Alivia Adams took her cooking to a new level by participating in the K12 National Cookoff through Texas Online Preparatory School, or TOPS.
The 14-year-old Odessan went to Arlington, Virginia, at the Kitchen of Purpose for the event and was one of six finalists. Judges included David Ho, winner of Food Network’s Chopped, Isabelle Coss, renowned pastry chef, and Daniela Hurtado, director of programs at Kitchen of Purpose.
Adams placed fourth overall. First place won $1,000; second place won $500; third place, $350; and fourth, fifth and sixth got gift baskets.
Her mother, Stephanie Neer, said the email about Adams being selected went to their spam, but then they got a phone call about it. Adams had limited time to prepare, but the contest went well.
“The first competition was online, and then the second one was in person. The online one was you just made a dish, and you submitted three photos, and step by step process of how you make it, you submitted that, and then judges picked six people from 350 students that had entered. They picked the best six, and we all went to Virginia to do a final competition,” Adams said.
Neer said it was a timed competition and a blind draw for a protein and a side and out of that she had to create her dish.
From that moment to cooking, plating and presenting to the judge Alivia had 60 minutes to create her entree. During that, there are camera crews all around and an interviewer. Neer said parents couldn’t be in the room with the competitors, but they could watch on a screen.
Alivia also took time to help her competitors, Neer said.
She made beef tenderloin with mashed potatoes, carrots and asparagus for the main dish and a no-bake cheesecake for dessert.
“When I got the potatoes, I knew I had to make mashed potatoes because I love them and I know how to make them really good. My mom has special secrets we put in them. For the vegetables, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do with them, if I wanted to boil them or fry them in a pan, so I decided to steam them but I couldn’t find a steamer, so then I just boiled them instead,” Alivia said.
“The steak was easy. I just had to cook it and put it on a plate,” she added.
She surprised herself by finishing 25 minutes early. Her mom said the judges told her the steak was perfectly cooked and seasoned great. They loved the mashed potatoes, as well.
The only thing she was dinged for was soggy vegetables because the interviewer started talking to her.
Neer said Ho complimented her on her timing even with everything going on in the kitchen.
Adams said she has enjoyed cooking from the time she was little. She has a brother, Austin Neer.
“The whole family’s into cooking. I cook everything at home. We don’t eat fast food. We grow our food. I was born and raised on a farm before I came here. I owned a restaurant for many years, so she’s just grown up around it. She gets in the kitchen and she creates her own dishes. She’s really good at doing oriental food; not much of a baker yet, but we’re not big on sweets,” Stephanie said.
“That was a big challenge for her, the second round was the dessert challenge and they had 30 minutes to make that dish,” Stephanie said.
“It’s very good. At first, it was a little difficult adjusting to the difference between how brick and mortar was to online, but all the teachers were very helpful in getting caught up in all the work I needed to (do),” Adams said.
Adams said she would like to work her way up and hopefully own a restaurant some day.
She enjoys cooking because you can do anything with it.
“When you go to restaurants, you don’t really know how your food is made, but being able to open your fridge and … grab just a few ingredients and then cook it and turn it into something completely different than what you could have thought it was when you first saw ingredients is really fun. Making your own food and knowing how it was made, and the work and love that went into making it is always amazing,” Adams said.
