Belvoir Reservist named to Army Culinary Arts Team
Photo by Timothy L. Hale/Army Reserve Public Affairs
Army Reserve Spc. Jeffrey Vaughan prepares his contemporary category entry at the 35th U.S. Army Culinary Arts Competition at Fort Lee March 5 and 6. Vaughan, who had technical difficulties with his oven March 5, was allowed to start over March 6. He prepared a pork loin dish with julienne vegetable medley, gratin potatoes and tart cherry port sauce. Vaughan is from Alexandria and is assigned to the 55th Sustainment Brigade at Fort Belvoir.
A Solider-chef from Alexandria and assigned to the 55th Sustainment Brigade at Fort Belvoir helped his team earn fifth place by winning two silver medals and two bronze medals, and was named to the prestigious U.S. Army Culinary Arts Team at the U.S. Army Culinary Arts Competition that closed Friday, according to My Army Reserve Blog.
Spc. Jeffrey Vaughan, competing as part of Team Army Reserve, earned silver medals for his cold buffet display and three-man ice sculpture, and bronze medals for his centerpiece display and pork loin entry. This is his fifth year competing.
“I learn a little something new each time I come,” said the 28-year old. “I incorporate what I learn within the next year that I compete.”
According to the blog, he and teammates Staff Sgt. Joseph Parker and Sgt. Trent Skinner are the first Reserve members to have earned spots on the USACAT, which competes against other culinary teams from around the world at the World Culinary Olympics in Luxembourg later this year.
The USACAC is the largest culinary arts competition in the U.S. and is in its 35th year at the Joint Culinary Center of Excellence, Fort Lee, Va. It is sanctioned by the American Culinary Federation.
More than 200 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen from installations all over the world converge at the event for the opportunity to compete in more than 20 different categories, get one-on-one-critiques from ACF judges, attend classes taught by professionals and try out for the U.S. Army Culinary Arts Team.
In just its fourth year of competing at the Army competition, the Army Reserve team showed it has what it takes to compete against, and in some cases, out-class its competition, with almost every team member earning a medal and a few, like Vaughan, earning several.
The final medal count for Team Army Reserve was four gold, 23 silver, and eight bronze medals, and three honorable mention awards, giving them fifth place overall with a score of 32.2448, fewer than 1.5 points short of being in the top three, the blog stated.
“When you set a goal of being in the top five and you achieve that goal with people working together … it’s a lot of drive and ambition from the individuals, said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Marc Morrell, team adviser. “With the Reserve, we get minimal time to work together compared to the active-duty teams. We had 13 individuals and we got them to work together as a team.”
Judging is done by points earned against American Culinary Federation standards. Major judging criteria for most categories included organization, cooking skills and culinary techniques. Serving the entry within a time window was also quite important. Ice judging was based on artistic achievement and strength of design, craftsmanship, finished appearance and originality and degree of difficulty.
In addition to being named to the USACAT team, Skinner received a special award for creating the most artistic centerpiece. It was a marzipan sculpture in the form of the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. Marzipan is a candy made of primarily almond and confectioners’ sugar. “Altogether, it took me about 60 hours to complete,” he said. He also won a gold medal for his marzipan centerpiece and four silver medals; two for ice sculpture and one each for cold buffet table and warm dessert. Skinner is from Junction City, Kan. He’s a food service sergeant assigned to the 645th Transportation Company, Nellis Air Force Base, Las Vegas.
Parker, who was the team captain, won two silver medals for his cold buffet table and live lobster entries. He also received two bronze medals for his cold table buffet display and USACAT try-out dish. From Haines City, Fla., Parker is a food service supervisor with the 841st Combat Engineer Battalion based in Miami.
Story compiled from reports from MyArmyReserve Blog, the official blog of the Army Reserve, and T. Anthony Bell, staff writer with the Fort Lee Traveller.
