Dining Services 2019 Culinary Competition

The Department of Dining Services will hold its 19th annual Culinary Olympics on Tuesday January 15, 2019. The event will take place at the South Campus Rome Ballroom, located on the University of Connecticut, Storrs Campus.

The first event is the “Recipe Contest” that is scheduled to begin at approximately 8:30am on Tuesday. Recipes must be prepared on site for 12 portions, and must fall into one of the following categories: Appetizer/Entrée/Dessert. Recipes will then be judged on the following criteria: Clarity of Recipe/Creativity of Dish/Cooking Techniques/Use of Ingredients/Taste and Texture.

9:30am-10:30am: Chef Demonstration– George Giotsas, Chef Owner “Little Mark’s Big BBQ, Vernon, CT. http://littlemarksbbq.com/  Horiatikes Keftedes (Greek village style meatballs) / Horiatiki Salata (Greek village style Salad)

10:30am-1:30 pm: UConn Bakery Demos’ and Displays– Stop by and learn the art of decorating from our professional pastry chefs and bakers.

The final event is scheduled to begin at approximately 12:30pm and is called “BOILING POINT”. This is our version of the “Iron Chef” competition that will involve teams of three chefs representing the different dining facilities within the department. Each team will be presented with a mystery box of ingredients, and using miscellaneous items from our pantry, prepare three different Tapas (small food or appetizer) on each plate. Teams will have 75 minutes to prepare their dishes for 4 judges. Teams will then be scored on the following criteria: Creativity of Dish / Cooking Techniques / Use of Ingredients / Taste and Textures. (Teams are not allowed to bring ingredients, or use ingredients that are not supplied by competition)

“Award Presentation immediately following Boiling Point”

    

Schedule of Events

9:30am: Cooking Demonstration

• George Giotsas, Chef Owner “Little Mark’s Big BBQ, Vernon, CT. Horiatikes Keftedes (Greek village style meatballs) / Horiatiki Salata (Greek village style Salad)- http://littlemarksbbq.com/

 

10:30am-12:15pm: Recipe Contest Judging

• Judge: Chef Will Deason, Willimantic Brewing Company / Main Street Café, Willimantic, CT. www.willibrew.com
• Judge: Jason Bentley, Department Head Culinary Arts, Norwich Technical High School, http://norwich.cttech.org/index.html.
• Judge: Ruth Hartunian-Alumbaugh, Chair Willimantic Chocolate Festival, and Food writer, Willimantic Chronicle, https://thechronicle.com/
• Judge: Owner Andrew Gutt, Cafemantic Restaurant, Willimantic, CT. https://cafemantic.com/

 

12:30pm-4:45pm: “Boiling Point” Competition

• Judge: Chef Christopher Prosperi, Chef-Owner, Metro Bis Restaurant. www.MetroBis.com
• Judge: Rand Richards Cooper, Novelist, Longtime Food and Travel writer and Food Critic with The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/
• Judge: Kristen Fritz, Public Relations, Strategic Marketing, Community Development, Social Networking https://www.eatin-ct.com/
• Judge: Jeannette Punsoni Dardenne, Public Relations, Strategic Marketing, Community Development, Social Networking https://www.eatin-ct.com/

“Award Presentation immediately following Boiling Point”

 

For more information contact: Robert Landolphi, Assistant Director Culinary Development at Robert.landolphi@uconn.edu

---