March 2, 2006

A-B Tech’s Hot Food Team at the American Culinary Federation Southeast Regional Junior Hot Food competition in Savannah, GA., where they won first place and the opportunity to compete nationally. Team members are, from left, Jason Huang, Nell Flemer, Mark Hutchins, Adam Cole, Matt Gruber and Marla Leblow.

The A-B Tech Hot Food Team secured its place in national culinary competition Feb. 28 by winning the Southeast Regional Junior Hot Food title for the third time in nine years.

The student team won first place and a gold medal at the American Culinary Federation competition in Savannah, GA., after winning state competition in January. They will advance to national competition July 14-17 in Philadelphia against the ACF champions from the Northeast, Central and Western regions.

Chef Bronwen McCormick, Culinary instructor, and Chef Charles deVries, Baking and Pastry Arts instructor, serve as coaches. Members of the team are captain Mark Hutchins, Adam Cole, Nell Flemer, Jason Huang, Marla Leblow, and second alternate Matt Gruber.

“It was awesome,” said deVries. “I felt the team was really well-organized and happy. They kept a steady pace. They got a lot of comments about them being a machine because of the precision and organization. ”

“The students were exceptional,” said McCormick. “They were calm and collected and they did exactly what they had trained to do. Their food was beautiful.”

“I was proud to be representing the school with my teammates,” said Flemer. “I’ve learned so much in the past couple of months with them. I can’t wait until nationals. I think no matter how it goes, it’s going to be a great experience and I will learn so much from it.”

Hot food competitors are judged on such criteria as the flavor, taste, texture and doneness of their foods; serving methods; portion sizes and creativity. Floor judges also evaluate their organization, sanitation, teamwork, workflow, and cooking techniques and knife skills.

“It was very exciting and a little nerve racking,” said Leblow. “Once we got in there, we worked as team and did the best we’ve ever done. We all work together really well. I think we should be able to keep it together for nationals. Communicating during competition is important. It keeps us all relaxed to hear our teammates’ voices.”

The A-B Tech team used the same menu from state competition, but with improvements after receiving feedback from judges. The team served pan seared striped bass filet for the appetizer, followed by a mixed greens salad with a shiitake mushroom and triple cream cheese Napoleon and an apple wood-smoked bacon vinaigrette. The entrée was chicken roulade with mushroom duxelles, fennel sausage, glazed golden beets, horseradish gnocchi and roasted chicken sauce. Dessert was Granny Smith apple timbale with goat’s milk caramel, sourwood honey-blackberry sauce and lime crème fraiche. The blackberry dessert sauce also contained some jalapeno pepper which was noted by the Certified Master Chef judges as being "innovative, bold and a nice surprise."

“They took a lot of ownership in taking the food up another level, which they will need to do again for nationals,” said McCormick.

“It was a very exciting experience for me,” said Huang. “It was definitely one of the biggest accomplishments I ever achieved. We’re taking a break now, but eventually we will be kicking it back up and start practicing again.”

Culinary teams from A-B Tech won regional competitions in 1997 and 2003, and received silver medals at the national competition those years, making the A-B Tech team one of the “Top Four” nationally.

“They had a great time and smiled throughout the competition,” said McCormick. “They certainly should be very proud of what they accomplished. I am. “