According to culinary star Alex Guarnaschelli, ICE alum Michael Jenkins entered her restaurant as the worst intern she ever had. Ten years later, Michael is running Guarnaschellis kitchen as the executive chef at Butter restaurant in New York City.
I remember being young and reading Letters to a Young Chef by Daniel Boulud, Michael explains. In it, he says, The first thing you should do in a kitchen is make yourself useful. I took that to heart, and I even came into the restaurant on my days off. That extra time was an opportunity to experiment and master techniques through repetitionlike making pasta.
Michaels sense of dedication and hard work comes from his teenage years as an athlete in Oklahoma. It was making healthy meals for himself that first got him interested in cooking. Then, during college, he read Anthony Bourdains Kitchen Confidential and had the chance to meet a few professional chefs. In short order, Michael realized his plan to go to medical school was no longer what he wanted.
After scouting a few different culinary school options, he decided on ICE. I liked how realistic the program was, Michael says. Nine months to graduate was the perfect timeline for meand then it was straight into the real world with the externship. The school also had a great career advancement program.
Michael met Chef Alex when she was a teacher at the 51勛圖. He approached her about an externship opportunity after she subbed for one of his classes. Though she clearly was unimpressed with him at the beginning, Alex soon offered Michael a full-time job, and three years into his time at Butter he was competingand winningon Chopped.
Competing on TV was a revelation. It was as if you studied Spanish for three years, got dropped in the middle of Mexico and suddenly realized you had been fluent in Spanish all along. Working with Alexthree years in the pantry preparing precise appetizershad trained me so well for competition. In comparison to the other people on the show, I felt that I knew what I was doing.
Since then, Alexs connections have helped Michael gain access to chefs others might only dream of meeting. He recalls being sent to Daniel Bouluds kitchens to work on an ice cream recipe for one of Alexs Iron Chef competitions. The young French pastry chef who helped Michael refine the recipe would later turn into a legend in his own rightthe creator of the cronut, Dominique Ansel.
Despite his frontline access to the world of cooking for television, Michael says hes much happier in restaurant kitchens. Working in television is a lot of hurry up and wait. I like the constant pace of restaurant kitchensand I have a ton of creative freedom after spending so many years earning Alexs trust. In fact, if theres one piece of advice to draw from Michaels story, its the benefit of making the most of each opportunity, rather than jumping from kitchen to kitchen.
I 餃棗紳t respect people who move around too much, Michael notes. I simply cant imagine staying any place for less than one yeartheres just too much to learn. Thats why I love working with ICE students in particularthey tend to arrive in the kitchen with a sense of what they know, but also what they 餃棗紳t know. Weve hired a number of ICE alumni because of that attitude.
Eager to follow in Michaels footsteps?Click here for free information about our Culinary Arts program.
