Charlie wins Golden Ticket, wows judges

By Judy Babb

Steam infused with the smell of sautéed onions, the beginnings of a base for a chowder and a sauce made with vanilla bean — the must-have ingredient for the World Food Championship finals, Nov. 8 at Fair Park. 

 Charlie Kobdish stirred, tasted and ran through his recipe to ensure he hadn’t missed a step or an ingredient. He is serious about the competition as are the other contestants, but Charlie is one-of-a-kind. He is the youngest entrant at the championship at 14. And he is one of 10 competitors in the soup category, having taken second place over a group of 39 adults in the preliminaries with his signature chicken noodle and with a structured soup.

The structured soup concept is reminiscent of the show “Chopped.” Each WFC contestant had to use three ingredients — a ready-made chowder, Fiesta Brand turmeric and Borden heavy cream. The rest of the ingredients were up to the entrant. Charlie and his parents decided on Southwestern Shrimp and Grits Chowder. Because the chowder was a hit, Charlie chose that for the finals with additional thought about how they could elevate the dish. Peppers were roasted, bacon was microwaved, spices were meticulously measured and stirred in. Now it was time to see if he could rise to the top and win a part of the cash prize, which goes to the winners of each of the 10 categories.

Teams raced against time — a short hour and a half — to get their soups done. Charlie’s team are his parents Chuck and Sonia. Dad acts as sous chef while mom works on presentation. Sonia spent nearly an hour making boutonniere-size bouquets to decorate the trays. Then she carefully dished up the chowder and added garnish. Charlie, who had whipped the vanilla bean with heavy cream, carefully adds it to each bowl. Each of them works efficiently, although Charlie grabbed the chef knife from his father to chop the onion. Chuck quipped, “He doesn’t like my knife skills.” (Eye rolls all around.) If Charlie is flustered, it doesn’t show. The group pow wows regularly throughout the time and is the first team to turn in their dish after making sure all the toppings are in place and the presentation is perfect. Entries had to be delivered to judges during the last 10 minutes. The entries are judged on execution (35 percent), appearance (15 percent) and taste (50 percent). Charlie’s entry came in sixth. “We had so much fun,” Sonia said of the day.

Charlie’s place in the competition is a story in itself. He had to earn a Golden Ticket. That’s where Donna Collins comes in. Collins, known throughout the cooking community as THE Jelly Queen, teaches a myriad of cooking classes, including one to certify judges. She helped bring the WFC to Dallas eight years ago. She asked Charlie if he could make a soup for the judges’ class. A number of other chefs made soups as well. Charlie’s cabbage soup beat out them all — including one made by a Central Market chef. His reward was the coveted Golden Ticket.

Collins met the boy in 2018 at a Farmers Market in White Rock where he was a vendor selling the product he had created. While cooking is one of his loves, it’s not the only thing that makes him unique. 

Charlie goes to Cistercian Preparatory and doesn’t seem much different from his ninth-grade classmates. He plays baseball. He loves history and literature and doesn’t care that much for math and science. But unlike his classmates, Charlie has another identifier. He’s an entrepreneur and has been since he was 10. He announced to his parents that he wanted to start his own business. They were enthusiastic, although Chuck told him, “You need to be a kid first, a student second and a businessman third.”  

With his parents on board, he had his bank and advisers. “There was no giant inspiration behind this,” Charlie said. “I just wanted to have some money. When you’re 10 years old, it has to be product based. There’s not much out there except mowing lawns and that sounded boring.”

So, on Nov. 21, 2017, Charlie’s Treats — Kid Made, Kid Owned was born. At first, the business was operated out of his home kitchen. Charlie created flavored pecans, starting with a cinnamon-sugar pecan and expanding to other versions, which Charlie says have morphed to be his recipes. The website, Charlies-Treats-Kid-Made-Kid-Owned, offers an opportunity to learn about this young man as well as place orders. The site has four flavors to choose from: Cinnamon Sugar, HOT PECANte, Maple Pecan and Traditional Spice. “You can’t go wrong with any of them, but you would definitely go right with all of them,” the website extols.

Charlie figured out another way to advertise his pecan treats, and that use gave him his first win as a competitive cook. In November 2018, at age 11, he entered the Good Local Markets Pie Contest. His “Charlie’s Treats Maple Pecan Cheesecake Pie” won first place in the kids’ category.          

The sales of Charlie’s Treats have gone so well that the family outgrew their home kitchen. The Mix Kitchen at White Rock United Methodist Church rents its commercial kitchen for cooking and packaging his pecan treats. Charlie doesn’t plan a culinary career, but his parents enjoy his creativity. He cooks for them regularly. “He’s really great on the grill,” Chuck said.

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