MasterChef winner cooking alongside Tyndall Airmen - Dining and Cooking

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) – Anticipation is on high heat as a group of Airmen are learning from a MasterChef winner.

Luca Manfe won Season 4 of Gordon Ramsay’s cooking show. Now, he’s the featured chef at this weekend’s Tyndall gala, which will be held at the new base marina. Several Airmen will be cooking alongside Manfe, who is sharing his tricks of the trade.

“A celebration of the year that we had with What’s Cooking with our online cooking classes for the Air Force families,” Manfe said.

The chef also said he has a personal connection to the Air Force since he grew up near Aviano Air Force Base.

“So, I have a very deep connection with the Air Force also because my parents worked on base for 30 years, my sister now works on base,” Manfe said of his connection.

Airmen First Class Johana Hill said Manfe leads by example, inspiring them to lean into what makes them unique.

“It is what he wants, but at the same time, he wants us to put our own heart in there,” Hill said.

Airman First Class Crystal Rhoden Young explained how culture ignited her passion for cooking.

“I grew up in the Caribbean, so I learned from a young age, you know, you gotta go in the kitchen,” Young said before continuing. “You gotta learn how to do this.”

Hill said her Colombian roots inspire her.

“Family that likes to cook a lot, so I think like I have the seasoning in myself, and normally people tell me that,” Hill said.

Manfe and the Airmen will be working side by side as they prepare a four-course dinner.

“It’s traditional dishes from where I grew up, of course, some pasta risotto, depending on the season, because I’m Italian,” Manfe said.

For Saturday’s gala at Tyndall, the chef said he will be cooking braised short beef ribs that he cooked in the finale of MasterChef.

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