Recipe in mind and sharp knife in hand, a focused Marc Reynolds barks commands as ingredients flow out of the refrigerator and onto the preparatory tables.

With an all-important statewide contest looming, the few and chosen students in Traci LaRoche’s culinary class were all business, scrambling around the kitchen, going over plans and vowing to pull off perfection on a dish and in a bowl.

The daunting task called for the kid cooks to deliver a winning, full-course meal – a vegetable-filled salad, main plate of pork with cranberry soy reduction, accompanied by a wild mushroom and asparagus risotto, then capped off with a chocolate espresso orange mousse dessert.

They have an hour to pull it off, but this was only a drill inside the classroom at Thomas Jefferson High School on Auburn’s West Hill.

The real deal comes Sunday when Jefferson joins 20 other high schools from throughout the state in the ninth Boyd Coffee ProStart Invitational at Olympia’s South Puget Sound Community College. Students will put their kitchen and restaurant management skills to the test in an inventive cuisine contest inspired by the Food Channel’s “Iron Chef America” cook-off showdown.

Reynolds, who competed in last year’s event, knows what it’s all about. He is making sure his culinary team will come to the big show poised and prepared. The young Raiders were 10th in last year’s cook-off, preparing steak with a mushroom-based risotto.

“The competition itself is very fast paced,” said Reynolds, a senior who plans to study food science at Penn State University next year. “There’s a lot of stress involved, very high energy. … (But) we will show up and get things done. Basically, I like the challenge.”

To combat the intensity, LaRoche is promoting relaxation and smiles.

“We’re really excited about this,” LaRoche said while watching her group go to work. “But I want them to have fun. If they have fun, they will do fine. They all have extraordinary skills.”

For LaRoche and her five-member culinary team, the state competition is the ultimate test, with schools challenging knife, cooking and presentations skills, all with the help of only two portable butane burners.

In the end, judges will grade dishes for taste, appearance, temperature, plating and originality.

Some teams also will be tested on the understanding of the restaurant business model during the management competition. Other teams, such as Jefferson, will compete in knife skills.

Culinary arts continue to soar in popularity, brought on by increased exposure, including, of course, the Food Channel. Today’s youth are looking to become the next Mario Batali, Cat Cora, Bobby Flay and Masaharu Morimoto.

“These students are the future of this industry in Washington state,” said Anthony Anton, president and CEO of the Washington Restaurant Association. “Seeing their skills in action and watching their expertise take shape is truly gratifying.”

ProStart is a restaurant school-to-career program taught in state high schools through the Washington Restaurant Association Education Foundation. It follows a nationally accredited curriculum.

LaRoche, a family consumer science teacher and culinary team coach, jumped at the chance to apply the program. This is her second state-bound team.

“They work hard and have a passion for it,” she said.

Of LaRoche’s 15 culinary class students, five earned spots on the team by winning a cook-off with mystery meat. Kelsey Phillips, Morgan Haughn and Megan Hilby will join Reynolds and alternate Ian Pecoraro at Olympia.

“We did well last year, but with more preparation, we hope to do even better this time,” said Phillips, a senior competing in her second state cook-off. Phillips will be in charge of time management during the event. “I love to cook, I love the class, and this event will be a lot of fun.”

Some students intend to follow a career in culinary arts. Pecoraro, a junior, harbors those ambitions.

“I want to eventually go to culinary school, travel to Europe and eventually open up a restaurant or catering service,” he said.

But, for now, the focus is on Olympia and cooking a winning combination.

“We have learned that timing is everything, and you absolutely have to know what you are doing,” Reynolds said.