By Army Sgt. James J. Bunn
5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash., Dec. 16, 2014 – The scent
of spices and steak filled the air as Army Sgt. Andrew Shurden displayed his
cooking skills at culinary team tryouts here Nov. 18-21.
Click photo for screen-resolution image
Army Sgt. Andrew Shurden prepares a potato dish during
tryouts for the culinary arts team at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., Nov. 21,
2014. Soldiers selected for the team will compete in the Military Culinary Arts
Training Event at Fort Lee, Va. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. James J. Bunn
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution
image available.
If selected, Shurden, a food services specialist with the
42nd Military Police Brigade, and 15 other food services soldiers will compete
in the Military Culinary Arts Competitive Training Event at Fort Lee, Virginia,
in March.
The Lewis-McChord team will consist of eight team members,
four student team members and four alternates. At the competition, the team
will compete in eight events, including the Armed Forces Chef of the Year,
Armed Forces Student Chef of the Year, nutrition cook-off, culinary exam,
military kitchen competition, team buffet, student competitive training event
and dessert.
Shurden said he has competed at Fort Lee twice before with a
team from Hawaii and that he hopes his skills and experience will earn him a
spot on the team. “I liked being on the team in Hawaii,” he said. “I was able
to learn more about being a chef and develop my skills beyond the dining
facility.”
American Culinary Federation Criteria
Shurden will need more than sharp knife skills and tasty
food to earn a spot on the team. The judges will score competitors using the
same criteria as the American Culinary Federation and are looking for chefs who
can work well in a team and who have good work habits and strong cooking and
organizational skills.
“First and foremost, we’re looking at how well these chefs
work in the kitchen,” said Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jesse Ward, one of the
judges at the tryouts. “Second is skills used during the food preparation. We
want to know that the flavors are good and the temperatures are correct.”
At the beginning of the tryouts, team hopefuls had an
opportunity to plan their menu for the cook-off. The next two days, competitors
refined their menu selections and practiced cooking techniques.
Shurden has his sights set on the Armed Forces Chef of the
Year portion of the competition, in which competitors have an hour and 15
minutes to cook and plate a meal using a mystery ingredient.
For the tryouts, the mystery ingredient was beef tenderloin.
Shurden quickly trimmed the beef, sliced it into steaks and prepared it for the
grill. His finished plate was a filet mignon on top of a blueberry red wine
reduction topped with fried leeks, asparagus and layered potatoes.
A Lifelong Goal
“Before I joined the Army, I was a chef at a barbecue
restaurant,” said Shurden, a Tupelo, Mississippi, native. “Meat preparation is
probably my strongest skill in the kitchen.”
Shurden trained while working in a restaurant to achieve his
lifelong goal of becoming a chef, but that wasn’t his only dream, he said. The
aspiring chef wanted to be a soldier as well. “I joined the Army as a cook so I
could serve my country and continue my career as a chef,” he said. “Being able
to serve those who are serving is a rewarding to me.”
His love of cooking started long before he worked in a
restaurant or a military dining facility, Shurden said. “I’m from Mississippi,
and food is a big part of life back home, and it has always been important in my
family,” he added. “I grew up watching my dad in the kitchen.”
Shurden said he wants to compete not just for fun, but also
for the opportunities that come from participating in the largest culinary arts
competition in the United States. Soldiers who do well at the Fort Lee
competition often are recruited to work at the Pentagon’s dining facility.
Helping Fellow Soldiers
During the tryouts here, Shurden answered questions from
younger soldiers about the meal he was preparing and the techniques he was using.
“I am more than happy to teach anyone about cooking,” he said. “Sharing what I
know with others is as rewarding to me as knowing that someone enjoys the food
I prepared.”
At the end of the cook-off, the judges talked to all of the
chefs about their food and offered critiques and constructive feedback.
“I want these guys to be able to take what they learn here
and apply those skills in their unit’s [dining facility],” Ward said. “This is
a good way to build motivation in the soldiers competing and also improve the
quality of food in their units."
Shurden and the other competitors will find out in February
whether they were selected for the Lewis-McChord team.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment