[Sca-cooks] I just have to brag...

[King's Taste Productions]

Some of my students competed in a culinary competition today.  They are
high school kids in ProStart, and are also in my Culinary College
courses.  These 5 have been practicing with the father of yet another
student, he owns a bakery in downtown ATL.  He has been cracking the
whip on them for 3 months, they have practiced this menu so they can do
it in their sleep, I’m sure.  They had 10 minutes to set up, 30 minutes
to do all of their knife cuts which were then sent out to be judged for
accuracy, then 55 minutes to cook, plate, and have a serving of 3
courses for the judges and another set for the display table.  They did
an Asian Fusion appetizer (the Japanese-American girl did that one) that
had 4 or 5 offerings, and featured a piece of daikon shaped like a boat
hollowed out to hold the ponzu dipping sauce.  The entrée was squid ink
pasta (the girl that did that had it down to 23 minutes from start to
finish), a saffron cream sauce, baby lobster tails, chicken breast, and
sautéed veggies.  The dessert was a tower of thinly sliced pears, half
covered with chocolate, in-between puffs of chocolate mousse with fresh
berries and a few icing embellishments on the plate.  All three dishes
were spectacular, and very sophisticated for a high school team.   They
ran a very organized kitchen, practiced excellent hygiene, and were
ahead of time by a few minutes almost the entire way.  (They slowed down
to make sure they plated exactly on time.)  No instructors were allowed
in the room, so we all hovered with parents and other interested parties
around the doors. :-) 
            I just got word that they have received their critique and
came in 2nd place!  They each won a small scholarships to CIA, Johnson
and Wales, and the Atlanta Institute of Art (where the competition was
held today).   Each is enough for them to take summer courses as
supplemental education, or add to a whole program.  Since they came in
second they don’t go on to Nationals in Florida, but I am so proud of
them I could bust.  They looked very calm and cool, did an excellent
job, and were singled out by the camera crew to be filmed for a feature
the school is producing.  And wouldn’t you know it, the things they lost
points on were typical subjective judge issues.  They said the alternate
was not doing enough, when the rules say very specifically how much the
alt is allowed to do and no more.  They had black pants with white
stripes instead of black or houndstooth (ok, that was in the rules).
They said one judge was very negative about several small things.  I
told them that the same entry on two different days with different sets
of judges can net either top or bottom scores, it is the nature of human
beings.  
            I spend so much time trying to stuff education into the
heads of kids at 8:30 AM and again right after lunch, and seldom see the
flickers of interest that let me know they are alive.  It was extremely
cool to see some of the same kids so totally focused on the details that
go into doing a superior job.  Quite refreshing.  
            What do you know, teaching actually IS rewarding!  
            Chef Seelye-King
            (Christianna)