All hail the Burger Queen! Sullivan alum wins $50,000 in national culinary competition

Not only does Sullivan University have a fantastic reputation in the culinary world as a world-class school, but now Sullivan Lexington's campus also has the reigning Burger Queen in its presence!

A graduate of Sullivan's Associate of Science in Culinary Arts degree program, Brigitte Nguyen has been a finalist in the 2008 Sutter Home Build a Better Burger Contest, a runner-up in the Food Network's Ultimate Recipe Showdown, and now has become the grand prize winner in the National Chicken Cooking Contest. Brigitte has certainly found a rewarding success in the world of culinary competition.

Burgers are her winning specialty

Sullivan likes to call her the Burger Queen because that seems to be her specialty - but rest assured, these aren't your regular burgers, these are gourmet burgers. In the Build a Better Burger and Ultimate Recipe Showdown, Brigitte created a Vietnamese Bistro Burger and Bluegrass Beer Cheese Melt with Bourbon Barbeque Glaze. For the National Chicken Cooking Contest, held in San Antonio, Texas, Brigitte created the Chinese Chicken Burgers with Rainbow Sesame Slaw. Don't worry about Brigitte getting stage fright; she says she gets excited, but not nervous when she competes! Thanks to the education she received at Sullivan, she's very comfortable in her culinary ability, and uses competitions as her moment to shine and share her culinary skills with the world!

Sullivan shaped her techniques

When you sit down and talk with Brigitte, she's extremely humble about all the success she's found in the culinary industry. Perhaps what has helped her succeed so quickly is the fact that she was professionally trained by Sullivan's renowned chef instructors, who had always encouraged her to be creative and try new things. Brigitte remembers when she was competing on Ultimate Recipe Showdown, how one of the judges specifically commented on her professional knife skills – which was a testament to the time and effort she put in the Sullivan University kitchens before moving on to the Food Network studios and kitchens. When asked her one piece of advice for aspiring culinarians, Brigitte enthusiastically recommends that all chefs must "continually keep experimenting and learning."

Star of TV and Olympics, too!

When she's not competing, Brigitte works at Wine + Market as a Pastry Chef and as a Tuesday Wellness Cooking Segment hostess on WLEX-TV at 12:30 pm. In 2010, Brigitte heads to Vancouver to help feed the USA Olympic team, just as she did as a member of Team Sullivan who traveled to Beijing, China to cook and serve for the athletes and dignitaries at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. (see The Herald, Spring 2008 and Fall 2008). Read more about Brigitte's Olympic experience, try some of her fabulous recipes and keep an eye on her success, by checking out her blog at www.brigittenguyen.com.