Jaime Clinton, executive sous chef for catering, represented UNC Charlotte at the Southern Regional Conference of the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS) Culinary Challenge event, held at the University of New Mexico. She won second place in her first time competing.
The NACUFS Culinary Challenge is the conference’s headliner event, designed to showcase outstanding food preparation and presentation skills in collegiate dining services. Chefs are chosen to compete based on their original recipes for a main protein chosen by conference leadership, which this year, was pork.
As contestants, they are given one hour to prepare and plate their dishes before a panel of American Culinary Federation-approved judges and an audience of observers. They must display requisite techniques and cuts in the process.
Clinton prepared “Apple Cider Brined Bone-in Pork with Brown Butter and Sage Apples, accompanied by Sweet and Yukon Potato Strings, Fried Kale, Cabbage and Turnip Kraut and Creamy Apple Dijon Sauce.”
Six universities were represented at the culinary challenge: UNC Charlotte, Georgia Southern, UNC Greensboro, Suwanee, Tulane and Vanderbilt.