Culinary students hustled around the kitchen tucked behind the Concord High School cafeteria Thursday afternoon.
It was the last day of practice for the team of five students before they headed to Portland, Maine, for Saturday’s Regional ProStart Invitational culinary competition. The team earned its spot in the regional – and the national competition in Dallas on April 29 – after being crowned champions of the New Hampshire ProStart State Invitational.
“I think we’re going to nail it,” said Brandon Diaz, 17, a junior at John Stark Regional High School.
The team is made up of some of the best culinary and baking students Concord Regional Technical Center has to offer, including Diaz, Anthony Costello of Pembroke Academy, Megan Fraser of Hillsboro-Deering High School, Chase Haines of Concord High School and Katherine Killam of Hopkinton High School. Four of the five-member team are seniors and in their second year of the two-year culinary program.
Diaz is the only junior in the group, but he plays a special role on the team. When the students get in the kitchen to compete, their teacher, Bob McIntosh, has to step aside. That’s where Diaz comes in as an alternate if someone gets hurt, but he also coaches the team as it prepares its three-course serving.
“It’s like having an assistant coach,” said McIntosh, known to his students as “Chef Mac.”
McIntosh has seen plenty of success in his 15 years with the program. But while he has coached many students for individual skills competitions – and seen many go on to cook in the national competition – this is his first time coaching a team.
“It’s the teamwork aspect,” he said. “How does everybody split up the work equally and be able to fill in as needed, and everything is going on at the same time.”
Just like a real kitchen, where it’s important everyone does their job and they work cohesively. Working together doesn’t seem to be a problem for this team.
“We’re a family,” said Haines, 17. “I wouldn’t want to do this with anybody else.”
After the regional competition, the winners from each state will gather in Dallas. The competitions are divided into two parts. First, the teams are judged on individual skills with knifework and fabricating a whole chicken. Judges decide which job each team member will do, so they all must be prepared both skills. In the second part, the team comes together to prepare two plates of a three-course meal, including an appetizer, and entrée and a dessert.
And they only have 60 minutes to make the meal perfect, just to make it a bit more of a challenge.
“I was wicked nervous at the first competition, but we work really well together,” said Fraser, 18. She works with Killam on preparing the dessert, a white chocolate cherry poppy seed mousse in a dark chocolate cup.
The success they’ve enjoyed so far is a testament to the hard work and focus each member of the team brings to the kitchen. Some of them hope to open their own restaurant or bakery someday. But for now, they’re focused on what’s in front of them: Perfecting their skills before they face teams from 49 other states.
But putting out a good meal in Portland was their last chance to practice in competition before they go to Dallas. That’s part of the difficulty they face, McIntosh said, because the larger states will hold several regional competitions. In Northern New England, there will only be this one.
“Portland will be a learning experience for us,” Diaz said. “I think it’s really good we have this one more practice before Dallas.”
The team did not win the regional competition, but did get “some great feedback from the judges,” McIntosh said.
McIntosh thinks his team has the talent and a bond that could carry them to favorable placement in the national event. But when the timer starts and the seconds begin to tick away, only the students will decide what hits the dish as the final product, a combination of talents and ideas from each of them.
“When you cook, it’s a passion,” Haines said. “You can put your whole self into it. You can be as creative as you want with it. The recipe is only a guideline.”
(Nick Stoico can be reached at 369-3314, nstoico@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @NickStoico.)