“Men Who Cook” is a leading fundraising event for the Mental Health Association of the Southern Tier (MHAST), featuring notable men in the community who put their culinary skills on display for a good cause.

 

But, it hasn’t been just men who have sated thousands of people at the fundraiser over the years. Windsor Central High School Junior Ryan Healy took part in his fourth “Men Who Cook” event on Thursday.

 

 

 

“I love to cook. I cook for my mom. I love the fun of making new recipes,” said Healy.

 

“That’s one of his skills. He makes dinner twice a week. He picks the dinner, cooks it and serves it. I clean up,” said Ryan’s mother Lori Piccirilli, who owns Verde View Equestrian Center on Colesville Road.

 

“MHAST was trying to get (Verde View) involved in the event and we just didn’t have the person to spare. But then I asked Ryan and his teacher and it took off from there,” said Piccirilli.

 

Ryan was 13 and homeschooled at the time. He and his teacher saw it as an opportunity to use math and science skills for the cooking, language skills for the presentation at the event, and even some history – such as when Ryan made the Civil War-era dish, Kentucky Borgoo.

 

“There was a French chef in the Civil War and he used any kind of meat he could; possum, deer,” said Healy. “I used chicken, pork and beef.”

 

Healy’s dish this year was organic BBQ sauce chicken. He called it Black Knight BBQ chicken and explained the sauce in detail to the dozens who asked about it - a BBQ & A. He developed the recipe through trial and error. The ingredients for the sauce include brown sugar, brown mustard, Kosher salt, paprika, ketchup, AC vinegar, worcestershire sauce and honey.

 

“It’s sweet but tangy. That’s how I like my chicken,” said Healy. 

 

A lot of other people liked it as well, as Healy dished out 40 pounds of chicken during the event.

 

“I’d like to sell the BBQ sauce one day,” said Healy.

 

“He’s talked about doing it as a business. I think more as a side hustle. I told him to take the Cornell Cooperative Extension class on how to make your Ag business a side hustle. He could sell it at the Taste of NY store,” said Piccirilli.

 

While Healy represented Verde View, a Windsor Central School District tablecloth draped his table as high school teacher Justin Leonard served as his assistant. 

 

“He definitely wanted to include Windsor in his presentation,” said Piccirilli.