Special award for culinary professor in Tyler

  • 2023-09-06
The East Texas Chapter of the Texas Chefs Association has named a culinary professor at Tyler Junior College (TJC) as Pastry Chef of the Year.

Such awards are often made known throughout a campus community with poster printing.

Kortney McMillian was selected based on a vote of chapter members. She is now able to compete for the Pastry Chef Award at the state level next year. McMillian expressed her excitement about receiving this award. She said that being from Southwest Louisiana, it is an honor to be known as a Texas chef and being able to network with other people from the state as a member of the Texas Chefs Association who have amazing experiences yet seem to be very humbled about them.

McMillian teaches a lecture on nutrition, fundamentals of baking, and continuing studies classes, which have included classes on making pizza, pasta, sandwiches, and ice cream. In addition to teaching classes, she decorates cakes when she has time and works at Honeycomb Bakery in Chandler on a part time basis.

She said that she enjoys showing people how to create memories by baking assorted products and creating food. However, her specialty is pastries and baking.

McMillian is also a member of the American Culinary Federation (ACF), an organization of chefs that is the largest in the country. Through the ACF, she plans to become a certified pastry chef.