Pie, cake, cupcake, pudding...try your hand at baking a new recipe! Or, try coming up with your own! 

Career

Bake something! 

Do some research on culinary schools using College Confidential to find out if that is the right path for you. 

Education

Research culinary schools!

It's important to take chances and put yourself in situations where it's uncertain if you will fail or succeed. Write down 3 small ways you can do something out of your comfort zone, then try them!

Day to Day

Find 3 ways to get out of your comfort zone!

Chefs

Direct and may participate in the preparation, seasoning, and cooking of salads, soups, fish, meats, vegetables, desserts, or other foods. May plan and price menu items, order supplies, and keep records and accounts.

Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Enterprising

Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Realistic

First Interest High-Point

Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

Artistic

Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Social

Third Interest High-Point

Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Conventional

Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

Investigative

Second Interest High-Point

Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

Chefs and Head Cooks

Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers

Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations

Check the quality of raw or cooked food products to ensure that standards are met.

Monitor sanitation practices to ensure that employees follow standards and regulations.

Check the quantity and quality of received products.

Order or requisition food or other supplies needed to ensure efficient operation.

Supervise or coordinate activities of cooks or workers engaged in food preparation.

Inspect supplies, equipment, or work areas to ensure conformance to established standards.

Determine how food should be presented and create decorative food displays.

Instruct cooks or other workers in the preparation, cooking, garnishing, or presentation of food.

Estimate amounts and costs of required supplies, such as food and ingredients.

Collaborate with other personnel to plan and develop recipes or menus, taking into account such factors as seasonal availability of ingredients or the likely number of customers.

Analyze recipes to assign prices to menu items, based on food, labor, and overhead costs.

Prepare and cook foods of all types, either on a regular basis or for special guests or functions.

Determine production schedules and staff requirements necessary to ensure timely delivery of services.

Recruit and hire staff, such as cooks and other kitchen workers.

Meet with customers to discuss menus for special occasions, such as weddings, parties, or banquets.

Demonstrate new cooking techniques or equipment to staff.

Meet with sales representatives to negotiate prices or order supplies.

Arrange for equipment purchases or repairs.

Record production or operational data on specified forms.

Plan, direct, or supervise food preparation or cooking activities of multiple kitchens or restaurants in an establishment such as a restaurant chain, hospital, or hotel.

Coordinate planning, budgeting, or purchasing for all the food operations within establishments such as clubs, hotels, or restaurant chains.

