A Nicholls State graduate found herself with a ticket to Chicago this past Saturday after her red snapper-based recipe qualified her for the San Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef competition.
“I have never seen snow,” laughed Haleigh Hocut. “That was the most exciting part of the trip.”
A native of Luling, Hocut cultivated her love for cooking at the Satellite Center during her senior year of high school. Upon graduation, she only applied for one college, Nicholls State. Nicholls has a well-regarded culinary arts program and had five previous students win the San Pellegrino competition.
To qualify for the contest, Hocut first competed against her peers at Nicholls. The resourceful cook devised a recipe from red snapper purchased in Kenner, and found herself as one of two students selected to apply for the Chicago-based cooking contest.
After getting accepted by the program, Hocut set to work practicing.
“I just timed myself. I gave myself two hours to create the dish I wanted to do…and then I had the chef instructor at the school critique it and tell me what I can improve on,” Hocut said. “Each time I added more of the duck—at the end it was five ducks that I would have to break down [into 10 plates].”
Hocut said she was given an option between duck, lake trout or lamb as the “protein” in her recipe.
“Having it being a regional competition, and you supposed to be representing your region, I picked duck because that’s the only thing people would actually be able to get down here because people duck hunt,” Hocut said.
Hocut traveled to Chicago with a Nicholls State chef instructor and was immediately taken to Kendall College, where the competition was being held.
“Their culinary school was really nice, it was like a hotel,” Hocut said.
The competition was held in rounds, with Hocut’s two-hour window occurring at 5:45 p.m. Hocut said the competition was “nerve wracking” as the event included people asking questions and taking photographs while she was cooking. In spite of the distractions, Hocut said she was one of the only members of her competition group to finish her recipe in the two-hour time frame.
Once complete, the food had to be “plated” within five minutes.
During the competition, Hocut received mentorship from David Posey, the two-time James Beard rising star finalist and former head chef of four-star Chicago restaurant “Blackbird.”
Despite the timely completion and a warm reception from the panel of judges, Hocut was not selected as one of the few to go on to the national program in Napa Valley.
“It was a good experience, I got to meet some great people,” Hocut said. “It was fun to be able to challenge myself to work in a different kitchen.”
Today, Hocut continues to serve up eclectic dishes with the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, which runs “The Box Car” food truck. The truck serves dishes based on herbs and produce grown in gardens within the city. These include tasty dishes such as jalapeño poppers stuffed with pimento cheese and topped with a white barbeque sauce.
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