May the best wing win! Seven teams comprised of students from Atlantic Cape Community College’s Academy of Culinary Arts (ACA) created their own signature chicken wing dish during the 4th Annual Wing Bash competition on January 24 with the winner earning the right to represent the College at this weekend’s Annual Atlantic City Wing Fest at Golden Nugget Atlantic City Hotel and Casino on Saturday, January 31.
Each team had one hour to season, cook and/or fry their chicken wings with a uniquely-crafted wing sauce. Each team was scored by four judges, who based their final tallies on presentation, creativity, wing taste and sauce taste.
“The Academy of Culinary Arts Wing Wars competition is more than just a culinary showdown, it’s a celebration of skill and creativity in the kitchen. The students do this for bragging rights and the honor to serve their recipe to more than 1,400 guests at Wing Fest,” said Joseph Sheridan, Director of the Academy of Culinary Arts and Hospitality. “As the students hone their culinary skills, they also learn to work as part of a team, and fosters community spirit between student chefs who share ideas, techniques and a common love for the craft of cooking.”
The winning wing recipe this year was created by Jasmine Gonzalez-Alegria (Egg Harbor Township), Kenneth Valente (Atlantic City) and Kaden Boyd Leonard (Egg Harbor Township). The trio created dulce Paraiso wings with cilantro lime crema. Afterwards, the teammates spoke about how they created their recipe, their favorite part of the competition and what they are looking forward to at Wing Fest.
“We wanted to take a little twist like doing a fruit glaze, and just have fresh flavors like Caribbean-type flavors with fresh fruits and bright flavors,” said Gonzalez-Alegria.
“My favorite part of the competition was the process of making the wings. I feel like we all did the best we could and it paid off with our win,” said Valente.
“I am really looking forward to the pressure of Wing Fest. I want to be a chef, so I am ready to work in the casino with big volume. I think it will be a lot of pressure, but I am sure we can get it done,” said Boyd Leonard.
The second-place team, comprised of Bella Marchesani, Gabrielle Ruberti and Jeremy Stunda, created a honey hot garlic wing with cilantro-lime Ranch dressing. The third-place team, featuring Aidaeliz Ortiz, Keyonna Robinson and Nevaeh Thomas, created a pineapple-habanero jerk wing with pineapple habanero sauce.
The ACA was originally invited to participate and represent Atlantic Cape at the annual Wing Fest in 2023. The culinary instructors decided to create a fun and competitive competition between the ACA’s culinary students to come up with the best wing sauce to represent the ACA and the college. Once at Wing Fest, the winning team must cook wings and make sauce for more than 1,400 attendees.
This year’s volunteer judges were Melissa Brault, head athletic trainer/assistant athletic director, Atlantic Cape; Chef David Fellenbaum and Bella Herold, manager, Spiaggetta Restaurant in Stone Harbor, N.J.; and alumnus David Rahn, adjunct chef educator, Atlantic Cape.
Visit goldennugget.com/atlantic-city-wing-fest for more information on this year’s Atlantic City Wing Fest at Golden Nugget.
Visit atlanticcape.edu/aca for more information on the Academy of Culinary Arts program.
View a photo gallery from this event on Flickr.
