In the time it takes most people to cook a simple potluck casserole, a group of five students at A-B Tech’s culinary school can prepare a four-course meal from scratch, incorporating two whole chickens, a fresh-caught trout and regional crab, a box of greens and various root vegetables, fruits, nuts, mushrooms, herbs and an impressive smattering of sauces, purées and vinaigrettes. Oh, and peering over their shoulders is an army of judges, there to make sure each of those students stays calm, works efficiently, keeps their station clean and executes every step without flaw or error. 

So far, so good. 

In 2024, as in years past, A-B Tech’s culinary school has put together a team of students to compete in the American Culinary Federation’s highly regarded annual cooking competition. The team won first place in a regional round in April—a feat the school has accomplished a record-breaking 14 times before—and so the team now heads to Phoenix in July for a national battle, going toe to toe with four other culinary schools from across the country to compete for a blue ribbon. 

At a time when many culinary schools are eliminating competitive cooking from their curriculum—in large part because it is both costly and time-consuming to organize and attend—A-B Tech, with the financial backing of the Biltmore Estate and McKibbon Hospitality, remains committed to the annual showdowns. 

The competitions are a fundamental part of the students’ education, says team coach and chef-instructor Chris Bugher, giving them the opportunity to fine-tune their skills in a pressure-cooker environment that resembles something similar to what they’ll experience in the real world. 

“My favorite part of the process is to see the transformation of the dishes—from the first few attempts to the final products—and also the transformation within the students themselves,” Bugher says. “It’s a big change.” 

The A-B Tech 2024 competitive cooking team leaving a round of challenges.

To be sure, A-B Tech’s ongoing investment in competitive cooking aligns with a guiding principle at the school itself, which is to prepare the students for successful careers. And when it comes to being a chef or baker, that means knowing how to handle pressure, time management and the occasional curveball (like when a competing team forgets to bring a meat grinder and asks to borrow one, taking up a valuable piece of equipment and occupying space in a cramped contest kitchen). 

Bugher himself is a competitor in cooking contests and racks up as many wins as the students he coaches. In 2023, after snagging a gold medal at the Global Chefs Challenge Regional Semi-Finals in Chile, and earning the title of Global Vegan Chef of the Americas, he’ll represent the Americas at the worldwide finals in Singapore in October. 

At A-B Tech, the march towards a win begins with a series of internal tryouts, where the school’s chef instructors oversee a timed relay of knife skills and cooking techniques. Students angling for a spot on the team have to do seemingly simple challenges like cook a chicken and prepare green beans, and also tricky tasks like rolling out tart dough, which can be delicate and easily prone to tears. 

Once a team is selected, the students spend eight to 10 weeks finalizing a four-course menu that includes an appetizer, salad, entree and dessert. For the first-round competition, the menu has to reflect regional culinary traditions; A-B Tech this year decided on a poached trout with crab salad appetizer, a salad of greens and beets with fresh cheese and candied pecans, a main course of herb-crusted chicken with morel mushrooms and braised collard greens, and a strawberry bavarian with cornmeal-pistachio cake. 

Once the menu is finalized, the team spends several months in practice sessions—often taking 40 hours a week, squeezed in between regular classes, along with jobs and family commitments. The goal is to fine-tune the flavors and textures, and also to improve their speed. The students are given 90 minutes to complete the meal, from start to finish, with any lapses resulting in almost guaranteed loss. 

Team member Avery Lathan used the practice sessions to butcher chickens, shaving down the time of his task to just seven minutes for two birds. Teammate Ethyn Jester did the same for trout, which had to be cleaned, skinned and deboned at lightning speed. 

“I’m not getting this degree to hang on a wall; I’ve actually got to do this,” Lathan says. “So taking this leap and doing this competition has given me more confidence in myself.” 

With the finals quickly approaching in July, the team is tackling a new menu and the same grueling schedule for practice sessions. But with one national trophy in the case, awarded to the school in 2007, the team is hoping to bring home a second win, while also acknowledging that the real accomplishment is in the competition itself. 

“The instructors are always telling us to put ourselves out there,” says team captain Abbey Franklin, “and this kind of experience really expedites our growth.”