Marine Corps Base Quantico -- Three teams of two chefs competed in the quarterly cooking competition held in Bruce Hall aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico March 25. None of the team members had worked together before and were only able to meet and discuss the menus briefly before the competition. Despite their lack of familiarity with each other’s cooking style, Sgt. Justin Clairmont and Cpl. Leroy Johnson, both of Bruce Hall, took first place in both the formal judging and the people’s choice contest.
While past competitions have included a table-decorating requirement, this time it was all about the food on the plates, said Fred Johnson, executive chef for all the chow halls aboard the base and 21-year Air Force veteran. Johnson said all the meals were prepared with the same ingredients used in the meals served to Marines in the standard food service line. The contestants gave him their ingredient lists in advance, and he ordered the specific quantities they requested.
The three teams were on a tight schedule, with staggered start times in the kitchen and staggered presentation times. Each team was required to create a main meal and an appetizer. Clairmont and Johnson were the first in the kitchen and began cooking at 8 a.m.
Johnson has been cooking for the Marine Corps for 2.5 years, while Clairmont has cooked for more than 10 years. Clairmont said he has been interested in cooking since childhood.
“My mom was the school cafeteria manager, and I had to go in really early with her and got to sample the cookies and other things,” he said.
That experience, along with large family gatherings filled with food and military stories inspired him to want to cook for the Marine Corps.
Clairmont and Johnson’s winning combination was a flat-iron steak with chimichurri, a zesty sauce made with parsley and garlic that complemented the grilled meat, along with steamed vegetables, vegetable-stuffed mushrooms, and a decorative puff of baked mashed potatoes.
The second-place team was Yolonda Webster, a chef at the Marine Corps Air Facility Quantico chow hall, and Stephanie Parker, a chef at Lopez Hall, the dining facility at The Basic School. Parker said this event was her third contest and that she placed first on her very first one.
Webster said she has been cooking since age 9 and owns a small personal-chef business called Chef Renee On The Go. Her dream job would be to own her own restaurant some day, though for now, her more immediate goal is to run a Marine Corps chow hall. While creating a garnish for her appetizer plate, she said, “You learn what works by trial and error, even at the high-class restaurants.”
Parker and Webster prepared grilled salmon, which was served on a bed of rice; steamed asparagus and peppers served with a citrus hollandaise sauce; and a spicy shrimp and citrus salad as an appetizer.
Robert Grant, of the Camp Allen, Norfolk, chow hall, and Frank Wynn, of Bruce Hall, made up the third-place team. Grant began cooking when he served in the Coast Guard. He said because he spends the whole day cooking, he generally doesn’t like to cook at home at the end of the day, but he frequently does anyway. Wynn has been cooking for four years, three of which have been here aboard the base.
They prepared a rolled chicken breast stuffed with sausage and spinach, steamed broccoli and cauliflower with cream sauce, loaded mashed potatoes, and spicy chicken wings as an appetizer. Though they came in third, several Marines were overhead commending their wings.
Formal judging began at 10:30, with the team that started cooking first presenting first. The judges were Col. Allen Broughton, MCBQ chief of staff; Col. Christopher Edwards, the MCBQ G-4 officer; and Melissa Close-Hart, the highly decorated former executive chef of the Palladio Restaurant, Barboursville, Virginia, who is in the process of opening her own restaurant in Charlottesville.
Edwards enjoyed participating as a judge and later reflected on the experience, saying, “All of the meals were good, and each meal had at least one item that was a standout flavor, but Team 1’s meal managed to bring the menu together better than the others. My only regret is that they didn’t prepare a dessert.”
Following the official judging, which determined the winners of the trophy and chef’s coats, Headquarters and Service Battalion Marines were invited to sample small plates of all the dishes prepared and cast a vote for their favorite. Though Clairmont and Johnson did not win an additional actual prize, they walked away with the satisfaction of knowing they were first in the minds of the judges and their fellow Marines.
— Writer: ebaker@quanticosentryonline.com