Montgomery County Community College’s Culinary Arts Institute (CAI) students grilled the competition with their enticing burger to win first place in the inaugural Burger Brawl University Challenge hosted by Nordon’s Preferred Kitchen Equipment and Sportsradio 94WIP on Nov. 27 in Langhorne, Pennsylvania.

Accompanied by MCCC’s Chef Ben Vozzo, CAI students Kathryn Trout of Pennsburg, Christopher Meagher of Lansdale and Christopher Ferrigno of Morrisville competed against students from The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College in Philadelphia, Drexel University Culinary Arts program and Career Institute of Technology of the Lehigh Valley.

CAI’s ancho chili burger delighted the judges’ taste buds and will appear on the menu at The Conshohocken Brew Pub , 3 DeKalb Street, Bridgeport, Pennsylvania, January 8-14, 2018. Additionally, the students will be taking their winning recipe to the Xfinity Live! 8th Annual Philadelphia Burger Brawl in 2018 to compete against contestants from the region.

To prepare for the competition, the students held their own competition to select the recipe to use. They practiced making the burger with the condiments to determine the proportions and composition of the layers, as well as the presentation.

“I could not have been prouder of how the students represented the College, CAI and themselves professionally from start to finish with attention to detail and graciousness,” Vozzo said.

The Burger Brawl raises funds for the literacy program through technology for Philadelphia’s deserving children in public elementary school. The Fund for the School District of Philadelphia, the nonprofit philanthropic arm of the school system, launched this effort.

The Burger Brawl also supports Philadelphia School District Superintendent Dr. William Hite’s Right Books campaign. The Right Books campaign provides K-3 classrooms with comprehensive literacy training for teachers, literacy coaches and select libraries-expert-curated books and resources.