Area 30 Culinary Arts compete

Thursday, April 12, 2012
Students from the Area 30 Culinary Arts program competed in the ProStart Student Invitational in Indianapolis. Several students produced presentations based on a career in the culinary or hospitality field others competed in a cooking competition.

The Area 30 Career Center Culinary Arts students participated in the ProStart Student Invitational at the Wyndam in Indianapolis on March 1, in which several students were awarded for their work.

Students were selected to participate in Career Display, where four groups prepared a five-minute presentation on a career in the culinary or hospitality field. To prepare for their presentations students had to research, interview and then create a display depicting what they had learned.

Jacob Hutson and Raymond Heagy won second place in the Career Display contest. Other participants included Lorane Collier, Megan Wade, Kim Fenwick, Jesse Billings and Cody White.

Two teams were also selected to participate in the culinary competition. The morning group consisted of K'Trina Polston as the alternate, Charlotte Lane, Mikala Jacobson, Breezy Frederick and Kaelin Shea. The team received a bronze medal for its olive pico de gallo on parmesan chips as the appetizer.

For their entrée, they created braised chicken thighs in a sweet and spicy sauce over cheesy polenta accompanied with a brussel sprout medley. For dessert, the lady chefs made a skillet applesauce cake served with caramel sauce, whipped topping and granny smith apples as a garnish.

The afternoon group was comprised of Mikayla Guyer, Micah Query, Devon Asher, Tyler Piersall and Matt York. The group chose to serve eggplant "fries" served with a student created sauce garnished with a tomato "confetti." Their appetizer received the "Best Appetizer" award.

For their entrée the students made a sautéed chicken breast served over isarei couscous with dried apricots and cashews accompanied with green beans, topped with blue cheese crumbles and crispy bacon. Their dessert was poached pears topped with a caramel sauce, pecans and a dollop of whipped topping.

Before the students create the three course gourmet meal, they had to perform a knife skills portion by fabricating a whole chicken as well as doing knife cuts such as chiffonade, Julienne, mince and dice.

The Culinary Class would like to thank Kroger, Chef Fred Milder, Chef Mike Garcia, Margie Smith, Lee Fordice and Andrew O'Hair for judging a mock competition held at Area 30 to help the students prepare for the big event.

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