Tri-Tech Skills Center students battle over best soup

If you’re looking for a way to support local culinary students and some of the most vulnerable in the Tri-Cities, Safe Harbor Support Center has the event for you.

The group, which is dedicated to serving neglected and abused children through programs such as My Friends’ Place teen shelter, will have its annual Beggars’ Banquet fundraiser on Nov. 7 at the Benton County Fairgrounds.

A group of culinary arts students from Tri-Tech Skills Center, sponsored by Columbia Valley Daybreak Rotary, will provide a soup course for the banquet, and instructor LuAnne Wiles took it as a teaching opportunity.

Nine groups of students were pitted against each other to create soups that would be judged by school administrators, local officials and the media during a tasting. They had to break down the recipe, do test batches and even keep things such as the temperature of the soup in mind. A single team would be chosen to provide their soup for the banquet.

“It makes it real,” Wiles said. “It helps for them to be a little nervous.”

About 30 people assessed the students’ efforts in two sessions Oct. 30. I sampled five of the entries, which included Chinese Ginger Chicken, Zuppa Toscana, Russian Cabbage Roll, a Chicken and Andouille Gumbo with White Rice, and Thai Coconut Shrimp soup. They were ranked based on taste, temperature, aroma and presentation.

An enchilada soup took top marks in the first judging session followed by the Zuppa Toscana during the session I participated in. Wiles said it would be up to her and others at Tri-Tech to determine which of those two student teams would ultimately cook for the banquet.

However, I want to give a shoutout to Team Stew, which prepared the Thai Coconut Shrimp Soup. It was my personal top pick, and it was very well done. Hats off to you all.

If you’re interested in attending the Beggars’ Banquet, you can register here. Individual tickets start at $45.

Barn burner

With temperatures beginning to drop, the Pasco Chamber of Commerce is offering an event to warm up the Tri-Cities’ barbecue lovers.

The Barn Burner event Nov. 14 will include the Smoke N Fire BBQ Competition, a fundraiser sponsored by Franklin Fire District 3. Along with offering BBQ tasting and dinner, the event will have live music from The Frog Hollow Band and a beer garden.

Doors open at 3 p.m. at the TRAC facility in west Pasco. Admission is $20.

Awards for wineries, distillers

Wineries and distillers throughout the Yakima, Columbia and Walla Walla valleys did well in an annual list of rankings published by Seattle’s SIP Northwest magazine.

Wines from the Columbia Valley, Red Mountain and Walla Walla valley appellations took home at least one medal in most categories but dominated the rankings for Chardonnay, Single Red Varietal, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Rhone-style and Bourdeaux-style red blends.

Two Tri-City-based distillers, West Richland’s Black Heron Spirits and Kennewick’s RiverSands Distillery finished in the top three for vodka and nonfruit liqueur, respectively.

To see the whole list, which also includes rankings for beer and cider, go to website.

This story was originally published November 3, 2015 at 2:14 PM with the headline "Tri-Tech Skills Center students battle over best soup."