Murrells Inlet youth takes taste to compete to TV

Logan Walker has enjoyed so much more than a “New York Minute.” She spent a weekend sightseeing earlier this year on her third visit to the Big Apple, where she taped her appearance on the second season of Food Network’s weekly “Chopped Junior” series.

The 11-year-old from Murrells Inlet will compete among four youth on an episode called “The Big Stink,” airing at 8 p.m. June 28. She and her family welcome the public, too, for an episode premiere party at 7:30 p.m. that day at On the 1/2 Shell, 4500 U.S. 17 Bypass S., Murrells Inlet.

Logan said ever since traveling for the show, her dedication to cooking has only grown, “because I learned more.” She brought up moments still sizzling in her memory,such as dining at a buffet with the meal “cooked in front of you.”

Ready to enter the seventh grade this August at St. James Middle School, Logan said subjectwise, math matters mightily, because the exact measure of ingredients comes to play with preparing dishes.

“I have a sweet tooth,” she said, expressing a dream to open a bakery run by family and friends, “especially with desserts.”

Besides a fondness for fried green tomatoes with pimento cheese, Logan said she’s trying to dangle in more desserts such as sorbets, and macaroons, to go beyond “cookies and cake.”

Asked what pleases her palate most, Logan said her tastes shift.

“I think what I make sometimes,” she said, “for parties like Thanksgiving, it changes every year, so I come up with new things to do.”

She credits seeing cooking shows by Rachael Ray for getting “hooked” on this art.

“It’s just lots of fun,” Logan said, “and she looks like she’s having fun with whatever she’s made.”

Logan, who with Nancy E. Thompson, wrote “Unique Southern Eats: Lip-Smacking Good,” a paperback published this past spring, said taking part in a book signing May 7 in Murrells Inlet’s annual “Blessing of the Inlet” left her so thankful for the turnout of people who bought copies.

“I used to have horrible stage fright,” she said.

Speaking last month before school let out for summer, Logan said she had her eye on a youth cooking camp for ages 12 and older, but because she won’t hit that age till August, she had thought of possible plea to coordinators to make an exception.

“They might say yes,” she said, “since I was on a TV show.”

Mother admires daughter’s multitasking

Her mother, Becky Walker, admires the overall “artistry” exhibited in her middle child, not just with food, but in painting, traveling and competing in gymnastics, and playing the saxophone.

Walker remembered Logan starting to bake at age 4 or 5, after seeing Rosanna Pansino demos on YouTube, as well as Food Network’s programming.

“It started with cupcakes, then on to brownies,” Walker said, “at a very young age, then went from there.”

Cooking every day at home is routine for Logan, said Walker, still savoring a full birthday dinner five years ago she made “for me.”

Walker said neither she nor her husband of 12 years, Dennis Walker, is astounded at how Logan has unleashed her talent in the kitchen.

“I think I was most surprised about ‘Chopped Junior,’ ” Becky Walker said, thinking back to September. “There were so many applicants that when we started the process, I never thought it would pan out. There are kids in New York with special training in culinary school since age 7. … Dennis wasn’t as shocked.”

Renee Irvin, Logan’s grandmother who makes frequent visits south from Ellington, Conn., said Logan’s honing this cooking craft – “since she was old enough to be able to be by the stove … could help her get a scholarship” for food arts.

Irvin also remarked on perseverance Logan has built, through such heavy, intense activities as competitive gymnastics.

“That is one tough girl,” Irvin said, “because you learn, win or lose. It sure prepares her for a lot of things.”

Praising Logan and her brothers as “good kids,” Irvin likes another pastime that unites the family whenever they gather, ideal for Murrells Inlet or up in New England.

“We all have fishing in common,” she said.

This story was originally published June 21, 2016 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Murrells Inlet youth takes taste to compete to TV."