SC’s future chefs? Students compete in the kitchen, with scholarships on the line

Culinary instructors Eric Sayers of Beaufort-Jasper Academy and James Hill of Hilton Head High watched anxiously Friday as their students competed for a scholarship to attend the Technical College of the Lowcountry’s Culinary Institute of the South.

“These are my babies,” Sayers said. “It’s my first year teaching. I feel like a mother hen; they’re making me proud no matter what.”

In the competition, students were tasked with setting a three-course menu over the course of two months in order to win a $1,000 renewable scholarship from the Palmetto Bluff Club to attend TCL. The winners also received a professional chef’s knife kit embroidered with the school’s logo.

Teams comprised of four students from each school glided through the culinary school’s kitchen with surprising expertise, yelling, “hot, hot, hot,” to make sure no one was behind them when they turned around with a sizzling pan. Onlookers wouldn’t even have been able to tell that they were nervous, or that a scholarship was on the line, if not for one student locking himself in the kitchen’s freezer by accident.

“Nerves,” Sayers laughed after letting the student out.

The competition was first held in 2019 at BJ Ace, according to TCL culinary instructor Sam Carpenter, but was put on hold for the last two years during the pandemic. Friday was also the first time that the students were cooking in the culinary school’s state-of-the-art kitchen.

“They made their own menus, they portioned them out, practiced,” Carpenter said. “They came in with a game plan, ready to go. It really gives us a chance to see what these guys can do and how creative they are.”

‘It’s hands-off’ for teachers

Currently, tuition for the culinary school is covered by Gov. Henry McMaster’s multi-million-dollar workforce scholarship for South Carolina residents and will be through the summer, according to the college’s public relations specialist Mindy Lucas. No announcements have been made for an extension, she said.

Most students have been with their teachers for a year or two, Hill said, and some he has known even before they were his students. For Hill’s team, made up of students Tessa Marie Lathe Hutchinson, Dylan Magda, Allison Misko and Edward Thompson, the energy the morning of the competition was more excited than nervous, he said. At least until they saw the professional kitchen at the college, that is.

“We’re not allowed to give them advice,” Hill said. “Once the clock starts, it’s hands-off. That’s very hard for us.”

In the end, BJ Ace, made up of students Karla Fernandez, Brayden Garcia Perez, Jose Nava and Cristopher Sanchez, was the winner for their pork drizzled in a mushroom sauce. Miles Huff, the school’s dean, said he was proud of both teams that participated not just for their teamwork but also for their professional dishes.

“I’m not saying that the plates several years ago weren’t good, but these were superior from what I saw a few years ago,” Huff said. “You’re stepping up the game.”

After the award was announced, 16-year-old Fernandez was shaking. Cooking with her grandmother while visiting her in Galicia, Spain, spurred her interest in cooking.

“My dream is to open up a Spanish restaurant around here and introduce the South to Spanish culinary culture,” Fernandez said.