FORT LEE, Va. (May 5, 2011) -- It's been a little more than six weeks since the 36th Annual Culinary Arts Competition concluded at Fort Lee, but the competitive spirit of that event has not waned for the U.S. Coast Guard Team, the Chef of the Year and the Junior Chef of the Year who the continue their quests for culinary greatness.
As part of their gold medal win in the Student Skills events, the Coast Guard team earned the chance to compete at the American Culinary Federation's Western Regional Competition in Scottsdale, Ariz., April 29 - May 2 and vie for the opportunity to compete at the national level.
The team, comprised of Food Service Specialist 2nd Class Katie Hietman, Food Service Specialist 2nd Class Tom Hunter, Food Service Specialist 2nd Class Clark Lauer, Food Service Specialist 3rd Class Jason Rohrs, Food Service Specialist 2nd Class Kiersten Lorditch, and team coach Food Service Specialist 1 Edward Fuchs, met at the Joint Culinary Center of Excellence April 24 to begin their final preparations for the competition. The team spent the week perfecting the menu items they had selected. Before their departure, each team member practiced daily the four areas that would make up the relay competition.
Once in Scottsdale, they began preparing their cold food display at the Arizona Culinary Institute. The U.S. Coast Guard Culinary Arts Student Skills team, which is comprised of five members aged 25 years or younger and E-5 or below, represented the entire Armed Forces during the competition.
Saturday, the team arranged its cold food display, a seafood platter which included salmon and lobster sausage, fish terrine, gravelox, vegetable salad, smoked salmon mousse and mustard dill vinaigrette.
The hot food challenge began Sunday with a blind-drawing for the student skills relay. Lauer picked the pastry card, Rohrs picked the vegetable card, Hietman drew the chicken and Hunter pulled the fish card, which thrilled the team. Lorditch served as the team's alternate and assisted them with their tasks as the rules allowed.
"We were hoping Tommy (Hunter) would get the fish," Lauer said smiling.
Hunter is a recreational fisherman who was raised on the coast of Florida and has been filleting fish since he was a young child. In his spare time he works at fish markets near his duty station in California.
From start to finish, the team had 90 minutes to perform classical vegetable cuts, chicken fabrication (cutting a whole chicken) and fish fabrication (filleting a whole fish), and prepare a pastry cream. The second part of the relay had the team use the items from the four skills to create a four-course meal with four plates each in 90 minutes.
Hietman began the relay, followed by Hunter, Rohrs and then Lauer. Each member had to wait until the previous skill was completed before beginning his or her task.
Their dishes were completed on time and in good order. After the high intensity day, the team that had pulled several late and all-nighters since arriving in Scottsdale, were finally able to enjoy the sites of the city.
Meanwhile, the Chef of the Year and Junior Chef of the Year trials were well under way.
Sgt. Billy Daugette, a member of the Pentagon Culinary Arts team and winner of the Chef of the Year title at the 36th Annual Culinary Arts Competition competed against other chefs for the opportunity to represent the ACF Western Region at the national event later this year.
Daugette said he felt well after his performance in the kitchen and looked forward to a little relaxation in the days before the awards ceremony.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Ghil Medina, who was named junior chef of the year at the 36th Annual Culinary Arts Competition at Fort Lee earlier this year, competed for and won the title of Junior Chef of the Year during the regional competition and will advance to the national event this summer.
Medina, who is assigned to 633rd Force Support Squadron at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, spent weeks perfecting his recipe and gaining the support of his commanding officer, Lt. Col. Jenise Carroll, who accompanied the chef to the competition.
Carroll watched through a viewing window as Medina worked.
"He's very disciplined and loves to cook," she said.
Medina was a member of the Langley-Eustis Culinary Arts Team that won 27 medals during the competition earlier this year.
Carroll said she didn't know much about the culinary world when Medina told her the team wanted to come to Fort Lee to compete.
"When the team came home with so many medals, I realized this is serious business," she said.
Medina returned to his commander after winning gold and told her he'd earned the opportunity to move to the next level.
"As his commander, I am honored to see him live out his passion," she said.
Medina was relaxed before the event and worked methodically to prepare two plates with four courses for the judges.
Monday evening at a gala event, all the competitors were honored and the winners announced. The Coast Guard team earned a Silver Medal for its performance and Daugette placed second in his competition.
Next year, the regional competition may not be necessary if the JCCoE completes the criteria to become a region-at-large for the ACF.
Raymond Beu, JCCoE, director of training, said the annual showing at Fort Lee has more competitors and more events than some of the regional competitions and could possibly become its own regional event.
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