Culinary Arts students participate in state competition

Students from the Octorara Junior-Senior High School (OJSHS) Culinary Arts program recently participated in the Pennsylvania ProStart competition held in State College. Chefs from OJSHS created a tasty three-course dinner for the judges, and members of the Management Team earned a third-place finish in their event.

"It was awesome for these (students) to go to this particular event because you saw 400 other students all wearing white chef coats and vying for first place. It validates what we do on campus," said Darren Hodorovich, culinary/baking and pastry arts instructor. "This is our first year in competing in management. I'm particularly proud of this group. They took the spirit of the competition and followed it through."

At the event, which was sponsored by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, students from across the state participated. "It is open to any school that is using ProStart curriculum," said Hodorovich. "There were teams there from Williamsport and Erie and all over Lancaster and Chester counties."

OJSHS student chefs volunteered to take part in the cooking competition. "That group of students have been working every day after school for an hour to two hours," noted Hodorovich. "We start with ideas in November and by the time we get to January, the dishes are set in place."

The first course prepared by student chefs was pan-seared sea scallops served over a roasted red pepper coconut coulis with asparagus medallions and microgreens. The main course was coq au vin that was served over wilted collard greens. Dessert was chipotle chocolate cake with raspberry coulis and a dark chocolate ganache.

Hodorovich noted that the students were required to bring their own equipment and ingredients to the competition. "They have one hour to make a three-course meal, and there is no electricity," he said. "They use two propane burners and hand tools. They baked the cake using a camper oven, which sat on top of a burner." Within that hour, students had to prepare the three-course meal in duplicate - one for display and one for the judges.

For the Management Team competition, the students had to come up with a restaurant concept. They chose a premium steakhouse and creamery called the Purple Cow. "ProStart gives us a fictional town ... and all sorts of demographics," Hodorovich explained. "They had to develop marketing strategies, design the interior of the restaurant, provide sample photos of the menu and sample dishes, develop an organizational chart (and determine) how many employees (would be needed) and how to secure funding - basically what someone would do to open a restaurant."

Students were also judged on their critical thinking skills, such as how to respond to a bad restaurant review or a claim that someone became ill from the food that was served. "These are real-world things that happen all the time. They did exceptionally well," Hodorovich said, adding that the judges were particularly impressed that the dairy products and meat at the fictional restaurant were procured locally.