Half a dozen college students are preparing a meal, and there's not a Ramen noodle or PB&J in sight. Instead, Burlington-grown, organic vegetables and Vermont-raised turkey are on the menu, as the “Taste of Place Seminar: Cooking with Local and Seasonal Foods” class gathers in the Marsh Life Sciences kitchen classroom for a friendly Iron Chef competition. It's a test of the skills they’ve learned under the semester-long instruction of UVM Dining Chef David Workman.
This hands-on cooking component has been a complement to the food systems-based readings and discussion led by the course's other instructor, Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural Resources lecturer Karen Nordstrom. The one-credit course -- Natural Resources 16 -- is a requirement for second-year students in the GreenHouse Residential Learning Community, a class that provides an opportunity to work in small groups on topics related to sustainability, localization skills and systems thinking.
The course also emphasizes learning these skills under the mentorship of local craftspeople. Workman, who most recently served as sous chef for seven years at acclaimed Burlington restaurant Leunig's before joining UVM Dining, has led six cooking instruction sessions with the students this semester, teaching them how to prepare dishes like seared duck breast with blueberry gastrique and poached salmon with risotto.
Tonight, students will draw on those skills as they prepare three tasting plates for guest judges. The dishes must include the turkey, Workman says, and may also draw from the early November bounty of assorted root vegetables at each station. There’s also a pantry table with items like fresh rosemary and sage, Cabot butter and balsalmic vinegar for the paired teams to use.
Scroll through moments from the competition:
Chef Workman stops sophomore Phoebe Tucker, environmental studies and studio art major, for a quick tip on knife skills. Tucker and her partner Anna Martone (right), an early childhood education major, are also partners in creating and leading the Farm to Table suite in Living/Learning Center, where students interested in food systems issues and local cooking can live together. Tucker and Martone have been taking the recipes and skills they've learned in this class back to their suitemates for the program's weekly dinners.
Why did Workman leave the restaurant world to work in dining services at a university? Opportunities like this one are a plus, he says. But better benefits and the ability to leave the late shift behind were especially important when he had children. "There are bankers who are jealous of my hours now," he jokes.
Sophomore elementary education major Margaret Gish takes her tray of roasted root vegetables out of the oven as her partner, psychology major Dana cook, checks the temperature of their turkey. Their dish will pair these components with pasta and the tomato, carrot, and red pepper sauce, seasoned with fresh basil and sage, simmering on the stovetop -- a creation that drew high marks from the judges. The ability to make a great sauce from scratch is universally cited by the students as the most useful cooking skill they've gained this semester.
Graduate student teaching assistant Serge Wiltshire, a doctoral student in food systems, confers with partner Jack Hockman, a sophomore business major, about how to slice and plate their roasted acorn squash.
Hockman uses a ring mold to up the sophistication level on their presentation of an apple-cheddar risotto. While cheddar wasn't at their station or on the pantry table, it was part of a cheese plate on offer for class visitors. Workman allows the off-menu substitution, shaking his head at the rule breakers but smiling with respect at their resourcefulness. Wiltshire and Hockman's final dish features the risotto, apple slices glazed with balsalmic, herbed and breaded turkey cutlet and roasted squash. Judge Armand Lundie, executive chef at campus dining spot the Marché, has high praise for the meal: “I would be happy if I went out to eat and paid for this.”
The judges also include Lisa Romain-Brown, manager at the Marché, and Lily Weissgold, intern at Burlington's Intervale Food Hub, where most of the competition's vegetables were grown. At the end of the night, the three decline to declare a single winner, offering compliments for each dish. But Workman had some final notes for his students, remarking on the organized way Hockman and Wiltshire approached their process, measuring and preparing each ingredient before cooking started. On the other hand, Workman says, gesturing to Tucker and Martone, and pair begins to laugh, knowing their style is less regimented.
"It just looked chaotic!" Workman laughs along with them. "But fun!" Martone exclaims.