Culinary arts students at Brighton High School have found a recipe for success.
The Brighton High students, many of whom work in the school’s award-winning campus restaurant, were honored this month with a first-place finish at a contest that pitted them against 21 teams from schools throughout Utah.
The Brighton team won the “culinary” competition, which was held as part of ProStart, a two-year curriculum supported by the National Restaurant Association and state restaurant associations across the country. The program blends classroom learning with mentored work experience to teach high school students the management and culinary skills needed for a career in the restaurant and food-service industry.
Teams in the culinary competition were asked to prepare a three-course meal in 60 minutes. Judges scored the students on their cooking skills as well as the flavors of the foods they cooked.
On the winning menu: pan fried duck with pomegranate chili sauce, jalapeno gnocchi, haricots verts, southwestern crab cakes with tortilla straws and cilantro lime aioli. Dessert was a lime Bavarian crème on a snap cookie with blackberries and sugar garnish.
The Brighton team will represent Utah at the national ProStart competition April 30-May 2 in Overland Park, Kansas.
