High school culinary students from Westerly and Chariho will be showing off their skills next week as part of a seafood cooking competition.
The annual Rhode Island High School Seafood Cook Off challenges teams to serve up their own original recipes for locally caught seafood. This year’s signature fish species is calamari, a seasonal choice as it is Rhode Island’s official appetizer.
The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place April 15 at Tides Restaurant in Warwick.
“This year’s focus is squid,” Westerly culinary program instructor and chef Jamie Finkelstein said. “Each school is responsible for developing an original recipe, which we will execute at the event on April 15. On the day of the competition, our team will prepare 80 servings of our dish, which will be evaluated through a blind judging process by a panel of selected judges. At the conclusion of the event, a winning dish will be announced.”
The calamari used for the cook-off is donated by Wild Atlantic Seafood and courtesy of Newport Restaurant Group. Rhode Island Sea Grant organizes the event closely with the host, the Warwick Area Career and Technical Center.
“Rhode Island Sea Grant sponsors the cook-off each year to support students in workforce development, with seafood being such a big part of the Rhode Island restaurant experience, and also to encourage the public to try more local seafood and cook it themselves at home,” said Monica Allard Cox with Rhode Island Sea Grant. “And all of this supports our local seafood industry, so we see it as having multiple benefits.”
In addition to Westerly and Chariho, schools fielding teams this year are Davies Career and Technical High School, East Providence High School Career and Technical Center, Warwick Area Career and Technical Center. Each team has up to four team members, along with a supervising chef.
“The students rise to the occasion and see value in the competition, and schools keep coming back year after year to participate,” Cox said.
This year, the judges’ table will feature chef Greg Coccio from the Newport Restaurant Group, David Dadekian, of Eat Drink RI and Chris Roebuck, from Wild Atlantic Seafood. The winning dish will be featured at a Newport Restaurant Group restaurant and winners will receive gift cards. In addition, members of the public will be able to vote on their favorite dish, with the winner receiving a People’s Choice award.
“An incredible opportunity for our students to showcase their skills in a professional setting,” Finkelstein said.
In late February, the Westerly High School Culinary Arts team took home first place with the coveted People’s Choice Award at the Cabin Fever Festival and Charity Chowder Cook-Off at Olde Mistck Village. The students also earned a Judge’s Award for Best Use of Regional Ingredients at the festival.
There will be two featured speakers at the April 15 cook-off: Molly Ogren from the Rhode Island Department of Environment Management will talk about local seafood, and Kate Masury from Eating with the Ecosystem will delve into local fish and eating what is caught here in Rhode Island.
“We have seen a great deal of enthusiasm from our partners, participants and attendees,” Cox said. “People have grown an interest in eating local seafood to support fishermen, supporting the environment and encouraging others to do the same.”
In addition to Rhode Island Sea Grant, Newport Restaurant Group and Wild Atlantic Seafood, the event is also sponsored by the University of Rhode Island College of the Environment and Life Sciences and the URI Coastal Institute, the Rhode Island Department of Environment Management, Warwick Area Career and Technical Center, Rhode Island Hospitality, Roch’s Fresh Foods, Eating with the Ecosystem and Eat Drink RI.
Winning recipes can be found on the Rhode Island Sea Grant website following the event.
Dining and Cooking