Going for the Gold

I am pleased to announce that HUDS received a Gold Medal in the only ACF (American Chefs Federation) sanctioned team competition on June 20. The competition, held at the 14th annual Chef Culinary Conference sponsored by the University of Massachusetts and Johnson and Wales University, included 15 teams from various foodservice/catering companies, and university dining services. The judging panel included three Master Chefs and three ACF certified judges.

The HUDS 4 person team was lead by Martin Breslin, Director for Culinary Operations and included Matt Pierce, Chef/Production manager of Eliot/Kirkland Houses; Ted Smith, Chef/Production Mgr of Leverett House; and Brian Corcoran, Chef/Production Mgr of Hillel.

The competition started with a mystery basket and contained the following ingredients : 2 Ducks, 2 snapper, 1 loin of pork , 12 scallops, 24 mussels, 2 eggplant, 2 plantains, 8 yellow beets, pint of strawberries, 4 pears , 4 apples, bunch of green beans. Once the teams are shown the mystery basket they have forty minutes to write a three-course plated menu (with four portions for each course) and a separate buffet presentation for 12 people. The teams have access to basic pantry ingredients and must use some of each of the mystery basket ingredients. The team is allotted three hours cooking time and a 15 minute plating window. The teams do not have access to ovens and all cooking must be accomplished on four burners.

The following is the winning menu designed and executed by the HUDS team:

Plated Menu

• Seafood chowder with snapper, scallops, mussels and roasted corn
• Salad of pan seared strawberries, goat cheese, baby greens, and toasted almonds
• Pan Roasted Breast of duck with sautéed yellow beets, green bean bundle & chateaux potatoes with a port wine sauce

Buffet menu

• Pork medallions with fruit stuffing on crispy eggplant with a Dijon chardonnay cream sauce.

The ACF point criteria that the judges score is broken down as follows:

Service methods & presentation 5%
Portion size and nutritional balance 5%
Menu and ingredient compatibility 10%
Creativity and practicality 5%
Flavor, taste, texture, and doneness 35%
Sanitation 5%
Organization 5%
Culinary and cooking techniques 20%
Proper utilization of ingredients 5%
Timing/ work flow 5%


A gold medal is 36-40 points
A Silver medal is 32-35.99
A bronze medal is 28-31.99

Scores below bronze do not medal.

The HUDS team scored 36.4 earning them GOLD medals and the second place overall ranking in the competition.

Delaware North, one of the largest privately owned foodservice companies in the world, had flown in four of its Executive Chefs just for the competition. They scored 37.1 also earning Gold medals and first place in the competition.

Please join me in congratulating Team HUDS for this outstanding show of culinary expertise.