色界吧

On September 13, a symphony of scents filled the air at NYIT de Seversky Mansion as local law enforcement competed in the ninth annual Cast Iron Chef cooking competition, hosted in appreciation for the police departments who serve 色界吧鈥檚 Long Island and New York City campuses. This year鈥檚 competition is the first since听2019, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

First responders from the New York City, Old Westbury, and Nassau County police departments showed off their culinary prowess, whipping up appetizing meals for the event modeled after popular television shows听Chopped听补苍诲听Iron Chef.听College of Osteopathic Medicine听(NYITCOM) student听Maria Chimarios, Dean of the听College of Arts and Sciences听Daniel Quigley, Ph.D., and Dean of NYITCOM听Nicole Wadsworth, D.O., formed the 色界吧 team and competed on behalf of the Brookville Police Department, which could not attend this year.

The four teams were each challenged with creating a dish using specific ingredients as determined by spinning three different wheels that listed ingredients. One member from each team spun the wheel to discover what ingredients they would cook with. 

The Nassau County team had to use evaporated milk, papaya, and whole lobster. Old Westbury was challenged to include harissa, kohlrabi, and whole rabbit. For the New York City team, it was limoncello, radish, and partridge. And 色界吧 was challenged with coconut milk, red yams, and whole branzino. Basic ingredients were also available for use.

Emceeing the night was winemaker Roman Roth of W枚lffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack, N.Y. Roth is the vineyard鈥檚 first winemaker and was honored in 2003 as the East End Food and Wine Awards鈥� Winemaker of the Year, as judged by the American Sommelier Society.  

鈥淚鈥檓 happy to come here to support our local police departments,鈥� said Roth as he greeted the crowd and offered his best advice for the competing teams. 鈥淎lways treat the saltshaker like a loaded gun鈥攜ou don鈥檛 want the saltshaker to go off!鈥�

After opening remarks from Roth and Robert Rizzuto, director of dining services at NYIT de Seversky Mansion, guests were treated to a bagpipe performance from the Nassau County Police Emerald Society and an aerial flyover by a Nassau County Police Department helicopter. Teams then took to their stations and got to cooking for the 30-minute challenge period.

The teams鈥� meal creations were judged by Vice President of Equity and Inclusion and Chief Medical Officer听Brian Harper, M.D., M.P.H., Manager of听Development, Alumni Relations, and External Affairs听Nicole Klein, NYITCOM student听Moontahinaz Rob, and Matthew Gatto, executive chef of Maggiano鈥檚 in Garden City, N.Y.

Judging criteria included teamwork, food handling, timing, ingredient usage, presentation, creativity, and, of course, flavor, to give teams a score out of 100. In the end, it was the Nassau County Police Department that snagged a first-place win with their lobster dish.

Every team walked away a winner, though, as NYIT de Seversky Mansion made a $2,000 donation to each team鈥檚 charity of choice. The New York City Police Department selected the Caitlin Rose McDonald Memorial Fund, the Old Westbury Police Department chose the Tunnels to Towers Foundation, the Brookville Police Department picked The INN (Interfaith Nutrition Network), and the Nassau County Police Department decided on their own nonprofit, the Nassau County Police Superior Officers Association Charitable Foundation.