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THE DETAILS
On Friday, April 10th, 2026, four teams of four high school-aged students from North Valley Christian Academy, Northwest Christian School, Phoenix Christian Preparatory School, and Verde Christian Academy will come together at 5:30pm at the Classic Cooking Academy in Scottsdale.
Prior to going live, at 5:50pm, each of the four teams will be given a basket of identical ingredients and recipes for a four-piece meal: an appetizer, an entree, a side dish, and a dessert. The teams then have ten minutes to develop a plan. At 6:00pm, the Great Crusader Cookoff will go live on NCS-Plus.com.
To get a sense of the type of information and recipes you will receive at the start of the competition, please click here. But, keep in mind that while the recipes you receive will resemble this example in terms of quality of information and complexity, the example recipes are not the recipe you will be given on April 10th.
At 6:00pm, the live competition commences, with both an in-studio and YouTube audience watching. After sixty minutes, each team will have to plate and present their their dishes for a panel of three judges.
The three judges will include an industry professional, a chef from the Classic Cooking Academy, and the Great Crusader Cookoff's own "Simon", Chef Vin McReynolds. Chef Vin works as a culinary minister and missionary at Scottsdale Bible Church.
In addition to the basket of common ingredients, the teams will have optional items available if they wish to bolster the common recipe with alternative spices or extra or alternate ingredients. The teams may be as creative as they wish with the recipes, including dropping ingredients if they deem it best.
All cooking utensils and necessary cutlery will be provided. Teams may not bring their own, outside utensils or cutlery.
Teams will all have to complete the main entree and side to be eligible for judging. The appetizer and dessert are optional. Keep in mind that completing the appetizer and/or dessert may help your team or hurt your team. If your team completes the appetizer, dessert, or both and the outcome is strong in the view of the judges, it will help your score. However, if your team completes the appetizer and dessert challenge but the product is poor in the view of the judges, it will hurt the team's score.
If there are food allergies within the teams, this must be communicated prior to April 1st, 2026.
Judging will be based on four factors: (1) planning, (2) preparation, (3) palatability, and (4) presentation. Extra points will be afforded a team if they successfully complete the appetizer, dessert, or both.
A strong planning score will be based on how efficiently the team works, how well they work as a team, and how well they communicate as they work in the kitchen. Preparation points will be earned if the team demonstrates cooking skills, keeps their area reasonably tidy, utilizes sound judgment and safety, and demonstrates some command of the craft of cooking. Palatability points will be awarded by the judges for taste, the courage to take chances, and successful seasoning. Presentation will consider the process of plating and how well the dishes appeal to the eye. With presentation and planning, keep in mind that teams will need to consider how best to manage, maintain, and time the temperatures of their dishes leading into judging. Outside of their own planning, teams will be afforded no special consideration for maintaining temperatures prior to judging.
At 7:00pm, live on the program, the judges will taste and score the entrees for each team, offering commentary for the audience. After the entrees, the program will cut to several 'commercials', including the announcement of how Arizona high schools can register a team for the expanded Great Crusader Cookoff open tournament during 2026/2027. When the program returns to live, the winning team will earn $2000 or $500/team member.
After this competition, during the 2026/2027 school year, the Great Crusader Cookoff team will launch a statewide cooking tournament for high schools. More information on that competition will be announced after April 10th.
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