NA HOKU STAFF
The only tears around these onions were tears of joy. Two of Moanalua High School Mene Culinary students placed second at the Sixth Annual Aloun Farms High School Culinary Competition April 6. Seniors Victoria Williams and Luke Kobayashi received high praise for their dish, which won $1,500 for the culinary department.
Williams spent much of the third quarter designing the menu, which needed to feature the farm’s signature Ewa Sweet Onion. After much trial and error, she, with Kobayashi’s support, developed their “Smoked Mustard-Glazed Kunoa Sirloin with Sweet Potato Mash and Spring Green Salad.”
“They worked really hard,” culinary teacher Lars Mitsuda said of the school’s team, one of only six schools invited. “This was Tori’s second year competing and she developed the dish – from the equipment list all the way to the sauces and garnishes,” Mitsuda said.
“It was a challenge to figure out how to create dishes that complemented each other as well as used local ingredients,” Williams said.
She said the richness of the meat and its mustard glaze needed to offset with crisp, fresh flavors in the salad while the starch needed some extra sweetness.
Mitsuda credited the students for doing more of the legwork. The only thing he suggested was to use a smoker for the meat.
“It was a lot of pressure,” Kobayashi admitted of the competition.
He and Williams ran into some technical problems with their dish half way through the cooking.
“We tried to not freak out,” Kobayashi said. “We just adapted and the meal ended up coming out all right.”
Williams and Kobayashi’s dish faced scrutiny from Jeremy Shigekane, one of Hawaii’s three James Beard Chefs (one of the highest honors a chef can receive in America). Mitsuda said he emphasizes technique in his classes more than just recipes. He said that was what the judges appreciated.
“It was Luke and Tori’s execution of the skills and decisions leading up to the event and that day that lead them to their success,” Mitsuda said. “Tori and Luke worked together and did everything themselves. They owned it.”
Aloun Farms “aims to support and recognize our aspiring artists through the use fresh local produce and mentorship of our local chefs” it said on its website. The competition is part of the farm’s effort to encourage cooking with locally produced and sourced ingredients.
Williams and Kobayashi will be one of the featured chef teams at the Aloun Farms Gala May 11, where they will prepare this dish again, this time for a crowd of 400 guests.