After interviewing Stephanie Giraulo, the Director of Nutritional Services at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson, NY, it was apparent that the culture there demands a high standard at all times. However, maintaining that standard in the field is a different story. Her team at St. Charles backed up this standard with their recent victory at the Healthcare Culinary Challenge, a contest between three of New York’s hospitals and healthcare organizations in a format styled after Top Chef and Iron Chef America.
The event is put on by the New York Chapter of the National Association for Healthcare Foodservice, an organization working toward “developing leaders and transforming foodservice”. The team at St. Charles are now back to back winners, having won the last event held in 2015.
The event was one and a half hours total, with half an hour to plan a menu and the rest of the time to cook a three course meal. The secret ingredient was a whole salmon, with which the team at St. Charles, led by executive chef Bill Doughtery, created some masterful dishes. The star was an herb seared salmon with a potato lemon crust served with a quinoa cauliflower cake. Additionally as starters there was a Salmon crepe pinwheel appetizer as well as a salmon medallion salad. Assisting Executive Chef Doughtery were chefs Mahindranath Maraj and Kim Marie Vargas, forming a team with more than 100 years of experience in food service and culinary arts.
Ms. Giraulo had this to say about St. Charles success.
“I am proud of our team’s continued success and am thrilled to return to compete for another year. Our chefs work hard every day to bring our patients, employees and guests fresh, high quality food and hotel-style room service, so it is an honor to be recognized for our abilities and teamwork. To win a second time shows our commitment to consistency”.
You can view our interview with Stephanie Giraulo here.
