Coast Guard food service specialists bring the heat at 37th Annual Military Culinary

[The Patriot]

Click images above to view or download high resolution photosWASHINGTON — Coast Guard food service specialists from 15 units volunteered for the Coast Guard Culinary Team and the opportunity to test their culinary expertise at the 37th Annual Military Culinary Arts Competition, recently held in Fort Lee, Va.

The 16 member team sliced, diced, baked, seared, sautéed and served their best in a competition with 324 other military food service professionals that began Feb. 29 and ended with the presentation of hard-earned awards on Friday. All branches of the armed forces were represented in the competition with a total of 28 teams seeking the bragging rights that come with gold, silver and bronze medals.

When the steam cleared and the flour dust settled, the duo of Petty Officer 1st Class Edward Fuchs and Chief Petty Officer Jason Stagnitto had won the Nutritional Hot Food Challenge, Fuchs had placed second in the Chef of the Year competition and the Coast Guard team had earned the Judges Special Award (Cold Food Table) and placed fourth overall.

The Nutritional Hot Food Challenge requires competitors to, within 90 minutes, create good tasting, nutritionally sound dishes, using items from a common pantry as well as five items found in their mystery basket.

“Baskets can contain some stuff you don’t normally work with,” said Fuchs, the Coast Guard team captain. “Our basket had beef tenderloin, bulgur wheat, a vegetable protein that had to be rehydrated, ugly fruit, Bartlett pears and kale rabe.”

After working closely with Stagnitto in the Nutritional Hot Food Challenge, Fuchs was on his own against one of the competition’s most respected chefs, Army Sgt. Maj. David Turcotte, vying for the title of Military Chef of the Year. “The Military Chef of the Year competition, that is a beast of a competition,” said Fuchs. “It’s a four-hour, mystery basket event. You get one apprentice, one shelf in a reefer, eight burners and eight feet of table space to serve four courses, four times.

While Fuchs was able to take Turcotte in the cold food table event and on a side-by-side nutrition challenge, in the end the Coast Guard food service specialist wasn’t able to edge out Turcotte for Military Chef of the Year. Both Turcotte and Fuchs earned silver medals in a tight competition, with Fuchs missing the Military Chef of the Year title by one hundredth of a point.

“I have had the pleasure to work with chef Turrcotte several times in the World Olympics and have learned a lot about food from him and picked up some tricks,” said Fuchs. “To be able to hold my own and go toe-to-toe with him was a great honor. Of course, I would have loved to win, but getting that close and giving him that bit of a scare was good.”

Fuchs’ work wasn’t done with the end of those battles, he then helped lead the Coast Guard team in the cold food table event.

“The cold food table is the biggest event worth the most points overall of any other event,” said Fuchs. “The event is an entry of seven different categories that must appear on the table.”

The Coast Guard team took four gold and three silver medals – enough to earn the Judges Special Award. Fuchs said the victory is the result of continually building on previous competition experiences.

“Last year we put out some great food with a great theme, but it just wasn’t enough,” said Fuchs. “So we went back to the drawing board and this year we had better planned menus and a team of competitors who had cold food experience. In the six years that the Coast Guard has competed in this event we get a little bit of information each year and we use the judge’s comments to help us out.”

Members of the 2012 Coast Guard Culinary Team include:

Chief Petty Officer Jason Stagnitto, team manager, from the 7th Coast Guard District, Miami

Petty Officer 1st Class Ed Fuchs, team captain, assigned to the Department of Homeland Security, Washington

Petty Officer 1st Class Katie Heitman, assistant team captain, assigned to the Department of Homeland Security, Washington

Petty Officer 1st Class Scott Manfre from the 5th Coast Guard District, Portsmouth, Va.

Petty Officer 1st Class Derrick Dolan from the Coast Guard Cutter Cheyenne, St. Louis

Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Rohrs from the Coast Guard Cutter Eagle, New London, Conn.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Clark Lauer from the Coast Guard Cutter Bonito, Pensacola, Fla.

Petty Officer 2nd Class David Blonn from the Coast Guard Cutter Forward, Portsmouth, Va.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Andrew Masi from the Coast Guard Cutter Blue Shark, Everett, Wash.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Ivana Juhas from the Coast Guard Cutter Kittiwake, Honolulu

Petty Officer 2nd Class Noel Gray from the Coast Guard Cutter Maui, Patrol Forces Southwest Asia, Manama, Bahrain

Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin Pearl from the Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf, Alameda, Calif.

Petty Officer 2nd Class John Jeffries from the Coast Guard Cutter Elm, Atlantic Beach, N.C.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Mason Champlin from Coast Guard Station Grand Haven, Mich.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Kellogg from Coast Guard Station Sand Key, Clearwater, Fla.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Karla Reynoso from the Coast Guard Cutter Thetis, Key West, Fla.

Team members selected reflect the best qualities of food service specialists. Their selection to the team required they be proven leaders in the rating, with a demonstrated record of exceptional performance and a broad knowledge of advanced culinary skills and food preparation techniques.

Coast Guard food service specialists, through their work, live the service’s core values of Honor, Respect and Devotion to Duty because they help maintain the health, readiness and motivation of our workforce.

Food service specialists serve on every Coast Guard cutter, from harbor tugs to polar icebreakers and can be found in just about every duty station available throughout the United States, and receive their initial culinary skills training during a 12-week course at Coast Guard Training Center Petaluma, Calif.






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