He describes lettuces as “salady things,” decorative spun sugar as “sugar-curly things” and microgreens as “some sort of garnishy thing.” If Keegan Gerhard ever tires of being a world-class pastry chef, he can take a stab at stand-up comedy, as he demonstrated last week at Johnson & Wales University.
While much of his droll humor bounced off the backs of the early- morning, standing-room-only audience, his most critical points remained with them through the end of his two-hour presentation.
As the most recent in the university’s Distinguished Visiting Chef series, Gerhard’s comments to the fledgling dough punchers were more a stream of consciousness filled with details that might otherwise have been lost on a roomful of young adults up, dressed and out at 9 a.m.
Ranging from his disdain for the overwrought architecture of showy desserts to an even stronger dislike of additives in ice cream, he managed to back into a few life lessons for those who want to carve out a career in a professional kitchen.
Which is exactly what Jaime Olivo of Alamosa and Californian Heather Sanchez plan to do.
“I wanted to hear what (Gerhard) had to say about the ways in which flavors complement each other and how we can use a variety of ingredients,” Olivo said.
But sous chef David Vigil of Maggiano’s Little Italy was most taken by non-food related information. “I was most interested in chef’s philosophy of how to be a good manager and a good chef,” said Vigil as Gerhard admonished his audience to remember the importance of working as a culinary team in the front and back of the house.
“It doesn’t do any good to yell at a waiter because he didn’t get an order right, because it’s gonna affect the way he feels about himself, and the goal of a good restaurant is to be able to resolve differences and shortcomings without anybody going away mad,” Gerhard said as he demonstrated a technique for making a caramel sauce to accompany rum-roasted pineapple.
As he worked magic assembling a chocolate passion fruit tart with creole sauce and banana passion fruit sorbet, he reminded the students how important it is to treat kitchen colleagues, from the dishwasher on up, with dignity.
“You never know when that dishwasher leaves whether he’s going to start his own restaurant. You might go for an interview for the top spot and get a big surprise when he’s the one you’re gonna work for.”
Gerhard, corporate pastry chef for Las Vegas Gourmet Imports, has served as executive pastry chef at New Orleans’ Windsor Court Hotel and was the technical adviser to the American Culinary Federation’s 2001 Team USA – one of the pastry world’s most formidable competitions. That was the year the American team took a gold medal.
Gerhard brushes such achievements aside, saying, “I’m just a guy who goes to work every day to make stuff people aren’t supposed to eat.”
But having trained under the likes of famed French-born pastry chef Jacquy Pfeiffer and done time in the kitchens of the Four Seasons, Charlie Trotter, the Ritz-Carlton and the Waldorf Astoria, he can afford to be self-deprecating – and the students know it. They were attentive and respectful.
Hannah Miller, a third-year culinary student from Pennsylvania, took a seat on the front row, so as not to miss anything.
“More than his recipes, I just enjoyed hearing his philosophy, especially the part about respecting one another. That works anywhere, particularly in this business.”
Megan Nieminen appreciated hearing information she can use.
“Chef (Gerhard) talks about real-life situations, and seems so down to earth,” she said. “He talks with real passion, which you have to bring to this job.”
Nieminen, a Californian who is leaning toward artisan breads and pastries, said Gerhard reinforced her enthusiasm.
“He does interesting things with contrasting textures and flavors. It’s the sort of thing that makes your taste buds dance.”
Staff writer Ellen Sweets can be reached at 303-820-1284 or esweets@denverpost.com.
