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By PACOM Public Affairs
HONOLULU - In a sunlit dining room usually reserved for the highest military officials, Alicia Boada, an American Culinary Federation executive chef evaluator, sat with pen in hand waiting to be served.
A potential executive chef urgently walks through a door with a bowl and plate held in hand with samples of lobster, salmon, and other items placed with all the care and sensitivity that only a parent gives to a child.
With a sigh of relief and resignation, the chef carefully sets the platter and promptly leaves the room. All hopes placed in white porcelain, he knows the outcome is out of his hands.
With a slow measured pace, Alicia samples the chef’s best culinary efforts, lobster and salmon, lingering over every spoonful all while keeping a watchful eye on the two other evaluators.
“He nailed it!” she exclaimed with the clink of the spoon on the saucer. “That was beautiful! My bowl is empty!”
Her fellow evaluators smiled and nodded in agreement.
An ACF executive and sous chef certification event was hosted at U.S. Pacific Command, Camp Smith, Hawaii, May 22–24. Ten culinary specialist sailors exhausted their talents in pursuit of the esteemed certification in order to take their place among the elite in this culinary organization; a rite of passage in the world of chefs reserved only for the best.
Founded in 1929, the ACF is the largest professional chefs organization in North America and is known as “the authority in cooking in America” according to their website http://www.acfchefs.org/.
“Being at PACOM is very significant,” said Navy Master Chief Culinary Specialist Michael Carter, an ACF executive chef and evaluator. “This is a most prestigious environment and it shows how far we’ve come to recognize these sailors.”
Urs B. Emmenegger, also a certified ACF executive chef and evaluator who traveled from San Diego to provide his services to this event, explained the process and challenges of certification.
Evaluations are based on sanitation, preparation, time management, organization and the quality of the food presented, he said. Each individual must provide a three-course meal ready to be served in three hours using ingredients and food items not served on a daily basis.
“I don’t think I have met anyone who wasn’t nervous,” said Emmenegger. “Some are nervous to the point where they don’t sleep the night before, some don’t eat and some get so stressed that they get sick.”
All evaluators on site agreed that being a chef is more than just getting the ingredients and timing right.
“It takes a lot of guts to step forward and take the test,” said Boada. “We really make sure that the standards are high.”
“You have to have passion,” said Navy Culinary Specialist 1st Class Zachary Brown, a participant who sought certification. “The nervousness didn’t come out until I woke up… then all those butterflies came out.”
“I tried to stay calm and collected, and then when my time started, the focus came right back and it was just another day in the kitchen,” he said. “In that three-hour time, you don’t have time to question yourself… It’s a culinary battlefield.”
Within the culinary battlefield, Brown emphasized the importance of organization skills, timing and pressure, along with his own worst enemy.
“Everyone needs to dig inside themselves and find that artist,” he said. “The biggest enemy to every chef is themselves… It needs to be perfect at the right time.”
With these culinary certifications, sailors are given a prominent opportunity to prove their skills in a venue recognized within military and civilian communities.
“It’s [an] intense three hours,” said Carter. “Having a mentor goes a long way, and these certifications are only going to give value to our rating. [You need to be able to] demonstrate the ability to cook in a professional environment at the highest level.”
“It’s an opportunity to give them a certification that’s going to make them competitive,” he said. “The ACF and military has had a longstanding relationship in terms of having people qualify.”
ACF certification became available to Navy personnel in 2004, after Chief Culinary Specialist Brandon Parry certified as chief executive chef.
“I just started spreading the wealth and giving people the opportunity to certify wherever I went,” said Parry.
Even with intense preparation, the certification still offers considerable challenges.
“There’s no easy way to prepare for this,” said Culinary Specialist 2nd Class Jason Flynn. “I was very nervous. Now that it’s all over, it feels like the world’s been lifted off my shoulders.”
“[PACOM] is a place I actually look forward to coming to work every day,” said Flynn. “Just the satisfaction of knowing that I took care of somebody and fed somebody is a really great feeling.”
All ten of the sailors brought their best – eight qualified for the executive status and two qualified for the second-in-command position, sous chef.
“Every single one of the gentlemen that tested gave their heart and soul,” said Boada. “They were so well trained, and so well organized. Some of them were to the point that they were perfectionists in there. It was really a beautiful display."
| Date Taken: | 05.24.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 06.12.2012 20:49 |
| Story ID: | 89868 |
| Location: | HONOLULU, HI, US |
| Web Views: | 50 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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