Cooking competition brings out high school kids' tastiest dishes
Two minutes left and the raspberries are all wrong.
Should they go under the chocolate arch? Next to it? Closer to the poached pear? How many should there be?
Milford High junior Brandon McCarthy bites his lip.
A clipboard-bearing judge looms. “One minute!”
Brandon leans in close. Four berries, and let’s put them next to the chocolate arch. He wipes away an invisible dab of stray cinnamon sauce.
Time’s called. Brandon’s satisfied. Not one of his arches broke today and the dish looks perfect.
His poached pear, for those who have never had the pleasure, is delicious.
There’s tough competition, though, here at Nebraska’s ProStart Student Invitational, held Friday on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s East Campus.
To Brandon’s right is a triple-berry custard that would seem to have a home in the state’s finest bakery. To his left, sweet mashed potatoes that look to rival grandma’s.
And every dish in the room has been made by high schoolers.
That’s right: This was a food-preparation contest for teenagers. Want another serving of that poached pear before a restaurant charges you $10 for it?
There were 250 kids vying for victory Friday. The winning team, the Papillion-LaVista Doughboys, earned a spot in the national ProStart competition next month in Charlotte, N.C.
Some of the kids probably have never even heard of Ramen noodles. Others dream of someday opening their own restaurant.
Most can mix a salad and chop an onion and have a steak sizzling on the grill before the rest of us can find the recipe in our Rachael Ray cookbooks.
Hey, when the judges give you 60 minutes to whip up a salad, entree and dessert, time is, well ... food.
“It’s not that bad,” Omaha Burke junior Emily Murphy insists of speed-cooking with judges, family and friends peering over your shoulder.
“You can lean off each other.”
Jokes her teammate, junior Erika Alvarez: “The only thing I don’t like is cleaning up.”
The girls had a bumpy start. No olive oil or scallions available. But they made do and their shrimp brochette, beef tenderloin and Spanish cream dessert are coming along beautifully (or they seem to be, anyway, according to an untrained nose).
So what makes a winner? It’s tough, says judge Jeff Gilliland, a chef with Pegler Sysco Food Services Co. Students must be polite and professional. Their tables must be clean and organized. Their dishes must have flavor, texture and visual appeal.
A garlic-heavy entree followed by vanilla ice cream, for example, is a no-no. A dessert with both creamy and crunchy elements is ideal.
The successful students will have jobs waiting, Gilliland says.
“People need two things: a mortician and someone who can cook. That’ll never go away.”
Industry trends prove him right: Just this year, UNL added a new hospitality, restaurant and tourism management major to train aspiring chefs and managers, and Metropolitan Community College in Omaha is planning to build a 25,000-square-foot culinary arts center to accommodate one of its most popular programs.
The Nebraska Restaurant Association lists food service as one of the nation’s most promising career paths.
And, oh yeah. Surely great cooks never have trouble getting a date.
McCarthy grins coyly.
“It has its advantages.”
Reach Melissa Lee at 473-2682 or mlee@journalstar.com.
Should they go under the chocolate arch? Next to it? Closer to the poached pear? How many should there be?
Milford High junior Brandon McCarthy bites his lip.
A clipboard-bearing judge looms. “One minute!”
Brandon leans in close. Four berries, and let’s put them next to the chocolate arch. He wipes away an invisible dab of stray cinnamon sauce.
Time’s called. Brandon’s satisfied. Not one of his arches broke today and the dish looks perfect.
His poached pear, for those who have never had the pleasure, is delicious.
There’s tough competition, though, here at Nebraska’s ProStart Student Invitational, held Friday on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s East Campus.
To Brandon’s right is a triple-berry custard that would seem to have a home in the state’s finest bakery. To his left, sweet mashed potatoes that look to rival grandma’s.
And every dish in the room has been made by high schoolers.
That’s right: This was a food-preparation contest for teenagers. Want another serving of that poached pear before a restaurant charges you $10 for it?
There were 250 kids vying for victory Friday. The winning team, the Papillion-LaVista Doughboys, earned a spot in the national ProStart competition next month in Charlotte, N.C.
Some of the kids probably have never even heard of Ramen noodles. Others dream of someday opening their own restaurant.
Most can mix a salad and chop an onion and have a steak sizzling on the grill before the rest of us can find the recipe in our Rachael Ray cookbooks.
Hey, when the judges give you 60 minutes to whip up a salad, entree and dessert, time is, well ... food.
“It’s not that bad,” Omaha Burke junior Emily Murphy insists of speed-cooking with judges, family and friends peering over your shoulder.
“You can lean off each other.”
Jokes her teammate, junior Erika Alvarez: “The only thing I don’t like is cleaning up.”
The girls had a bumpy start. No olive oil or scallions available. But they made do and their shrimp brochette, beef tenderloin and Spanish cream dessert are coming along beautifully (or they seem to be, anyway, according to an untrained nose).
So what makes a winner? It’s tough, says judge Jeff Gilliland, a chef with Pegler Sysco Food Services Co. Students must be polite and professional. Their tables must be clean and organized. Their dishes must have flavor, texture and visual appeal.
A garlic-heavy entree followed by vanilla ice cream, for example, is a no-no. A dessert with both creamy and crunchy elements is ideal.
The successful students will have jobs waiting, Gilliland says.
“People need two things: a mortician and someone who can cook. That’ll never go away.”
Industry trends prove him right: Just this year, UNL added a new hospitality, restaurant and tourism management major to train aspiring chefs and managers, and Metropolitan Community College in Omaha is planning to build a 25,000-square-foot culinary arts center to accommodate one of its most popular programs.
The Nebraska Restaurant Association lists food service as one of the nation’s most promising career paths.
And, oh yeah. Surely great cooks never have trouble getting a date.
McCarthy grins coyly.
“It has its advantages.”
Reach Melissa Lee at 473-2682 or mlee@journalstar.com.
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