Photos by Brett Lemon | Special to The Roanoke Times

Kim Harper helps serve dinner Thursday at the Roanoke Rescue Mission. The Southwestern Virginia American Culinary Federation, along with students from Virginia Western Community College's Culinary Institute, prepared a gourmet dinner of pork, salmon and venison at the Rescue Mission.

Jim Zeisler (left) and David Morones prepare food at the Roanoke Rescue Mission on Thursday. Cooking in bulk is good professional practice for culinary students, said Zeisler, who heads the Culinary Institute at Virginia Western Community College.

The Rescue Mission expected a crowd of more than 400 diners on Thursday, some 75 more than usual because of the gourmet offerings.

Alexandra Horton had never tried deer meat before.

She would not try it now, she said as she waited in line for dinner with her mom, Rebecca, at the Roanoke Rescue Mission on Thursday.

Venison was on the menu.

Alexandra, 8, piled two full plates, a bowl of stew and a vegetable snack pack onto her red cafeteria tray and sat at one of the mission dining room's 17 tables with her mother.

She held up a piece of glazed venison, tasted it and changed her mind.

"It's juicy," she said, giving it a wide-eyed thumbs up.

The junior chapter of the Southwestern Virginia American Culinary Federation -- all cooking students -- prepared the meal of venison tenderloin with demi-glaze, venison stew, sweet and spicy pork, teriyaki salmon and herb-roasted chicken for the mission's dinner. Sides were heaps of cheesy rice pilaf, seasoned green beans and corn on the cob, and thick slices of pumpkin roulade or a few spoons of apple crisp for dessert.

The mission, which gives shelter and food to men, women and children in need, expected a crowd of more than 400 diners, some 75 more than usual because of the gourmet offerings.

"The food itself wasn't that big of a challenge," said chef Jim Zeisler, program head of the Culinary Institute at Virginia Western Community College. It was coordinating the schedules of about 15 student chefs for the two-day preparation and bringing about 10 together to serve the meal, he said.

"Something like this is awesome because we can cook in bulk," he said. It's good professional practice for the students, he added, and a chance to give back to the community.

This was the second year the group has cooked for the shelter.

Wednesday, Tysha Breeden, president of the culinary chapter and a Virginia Western student, was in deer meat "up to my elbows," she said. They had to marinate the deer meat and cook the pork overnight.

"It's some kind of flavor I can't get," Rebecca Horton said as she tasted the venison stew. "It's really good."

Maybe it's curry or wine, she guessed.

Actually, it was olive oil, red wine vinegar and a "secret" marinade spicing the stew, said Breeden of Buchanan.

The venison was good, but the salmon was better, Alexandra said.

"We love salmon because it's good for your brain -- omega-3s," Rebecca Horton told her second-grader.

They live in the city and had stayed at the mission twice before. Now they come back for occasional meals and to meet and help other families.

It's unusual for someone else to do the cooking at the mission, said Jeffery Gorham, the mission's head cook.

"We really appreciate them coming," he said. "It gives our cooks a break."