To create a memorable dish, the technique, ingredients, and layers of flavor must all come together in harmony. For Julia Child, it was sole meuniere. For Alex Guarnaschelli, it was the cheese souffle – and the steak fajitas for Antonia Lofaso.
Today we’ll be listing down some famous chefs and the dishes that changed their lives and inspired them to start cooking. With each bite, these dishes sparked a hunger in them to discover all there is to know about food and master the art of cuisine.
The humming of their taste buds is what inspired these now-famous chefs to pursue their afresh passion.
Grilled Octopus | Fabrizio Villalpando
The COVID-19 pandemic was more to less the same for everyone. Like most of us, Fabrizio, too, had a lot of time to spare. He said that he found himself watching a lot of cooking content and noticing that he finds a lot of comfort in it. And so he decided that this was a good thing and that he’d love to give it a shot.
When he tried the grilled octopus with Meyer lemon jelly at the Ivory on Sunset in Mondrian Hotel, he found it to be extraordinary. He thought that it had been the first time that he had tasted a dish that was perfectly balanced.
Flourless Chocolate Cake | Jaíne Mackievicz
Jaine grew up in a distant town located in Brazil, where she’d loved to help her parents while they cooked. She joked that there were two reasons behind it, one being that she loved to taste different things, and the other was that there wasn’t much else to do.
Jaine, however, grew up to study law and become a lawyer. But when she discovered that that wasn’t the right journey for her, she enrolled in the culinary faculty of Boston University’s Metropolitan College.
In one of the classes, she tasted a chocolate-coffee cake, which made her reconnect with a feeling she had when she was around her father, who had passed away at that point.
Egg Scramble With Fresh Mushrooms | Daniel Boulud
Owning 14 restaurants all over the world, two Michelin stars, ten books, and way too many awards, Daniel Boulud is one of the most professional and famous chefs out there. He reminisced on the time when he would find himself spending endless hours in the kitchen with his grandmother while she cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the entire family.
It was Brouillard (scrambled eggs) with fresh mushrooms that filled Boulud to the brim with passion for cooking. He talked about the fall and spring mushroom season when he’d go to the fields with his grandmother to collect wild mushrooms from their “secret spots.”
Has a dish ever spoken to your soul?