Students serve up excellence in second annual Culinary Classic competition

On Saturday, Nov. 15, teams of SPS culinary arts students from six high schools competed in the SPS Culinary Classic. The cooking competition tested students’ abilities to work as a team to plan, prepare, cook and serve a high-quality dish. 

This year’s competition challenged students to highlight cultural and regional food traditions from around the world with the theme of “Roots and Regions.” As part of the competition, teams were given a secret ingredient the morning of the event, which had to be incorporated into everyone’s dishes. This year’s secret ingredient was radish.

The judging panel for the event included Board of Education President Judy Brunner, SPS Bond Projects Manager Bryan Saunders, Executive Chef at Springfield Grocer Aaron Gregory and Dyllan Dale, owner of Wild Foods by Dyllan. 

“I was blown away,” said Dale. “When I came in I was thinking ‘high school students? I’m going to get some funky stuff.’ All the food was great.”

Hillcrest won the competition overall for their team’s cinnamon-infused deconstructed Greek moussaka with panko-crusted eggplant. As part of the win, this dish will be served to the Board of Education ahead of their Nov. 18 meeting. The students also received the custom cutting board traveling trophy, engraved by Kickapoo woodshop students. 

Awards were also given to Glendale’s team for Best Safety and Sanitation, Central for Best Use of Secret Ingredient and Study Alternative Center for Best Presentation. Individual students, Natalie Hernandez from Study and Lou Luxton from Glendale, won an award for having such a positive attitude. 

“Having worked for many years at the high school level, I am always saddened by people not having faith in the next generation, because I think they are completely wrong,” said Brunner. “When you meet high school students, and you see what they’re capable of and what they can do, I feel very good passing on the torch to you all.”

Teams:

Central

• Kosten Hopper

• Maya Murdaugh

• Vincent Richardson

Sponsor: Sarah Sutton

Dish: Butternut Squash Soup and Chicken Strips

 

Glendale

• Damien McSweeny

• Lou Luxton

• Madi Ashlock

• Aubrey Bennet

Sponsor: Rachel Sowards

Dish: Caribbean Jerk Sliders

 

Hillcrest

• Harrison Parkin

• Randy Hamrick

• Calvin Richardson

• Austin Kolb

Sponsor: Candice Schreiner

Dish: Deconstructed Greek Moussaka

 

Kickapoo

• Nathaniel Aquino

• Carter Worth

• Kaiya Riley

• Gavin Schuetze

Sponsor: Christa Sauer

Dish: Chicken Tikka Masala

 

Parkview

• Emily Adan

• Lucky Stivers

• Wayne Bain

Sponsor: Melissa McCandless

Dish: Chicken Curry

 

Study

• Bowii Wright

• Natalia Hernandez

• Laela Walls

• Aliyah Danner

Sponsor: Susan Buist

Dish: Enchiladas with a green sauce, red sauce and queso blanco