Life As A Culinary Student: Recipes Of Iconic Chefs

By Carly DeFilippo—Student, School of Culinary Arts

As I round the corner on the last lap of culinary school, it's amazing to consider how far my classmates and I have come. Less than eight months ago, many of us didn't know how to tell the difference between oregano and marjoram. Today, we're tackling the recipes of the greatest chefs of our time.

After working through a seemingly endless array of techniques, our class has arrived at the point in our program where we spend five days crafting menus by five incredible chefs: Mario Batali, Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller, Rick Bayless and Ming Tsai. Yet, despite the caliber of these culinary leaders, I didn't initially feel excited about these lessons. Of course, I have immense respect for all these chefs, but, as a student, I have typically found that I learn more by studying a general concept than by following a recipe.

But oh, how I was wrong. Just like any line cook who has worked under a truly great chef, "merely following a recipe" turned out to be quite the lesson in and of itself.