Three THS students shine at culinary competition

By CRISTINA TRAPANI-SCOTT

Three Tecumseh High School students have cooked up a way to pay for college—literally. Adam Steuwe, Kyia Salts and Britni Birt along with Holly Lanway of Onsted High School and Megan Crowell of Morenci High School are members of a ProStart culinary team that took the top prize, which included individual scholarships of $36,000, at the Michigan ProStart Student Competition held Sunday and Monday, March 14 and 15, in Frankenmuth.

In addition to the winnings, the team will compete at the National ProStart Invitational in Overland Park, KS, at the end of April. The top prize is a $100,000 scholarship.

The team was one of two teams to come out of the LISD TECH Center hospitality and culinary program and compete at what instructor Chef Corbett Day calls the Olympics of student culinary competitions. To become members of the extracurricular competitive culinary teams, students underwent an intensive auditioning process. Once selected, they committed to a grueling afterschool practice schedule that began in October. They trained in the kitchen at the TECH Center and at the Americrown kitchen at Michigan International Speedway. Along with Day, Americrown Executive Chef Frank Marrara and Pastry Chef Tabetha Harvey advised the team. Mentors also included past student competitors Robert Stretch, Adam Langmeyer, Jake Graf and Matt Lacelle.

The intensive work paid off. Day said the team worked like a well-oiled machines from the moment they arrived in Frankenmuth. Upon arrival the team members went through a product check-in where they received a perfect score. They also turned in their menu. On Monday came the actual cooking. The teams competed in a 10 x 10 area at the Bavarian Inn, and they had two Bunsen burners and no electricity. The students were given 30 minutes for knife cuts, 30 minutes for chicken fabrication, or proper butchering of a whole chicken, and 20 minutes for mis en plas or keeping a tidy and hygienic work environment. That is all followed by one hour to cook and plate.

“I don’t really remember how it all went because it was such an adrenaline rush,” said Birt. “When we pulled the plates out, ‘I thought that’s the best plate.’ But, when I saw other plates I came down from that.”
In the end, their plates outshined those of 16 other teams. The team members said their key to success was the number of hours they put in training.

“We spent 300 hours preparing for this,” said Lanway.

Day said he knew he was going to have a winning team this year in spite of the fact that the teams began practicing two months later than teams in previous years. “They have commitment and drive to be successful. I think the key on both teams is that this is what they want to do,” he said, adding that the win was bitter sweet because team two performed strongly and has worked hard as well.

According to Marrara, the strategies used in training helped with the team’s success. He said the students trained to cook the dishes in under the allotted time. Day added that the students on both teams put a great deal of effort into creating unique dishes, and were open to such innovative ideas as using liquid nitrogen to create a floating island dessert.

“What put us over the edge was the dessert,” he said. “I give a lot of credit to Kyia. She did most of the research on that. Both teams did a lot of research on their own.”

Many area businesses were involved in sponsoring the teams and helping them with supplies, including Pentamere Winery in Tecumseh and Phil’s Undercar in Clinton. Wacker Silicone donated the liquid nitrogen and the LISD Advanced Manufacturing Program developed flat tops and grill plates for the Bunsen burners. In addition, Day said there was a great deal of parent involvement this year.

All members of the team were excited to receive the scholarship money that will help them as they move on to study culinary arts after high school. Steuwe, who graduates in May already has been accepted to the prestigious culinary program at Johnson and Wales University in North Carolina, following in the foot steps of such notable alumni as Emeril Lagasse and Tyler Florence. The others are undecided as to where they will study.