Island Top Chefs

Ocracoke high school students have been learning culinary skills from local chef and restaurant owner Jason Wells. The classes are part of the Arts Partnership sponsored by Ocracoke Alive and are being held on Thursdays in the Rec Hall of the Ocracoke United Methodist Church. The classes are a precursor to a four course meal the students will prepare and serve as part of the Ocracoke School Arts Week. According to David Tweedie and Desiree Ricker of Ocracoke Alive, the school administration suggested a culinary class based on feedback from students. Jason Wells, who had previously taught an afterschool program, was already familiar with working with students so Ocracoke Alive approached him to teach the classes.

Jason was born in Baltimore, MD and is part of the O’Neal family. He moved to Ocracoke by the time he was in first grade. The men in Jason’s family were the cooks although Jason said that his step-mother, local chef and artist Debbie Wells, had a huge influence on him. His grandfather, Ed Wells, cooked for the Coast Guard. As a child Jason helped his grandmother with such tasks as working in the family garden, snapping peas, and making pickles. Jason still uses his grandmother’s recipe for tartar sauce and makes every batch from scratch. The sauce was mentioned a couple of years ago in the Charlotte Observer as the World’s Best Tartar Sauce.

Jason says that he has worked in food service as long as he can remember, first in his family's restaurant, the Pelican, by putting up stock and then graduating to bussing tables and washing dishes. He continued working for his family when they opened the Back Porch Restaurant as well as in other local restaurants. In October 2000, Jason and his father. John Ivey Wells, opened Jason’s Restaurant. Eventually Jimmy Bowen bought John Ivey's interest and became Jason’s partner. They still operate the restaurant together.

As an introduction to the culinary course, students toured Jason’s Restaurant. During the first class they learned to make sushi, one of Jason’s favorite dishes. Most of the students were familiar with sushi but few of them had ever prepared it. Jason explained each sushi ingredient and demonstrated the proper technique for constructing, rolling and cutting the sushi roll. Afterwards it was time for the students and their supervising teachers to try. Jason was impressed with the ability of the students to roll the rice, vegetables, and other ingredients in the nori (seaweed sheet) without tearing it. Several students took advantage of the hour and a half class to make and eat more sushi as well as fixing some to-go plates.

Caesar Salad was on the menu for the second class. Jason demonstrated how to make the dressing, including adding anchovies, a key ingredient. Several of the students reacted quite negatively and vocally to the anchovies. After a stern admonition from Jason to “not call my food disgusting,” the lesson was able to proceed in silence. Complete silence. However, once the dressing was completed most of the students wasted no time in loading up their plates with salad and all agreed that they could not taste the anchovies. They followed the salad by sampling blueberry cobbler which will be the dessert for the dinner.

In addition to learning how to make the dishes that are planned for the meal, the students are learning about hygiene (yes, you do need to wash your hands again after you run them through your hair), and sanitation, such as proper handling of foods like chicken. Jason also stresses the importance of using everything you can when operating a restaurant. For example, when cutting the chicken down to size for a restaurant portion, he does not throw away the trimmings but utilizes them for dishes that require small pieces of chicken such as quesadillas or soups. Trimmings from bread find new life as delicious croutons.

Jason demonstrated the proper technique for making Chicken Parmesan during the third lesson. As in every lesson, he emphasized the importance of preparation and routines in the kitchen. While breading the chicken, Jason showed the students how to keep one hand to handle the wet ingredients and one hand to handle the dry so that you aren’t having to stop every few minutes to clean breading off of your hands. When running a restaurant kitchen, movements need to be efficient. Taking more time than necessary will impact the profit that you can make. Jason emphasized the importance of balancing cost, time, and flavor when running a restaurant. There are many food products available and Jason attends cooking shows to find the best quality ingredients at a price that will enable him to charge reasonable pricess, offer good food well-prepared, and still make a profit.

The students will use what they have learned to prepare a meal for 100 people this Thursday, March 29. There will be two seatings; one at 5:00 and another at 6:00. Tickets are nearly sold out and are $20 per person. The menu for the meal is Ocracoke Fishcake appetizer, Caesar Salad, Chicken Parmesan with Garlic Bread, Blueberry Cobbler with Ice Cream, and Iced Tea. Contact the Ocracoke School office, 252-928-3251 for information about tickets.

Arts Week will conclude later that evening with a performance by the students. The Pre-K through 5th graders will present a cabaret with puppets, singing, and dancing. Following the cabaret performance will be a melodrama performed by the middle school students. The title of the play is “The Pony Expresso or... The Villain Came to a Grinding Halt” directed by Karen Dundore-Gulotta and Desiree Ricker. In addition to directing the play, Karen has been teaching puppet-making to the students and Desiree has taught singing and dancing.

Other Arts Week instructors are Diali Cissokho–Percussion; Jef the Mime–Juggling and Lighting; Heather Johnson–Costuming; Robert Chestnut–Photography; and Kitty and Gary Mitchell–Props and Sets.

The evening show is free. Doors open at 7:00 and the performances begin at 7:30.