Atlanta Sous Chef Daniel Gorman Competes In Canada June 12 For Chance To Represent The Americas In Worldwide Culinary Competition

For the past two months, 23-year-old Atlanta resident Daniel Gorman, sous chef at Cherokee Town Club, Atlanta, has spent most of his waking hours in the kitchen. After 50-hour workweeks, Gorman has spent another 30 hours each week preparing for the competition of a lifetime. On June 12, he will compete against four other young chefs in the Hans Bueschkens World Junior Chefs Challenge semifinals for the Americas. The competition takes place in Vancouver, British Columbia, during the Canadian Culinary Federation's 2011 National Conference. The winner will represent the Americas in the worldwide competition in South Korea in May 2012. Gorman is supported by the American Culinary Federation (ACF) and Custom Culinary, Inc.

"It has been a crazy ride from the moment I found out about the competition until now," said Gorman, who learned he would represent ACF and the U.S. in March. "This has been the most work I have ever had to put into a competition, and no matter what the outcome is, I will still be on top because of the amount of food knowledge I have acquired during the past two months."

Gorman, a native of Charleston, S.C., and a 2007 graduate of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, Asheville, N.C., earned the right to represent the U.S. at the international level after winning the title of 2010 ACF Student Chef of the Year, sponsored by Custom Culinary, Inc., in Anaheim, Calif., in August 2010. He is no stranger to competitions, having served as a member of his school's junior hot-food team. He was also Heather Hurlbert's apprentice in the 2009 ACF Pastry Chef of the Year competition in Orlando, Fla., and apprentice for Russell Scott, CMC, WGMC, at the World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS) Global Chefs Challenge semifinals for the Americas in S?o Paulo, Brazil, in September 2009. He is a member of ACF Greater Atlanta Chapter Inc.

The Competition
During the competition on June 12, competitors will have four hours to produce eight portions of a three-course meal (appetizer, main course and dessert) for a panel of judges. In April, competitors were given a list of required ingredients that must be represented in their menu.

"When I received the list of required ingredients, I was blown away and kind of thrown for a loop," Gorman said. "For the first course, I must use Kobe flat iron steak; for the second course, halibut; and for dessert, strawberries. What caught me off-guard was that I was going to be serving a beef before a fish dish, which is not common. My menu focuses on my background and my own style of food-new American with a focus in Southern cuisine."

The Prize
The winner will be announced Wednesday, June 15, during the President's Ball at the close of the Canadian Culinary Federation's National Conference, and will receive the Hans Bueschkens Memorial Trophy, a gold medal and a certificate. He/she will then represent the Americas in the world finals at the WACS World Congress in Daejeon, South Korea, in May 2012. There, representatives from Africa/Middle East, the Americas, Asia, Central Europe, Northern Europe, Southern Europe and the Pacific Rim will compete for the global title and the right to be called "best young cook in the world."

In January 2010 in Chile, Kansas native Kelly Conwell represented the Americas and ACF in the Hans Bueschkens World Junior Chefs' Challenge, in which a young chef from Canada left with the championship. In May 2008 in Dubai, California native Keriann Von Raesfeld won first place in the inaugural Hans Bueschkens World Junior Chefs' Challenge.

About the World Association of Chefs' Societies (WACS)
The World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS) is a global network of chefs associations founded in October 1928 at the Sorbonne in Paris. At that first congress, there were 65 delegates from 17 countries, representing 36 n