Photo By Petty Officer 3rd Class William Ford | 171113-N-YF227-364 PACIFIC OCEAN (Nov. 13, 2017) The judges of the of the "Best of the...... read more read more
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A savory aroma of freshly prepared dishes wafted throughout the aft mess decks aboard USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) as the ship held a “Best of the Mess” culinary competition, Nov. 13.
Culinary Specialist 1st Class David Houchins, the ship’s food service division leading petty officer, hosted the event featuring six teams from various galleys around the ship. The teams competed against one another in a competition that was judged on appearance, flavor, consistency and originality.
“This competition is a huge morale booster and an excellent training evolution for the culinary specialists to showcase their culinary artistry,” said Houchins. “Imagine, for a moment, a finely decorated plate giving way to a delicious meal that could only be found in one of the most prestigious restaurants in the world. Now open your eyes and see that very plate on a U.S. Navy warship, and that is exactly what the judges experience during the competition.”
Each team was required to include chicken, spinach, mozzarella cheese and garbanzo beans in their dish, and had to use one additional ingredient found onboard, whether it be from the mess decks, vending machines or the ship’s store.
Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Sanka Harris said his team created a mozzarella and spinach stuffed butterfly chicken breast with a garbanzo bean dipping sauce for their main entrée, also known as the “Miami Hurricane,” in honor of Harris’s hometown of Miami. “For dessert we made a Georgia Bulldog hush puppy made of macadamia nut cookies dipped in a batter of pancake mix, milk, cinnamon and brown sugar, and fried until golden brown. And to top it off, we provided a tasty Chicago sundae which consisted of Snickers, vanilla ice cream, milk and a cherry on top.”
Harris’s team, from the ship’s aft galley, included Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Laquintis James, from Chicago, and Culinary Specialist Seaman Andre Morrison, from Atlanta, and received a score of 80 percent from the judges to take home first place.
“My team wanted to prove to all of the messes that you can bring diversity into any dish and make it amazing,” said Harris. “It felt great to win because there was a lot of amazing competition out there from the other messes, however, we were very proud and confident in each of our dishes.”
The culinary competition was the ship’s first since completing its six-month planned incremental availability, and the first of many to come according to Houchins.
John C. Stennis is underway conducting routine training as it continues preparing for its next scheduled deployment.
For more news on John C. Stennis, visit http://navy.mil/local/cvn74/ or follow along on Facebook at www.facebook.com/stennis74.
| Date Taken: | 11.15.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 12.20.2017 13:12 |
| Story ID: | 259654 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 52 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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