Redler Institute of Culinary Arts to Send Two Students to Compete in Prestigious Competition

Written by: Caleb Sanderson

Two culinary sophomore students from the Redler Institute of Culinary Arts will compete in a prestigious, long-standing young chef competition in Waco, Texas this month. Chefs Luis Peña and Scott Peggie will accompany the students as coaches.  

Danae Loomis and Anna Poelma qualified to compete in The United States Jeunes Chefs Rôtisseurs Competition. The competition is part of The Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, the oldest and largest food and wine society in the world, founded in Paris in 1248. 

Loomis and Poelma qualified to compete after an invitation-only internal competition arranged and hosted by Butler Community College’s culinary department on Feb. 19. Loomis received first place while Poelma earned the runner up spot, though both are advancing on equal footing. 

“They are both going to do a great job and we’re all excited for them,” Chef Peña said. 

With the guidance of the Chefs, Loomis and Poelma will create practice dishes in preparation of the three-hour long competition in Waco. Although both young chefs have demonstrated quality skills in the culinary arts, they are both excited and nervous. 

“Everybody has to be under top, excellent chefs for this [competition], so I’m expecting it to be a pretty tough competition,” Loomis, a current Early College Academy student from Eisenhower High School (Goddard), said. 

Loomis already has plans for what she will be making, including a difficult dessert she mastered early on in her culinary education. “The first step is mastering the components of your dish,” Loomis said regarding the competition. 

Competitors will be scored on a number of practices standard in culinary arts and fine dining, such as sanitation, plating appeal, flavor and used ingredients. They must also create a menu for the judges and will be negatively scored if they do not adhere to the submitted menu.  

Poelma feels confident in the skills Chefs Peña and Peggie helped her refine. “All the techniques they teach you, starting from day one, prepared us,” the Bishop Carroll Catholic High School (Wichita) graduate said. “They teach us about cooking times and specific oils, seasonings, and equipment to use. Everything they teach is from different cuisine, like Europe and Asia, [which] gives a humongous baseline. It helps our creativity when in those situations.” 

Poelma believes this teaching method expanded her discovery of new flavors and combinations and will help her when incorporating this year’s required mystery ingredient into her dishes. Due to this training, she is eagerly examining online recipes for inspiration that surpasses the traditional foods the mystery ingredient is typically used in.   

If Loomis or Poelma win the regional competition, they move on to the national event in Seattle, Washington in June.