Chef's Story: 27 Chefs Talk About What Got Them into the Kitchen PDF
Preview Chef's Story: 27 Chefs Talk About What Got Them into the Kitchen
27 Chefs Talk About What Got Them into the Kitchen Chef’s Stor y Edited by Dorothy Hamilton and Patric Kuh Photographs by Matthew Septimus To Doug—d.h. To Simon and Isabel—p.k. Preface vi José Andrés 1 Dan Barber 11 Lidia Bastianich 23 Rick Bayless 33 Contents David Bouley 43 Daniel Boulud 55 Anthony Bourdain 65 Tom Colicchio 75 Cat Cora 87 Robert Del Grande 97 Todd English 109 Dean Fearing 117 Bobby Flay 125 Suzanne Goin 135 Thomas Keller 145 Patrick O’Connell 155 Charlie Palmer 165 Jacques Pépin 175 Michel Richard 185 Alain Sailhac 193 Arun Sampanthavivat 203 Marcus Samuelsson 215 André Soltner 227 Jacques Torres 237 Charlie Trotter 247 Norman Van Aken 259 Jean-Georges Vongerichten 271 iv Acknowledgments About the Authors Other Books by Patric Kuh Credits Cover Copyright About the Publisher Preface How do you tell a chef’s story? About four years ago, John Servidio, a producer of the TV hit Inside the Actors Studio, came to my office at The French Culinary Institute. His production company was interested in doing a similar program with chefs. John was not looking for me to host the show, but had come to ask who I thought might be a good interviewer. I gave him a few names but eventually overcame my modesty and suggested myself. As the head of The French Culinary Institute, I had worked for years with master chefs. Not only that, the FCI has been growing them for more than twenty years! I understood chefs and knew that I could ask the right questions. I guess that was a good interview, because I got the job. What a thrill. I now was going to interview twenty-seven of the most fascinating chefs working in America. I figured there were going to be four groups of viewers for the program: other chefs, wanna-be chefs, foodies, and people who stumbled on the program. I had to make sure that I asked the ques- tion that every cook in America was dying to know. I had to bring out each chef ’s life story and how it had contributed to his or her vi success. And then, hardest of all, would be having them transcend their trade and reveal their inner chef, giving the public an insight to these extraordinary people who have the stamina of oxen and the souls of artists. Many people dream of being chefs because they love to cook. It’s fun. But professional cooking hardly qualifies as fun. It is way too hard, too demanding, and too competitive. Most of these masters became chefs because there was no alternative. It was a calling, a vocation. Cooking is a demanding profession that requires patience, long hours, years of apprenticing, and hard, physical work. It is also a nur- turing world with tremendous camaraderie. It takes years to become proficient with the necessary skills, and then to be the chef, you must be a logistics and human resource manager par excellence. To be a master chef you need to go even further and have a special talent. You must have an understanding of food and its possibilities that most of us cannot fathom. You need to be open to many influences but also maintain your identity. And most of all you need to cook with love. Some people might approach Chef’s Story with the idea that chefs are e c a arrogant, screaming maniacs in their kitchens. That is a caricature. You f e r P vii will find that our featured chefs are as nuanced as any artist, as business minded as any entrepreneur, and as hardworking as any coal miner. Each chef’s story is different, and each path to greatness was not an easy road. The differences are enormous! Patrick O’Connell never went to cooking school or studied under a great chef (self-inspiring). Tom Colicchio worked for fast food joints (not inspiring). Suzanne Goin traveled the three-star Michelin gastronomic route in Europe with her parents as a teenager (awe-inspiring). Are there similarities? Yes. Good chefs never stop learning. Jean- Georges Vongerichten went to business school in between being exec- utive chef at the four-star Lafayette and opening the first place of his own, JoJo. David Bouley travels the world incessantly and has pen- etrated the innermost circles of master chefs in Japan. The éminence grise André Soltner says he looks to learn something new every day. It is also no surprise that chefs today are business people. To listen to Charlie Palmer and hear the growth of his “empire,” you realize that cooking is not his only strength. We get an insight from Thomas Keller on his rugged climb to being the first American to receive six stars from the Michelin guide. And Bobby Flay shares the pros and cons of being a star on the Food Network. There are immigrant stories. Stories of living in occupied France during World War II. Spiritual stories. Stories of balancing profes- sional and personal lives. Stories of sacrifice. It’s all here. We are so lucky that Patric Kuh took on the challenge of writing e this book. A former cook himself, he gets it. He sat through each tap- c a f ing, and in his beautiful style captured it for us on the ensuing pages. e r P Matthew Septimus’s photography transcended the show. We scratched viii the idea of doing our planned “B” roll filming at the chefs’ restaurants in favor of Matthew’s shooting photo essays at their establishments. What a show! What an experience. What a privilege. Chef’s Story provides a unique insight into this wonderful profession and these very talented individuals. Dorothy Hamilton e c a f e r P ix
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