Chief judge, Heather Little-White (right) of the egg contest finale takes a portion of André Grant's Jamaican Sweet Potato and Ham Egg Bake, as other judges (from left) Leah Jones, Eleanor Henry and Racquel Jones savour the tasty dish.

The savoury smell of delectable egg dishes was in the air as the finalists in the egg contest whipped up dishes with a Jamaican twist on Wednesday November 18, at Heather Little-White & Associates in St Andrew.

Five contestants where chosen to be part of the final cook-off but only one person could come out on top. In the end, the only male entrant, André Grant won first place with his Jamaican sweet potato and ham egg bake.

Grant, 28, a lecturer of Tourism and Hospitality at Moneague Teachers' College in St Ann, says he was never one to help out in the kitchen, but fell in love with it while in high school.

"I was doing a lot of science courses and felt food and nutrition was a easy course to balance out the hard ones. After I began doing it, I started to like it so I decided to pursue it," says Grant.

In 1998, Grant attend Brown's Town Community College where he did a double major in Hospitality and Tourism, and Food and Beverage. Then in 2001, he went to the State University of New York College of Technology Dehli where he did a Bachelor's degree in Culinary Arts.

He told The Gleaner that, ever since he discovered food in high school, he has been cooking. He also notes that his winning dish was one he had tried before, but altered it for the competition. He says he is excited by winning, and he plans on using the prize money to assist him with some tuition payment and for equipment for the food lab at Moneague Community College.

SECOND PLACE

Chief judge of the egg contest, Dr Heather Little-White taking a sample of André Grant's Jamaican Sweet Potato and Ham Egg Bake at the egg contest finals, held at 6 Windsor Ave on Wednesday, November18. - photos by Rudolph Brown/Photographer

It was quite interesting to watch Avadawn Reid, who came second, at work as she whipped up her 'Scrambled egg with susumber and salt fish'. It is a dish that she says she came up with after she saw the contest in the paper.

"Mother always made egg and salt fish and I knew that it tastes really good. I wondered what I could add to it, I then decided to use susumber with it. I knew that not many people would use it so I tried it, then tried my recipe and submitted," says Reid.

Reid is no stranger to the kitchen because as soon as she could walk and talk, she wanted to help her mother, Hyacinth Reid with the cooking.

"My mother told me that, when I was a little girl, I would jump up and down begging her to let me help her. She would lift me and let me put things in the pot like a piece of yam and so on."

Sunday dinner

She recalls that she cooked her first meal when she was 12 years old. Her mother went to church and she decided to cook Sunday dinner. But there was no gas or coal. However, there was a lot of wood in the yard.

"I remembered my mother telling me that when cooking on wood fire, you should coat the pot with wet dirt or ash to prevent it from getting really black. So I did that, lit the wood fire and made French fried chicken and rice and peas."

She says she will never forget the joy she felt because as her mother came home, she ran to her with smokey eyes shouting, "Mommy, I cooked!" Though the chicken was not properly soaked, her mother just patted her on the back and told her to let it soak a little longer next time.

Currently, Reid is a cook and a caterer, and has worked for two former deputy Spanish ambassadors. She also goes into people's homes and cooks for them on special occasions.

Try this yummy egg contest winning dish, Jamaican Sweet Potato and Ham Egg Bake courtesy of André Grant.