Apple corers

Blast chillers

Blenders

Bone saws

Boning knives

Box graters

Braziers

Bread slicers

Broilers

Cake decorating tools

Cappuccino makers

Carbonated beverage dispensers

Chefs' knives

Commercial coffee grinders

Commercial coffeemakers

Commercial dishwashers

Commercial microwave ovens

Convection ovens

Conveyer ovens

Cream whippers

Desktop computers

Double boilers

Dry or liquid measuring cups

Electric deep-fat fryers

Electric ovens

Electric stoves

Fire suppression blankets

Food dicers

Food processors

Food shredders

Food smokers

Fruit zesters

Garbage compactors

Gas ovens

Gas stoves

Gas-powered deep-fat fryers

Griddles

Grills

Hot dog cookers

Ice shaving or crushing equipment

Ice-making machines

Infrared heat lamps

Instant-read pocket thermometers

Juice dispensers

Juice extractors

Kitchen fire extinguishers

Kitchen shears

Kitchen tongs

Knife sharpeners

Laptop computers

Mandolines

Meat grinders

Meat slicers

Meat thermometers

Melon ballers

Mixers

Oyster knives

Paring knives

Parisian cutters

Pasta machines

Personal computers

Pizza ovens

Plane graters

Portion scales

Pressurized steam cookers

Refrigerator thermometers

Rice cookers

Rolling pins

Rotisserie units

Salamanders

Serrated blade knives

Sieves

Sifters

Slicing machines

Steam kettles

Steam tables

Strainers

Toasters

Vegetable brushes

Vegetable peelers

Waffle makers

Woks

ADP eTIME

Axxya Systems Nutritionist Pro

Barrington Software CookenPro Commercial

CostGuard

Culinary Software Services ChefTec

Delphi Technology

EGS CALCMENU

EGS F&B Control

Email software

GNOME Gnutrition

Google spreadsheet

Internet browser software

IPro Restaurant Inventory, Recipe & Menu Software

Menu planning software

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Office

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft Word

Pastry Chef / Food Network Host

While in Chicago, the team encounters a roadblock-the Green RV's transmission breaks. After leaving the RV at a mechanic, the Roadtrippers meet up with Food Network host and chef Gale Gand who greets them with home-baked muffins. Gale tells the team about her life of traveling, working in France, and meeting Julia Child. Afterward, the Roadtrippers meet with Alex Ross, a comic book artist who tells them about his incredible luck in his career, but stresses that anyone can do anything they want-they just have to put in the effort. Afterward, the team hears bad news: the RV won't be fixed in time for their next interviews. So, they decide to book flights to their next stop in Washington, D.C...despite that Antoine has never been on a plane before.

Chicago - Washington, D.C.

If someone had said to my parents that even at age 20 what do you think Gale's gonna be, it wouldn't have been totally clear. People go, tell me what your path was so I can do it too. And I'm like no no no don't do it how I did it. >> [LAUGH] >> But if I had done it any other way I wouldn't be where I am. When I'm around ten and 11 years old I start making jewelry and stringing beads. And then in high school I take silver- and goldsmithing classes at school. I take every class they've got, they have no more, so now what do you do? So I find a lady locally who's a silversmith and take classes with her and negotiate with the high school to get extra credit. So that's sort of the start of me being this sort of self managed person who finds a path they like, worked the system so that I get to do it more, and I get credit for it. And I go to art school to get my degree. After three years I just can't take it. And I'm not loving it, and I'm not feeling good. But what I do love, is I love my waitressing job after school. I loved how someone could come in a bad mood and I could turn that around. You know, I could fix it, >> Yeah. >> Could fix it for a moment. I loved everything about it. And one day one of the line cooks didn't show up at work. And they looked at me and they said, Gail, can you cook? And I said no, I can't cook. [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] >> I'm from the North Shore of Chicago. We make reservations. >> [LAUGH] >> And they threw an apron at me and they said, you can cook now. Get in the kitchen. And I always get choked up when I talk about this. I was completely terrified for like four seconds. And I go in the kitchen and I start to kind of, you know, it's kind of like tinkering on a piano. You've never played in your life and suddenly you have to play a concerto because the guy who was on next didn't show up. Looked at the mushrooms and looked at the red peppers and saw I had these alive ingredients that I had to work with. I had this weird sensation as if like this sense of calm came over me. As if I had found my home. And it was this familiar place and feeling that I had never been before, and I can't explain why it was like that. It's like speaking a language that you didn't know you knew. >> Mm-mm. >> Like maybe you spoke it as a kid and then forgot or something. But I don't know why I felt so comfortable there, but I did. And it felt like a calling almost. >> What was the first doorway to getting into the kitchen? >> Well, I dropped out of college for a year. I went to Europe for a bit of it. I went to France. And I slept in my car and spent all my money on eating in three star restaurants all over France. I'd show up for my reservation at 7:30 in the morning and say hi, I'm here for my lunch reservation at noon. And they'd be like, well, you're a bit early for your reservation. And I'd say I was just wondering if maybe I could spend the morning in the kitchen. And they would slam the door and go away and come back and they were like oh, we talked to the chef and they said that if you can sit in the corner and stay out of the way, and not talk. I'm like, that's what I would love to do. And what you do is after the first half hour, find the guy in the kitchen who's doing the most menial task, and you walk over to him,. You go, you know what, I bet you have better things to do than just peel that bag of potatoes. Why don't you let me do that? And like slowly they would let you handle the food. And they would let you in the kitchen. And then it becomes sort of this this funny like they want to show you their secrets. Like a guy would come over and was like come here, I want to show you something. >> [LAUGH] >> And he was stuffing truffle slices under the skin of a chicken. And by the end of the morning, then you sit down for lunch. You know everybody. Everybody loves you because you've done their grunt work for them. All kinds of extra stuff comes to the table, and you learn a ton. If you're smart, you can figure out where to get the knowledge that you need for whatever it is you want to try to do. >> Did you ever have a feeling of maybe feeling inadequate for this when you first got in? >> I did. My old chef, who I had worked part time with, called and he has a pastry position he needs filling. I'd never really been a pastry chef, but he's like, can't you just come and cover for me for six months? And I thought, are you the person that answers back and says sure, yeah, okay, let's do this? Or are you someone who sort of throws obstacles in the way and says well, I'm not quite ready and I really wanted to have done this first and. >> I definitely am. >> Is that you? >> Not with everything, but with some things I feel like I need to do something in order to feel qualified for it. >> Here's what you need to do. You need to lie and say you're qualified and then when you get there, you will be. >> [LAUGH] >> And my example of that, this chef says to me this one morning, do you know how to make croissants? And the right answer to everything in the kitchen is yes chef, whether the real answer is no, you always say yes chef. If they say, is your work done? Yes chef. Do you need something to do? Yes, chef. Just say yes to the chef, right? So what do I do after work? I go home that night, I make seven different batches of croissants from seven different books, I stay up all night and teach myself how to do it. And when I come to work the next day, and he says about those croissants, you know how to make those? When I say yes, I'm not lying because now I do because I've prepared. And you might just need to put yourself in some of those positions a couple times to learn that about yourselves. What can you do and what really can't you do? And I remember when we first met Julia Child, she's like so, tell me your story. Where did you go to school? And I said well, I'm mostly self taught. She said, oh darling, never say you're self taught. Always say you learned in the field. So the first thing was sort of to learn how to glorify your experience a little bit. So mine is this sort of collage of experiences. If you think about, should I got live in France for a year or not? Just do it, just do stuff. As long as you're safe, just get as many opportunities as you can and meet as many people as you can. And say yes as much as you can. And that will help that thing find you. It's trying to find you, right now. It's looking for you. But you've got to be out there for it to find you. So I think just that. >> Cool. >> Awesome. >> And call me in five years and tell me what it was. >> Oh yeah. >> [LAUGH] >> Most definitely. 

