ATC hosts annual ‘Chopped,’ ‘Next Titan Chef’ competition

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

From Staff Reports

ALBANY – The Culinary Arts Program at Albany Tech will feature two competitions in one day on campus Wednesday: “Chopped” for high school students and “Albany’s Next Titan Chef.” These competitions will be held at Albany Technical College’s Logistics Education Center Auditorium from 9 a.m.-noon and 1-4 p.m.

This friendly contest is designed to engage Culinary Arts students in a competition similar to the television series “Chopped” to learn to prepare various parts of a meal in a timely manner while being creative and innovative in the process. There will be three rounds: first round includes an appetizer, second round will include an entrée and the final round includes a dessert.

A total of four contestants will be judged on presentation (1-10 points); creativity (1-10 points); taste (1-10 points), and sanitation (1-10 points) in front of a panel of three judges. After each round, the competitor with the least amount of points will be eliminated from the contest until the winning chef is left standing. For each round, a variety of ingredients will be used. Students will be allowed to use only the ingredients they are provided.

“The students are judged on sanitation because that is the first class that they take with us — Culinary Safety and Sanitation — and that goes with them throughout their career,” Culinary Arts Lab Tech Kathy Stubbs said. “So it’s very important that they grasp this concept.”

All ingredients for the event are fresh from local farms in the southwest Georgia area. Produce is provided by Flint River Fresh’s Fredando “Farmer Fredo” Jackson.

“This is a great way to engage students into utilizing what they’ve been taught,” Todd White, chair/instructor of Albany Tech’s Culinary Arts program, said. “Watching the students grow creatively from a foundation of core principles that they have learned in the past year is really an exciting process.”

The competition is open to the public and anyone who is interested in becoming a chef or head cook is encouraged to attend.