The other team members were FS2 John Petro, SCA to the LantArea commander; FS2 Andrew Proulx, SCA to the Chief of Staff; and FS2 Ignatius Baran, SCA to the 1st District commander.

The challenge is a black box competition, similar to the Food Network's Iron Chef Competition. The team members had no idea what ingredients they would get and were surprised when they had to make an appetizer and dinner out of ground pork, oysters, potatoes, fennel, leeks and broccoli.

The teams had thirty minutes to come up with the menu; then the preparation and cooking began. Each team had 90 minutes to prepare and garnish the plates for the judges. The judges graded on cooking techniques, flavor profile, sanitation, proper temperature of food served and presentation of all menu items.

The winning menu consisted of oysters with a zesty cream sauce for the appetizer. For the main course the team served up a pork loaf stuffed with artichoke hearts and red bell peppers in a chardonnay-dijon cream sauce with duchess potatoes and steamed broccoli florets.

The team also earned a second place finish in a pear recipe competition the following day with poached pears in a praline liquor sauce with pecan brittle.

For information on the Special Command Aide program contact FSCS Bello-Leon at 202-267-0224 or LBello-Leon@comdt.uscg.mil.

RELATED ARTICLE

FS1 James Swenson, the Special Command Aide to the Superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy, has been chosen SCA of the Year and represented the Coast Guard in an interservice competition at the Pentagon City, Va., Ritz-Carlton in November. He was selected because of his innovative creations, outstanding culinary skills and enthusiastic service to the Superintendent and his many guests, often preparing for two events a week at the Coast Guard Academy. See Webhot! to view Swenson's Web site which serves as a resource for other food service specialists in the Coast Guard.

Story by CWO Jesse Hill and FSCS Luis Bello-Leon, G-C9 and photos provided by SCA program