Here what’s on the menu: filet de sole floreal; a baby microgreens salad with goat cheese; crusted herbs and paprika seasoned with ancho chili vinaigrette resting in a parmesan cheese basket; baby beets with some fat; herb cream-cheese stuffed chicken breast with potato, butternut squash, and mushrooms; sautéed haricots verts with almonds, and for dessert, cinnamon-encrusted French toast with crème glaze and parfait with chocolate.
Yummo!
These mouth-watering dishes will be created at the American Culinary Federation (ACF) Student Team Northeast Region Championship next weekend, March 13-14, as part of the 2010 ACF Northeast Regional Conference, held at Hershey Lodge in Hershey, Pa.
“Knife skills 20 minutes, butchering the chicken 20 minutes, butchering the fish 20 minutes…” – Rickford Foo, on contest tasks.
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A team of five students, with one alternate, will represent HCCC under the guidance of their coach, Rickford “Ryan” Foo, a 29-year-old alumnus of the Culinary Arts Program who hails from Jersey City. Foo is currently the executive chef at the Shackamaxon Golf & Country Club in Scotch Plains.
The school earned the right to compete in the upcoming championship and represent New Jersey by winning a gold medal in the ACF’s New Jersey championship last year. They will vie for top honors against student teams from New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Ohio, Vermont, and West Virginia.
The regional competition consists of three phases: cold-food presentation, skills salon, and cooking, where teams will prepare a pre-assigned classical fish starter chosen from Escoffier: The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery, and a salad, entrée, and dessert of their choice.
A panel of judges will select the winning team, which will be announced at the Celebrating Regional Excellence Awards Gala, Monday, March 15. The winning team will represent the Northeast region in the national competition in Anaheim, Calif., in August.
Hunger for something rewarding
Recently a group of six chefs-in-training were situated around a steel table, focused intently on slicing and dicing vegetables while an electronic timer placed on the table kept running. Foo kept an eye on the clock and his students as they engaged in practice for their upcoming competition.
“They are four 20-minute sets where they do specific tasks during the competition – knife skills 20 minutes, butchering the chicken 20 minutes, butchering the fish 20 minutes and then dessert skill set 20 minutes,” Foo said. “And that’s just stage one.”
In stage two of the competition they have to take all the ingredients and prepare 16 dinner servings. And during the two days of competition, they will demonstrate the skills they learned in the kitchen – um, classroom.
But Foo, who participated in this competition when he was a student and will compete in the current one as well, said there are benefits to this event besides winning.
“The biggest part of competition is what you get from it,” Foo said. “The experiences, meeting people out in the field, and the networking.”
During a break, the team – Wilfredo Rodriguez, Adrienne Fudge (yes, that’s her real name), Peter Haynes, Patchareeboon Raveesoonthonikiet, Ryessa Grant, and Seth-Elias Davis (alternate member) – spoke about preparing for competition. They were chosen based on tryouts by 30 students with the exception of Fudge and Haynes, who had participated last year.
Rodriguez, the only member of the team from Jersey City, said it is about “prioritizing,” especially when he has regular classes along with the morning and night practices.
“Getting a lot of things done, there’s pressure on most of us because we are doing this for the first time,” Rodriguez said.
Fudge, who hails from Newark, is the captain of the team. She says the guidance from Foo has been steady in helping to deal with any pressure. And there is another factor.
“Because we are being timed and we are watching the clock, you just do it and you just don’t focus on anything else,” she said.
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.