Photo: Tossing mussels back in the Maine days.Interview of A Chef
Passion, Tips, Tricks, and last meals.
Cooking is my passion because…
Quite often, our family life is centered around the kitchen, and for me, that started at a very young age as I’d watched my grandmother and mother cooking. These moments in the kitchen came to be a primary definition of love. They assembled and prepared family meals that were just as nourishing to our bodies and health as they were to our souls! That is what drove them, and it’s what drives me every day to do what I do.
The exact moment I realized I loved to cook was when...
The procurement and preparation of food as a career and life’s work did not happen suddenly so I don’t have an “aha” exact moment in which I realized I loved to cook. I’d cooked in the Marine Corps for three years then worked in restaurants in the private sector a year before going to Johnson & Wales University for my culinary and management degrees. It was over the course of a decade and many experiences that developed my passion for the art and craft of being a culinarian.
Favorite trick or tool in the kitchen everyone should know or own?
Without a doubt, everyone should have a very sharp knife and a solid, thick, wood cutting board or chopping block are the best. These are the most basic essential tools in any kitchen. My trick or best method for chopping herbs is using a mezzaluna – the Italian two-handled curved blade that “rocks & rolls” through the task, silently and smooth and in half the time it would take with a chef’s knife.
Not including salt, pepper, oil, and butter what are your five favorite ingredients?
Aside from the basic all-purpose spices and accouterments of salt, pepper, oils, and butter my top five flavor-imparting or enhancing ingredients are:
Acids like balsamic, champagne, cider and wine vinegar, and lemon juice.
Favorite go-to herbs like Italian parsley, fresh rosemary, oregano, tarragon, and sage.
Fresh cream and artisan cheeses including the best-aged parmigiana Reggiano, Vermont sharp cheddar, Gruyere, Maytag bleu cheese, and brie.
San Marzano plum tomatoes, fresh garlic.
Great wines: if I wouldn’t drink it I won’t cook with it! Reds like Malbec, Merlot, and Carmenere are favs, but also whites like a California Chardonnay.
What chefs would you invite to dinner?
If I could arrange a dinner hangout/cookout with any of these living legends I’d be one (to use a Maine term), WICKED excited chef!
I like Jamie Oliver’s straightforward and accessible cooking style as much as his ethics and mission and passion to bring whole foods awareness to underprivileged school-age youth, and teach the methods and plain ol’ fun of cooking, and joy of eating one’s healthy creations!
Anthony Bourdain: his decision to exit the stage of life was upsetting, but his love for exploring the cultures and their traditional cuisines was inspiring and educational. What a legacy.
Emeril is the man! He is the original pioneer of The Food Network, and he made his love for food and cooking available to everyone and taught how great American and Cajun-Creole dishes while complex in flavor was based on simplicity.
Guy Fieri has way too much fun, but his hit show “Triple D” is a fantastic look at Americana and our incredible volume of variety in regional and ethnic foods.
How do you get your inspiration?
I am constantly inspired by going out to try new foods and sample the creations of chefs and young culinary artists who CARE about what they do. Like any art, cooking and any type of food production and preparation is boundless in its ways of expression. The earth provides everything we need, as chefs, we simply combine and arrange all the elements as we wish to the pleasure of our own and our guests’ palates. I’m inspired by the earth’s bounty and the limitless possibilities for the practice of combining and arranging it all with heat or cold and a bit of carving skill. Cooking is an art that holds within its discipline elements of biology, chemistry, anatomy, horticulture, and physics, then with practice in the craft one can revel in the pleasure of being an alchemist of sorts, placing the gold of a delectable presentation before a hungry patron and delight in the silence as it is enjoyed and consumed.
On a morbid note, what would be your last meal?
My last meal would have to be a smorgasbord! Tapas, dim sum, assorted hors D’oeuvres… After a breather, though I’d ask for a grilled prime-aged beef New York strip steak, medium rare, with a broiled lobster tail and drawn butter and lemon. Throw in a baked russet potato with sour cream and chives, some fresh asparagus and I’d be all set.. until dessert! A dense triple chocolate cake with dark chocolate ganache, with an espresso. Then just bring the wagon to cart me out. If in the remote chance I had yet one more “last meal” to order, my next choice would be a world-class big ol’ square of lasagna with a simple green salad. Boom.
What memberships & certifications do you have?
USMC trained (Once a Marine, always a Marine, "Oorah!"), Johnson & Wales University honors graduate, AA degree culinary arts & double major BS degrees in Hospitality management and nutrition; STCW95 (Standards for Training, Certifications, and Watchkeeping) certified for work aboard all seagoing vessels.
Dream foodie destination city?
Easy, New Orleans.
Most important cooking moment?
My most memorable cooking experience (most important cooking moment) was as a sauté chef behind an open bar in Beverly Hills and cooking for celebrities. The night I prepared scampi for a favorite actor, Richard Dreyfus, was one to remain at the top of my best nights working in a restaurant!
Favorite comfort food?
Aside from the lasagna mentioned above my favorite comfort food would have to be a blind choice of one of three others; my own chicken pot pie with cornbread topping, a hearty bowl of beef stew with buttermilk biscuits and butter, or my grandmother’s slow-cooked beef brisket with the carrots and potatoes swimming in the intensely rich jus.
Three instrumental lessons you learned being in the Marines?
A human being with drive and determination can do virtually anything and overcome all setbacks.
Teamwork and mutual trust and respect.
And how to cook, for hundreds just as well as for a few.