Culinary students at Pensacola Junior College are celebrating their recent win of a bronze medal award they received while participating in the annual Florida State Championship Team Skills Competition.
The competition was held two weeks ago at the Orlando Convention Center coordinating with the National Restaurant Association’s Food Show. The team missed out on winning the silver medal by 0.16 of a point.
Chef Travis Herr, culinary program leader, said those kind of competitions “enhance the students resumes, expose them to so much more about what other people are doing and just bring them to a different level.”
Twelve teams with five members competed in the statewide contest and were judged on basic culinary skills and cooking. During the skills portion of the competition, the teams were judged based on their organization, butchering and filleting of meat and their sanitation.
Each team had to create a four-course meal menu for four people in under 90 minutes. One recipe was supplied, but the other three recipes had to be created by those competing.
The team tried to pair the other recipes with the appetizer course, which was a seafood dish chosen from the classic Escoffier. The rest of the menu included an orange and tomato compote salad, chicken poulet with basil gnocchi and a coconut pastry cream with a lychee sorbet for dessert.
Chef Herr said the recipes took about four to five weeks to create. The team practiced several times a week for almost five hours a day, including during the summer.
The team included: Captain James Allen Jr., Kimberly Rigel, Sean Higgins, Chris Rivait and John (JJ) Smith. All members work in local restaurants, and are striving to run their own kitchens someday.
The competition was almost every team member’s first time competing. Considering almost 10,000 people could observe the teams at work and were attending the accompanying Food Show, the team was nervous to be judged.
All students enrolled in the culinary program were invited to compete. However, due to the necessary time-consuming commitment, few were able to attend.
The students are excited about their achievement, and plan to attend more competitions in the future.