Short-handed culinary team wins Academy of Culinary Arts' first-ever MRE challenge

Provided/MRE Culinary Challenge winners Grace Carpenter and Isabella Burke pose with Culinary Arts Director Joseph Sheridan and Let's Chow Food Truck COO & Co-Founder Charlie Magovern and Founder, CEO & Head Chef Jordan Foley.

MAYS LANDING - Atlantic Cape Community College Academy of Culinary Arts freshmen baking and pastry students Isabella Burke and Grace Carpenter captured first place honors at the inaugural MRE (Meals Ready To Eat) Culinary Challenge held at the campus kitchens Oct. 6.

They knew they were in for a challenge against the five teams of three students participating, but wound up proving that four hands can be better than six.

Despite being short-handed after the third member of their team was unable to participate, Burke and Carpenter won with a slim 1-point lead, 134-133. Their tasty potato gnocchi with meatballs and pancetta blush sauce with peas, basil oil, topped off with a sweet dessert featuring pound cake tiramisu with homemade coffee cello reduction mixed with espresso and served deconstructed garnered the extra point needed to win.

We were a little bit intimidated. We felt confident with what we had prepared and we ended up doing better than we expected, said Burke, a resident of Ocean City. I was surprised (we won). Grace and I are both first semester baking students and we've never done anything like this. So, we were a little nervous going into it and we were just happy to participate. So, winning was really nice.

Burke's teammate Carpenter concurred.

We were definitely surprised. We both looked at each other and we completely didn't even think that would happen. Like she (Isabella) said, we're first year bakers, but I'm glad that we were able to participate and come out on top, said Carpenter, a resident of Egg Harbor Township.

At the start of the challenge each team spun a wheel and then blindly chose their ingredient bag kits. Each team had 60 minutes to prepare an entree and either an appetizer or dessert. Once completed, the teams had 10 minutes to plate and present their creations to the contest's three judges, who based their scores on taste and presentation. Judges were radio personality and writer Scott Cronick, U.S. Army veteran and Egg Harbor Township Police Officer Rodrigo Pimento who graduated from ACA, and former Coast Guard Chef and current owner of Hellman's Kitchen Steve Hellman.

Each MRE, a self-contained complete meal designed to withstand rough conditions and exposure to the elements, ingredient package contained one protein item, but differed in that some had instant potatoes, instant rice or ramen noodles. All featured a limited number of basic ingredients, such as flour, sugar and some vegetables. The dessert kits featured sugary favorites like Skittles and Starburst.

Rounding out the top four finishers:

• second place (133 points) was the team of Gelasia Nurse, Julio Gomez and William Fence with their beef and chicken tinga ramen tostada, and coquito tres leche cane with coconut whip cream, toasted coconut and walnuts;


• third place (121 points) was the team of Saudi Dolphin, Anthony Spero and Amy Jimenez with their spaghetti, and Italian and vodka sauce with barbeque beef and ravioli, Mexican-inspired arancini with chicken burrito bowl appetizer, and vanilla pound cake with cream cheese frosting, cranberry reduction and toasted pecans;


• fourth place (113 points) was the team of India Scarbrough, Jayda Hills and Jasaiya Phillips with their Mongolian beef with fried rice and beef ravioli mixed with carrots, onion, celery and egg, Apple pound cake with candied Italian sausage, cinnamon, sugar and graham crackers, and banana nut cake with caramelized nuts and whipped cream.

I think we both would really love to do some kind of fall fest and sell baked goods. And I am also really close to a couple of charities in Atlantic City so maybe we could go and serve some people there, Burke concluded.

Visit atlanticcape.edu/aca for more information on the Academy of Culinary Arts program.