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VGCC Culinary students get rave reviews at Hot Sauce Contest

The reviews are in, and the Vance-Granville Community College Culinary Arts program was a hit at the fifth annual North Carolina Hot Sauce Contest, a festival held in downtown Oxford on Sept. 10.

 

For the second consecutive year, students participated in the event. This year, they prepared and served Buffalo Chicken Sliders and Pulled Pork Tacos with cilantro-infused southwestern coleslaw. Both the quality of the food and the students’ professionalism impressed many visitors. Lydia Powell, a VGCC Psychology instructor, said that the students did “a fantastic job” with their food and their presentation. High praise came from Gloria Cabada-Leman, co-founder of Durham-based Carolina Sauce Company, one of the vendors at the contest. She wrote on her blog that the Culinary Arts booth was the “food highlight” for her and her husband at this year’s event. Cabada-Leman said that if the sliders and tacos were any indication, “they’re teaching their students well” at VGCC. “The pulled pork taco caught my attention first, because I had never considered putting Carolina BBQ in a taco shell….The pork was tender and juicy, lightly seasoned with a vinegar BBQ sauce and topped with creamy coleslaw, all in a crunchy corn taco shell. The combination of crunchy/tender-meaty/creamy textures was quite satisfying,” she wrote. As for the sliders, she said that “the flavors were enticingly savory and just mildly spicy, with that authentic Buffalo wing sauce tang that comes from cayenne and vinegar…The chicken in the sliders was melt-in-your-mouth tender…I asked one of the friendly folks staffing their booth what brand of Buffalo sauce they used, and she replied that they make their own, from scratch, using North Carolina-grown peppers, too. This was what I call ‘honest food,’ made from fresh, quality ingredients, with a splash of sensibility, a dash of creativity, and zero pretension. Bravo, Vance-Granville Community College Culinary Arts program, for representing well at the NC Hot Sauce festival this past weekend!”

 

“We had a wonderful day, not only in weather but also in food sales and in exposure and real-world experience for the students,” said Chef Ross Ragonese, head of the Culinary program. Ragonese also served as one of the judges for the hot sauce/barbecue sauce contest, for the fourth straight year. His fellow judges included barbecue expert Bob Garner; Andrea Weigl, food writer for The News & Observer; Fred Thompson, publisher and managing editor of Edible Piedmont; Chef Mark Carroll; Al Carson, Editor of the Oxford Public Ledger; and Debbie Moose, a freelance food writer.

 

VGCC’s two-year Culinary Arts degree program, based at the Masonic Home for Children in Oxford, prepares students for entry-level professional positions in food service and hospitality. For more information about the Culinary program, call Chef Ross Ragonese at (919) 690-0312.