Chef's Story: 27 Chefs Talk About What Got Them into the Kitchen

299 Pages·2008·3.56 MB·English

by  Dorothy Hamilton

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
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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
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a
arrogant, screaming maniacs in their kitchens. That is a caricature. You f
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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-
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f ing, and in his beautiful style captured it for us on the ensuing pages.
e
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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
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