Culinology Match Test
31 May 2009
The third-annual Student Culinology® Competition at RCA’s 2009 conference exemplified the blending of culinary art and food science.
An enthusiastic student team from University of Cincinnati took first-place honors, along with a $5,000 cash award and industry-wide recognition as rising stars in food-product development, at the third-annual Student Culinology® Competition, May/June 7, during the Research Chefs Association’s (RCA) 2009 conference at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel. The award was presented by Agnes Jones, principal culinologist at National Starch Food Innovation, at the 2009 RCA Annual Luncheon, where nearly 500 food-product-development professionals gather each year to celebrate industry achievements.
The competition is designed to challenge and recognize the industry’s young talent in the Culinology field–the blending of culinary arts and food science.
The winning team from UC was led by faculty advisor Christopher Keegan, CEC, senior research chef at Cargill Flavor Systems, and team leader Christian A. Serrato, CC. Team members included Robert Coltrane, CC, John Parsons, CC, and Andrew Scholle, CC.
“Our hard work and strength of mind made this team successful,” says Serrato. “We portrayed determination by the way we efficiently executed our gold standard. In the end, we knew we had applied the best of ourselves from the beginning to the end.”
University of Cincinnati’s winning entry was a gourmet meal dubbed Texas Prairie Duo consisting of braised chuck flat beef strips smothered in a sweet and tangy sauce, accompanied by a medley of fire-roasted vegetables. “Culinology is a hot topic, but it all starts with culinary,” one of the judges remarked during critique, when the UC team was told that braising 10 to 15 minutes longer would have yielded an even more-tender product.
A student team from Johnson & Wales University, Providence, placed second and Louisiana State University placed third. Eight student teams from across the country responded to RCA’s initial request for proposal, from which three, deemed finalist-worthy, were chosen to compete in Dallas.
The competing teams each developed a frozen, restaurant-quality gourmet meal for two for a fictional retail-grocery channel, which included both the gold-standard recipes and the corresponding product formulations. The meal had to be inspired by Texan cuisine and include beef plus one technical ingredient to aid freeze-thaw. One week prior to the competition, each team shipped its pre-portioned, frozen meal items to the event location. Teams prepared their fresh, gold-standard menu items on-site in Dallas.
In a Culinology Match Test, competition judges compared each team’s reheated and plated frozen item against its corresponding freshly prepared item; 25% of the score derived from how closely the gold standard and rethermalized entrées matched. Judging also focused on various other Culinology elements such as flavor, aroma, texture, ingredient composition, presentation and authenticity.
The 2009 competition was supported by competition star sponsor National Starch Food Innovation and competition ingredient sponsors ButterBuds Food Ingredients, David Michael & Co., SupHerb Farms and The Beef Checkoff.
Next year’s Student Culinology Competition will be held May/June 17-20 at the RCA Annual Conference & Culinology Expo at the Hyatt Regency in Phoenix. For more information, visit www.culinology.org.