Students at Georgetown subsist by eating at New South and Darnall, boiling pasta and ramen, and ordering copious amounts of Dominos and Little Caf?. College is an environment where eating is about survival rather than Epicurean adventure, so it is surprising that in the last few semesters, two new groups and a television show were created at Georgetown to prepare food.
Maybe the new cooking organizations are trying to fill a gap between home cooking and a steady diet of Hot Pockets. But, food aside, the new groups all have something else in common—they are centered on socializing. The students behind these organizations found that good food wasn’t the only thing missing from their time at Georgetown, but that a sense of community was lacking as well. The Georgetown University Grilling Society was formed as an inclusive social club while Collegiate Cooking is based around Christian fellowship and GUTV’s Campus Cuisine shows students how to cook affordable, easy meals to feed a group of six.
A taste of home away from home
Walking into Minnie Quartey’s Village B apartment, it’s clear that she and her roommates use the kitchen for more than boiling water. There are three extra fridges, a deep freezer, a stack of large metal serving trays, packages of plastic cups and Styrofoam carryout boxes.
“When we have a big dinner we have to buy a lot of chicken,” explained Minnie Quartey (CAS ‘05), president of Collegiate Cooking and a linguistics major who plans on attending culinary school. “Our last big dinner, we had 360 pounds of chicken, and you have to store that somewhere. We had chicken on top of garbage bags all over our living room floor.”
Collegiate Cooking didn’t start out cooking almost a fifth of a ton of chicken for one meal. The group started out informally last year when a group of Harbin residents found out that a friend couldn’t go home for Thanksgiving. They decided to get together and make their own Thanksgiving feast. Students could either pay five dollars to cover the cost of food or bring a dish. Over 30 people came to eat in a Harbin lounge.
“We’re all Christians in the group, and large part of the group is fellowship,” she said. “For the spring we decided to have a dinner to thank God for all the things he had done for us.” Over 90 people came to the dinner in Old North and paid to cover the cost of food.
With each dinner, more and more people on campus found out about Collegiate Cooking. Last semester the Black House and other campus organizations approached Collegiate Cooking to sponsor a large, campuswide Thanksgiving dinner, Quartey said. Over 200 people, professors and students alike, attended the dinner.
The group has also catered events such as the Black Student Association’s Soul Food Dinner and Kwanzaa. They also held a fried chicken dinner out of a Village B apartment; a standard dinner with two pieces of chicken, two sides, cornbread and a drink cost six dollars, or two dinners for ten dollars. About 40 customers came, and the apartment is planning to hold another fried chicken dinner on March 1, Quartey said.
The group donates profits to charity and are planning to donate profits from the next dinner to a local outreach organization like a homeless shelter or soup kitchen.
Operating with seven core members, the group has additional volunteers that help out with the large dinners. The large dinners can take an enormous amount of time. Quartey estimates that the group spends four to five hours shopping, and the night before their events, they hold a “chopping party,” where they dice vegetables that will be used the next day. For the last Thanksgiving dinner, they chopped over 100 pounds of potatoes. The day of a large dinner, Quartey and other members of the group get up around 5:30 a.m. and cook until 6 p.m. that evening.
“When we are cooking, it seems like we never have enough time,” Quartey said. “But now that we have more of a set system, it will be better. We are getting walkie-talkies to coordinate people between kitchens. Last year it was easier because we could use the seven kitchens in Harbin. Now we have to run between places. Last time we had to run between Kober, Village B, Nordhoff and LXR. It got crazy. Walkie-talkies will help.”
The group buys ingredients at Costco, Sam’s Wholesale, Shoppers Club and Giant, but not at Safeway because it is too expensive, Quartey said. The group also regularly goes to a butcher about six miles from campus. Even though the group transports hundreds of pounds of food, no one in the group has a car, and they depend on friends with cars to help.
The group’s main goals are to grow, and to continue after current members graduate, Quartey said. They would also like to cater to diverse groups on campus, not just primarily African-American student groups.
“Maybe someday we could have a cooking class, because cooking can really unite people,” Quartey said.
