGusto Buddy Cooking Class is precisely how you put it: to teach the art of cooking as something fun, attractive, and useful.
Always appreciate it!
-Ben