From left: Chef Mario Adderley, Head of Food and Beverage at CHMI; Chef Ron Johnson, Judge; Crystal Morley, First-Place winner; Bridget Murray, Director of Industry Training at CHMI; and Chef Sheldon Sweeting, Judge.

It was a throw-down the likes of which left mouths watering and palates yearning to be satisfied. Culinary students at The College of The Bahamas’ Culinary and Hospitality Management Institute (CHMI) recently demonstrated their mastery in the kitchen and flair for preparing imaginative cuisine during the Junior Culinary Cook-Off.

Five COB student chefs competed for the chance to fill the junior chef and apprentice positions on The Bahamas National Culinary Team. The team will compete in the Taste of The Caribbean culinary competition scheduled to be held in Miami, Florida, June 12^th -14^th, 2015.

In the kitchen of the Choices Training Restaurant at CHMI, the competitors busily gathered ingredients in preparation to create their culinary masterpieces. They were given the challenge of preparing a chicken thigh and breast. Twenty minutes into the competition, they were given the secret ingredient of cashews which they had to incorporate into their recipes.

COB student Crystal Morley emerged as the winner with her mouth-watering grilled chicken with Asian citrus glaze served on a bed of braised cabbage and sweet potato hash cake. She will serve as the junior chef on the Bahamas National Culinary Team and Leonardis Moss, who placed second, will serve as the apprentice. Moss’ dish was chicken roulade, goat pepper and herb polenta, roasted corn and cabbage slaw with coconut curry cauliflower puree.

Morley admitted that it takes lots of practice and asking questions to win such a competition.

“I ask a lot of questions in class and at work; I would ask my sous chef how to do certain things if I don’t know how to do it. I would also sometimes do my research, watch videos or try things out on my own,” she said.

There is another factor that she acknowledged is critically important in the culinary field.

From left: Chef Mario Adderley, Head of Food and Beverage at CHMI; Chef Ron Johnson, Judge; Leonardis Moss, Second-Place winner; Bridget Murray, Director of Industry Training at CHMI; and Chef Sheldon Sweeting, Judge.

“Passion is very important because it determines your work. You have people who come into this field and they feel as if it is a breeze, but it takes dedication. It shows in your food, it shows in the flavors, it shows in the presentation,” Morley said.

Although he placed second in the competition, Moss said it felt “amazing” to have achieved such a feat.

“I believe that no matter what place you come the experience is something that no one can take away from you. It’s a competition; you come to learn, you come to get constructive criticism and you practice and hone your skills for other competitions to come,” he said.

The judges of the competition, all accomplished chefs including Ron Johnson, Sheldon Sweeting, Charon McKenzie and Richmond Fowler II, meticulously assessed the competitors who were judged on menu writing, sanitation, wastage, knife skills, techniques, flavor profile, multi-tasking, portion size, critical thinking skills, nutrition and presentation.

Chef Johnson said the performance was “pretty noteworthy.”

“The main thing that is very important for a student competitor is that they have a level of creativity and discipline. Discipline is the most important thing because from that you can push them to do creative dishes,” he said.

Student chefs prepare their workstations for the cook-off.