Sandalwood Culinary

Sandalwood culinary student students competed in the Global Eats Food Challenge today. Bri (12th), Roman (11th) and Sean (12th) made Cantonese Style Beef and Pepper Stir Fry. The Chartwells food truck is making rounds at all the culinary programs at and judging the performance of the competitors. If we score in the top 2, we will advance to the final showdown next week. We are confident we will be posting again next week about our experience at the showdown! Way to go Saints!

Our academy students traveled to the Sawgrass Marriot this week. SO many employment opportunities!!

Cupcakes for college and career signing day. 157 to be exact! We are proud of our senior class and wish them the best!

Culinary students met with Teri, owner of Jax Cooking Studio, to discuss her business and employment opportunities. Students were excited to learn that a job at the studio provides them the opportunity to work directly under lead chefs and they’re able to learn everything the chefs are teaching to paid customers! While we were there, students were also able to meet Carla, owner of Cold Stone Creamery, to also discuss possible employment. We try to create as many opportunities for our students that we can! This is just one of them!

The judges have spoken: 1st Place - Chicken Pasta (1st pic) and 2nd Place - Tree Hill (2nd pic). Keep swiping to see closeups of all the plates! So yummy!

Homemade Pasta vs. Boxed Pasta and Plating - Students had fun making pasta and practicing plating! Students had to incorporate homemade or box pasta and choose a sauce, vegetable, protein and plating style. Check out the next post for the winners!

These student judges took their job very seriously! The tasting judges watched presentations from each competitor, asked questions and then tasted the plated food. The other judges included knife skills, safety and sanitation, teamwork, and specific event judges. The feedback the judges gave came in great use as these students continued to prepare for competition. In addition, the students having to perform under pressure is great preparation for the actual competition.

Andres’ practice made his filet perfect in this practice run for the ProStart Competition. He ran out of time at the end to get his asparagus on the plate to add some color. The filet and mashed potatoes were on point! Great job!

Natasha wowed the student judges when she did this practice run for the ProStart Edible Centerpiece and FCCLA Decorative Food Centerpiece. She didn’t get the height she wanted, but the cuts are beautiful! Great job!!

After RELENTLESS practice for the ProStart Competition, Angel made this beautiful dessert! The student judges were very impressed! She worked tirelessly with different shapes, concoctions and temperatures to make this dessert perfect! Good job Angel!!

This is Sean practicing for the ProStart Competition. He tried something brand new with the ingredients he had. The student judges were very impressed! This Ahi Tuna Appetizer was a first for a few of them! Such a talented student!

Yousif got some good practice in before his Dessert Chopped event at the conference. He followed the FCCLA event rules and even presented to the student judges. The judges were impressed!