The Valley Central Middle School Culinary Club got a chance to showcase their cooking skills at the Valley Central School District Board of Education meeting on Monday evening. Students presented cheeseburgers and pickled vegetables to the board.

This club was established in October after an overwhelming amount of interest from the students.

“Over 100 [students] expressed interest,” said Melissa Toromanides, co-chair of the culinary club. “A lot of people want to learn more about food.”

The New York State Beef Council awarded VCMS two grants for the 2019-20 school year. These grants are called Beef for the Classroom and Beefshi in the Classroom. The Beef for the Classroom grant allows for schools to be reimbursed up to $100 for beef purchases. Beefshi in the Classroom allows classrooms to receive reimbursement for up to $200 in beefshi recipe ingredient purchases. Beefshi is a sushi-style concept that features beef products prepared in rolls with rice and vegetables.

The money from the Beef for the Classroom grant went toward making the cheeseburgers that were presented to the board on Monday evening. The club’s co-chairs Toromanides and Lauren Ostner surveyed second quarter family and consumer science students using a google form. 82 percent of students voted for hamburgers. Ostner and Toromanides plan to use the Beefshi in the Classroom grant next quarter.

Next, Ostner and Toromanides asked students what makes the best hamburger. Students said that hamburgers should be flavorful but not too greasy. This led to a decision to create a custom blend. The blend chosen consisted of chuck, the most classic ground found in hamburgers, and short rib, which carries a rich taste, keeping the hamburger moist and juicy.

Then, students decided that the best way to prepare the hamburgers was to grill them on a George Foreman Grill. The grill allows for any excess grease to drip away from the hamburgers.

Students topped the hamburgers with lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup, mustard, sauteed mushrooms and onions. Ketchup was made in a slow cooker. The recipe called for vinegar, tomato, sugar, salt and spice powders. Their mustard was a combination of yellow and brown mustard seeds blended with brown mustard and a hint of dijon for a spicy kick. Students sauteed the mushrooms and onions, which allowed them to decide how much flavor they wanted them to have. They learned the darker they let them get the more flavor they have.

After a taste test of slider rolls, students chose Hawaiian Rolls, stating that they had the best flavor. They chose petite leaves that fit perfectly for their slider style hamburger. Small Roma Plum tomatoes were chosen, as their small diameter allowed them to fit on the sliders. The cheeseburgers provided to the board were topped with either Dutch Gouda, Belgian Fontina, French Emmental or Irish Cheddar cheese.

If the hamburgers were not enough to please the board, students also presented pickled vegetables. Each jar of mixed vegetables included red peppers, cucumbers and onions. To create this dish, students prepared vegetables for pickling, made a sugar, salt and vinegar brine on the stove, poured it over vegetables and processed the jars so that the vegetables could be used at a later date.

Members of the Board of Education appreciated the snack that the students had made for them. Students also enjoyed making their own food.

“I thought it was really fun,” said Jahren Garcia, a member of the culinary club and eighth grade student at VCMS.