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Robstown culinary students sizzle up award-winning meals

Posted at 5:51 AM, Feb 18, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-18 07:52:45-05

Robstown Early College High School can now add award-winning culinary class to what they have to offer.

On January 30th, two teams made up from the advanced culinary class competed in the 2019 Aramark Lone Star Chef competition. The theme was, “Eat The Street— Food Truck Classic.”

The meals created also had to be met by USDA guidelines for the National School Lunch Program. The meals had to abide by certain requirements, so they could be served in a school cafeteria.

“So, we’re not able to use salt, we’re not able to fry anything, and we had a list of certain things we were able to use,” says Junior, Eric Garcia, Team Leader for the Asian Street Tacos.

Garcia says he got the sizzling idea from a friend who was not able to make the competition, “he was saying, ‘hey man, you should make an Asian-infused taco with Mexican food’.”

With help from the rest of his team, Garcia used sautéed chicken with fresh orange juice and zest. Then had a sweet slaw made from cabbage and other veggies to place on top of the taco. The street tacos are served with salsa and orange slices to garnish.

“He made up the idea and I made it into reality,” says Garcia.

The Asian Street Tacos won 2nd place.

The other team was lead by Team Leader and senior Penelope Ramirez.

This is Ramirez’s first year in the culinary class and she is already impressing others with her spin on an American classic.

“A lot of the stuff they serve in a cafeteria, a lot of the kids don’t like to eat,” says Ramirez, “so, kids usually eat stuff like mac and cheese at home.”

Ramirez spiced up the traditional kids meal with a protein like chicken as well as, “spinach and a pesto sauce for flavor and color, and then we added some vegetables to make it little bit healthier.”

Ramirez and her team won 1st place for their Pesto Mac and Cheese.

Both teams from Robstown H. S. will be headed to the State Competition at Minute Maid Park in Houston on March 29, 2019. This will be the first time a culinary class has made it to state in school history. There will be a total of 20 teams at state.