Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010
Bon Appetit
BSHS students participate in culinary competition
Emily Jarrett, Journal Staff
Julie Scheidegger, the Journal
Family and Consumer Sciences teacher Barbara Selzer goes over how to fabricate a chicken for Blue Springs High School students, from left, Devereaux Jackson, Tiffany Stiers, Kelsey Berg and Brittany Weddle as they practice for the ProStart Culinary state competition at East Central College in Union Feb. 18-19. The team members will be judged on several culinary skills including how well the fabricate a chicken, sanitation and safety and knife skills. The students are part of the ProStart program offered as a two-year career building program for those interested in a culinary career.
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closeIn the cafeteria of Blue Springs High School, four students were positioned in front of four whole chickens, sizing up the birds.
“OK,” said their teacher, Barbara Selzer, as she pressed a timer, set for 30 minutes. “Go.”
The students each picked up their boning knife and poised it over the chicken.
“Where do we start?” asked one of the students.
The four students are part of the ProStart culinary team from BSHS. Yesterday, they traveled to Union to participate in the ProStart Competition, an “Iron Chef” like challenge during which teams from high schools across Missouri compete for the top prize. Twenty-eight teams will be competing, but teammate Brittany Weddle isn’t worried.
“I think we’ll do pretty well,” Weddle, a junior at BSHS, told the Journal on Tuesday. “We’ve all got our menu down, so now it’s just a matter of executing it.”
BSHS family and consumer sciences students started competing in the ProStart competition six years ago.
“I was here when we got started with the program. It just seemed like another great career pathway for our students,” Selzer said. “Students must be in the ProStart Culinary Arts Program to compete.”
The program, which is sponsored by the National Restaurant Association, allows students who may be thinking about continuing in the culinary field, a leg up on other students. In addition to taking culinary classes, students can earn college credits or scholarship money. They’re also invited to compete in the ProStart competition.
“This year we held tryouts for the competition,” Selzer said. “Twelve students tried out for four spots. I think we’ve got a pretty solid team this year. They work well together.”
The team will have 60 minutes to prepare a three course meal. For months, they’ve been working together with Selzer to create the perfect menu.
“We went through a lot of tastings,” Selzer said. “Figuring out, ‘OK, this tastes better with this type of vegetable, or this appetizer pairs really well with this.”
The menu the students created includes Jerk-beef plantains as an appetizer, sautéed lamb with mint salsa verde, mapled sweet potatoes and sautéed asparagus for the main course, and a raspberry Bavarian crème for dessert.
“I’m in charge of the dessert,” Weddle said. “We just split the dishes into who had the best strengths to cook that particular dish. This is my first year on the team and I hope I do well, but I think I’ve got the dessert down.”
Teammate and senior at BSHS, Kelsey Berg was also secure about preparing her part of the meal – the appetizer.
“I’m pretty confident about it,” she said. “I’ve practiced it so many times I think I’m ready to go.”
In addition to cooking a meal, each team member will also show off their knife skills and poultry fabrication, during which the students will have 30-minutes to cut up a whole chicken into eight pieces.
“I think the poultry will be the hardest part for them,” Selzer said. “That’s a new curve ball that was thrown at them this year. I just think they need to practice.”
“I think the chicken is definitely going to be the most nerve-wracking part of competition,” Berg said. “We’ve only been able to practice three times before, but I think we’ll have it down by Friday.”
Both Berg and Weddle said they were considering continuing their culinary aspirations in college. Berg has already been accepted into the culinary arts program at Johnson County Community College, considered one of the best programs in the area.
“I’m really excited to just get the competition started,” Berg said. “I love cooking and even though this is my first year doing something like this, I’m excited about the competition. I just hope we do well.”
To reach Journal reporter Emily Jarrett, call 816-282-7018 or e-mail ejarrett@bluesprings journal.com.
