Pots and pans clattered in the sweet-smelling fumes of room 3108 as students toiled away at the annual City High French Cooking contest. Students gathered on Friday, December 15th to make their chosen dishes and compete for the glory of winning, plus a bonus of la crème de la crème. Though most everything went smoothly, there were some hardships along the way.

Two of the six groups decided to make un Buche de Noel or Christmas log before the day of the competition. But they both stuck to their choices. One of the two teams varied their log by adding some gummy worms while the others made a deconstructed Christmas log. “Everything is confusing…we’re not the only ones making un Buche de Noel,” said Isabel Jones ‘19. But the team recovered with new ideas.

“Oscar didn’t grease the pan so we couldn’t roll it,” said Jeremiah Collins ‘21. “We just kinda threw it in the [oven] and it looked really bad, but then I shaved some chocolate chips on top.”

Some of the other dishes included apple cake, flourless chocolate cake, chicken arugula potatoes with yogurt sauce, mushroom stew, flammekueches, gougères and fondant potatoes and croquembouche with raspberry custard.

“Our cake is fantastic, hopefully it will taste good,” Serena Collins ‘18 said as she decorated a French apple cake with her team.

“Usually we have to practice what we bake three times before we do [the competition]. This time we just winged it and I’m feeling pretty confident.”

Around twenty-five students participated with the help of their friends. Uninvolved judges were chosen by French teacher Monsieur Balcaen.

The judging began at 6:30. Chip Hardesty, Terry Coleman, and Brandon Swenson judged the six groups. All of the dishes were judged based on appearance difficulty and taste. Two winners were chosen, the best sweet and the best savory dish. The best dessert this year was awarded to Team Pamplemousse: Adriana McCall ‘19, Younes Rouabhi ‘19, Lottie Gidal ‘19, Salwa Sidahmed ‘19, and Paul Cornell ‘20. These students made a flourless chocolate cake with raspberry sauce. This team was also second in the savory category. “It’s our third year so it’s been a while. We got second the last two years, so it’s a big moment,” said McCall ‘18. The juniors in Team Pamplemousse have competed in this competition many times before and have consistently been awarded second place. “I feel ecstatic,” said Rouabhi. “Honestly, this year I don’t know what we were expecting but to come out with the [result] was amazing.”

Seniors Amadou Sanogo ‘18, Ava Otoadese ‘18, and Fifi Odhiambo ‘18 were awarded best savory plate.

There will be another cooking contest this school year as well. “Come out next year,” Rouabhi said. “It’s a blast!”