Many teens know the premise of the TV show Iron Chef: A chef and her or his team of assistants are told a secret ingredient and then – WHAM! – they get cooking, cranking out several dishes featuring the mystery food within an hour’s time. When the teams at Atlantic Cape Community College in Mays Landing, N.J., gathered for their Student Iron Chef contest recently the mystery ingredient was none other than the local porgie, or scup, a boney bottom-feeder native to local waters. The fish is not exactly the makings of gourmet restaurant fare. But that didn’t deter the competitors, who fried, pureed, stuffed and roasted the fish into 20 different dishes.
A team of Student Iron Chefs takes photos of their porgie dishes while waiting for the judging at Atlantic Cape Community College in Mays Landing, N.J. (Photo by APRIL SAUL, Philadelphia Inquirer)
