As a teenager, Carmin Viola learned an important lesson from her mother: ‘You can’t cook if you’re angry’.She was trying to bake a chocolate cake at her mother’s home bakery in the Philippines, when she noticed that her sour mood was affecting the final product.“[The cake] came out all wrong. The colours were really dark and the flavour was bitter and I just had to throw it into the garbage,” she said. “That’s when my mum said ‘you have to be positive when you cook’.“I took a time out and then did it again because it was an order from a customer and when I tried it [for a second time], it came out perfect.”That advice has stayed with Ms Viola, a chef at the Fairmont Southampton’s The Newport restaurant, throughout her career. It was tested recently when she took part in the Bermuda Hospitality Institute’s Rising Chef of the Year Competition, where she was paired up against 11 of the Island’s best up-and-coming chefs in a nine-day cooking battle.Ms Viola said she was “shocked” after being named the title winner last Friday. She said no-one — not even herself — expected she would win.“I am just overjoyed for the experience. I learned a lot and that made the difference. My passion for cooking, it got fired up again and I have learned to accept there will be people who I cannot please and there will be people who can support me.”She found out about the BHI fundraising competition from a colleague, but said it took two days for her to decide if she was up for the challenge. “Since no-one from the restaurant had joined I decided I wanted to do my best to represent Newport well,” she explained.Ms Viola was introduced to cooking by her mother Eva Athena Viola. She was ten when she was taught how to make the Filipino dish ginataang bilo-bilo. It combines yams, bananas and jackfruit, with balls of glutinous rice flour cooked in coconut milk.As a teenager she would sell friends steamed rice cakes and sans rival, a layered meringue with butter cream icing.But the budding chef actually aspired to be like her father Isabelito Viola, an engineer.She told The Royal Gazette: “I had my first university course in computer science, but then I shifted my major because it was just not for me.”Ms Viola studied culinary arts at De La Salle College of Saint Benilde in Manila, where part of the course curriculum was to complete 600 hours of practical training.She started her training at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Once her eight-hour shift was complete she spent extra time helping the professional chefs in the banquet hall.“Probably because of that my executive sous chef recognised me as a trainee and put his trust in me. He put me on the list to join the functions outside the hotel, which allowed me to be able to cater to the President of the Philippines.”The best part of working at the hotel was seeing how the system flowed in the kitchen. There were only five chefs who had to plate four-course meals for up to 1,500 people.She said: “It was stressful and it was a lot of pressure at the time, but that made me realise the importance of a good kitchen flow and organisation.”She later worked at the Aman Resort in Turks and Caicos and the Hyatt Hotel in Manila for three months.For the past four years she’s been at the Fairmont Southampton, currently working with chefs Sanjay Leeme, Kellie Rolfe, Mike Scott and Chris Chafe — whom she credits for much of her success.Despite cooking all day at work she loves preparing meals at home for husband Robel Madriaga.Sometimes she makes one of her specialities, an easy dish she prepares by sautéing onions and garlic in a pan, then adding tomato sauce, oyster sauce and shrimps and seasoning the mixture with paprika, salt and pepper.“It just takes ten minutes. I love shrimps and I love the flavour. It’s just a mixture of Asian and international [cuisine].”Other times she will make a pork stew in coconut milk with a side helping of steamed bok choy; or pan fried snapper with a lemon whisky Hollandaise sauce.Ms Viola said she one day aspired to reach the executive chef level, so she could share her knowledge with other knowledge-hungry chefs.She said the BHI fundraising competition was a great stepping stone in her career, but said: “After that night I realised winning wasn’t my success.“What made me a real winner was that I was able to learn and develop from the knowledge and wisdom passed on to me from the people who’ve been there and helped me through.”