Writer: Aimee Cho
In a kitchen filled with cameramen in Chelsea Market, New York City, four teenagers each opened baskets to find hummus, rhubarb, a large goat leg and the leafy vegetable frisee. The chefs were filming for the teenage edition of Chopped, the Food Network reality show that challenges four chefs to make dishes using the surprise ingredients in a basket, which meant that the chefs had 30 minutes to turn their ingredients into an award-winning meal worthy of $10,000.
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Seventeen-year-old Emma Scher’17 got to work butchering the goat leg to make southwest grilled goat steaks. She sautéed the frisee with spinach, combined the rhubarb with blueberries and added an apple slaw as a side. With 40 seconds left on the clock, she tried to pull the goat steaks out of the oven, but the heat went through her towel and burned her hand. A paramedic jumped in and tried to help her, but Scher waved him off.
“I need to plate my food first,” she said. And it worked—she finished her dish and made it through to the next round.
“I don’t do something unless I do it 110%”
Scher, who is now a freshman in the Hotel School, viewed competing on Chopped as a chance to prove to adults that teenagers can hold their own in the kitchen.
“Ever since I was young, I’ve never let my age stop me. My parents have instilled that in me,” she said.
photo credit: Emma Scher
Scher first learned about the opportunity to be on the show through the teachers at Bergen County Academies, her high school that doubled as a culinary arts academy. She sent in an application and went through four rounds of interviews before being selected for the show.
During the two months between learning she had been chosen and filming, Scher trained for 4-5 days a week, as much as 30 hours each week.
“I don’t do something unless I do it 110%, because otherwise what’s the point? So if that means 4 a.m. practices, staying after school until 11 p.m. to practice or spending my winter break at school, I’ll do it,” she said.
To prepare for having to use surprise ingredients, she went to a grocery store, bought every type of meat she had never used and practiced cooking all of them.
Filming took place on one day, and Scher described it as “mentally, emotionally and physically challenging.” The ingredients she received in the other rounds included tuna, black currant jam, grapefruit, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, potato chips and Japanese mayonnaise.
Scher ended up finishing second, making it all to the way to the final dessert round before being “chopped.”
“It was weird, you form bonds with the people you’re competing with, so you don’t want them to be chopped, but of course you also don’t want to be chopped,” she said. “And knowing that your every move is going to be in front of millions of people is a [lot] of pressure.”
Growing up
Scher has been cooking ever since she was a toddler.
“All the pictures of me when I was young were of me cooking. My mom and grandma cooked a lot, so I grew up helping them,” she said. By the end of eighth grade, she was already helping with food preparation at Badlands Tacos, a Mexican restaurant in Ramsey, New Jersey.
Photocredit: Emma Scher
Once in high school, when she was one of just 15 students accepted into her culinary arts academy, she spent about an hour every day in cooking classes for four years.
“It was a very rigorous curriculum. Everyone there is really dedicated to their work and education. You really had to want to be there. I got on the bus at 6:30 a.m. and didn’t get home until 5:30 p.m,” Scher said.
At age 15, staying true to her determination to not let her young age stop her, Scher convinced renowned chef Aaron Sanchez to let her intern at his Mexican restaurant Centrico in New York City.
“I was by far the youngest there. And instead of having me do food preparation like I expected, on my second day there they gave me the entire [cold foods] station to run,” Scher said.
Since the primary language at Centrico was Spanish, a language Scher didn’t know, she went in early on weekends and stayed late in order to learn all of the recipes.
Scher continued her streak of working at high-end restaurants when at age 17, she landed an internship in Manhattan with Restaurant Daniel, a restaurant that has 3 Michelin stars (the highest possible ranking for a restaurant).
“Restaurant Daniel is one of those places that people dream of working at. You’re expected to keep at a level of perfectionism beyond anything I’ve ever experienced,” she said. “It was incredibly stressful. Most of the people there had been cooking longer than I’ve been alive. But I held my own and gave 110% of myself.”
In her spare time during high school, she operated her own catering business called “Scher Delight.”
“I really enjoy catering. It’s a way to test my creativity,” she said. “I like making someone else’s event special; I try to make their vision come true.”
A versatile chef
Not only has Scher cooked for gourmet restaurants, she has also worked on the business aspect of the culinary industry. At age 18, she helped Empanada Mania, a small restaurant in Bergenfield, New Jersey, reorganize their entire kitchen.
“I helped them lower costs and gave them advice for how to be more efficient and run events better,” Scher said. “I also built an Excel business model for them so they could track their financial information, so they could more effectively come up with prices for events and calculate their profits.”
Photo credit: Emma Scher
It was through Empanada Mania that Scher had the opportunity to help cater the Super Bowl VIP tailgate party this February. The restaurant was asked to make 3,000 tacos for the party, so Scher helped cook from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m.
“It was probably the biggest challenge I’ve ever had,” she said.
While serving the tacos at the party, Scher met actress Hayden Panettiere, singer Phillip Phillips and actor Bob Saget.
“You looked around you were surrounded by a million celebrities,” she said. “But I couldn’t think about too much, because I had to make sure the event was a success.”
Culinary life at Cornell
Scher said that not having easy access to a full kitchen and grocery store at Cornell took some getting used to.
“I still cook in my dorm for my friends every once in a while though,” she said. “And last fall I worked as a chef at Taverna Banfi.”
Originally her plan was to open a restaurant after college, but after coming to Cornell she realized there were “other things out there” besides cooking.
“I’ve realized that the food industry is my passion, but I don’t necessarily need to be cooking to be part of it. I’m hoping to go into the behind-the-scenes of the industry, building programs for restaurants to make them more productive and solve some of their problems,” she said. “I’ve always loved working with computers, which is why I’m doing a minor in computer science.”
Despite having cooked at renowned restaurants, the Super Bowl and a reality TV show, Scher is an incredibly humble person.
“I really appreciate when adults put a lot of trust in me and give me responsibilities,” she said. “Like at Centrico, I wasn’t sure what they saw in me. I didn’t believe I could do it, but they believed in me.”
So incredibly proud to have Emma as my cousin! We continue to be amazed by her many accomplishments. I love you Emma!