Cooking Competition Nets 2 Atlantic Cape Students Scholarships

MAYS LANDING, NJ — Two freshmen at Atlantic Cape Community College Academy of Culinary Arts have their sophomore years covered after winning scholarships through a cooking competition.

Tricia Guittar and Citlally Cruz both earned $15,000 scholarships at the Annual Vincent DeFinis Restaurant Gala Scholarship cooking competition on Sept. 27 at the Mays Landing campus, the college shared in a news release. The scholarships were provided by the Atlantic Cape Foundation and will cover the winning students’ tuition and fees for their sophomore year in the ACA program.

“We are very grateful to the Atlantic Cape Foundation because, through its generosity, we are able to offer two scholarships again this year worth approximately $15,000 each to a culinary major and a baking & pastry major,” said Joseph Sheridan, director, Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management. “This scholarship essentially covers their tuition and fees for a full year.”

This year’s recipe called for the creation of a hot chowder by the hot food students and a quick bread product from those in baking & pastry. Six students - three hot foods and three baking & pastry - had just under two hours to create their signature dishes. Each required varying amounts of slicing, dicing, cutting, chopping and whipping to mixing, warming, shredding, browning and boiling.

The students were judged on their dishes’ taste, texture, portion size, presentation, utilization of the ingredients, and culinary technique. The students also were expected to keep their work space organized and clean throughout the process while focusing on maintaining sound and safe standards and practices too.

Guittar, a teacher for 22 years, came to Atlantic Cape in need of a career change. She is now chasing her lifelong dream of being a baker. She sold her house, moved to her family home near the shore and applied to the culinary arts program.

She was the baking & pastry winner, with her cheddar bacon beer bread, accompanied by greens, peas and slices of tomato and cucumber.

“It’s a huge honor. I was a teacher for 22 years, but I’ve always wanted to be a baker, so doing this means the world to me. I feel very privileged to be able to come to this school and then to receive this award is amazing,” said Guittar, who has dreamed of being baker since she was about 13-years-old. “I come from a family of teachers, so I was kind of put in that direction, but I was not happy doing what I was doing, so I decided to switch.”

And her bread was the definition of practice makes perfect.

“Today’s was the best. I made about three different ones since I found out (about this competition) a week ago. I’ve been stressing about it all week, to the point where at 5 a.m. I was trying to get into the Acme to switch my cheese. But, this loaf was the best I’ve made,” Guittar said.

Cruz was the culinary hot foods scholarship recipient thanks to her small crockpot of Mexican
sweet corn chowder with a side of salsa and corn tortilla chip strip. The Vineland resident spoke of how rewarding it was to be selected the winner.

“It means a lot because I really needed help paying off school. Not only that, I have other responsibilities and my parents can’t really help me that much financially. With that many responsibilities and then overworking myself, as well, not even having a single day off of work and school. It’s a little stressful sometimes. So, this really makes me happy,” said Cruz.

Her culinary creation came from a last-minute change of plans.

“I came up with it last night. I had an original idea of doing a salmon chowder instead, but because it didn’t work out during my trial runs I scratched it. I got really emotional over it. I was really doubting myself, so when I heard my name I was really surprised because it was a very last-minute thing that I came up with literally at 1 a.m. I went to sleep at two, woke up and I had to rethink it at 6 a.m. again and it was really stressful,” Cruz said.

Nearly a quarter of a million dollars is raised for culinary and hospitality scholarships, such as the Vincent DeFinis scholarship, at the Annual Atlantic Cape Restaurant Gala, the culinary program’s largest fundraising event. DeFinis began in the hotel industry in 1932 and worked in many food and beverage departments of service under various Ritz-Carlton Hotel System European chefs. DeFinis also served in the Air Force as food supervisor with the Eighth Air Force Service Command during World War II. DeFinis passed away in 2007.