News Article

CNA cooks up gold


11/20/2008 9:09:48 AM


From left, Chef Brian Abbott, team coach and cooking instructor at Prince Philip Drive (PPD) campus; Hannah Greene, Level III student at Gonzaga High School; and Cheryl Butler and Donna Churchill, first-year cooking students at PPD. The three women made up Team Purple and won in the Appetizer category.


Eric Hynes says in the 12 years of this culinary competition, he and teammate Jay Stuckless have been the only team outside of St. John’s to win gold – they did so in 2002 and again this year.

The Canadian Culinary Federation’s 12th Annual Culinary Provincial Competition yielded some stellar results for both students and faculty of College of the North Atlantic (CNA). Held Saturday, November 8 at CNA’s Prince Philip Drive campus, this year’s event hosted five teams of competitors and according to CNA instructor and first-place team winner Eric Hynes, the competition was stiff and everyone’s skill was put to the test.

“It was a hard day’s work with no stopping until our first course went out at 7 p.m. to the judges and to the more than 200 guests who would also sample our food,” says Hynes, who teaches cooking at the Bay St. George campus.

“Once the first 40 dishes were plated and sent out, it was time for us to start preparing the next course of 40 plates which had to be ready to serve by 7:30; then we immediately went into the desserts, which had to be ready by 8 p.m.”

Competitors entered the kitchen at 12 noon and were allowed an hour to set up their stations and to check their ingredients to ensure they met competitor’s standards. Then at 1 p.m. the cooking began.

“The times were critical as we were judged according to the minutes; if we were late on any courses, points from our overall score were deducted. The scoring consisted of a kitchen score, which was judged by sanitation, proper cooking methods, organization, personal appearance, and professionalism, along with many others things,” Hynes explains.

“This was not the only scored activity; an entirely different set of judges also marked us on food presentation, taste and color contrast along with sticking to our proposed menu and creative use of ingredients. These two scores were tabulated and added together to get the team’s final score.”

Hynes and his teammate Jay Stuckless prepared the gold-medal three-course meal, beginning with Smoked Salmon Pave with a roasted garlic aioli, savory tart filled with shitake mushroom duxelle, herb infused goat cheese and caramelized onions garnished with crisped salmon skin; the second course consisted of Bacon Barded Chicken Ballotine with butternut squash tater tots, butter braised leeks, goat cheese crumble and a port and blueberry reduction, topped off with a desert of Pecan Blondie with a white chocolate truffle mousse, hand-rolled truffle, lime-infused cheesecake, raspberry marshmallow with a raspberry coulis and pink grapefruit marmalade.

“Competitors were provided with a black box and a par stock list of ingredients (the black box is five ingredients that every team is required to utilize in their dishes and the par stock list is a group of ingredients that you are allowed to use with no restriction),” Hynes says, “and from this you have a time limit of six hours total cooking time to complete your dishes.”

Students of CNA’s Cooking program at Prince Philip Drive campus also fared very well, winning an individual award for Best Appetizer. First-year students Cheryl Butler and Donna Churchill, along with Gonzaga High School Level III student Hannah Greene all competed under the tutelage of Chef Brian Abbott, Cooking instructor at that campus. Chef Marilyn Lewis, fellow instructor in the program, says the students really rose to the occasion in the company of professional competitors.

“All competitions are tough, particularly to a student who is still in the orientation stage of a career; but as cooking is a high-stress Industry, the sooner students jump in with both feet, the sooner he or she will snatch the hardware, as proven on Saturday,” she says.

“When a student enters a competition, the doors of the industry open because they are then amongst the prime of their peers… so a good environment makes for a winner. You are either born with an apron on or you are not, these three all have starched aprons already.”

Other individual awards included Best Dessert for PEI’s Holland College graduates Kenny Pittman and Jason Perry – who also took second overall.

Jud Simpson is National President of the Canadian Culinary Federation and Executive Chef for Parliament Hill. He says competition, be it hot or cold, is very valuable for chefs and consumers alike.

“For chefs, it allows them to challenge their skills amongst their peers. It's also a place to showcase new trends and cooking techniques,” says Simpson.

“For consumers, it's an opportunity to share foods that they would not typically prepare themselves and to participate in the thrill of competition.”

Simpson says the possibilities for competition in Canada and beyond are endless. Some chefs want to stay local and some like to compete at the regional and national levels. Atlantic Canada has had a presence in the national arena and beyond – in fact CNA alum and cooking instructor Roger Andrews (from the St. John’s team) recently competed in the World Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany.

“The talent is in Atlantic Canada and in Newfoundland and Labrador – we just have to find it and identify it and offer the opportunities,” says Simpson.

“The potential is wide open.”

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