VALDOSTA — The story of Ernest Duncan Sr. really begins on Oct. 26, 1952 in Thomasville, Ga. To Valdosta State University students, he is a catering chef; known throughout the land for his perfected fried chicken. Eight children know him as a father, while some Adel folks call him a preacher.

  Duncan considers himself a master of the kitchen, but if his temperance is any indicator, it appears he has mastered the art of happiness in life.

  He says he’s never met a stranger. It’s most likely true.

  “I have a passion or people,” he explained. “I think that’s the art behind cooking is you have to love people; you have to have a passion for people and you have to be interested in what they’re interested in.”

  Tucked behind 60 years of wisdom and experience lies a story of many faces, many kitchens and what happens in-between the shifts.

  He was always surrounded by cooking, like many southern boys and girls of his time. His mother cooked and so did his grandmother.

  Ernie marks his first true encounter with cooking at the age of 12, when a drunken uncle asked the young boy to cook some chicken he had brought home. All Ernie had was some salt and black pepper and a bit of bacon grease, but his uncle would tell Ernie it was the best chicken he had ever eaten. He even tipped Ernie a buck for his efforts.

  Of course, Ernie realizes now that plenty of drunken people have remarked in wonder at many meals, but this encouragement would have a profound effect on his life’s course, even if Ernie couldn’t remember the uncle’s name.

  “With that compliment, he inspired me; I didn’t realize how much of an effect this had on me,” Ernie said Thursday at the new Student Union, where he is laying rolls out for baking. “My mother told me that whenever I left home to get a job in a restaurant because I’d always have something to eat.”

  This is exactly what Ernie did at the age of 16 when he started working at the university as a dishwasher. He said much of his time was spent watching the other chefs go about their various routines. It was interesting to him and something he also wanted to do.

  He would get that opportunity after about six months. He moved to prep work and the rest is history. After six months at college in Tennessee, he’d return to Valdosta to work in their food services department.

  While at culinary school, he said he learned one important rule for working.

  “If you want to do what you want, then you have to get the respect of the people that you work for,” explained Duncan. “If you do that then they will give you the freedom to create. Once I got that freedom, I began to create and experiment with different spices, sauces.  I kept on doing that and I turned out to be the Chicken King!”

 According to Ernie, there is no set recipe or procedure to make his famous fried chicken. Even though the menus at the university list Ernie’s name next to a heap of dishes, he approaches each cooking opportunity differently.

  Usually there’s always something different about the food he’s working with. It might be a little ripe or a bit larger than the last batch. Measuring cups and exact calculations are

definitely not his style.

 His time with Food Services at the university was perfect at first. He developed his craft, learned from the kitchen veterans and in the meantime, managed to touch the lives of thousands. Some were co-workers and others were patrons.

  See, Ernie has a habit of leaving the kitchen after a big meal to meet the patrons. He talks with them, asks them about their families or if they enjoyed the food. Sometimes, he asks them how they like their food. While he’s building relationships with folks, he’s also secretly learning new ways to cook. That’s just the way Ernie is. Whether it’s a rookie dishwasher or the university president, Ernie wants to meet them.

  “I found out one thing is that people always want their grand mama’s cooking and when they find out that I’m the chef, they want to make sure I can do that,” said Duncan. “You have to get to know people. Each one of the staff members; I personally know them. We have a personal conversation. We talk about their kids and we talk about their time at school. I think that has a lot to do with the cooking. After that, the cooking is real easy. If you’re nice to people and positive to people, it just gets better and better.”

Eventually his time with Food Services became too monotonous and he needed a change. He got that opportunity about 20 years ago when he was transferred to the Catering Department.

  It gave him the opportunity to cook for an even greater variety of people.

  “When I got to catering, I was able to cook for the President, for the celebrities and the governors,” he explained. “It would really inspire me. They would write letters back explaining how much they enjoyed the food and I was able to keep creating and take it to the next level.”

  One of Ernie’s favorite challenges is learning what people don’t like and then making them try his version of the dish. He said they usually like it and since he always tastes things in the kitchen, there isn’t much he doesn’t like.

    Today, Ernie is still working with the Catering Department and by his own account; retirement won’t be in the cards anytime soon. He’s thankful for his time with the university and has been loyal through multiple presidents, privatization of food services and different management.

  “They’ll have to get a wheelchair for me before I leave,” said Duncan.

  Director of Catering Debbie Conrad has worked with Ernie for over 20 years and even though she nears retirement, she knows how important Ernie has become to the community.

  “Everybody wants to come back and see Ernie,” she explained. “He’s always been such a sport about everything, whatever it might be - you can depend on him.”

 

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