NWC culinary specialists earn silver medals at conference

Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Richard Wolff | Culinary Specialist 2nd Class Quentin Richardson prepares lunch at the Naval War College (NWC) in Newport, R.I. Richardson was one of four NWC chefs that attended the 21st Annual Tastes of the World, Chef Culinary Conference at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The sailors took home a silver medal they earned during the competition phase of the conference.  

NEWPORT, RI, UNITED STATES

06.25.2015

Courtesy Story

U.S. Naval War College

NEWPORT, R.I. – Four U.S. Naval War College (NWC) culinary specialists sharpened their skills at a conference at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where they attended four days of cooking seminars from top chefs and then took part in a competition with other attendees over the concepts and techniques they learned.

Members of the NWC staff attending the training were Culinary Specialist 1st Class Devon Patterson, Culinary Specialist 1st Class Jerromiah Payne, Culinary Specialist 1st Class Jeremy Andersen, and Culinary Specialist 2nd Class Quentin Richardson.

The conference, 21st Annual Tastes of the World, Chef Culinary Conference, was sponsored by the American Culinary Federation (ACF) and included sessions on cooking, nutrition, regional foods from the Japan, France, the Mediterranean, India, the Southern U.S., as well as cooking demonstrations.

The last day, the conference held a competition for attendees including chefs from several organizations around the U.S., many of which were colleges.

“It was a sanctioned ACF culinary competition,” said Andersen, who helped organize the training. “We were competing against a score, not really directly against each other.”

NWC chefs were awarded a silver medal for their food. Of more than 20 teams competing, only four won gold, 13 earned silver, four were given bronze. The rest were not given an award.

For the competition, the chefs were given a basket of food and were required to use everything for each meal. No one knew the ingredients prior to being presented with the food when it was time to cook.

For the first meal, the group prepared quinoa salad with beet greens and roasted peppers, fresh herb quinoa with mango and hazelnut vinaigrette with sautéed beet greens. Their second course was seared arctic char with brussels sprouts and peach chutney. Herb sausage-stuffed chicken breast, pan-seared chicken with herbs, supreme sauce and whipped potatoes comprised the third course. The fourth course was flap steak with glazed beet, cast-iron grilled steak with red wine demi and glazed beet.

The group learned much at the conference including how to be more sustainable, economical and sanitary.

“For instance, when we make a product that needed us to use eggs, Virginia Willis [one of the instructors] told us to use the egg whites instead of the yolks,” said Richardson. “The product will come out much fluffier. We got all kinds of tips like that to make our cooking much better. We also learned a lot about presentation.”

In 21 years of competition, the NWC chefs were the first group to represent the military, according to conference officials.

“The other chefs really seemed excited to see us,” said Richardson. “Everyone wanted to know what we do in the Navy. They were talking to us and were very interested in our jobs here.”

The culinary specialists will now apply the skills they learned as they return to their assigned duties of preparing meals for the college leadership and distinguished guests at NWC and other tasks.

“Having our guys go through this training is a great benefit to the Navy and Naval War College,” said NWC Command Master Chief Ben Pierson. “After interacting with chefs from outside the military, they learned things that will benefit their work here. Part of their job is cooking for international leaders who come here regularly and now they will have more tools in the tool bag and will be better prepared to fulfill our mission.”

Some of the other teams earning silver awards were Harvard University, University California-Berkley, University of Michigan and Cornell University.

The conference had 38 workshop presenters and speakers, including Walter Willet, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School; Jet Tila of the Food Network's Cutthroat Kitchen and Iron Chef America; Eric Asimov, author and New York Times chief wine critic; and Joanne Weir, award-winning cookbook author and international cooking teacher.

• Date Taken: 06.25.2015
• Date Posted: 06.25.2015 16:00
• Story ID: 168181
• Location: NEWPORT, RI, US