Posted by Daily News, NY on June 24, 2008 at 11:18:00:
Eight Queens students win scholarships to culinary schools
BY ASYA FARR
Aspiring young chefs from Queens put their skills to the test in a cook-off where students from public schools across the city battled it out to win scholarships to top culinary schools.
Twenty-nine finalists showed off their expertise at the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan, whipping up a two-course meal of hunter's chicken with turned sautéed potatoes and dessert crepes with pastry cream and chocolate sauce.
They presented the dishes to a panel of top New York chefs, including Lynn Crawford, executive chef at The Four Seasons and a former competitor from the reality TV show "Iron Chef America."
The students were given two hours to prepare the food. The chefs judged the contestants on organization, sanitation, cooking techniques and "attitude."
"I was born to do it," said Brandon Bryan, a senior at Long Island City High School in Astoria who lives in Jamaica.
The 19-year-old won $50,000 - a cash award and a full-tuition scholarship to the renowned Culinary Institute of America.
For him, cooking is a lot more than preparing food.
"Ever since I was younger I looked for something to take me away from all the problems," Bryan said. "I want to travel and learn all the different foods that people eat and how they cook it."
Eight students from Queens won scholarships to the culinary school of their choice - three from August Martin High School and five from Long Island City High School. Among them was Gabrielle Calle, a 17-year-old from Astoria who said cooking is second nature. "It relaxes me and makes me happy," Calle said.
She won a full-tuition, $42,700 scholarship, also to CIA. To enter the contest, which was held April 28, the students went through a preliminary round in which they displayed their knife skills and prepared omelets. The students selected were then given three weeks to prepare for the final round.
Every day after school, Bryan and Calle spent two to three hours practicing how to cook the meals.
"I gained a serious sense of responsibility," Calle said.
"You have to be serious in the field for people to respect you," Bryan noted.
The scholarships, which ranged from $500 to $80,000, were awarded by the Careers Through Culinary Arts Program, a nonprofit organization that works with public schools to help students pursue culinary careers.