One of the things that happens in my house on the holidays is after dessert, we sit down to a very ambitious men-versus-women game of Trivial Pursuit. It’s brutal. And there’s a trophy.
There are so many great things about this business. Almost everybody is on the same team. It is all for one-friendly competitiveness. No one is out to hurt anyone.
Habaneros have a great fruity flavor, but the challenge is that you have to deflect the heat in order to taste the flavor. If you don’t, you’re dead. They should really have a warning sign on them. Deflect the habanero’s heat by pairing it with sweet food.
I was hired as a sous-chef at a restaurant on the Upper East Side. The chef liked to drink – some mornings we would find him sleeping. Two weeks after its opening, I became the chef. I was 20 years old, and way over my head. I had to hire the cooks and do the menus.
I probably use my chef’s knives more than any other tool in the kitchen. I’m not married to a particular brand, because they all work, they all have sharp blades.
I was not such a great student, .. So, when I graduated high school, I went to work cooking. I cooked a little at home, but back then, cooking wasn’t really a profession that you aspired to, unless your family was in the business.
Even if the chef has a good business head, his focus should be behind kitchen doors. A business partner should take care of everything in front of the kitchen doors.
If my daughter wants to get into this business, I would support that decision. She’s going to have a hard time not being in it. She loves food and she’s around it all the time.
My contribution I hope is to get people to eat full-flavored food. If I could come away with that alone, that would be a fantastic accomplishment. I’m also very proud of being a very American chef.
