Few Carnegie Mellon students have enough time to cook. Freshmen have a required meal plan, while upperclassmen's time is often eaten up by difficult classes. However, eight student groups recently demonstrated that they have what it takes to compete with the best in Pi Delta Psi's Iron Chef competition.

The television show Iron Chef has been a favorite in Japan since it began in 1993 and a cult hit in the United States since the mid 1990s. Each episode features a challenger cooking against one of four master "iron chefs." There's one catch, though: every dish has to include a "secret ingredient," which varies from episode to episode and is revealed only at the beginning of each show. The winner is determined by a panel of judges, selected from professional critics and other celebrities.

PDPsi modified the event slightly to allow more groups to participate: eight student organizations prepared three dishes each within 90 minutes. This year, the Asian Student Association, the Taiwanese Student Association, Pi Delta Psi, Kappa Phi Lambda, Beta Theta Pi, Awareness of Roots in Chinese Culture, Phi Kappa Theta, and the Hong Kong Student Association participated. The judging panel was comprised of Monica Bebie, Greek advisor to PDPsi; Yueming Yu and Xiaorong Li, Modern Languages faculty members; MCS junior and Greek Community Advisor Ben Neenan; HSS junior and cmuTV leader Todd Eichel; and yours truly, a humble Pulse reporter.

In past years, the secret ingredient has been potatoes or tofu; this time, it was chicken. As Master of Ceremonies and CIT sophomore Xing Xin started off the competition, teams raced to grab plastic-wrapped chicken parts from a pile in the center of the room.
 
At each table, one head chef gave orders while assistants performed basic tasks such as chopping vegetables or heating skillets and pans on the portable burners. However, the scene varied wildly from table to table. Some groups cooked recipes that they had been preparing for days, while others improvised a bit more. Some groups, like the Taiwanese Student Association, claimed that they were just competing for fun, while others were more confident: CIT senior Ed Huang, an assistant chef from the Hong Kong Student Association, proclaimed, "Don't worry, we'll win."

The ingredients used varied from table to table, as well. Staples like rice and onions were popular choices for most teams, but some teams chose more exotic ingredients as well. Kappa Phi Lambda's table included dried red dates, whole chestnuts, and jellyfish. CIT sophomore Mark Sherry from Phi Kappa Theta hollowed out miniature pumpkins to use as serving dishes. Meanwhile, Pi Delta Psi's team hurried to put something together, using basics like honey mustard, eggs, and pasta sauce. As the PDPsi chefs explained, three teams canceled just hours before the event, so they hastily assembled a team.

When time expired and the dust settled, each team presented six plates of culinary creations. The Asian Student Association presented first, serving four dishes including a chicken salad with head chef and ECE fifth-year Paul Cheong's own secret recipe dressing. They were followed in order by the Taiwanese Student Association, Pi Delta Psi, Kappa Phi Lambda, Beta Theta Pi, Awareness of Roots in Chinese Culture, Phi Kappa Theta, and the Hong Kong Student Association. Every team prepared a remarkable array of dishes, but some aimed solely for taste while others focused on style and presentation. The judging included three categories: taste, style, and originality.

As it turned out, focusing on style was a good choice, as ARCC took home the trophy for their fantastic-looking dishes. Their excellent chicken wings, scallop stir-fry with chicken, and chicken salad on cucumbers not only included such nice touches as leaf-shaped garnishes carved out of apples and cucumbers, but they tasted great as well. HKSA took home the second place award for their inventive trio of Coca-Cola chicken wings, a Hong Kong-inspired dish including rice and creamed corn, and a pasta dish including bean sprouts, tofu, and vermicelli. PhiKap's pumpkin preparations were not in vain: they managed to serve five intricate and tasty dishes with flair for third place.

Did the judges have any informal thoughts about particular dishes? Absolutely. Eichel's favorite was PhiKap's chicken wings in an apple salsa; Yu and Li both enjoyed PhiKap's chicken salad served on endive spears. Bebie noted TSA's honey peanut chicken, while I thought that the tastiest dish was the peanut chicken made by Beta Theta Pi. The judges seemed to agree that ARCC and HKSA both had very original ideas, although the idea of originality seemed to flip-flop, as Neenan noted: with four Asian cultural associations and two Asian-interest Greek groups in the contest, Asian-inspired dishes became the norm rather than the exception.

However, as Xin and others repeated throughout the night, every team of chefs deserved commendation for their excellent cooking. Of the 31 dishes that I tried, there's not one that I wouldn't like to have more of. Pi Delta Psi also did a great job orchestrating such a complicated event. We can only wonder what culinary heights the competitors might reach next year. 

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