When it comes to high school chefs, Raytown is hard to beat.
The reigning national champs from the Herndon Career Center finished atop the standings in the Missouri ProStart High School Culinary Contest on February 18 and 19. The team earned the right to defend its title at this year's National ProStart Invitational at the Overland Park Convention Center on April 30.
"Their hard work speaks to their dedication to becoming the first team
to repeat as national champions," Chef Ben Griswold, the
instructor and coach for Herndon, said in a press statement. He estimated his team spent 25 hours a week to prepare their winning dish.
The Herndon team's menu featured an appetizer of artic char sashimi, an entree of wagyu rib eye cap and a Pistachio cake dessert.
ProStart is a two-year program for high school students interested in
pursuing careers in the culinary arts or restaurant management. In the state and national competitions, each four-student team of chefs must prepare a three-course meal in 60
minutes. This year, 25 teams competed from across Missouri, including a
squad from Park Hill High School that finished third.
"I am extremely proud of my team for their third-place finish," said Nora Whitney, Park Hill's instructor and coach. "The competition was difficult for us this year due to having an inexperienced team and the competition's recent alignment with national standards."
The Park Hill High School menu consisted of chicken wasabi dumplings with slices of Texas Wagyu beef, a pan-seared chicken breast with beech and shiitake mushrooms and a green tea crepe with brandied cherries and mango coulis.
That menu is more impressive if you consider that the team can only use two butane burners to cook. In addition to preparing a three-course meal for two, each team member had to cut a chicken into eight pieces and demonstrate his or her knife skills by dicing vegetables to a specific size and shape.
[Photo courtesy of the Missouri Restaurant Association]
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