MOKANE, MO. - Five South Callaway student chefs placed seventh among 24 schools at the 2015 Missouri ProStart Invitational Culinary Competition last week.
South Callaway Family and Consumer Science teacher Angie Kropf said the students hoped to make the top 10. South Callaway placed 15th in the competition two years ago.
"(The students) were very excited," Kropf said. "We were very impressed. We compete against all schools in Missouri; most of the schools there are from St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield and tech schools. We were by far the smallest school there, so we were very excited to get seventh."
The students were from the school's ProStart I and ProStart II classes. South Callaway offers two classes allowing students to compete at the competition for two years.
For the competition, teams had 15 minute to set up. Next, two of the students had 15 minutes to cut up a chicken. After that, the team had 20 minutes to prep, then an hour to cook their meal - using just two butane burners.
"We bring our own ingredients and develop our own menu," Kropf said.
ProStart II student Haley Pate called the competition "nerve-wracking,"and added she would love the opportunity to do it again.
South Callaway's ProStart team's meal included an appetizer of seared scallop with beurre blanc sauce and a tomato rose. It was followed by an entree of balsamic-glazed filet mignon with red wine mushroom sauce, served with Yukon Gold goat cheese mashed potatoes and garlic asparagus with honey-lemon sauce. The students also made fried cheesecake drizzled with chocolate sauce, whipped cream and raspberry coulis for dessert.
Judges scored based on 17 different sets of culinary skills, which included knife handling, safety, taste and food sanitation.
The ProStart classes have practiced for the culinary competition once a week since October.
Kropf said South Callaway has seen an increase in enrollment in its ProStart classes since the program began five years ago.
"It's growing all the time," Kropf said. "It's a vibrant program."
When the program first started, she said the school had one section compared to the two sections it has now. The ProStart courses' curriculum is written by the National Restaurant Association. Kropf said the skills students learn in the courses can be beneficial for them outside of school.
"It develops leadership and even if kids are not going to go into the culinary field, I feel like most people are going to work in food service in some time in their life," Kropf said. "I think by taking ProStart, it gives them the step up to get a job in food service because they have the knowledge, the sanitation and the safety skills - those things employers are looking for."