High school chefs square off in competition

Monét Levy loves to cook. The 17-year-old Southampton resident plans to make a career out of her gastronomic passion.

A Southampton High School senior, she has already signed up at Suffolk County Community College’s Long Island Culinary Arts and Hospitality Center in Riverhead to hone her skills over the next two years, and hopes to one day be a head chef in a high-end restaurant.

“I’ve just always had a passion for cooking,” said Ms. Levy, who has taken every cooking related class Southampton High School has to offer. “Ever since I was little—in the seventh or eighth grade—I’ve just loved to cook.”

Last Wednesday, Ms. Levy was one of 12 high school seniors from across Suffolk County vying for $8,000 and a two-year scholarship to the local culinary arts center during the second annual High School Student Chef Competition.

In an “Iron Chef” style competition, each of the students was given a raw chicken and an hour and a half to come up with a winning dish. Ms. Levy did not take home any prizes, but still plans to attend the Riverhead based culinary arts school this fall.

“I just love everything about cooking,” she said, adding that she also loves the Long Island Culinary Arts and Hospitality Center. “It just offers a lot that I can learn from.”

The winner of the competition was Selvin Salazar, 18, from Mattituck-Cutchogue High School, who has thus far been attending the Eastern Suffolk BOCES H.B. Ward Technical & Academic Center in Riverhead for his culinary training. His winning dish consisted of pan-seared chicken that was marinated with salt, pepper, rosemary and cilantro, and served with garlic mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus.

Mr. Salazar is currently working as a cook at the Laurel Links Country Club in Laurel. He also took first place at the SkillsUSA Regional cooking competition in March, and represented Eastern Suffolk BOCES H.B. Ward Tech at the state cooking competition in April.

“Selvin is a very focused individual with great taste buds,” said Tom Hashagen, chef/instructor at H.B. Ward Technical & Academic Center. “He has a very good eye for the plate, his organization is first rate, and he keeps a close eye on sanitation and safety.”

Mr. Salazar will be awarded his scholarship prize at the upcoming Chef n’ Bar-B-Que competition on June 15, which pits top professional Long Island chefs against each other at the Long Island Culinary Arts and Hospitality Center in Riverhead.

Jerry Dicecco, owner and executive chef of Jerry & the Mermaid restaurant in downtown Riverhead, said the high school cooking contest is an offshoot of the professional Chef n’ Bar-B-Que competition, which has raised money for a variety of charities for nearly three decades. The scholarship money for the High School Student Chef Competition was generated out of the proceeds of past Chef n’ Bar-B-Que competitions.

“I knew some of the instructors at the Culinary Arts and Hospitality Center, and we had some monies allotted for restaurant related donations,” explained Mr. Dicecco, who created and now heads the Chef n’ Bar-B-Que competitions. “So I thought it would be a great contribution to help out kids looking for careers as chefs.”

Mr. Dicecco, who was also one of the judges in Wednesday’s cook-off, said money raised from this year’s Most Valuable Chef and Bartender contests would go toward another High School Student Chef Competition scholarship next year.

“These kids are just amazing,” Mr. Dicecco added, “and this scholarship is definitely something we want to continue.”

Each student participating in the High School Student Chef Competition had to beat out other students in their respective schools to earn a spot at the stove in the cook-off. Richard Freilich, a chef/instructor at the Culinary Arts and Hospitality Center, said students in the competition are the cream of the crop, in terms of their cooking abilities.

“Most of them are also enrolled at BOCES culinary arts programs and food science curriculums,” said Mr. Freilich, who was also one of this year’s judges. “Their high schools had individual competitions and these are the winners that competed in their own high schools.”

Stern looking and focused high school chefs filled every cooking station in the 28,000-square-foot culinary instructional facility last Wednesday. Along with trying to come up with winning dishes and working alone to create them, competitors also had to deal with a host of camera wielding media personnel who flocked to the kitchen for the heated competition.

Caitlin Paduletti, 17, of Baiting Hollow said she has become used to having cameras in her face while she’s trying to cook. The Riverhead High School senior, who was meticulously de-boning her chicken, noted that fellow BOCES students studying for careers in the audio/visual field often come into her cooking classroom.

“I’m big into all the BOCES stuff,” said Ms. Paduletti, “and there are always a lot of camera crews around, so you kind of get used to it.”

Kaelin Shepley, 17, of Eastport noted she has also become accustomed to being in the limelight as she cooks. While answering a reporter’s questions on Wednesday, the Eastport South Manor High School senior didn’t miss a beat as she cooked up a version of chicken marsala with sautéed asparagus and oven roasted potatoes with garlic, olive oil and salt and pepper.

She skillfully added extra fire to her dish by slightly dipping her pan into the flames of the gas burner. The teen chef was no more fazed by the ensuing flambé flareup than she was by the glaring lights of a nearby camera crew.

“I love the creativity of cooking,” Ms. Shepley said. “You can do so much with food, and I’ve loved cooking ever since I was little and hope to do this for the rest of my life.”