Maine Food Insider: Lewiston team's pork chop meal makes them Maine champs
Photo / Maine Restaurant Association
Members of Lewiston Regional Technical Center's culinary team celebrate their win in the Maine ProStart Invitational Saturday. Julia Chabot, Makennah Pelletier, Cheyenne Pesce, Courtney Lachapelle, Jada Tuttle and Amanda Ouellete (not shown in order), will compete in the national competition in April.
A team of six juniors and seniors from Lewiston Regional Technical Center turned out a three-course pork chop dinner Saturday morning to win the Maine ProStart Invitational culinary competition.
Julia Chabot, Makennah Pelletier, Cheyenne Pesce, Courtney Lachapelle, Jada Tuttle and Amanda Ouellete will advance to the National ProStart Invitational in Rhode Island, April 27 to 29. The competition is part of the National Restaurant Association’s program to prepare high school students for food service careers.
The Maine round was sponsored by the Maine Restaurant Association.
Five teams in the culinary category were judged on a matrix that included taste, creativity, artful combination of ingredients, tidiness of their cooking station and more. The judging panel was made up of 12 local chefs and educators.
The team practiced making their meal more than 30 times leading up to the competition, their coach said.
In the culinary competition, teams must prepare a three-course meal in 60 minutes using two butane burners and without access to running water or electricity.
“There is no room for error as they are evaluated on taste, skill, teamwork, safety and sanitation,” the National Restaurant Association website says.
How the other teams fared
“Every year the competition gets stiffer, the points score at the top gets narrower,” said head judge David Turin of David's Restaurant in Portland, who presented the trophy. "It’s very, very difficult to choose."
Other teams competing this year were runner-up Northern Penobscot Tech Region III, of Lincoln; Portland Arts & Technology School; Capital Area Technical Center, of Augusta; and Waldo County Technical Center, of Belfast.
In the food service management category, Northern Penobscot Tech Region III was the only competitor, so the team automatically advanced to the finals. Teams competing for the management prize develop a proposal for a restaurant concept and present it to a panel of industry judges. They are also asked to quickly solve challenges faced by managers daily.
The top five teams in the national competition in both categories are awarded educational scholarships to help further their careers in the restaurant and food service industry.
In 2017, more than $1 million in scholarships was awarded to students by the National Restaurant Association Education Foundation and leading academic institutions, according to the organization.
Competitors are also encouraged to take advantage of competing at the National ProStart Invitational by networking with other students and industry professionals.
Lewiston chef instructor Dan Caron said there is a third benefit — the process of cooking under pressure will prepare his students well for restaurant careers.
“These kids will move up in the field, someday you’ll see them as chefs and sou chefs, these are top-notch students,” he said.
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