Saying she was “in the zone,” Ruth Dubon, a sous chef at Brigham Young University, won a national cooking competition this week in her home state of Utah.
Dubon won the National Association of College & University Food Services’ 24th annual national culinary challenge on Tuesday at the Salt Palace Convention Center.
“It felt great,” she said. “Like all my hard work and all my practicing time paid off, and all of the support and love that I got from everyone, it was just incredible and amazing to feel.”
In Tuesday’s challenge, Dubon went head to head against five other university chefs: Emily Getz from Penn State, William Reardon from Fairfield University, Jason Hilgers from Northwestern University, Jonathan Harthorn from University of Oregon and Darin Keithley from University of North Texas.
The six competitors first advanced through a regional competition in order to qualify for the national competition.
Dubon said she felt great Tuesday about what she was doing.
“I got on time with everything, and I just felt that everything went as smoothly as I practiced,” she added. “It was great. I was just in my zone the whole time.”
The chef had been practicing her dish — chicken and liver ballontine, with fried chicken liver, sautéed red Swiss chard and vegetables, celery puree and a savory bread pudding — since November.
Dubon brought her support system with her
Dubon was born and raised in Provo, giving her a “home-court advantage” at the competition in Salt Lake.
She shared that her whole support system was there to watch her, including her friends, family and co-workers.
“It felt amazing,” Dubon said. “Because if it was in another state, you know, we can only fly out so many people. So I’m just so grateful that it was here in my home state.”
Dubon has been doing cooking competitions since she was in high school and said she loves competing because it “takes me back to my roots.”
She also shared two new reasons for competing.
“For my daughter and my husband; for myself as well, but just so I can put our family name high and set a good example for my daughter,” Dubon said.