Chef Pam Stevens and Team Mia Margherita Compete Today in West Virginia Cast Iron Cook-Off
By Julie Perine on January 31, 2015 via Connect-Bridgeport.com
Sponsored by the Collaborative for the 21st Century Appalachia, the 2015 West Virginia Cast Iron Cook-Off is taking place at the Charleston Marriott.
As is always the case, the event – which combines the importance of locally-grown foods with spirited cooking competitions – features some Bridgeport flavor, this year with heavy European influences.
The Mia Margherita Coal Fired Pizzeria team is led by Chef Pamela Stevens (pictured front row, right).
Raised in Italy, she has also spent significant time in Peru and brings with her some spice and style from her former heritage.
Growing up in Lima, Peru, Stevens remembers spending time in the kitchen with her father, whose culinary talents had been passed down from the generation before.
“In my country, we normally would go to the market and buy everything the same day so it would be fresh for cooking,” she said.
She specifically remembers making pasta – especially cannelloni and beef ravioli with parmesan.
Along with early influences of her own country, Stevens lived for three and a half years in Italy, where her grandfather had lived and been a renowned chef.
“He worked in the president’s house. That’s a big honor,” she said. “I wanted to learn about the culture before doing to culinary school in the U.S.”
In 2000, she entered the culinary program at Pierpont Community & Technical College.
As part of her course of study, Stevens returned to Italy where she took classes and worked in various restaurants.
In her home country, as well as time spent in Calabria, Roma and Bologna, she has developed favorite foods to prepare and plate for her own enjoyment and the enjoyment of others.
“I love coking pasta and rice, appetizers with fish ceviche, cakes and working with chocolate and fondant,” she said.
Stevens said cuisine may be her trade, but she doesn’t think of it as a job.
“I love food and I love what I do. My career is more my passion that work,” Stevens said. “I think that’s because there’s something in my blood.
She said she delights in mixing flavor, texture and taste.
“I really enjoy it and can spend hours in the kitchen,” she said. “I love to cook and bake – work with my hands. The decorations, presentation – everything is for the eyes. It’s my art. Culinary is pretty much an art – and I like that.”
Providing oversight and support to the cast iron team, Chef Scott Duarte said he looks forward to the team’s blend of experience and style, operating this year under the Mia Margherita name.
“CP Hospitality has always been our deal as we’ve showcased Bridgeport Conference Center, but this year we have an opportunity to represent our brand new restaurant,” Duarte said. “The Cast Iron Cook-Off gives us a chance to introduce it and be able to share what we’re doing. I think it’s a natural mix because cast iron represents the Appalachian heritage and our restaurant is really representative of our Italian Appalachian heritage. The two kind of fit together and should give us some great creative opportunities to work with.”
The Mia Margherita approach to Italian Appalachian heritage involves cooking simplistic foods with a coal-fired method.
“We can incorporate a little taste of that into the menu selected,” he said. “Unfortunately, they won’t let us roll a big coal oven in there, so we’ll make modifications to that.”
The heart of Team Mia’s plan is preparation with love and a nice presentation.
“I think it’s about introducing that Italian-American flair,” Duarte said. “Italians live to eat and their food is a celebration of a lot of care and passion taken when dealing with food. That’s the same approach we try to take in the restaurant and try to incorporate into dishes at the Cast Iron Cook-Off.”
The Cast Iron Cook-Off promotes the fact that a rural community’s economic growth and development can evolve out of its cultural heritage and that dishes taste better and are more nutritious when foods have been recently harvested.
For an event held in the midst of winter, that requires some creativity and pre-planning, Duarte said.
“We do have access to some things that are grown in high tunnels this time of year and we can get our hands on some local, seasonal proteins which are available, but it’s also necessary to preserve vegetables and making oils and vinegars from produce which was available earlier in the year,” he said.
Another must for the event is the use of cast iron, which is significant because of its Appalachian significance.
“Just cooking with iron and a heavy steel product like that feels right and it requires really some skill set because you can’t just turn on the stove and start cooking. Foods have to be seasoned properly and the whole program of cooking with cast iron takes commitment in how handle, clean and how cook. If you treat cast iron right, it will treat you right,” Duarte said. “From a broader spectrum, the whole circle of our Bridgeport Farmers Market, the Collaborate for the 21st Century Appalachia, the Country Roads Cook-Off and the Cast Iron Cook-Off all work together to help celebrate eating local and preserving those customs of Appalachian cuisine. It fits into our whole initiative as it relates to culinary tourism.”
The team had to arrive at the Marriott with every food item, prep ,bowl, utensil and garnish necessary to prepare its meal for judging.
“We want to turn out a nice dish so packing things up to take them long distance, organizing and planning ahead is paramount," Duarte said.
Joining Stevens on the team are veteran Cast Iron Cook-Off participants Dave High, Rick Johnson, Bob Workman, Jerry Pomeroy, Drew Pomeroy and Craig Behr.
Preliminary CICO events got under way Friday morning at the West Virginia Culture Center with a 10 a.m. Junior Cook-Off ProStart Team cook-off and the very first junior cook-off and judging from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. In keeping with the theme of the weekend, this competition will feature local ingredients and new Appalachian cuisine dishes, prepared on-site using cast iron products. Five teams of ProStart Culinary students will compete.From 6:30 to 9 p.m., a team meeting, introductions, coating ceremony and presentation of skillets was held at the Marriott.
The event heats up today with the main Cast Iron Cook-Off kicking off at 8 a.m. and the “Battle of the Virginias” at 11 a.m. A judges’ reception for all team chefs, sous chefs and sponsors will be held 4-5 p.m. in the Capitol Ballroom. The Cast Iron Cook-Off awards will be presented at 5:15 p.m. and a dine-around featuring New Appalachian cuisine will follow at 6:30 p.m.
Editor's Note: Pictured from top is the Mia Margherita Cast Iron Cook-Off team at Friday night's coating ceremony; a prepared dish from the 2014 WV Cast Iron Cook-Off; and Chef Scott Duarte.
Last year's team won the "Best Use of Cast Iron" award. Read more about the Bridgeport's team 2014 experience HERE.
