Secondary School For Journalism Teen Wins 'Major Chef' Title In City’s Healthy Recipe Contest

DYCD Commissioner Bill Chong , participant Thomas Jordan, “Recipe Rescue” Young Chef Category Winner Nytoi Walden, participant Alexandra Bramble, participant Richard Telleria, DYCD Program Manager Daron Burrows, participant Maleik Doumbia, and DYCD Assistant Commissioner Mike Dogan. (Photo credit: DYCD)

Congratulations are in order for Secondary School For Journalism (237 7th Avenue) student ninth grader and Sunset Park resident Evelyn Corona Ramirez, who won the Major Chef title at the second annual Recipe Rescue contest, hosted by the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD)!

Ramirez was one of four high schoolers in her category who competed in the contest, which saw 14 students from kindergarten through 12th grade tasked with transforming a family recipe to make it healthier. The 14 were whittled down from 55 submissions and the final group was divided into three categories — K-5, 6-8th graders, and 9th-12th graders — for a cook-off in front of celebrity judges at the Institute of Culinary Education.

The K-5 Young Chef winner was Nyoti Walden, a third grader from Staten Island who created Wheat Pancakes With Chocolate Chips, and the 6-8 Junior Chef winner was Alyssa Castro, a sixth grader from Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, who created a Chicken, Corn, and Tortilla Soup.

Image via DYCD.

For Ramirez, who won with a Tres Leches Cake that substituted coconut milk for the usual condensed milk, the competition was challenging and the chance to share her modified recipe was “special to me.”

“The competition was hard because you had a certain amount of time, the cake takes two hours to make, and we only had 90 minutes,” said the freshman at the Secondary School for Journalism in Park Slope who has been cooking “since seventh grade” with her mother. Her favorite things to eat are enchiladas and tacos.

“My family is Mexican and this is a Mexican recipe, traditional, that we mostly use for special occasions like birthdays and holidays,” she explained. Asked if the flavor changed much with the milk substitution, Ramirez admitted that “it does taste different,” but that her friend “said it was amazing.”

Moving forward, Ramirez said she probably won’t make many substitutions when cooking her family’s recipes, but it is still fun to “see what can be added or is missing.”

Image via DYCD.

According to Daron Burrows, DYCD’s manager of partnerships and special initiatives, the program’s “inspiration was to bring together parents and kids” over a shared experience.

“I feel like a lot of these kids prepare meals for themselves at home while parents are working, so this taught them more recipes and how to make their meals really good [while also being healthy],” Burrows said. “Also, kitchen safety and things they wouldn’t necessarily learn at home. Then we’re opening a window to them for educational opportunities — all winners received three classes at ICE.

“One parent spoke to me about how his child doesn’t really have any other hobbies than cooking, so he was super thankful to us,” he added. “And not many programs are focused on culinary arts as opposed to sports and such.”

Congratulations, kids!