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Head Cook
Join Date: 09-02-2004
Posts: 760
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Fantastic chef
Cat Cora's Personal History a Basis for the Evolution in Her Cooking
Posted on: Monday, 2 June 2008, 09:21 CDT
BOISE, Idaho _ Cat Cora always has loved food. Growing up in Jackson, Miss., her family celebrated life in her mother's busy kitchen with dishes that blended the best of their Greek and Southern heritage.
"We didn't have a lot of money, and there were three kids," Cora said. "Food was always the earliest reminder of happy memories, parties, family gatherings and all the excitement that comes with it." She has carried that spirit with her through a career as a chef that is demanding and exhilarating.
Cora will share that excitement when she comes to Idaho next month June 6-8 as the headliner for the Sun Valley Food and Wine Festival, where she'll present a menu that reflects some of the trends in cuisine.
Cora's life is pretty hot right now. She is the only woman on the Food Network's popular "Iron Chef"; is an author of several cookbooks, including "Cooking from the Hip," (Houghton Mifflin, $30); and now she is the executive chef for Bon Appetit magazine.
She travels the world, teaching and mining international cultures for their culinary secrets, while raising her 1- and 4-year-old sons, who love food.
"We just ate a whole fish last night. He was fascinated with the eyes," she said. "I think it's important to start them young with learning to appreciate food. You're shaping their palate, like you are shaping their minds.
We caught up with Cora at her home in Santa Barbara, Calif., between trips and preparation for her first restaurant, a casual concept called CCQ, Cora's take on upscale global barbecue featuring sauces from around the world. Cora will open the first one in the tony South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, Calif., in September.
Q: What do you think are the main characteristics of contemporary cuisine?
A: It's a fantastic time to be a chef. There are incredible opportunities coming all the time. It blows my mind. If you look at where cooking started, now chefs have celebrity status. And I think it's just going to keep going forward. I'm having a blast.
As far as food, you're going to see more experimentation with international cuisines. Molecular gastronomy, the chemistry of cooking, will be more ingrained in what we do. Other trends I see getting stronger are the slow food movement, comfort food and classic recipes. I think in the future you'll see more experimentation in the technical area of food. There are so many areas like the sweet/savory, where pastry chefs are adding savory spice to their dishes and vice versa.
Q: What was your first recipe that you made your own?
A: My godfather, Peter J. Costas, owned a couple of restaurants and trained in French kitchens. I was about 13 or 14 and I really wanted to learn to make something great. He showed me how to make the perfect roasted chicken. Making a whole chicken, with vegetables and all that is challenging, and, of course, it wasn't perfect for a long time but I tried it out on everybody.
It is great to start with one signature dish then move along from there. I tell people, start with what you know and then branch out. Try different herbs and spices and work to find out what you like. When you're learning you put every single thought into a dish. As you become more experienced, you relax and begin to trust your instinct.
Q: I know that Julia Child became a mentor for you. How did you meet her?
A: I had started working in restaurants in college. (Cora was an exercise physiology major, which at the time seemed a disconnect, "but now it is not all," she said.) I found a job in a really nice restaurant and started studying the kitchen. I asked lots of questions. I took what I learned and ran with it and started trying things at home.
My mom suggested that maybe I could be a chef and then Julia Child came to Natchez, Miss. And I was like, `We have to go.' I went and heard her speak. Afterward, I got to meet her, and she sat me down and talked to me for about 45 minutes. Her handlers were going crazy, but she wanted to talk to this young chef.
She recommended that I go to culinary school, so I did.
(Cora graduated from the American Culinary Institute, after winning a scholarship to study with Julia Child at her home in Cambridge, Mass.)
Q: What was the most important thing you learned from her?
A: She taught me to always persevere, never settle and be the best you can be. She was so amazing. That time she sat down with me in Natchez is the biggest thing I carry with me now. That she took the time for me was so important, and it impressed me so much. I try to do the same, and I hope someday another chef down the road will have the same story about me.
Q: How do you develop your palate?
A: Everyone is looking at what other chefs are doing. You have to know how trends start. That's how chefs stay excited. I look at other countries, cultures and cuisines. Of course, you have to stay in your lane a bit and use your strengths, but there is nothing wrong with infusing a new technique here and there. As an Iron Chef, I have to change it up all the time. I'm always finding new ingredients and I have to change with every single battle, so I'm constantly researching, researching, researching.
Q: Do you have an "Iron Chef" persona? And if so, how is that different from how you normally are in the kitchen?
A: I always come in as me. We're all supposed to be tough, and I'm not like that in real life but I'm not acting, either. I get in the zone and really focus on my food. People say, `You're so sweet in person.' But you can't go in like that. You would never see a man walk in and be bubbly and perky. That's the way women are as a TV hosts, but not in the kitchen. If you are, you're going to lose. And I come in to win.
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