Something New is Cooking: A First-of-Its-Kind Competition Includes UC Students

Photos By: Dottie Stover

  

Here’s some food for thought: The food consumers eat today is quite different from that of yesterday…and tomorrow’s menu will change even more.

That’s because of the rapid pace of research and development regarding the mass-produced, ready-to-eat meals found on grocers’ shelves. The technology – along with the societal trends driving demand for such pre-packaged portions – is advancing so rapidly that it’s spawned a new job classification – culinologist™. And these culinologists (half chef and half lab scientist) are creating a wide variety of new food products. All with one goal: To reproduce a taste as good as classical cooking from scratch in pre-packaged foods while also simplifying manufacturing and processing steps.

The University of Cincinnati houses one of the nation’s seven culinology programs preparing students for this new profession. (In its program, UC partners with Cincinnati State Technical and Community College.) Professional associations, like the Research Chefs Association, the Institute of Food Technologists and the American Culinary Federation, are also encouraging the professional development of students within the new culinology profession.

That’s why the RCA is sponsoring the first-ever Student Culinology Competition set for March 8, 2007, in New Orleans. That date will mark the culmination of a months-long contest in which culinology and culinary students from across the nation competed to become finalists in the contest.

The basic challenge of the competition is the same basic challenge that faces culinologists and food corporations: Produce and freeze a pre-packaged meal that tastes just as good as its freshly made twin.

And three UC culinology students from the university’s College of Applied Science have literally put in about 1,000 hours preparing to do just that and win the competition in which they’re up against finalists from Cornell University and the Culinary Arts Institute at the  Mississippi University for Women.

“First,” said UC team leader Catrina Leatherwood of Delhi, “Because the contest specified we had to employ a Spanish theme that incorporated chicken, we researched the culture, history and food of Spain and how it might fit into the menu offerings of a casual American restaurant.”

UC student Catrina Leatherwood prepares ingredients in a practice session for the upcoming cook-off.

Then, Leatherwood and two fellow UC culinology students – Michael Bunn of Naples, Fla., and Haim Grinspan of Clermont County – began researching and experimenting with flavorings, colors, textures and more. They worked with guidance from Rajiv Soman, associate  professor and interim department head of chemical technology; and Grace Yek, visiting assistant professor and coordinator of UC’s Culinary Arts and Science Program; as well as industry advisors Karen DeWitt of Skidmore Sales & Distributing Co., Inc., Chris Keegan of Cargill and Lisa Sanders of Flavor Systems, Inc.

“It’s hard for people not in the food production business to imagine all the variables. One big issue is the sauce used in the final product. It must be able to withstand freezing, thawing and heating without changing and breaking up,” explained Leatherwood.

In order to make it to the finalist level, the three students first had to justify their choices and techniques in a proposal submitted to the RCA. That proposal had to be exact in terms of the nutrition, stability and flavor of the final product and what technology and ingredients would be used to achieve the final result. In addition, the students had to provide exact specifications regarding how a consumer would prepare the frozen entrée for the final consumption.

Those requirements meant that the students had to research the interactions of different flavorings and ingredients and even determine how the product would be sealed in the manufacturing process for safe preservation, shipment, storage and eventual consumption. Thus, they had to obtain large numbers of possible ingredients and materials to experiment with. They did so by obtaining samples from food-industry companies around the nation, such as Wild Flavors, Inc.; Firmenich (the largest privately owned flavoring company in the world), National Starch and Chemical Co.; Sanderson Farms; and Gum Technology.

“The best part of the whole project is seeing students progress as culinologists,” said Bunn, who will graduate at the end of this quarter (March 2007) and already has several job offers due to high demand for experienced culinologists.

UC students Michael Bunn, left, Catrina Leatherwood and Haim Grinspan at work.

Grinspan agreed, stating, “What I’ve learned from this is that this industry is all about creativity and work. A culinologist has to be both creative and very knowledgeable and technically precise… . It’s been hard to balance the contest’s needs with work, school and family, but I’ve got to say that I’ve loved it. I like any chance I get to create.”

Just to understand the amount of work and ingredient experimentation that has gone into this venture, realize that the students have used up almost 50 pounds of split chicken breasts as part of creating the formula for their winning meal.

“It’s not a recipe so much as a laboratory formula,” according to Leatherwood. “And then, everything must be tested and retested, including how the dish would react to being microwaved after freezing. We’ve cooked up different versions of our dish so many times that I am sick of the aroma of chicken.”

However, Leatherwood’s four children – Trey, 13; Cy, 10; Cory, 8; and Celena, 5 – have loved the five months of work that have gone into producing the competitive dish called “Zorro’s Pollo.” That’s because the children have served as the UC students’ rigorous taste testers.

“Kids are great for taste testing,” stated Leatherwood. “Kids will tell you the truth. That’s why I think we have a good chance of winning because the kids have loved our versions of the dish. I’ve asked them a few times if they’re tired of tasting. But all they say is: ‘This is good!’”

Contest requirements

• Devise a creative food entrée that meets emerging societal trends;
• Freeze that entrée for a week;
• Then test that frozen entrée against a freshly prepared one.

The three UC students – Bunn, Grinspan and Leatherwood – will prepare their final entrée and two side dishes for freezing and shipment at the end of February. Then, they will travel to New Orleans for a March 8 super taste test. That’s when they’ll prepare a fresh version of “Zorro’s Pollo,” and the frozen version will be judged against the freshly made dish.

The winning team will receive $5,000 while the second-place team will receive $2,500. The third-place team will receive $1,500.

• Read about the growth of culinology programs nationally.
• Find out more on culinology’s recent history and the trends driving it.
• View details of UC’s culinology program.
• Visit UC’s Admissions Office to apply to the culinology program.

 

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