MAYS LANDING — Four teams of students from Atlantic Cape Community College’s Academy of Culinary Arts (ACA) program battled for bragging rights and scholarship funds during the 20th Annual Iron Student Chef Competition on April 24 at the College’s Mays Landing campus.
Begun by the Culinary Student Association as a way for students to display their creativity, this in-house competition allows burgeoning chefs to showcase their talents, come away with bragging rights and win scholarship money. The students had to create their own signature dishes that featured this year’s secret ingredient, Fontina cheese, as the highlight of the platter.
The team of Jasmine Gonzalez Alegria and Amy Jimenez, with a total of 48 out of a possible 50 points, won a first–place scholarship of $300 each with their Fontina orchard crisp appetizer and shrimp & Fontina grits entree.
Despite several last–minute menu changes, Jimenez and Gonzalez Alegria were very impressed with the final result.
“We switched our menu three times and again the menu changed at the last minute yesterday. Anything that we originally had on it we scratched it and came up with a whole new menu 24 hours before this event,” said Jimenez, a sophomore from Ocean County, NJ. “Chef Latorre gave me a cracker recipe that we used in our bread class. It got this menu rolling. Then, I started thinking of the creme fresh, the prosciutto and the honey to make it a fresh appetizer since we had the grits, which were warm.”
“With the grits we added scallions and the pickled radish to cut some of the fat since the main ingredient was the cheese. We wanted to let that shine, but not be too overwhelming. We just wanted to make sure everything was balanced,” said Gonzalez Alegria, a freshman from Egg Harbor Township who acknowledged that the scholarship funds will come in handy. “It’s a weight off my shoulders and less I have to worry about so I can focus more on the culinary part of school.”
For their second–place finish, the duo of Samad Steele and Jada Massey, who earned 40.5 out of a possible 50 points, each earned a $250 scholarship for their chicken roulade with Fontina spinach and roasted red pepper with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and mushroom cream sauce entrée, and Fontina vanilla bean cheesecake with guava gel and mint gel.
The third–place duo of Chase Quintavelle and Danna Jimenez, who earned 40 out of a possible 50 points, each earned a $200 scholarship for their eggplant rollatini made of crispy eggplant rolled and stuffed with a creamy ricotta and signature cheese blend, finished with a bright, freshly–made summer tomato sauce appetizer and carbonara rigatoni made of rigatoni tossed in a rich, silky carbonara sauce made with egg yolk, cheese and topped with crispy pancetta.
The students’ scores were rated based upon their final kitchen score from 0-20 points based on technique and cleanliness, and their final tasting score from 0-30 points were based on presentation and taste.
Serving as judges for this year’s competition were two ACA alumni — Class of 2018 alumnus James Knights, who is currently an adjunct instructor with the ACA and is a chef at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, and Class of 2025 alumna Grace Carpenter, who is currently the head pastry chef at Vive Bene in Egg Harbor City.
Learn more about Atlantic Cape’s Academy of Culinary Arts by visiting atlanticcape.edu/aca for more information. View a photo gallery of this event on Flickr here.
About Atlantic Cape Community College
Established in 1964, Atlantic Cape Community College is a Middle States accredited, Hispanic Serving Institution proudly serving the residents of Atlantic and Cape May counties. As a comprehensive, two-year community college, Atlantic Cape offers 52 undergraduate degree programs, and 34 certificate and professional series programs at its Mays Landing, Atlantic City and Cape May County campuses. Atlantic Cape is home to the renowned Academy of Culinary Arts, rated the top culinary school in New Jersey, and for more than 50 years, our highly-acclaimed Nursing program. Atlantic Cape also partners with more than 30 colleges and four-year universities to offer students the opportunity to seamlessly earn a bachelor’s degree upon graduation.
