Friday, May 09
PITTSFIELD — A group of high school students from Pittsfield recently learned that two is better than one.

A culinary team of Taconic and Pittsfield High teens teamed up against nine other Massachusetts schools and took home two awards in the cooking competition.

Together, their skills, dedication and professionalism earned them a first place win in the management competition and third place in the culinary contest. The cook-off was held at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I.

"We did really well. The judges had nothing bad to say about us and people told us to leave our résumés with them at the door," said Matt Shepard, a Taconic senior who will attend Johnson & Wales in the summer.

The other members were Danielle Barnes, Sean Westcott, Matt McLaughlin, Sarah Moak, Jake Richardson, Heather Wildman and Jenna Davis.

In addition to medals, the members earned a minimum of $1,500 in renewable scholarships.

The students were coached by chef Douglas Luf and other members of the recently folded Spice restaurant. They also received guidance from the school district's culinary faculty.

Culinary program coordinator Jeff

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Wallace said the students worked so hard they couldn't sleep the night of the competition.

The team had to bring its own ingredients, make two of each dish and keep their grocery bill under $75. They had 30 minutes to prepare and 60 minutes to cook and plate; they lost first place due to a penalty for running three minutes over.

The menu began with a celery and cucumber salad with Kalamata olives, feta and a sherry-honey vinaigrette. The main course was caramelized sea scallops set atop a potato pancake and topped with citrus fruit and a fennel-asparagus-radicchio salad. For dessert: chocolate flapjacks layered with mixed fruit and topped with Chantilly cream.