Daniel Hess, a graduate of SUNY Delhi, recently placed second in the nation in a cooking competition hosted by the American Culinary Federation (ACF). Hess, who graduated from Cornwall High School in 2015, punched his ticket to Orlando by placing first in the northeast region in February, also earning the title of Student Chef of the Year.
“It’s an honor to have been in the top five,” Hess said about a month after the competition. “It was a huge accomplishment to be able to do that.”
To prepare for the competition, Hess spent one or two days a week practicing on campus, driving from his job at the Westchester Hills Golf Club, where he works as a chef. He did that for about five weeks.
With two weeks left prior to the Aug. 5 competition, Hess took a leave of absence to practice twice a day, for up to 10 hours.
The ACF issued a packet outlining 60 ingredients which could be used during the competition. Unlike the regional battle, the chefs were not provided with a stocked kitchen. Instead they had to bring their own, unprepared ingredients, including 10 required items. The packet also included the two protein items the chefs had to use in their dishes – grouper and squab (pigeon).
“That was a hard thing to work with because I had never worked with it before,” Hess said of the squab. “After I used it a couple of times, it wasn’t too bad. It doesn’t taste as bad as people make it seem. It tastes like duck almost. It’s gamey and livery.”
During the practice sessions, Hess worked on developing his menu, trying different recipes to determine what worked and what didn’t. He’d focus on perfecting the protein before moving on to the vegetable, starch, sauce, and puree.
According to instructor Chef James Margiotta and Professor Sean Perhrsson, Hess became a well-oiled machine in the kitchen, a sentiment the judges also shared.
On the day of the competition, the young chefs were given 15 minutes to set up their work area. This entailed taking out any tools needed to prepare their dishes, as well as boiling water. From there, the competitors had two hours to cook and an additional 20 minutes to plate their meals.
Using the two proteins, Hess created a sausage-like appetizer pounding out some shrimp and wrapping the grouper inside. Underneath was a tropical salsa made of mango, tomato, red onion, and shallot.
The appetizer also included a potato cup with garlic cream cheese in it, accompanied by a carrot and coconut puree.
For the entree, Hess prepared the squab and created a roulade stuffed with a mushroom farce – ground mushrooms with shallots and herbs. That was placed on top of a farrow mixed with mirepoix and plated next to a reduced braising liquid sauce.
The last components were a succotash made up of edamam, zucchini, corn, tomatoes, and shallot, as well as an imitation lollipop. Using scraps from the squab, Hess grounded them up to form a lollipop, using a leg bone as the stick, and plated inverted.
Hess said the judges consider how much of the ingredients are used when making their final decisions.
Throughout the competition, Hess said he had a little bit of trouble. He wasn’t familiar with the kitchen, and he had to use electricity instead of propane, which cooks food and boils water faster.
Hess also had to get used to being watched by a panel of judges and an audience of about 100 people.
There were two panels of judges – the floor judges, and those who tasted the final dishes without knowing who prepared them.
Each competitor received some critique from the judges, as well as positive comments. For Hess, the judges thought the squab was cooked to perfection, but the puree didn’t work.
“A lot of it is opinion, but they have more experience and better palates than I do,” Hess said. “I take it with a grain of salt, move on, and try to do better the next time.”
With college complete, Hess is currently fielding multiple job offers. Now he has to decide what will be best for him and his future career.
