The team of Eric Stein, M.S., R.D., a chef-instructor at the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts, and Jaime Mestan, C.S.C., a Kendall College culinary alum (‘08) and research chef at Ed Miniat, Inc., in South Holland, Ill., took first place in the inaugural Professional Culinology® Competition, March 23 in San Antonio, Texas, held in conjunction with the Research Chefs Association’s (RCA) Annual Conference and Culinology® Expo.

Stein and Mestan beat two other teams, winning a gold medal and a $5,000 cash award with their entry of lobster paella bites, chicken and white-bean empanadillas and loaded patatas bravas (a cherished white-potato tapa of Spain). The competition, which was sanctioned by the American Culinary Federation (ACF), called for entries to consist of three frozen heat-and-serve tapas suitable for serving in a casual restaurant chain.

Russell Scott, one of only 66 Certified Master Chefs in the United States, has been named dean of education of The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) at Greystone, effective April 2, 2012. In his new role, Scott will be responsible for the quality and effectiveness of all education programs at the CIA campus in St. Helena, Calif. He will oversee faculty and staff on the education team, direct the development and delivery of the curriculum, and lead the support of students enrolled in the campus’ degree and certificate programs.

Scott was previously an associate professor at the college’s Hyde Park, N.Y., campus from 1998 to 2005. During that time, he taught several culinary courses and served as executive chef and instructor in the American Bounty Restaurant. “It is very gratifying to rejoin the CIA family and to once again be part of the jet stream of culinary knowledge,” he says. “I am indeed privileged to be able to work directly with the finest staff and faculty in hospitality education.”

Culinary students at Warren Central High School, Indianapolis, Ind., cooked up a storm at the First Annual Junior Chef competition on March 6. Sponsored by Chartwells School Dining Services, the foodservice provider for MSD Warren Township, the students were honored to be supervised by Chef Cary Neff, vice president, Corporate Culinary Services, Morrison Management Specialists, which provides food, nutrition and dining services to the healthcare and senior-living industries.

The three finalists, Brittany Maxy, Christal Evans and Ariante Echols, winners of an Interview process, were observed by Neff on their preparation, sanitation skills, organization and presentation.

All three finalists are students of Threshold Restaurant, Warren’s onsite culinary-arts program located inside the Walker Career Center on the high-school campus. Threshold was named one of the “Hot 100” Secondary Culinary Programs in the United States for the 2010-2011 school year, under the guidance of Warren alumni and current instructor Carol Rice.

On March 3, 31 high-school students from throughout the New York metro area competed for the distinguished titles of America’s Best High School Chef and Pastry Chef in the fourth-annual competition sponsored by the Monroe College School of Hospitality Management and the Culinary Arts in the Bronx.

The prizes were academic scholarships to attend Monroe College. First-place prize was a full academic scholarship to the Monroe College School of Hospitality Management; second- and third-place prizes were partial academic scholarships worth $3,500 and $2,500, respectively, and prizes for all competitors were partial academic scholarships worth $1,500. Monroe awarded more than $200,000 in scholarships to the contestants.

Yocary Luna of Food and Finance High School in Manhattan was crowned America’s Best High School Chef for her Stuffed Chicken—Teriyaki Style with sauté of fingerling potatoes and string beans.

Contest Guidelines:

• Recipes must be submitted in preferred format.
• Entries must include at least one (1) high-resolution, digital photograph of finished dish.
• Contest entrants must be currently enrolled in a postsecondary culinary school/program in the 50 United States. You must include name, email address, telephone number, mailing address, name of culinary school and name of referring culinary instructor with entry.
• Contest entries become property of Emmi Roth USA and may be used in marketing/public-relations activities.
• Entries must be the original work of the entrant, may not have won previous awards, may not have been published previously, and must not infringe third-party intellectual property or other rights.
• April 13, 2012 DEADLINE FOR ALL ENTRIES
• Entries must be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with Emmi Roth USA in subject line.
• Up to 50 free samples will be provided to the first 50 instructor respondents to contest posting, which started March 1, 2012. Sample will include up to 14 ounces of Emmi Kaltbach Cave-Aged Le Gruyere Switzerland AOC (two random-weight retail cuts, weighing 5 to 7 ounces each). Interested instructors should write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with name, title, school/institution, shipping address (No P.O. boxes), telephone number and email address. Samples will be shipped via UPS from Monroe, Wis. Please allow approximately two weeks for delivery of samples from response date.

Prizes!

• First- and second-place prices given at $1,000 and $500 respectively.
• Prize winners will also receive an Emmi Roth USA cheese gift basket.
• Referring instructor of the first- and second-place winners shall receive one (1) FREE registration to a 2012 CAFE Conference or Workshop.
• Winning student(s) might be featured in a press release and/or Emmi Roth USA Newsletter.

Eligible recipe entries will be evaluated by a panel of Emmi Roth USA judges on creativity, novelty and/or uniqueness of application and flavor quality in the Center-of-the-Plate application. Winners will be notified on or before May 11, 2012, via telephone and certified mail. For complete info, click here.

A team of Anne Arundel Community College culinary-arts students swept the competition at the 13th Annual Gumbo Fest in Annapolis. Team Anne Arundel won first place in both categories—the Judge’s Choice and People’s Choice—at the Feb. 26 competition at the Double Tree Hotel in Annapolis. Eleven other teams from area restaurants also competed in this year’s Gumbo Fest.

Team members included Stephanie Bishop (Arnold), Lora Pumphrey (Glen Burnie), Stephanie Silva (Belcamp) and Michael Willard (Annapolis). Proceeds of the event, which attracted about 400 members of the public, benefited the Light House homeless prevention support center in Annapolis.

“The secret to our winning recipe is the housemade andouille sausage and the four-hour roux,” said Chef John V. Johnson, CEC, CCE, AAC, an AACC instructional specialist and the Team Anne Arundel coach.