Boston Day 3

Today was both a rewarding and trying day. The Culinary Team has been operating the past few days with little sleep, and with high tension and anxiety. At the same time, undoubtably the competition has been the fulfilment of literally 6 months of preparation and practice.

The day began at 7am with the Skills portion of the competition. Each team has 80 minutes to complete four skills (de-boning a chicken, fabricating a fish, classical vegetable cuts, and pastry). The four team members draw to see which skill they will randomly select. Joe White drew the first spot, and de-boned the chicken. Ted Hastings followed and cleaned the Dover Sole fish. While the first two spots are usually the fastest parts, they demand much attention from the judges, and both guys were very precise.

Perhaps, one of the longest and most exact parts is the vegetable cuts section, and Amanda Emerson pulled this lot. Amanda julienned butternut squash, diced onion, concassed two tomatoes (blanched, peeled, small diced the petals, and coarsely chopped the center), and tourned eight potatoes. Kellie Smith anchored the team with Pastry Skill (roll pastry for blind-bake, peel and segment an orange, and prepare a quart of pastry cream). Sarabeth Cox kept the group organized and managed from the floor as our alternate. The ladies each turned in some of the their best performances.

The Culinary Team competed against seven other schools from the entire Northeast Region which included: New England Culinary (Vermont), Conneticut, New Jersey, Johnson & Wales (Rhode Island), Hocking Community College (Ohio), Pennsylvania Culinary Inst., and New York. For the final leg theTeam competed in the Four Course Hot Food Competition.
Each team had 75 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to plate a four course meal for four. The dishes included: the classical course- Paupiettes de Sole a la Trouvillaise (stuffed, poached Dover sole, shrimp, mussels, and Sauce aux Crevettes (shrimp sauce)); Fried Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese Salad with toasted pumpkin seeds and autumn-apple vinaigrette; Boneless Saddle of Rabbit in Caul with Vegetable Ribbons, whipped Celeriac and Potato Puree, and Truffle Sauce; Nutty Buckwheat Cake with White Chocolate- Mascarpone Mousse, cherry ice cream, Cherry sauce and Honey Tuile.

The team was well poised and performed at a very high level. The judges, led by culinary legends Roland Shaffer, Certified Master Chef (CMC) and Gunther Heiland, Certified Master Pastry Chef (CMPC), and joined by Tom Recinella, Certified Executive Chef (CEC) and former National Champion Student Team Coach, gave a fair critique. Their remarks touched on a number of positive features of the Team’s food, but also exposed some areas for improvement. Pierpont was certainly among the top tier of competitors, but the official results won’t be revealed until the Vice President’s Grand Gala Monday night. Keep your finger’s crossed…