2014 Midwest Region Culinary Challenge
Ball State’s Cameron Griggs took third place, receiving the bronze medal Wednesday.
The annual contest took place March 3 at Michigan State.
Nine chefs competed to make a lobster dish.
A Ball State chef received an award Wednesday for his performance in a regional cooking competition last month.
Chef Cameron Griggs won the bronze medal in the 2014 Midwest Region Culinary Challenge. The event, which was March 3 at Michigan State, featured nine chefs from colleges around the Midwest.
Griggs won for his lobster ravioli with lemon vodka sauce, sautéed asparagus and micro arugula salad with beet tomato. All chefs were required to create a dish based on lobster.
He said it was interesting to work with lobster.
“It was kind of challenging trying to come up with recipes, trying to figure out which parts of the lobster to utilize and then trying to utilize the whole thing,” Briggs said. “I played around with lobsters a few years ago, so it was kind of like trying to ride a bike. You get used to handling them and breaking them down.”
Competitors were given five minutes of preparation time before having an hour to prepare dishes. Judges looked at the aesthetic appeal and taste of the meal as well as the techniques used in the cooking.
Working at Ball State gave Griggs an opportunity to get some practice in before the competition.
“Competition wise, we have a test kitchen on campus, and I took advantage of it as I could to get a couple of practices in,” Griggs said. “With lobster being a fairly expensive item, we don’t like to use a whole lot of them, but I took advantage of the test items and past experiences. It really helped out this year.”
Jon Lewis, Ball State Dining director, said Griggs’s performance is something to be proud of.
“The point totals of the top finishers were very close,” he said. “We are very pleased that chef Griggs took the time to practice developing his presentation with a difficult protein, lobster, and that he represented Ball State University in such a top shelf way.”
Griggs also enjoyed the chance to meet up with other chefs.
“You get to meet a lot of other chefs from other colleges and trade stories to see what they’re doing and see what you’re doing,” he said.
Griggs has worked at Ball State for the last seven years. He currently works at the Woodworth Commons.
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