ADM’s ProStart team of our school’s best chefs have recently competed in the Iowa ProStart Invitational. This competition is a chance to compete against other large schools in the area, many of them already competing for many years. ADM has returned to the stage with Chef Kubiak, ADM’s new professional chef, culinary teacher, and leader of the team, who has cooked up a memory our school won’t forget. ADM competed at the Iowa Events Center on March 4, preparing a menu for the judges consisting of an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert. The recipes were cooked many times to perfection and prepared for the competition. And when the date arrived, they were ready.
The ADM team planned their meals excellently, going for a shrimp and bell pepper kabob with a sweet chili sauce drizzled atop the skewer for their Appetizer. For their entree, a honey butter chicken over jasmine rice with crusted parmesan asparagus. And for ADM’s dessert, a layered lemon pudding crunch, topped with mint. “A concoction of sweet and spicy, sure to make the judge’s mouth drop,” Kubiak says. “I think the team did a great job with everything, and even if they don’t hang out a lot outside of this, they work really well. I’m very proud.”
The team’s student leader, Lea Harbison, speaks fondly of their time together, and what they’ve accomplished as a group. “I know we learned a lot of things this year, and there are tons of new things I never would have thought about,” Harbison says. “Our group works really well together. They’re fluid, very flexible, and work with anything you give them. An admirable thing really.”
Isaac Hatchitt, a member of the team, said they worked pretty well and even pivoted twice when they forgot to bring the shrimp for the shrimp kabobs. “I mean, we were on the same page the whole time pretty much, but when we realized we forgot the shrimp, we quickly turned around and made them into chicken kabobs instead,” Hatchitt said. The quick change without a second thought made the judges swoon. “Even when our lemon pudding turned into a custard, we quickly decided to just roll with the punches, and do our best,” he said.
A lot of surprises came with the competition, some of the most surprising to the team was the lack of supplies given. “I was surprised with the lack of water, so we couldn’t really do dishes very well because we only had a few pans and supplies,” Hatchitt said. “I mean, we had no water, and were supposed to bring our own, and we were only using little stove tops and not an actual stove. It was much different than what we imagined.”
But despite the odds, the team pulled through and got 11 out of 15 competitors, the judges were surprised by the team’s adversity and skill. “They were really proud of us taking a 180 even with the surprises we had,” Kubiak said. “In fact, they said it was perfect chicken, the best-colored vegetables they’d seen all day, and the pudding had an incredible flavor profile. The judges certainly didn’t expect this from our first year back since 2018.”
Harbison was proud of the team for placing at all in such a competitive race with much bigger schools. “I think we did great for having little prep, and things going wrong. If I could say anything we’d do differently, it would have been more preparation,” she said. Kubiak says they’ll have the right stovetops to cook on, and just practice a lot more.
For next year, the team will be working a lot with preparation, though many of the team members are graduating this year, so new people will be chosen when the time comes. The school has returned to show off their cooking skills, with prospects higher than ever.
