Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Kelvin Ringold | Staff Sgt. Matthew Flemister, Network Enterprise Technology Command, finishes plating...... read more read more
FORT LEE, Va.— Chefs from 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion, 11th Signal Brigade, and Network Enterprise Technology Command competed during the 40th annual Military Culinary Arts Competitive Training Event March 7-12 here.
With chefs from various military bases, countries and branches around the U.S., the United Kingdom and Germany, the culinary arts team made up of six chefs from Fort Huachuca was among the 28 teams consisting of 281 culinary professionals competing this year.
Although this is an annual competition, this marks the first time units from Fort Huachuca had participated since 1998.
Sgt. 1st Class Donald Stewart, Dining Facility manager, 40th ESB, has been on Fort Huachuca since July 2013 and was familiar with the event.
Always looking for ways to train and mentor Soldiers, he wanted to get his team involved in this unique opportunity.
“I became aware of the funding available for units to come here during the Food Service Management course here,” said Stewart. “I was eager for my Soldiers to experience it and brought it up to the command. With NETCOM’s help, we were able to get the right funding and equipment and the Soldiers are now reaping the benefits.”
With three of the six chefs having only the cooking experience from being in the military for two years or less, the chefs from Fort Huachuca worked together and came ready to make an impact on the competition.
“They trained hard to prepare,” said Stewart. “After working their normal DFAC shifts they trained during their off duty hours to be ready for the competition.”
The head of the team, Staff Sgt. Matthew Flemister, NETCOM, and his experience helped mentor the Soldiers during preparation.
“After high school I went to culinary arts school,” said Flemister. “I worked with a civilian chef for almost 12 years before joining the military.”
The remaining Soldiers, Spc. Andreas Bell, Pfc. Shakira Arnold, Pfc. Louie Burgos, Pfc. Joshua Ruiz and Pfc. Carey Lee, all from 40th ESB, competed in the Patisserie or Hot-Food category respectively.
Adding to the legitimacy of the competition was the fact that the judges were all American Culinary Federation certified and were using the same ACF judging standards.
Even though Flemister was the only member of the team with experience in this type of competition, three other chefs were able to medal in their categories.
Pfc. Arnold has only been a chef in the Army for the past 7 months, but she has been cooking all her life and was confident cooking for the judges.
After making a sweet potato, apple and walnut strudel with ginger maple ice cream in the Patisserie category, she walked away with the silver medal.
“It wasn’t too stressful for me,” said Arnold. “This is my element and what I love to do.”
Her teammate Bell, who had never cooked with anything more than a microwave before joining the Army, took the gold medal in the category for his strawberry cheesecake with sorbet and basil syrup.
“I was in awe,” said Bell. “I put my all into it. It was a great experience I will never forget.”
After cooking a BBQ duck with black bean corn and relish for the Hot-Food category, Burgos came away with the silver medal for his dish.
It was nerve-racking and exciting at the same time, said Burgos. It was great gaining this experience and also getting to see what chefs can do outside of the DFAC.
Flemister competed in the Military Masters Champion category and received the top honor for his three variations of pork loin.
“I had a game plan coming in and I felt confident that if I stuck to it, I could win,” he said.
Even though two members did not place in the top three, they both received honorable mentions and will learn from the experience and use it for motivation next time around.
The strong noncommissioned officer leadership and dedication from the Soldiers was the perfect recipe for success and made the experience enjoyable for the team.
“I couldn’t be any prouder of our team,” said Flemister. “For their first time competing it’s remarkable for them to have the success they had.”
After a 17 year absence from the competition, the culinary team from Fort Huachuca showed they have what it takes to be a force annually.
“My goal is to have this be a springboard to continued success,” said Stewart. “I want them to compete for Culinary Arts Team of the Year next year.”
| Date Taken: | 03.16.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 03.25.2015 14:47 |
| Story ID: | 158038 |
| Location: | FORT LEE, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 44 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Masterful performances propel chefs to victory, by SFC Kelvin Ringold, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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