If past Collegiate Cooking events are any indication, the group will continue to receive many offers to cater large dinners. Quartey is flattered by the increased attention, but realizes as the group becomes better known on campus, they may not be able to meet demand.
“We are students before anything else,” she said. “Sometime people forget that—sometimes we forget that because we get so caught up in it.”
Flames and Friendship
Georgetown University Grilling Society (GUGS—pronounced “jugs”) was founded last summer by four students who worked for campus housing, enjoyed grilling meat and, at times, found campus to be at a social standstill. Their first major event, before GUGS became an official club, was a 12-hour summer barbecue on a Village A rooftop.
“We had the whole patio for two apartments, a DJ, and a lot of the people just came to see what was going on,” said Billy Wuyek (MSB ‘04), GUGS president. “During the summer, a lot of kids from different schools are here. It was a great way to meet people. Our goal is to get the same result from people who go here.”
“About a hundred people came,” said Pete Morton, GUGS “creative consultant,” an honorary title for a member who doesn’t hold an official office. “By the end of the day, we all smelled like charcoal.”
“No one went to bed hungry,” added Donny Chen (MSB ‘03), GUGS vice-president. “It was centered around a grill, but people were doing different things—playing cards, dancing.”
GUGS set out to create the same sort of events a couple times a year on campus. The group initially joked that it would be great to get funding from the school, but then realized there was student interest for a grilling club on campus, Wuyek said. The founders felt that most clubs on campus either centered on a very specific activity of sport, or were regionally or race-oriented, Wuyek said.
“Sometimes it’s hard for people to find a niche in the school. This is easy,” Wuyek said. “Cooking is such a fundamental activity that people can gather around.”
“We don’t require that you are from Madagascar or have a fourth degree purple polka dot belt,” said Ben Lehman (CAS ‘03), treasurer of GUGS. “This club is not just about cooking. It’s about cooking friendships.”
“We are inclusive,” Lehman added. “We do have a vegetarian faction.”
This past weekend they hosted a winter barbecue and movie night in the Village A community room. Saturday’s menu included a round of barbecue chicken sandwiches, a round of burgers replete with all the fixings, grilled vegetables and another round of barbecue chicken for good measure. While the snow put a damper on the turnout, attendees said the burgers were the best they had ever tasted. Upcoming events include more movie-barbecue nights, eating contests and another 12-hour barbecue. Events cost five dollars and are all-you-can-eat, a feat rarely achieved by pricey Georgetown restaurants.
The club focuses on community rather than just cooking meat, emphasizing that the club has a vegetarian bloc. “School spirit is lacking here, we hope that what we’re doing will help increase it,” Wuyek said.
“Fires aren’t used to build walls, they are used to burn walls down-and that’s what we do,” Lehman said. “We are a club without barriers-smart or stupid, black or white, gay or straight—we are all equally hungry.”
Cooking on Camera
College Cuisine, the first cooking show to air on GUTV, was born when Joe Sallette (CAS ‘04), GUTV’s general manager approached housemate Mark Bratus (CAS ‘04) about filming a student cooking show.
The basic premise of the show is to cook a meal for six people for around $20. The show’s format is stripped down and basic—rather than prepping dishes ahead of time, Sallette films Bratus as he cooks, the kitchen leaving only enough room for the two of them.
“We want to show people that it’s not hard to cook good food for not a lot of money, so you don’t have to eat Dominos all the time,” said Bratus, host of College Cuisine.
Bratus has prepared dishes like Baked Ziti, Risotto with Prosciutto di Parma and Asparagus and Bananas Foster. However, dishes on the show don’t always turn out as expected. During one episode, a glass shattered while Bratus tried to serve Bananas Foster.
“Usually things break, fall, or the lights go out,” said Bratus while filming this week’s episode, the shows fourth, which features Penne alla Vodka.
Bratus is surprised at the responses he’s received from the show, which have included offers from other students to appear as guest cooks. Unfortunately, the small kitchen rues out the possibility of filming more than one cook.
