There was no checkered flag and no one said, “Ladies and gentleman, start your ovens,” but to culinary arts student Sara Mellars the SkillsUSA Georgia commercial baking competition had all the thrills of the Indy 500.
Baking various breads and pastries in four hours against 30 to 40 contestants was definitely an adrenaline-pumping race.
“I’m a competitive person and work well under pressure. I don’t get nervous; I get excited,” said Mellars, who is scheduled to graduate with an associate of applied science degree in culinary arts from Chattahoochee Technical College next December.
Her persistence, practice and expertise paid off. Mellars took home the gold medal in the state competition, which gave her a ticket to compete in the nationals in Kansas City later this month. SkillsUSA is an organization that aims to hone and test the skills and knowledge of high school and college students in various trades and careers.
Mellars didn’t grow up learning how to cook.
“I never could wrap my head around having to make meals every day, but I baked cakes for fun. The more I did it, the more I realized I loved it,” she said.
Mellars decided to follow her passion, so she dropped out of a college musical theater program and began searching for cooking schools.
“I had heard about Chattahoochee Tech’s program from other students. They told me that I’d learn everything I needed to know to land a job,” she said.
The location, affordable tuition and American Culinary Federation accreditation were selling points.
“It’s a small program, but it’s everything I was looking for in a school. I’ve learned how to do so much. People just don’t realize the value of technical education,” she said.
The program taught her the basics of cooking, but she knew early on that baking was her specialty. She’s already working part time in the baking department at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis.
“I heard about the SkillsUSA competition from other students when I started the program and (I) asked to compete,” Mellars said.
She entered an ice-carving contest against students from other schools during her first semester and her team won the trophy.
“Chef (Hillary) Gallagher taught me what I needed to know to compete in SkillsUSA,” she said. “The competition is as much about time management as it is a baking challenge.”
Mellars practiced making the required pastries in a five-hour period, but the competition turned out to be only four hours long.
“I had to improvise quickly,” she said.
Each contestant was given instructions with recipes to follow. Mellars made yeast bread baguettes that were of identical size and scoring, quick breads, blueberry muffins, sweet rolls, cinnamon rolls, a Danish coffee cake ring, pecan pies, eclairs, cream puffs, and also decorated a cake.
Judges critiqued each contestant’s creations based on appearance, appropriate doneness, whether they met the specified requirements and taste.
“I had never made a coffee cake ring. I thought I might skip it, but then realized I couldn’t do that. I’d just have to figure it out,” Mellars said. “Cake decorating is a strength, so I left that for the last 10 minutes and made it just under the wire.”
She knew from the mostly positive comments that her work had passed muster, but there was also a written test.
“Everyone was second-guessing themselves after that, so it was really nerve-wracking to wait until the next day for the results,” she said.
The competition confirmed that Mellars could work under pressure, which is often the way it is in real-world commercial kitchens.
“It showed me my weak points and strong points. I felt good about my yeast bread baguettes, but I had to do my cream puffs over because they weren’t the right size after they baked,” she said.
She plans to practice making coffee cake rings and everything else to prepare for the national SkillsUSA competitions June 24-28.
“My instructors and other students have been very helpful at keeping me on task and helping me come up with strategies and timelines,” she said.
Mellars is looking forward to the competition.
“I know I’m not the best out there yet, but I want to be,” she said. “For me, winning is about knowing that you’ve done your best, whether you place first or not. But it would be nice to have my own cooking show someday, too.”
