Fort Sill DENTAC Soldiers sink teeth into MRE cookoff

By Marie Berberea, Fort SillOctober 25, 2012

Food 0554
The Fort Sill Dental Clinic Two team of Pfc. Greg Long and Spc. Brent Meyer work quickly alongside Alan Dental Clinic's team to prepare a dessert using MRE ingredients, a pomegranate, Biscoff Spread and cream cheese for the Dental Activity Commmand's... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

Fort Sill's Dental Activity Command decided to test the cooking skills of its Soldiers and civilians Oct. 19 at Ambrosia Springs here with a contest modeled after the hit show "Chopped."

Using only MREs and secret ingredients the contestants prepared dishes for three judges, one of which was Col. Paul Hossenlopp, Fort Sill Garrison commander.

"We're just big fans of the Food Network," said Mitzi Roberts, on how she and husband, Col. Michael Roberts, DENTAC commander, came up with the competition. "We thought what would be more interesting than to see MRE ingredients transformed?"

All five dental clinics on post were represented with two people ready to whip up a meal in the designated 20 minutes.

"We opened every MRE in two boxes and sorted out the ingredients into categories so the contestants would have an easier time figuring out what they wanted," said Mitzi.

Lined up against a long table the teams waited to find out what "secret" ingredients they would have to use. For the entree round that meant leaks, coconut milk and cubed ham. The next step was to decide what MRE components would complement them to make a suitable meal.

Colonel Roberts emphasized the teams would be judged not only how the meal tasted, but also its presentation. The judges quickly chimed in stating flavor was most important to them.

Capt. Eric Sexton, Medical Processing Site (MPS), said he and his partner had a simple plan.

"Make something out of nothing. We're making a ham and leak cornbread. If you start with something that's a complete product like spaghetti and meatballs then anything you do to it I believe is just modifying a complete product. So, our plan was just to make something more original."

The clock wound down as the chefs took turns flying from the table of ingredients to their preparation table, and some even went to the grill to add some warmth to their meal.

As Colonel Roberts shouted down their time, the teams finished adding different garnishes and plating their meals.

Each group took three entrees to the judges' table and explained their creations.

"We have Mexican style rice with Tabasco sauce, ham, Mexican macaroni with cheese and we're going to put it on a tortilla," said Tina Hammell, Weeks Dental Clinic, before presenting.

The judges hesitant to try the creations at first, fought their initial fears and dug in.

"Your meal was pretty good, but it was kind of bland," said Hossenlopp to the Alan Dental Clinic team. "I'll tell you what saved you -- your presentation was really good."

Hossenlopp went on to say Weeks Dental Clinic's team had the best presentation and taste. Dental Clinic Two went the extra effort by going to the grill and the food tasted good, but their presentation was average.

In the end Cowan and MPS teams were chopped from competition.

The three remaining teams got behind their table once again and prepared themselves for the next challenge: dessert.The secret ingredients included a pomegranate, cream cheese and Biscoff spread, or speculoos.

"We became familiar with [Biscoff spread] in Belgium. We PCS'd this summer from Belgium, so it's an ingredient we fell in love with there and we knew it wouldn't be familiar here," said Mitzi. "It tastes like ginger snap graham crackers, but it's the consistency of peanut butter."

Attacking the sweets packed inside every MRE, the teams worked fast to put together something delicious. With only 15 minutes to do so, the teams whipped, spread, sprinkled and shared their efforts.

"The pomegranate threw me off," said Pfc. Greg Long, Dental Clinic Two.

His teammate, Spc. Brent Meyer, made up for the obstacle by suggesting they simply squeeze the juice into the cream cheese. They added some sugar and voila, created icing.

"Once again great effort by all teams. All three desserts were really good, all three had good presentations, so really it came down to which one was best," said Hossenlopp.

The judges decided the pomegranate seeds in Week's dessert was undesirable, but if they did happen to crack a tooth, they were in the right place. They said Alan's dessert was good, but the icing was not as sweet as they would've liked.

"This one hands down wins for presentation effort and they made this icing that tasted like homemade cake icing," said Hossenlopp about Dental Clinic Two's cinnamon pound cake with a base of Biscoff spread, icing and a topping of Reese's Pieces.

"How does it feel to be the Field MRE Chopped champions?" asked Mitzi.

"It feels very good," said Long, before he and Meyer received their trophy, award, and kitchen starter kit, complete with oven mitt. "I really do like to cook in my spare time, but never before with MREs."