Sallette is encouraged by the popularity of the cooking show—other students have expressed interest in creating one. Also, Sallette has been in contact with dining services to create an Iron Chef-type show for New South. Iron Chef is a competitive, sport-like cooking show where contestants prepare meals that are rated by a panel of judges. For the Georgetown show, competitors could use student-accessible ingredients to win judges’ votes.
Bratus, who himself isn’t a big fan of cooking shows, learned how to cook by watching his mother.
“I didn’t think that many people watched GUTV,” Bratus said. “But I’ve gotten e-mails about the show, people come up to me in classes and tell me that they’ve seen the show.”
“He’s already a celebrity,” Sallette said. “People come up to him and say, ‘Nice ziti!’”
Hot recipes: the Voice’s choices
Mark Bratus’s Risotto with Prosciutto di Parma and Asparagus (Collegiate Cooking)
1 cup arborio rice
1 bundle asparagus
8 slices Prosciutto di Parma
2 14 ounce cans chicken stock
extra virgin olive oil
butter
salt
pepper
!/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup Parmigiano Reggiano
5-6 shallots
1 cup white wine
Begin by cutting the asparagus into 1 inch pieces and steam them. Heat some chicken stock in a separate pot or in microwave. Hot stock will need to be added throughout the recipe. Heat about 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan and saut? shallots until soft. Add rice and gently stir until all the rice is coated and translucent, then add enough hot broth just to cover it, and salt and pepper. Stir often with a wooden spoon, and as the rice absorbs the stock, add more bit by bit for about 15-20 min. At any time during this process, add the prosciutto (which has been cut into pieces). When almost all the stock has been absorbed and the rice is almost soft enough, stir in the asparagus. To finish the dish, stir in one cup of white wine, wait a few minutes, then stir in the Parmigiano Reggiano and about 1/3 cup heavy cream. Serve immediately.
Katie Sullivan’s Barbecued Potatoes (GUGS Vegetarian)
1 large sweet onion (vidalia, if possible)
2 large potatoes
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
celery salt
Place the mustard and olive oil together in a mixing bowl. Add the pepper, basil and salt and stir until the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, and set aside. Slice the potatoes and onions cross-wise (to make round pieces) into ~1/4” thick slices. Place the potato slices in the dijon sauce, and use a pastry brush to apply the sauce to the onion slices. Arrange the potatoes and onions so that they “stand up” on a sheet of aluminum foil, alternating potato slices with onion slices. After arranging the vegetables, sprinkle a small amount of celery salt on top, and fold up the aluminum foil so that the potatoes and onions are completely covered. If time allows, allow the “roll” to sit in the refrigerator so that the sauce can be absorbed by the vegetables. Place the roll on the grill and allow to cook: ~20-30 minutes for a very hot grill. Enjoy!
Makes: 1 roll, or approximately 2-3 servings.
Mark Bratus’s Baked Ziti (College Cuisine)
2 sweet Italian sausage links
extra virgin olive oil
fresh garlic
1 onion
2 28 ounce cans imported whole peeled tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
red wine
fresh basil
fresh parsley
3/4 pound ricotta
1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
shredded mozzarella
1 egg
salt
pepper
3/4 pound ziti
Start by heating a small amount of olive oil in a large saucepan. Brown the sausages, then take them out. Don’t clean the pan. Add 4 tablespoons olive oil, and chopped garlic to taste. Saut? until onions are soft (don’t burn the garlic). Add both cans of whole tomatoes, salt and pepper. Let this simmer for about 1 hr, stirring occasionally. In the mean time, combine the ricotta, egg, salt, pepper, parsley and Parmigiano Reggiano in a bowl and put it aside. Start boiling the pasta in salted water. When the sauce has simmered for about 1 hr, and the tomatoes are breaking up, add some fresh chopped basil, chop up the cooked sausages and add them with about 1 can tomato paste and a splash of red wine. Let this simmer for about 15-20 more minutes, or until the pasta is cooked. Drain the pasta and put it into a 9×13 inch pan. Add the sauce and cheese concoction, and stir it all together well. Cover the top with mozzarella, cover the whole thing with foil, and bake for about 45 minutes at 350. Voila, baked ziti.
