The 17-year-old Grade 12 student from Vankleek Collegiate Institute (VCI) is making his mark in the field of the culinary arts with a gold-medal performance in the kitchen at the Skills Ontario regional qualifying competition in Kingston. Timm-Sabourin and other students from across Eastern Ontario each competed in one of four categories during the one-day event at St. Lawrence College.<\/p>\n
Timm-Sabourin won the gold medal and also a $500 bursary from the college for his achievement in the culinary skills event. That also qualifies him to compete next month in the provincial Skills Ontario competition in Toronto.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was pretty excited,\u201d said Timm-Sabourin, during a noon-hour phone interview from school April 4. \u201cI wasn\u2019t expecting to be first.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted that the student who finished second in the culinary arts competition had beaten him in a past competition and that hampered his self-confidence a bit. The challenge that Timm-Sabourin and all the other students competing in the college kitchen was a three-part lunch, featuring a burger as the main course, with a salad and a dessert.<\/p>\n
The culinary event ran from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., and included both the advance planning and preparation time and the actual making of the meal. All the ingredients were provided and all the ingredients, except perhaps the bun, had to be fresh.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything you had to do on the spot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Timm-Sabourin\u2019s creation was a beef burger topped with pickled jalape\u00f1o, caramelized onion, and frico, which is crisped grated parmesan cheese. The beef patty was topped with a garlic aioli dressing and lettue and tomato. He prepared a Greek salad, topped with croutons and bacon crumbs, with French dressing, and for dessert provided a fresh-baked brownie with raspberry couli, whip cream and tuile.<\/p>\n
His enhanced burger in the kitchen at St. Lawrence College is just the latest display of the young chef\u2019s passion for the culinary arts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really liked watching cooking shows when I was younger,\u201d he said, \u201clike MasterChef and also Hell\u2019s Kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n
At age 10, Timm-Sabourin was already helping prepare meals at home. While he is enrolled in VCI\u2019s Foods program this year, almost all of his culinary skills he developed himself from watching cooking shows and teachin himself at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore often, I\u2019m helping others from what I know,\u201d he said, about his classroom work.<\/p>\n
He can\u2019t recall when he wasn\u2019t passionate about cooking and everything that is involved in preparing good things to eat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI enjoy taking basic ingredients and creating something new,\u201d he said. \u201cI enjoy seeing the reaction of people when I present a nice plate. I like Asian cuisine a lot, but I also like to try all different styles of recipes.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he\u2019s not at school or in the kitchen at home, Timm-Sabourin enjoys watching YouTube videos of cooking demonstration as part of his continuing study of the culinary art. He also has fun playing video games and indulging in photography.<\/p>\n
He knows that his talent in the kitchen offer him a bright future. What that future will be is wide open in his mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to start my own restaurant, or work in a high-end restaurant somewhere,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d also like to work around the world in different restaurants, learning different cuisines. That\u2019s what I\u2019m shooting for.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Makai Timm-Sabourin could be the next master chef of his generation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":29045,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-affaires"],"acf":[],"featured_media_global":[],"yoast_head":"\n