Student Chefs Feel the Heat in New Orleans Cook-off

“It’s unreal to see this level of talent from high school students,” said one event judge Ewell Smith, executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board. “They are not only the future for Louisiana’s amazing restaurants but also our future seafood ambassadors.”   Jessica Hartman (center) prepares plates under the eye of Alexandra Stadler (right). Photo: Ewell Smith/ Louisiana Seafood News

Imagine you’re an aspiring chef, and an original dish you created was selected to appear on the menu in every one of Emeril Lagasse’s New Orleans restaurants. It would be any up-and-coming professional chef’s dream come true. Now imagine the chef is a 15-year-old.

Sierra Torres (l), a 9th grade student enrolled in the Culinary Arts Studio at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts,original dish was selected to appear on the menu in every one of Emeril Lagasse’s New Orleans restaurants.  Photo: Ewell Smith/Louisiana Seafood News

You’ve just stepped into the shoes of Sierra Torres, a 9^th grade student enrolled in the Culinary Arts Studio at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA).

In January, Torres and several of her classmates competed in a cook-off judged by a handful of New Orleans’ top chefs and restaurateurs. The challenge: create a unique recipe using Louisiana seafood. In March, dishes inspired by Torres’ winning Spicy Lemongrass Grilled Shrimp with Strawberry Glazed Pork Ribs and Strawberry Crab Kimchee landed on the menus of 15 New Orleans restaurants, including legendary spots like Emeril’s, Bayona and Brigtsen’s.

Torres says her Vietnamese-influenced dish was inspired by her love of the cuisine and its fresh, complex flavors.

“My uncle introduced me to Vietnamese food, and it blew my mind,” says Torres. “It’s so light and fresh. I chose shrimp for the dish because it’s available year-round and takes on those Vietnamese flavors so well.”

Dish that Makes a Difference

Dubbed the “Dish that Makes a Difference”, a portion of the sale of every dish sold in the restaurants goes to support NOCCA’s Culinary Arts Studio, headed by chef Dana D’Anzi Tuohy. Under Tuohy’s guidance, students in the competition develop, research and test recipes just as a professional chef would.

Dubbed the “Dish that Makes a Difference” competition, it is headed by chef Dana D’Anzi Tuohy. Under Tuohy’s guidance, students develop, research and test recipes just as a professional chef would. Photo: Ewell Smith/Louisiana Seafood News

“They test things out, and if it doesn’t work, they scrap it. The students are getting serious, hands-on experience, losing sleep over it at night, dealing with dishes that fail – the way it is in real life,” says Tuohy.

Torres wrestled with her own early recipes for the competition, including a crab pho and crab banh mi – both epic failures, she says. “I almost gave up after those dishes turned out so badly, but chef Dana’s advice was ‘make a dish that speaks to you’. I read cookbooks and compiled different recipes and ideas,” says Torres. Ultimately, the dish drew from local, in-season strawberries, the flexible flavor profile of fresh Louisiana shrimp, and Torres’ favorite dish from Tan Dinh, a local Vietnamese restaurant.

Culinary student Chayil Johnson is a veteran of the cook-off – the 15-year-old from LaPlace competed in and won the first contest in 2010, when it was part of a summer culinary program at NOCCA. Johnson is one of a handful of students enrolled in the Level 2 year in the Culinary Arts department, which launched in 2011. In creating his dish for the competition – Seared Grouper with Apple Sabayon and Spiced Chard – Johnson was introduced to a fish he’d never seen, heard of or eaten before.

The competition changed how students looked at seafood, seeing it prepared so many different ways – not just fried.  Chayil Johnson (l) and Arieanna McKnight start preparation. Photo: Ewell Smith/Louisiana Seafood News

“I knew I wanted a thick, oily fish – something like a steak – to balance the sweetness of the sabayon and spiced chard,” Johnson says. “Grouper fit the bill and it was something different – a fish not everybody knows about or thinks of when they think of Louisiana seafood.”

