Navy Culinary Specialist Wins Army/Navy Cook-Off at PA Farm Show

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Thank you Culinary Specialist 2nd Class Louis Lubin

HARRISBURG, Pa. - A Navy culinary specialist won the Army vs. Navy Cook-off at the 106th Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Jan. 13.

Culinary Specialist 2nd Class Louis Lubin led a team of local media personalities, Paola Tristan Arruda and Jeremy Jenkins from Harrisburg’s WGAL Channel 8, to create the most appealing dish from surprise ingredients in only 30 minutes.

Each team was given ingredients from the PA Preferred program, which identifies and promotes food and agricultural products grown, produced or processed in Pennsylvania. Some of the ingredients were London broil, potatoes, honey, dill flavored hard-boiled eggs, garlic and jalapeno jam. Both teams had to incorporate everything from their surprise bag into the dish.

A team of four judges rated the dishes based on taste, presentation, harmony of ingredients, visual appeal, and originality. The judges said Lubin’s London Broil was cooked to perfection and precisely sliced for optimum taste.

The Pennsylvania Farm Show is held every January at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center in Harrisburg. It is the largest indoor agricultural event in the United States, offering 24 acres of exhibition space under one roof. The event attracts more than half a million visitors every year.

The iron-chef style competition was hosted by Food Network personality Robert Irvine. He helped guide both teams during the competition and engaged the audience with food tips and tricks.

“The Navy has more than 8,000 culinary specialists (CSs) serving nutritious, wholesome food every day to support warfighter peak physical and mental performance,” said Cmdr. Leanne Riley, director Navy Food Service, Naval Supply Systems Command. “This competition highlighted the skill of our Navy’s culinary professionals, and was a great way to show how our CSs use innovation to increase effectiveness and efficiency of food service operations.”

NAVSUP’s mission is to provide supplies, services, and quality-of-life support to the Navy and joint warfighter. Headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and employing a diverse, worldwide workforce of more than 22,500 military and civilian personnel, NAVSUP oversees logistics programs in the areas of supply operations, conventional ordnance, contracting, resale, fuel, transportation, and security assistance.