STUDENTS TAKE THE CAKE.

Byline: Rebecca Nolan The Register-Guard

Buffalo ribeye. Fingerling potatoes. Swiss chard. Baby carrots. Artichokes. Peas. Chocolate.

Thirteen teams of high school cooks had just one hour Monday to make an entree and dessert using these seven ingredients.

Their dishes were judged for flavor, presentation and creativity by a panel of celebrity guests, a la the popular Food Network show "Iron Chef America."

The kitchen at Lane Community College - where the 2006 Lane County High School Culinary Competition took place - was hot and crowded.

The sounds of pots clanking, whisks brushing metal mixing bowls and knives on cutting boards filled the room.

Parents, friends and other spectators were warned not to speak or otherwise communicate with the young chefs, lest the cooks be disqualified for unprofessional behavior.

The team from Le Petit Gourmet Culinary Arts Program was named the best overall.

Members were Osana Waterstone, Joss Ayres-Sims, Carly Rogers and Sophia Dixon. Le Petit Gourmet is an alternative education program as well as a program of the Network Charter School.

The students worked in teams of four on menus determined three weeks earlier with the help of teachers and local professional chefs.

Many had prepared their featured dish dozens of times since then.

"We practiced every day for about three weeks," said Jacob Weaver, a senior at Creswell High School, whose team prepared thinly sliced pan-seared, spice-rubbed buffalo steaks with Bernaise sauce.

He and his teammates - Devan Isenhour, Amanda Stillion and Reanna Robinson, all from Creswell High - herb roasted the potatoes and served the artichokes steamed, with butter sauteed onion and Parmesan panko stuffing.

The chocolate creme anglaise for their dessert, a carrot and challah bread pudding in a delicate tuille cookie cup, didn't turn out as planned, but they improvised on the spot.

"I think it came out pretty well," Isenhour said, still flushed as the team exited the kitchen.

Brandi Hartman and Marne Minard, both 16 and students at North Eugene High School, were responsible for their team's flourless chocolate tort.

"We've made it 15 to 20 times," Hartman said before the team was due in the kitchen. "I'm not nervous."

Minard was. The pair had ditched their original tort recipe last week after realizing it just took too long. They spent the entire weekend practicing - and tasting - a new, quicker recipe.

The North Eugene team watched the "Iron Chef" program in Miho Hosaka's culinary class as preparation. Hartman and Minard said it was good training.

As the teams worked, judges stalked between the cooking stations, monitoring sanitation, safety and food handling.

The finished plates were taken to a panel of celebrity judges, who tasted the food in a separate room accessible to the public, and to a secret panel tucked somewhere in the building.

Big Valley Buffalo provided the meat, Organically Grown Company donated the produce, and Glory Bee Foods contributed chocolate for the desserts, as well as chef's hats and commemorative aprons for each participating student.

It was the fourth year the Lane Education Service District has organized the event, which was followed by an awards banquet.

CAPTION(S):

Creswell High teacher Terrie Chrones greets her students Reanna Robinson (left), Jacob Weaver (back) and Devan Isenhour after the 2006 Lane County High School Culinary Competition. The team from Le Petit Gourmet Culinary Arts Program was named the best overall. Creswell High's cooking team made this carrot and bread pudding in a tuille cookie cup in chocolate for the Lane ESD's 2006 Lane County High School Culinary Competition. Kevin Clark / The Register-Guard Marne Minard (left) and Tisha Geeley (center) of North Eugene High School prepare meals while judge Gary Rodgers watches during the Lane County High School Culinary Competition.