Photo by Carly Pearson
Emporia High senior Aldo Sandoval will be traveling to Dallas in April to compete in the contest for "Best Teen Chef of America."
One Emporia High School senior is hoping to be unavailable when his class walks across the stage at graduation on May 18.
Aldo Sandoval, who hopes to become a chef and own a restaurant, will be in Kansas City for the Skills USA contest on April 3 and in Dallas on April 12 for the Best Teen Chef of America competition.
“And if I do win this competition, I’m going to be in Las Vegas. It’s going to be May 18,” said Aldo. “That’s my graduation time.”
The Las Vegas competition is the next step in a national contest that could result in $3,000 and a full-tuition scholarship to the Art Institutes Culinary Arts school.
Sandoval was notified this month that he was chosen as a contestant for the competitions.
The Teen Chef competition, sponsored by the Art Institutes Culinary Arts schools in partnership with the Food Network, offers a single grand prize: a full-tuition scholarship to one of the Institutes’ culinary programs, becoming an Intern for a Day at the Food Network Kitchens in New York City, a tour of the studios, dinner for two at a Food Network chef’s restaurant, and a library of Food Network Kitchen cookbooks.
The EHS senior also is a student of Marie Malone in the Hospitality/Culinary Arts program at the Flint Hills Technical College.
During the evenings, he takes general education courses to get a head start on college credits, and on weekends, he prepares specialty omelets at the Golden Corral restaurant.
Aldo is beyond serious about making food his career; he’s passionate about it. The interest began to develop when he watched the Food Network as a youngster, and it blossomed later as he took cooking classes at school.
“I think it was my freshman year when I thought, ‘This is what I want to do,’” he said.
“As a senior, it is difficult to be enrolled in both high school and college classes, involved in extracurricular activities and also work part-time in the food service industry, but I do it because I want to succeed and make a name for myself,” Aldo wrote in an essay required as part of his entry into the Teen Chef contest. “... I know that cooking is truly my passion.”
Aldo’s entry packet also included a recipe he’d created from an American Heart Association Great American Health Challenge recipe published in The Gazette.
He’d prepared the recipe, Asian Beef Salad, and thought he’d prefer using it as a base to create his own dish. After a bit of experimentation, he transformed the original cold salad into a hot main dish, using sirloin steak for the meat and placing it on a rice pilaf base. He added ginger and some other ingredients, and made an orange couli of cornstarch and water added to freshly juiced oranges with a bit of residual pulp.
To enhance the presentation of the plate of food, he brought in bamboo shoots, Asian-motif plates, and other items, and photographed it as part of contest entry requirements.
And, after all that effort, he won’t be preparing his own recipe in either competition.
“He will walk in and they will hand him a set of recipes,” Malone said of the contest. “He’s got to take (the recipes) down from fixing for 20 to fixing for two,” she said.
He will be provided ingredients and equipment to prepare a full meal that will include braised and sautéed chicken and French onion soup.
“Then we choose our own starch and vegetables to go with it,” Aldo said.
He’ll also have to make a Caesar salad with his own from-scratch dressing.
The contestants’ management plan, knife-handling skills, mathematics and reading all will be put to the test. Before any preparations can begin, Aldo must figure out the tools he will need, the ingredients, the time required to cook them so ensure that all foods are ready at the same time, and a “Mise en Place” list — putting everything from equipment to measured ingredients in place in advance.
Knife skills will be a major component of the judging, as well his creativeness and ingenuity in making an artistic presentation of the food using only materials provided by contest sponsors.
And he must complete everything, from start to finish, in four hours.
Aldo is confident that, if he doesn’t get nervous, he is capable of doing well in the competitions, and holding true to his work ethic, he is trying to earn money to finance the trip to Dallas.
To raise money, on April 9, Aldo will cook omelets from 8 to 10 a.m. in the Tallgrass Cafe at FHTC and sell them for $3 each. An assortment of peppers, onions, ham, and other flavorings will be available for diners to choose from as the omelets are cooked individually.
Aldo is the son of Eva and Eduardo Sandoval.
Comments
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Posted by cloud (anonymous) on March 29, 2008 at 12:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
How wonderful! I wish Aldo all the best as he competes.
Posted by hjcary (anonymous) on March 31, 2008 at 11:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Great Job Aldo in setting an example for other young people. It is good seeing a high school student setting goals and working toward them instead of the usual skate though school on easy classes and partying on the weekends. I wish you success in the future.
Posted by create (anonymous) on March 31, 2008 at 11:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Great job, Aldo. Your work ethic is encouraging; I hope it inspires others. Even many adults could use this kind of attitude about developing a future by setting goals. You go, Aldo!!!
Posted by nevia987 (anonymous) on June 11, 2008 at 6:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
There are many chef classes that are conducted at attractive locations and provide students with the healthy learning environment. There are many cooking schools that offer cooking camps and tours for kids, youths, and adults.
http://www.culinaryschoolsprograms.com/
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