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St. Clair residents members of winning culinary team at Eastern Market competition

Two gold medals, ‘Best of Show’ included in CIM Port Huron win

PORT HURON, Mich. – Baker College of Port Huron Culinary Institute of Michigan (CIM) students brought home five of the seven medals awarded to student culinarians at Detroit’s Eastern Market mystery basket competition recently. The competition was part of a fundraising event for Rising Stars Academy, a cooking school in Centerline for special needs students, aged 18-26 years.

There were 16 two-person teams from area culinary schools in the competition. Four teams represented Baker College of Port Huron. Each team was given 10 minutes to review a basket of “mystery” ingredients, then an hour to create a taste-tempting creation. Awards were presented for Taste, Presentation and Best of Show.

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It was a clean sweep for CIM Port Huron students in the taste category. Gold medal winners Jon Strauchman, of Smiths Creek, and Joe Ajja, of Warren, also won Best of Show. The other CIM Port Huron teams that brought home awards for the taste category were:

·      Silver medal – Gavin Pierce, of Warren, and Ron Cary, of Flint

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·      Bronze medal – Jill Tucker, of St. Clair, and Heidi Lohn, of Port Huron

Tucker and Lohn also won the gold medal for presentation.

The team of Saengaroon Rhodes, of St. Clair, and Shawn Kraft, of Harbor Beach, rounded out the Baker College competitors. Several other CIM Port Huron students were also involved in the training exercises in advance of the competition and provided support to the Baker College competitors at the event.

“Our students performed like true professional culinarians,” said Thomas Recinella, CEC, ACE, AAC, CIM Port Huron director of the culinary arts and food and beverage management programs. “They carried themselves with poise and confidence and were gracious to their competitors. The judges were impressed by the complexity of the items that the Baker College students selected to create in 60 minutes—such as fresh pasta and sausage—and with the students’ flawless execution of their dishes.”

Several days in advance of the competition, the teams were informed that the protein would be pork loin. The entrants were free to make anything they wanted to include in their dish. The “mystery” ingredients were all fresh produce. The challenges for the student culinarians were “having the skills to prepare fresh produce and, more importantly, having the knowledge of what is possible to prepare in an hour,” Recinella said.

The Baker College students are accustomed to preparing fine dining food quickly due, in part, to their participation in the student-run, teaching restaurant, COURSES, at the CIM Port Huron.

Cooking in front of 400 spectators didn’t seem to faze the Baker College students. They are used to cooking under pressure while being evaluated by multiple instructors during their practical exams. Still, Recinella was impressed with how well the students handled the public stage during the competition.

“It was an excellent display of the solid training and preparation that students receive at Port Huron’s Culinary Institute of Michigan,” he said. “They truly represented the CIM brand and Baker College very well.”

The CIM Port Huron COURSES restaurant is open to the public for lunch while classes are in session. During summer quarter, it’s open July 9 – August 22, Wednesdays through Fridays, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., though the last reservation for seating is at 1:15 p.m. Reservations are required and can be made by calling 810.357.0875.

For more information about the Baker College of Port Huron culinary arts program, contact Daniel Kenny in the admissions office at Daniel.Kenny@baker.edu, or 810.985.7000 or 888.262.2442.

The largest private college in Michigan, Baker College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. It is a nonprofit higher education institution, serving more than 35,000 students on 12 campuses and in three satellite locations. Baker grants certificates and associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business, health sciences, education and human services, and various technical fields, as well as a doctorate of business administration. As a career college, the Baker College system is pleased to report that 97 percent of its available graduates are employed. For more information about Baker College, please check out our website at www.baker.edu.

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