Adam Glass, along with two other student chefs from Johnson County Community College, won top honors in two categories at an international culinary competition held in New Zealand in March. Glass, along with Sophia Elmer, Sophie Buell and Coach Felix Sturmer, JCCC professor of hospitality management, represented the United States in the third International Colleges Culinary Competition hosted by Wellington Institute of Technology in New Zealand March 18 to 22.
The students prepared a three-course menu demonstrating sustainability awareness, product knowledge and cooking skills using New Zealand food items. Competing against teams from New Zealand, Hong Kong, The United Kingdom and Australia, the JCCC students won the best entrée (appetizer) and best main course category.
Glass, who graduated this week with an applied science degree after completing a Chef Apprenticeship Program, said he and his teammates have been cooking in culinary competitions all over the country for the past couple of years. He explained that JCCC budgets for an international competition every two years and he got lucky that this was the year for that.
“Our team has done pretty well in competitions,” Glass said.
Mix in the fact that Coach Sturmer “had some pretty good connections” and, Glass said, “We were lucky enough to get an invite” as the only team to represent the United States.
“Only one team per country was allowed to compete in this competition,” he explained.
The team learned about the invitation in November and got to work earnestly after winter break researching, developing and writing menus as well as practicing preparing the menu items. All this was on top of the regular team competition prep, school assignments and his work as an apprentice at Dean & Deluca in Leawood. He said it was a lot to balance all at once.
“It was a ton of work. But the thrill and reward of just stepping off the plane in New Zealand made it all worth it. And the cooking part is amazing. I love cooking to begin with and to be able to cook on this stage in a country on the other side of the world made all the work worth it. I’ll sacrifice waking up early to be at school at 6 or 7 a.m. for the chance to cook in New Zealand anytime,” he said.
In the entrée category, which Glass explained is more like an appetizer here in the States, the rules required the team to prepare items with New Zealand salmon. So they developed what they called a quartet of salmon — a beet-cured with apples and onions salmon, a soy-marinated smoked salmon belly (he said “it’s a fattier piece that’s good for smoking”), poached salmon with a truffle and salmon mousse and an Asian salmon tartar.
There were no rules for what they could prepare for the main course, so the trio settled on New Zealand lamb.
“It was an orange- and rosemary-crusted lamb loin,” explained Glass, adding that it was served with an oregano and fig reduction sauce, lentils, lamb sausage and a medley of vegetables.
This was the 23-year-old chef’s first international competition. The school paid for a large portion of the trip. The rest was paid for by scholarships given to the students by Wolfgang Puck, who was at JCCC earlier this year for a charity dinner.
“We helped him out so much he gave us all scholarships,” said Glass, the son of Norman Glass and Linda Glass. “We just had to pay our food and spending money.”
The chef apprenticeship program at JCCC features formal course work along with the opportunity to actually practice such skills as baking, menu planning, food purchasing, beverage control and food preparation. Students, including Glass, are registered by the Department of Labor and are officially indentured to supervising chefs for 6,000 hours. Before he began working at Dean & Deluca, he worked at the Raphael Hotel on the Plaza.
He enjoyed spending time in New Zealand, where they had a chance to sightsee as well as compete. At some point in the near future, Glass hopes to return and work there “for six months or a year.”
“While I was over there I made some pretty good contacts. I’m trying to put the pieces together right now. It’s looking pretty promising,” Glass said.
Prior to beginning the chef apprentice program at JCCC, he studied psychology at the University of Kansas before he realized the field wasn’t for him.
“I was always into cooking and it just seemed to make sense to go to the culinary school. The rest is history as they say,” he said.
Now, he said, his friends and family ask him to cook for them all the time.
“I don’t mind it. I think it’s fun,” Glass said.
He especially enjoys international cuisine.
“I really liked the advanced food class where you (prepare food) from countries all over the world,” he said. “I love French cooking. It’s probably my favorite.”