Salt Lake teen wins national cooking competition, now heads to 'Super Bowl' of food contests

SALT LAKE CITY — When Merrill Oaks was 5 years old, he watched the movie "Ratatouille" for the first time.

"From that point forward, I was like, 'Hey, cooking kinda looks fun.' So we made an omelet after that, and it all started from there," Merrill said.

Seven years later, Merrill won first place at the Steak Cookoff Association World Championships in Fort Worth, Texas.

"I was super surprised because honestly I had only practiced a few times before this. I did work hard, but like I wasn't very good at meat, but I tried, and it got me there," he said.

Merrill's first cooking competition was at the latest Utah State Fair, where he entered and won a youth pork chop cook-off. That win qualified him for the international championships in March, where he competed in a two-hour steak cook-off judged on appearance, texture, taste and overall impression.

The 13-year-old was nervous to attend the international competition, especially seeing the other competitors come from "barbecue families."

"I'm just from Salt Lake City, and it's a barbecue competition, like I'm not Southern or anything. ... I don't have any country accent whatsoever," he joked.

But once he got there, he calmed down as he realized even if he placed last, he would still be in the top 10 of the entire country. While other categories had competitors from around the world, his division only had kids from the across the nation.

"Then they said, 'You won first place,' and I'm like, 'There's no way,'" he said.

In the 11-15 age category, the kids cannot have any help with any part of the cooking process once the competition starts. Luckily, Merrill received some great mentoring from judges at the Utah State Fair to get him prepped and ready to cook the perfect ribeye in Texas.

"(The judges) were just amazing, and they were amazed by Merrill's skills, too. It was amazing to have that help," his dad Sterling Oaks said.

Now, Merrill is prepping for the World Food Championships in Indianapolis, often dubbed the "Super Bowl" of food competitions, for which he qualified after winning in Texas. Food Network frequently attends the competition, and famous chef Bobby Flay sometimes even makes an appearance, which is exciting for Merrill.

"When Merrill heard that, he was like, 'This is a fulfillment of my dreams since I was 6 years old,'" his mother Amanda Oaks said.

As a kid with Type 1 diabetes and living with family members who have Celiac disease, Merrill has had to figure how to balance his food for his own health while also getting creative with gluten-free recipes his whole family can enjoy.

His parents said he is "extremely creative" with his recipes, and he never does anything halfway, always experimenting with flavors.

"Sometimes my kitchen pays the price, I'm not gonna lie. It's an effectual struggle. Sometimes I have to be like, 'No, Merrill, you can't cook until you get your homework done,'" his mom said.

Italian food is one of his favorite cuisines to prepare. Merrill even runs a small business where he sells gelato to people in his neighborhood.

Last year, he did his first "Stop, Drop and Cook" class, where he taught kids how to make bruschetta, homemade pesto, ravioli from scratch, a cake and lemon sorbet. This year, he will be doing a French themed cooking class complete with baguettes, French onion soup, chicken cordon bleu, creme brûlée and crepes.

"We're really happy for him," Merrill's dad said.

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