LBCC Culinary Art Students Compete in the Annual Hazelnut Cooking Competition

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of eating in The Commons or the Santiam Room on campus, you know there is some culinary genius cooking in the kitchens of LB. Even though both these restaurants have been closed this year due to Covid, the staff and students of the Culinary Arts Department have still been working hard all year making the same delicious food – we just don’t get to eat it.

The Culinary Arts department holds several cooking competitions throughout the year and on Friday April 16, I was fortunate enough to get to judge the department’s annual Hazelnut Cooking Competition.

Until I was invited to participate last week, I had no idea there was an annual Hazelnut Competition.  According to Chef Sarah Booth, who has been in charge of this competition for the last five years, the competition has been going on for around 25 years! And, in my opinion, is one of the best kept secrets on campus.

What isn’t a secret, however, is how big the hazelnut industry is in Oregon. If you’ve driven anywhere in Oregon in the last few years, you’ve no doubt driven past one, two, or even ten different hazelnut orchards. The industry has grown so much that the Oregon Hazelnut Industry is responsible for producing 99% of the hazelnuts in the US. And, they’re the sponsors of this competition. 

“We do this because we want to get people using hazelnuts,” said Juli Jones, the Assistant Manager of the Oregon Hazelnut Industry. 

The Oregon Hazelnut Industry, which is made up of the Hazelnut Marketing Board, the Oregon Hazelnut Commision, and the Nut Growers Society of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, and who represents over 800 hazelnut farmers in Oregon, sponsors this event every year.

They award cash prizes to each participant of the competition, and the recipes created by each student will be featured in the Industry’s social media posts, website and publications. 

The Industry isn’t the only sponsor, however. Joann and Wayne Chambers, local hazelnut farmers, donate all the hazelnuts used in the competition, and in the kitchens throughout the year.

“They are big supporters of the program,” said Chef Sarah Booth. “Because of their donations, we are able to use a lot of hazelnuts in our program. And it’s a local product, which is great because we try to teach our students how to use local products and what’s in season.”

Even though the program has seen normal enrollment during the pandemic, just three students signed up to participate in this year’s competition. Aren Kyle, Andrew Hulcy and Logan Peet, all second year students in their final term of the program, created unique recipes using heavy doses of hazelnuts to prepare for the judges. 

The dishes were set to be served to judges at noon,, but the contestants arrived in the kitchens around 8 a.m. to practice their recipes, which they were making for the first time. 

I am a huge fan of hazelnuts, so I was excited to see what the contestants came up with, but I honestly never expected the creative array of dishes I was presented with.

Hazelnut Khang Phet Curry, Catalan Fideua, and Homage to the Hazelnut, were listed on the menu when I sat down at the judges table. 

All I could think was “Hazelnut Curry? How does that work?” 

Chef Sarah Booth brought the dishes out all at once and placed three plates in front of each of the four judges. 

Each plate was so beautiful the other judge and I didn’t know how we were going to eat them. They all looked as though they had been prepared by world class chefs in a five star restaurant. 

But eat them we did. And, they all tasted as beautiful as they looked. 

The Hazelnut Khang Phet Curry, created by Logan Peet,  which included ground hazelnuts in the sauce, was topped with hazelnut crusted tempura shrimp, and the spiciness of the curry was perfectly complimented by a side of cool fresh vietnamese inspired salad topped with toasted hazelnuts served elegantly on a black slate plate.

The Catalan Fideua, created by Aren Kyle, was a variation of a Spanish Paella, and used toasted hazelnut pasta as a base on which was layered the most perfectly cooked scallops I have ever tasted, muscles, oysters, and a fillet of salmon, topped with toasted hazelnuts and accompanied by freshly baked light and buttery hazelnut bread.

The Homage to the Hazelnut, created by Andrew Hulcy, was probably the most decadent dessert I have ever tasted. Multiple desserts in one, the plate featured a chocolate and hazelnut crumble topped with toasted vanilla ice cream, a hazelnut ganache sprinkled over a layer of pastry cream with fresh strawberries, and the star of the plate, a soft and delicate, dark chocolate hazelnut brownie topped with a crunchy square of hazelnut florentine. 

After the judges had completed their assessment of each masterpiece, Chef Sarah brought the contestants out. Before the winner was announced, each contestant introduced themselves and their dishes. 

“I chose to make this curry because I love Southeast Asia and nutrition and I believe food should be nutritious,” said Logan Pete of his Hazelnut Khang Phet Curry. After graduation, Peet will be moving to Hawaii to finish his degree in nutrition and work as a chef in a hotel.

“I came across a variant of this recipe when researching and I came up with a concept that would work with hazelnuts and Oregon fish,” said Aren Kyle of his Catalan Fideua. Kyle currently works as a sous chef at Sybaris and is finishing his degree in business and computer science. 

“I wanted to play with textures and shapes that complimented each other to make a well rounded dessert,” said Andrew Hulcy of his Homage to the Hazelnut. After graduation, Hulcy will be doing a stage (an unpaid internship) at Restaurant Beck in Depot Bay, and hopes to continue his career as a chef. 

Each judge had to rate each dish on four categories: Plate Presentation, Flavor, Use of Hazelnuts, and Level of Difficulty. The already difficult task was made increasingly difficult by the fact that each dish was so unique, and so different from each other.

This dish with the highest score for plate presentation was the Homage to the Hazelnut by Andrew Hulcy.

The dish with the highest score for flavor was the Hazelnut Khang Phet Curry by Logan Peet.

And the dish with the highest score in both level of difficulty and use of hazelnuts was the Catalan Fideua by Aren Kyle.

Even though it was a very close competition and each dish was a true work of art, the dish with the highest overall score and winner of the 2021 Hazelnut Competition was the Hazelnut Khang Phet Curry by Logan Peet.

Congratulations to Logan Peet, and to all the contestants. All the dishes were masterfully done. 

If you have never tried the food prepared by the culinary arts department, please do yourself a favor and do as soon as possible – hopefully next year.