To the victor goes the spoils at Orange Glen food fight

Orange Glen High School was the scene Tuesday for the 2016 San Diego County CTE MasterChefs Competition.

Ten San Diego County high school “culinary arts teams” competed for the third time to determine who was best at the art of food with expert judges’ scores assigned for safety, sanitation, cooking procedures and their finished product

Doing its impression of the New England Patriots, the Vista High School culinary Panthers did the happy dance with a second consecutive win. They got it done with two dishes, each including protein, starch, vegetable, sauce and an edible garnish.

Second place went to Escondido High School while Santana High School finished third. Fallbrook High School won the inaugural competition in 2013. Teams featured four members and an alternate.

Santana High School’s team gets ready to rumble.

The dish that took home the glory consisted of glazed pork medallions, tourne potatoes cut into seven sides and tapered at the end along with red and yellow peppers, sautéed asparagus with carrots garnished with Granny Smith apples.

Pork was king this year as students had one hour to cook up a storm on two burners. Teams came from Escondido; Fallbrook; Mission Hills; Orange Glen; San Dieguito Academy; San Pasqual Academy; San Pasqual High School; Santana; Southwest; Vista.

Top chefs from local 5-star eateries were top judges for this year’s food extravaganza. They included: Ron Oliver, Chef de Cuisine at The Marine Room, Travis Watson, executive chef at the Rancho Bernardo Inn and Amy DiBiase, executive chef and general manager at Tidal/Paradise Point Resort & Spa.

Vista’s culinary Panthers got a trophy for their effort, to be displayed this year at the school. it must be returned next year with the new winner taking home the trophy at that point.

While the San Diego County of Education footed the bill for the first two competitions, such was not the case this year. Participating schools and private sponsors paid the tab

Although it may have been tempting to eat the fruits, veggies and meat of the labors, teams instead were treated to lunch from Sopranos Pizza of Escondido.