Young chefs share their inspiration and recipes
Ellvie Smith would rather watch the Food Network than cartoons. Cohen McKenzie is partial to Brenda Gantt videos on YouTube. And Tillman Oldacre? He loves watching chef Nick DiGiovanni whip up creations
on TikTok.
These young Alabama chefs are making their own mark in the culinary world, creating their baked, grilled, roasted or toasted creations for family, friends and even for charities. They somehow manage to juggle time in the kitchen with playing sports and school work.
Tillman Oldacre
Tillman Oldacre, 13, an eighth grader at Cullman Middle School, started getting into cooking about three years ago. “We were making Thanksgiving food and I wanted to help my mom and that’s how it started,” he says. From there, he began to help his parents in the kitchen more often, and started watching popular chef Nick DiGiovanni on YouTube and TikTok. “He’s my favorite chef,” he adds. “I try to cook some of his recipes.”
His favorite thing to cook is breakfast food, with his top dish an egg sandwich with fried bologna. He also enjoys making his favorite chunky guacamole, chocolate mousse cups and salsa.
His interests have gone beyond just his home kitchen. Tillman’s mother, Tiffany Green Oldacre, is involved in several nonprofit organizations in the Cullman area. With her help, he organized a fundraising dinner last October at his house for Unsheltered International, which helps homeless in the local area
and internationally.
“I made tacos,” says Tillman. “They are easy to make and you can have a variety of them.” Travis Sharp, who heads the Unsheltered ministry, spoke at the dinner which raised about $6,000 for the charity. “Since I love cooking, I wanted to do something special like that,” Tillman says.
He’s also made his special chocolate covered pretzels and sold them on the street in downtown Cullman, donating proceeds of $1,500 to Flourish of Cullman, which helps special needs persons find jobs.
Plans are already in the works for another charity dinner this year, with the Pilot Light Home, a local foster home of the Cullman Pilot Club, as the beneficiary. “The menu will be similar to last year, with shrimp, chicken or veggie quesadillas, guacamole dip, salsa and black beans,” Tillman says.
Tillman’s Chocolate Mousse Cups
- Hershey chocolate bar
- Tub of Cool Whip
- Pastry cups
1. Heat and melt chocolate bar (I like to use the double boiler method).
2. Mix with entire tub of Cool Whip. Put in pastry cups. Place in freezer for at least an hour.
3. Garnish with fruit (raspberries, blueberries and blackberries).
4. Serve chilled.
Ellvie Smith
Alabama has had its share of young chefs making a splash on national cooking shows. Last year Bryson “Cheese Curd” McGlynn, a seventh grader from Opelika, won the title of “Master Chef Junior” and has been busy making appearances and endorsements ever since. His “Cookin’ with Cheese Curd” social media accounts and TikTok videos attract thousands of followers.
One of his biggest fans is no stranger to TV appearances herself. Ellvie Smith of Attalla, who turns 12 in September, recently appeared on the Food Network’s Kids Baking Championship which aired in January this year. (Brooke Waters of Selma was a contestant on the same show in 2019 when she was 11.)
Ellvie interviewed for the show in January 2024, and filming was done for two weeks in California that summer. But she couldn’t tell anyone for six months how the competition turned out. She did not win, but loved the experience.
“Meeting people from all over the world was my favorite part,” says the soccer-playing homeschooled student. The contestants will gather in August for a reunion in Atlanta and take cooking classes together.
“She’s made her own birthday cakes since she was six,” says her mother, Kori Smith. “She’s always preferred the Food Network over cartoons.” When Ellvie was nine, they took her to the Food Network’s food and wine festival in New York City where she cooked saffron risotto live on stage. “She still remembers how to do it,” Smith says.
These days her favorite thing to make is floral cupcakes. “That’s my go-to,” she says. She learned how to make the intricate icing designs that look remarkably like real flowers from her mother’s friend “Aunt” Holly. “She has her own home bakery,” Ellvie says.
She uses some of her great-grandmother’s recipes, eggs from her own chickens, and special cake decorating tools purchased at Hobby Lobby. She proudly posts her realistic cupcake designs on her Instagram and Facebook
accounts, @ellviebakes.
Beyond baking, she also likes to cook “basically anything. I got a new Blackstone (flat top griddle) so I think I’ll grill some steaks tonight,” she muses. And she might check in with her friend Cheese Curd, who follows her online.
What about a career? “I want to bake… and be a lawyer.”
Ellvie’s Cupcakes with Buttercream Icing
- 11/2 cups (190g) all-purpose flour
- 11/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick or 113g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (Southern-style: use a good-quality Madagascar or bourbon vanilla)
- 1/2 cup whole milk (or buttermilk for a richer, tangier flavor)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (about 2–3 minutes).
