After earning a gold medal at the National Association of College and University Food Services Midwest Regional competition, Campus Dining Services sous chef Jeremy Elmore is preparing to compete at the July 11 national contest in Minneapolis, Minn.

The NACUFS Midwest Regional competition was held at Plaza 900 Dining Hall in April. The nine competing chefs had one hour to prepare their dishes and were judged on a 40-point scale. Elmore earned the gold medal with a 36.5 rating.

“During the competition I was super focused just on executing all my tasks I had to get done,” Elmore said.

Elmore said earning the gold medal was very rewarding.

“It was really cool,” Elmore said. “To achieve a gold medal in a competition is really, really hard to do.”

Elmore won the regional competition with his Coffee-Rubbed Duck Breast with Spinach Gnocchi Parisienne and Batonnet Carrots. He will prepare the same dish at the national competition.

To prepare for nationals, Elmore said he’s preparing the dish eight times each week. He is also keeping a check list to make sure all his supplies make it to Minneapolis successfully.

With his success at the regional competition, Elmore is confident he will do well at nationals, where he will compete against five other chefs.

“I feel like I’m ready for it,” Elmore said. “Now that the plate’s been judged and I’ve gotten a gold medal I feel pretty confident about that. As long as I do my job in executing, it should be just as good. I think the nerves will still be there, but there won’t be as much anxiety as there was before.”

Elmore has competed in one other NACUFS regional competition in 2009, where he received a bronze medal.

Elmore’s first experience with cooking occurred during his childhood.

“It started when I was a young kid, around 11 or so,” Elmore said. “My mom had back surgery during the summer, and I had to learn to take care of everyone, my younger brothers, because I was the oldest. So I learned how to cook then, and I just kept on cooking and hanging out in the kitchen with Mom and Grandma as I got older.”

Elmore was a cook in a pizza shop during high school, when he began looking into culinary schools. He was accepted into a couple and ended up attending Sullivan University in Louisville, Ky.

After experiencing the college food atmosphere during an internship at Ferris State University in 2006, Elmore began working at MU’s Campus Dining Services in January 2007.

“What I enjoy about it is the fact that I get to work with a lot of different people from all over the world,” Elmore said. “Our staff is like 90 percent students, so I get to work with them a lot of the time. Most of them are not here for food services, so it’s a great time just to take time to teach them about cooking and food and the safety of it. Really, it’s just the people.”

Elmore said he hopes to become certified as an executive chef within the next five years. From there, he said he wants to keep gaining knowledge and experience in the culinary field.

“(Cooking) is comforting and relaxing,” Elmore said. “It relaxes me and I just have a great time doing it. It brings back memories of when I was a kid getting to cook with my mom or with my grandparents or even family reunions; it’s always a fun time.”