Student Culinary Competitions

Florida Culinary Institute frequently announces and hosts exciting Student Culinary Competitions. Some competitions are individual-based, some are team oriented. All are interesting, creative and FUN with great prizes and awards given out to the winners. Scroll down below to see the results of our most recent, featured Competition - or click on our Competition Archive link to review photos and articles of past competitions.

Featured Competition

Fire & Ice - Who's Cuisine Reigns Supreme?

Fire & Ice
Who’s Cuisine Reigns Supreme?

Held on Wednesday, August 27, 2008, Florida Culinary Institute’s Fire & Ice Student Culinary Competition was a BLAST!!!

16 Teams rose to the challenge, putting their culinary skills and talents to the test. With the wide open theme of Fire & Ice came 16 different philosophies and interpretations. Some Teams incorporated real fire and real ice. Some Teams used spicy hot foods and icy cooling foods. Some Teams mixed fire and ice together. It was incredible to see the great variety of creative culinary skills and methods of preparation employed.

Congratulations to the following Teams who were brave enough to step into the kitchen stadium.

Team AARP: Homemade passion fruit ice cream; passion fruit hot sauce; cinnamon sugar wontons; Bacardi 151 flambé
Team Stone Soup: Spicy gazpacho with cool avocado
Team Temperature Gauge: Fiery lamb curry; coconut rice; infused frozen yogurt
Team New Mexican Disaster Squad: Spicy gazpacho; red chili pan fried lamb chops; green chili sauce; chocolate ice cream with red chili caramel sauce
Team Blazing Blizzard: Hot chili fried ice cream
Team Ocean Poppers: Popcorn seafood (shrimp, lobster, calamari); avocado pineapple aioli; plantain press
Team Chocolate Rain: Spiced pecan stuffed zeppole; cinnamon and cayenne powder; chilled vanilla glaze
Team Opportunities: Wasabi stuffed vanilla ice cream rolled in chocolate cake and batter fried; fried pickled ginger
Team Cool Jalapeños: Spicy watermelon salad; skewered chicken tenders with spicy pesto oil; sherry tomato granite; honey panna cotta with lemon-thyme peaches; spicy melon daiquiri
Team Pepper Pals: Chipotle milkshake; mint pepper cookies
Team Casabels: Sweet pancakes layered with chocolate ganache (infused with homemade habanera oil) and bananas; hot chocolate with peppermint
Team Best of Both Worlds: Carne de Mechada original Venezuela with polenta (shredded spicy beef); strawberry ice cream with glazed bananas; chili hot sauce
Team Yin and Yang: Seafood gumbo lettuce wraps; fresh fruit trio with dipping sauce
Team K.I.M.; Surprise – something hot and something cold; dessert
Team Cool Chill; Frozen layers of blueberry puree and alcohol
Team Key West; Fire grilled Key West lobster; ice cold shrimp cocktail with fiery cocktail sauce; conch fritters; crab claw salad with spring greens, peppers and feta cheese; cool key lime beverage

The Judges had a tough time deciding on the overall winners from this field of champions. But when the fires burned out and the ice melted, three winning teams stood above the rest.

First Place ~ Team Key West
Second Place ~ Team Ocean Poppers
Third Place ~ Team Temperature Gauge

CONGRATULATIONS to all who participated. The awards ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday, September 3 at 5:30 pm in the FCI lobby.

The theme of our next Student Culinary Competition will be “Hooray for Hollywood!”
Start brainstorming now!