BALTIMORE – As the Marines stepped on the stage, they had no idea what was waiting for them, but they had the utmost confidence in their ability to succeed.
Three food service specialists with 1st Battalion, 10th Marines, faced off against other teams including two teams from the U.S. Navy, and teams from Turkey, Canada, Germany and England in Baltimore Sept. 12, 2014, during the Star-Spangled Spectacular.
The competition had a catch. None of the participants knew what ingredients they were going to have to cook with.
For one of the members of the Marine Corps team, this was a first time for a competition like this.
“Coming in, I was pretty nervous,” said Lance Cpl. Richard Young, one of the members of the Marine Corps team. “My sergeant and corporal said, ‘Don’t worry about it,’ and I was confident knowing that they were there with me.”
After arriving to the competition, the teams were shown the vegetables they had to work with so they could begin planning. They had corn, squash, okra, and other assorted items, but they still didn’t know what their main course was until the host brought out the rock fish.
Once the teams had all their ingredients, the contestants went to work on their meals, which they only had one hour to prepare.
Sgt. Michael Williams knew what to do with what he had and started walking his Marines through the process of making Old Bay-grilled rock fish with a rosemary rice, sautéed corn and okra with lemon pepper butter.
“I didn’t want to do anything that was too extravagant,” said Williams. “I was always taught basic is better.”
Though the Marines' meal didn’t win them the honor of coming in first, they still enjoyed working together and competing against coalition partners.
For Williams, who has been cooking for approximately 12 years, this was more of an opportunity to work with his junior Marines.
“My main focus was to take the two Marines with me that have never done something like this,” said Williams. “This is the first time they have worked with me, so I wanted to show them and try to teach them. It was a good experience to compete with our coalition partners.”
Date Taken: | 09.13.2014 |
Date Posted: | 09.13.2014 15:06 |
Story ID: | 142072 |
Location: | BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, US |
Web Views: | 239 |
Downloads: | 1 |
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