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Hector Franco was visiting the main office of the Suffolk County Community College eastern campus in Riverside when a flier on the wall caught his eye.
The flier advertised the “Battle for the Beach” cooking competition, in which student contestants are given a mystery basket of ingredients that they need to create an entrée with.
He was not eager to compete, the 26-year-old admitted, but a secretary in the office convinced him to enter.
And he’s glad he did.
The Southampton Village resident won the culinary competition by preparing pan-seared chicken with natural au jus on December 9—and the faculty members who served as judges loved it.
The four ingredients Mr. Franco he was given were chicken, potatoes, carrots and asparagus. It was his job to cook and plate an entrée within 90 minutes for the judges to taste.
“They said it was great,” Mr. Franco said, pointing out their satisfaction with the temperature, plating and flavor of the food.
For becoming the top chef out of about a dozen contestants, Mr. Franco gets to spend seven nights at the Sheraton Clearwater Beach Resort in Clearwater, Florida, where he’ll work under the supervision of the resort’s executive chef. He plans on leaving January 15 and returning January 22.
“I’ve never been to Florida,” Mr. Franco said. “This is my first time. I’m going to go and work with the chef and have fun. I think it’s going to be a great experience.
“I saw some pics of the hotel and it looks great,” he added.
Mr. Franco was born in Mexico and came to the United States when he was 14 years old to have a better life. His mother, Bernadita Franco, was already living in the states at the time. She works as a landscaper, and Mr. Franco said she did not have any influence on him becoming a chef.
In fact, he didn’t even realize he wanted to be a chef until he went to college. Mr. Franco always pictured himself going to school to become a mechanic but he found out the Suffolk County Community College eastern campus did not have a mechanic program—so he looked at other options.
Having worked in restaurants since he was 21, he always admired how the chefs cooked and how they operated restaurants.
“Seeing how they did it made me say, ‘Wow, I want to do that,’” Mr. Franco said.
Fortunately for him, Suffolk offers a culinary arts program. The program is housed at the college’s Culinary Arts and Hospitality Center in Riverhead, where the Battle for the Beach took place.
Eventually, Mr. Franco would like to open his own Mexican restaurant. Although he is learning how to cook other types of cuisine, he still prefers his native food. He especially like to make pastries, and his favorite one to prepare is called tres leches cake. According to Mr. Franco, it’s a cake that has three different types of milk—evaporated and condensed milk plus media crema, or table cream.
Mr. Franco said he likes to watch cooking shows like “Top Chef,” but has never thought about competing in them until now.
“I think I would do good, but I don’t know,” he said. “There are a lot of great chefs out there.
“This was the first time I did something like this, and to win first place, it feels great.”
on Dec 19, 2016