By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Two Bowling Green students who recently won national awards for their culinary skills had rather dubious starts in the kitchen.
As a child, Justin Savage-Brown had a very limited palate. “I used to be super picky,” he said. He basically ate chicken nuggets – “every night,” he said.
Peyton Baumbarger remembers being a spectator of the culinary process at his home – sitting on the counter while his parents made dinner with music in the background.
All that has changed for the seniors majoring in culinary arts at Penta Career Center.
Now, Peyton is often making dinner for his parents, Nakisha and Bryan Serrato.
“It can be hard when you’re cooking at school for three hours,” Peyton said. “But I owe them a few more meals.”
And Justin is no longer a fussy eater for his moms, Sarah and Laurie Talson.
“Now, I’ll eat everything. Stuff I would not have eaten two years ago,” he said.
Though sometimes simple is still good.
“He still got a plain cheese pizza at this nice Italian restaurant in Chicago,” when the students were there on a school trip, Peyton reminded.
The young chefs wear their scars received in the kitchen as badges of honor.
“I think I burn myself once a week,” Peyton said.
“I have scars on top of scars, from cutting,” Justin said.
Their skills earned both awards at a national competition held in Birmingham, Alabama, in November.
Justin took first place in culinary knife cuts and second place in culinary math, bagging $23,000 in culinary scholarships. And Peyton earned first place in culinary math and a $15,000 culinary scholarship.
Perfecting his knife skills took countless hours of practice at Penta and at home for Justin. He had to learn 12 different and precise knife cuts – such as julienne and brunoise. That meant sacrificing many potatoes, carrots and onions for his craft.
Justin often stayed up till 1 or 2 in the morning, working on his cutting skills.
“It’s a lot about waste management and time management,” he said. “We often had big bowls in our kitchen full of cut potatoes.”
Culinary math required no knives, but quick calculations. For example, if the yield of a recipe is 12, how much of each ingredient would be needed to feed 27? And how much more would that cost at the store?
It’s actually that math component to cooking that attracted Peyton to the Penta program. The pairing of math and culinary skills was a perfect fit for him.
Both seniors are passionate about culinary arts and have big plans for their futures.
Upon graduation, Justin has earned a place at the Culinary Institute of America in New York.’
“That’s one of the most prestigious places in the country,” his classmate Peyton said.
Justin would like to be a personal chef, earn a few Michelin stars, and ultimately open his own restaurant. The must-have items on the menu would include steak, carrots, French onion soup and homestyle potatoes with a special seasoning passed on by his grandma.
Peyton is looking to manage a large operation, ultimately handling the business side.
“I want lots of responsibility, lots of variables,” he said. “I like thinking, using my brain.”
Both young chefs know the importance of paying attention in the kitchen, and being a stickler for cleanliness.
“If you let one thing slip, it can snowball,” Peyton said.
Both also like experimenting in the kitchen, with Peyton concocting a recipe for biscuits and bacon gravy, and Justin creating a potato bacon wrap.
Neither is very fond of baking.
“I like cooking more, flipping stuff in the pan,” Peyton said.
And both like being put to the test in the kitchen. While other students may panic when given a timed skill test, both Justin and Peytron thrive in those situations.
“I personally like being under pressure,” Justin said.
“I feel like that’s where you can show your skills,” Peyton said.
Both have part-time jobs in addition to school, with Justin working in customer service at Kroger, and Peyton working in food prep at Kreischer Hall at BGSU. Peyton does squeeze in some time to occasionally watch celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay on TV as well as one season of The Bear, a restaurant drama.
The two admit to despising some kitchen tasks. For Peyton, it’s washing dishes. For Justin, it’s “cleaning up after people who are way more messy than me.”
The chefs credit their parents for their motivation and passion in the kitchen.
“Anything I do, I try to do for my moms. They are the ones I grew up watching,” Justin said.
“My mom’s a good cook,” Peyton said. His dad usually goes rogue with recipes, “but usually it’s good.”
Penta culinary instructor Janae Makowski said both seniors from Bowling Green have shown great skills. “They work really hard in the kitchen,” she said.
Justin is always eager. “He’s the first one here everyday, asking ‘what can I get started on?’” Makowski said.
And Peyton, while a quiet young man, has found a voice through leadership roles in the kitchen, she said.
“He really shines in his communication,” she said.
Peyton was elected as a state officer with the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) – a career and technical student organization that functions as a part of the family and consumer sciences education curriculum.
Penta allows students to find a focus in their lives, Makowski said.
“Students really find their purpose and they just thrive,” she said. And in Justin’s and Peyton’s experience, they create a lot of tasty dishes in the process.
