Students cook up some Dutch oven fun

Editor's note: Deseret Morning New food editor Valerie Phillips was a judge at this year's contest.

MURRAY — Students at Riverview Junior High were pumping iron last Friday — that's cast iron in the form of Dutch ovens.

About 142 ninth-graders competed in the school's annual Dutch oven cook-off, held in front of the school. Cooking over hot coals, they created dishes such as barbecued ribs, teriyaki chicken and enchiladas.

After the dishes were judged, the kids were free to sell their meals to their fellow students, who thronged the lawn.

The contest has been an annual event at the Murray school for the past 17 years, said Janet Froh, the technology, life and careers teacher who chairs the event. Froh is also a past world champion of the International Dutch Oven Society's annual cook-off.

When asked how many were cooking in a Dutch oven for the first time, at least half of the students raised their hands. But other students said they had honed a few skills at home or on Boy Scout camp-outs.

Brianna Lago and Heather Kelsey said they had practiced cooking their Parmesan chicken, funeral potatoes and raspberry peach cobbler three times. "My mom has a Dutch oven recipe book, and I was looking through it and it looked good," said Lago when asked how they came up with their recipes.

Jake Rekoutis and Zach Dalley posted a sign — "Zach & Jake's Roadkill Cafe" — and wore T-shirts and aprons that said, "Git R Done." "We're just doing it for fun," said Rekoutis.

Although there were a lot of beginner-type dishes, such as cheesy potatoes and cake-mix cobblers, other students tackled salmon in cream sauce, chicken cordon bleu and seafood gumbo. Jessica Park and Harmony Nipper won "best dessert" with a Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. Shiloh Elliott used her grandfather's Dutch oven, judged to be at least 80 years old, in the competition.

The first-place trophy went to The Gridiron Girls — Autumn Howe and Chandler Howe — who dressed in football jerseys and served a lineup of First Down Buffalo Wings, Line-Backer Sausage, Half-Time Nachos, Kick-Grass Beans and Fourth-Quarter Cobbler.

Second place went to Lexie Gardner and Kortney Marx, who made Salsa Chicken, Spanish Rice, Yummy Potatoes, RoTel's Queso and Caramel Apple Crisp.