Chef on the Rise - Martin Sterling

Head Chef at N Resort, Negril

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Far from being born with a proverbial silver spoon in his mouth, Martin Sterling had a difficult start in life. His 15-year-old mother sent him to live with his grandmother as it was difficult for her to raise a toddler. But Sterling's grandmother had a large family to maintain, so his education suffered.

"I went to Lluidas Vale All Age School, then to Ewarton Secondary for a short time. With my grandma having 12 children, it was hard to school all of us right away, so I never finished school because it was very hard to find the money to school all of us," he reminisced. "I stopped going to school and started to do barbering and did that for the better part of four years."

In 1993, life presented him a golden opportunity when his mother told him a new hotel, Braco Village, was scheduled to open soon and encouraged him to try his chances there. "I went one morning for an interview for a position in the kitchen because I can cook, and the next thing I knew I got through as a lunch cook," he recalled. Cooking was not much of a stretch for Sterling: as a young boy, he would head home after school to start dinner ahead of his grandmother's return home. "I have to give her credit for that," he told Thursday Food, explaining what gave rise to his love of preparing food.

At Braco Village, Sterling -- cousin of TV's Grace Kitchens host Maise Miller -- was a quick study and made quite the impression. "I was learning so fast, the chef promoted me to the fine dining restaurant as the supervisor for the dinner shift." This came within six months of being on the job. When an acquisition and change in management were made, with the hotel rebranded Grand Lido Braco, he was among the staff members who remained. "I was promoted to the position of kitchen sous-chef and was in charge of the entire dinner shift; I ran that for about 10 years working with chefs from all over the world, so I got the chance to learn so much from different nationalities and it helped me to learn a lot about different types of cuisine," the chef explained. During his tenure at Braco, Sterling was the recipient of 20-plus medals, six trophies and cash awards from the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission(JCDC) in culinary competitions.

While the talented chef has soaked up a lot of culinary knowledge through on-the-job experiences and short-term training courses, he is mulling over the idea of pursuing formal studies. "Yes, I have more studies to do but I was building a house and invested most of my money into it, but I think sometime this year I'll be following up," he said.

As a chef working on The Rock, Sterling says he loves the opportunities to work with Jamaican products and incorporating herbs, spices and fruits that are uniquely Jamaican.

Currently the head chef at the N resort in Trelawny -- a 96-room nude hotel --Sterling's day-to-day responsibilities are running the entire kitchen operation, which entails overseeing cooks, training new staff, and placing orders for food inventory. The highlight of his job, he shared, is whenever the resort's guests stop him to say how much they've enjoyed their meals.

What is his biggest challenge? "Creating a new look every day so the food doesn't look the same, and ensuring that I provide good training for all the younger cooks coming out of school who want to become professional chefs."

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Chef on the Rise - Martin Sterling