Monday, March 3, 2008

Austin student chef wins annual Stephan Pyles Culinary Scholarship Cookoff

By Pegasus News wire

The winner of the Eighth Annual Stephan Pyles Culinary Scholarship Cookoff is Amol Thanky of the Texas Culinary Academy in Austin, who beat out two other student chefs in a cook-off on Sunday at the Art Institute of Houston.

Three student chefs battled Saturday and Sunday in Houston to present a three-course meal using a pre-determined basket of mostly Texas ingredients, including challenging foods such as quail, acorn squash, and Texas goat cheese.

Formerly held in Austin, the contest now rotates between four Texas cities; Austin, Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. This year the Foundation selected Houston as a competition destination for the first time.

Open to culinary students throughout the state, the Stephan Pyles Culinary Scholarship Cook-off is named for Texas chef Stephan Pyles, owner of Stephan Pyles in Dallas' Arts District.

Judges included Pat Sharpe of Texas Monthly, Stephan Pyles, chef Hugo Ortega from Hugo’s in Houston, and David Kiser, chef and cooking school manager for Central Market in Houston.

The three-course championship menu included roasted quail and spinach salad, spicy grilled sirloin, and a cayenne chocolate mousse. Full menus can be found on the Foundation's website. As winner, Amol will receive a $15,000 check to help cover tuition. In addition, he will be given the opportunity to travel with Chef Pyles to a celebrity fundraiser in California this fall. Amol will also assist Chef Pyles with the Foundation’s Stephan Pyles Celebrity Chef Dinner at Pyles’ flagship restaurant. The two other finalists in the competition were Amanda Luchtel from the Art Institute of Dallas and Juanita Barrientos, also from the Texas Culinary Academy, who both won $1,000 in scholarships.

The 2009 Stephan Pyles Scholarship applications can be found on the

Foundation’s website in November of 2008. Applications will be accepted at that time until mid-January.

Source: Stephan Pyles Culinary Scholarship Cookoff

See more stories in:

• Food and Drink > Recipes / Cooking

Comments

Donna Chen Verified

Spicy grilled sirloin AND cayenne chocolate mousse? Sounds like that student knew exactly how to cater to the specific judging audience. Congrats to the winner.

4 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )