Austin Krautwald, left, winner Grace Carpenter and Saudley Delphin. (Photo by Craig Matthews)
Three Atlantic Cape Community College Academy of Culinary Arts students put it all on the line — or in the pan — for a chance to win the 19th annual Iron Student Chef Competition at the Mays Landing campus.
The Culinary Student Association started the competition as a way for students to display their creativity.
The in-house competition allows burgeoning chefs to showcase their talents, come away with bragging rights and win scholarship money.
They were tasked with creating their own signature dishes that featured this year’s secret ingredient: oyster mushrooms.
Second-year student Grace Carpenter of Egg Harbor Township narrowly defeated fellow second-year classmate Saudley Delphin, 45.5 points to 45. First-year student Austin Krautwald finished in third with 34.5 points. The students’ scores were rated based upon their final kitchen score from 0-20 points based on technique and cleanliness, and their final tasting score from 0-30 points were based on presentation and taste.
Grace Carpenter prepares her winning dish. (Photo by Craig Matthews)Carpenter’s winning dish was a delicious mushroom tart with seared scallops and mushroom cream sauce. Delphin created an impressive mushroom gumbo bowl with mushroom rice and a side of mushroom ice cream. Krautwald devised a mushroom crème brûlée.
“It was a good learning experience, but for my dish I wanted to bring my baking side to it,” said Carpenter, who earned a $700 scholarship for her first-place finish. “So, for the tart shell I did a croissant crust and then I filled it with a goat cheese, garlic and herb goat cheese, and then a mushroom filling on top of that. Then, on the side, I did a mushroom cream sauce with white wine and seared scallops as well.”
For his second-place finish, Delphin received a $500 scholarship, while Krautwald earned a $300 scholarship for placing third.
Serving as judges for this year’s competition were Academy of Culinary Arts Class of 2012 alumnus John Zaitoun, who is currently the executive chef at Congress Hall in Cape May, and Class of 2011 alumna Jamie Merlino, who after eight years of working and traveling around the world, is set to soon open her first business, Wild Roots Provisions, in Cape May.
Chef David Goldstein of the Professional Chefs Association of South Jersey local chapter of the American Culinary Federation donated $1,500 to help reward the students taking part in the competition.
“This donation rewards the students for putting themselves out there, and showing their culinary skills and techniques,” Goldstein said. “Hopefully it encourages them to be not only professional, but to be outgoing and unafraid. When they go out into the field it's competitive and we want them to have confidence and show their skills.”
Director of Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Chef Joseph Sheridan thanked the Chefs Association for its donation.
“For the first 18 years of this competition it was simply about bragging rights around the academy,” Sheridan said. “Today, thanks to the generosity of the chef’s association, for the first time ever we are able to offer scholarship money to the winners.”
Saudley Delphin puts the finishing touch on his plate. (Photo by Craig Matthews)Goldstein was impressed with each student’s final culinary creation.
“Everybody's a winner today. There are no losers in this. Everybody's a winner. Some will do better than others and rightfully so,” he said. “Having a mystery ingredient doesn't make it easy, but it challenges them and they need challenge because when you're out in the real world, there's a lot of challenges you face every day, and this is good training as well as a good experience.”
CLICK HERE to learn more about Atlantic Cape's Academy of Culinary Arts.
