Chef Corner: How Chef Andy Learned to Cook
Welcome to our series highlighting each of our chefs by taking them back to their early days in the kitchen! It is our hope that this series inspires you to learn, experience, and celebrate cooking along with us... and with all those you love most.
Now let’s meet Chef Andy!
1) Tell us a little bit about your history! Where did you officially train to become a professional Chef?
I originally started cooking at the age of seven while living in Morocco. Morocco was a French colony until their independence in early 60's and the French influence was still very prevalent at that time. We would often go out to eat at many incredible French restaurants and that is where my love of French cuisine began. At the same time, my brother's best friend's father was an excellent amateur cook and I thought that I might like to try my hand at cooking, as well. My parents got me a child's cookbook and I attempted to cook all the recipes in that book.
Cooking remained a hobby throughout my youth and I really got into it when I was in college. I had a close friend in college who, after graduation, went on to culinary school and told me how much he enjoyed the program. I decided I would follow him and joined l'Academie de Cuisine as a student the year after he graduated.
In my second year, I worked at one of the toughest restaurants in Washington DC called the Occidental. I worked in a couple of other restaurants in DC before heading off to France for a year to work at some of the best restaurants in the world.
Upon returning to the DC from France, I then worked at the Four Seasons in Georgetown. I moved to Colorado in the summer of 1990 and became a Sous Chef at Le Bosquet, a small french restaurant in Crested Butte.
In 1997, I moved down to Boulder to work at the Culinary School of the Rockies as a Culinary Arts Instructor. Part of that job involved taking my students to France for a month-long culinary intensive in Provence. After ten years I started to work as Director of Curriculum at Cook Street and eventually I became the GM for the Kitchen Table recreational cooking program and created and opened a Professional course at the Colorado Culinary Academy.
More recently, I have now worked a little over two years as an instructor at The Seasoned Chef. Almost 23 years as a cooking instructor - I can’t believe it! I love to teach and I really like the format at The Seasoned Chef. It is informal and social. We have so much fun in our classes - many guests who come as strangers leave as friends who come to future classes together over the years.
2) Several chefs have had unofficial mentors and training throughout our careers, as well. Did you have any form of unofficial "training" that helped you get to where you are today?
I try to take as much information as I can from anyone I come in contact with in the kitchen. Knowledge comes from listening and practice. You can never learn it all and there are always new little “tricks” you can use to make cooking easier. Once I learn a new trick I try to pay forward wherever I can.
A few of my key mentors: Jeff Buben at the Occidental and a couple of the Sous Chefs and Chefs in France during my year-long study. When I was working at Culinary school of the Rockies and going to France it would have to be my fellow instructors and chefs Michel Depardon and Robert Brunel, as well as all the artisan food and wine producers that taught all our students. Provence is one of the most awesome food places on the planet!
3) Take us back to the beginning - what was your very first memory in the kitchen?
Going all the way back to age seven. I used to make Steak au Poivre for my family and their friends. I used to love watching the cream sauce almost boil over the sides of the pan and pull back the heat just before it could. I would do that over and over until the sauce was nice and thick. I was convinced that that was the best technique. My dad used to say that you could throw away the steak and just eat the sauce. We make that dish using bison tenderloin in our hugely popular Bison and Bourbon couples class. Why don't you come learn how to make it!
4) What drove you towards becoming an instructor?
When I moved to Crested Butte, I was one of the more talented chefs in the town. We really didn't have a big labor pool to work from and I often had to train Ski Bums how to cook. I found that I had a natural ability to gain respect and to pass on information so that the budding chefs could grow their skills and make a better wage. When the job came up to teach Culinary School, I was sure that was going to be my niche. 23 years later and I haven't looked back.
5) If you had one piece of advice for a new person finding their way around the kitchen, what would you suggest?
There are no shortcuts to being a good cook. Learn the basics, and by that I mean learn your knife skills, how to make a stock, how to make a soup and a sauce, how to apply heat to different ingredients. Master those through practice. Be open to more information and be curious and above all have fun doing it. If you are going to make it your career then you better enjoy it, because it is no walk in the park.
6) Please share a favorite recipe from your childhood!
BISON STEAK AU POIVRE
Pepper Beef Tenderloin and Brandy Cream Sauce
Bison Steak
8 5-oz bison tenderloin filets
Salt and ¼ cup fresh cracked black pepper
1 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. oil
Preheat oven to 375°
Season tenderloin with salt. Put whole peppercorns in a zip lock bag and with meat tenderizing mallet pound the peppercorns into cracked peppercorns. Place cracked pepper in a pie tin and press the bison into the pepper to coat both sides. Heat butter and olive oil in a pan, add the tenderloin and brown on one side. Flip over and brown the other side. Remove steaks from pan and transfer to baking dish. Continue cooking in a pre-heated oven to an internal temperature of 125° to 130° for medium rare. When cooked to desired temperature - tent with foil to keep warm.
Brandy Cream Sauce
olive oil
3 shallots, minced
1 cup brandy
2 cups heavy cream
1 Tbsp Brandy
Salt
Pour off excess fat from the pan, add a little fresh oil and shallot and cook until translucent and slightly browned. Remove pan from heat, add 1 cup brandy, return pan to heat and ignite. Scrape pan to remove browned bits and reduce by half. Add cream, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and reduce sauce by half or until it begins to thicken, add the additional brandy and season with salt.
Return the steak back to the pan to coat. Place on platter and spoon sauce over the bison steak. Serves 8.