For the competition, culinary student Jessica Hartman, 19, created a healthy riff on the typical Louisiana seafood platter: Alligator Sausage, Crab Arancini, Seared Lemon-Herb Grouper and Grilled Shrimp with Homemade Tartar Sauce. Hartman, who confesses she wasn’t a big fan of seafood before the competition, says the only thing she was more nervous about than cooking seafood was explaining her dish to the judges.

“The competition changed how I look at seafood, after seeing it prepared so many different ways and not just fried,” says Hartman, who is planning to study dietetics at Nicholls State University in the fall.

Future of Louisiana Restaurants and Louisiana Seafood

“It’s unreal to see this level of talent from high school students,” said one event judge Ewell Smith, executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board. “They are not only the future for Louisiana’s amazing restaurants but also our future seafood ambassadors. NOCCA’s training and cook offs sets the stage for many more opportunities for these young chefs to showcase and sharpen their skills to tell the story of Louisiana’s rich culture and heritage around the world.”

NOCCA’s Culinary Arts department will graduate its second class of students in May 2013.  Jessica Hartman (l) works with Alexandra Stadler on preparing crabs. Photo: Ewell Smith/Louisiana Seafood News

NOCCA’s Culinary Arts department will graduate its second class of students in May, and the school will teach its first Level 3 (think: junior) culinary students in the fall. Tuohy, a New Orleans native who worked as culinary director for Emeril’s Las Vegas restaurants, is relishing her new role as instructor and mentor.

“I had no idea what I was in for. It took me about two weeks to give them their knives the first year because I was afraid they’d cut themselves,” says Tuohy, who teaches students in a state-of-the-art kitchen classroom built by the Emeril Lagasse Foundation. Like the other departments at NOCCA, where students are instructed in music, dance, and fine arts, the culinary program is rigorous and demanding, says Tuohy.

The dish was served at participating New Orleans restaurants the first ten days of March.

“Our students give up a lot to be here – between their academic schedule and their time here in the kitchen, it’s a 10-hour day for some of our kids,” says Tuohy. The intensive program isn’t just teaching aspiring chefs, but opening their eyes to the new world of culinary careers.

“It’s not just cooking anymore – now you can be a writer, a food stylist, a photographer, a recipe developer, a chef,” says Tuohy. “We’re watching these kids develop, and we can see the ones who have what it takes. It’s a great thing to watch – I’m so inspired by our students every day.”

“Dish that Makes a Difference” Participating Restaurants

Jessica Hartman dishes out shrimp. Photo: Ewell Smith/Louisiana Seafood News

Bacchanal Fine Wine & Spirits
600 Poland Avenue
(504) 948-9111

Barcadia Bar & Grill
601 Tchoupitoulas Street
(504) 335-1740

Bayona
430 Dauphine Street
(504) 525-4455

Brigtsen’s Restaurant
723 Dante Street
(504) 861-7610)

EAT New Orleans
900 Dumaine Street
(504) 522-7222

Sandy Osgood (front) puts on final touches as Anna Gowin works in background. Photo: Ewell Smith/Louisiana Seafood News

Emeril’s Delmonico
1300 St. Charles Avenue
(504) 525-4937

Emeril’s New Orleans
800 Tchoupitoulas Street
(504) 528-9393

Grand Isle
575 Convention Center Blvd
(504) 520-8530

Louisiana Pizza Kitchen Uptown
615 South Carrollton Avenue
(504) 866-5900

Dylan Picolo carries Chayil Johnson’s dish to the judges. Photo: Ewell Smith/Louisiana Seafood News

Maurepas Foods
3200 Burgundy Street
(504) 262-0072

NOLA Restaurant
534 St. Louis Street
(504) 522-6652

Red Fish Grill
115 Bourbon Street
(504) 598-1200

Taceaux Loceaux Food Truck
Twitter.com/TLNola

Vacherie
827 Toulouse Street
(504) 207-4532

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