Cooking up a scholarship

SANTA ANA — When Corona del Mar High School senior Scott Buchert was little, he used to whip up a batch of pancakes for his family all the time.

He parlayed those pancakes into $1,000 scholarship Saturday, when Buchert, 18, was a semifinalist at the Art Institute of California Orange County’s scholarship cook-off.

Buchert was one of 10 semi-finalists to win the $1,000 scholarship and to prepare pre-selected dishes at the school, which is on the border of Santa Ana and Costa Mesa.

The nine Orange County teenagers — one came from Georgia for the competition — will start their college careers this fall at the Art Institute’s culinary program.

Besides being a scholarship program, the competition prepares the students for their future culinary education.

“They’ve practiced so much, and it really gives them some headway into the program,” Art Institute spokeswoman Kim Jones said. “Before they start their classes, they’ve already been in our kitchen, met the instructors, been critiqued by the instructors, practiced plating and followed a recipe — I can’t see how it wouldn’t prepare them to start school here.”

And although Buchert didn’t win one of the top three prizes — first place future chef Uriel Loaeza of Orange will receive a $5,000 scholarship and a trip to Dallas where he’ll compete in the national competition — he remained focus on his goal of someday being a chef at a top seafood restaurant.

Buchert is one of those cooks who can create culinary masterpieces without a recipe, dad Greg Buchert said.

“He’s pretty innovative around the kitchen, and we never know what’s going to come out of the oven,” Greg Buchert said. “He just creates, and he nails it most of the time.”

The Buchert family was still all smiles after they learned Scott Buchert didn’t win first prize, and they were admittedly relieved since it would’ve meant much more hard work for Scott in the coming months as school winds down.

But it also means the Bucherts can return to having a varied diet.

For the competition, the students had a set list of ingredients, recipes and equipment they’d need for the cook-off, with a sauteed breast of chicken being the main course.

Of course, Scott Buchert practiced all the time before the cook-off.

“I don’t think I’ll eat chicken for a while,” Greg Buchert joked after the awards ceremony.

For more information on the Art Institute, its culinary arts and management program and other programs, go to www.artinstitutes.edu/orangecounty.