By Chloe Cruz
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Kim Imao looks on intently as his only child, Kyle, prepares the ingredients for pancit luglug, the Kapampangan version of pancit palabok. Twelve-year-old Kyle moves around their small kitchen with the energy of a whirling dervish. Kim notes that even when Kyle is only cooking a simple dish for the family, he has trained himself to move quickly and efficiently, like he does in the Junior MasterChef (JMC) Pinoy edition set. JMC is ABS-CBN’s latest reality TV feature, a cooking game show adapted from Britain and Australia’s Junior MasterChef.
Kyle was among more than a thousand young hopefuls who auditioned for the show last summer. Of that number, 60 aspiring chefs aged 8-12 from different parts of the country showed off their signature dishes for the show’s esteemed judges chefs Fern Aracama, Rolando Laudico, and JP Anglo and host, actress Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo, herself a promising chef.
Signature dish
Kyle secured his spot in the top 30 with his signature dish—
pancit luglug with a Malay-Vietnamese twist. “With so many components, I wasn’t sure I could finish on time. I think I was the last to finish, but it was all worth it when chef Lau (of Bistro Filipino) tasted my dish and he said it was the best pancit luglug he had ever tasted. And best of all, he asked me to work for him in seven years!” he said.
The dish is a family specialty, just one of many Filipino native delicacies that Kyle’s paternal grandmother, Grace de Leon-Imao makes from scratch for merienda. Kyle’s Kapampangan grandmothers take pride in making old-time favorites like ginataan, banana turon, maja blanca, and yes, pancit luglug for their family’s snacks.
If Kim takes an unusual interest in his progeny’s performance in the kitchen, it is only because he has trained Kyle to cook. While other young chefs have had the privilege of enrolling in expensive culinary schoolsin the country, Kyle is the quintessential homegrown talent. He learned to cook by watching his dad and his grandmas at work in the kitchen.
Inevitably, he became his dad’s and grandma’s cooking assistant. His first forays in the kitchen include cooking his own breakfast of fried rice, hotdogs and pancakes. Independence and confidence are two important values he learned in the kitchen.
Since they could not afford to always eat out, Kim would try to recreate foods they like or heard of, at home. The Internet comes in handy for instant recipes but Kim and Kyle rely heavily on their instincts and taste buds in the kitchen. They use the ouido style of cooking, relying on look, feel, and taste instead of measurements.
This style has held Kyle in good stead. In the show, the young chefs are often challenged to invent and reinvent dishes using certain ingredients. It is in the Invention Test challenges that Kyle truly shines. His Roast Duck Tinola Consommé left chef Lau speechless and earned Kyle a well-deserved six points. (The first, second, and third placers are awarded six, four and two points respectively).
His balut invention dish garnered positive reviews ranging from “pang-restaurant” to “pang-cookbook” from the chef judges and earned him the highest points as well.
HIS FATHER’S son: Kyle learned to cook by watching his dad Kim (in photo with the junior chef) and his grandmas at work in the kitchen. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOThe biggest frustration of friends and family who have tasted their cooking is that they can’t get the recipes because this father and son tandem do not make notes while they cook. Sometimes they themselves cannot remember what they did, so they do not cook the same dish in exactly the same way.
Like proud mom Mylene, who does not cook, says, “what comes out of the kitchen is always a surprise, but the proof is in the eating.”
Kyle may have inherited his culinary genes from his Kapampangan grandmas who are very good cooks.
But his paternal grandfather is no slacker in the gene department either. Kyle is the grandson of National Artist for Sculpture Abdulmari A. Imao. In their humble Marikina home, Kyle is not only exposed to the delicious scents of cooking but to paintings and sculptures as well.
Creativity shows
His creativity shows in how he presents his food. His plating of dishes in the show most often stuns viewers. That he does it effortlessly is even more incredible.
In one event, the chef judge was so impressed that he had to take a picture of Kyle’s Asian Spring Rolls Fusion dish before tasting the dish. Guest judge Uncle Larry (owner of Kuse, Chef’s Quarter, Old Vine and Uncle Cheffy’s) commented during the Roots to Riches Invention Test (ube challenge): “You have the eye of an artist and you are the future of Philippine cuisine.”
Kyle said, however, that he is not that confident about his baking skills. Since baking is a precise science, he cannot use ouido, he said. He only learned to bake a few months ago, learning from an aunt and family friends who bake as a hobby.
To hone his baking skills, Kyle’s parents bought him a small oven as a reward when he made it to the show’s Top 20.
The oven is so small, Kyle can carry it from his house to his aunt’s house where he goes for basic lessons in baking.
But his diligence and constant practice have paid off. During the elimination test when they were asked to bake chef Jessie Sincioco’s famed Princess Carmen Sans Rival, Kyle passed it with flying colors. The chefs hailed Kyle’s sans rival as the closest there was to chef Jessie’s dessert.
“When the judges announced that they would first call the cook whose dessert came the closest to chef Jessie’s, I didn’t think it would be me. I just prayed that I would not be eliminated. When my name was called first, I couldn’t believe it. I knew then that with hard work and prayers, nothing is impossible,” he said.
At JMC, Kyle said he learned all about time management: How to think on his feet, how to work under pressure, handle crises and last but not the least, teamwork.
An only child, Kyle has a tendency to be quiet and contemplative, leading people to think he is unfriendly. But with his JMC stint, he has learned to be more confident of his abilities.
The budding junior chef has made new friends in the show. He confided that he has never thought of himself as leader until he joined team challenges.
Being shy, he is usually a follower. Perhaps that is why he has the tendency to be over-exuberant when he works with a team. “I also get carried away,” he said. “We are told to always do our best in the challenges, otherwise, we risk being eliminated.”
Through his own efforts and with the support of his parents and the encouragement of friends and a growing number of fans, Kyle is happily cooking his way, along with seven other aspiring young cooks, hoping to be the country’s first Pinoy Junior MasterChef.
And if he doesn’t make it?
Well, he knows there’s a career waiting for him, and nothing can make him happier.