4. Beat in eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. Stir in vanilla.
5. Add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with flour. Mix just until combined—don’t overmix.
6. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake liners (about 2/3 full). Bake for 18–22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick or 113g) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups (240g) powdered sugar, sifted
- 11/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1–2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
1. In a bowl, beat butter until creamy (2 minutes).
2. Gradually add powdered sugar, mixing on low.
3. Add vanilla and 1 tbsp cream or milk. Beat on high until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add more cream/milk if needed for consistency.
4. Pipe or spread onto cooled cake!
Cohen McKenzie
Alabama’s popular online celebrity, Brenda Gantt (featured in Alabama Living, September 2020), inspired 12-year-old Cohen McKenzie of Elberta in Baldwin County, who started watching the Andalusia cook’s videos when he was seven, during the 2020 pandemic and families were cooped up at home. “Me and mama watched it,” says the seventh grader at Elberta Middle School. “Then we got to visit her.” He and his family went to a book signing for one of Gantt’s cookbooks at the Sweet South Market in Andalusia and “we were number two in line,” says his mother, Christin, training and development specialist at Baldwin EMC.
Cohen now has all of Gantt’s cookbooks and he opens his own cooking videos with her Deep South trademark greeting, “Hey, y’all!” On the opposite side of the chef spectrum, he also likes to watch British TV chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsay, known for his perfectionism and stern personality.
Despite a busy schedule of school and sports, Cohen likes to help out in the kitchen most every day, he says. “During the summer, he’s always chopping something. He likes special projects,” says his mother. “He’ll come up with random ideas like making a Beef Wellington. He and his dad researched it and made it.”
His favorite recipe is “Momma’s Potatoes,” she says, which are cut in half, tossed with onion, garlic and Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning, and cooked in the oven.
After a recent deep sea fishing trip in the Gulf with his grandmother, he brought back snapper and cooked it for supper in a cast iron skillet with garlic powder, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Cohen also makes vanilla extract and vanilla sugar with his aunt, using vanilla beans and vodka. “Then you’ve got to wait a year,” he says, for the vanilla to infuse and create the traditional dark color. The homemade creations make delicious Christmas gifts.
And he and his grandmother, “Gigi,” also love to make his favorite pecan pie and homemade vanilla ice cream.
Of course, he adds, “We use the fresh vanilla extract.”
Cohen’s Pan-Seared Red Snapper
8 ounces red snapper (2 filets) or other varieties of snapper (such as yellow)
- 1 tablespoon flour (use gluten-free AP flour, if needed)
- Pinch salt, pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter, divided
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 tablespoon capers
- Small handful fresh herbs (such as rosemary, chives or oregano)
1. Pat snapper filets dry. Dust with flour and shake off any excess. Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides.
2.Prepare a heavy pan with the olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter. Heat on medium-high until butter is melted but not browned, then turn the heat down to medium.
3. Place the filets in the pan and cook about 4 minutes. Don’t touch the filets until they’re ready to flip.
4. Use a thin metal spatula to test the fish. If you can slide the spatula under the fish without the fish sticking to the pan, it’s ready to flip. If the filets won’t release, give them another 30 seconds. They’ll release when they’ve finished cooking.
5. After flipping, divide the remaining 1 tablespoon butter over both filets.
6. Cook fish another 3-4 minutes until done. Fish will be golden on both the top and bottom and opaque all the way through when finished cooking.
7. Transfer the fish to plates, leaving the excess butter in the pan. Cover fish to keep warm, or set fish in a 200 degree oven.
8. Reduce heat to medium. Add the lemon juice and capers, and stir with a wooden spoon. Add half the herbs and stir again.
9. Serve fish hot with pan sauce and remaining herbs.
The Buttered Home
One of the reasons I love to cook like I do is because as a child, I was allowed to help in the kitchen. My Momma, Nannie and Aunt Peggy all had a hand in teaching me to love cooking! While my girls were growing up, I tried to do the same thing with them. Now, as a grandmother (“BB”) to two sweet littles, we are starting to spend time in the kitchen, too. Having the kids with me in the kitchen is not only fun for us all, but it also teaches valuable lessons. This recipe is a new favorite of me and my sweet grandson, Witt! For more fun recipes, visit our site at www.thebutteredhome.com.
Easy Mini No-Bake Cheesecakes
- 8 ounces cream cheese block, softened
- 1 ounce cheesecake-flavored instant pudding mix, zero sugar
- 1/4 cup Half and Half
- 1/4 cup whipped cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 12 vanilla wafers
- Toppings of your choice (M&Ms, cookie crumbles, gummy candies, etc.)
Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners, 6 to 12. Add one or two vanilla wafers to each one for the base of the cheesecakes.
In a large mixing bowl, combine softened cream cheese, cheesecake-flavored pudding mix, Half and Half, whipped cream and vanilla. Mix with a hand mixer until creamy and smooth.
Scoop cheesecake mixture into each prepared cupcake liner. This recipe will make 6 full or 12 with half filling in each. Top with toppings of your choice and chill for 30 minutes to one hour. -Brooke Burks
