Huerkamp gains prestigious culinary certification
Greg D. Huerkamp
The executive chef of Mississippi State University Dining now holds Pro Chef II certification from the Culinary Institute of America.
Greg D. Huerkamp was awarded the advanced ranking following successful completion of a recent four-day training experience in San Antonio, Texas.
A Columbus native who studied in Mississippi University for Women's culinary program, Huerkamp termed the certification process "intense," explaining that each day "we focused on one subject, with usually four-to-six hours in the kitchen preparing a menu of our design that we presented to the instructors."
He said the final day was "spent critiquing our work in the kitchen and taking exams on food science, financials and personnel management." For more on the process, see www.ciachef.edu.
Huerkamp's professional career began in 2002 when he left Mississippi for New York to work for a season with the Red Bar Brasserie. Featuring a highly regarded American-French menu, the restaurant is located in the Long Island town of Southampton.
While attending MUW, Huerkamp also had worked as a line cook at downtown Tupelo's Park Heights Restaurant. Following the New York experience, he returned there as executive chef and worked there for almost 10 years before joining Aramark two-and-a-half years ago.
A part of the Division of Student Affairs, MSU Dining is operated by the Aaramark Corp., the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based company that provides professional food and related services nationwide.
In a congratulatory message shared with campus colleagues and division administrators, Jason Nall praised the "outstanding job" Huerkamp had done in reaching the Pro Chef II level.
"He worked very hard polishing his skills in preparation for this training," added MSU Dining's executive director who also is Aramark's senior resident district manager.
Huerkamp said he already is making plans to upgrade his professional ranking.
"Pro Chef III is the next level that hopefully I will be taking in a couple of years," he said. "After that, the next is Certified Master Chef and if that is an option, it will be several, several years down the road."
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Sammy McDavid | Public Affairs
