Cookin' with Issy -- Young chef has popular online channel

Isabella, right, and Elisabeth Sandall, the 71⁄2-year-old twin daughters of Stacie Sandall of McCook, look through Chef Issy's collection of cookbooks. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Gazette)

On the last day of school recently, Issy prepared tater tot casserole, wearing swim goggles when she chopped the onions. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Gazette)

McCOOK, Neb. -- Issy Sandall is "the little chef with a big melon."

"The big melon -- that's my head, you know," the 71⁄2-year-old McCook youngster giggles, her sleek, dark hair falling to the side as she tips her head and grins.

"The little chef" is sitting on the counter in her mom's kitchen, gathering around her the utensils and ingredients she needs to make "Tater Tot Casserole." It's a favorite recipe, one of 16 that Issy has featured in her own online YouTube cooking channel called "The Little Chef with a Big Melon."

Issy's mother, Stacie, explained that the name is something Issy came up with even before they decided to make videos of her cooking and baking efforts. The bright, bubbly chef is already working on what she'll call the restaurant she plans to own and operate when she grows up.

Issy has been cooking for about two years, starting at age 5 with -- believe it or not -- a yeast-rise cinnamon roll recipe. The yeast process not only did not scare Issy off, but she's tweaked the recipe with a secret ingredient and the rolls have become a family and friend favorite. The rolls are also the baked item that Issy offers on her mom's Facebook page. "People order them and I bake them," Issy explained.

Friends suggested and encouraged Issy and Stacie to investigate making YouTube videos of Issy in the kitchen, but, Stacie said, "I had no idea how to do it. We've learned on the fly." For the past several months, each Saturday, the Sandall kitchen becomes a film studio -- Issy cooks, Lissy guest stars and prepares the drinks, and Mom films and performs sous chef duties.

All of Issy's recipes have been hits -- except "Peachy Chicken." "That was uggg hhh!," Lissy laughed. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Gazette)

With each episode, Issy has become more comfortable in front of the camera, and "I'm having more fun now," she says. "Especially with the food processor." In one of her latest videos, Issy transforms into a "mad scientist" who wears pinky-purple swim goggles as she chops onions and runs the mini food processor with her chin.

Stacie edits the videos to keep them short -- most are five to seven minutes long -- to keep the attention of Issy's young audience. Find Issy's "Little Chef" videos at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXyEjrnXjVgjDlulFvaC5Nw

Issy has fun with her videos, but she's also aware that she's being a teacher at the same time. She demonstrates safe knife skills and proper food handling techniques. "Mom taught me I have to wash my hands after I handle meat," Issy says. She likes a clean work surface, and she cleans up after herself.

Issy uses a lot of ground turkey -- "it's healthy," she says -- and not a lot of processed foods. Issy has learned to work around her own allergies to egg whites and dairy products and her mom's allergy to oranges. And big brother, Connor, is what Issy calls "picky" -- but he does like macaroni-and-cheese. Issy instructs, "Never give Connor mac-and-cheese, 'cause he'll eat it all."

Issy has a couple very favorite foods of her own -- smoked pork butt is one, and another is her own creation called "mac-n-porky," a concoction of macaroni, cheese, red and green peppers, onions and bacon. One of her family's favorite ingredients is worcestershire sauce.

Mom and Lissy also think Issy's gumbo is great.

Issy credits her mom for most of her cooking and baking skills, but she's also learning from classes. She learned how to smoke a pork butt at grilling classes with Trevor Taylor at VK in McCook, and she takes online bread baking classes with a baker named "Paula."

While Issy has a lot of success in the kitchen, she has also had one notable failure. "Oh, Peachy Chicken! It was the worst," she exclaims. Lissy adds, "It was 'yuck'!" Issy said it looked good, and the chicken was fine, but the topping -- oh, no! Stacie says cautiously, "It smelled delicious." Lissy concluded, ""But it tasted bad!"

Issy finds many of her recipes online and in cookbooks. Rather than selecting a child's book at a local thrift store recently, Issy picked out a second-hand cookbook, Stacie chuckled. Issy is compiling her favorite recipes -- and those she wants to try -- into her own notebook.

Cooking and baking play prominently in Issy's dreams for the future. She wants to "live in my own restaurant," she says. "My home will be upstairs and my restaurant will be downstairs." She knows, too, what she'll call her restaurant, even before it becomes a reality.

Watch for it -- "Issy's Delicious Restaurant."