April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
FUTURE CHEF
Tim can take the heat, so he's staying in the kitchen
Now, he has a very specific career in mind.
"I've always had a passion for cooking," said Tim, who will be attending the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., this fall.
"I'm really excited to go there, because I can learn so much in two years," continued Tim, who will be majoring in culinary arts. The CIA offers a variety of culinary education programs, including a degree in food management.
The CIA is, according to its motto, "the world's premier culinary college." It has trained some of the world's most successful chefs, including Cat Cora, Michael Symon and Amanda Freitag.
Slicing and dicing
The first year of classes will teach Tim "knife skills [and] stock skills, and then [there's] a six-month externship," he said.
After that, CIA students begin working in the three restaurants that the college owns. Those restaurants are open to the public, allowing students to gain real-life experience.
Tim already has lots of experience working in a kitchen. He started out cooking for some of the toughest critics one can have: his siblings.
"Brothers can be tough with the criticism," remarked the future chef, who said he started cooking Sunday dinners when he was 13 years old. Tim has three brothers and a sister, all of whom love his cooking.
"The thing they like the most is my clam chowder," he said. "Just the other day, actually, I made them hot dog-infused potato salad. Best thing I've ever made."
Tim gives all the credit for his career plans to his mother, Doreen: "She's cooked for five children her whole life."
Tim hopes to continue to help out in his family's kitchen, even after he graduates from the CIA. His family is excited about his future career: "Nobody else has done this before in my family. They all like to eat like me, though."
In the kitchen
This summer, Tim is a cook at Slidin' Dirty in Troy. "It's a bar, but [serves] lunch and dinner. It's sliders, tacos, salads. [This is my] first real-experience cooking job that I can actually say I'm learning a lot from. I'm proud to be working there."
Although he's the youngest employee in the kitchen by about 10 years, he said he feels "just like everybody else.
"Everyone has a unique personality," said Tim about his coworkers. "You've got to be able to deal with the biggest kinds of stress when there are 30 tickets on the board and you're just starting on the first one. You have to be able to take it step by step."
At Slidin' Dirty, there are typically three or four chefs working at the same time. "You have to work as a team in order to get anything done in a restaurant," Tim explained. "That's the biggest thing I've learned: Without communication and effort, there's nothing to be accomplished."
To be a successful chef, Tim believes you need "determination. You need to get to your goals. You definitely need loyalty, either to your employees or to your owners. You've got to be on time."
Tim's first experience in the food industry was washing dishes at Testo's restaurant in Troy. He says he enjoys the busy life of restaurant work and doesn't complain about lost opportunities for a social life in the evenings.
Work is fun
In fact, it was after a vacation to New Jersey when Tim realized that he "was having more fun [working] in the restaurant" than relaxing on vacation. That confirmed his decision to pursue the culinary arts.
"I don't really want to cook anything twice," said the student, who'll adapt recipes or just "grab stuff out of the cupboard" and throw it together to create something new.
"I tried to make a sauce once and it went horribly wrong," he added, but the method works out more often than not.
Although a lot of stars on TV's Food Network attended the Culinary Institute of America, Tim isn't so sure he wants to take that path. "Every chef I've ever talked to has said not to watch the Food Network. Some of the stuff on there is just not real."
Tim dreams of opening a "breakfast bar" that will serve breakfast items all day. He thinks breakfast fare is the best cuisine: "Those foods and drinks haven't been matched yet."[[In-content Ad]]
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