Experience

Passion

Interview

Did you ever have a feeling of maybe feeling inadequate for this, when you first got in? >> I did. I did, but I think my drive like overcame it. >> Mm-hm. Because you loved it so much? >> Well, I did, yeah. And that was the struggle. I mean, I started waitressing at 19. So it takes me from 19 to 27, to come to terms with, I'm choosing a field my parents hate, I'm choosing a field that there's no money in, or seemed like there wouldn't be. >> [LAUGH] >> I don't have any background, this is not what my education is in, and yet I couldn't, it was like a magnet, I just couldn't resist it. It was my own personal Interest that was stronger than any of that other stuff, and it overrode the fact that I didn't have it. 

Desire

Drive Overcame Experience

Even up to this point now, what motivates you to do what you do, and to keep pushing forward? >> I think it's, I actually really love the work. And people ask all the time are you so, do you cook at home? And I'm, like, oh yeah, I make dinner every night. They're like, aren't you sick of it? You've been cooking all day, and you want to go home and cook? And for me, I just, I love the medium. There's just, it offers so much that I just derive so much joy from. So I think the trick is finding the thing that brings you joy. And when you find it, be honest that that's the thing, cuz it might not be what everybody else wants you to do. >> Yeah. 

Honesty

Love The Medium

I didn't think up to do TV. TV called me. I liked it, and I called TV back. [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] >> And I called them back again, and I called them back again. But I could see it was a medium for me that worked. It's a great way to teach. You can have a camera overhead showing exactly what you wanna show up close. And by that point I have the skills to communicate what I'm trying to teach, because of my dad and my previous stage experience. So some it is you fall naturally into what you're good at or what makes you happy, but there is that initial sort of, it calling you or it offering itself up. And I've been with people who, Get those offers and they've got a way of denying that it's there or denying that it's an offer or saying yeah, I'm gonna do that next year. You know like they don't grab it. 

Choices

Opportunity

TV Called Me

A girlfriend came to me and she wanted to move to New York, and she didn't want to do it alone. And I go to New York for two days, I make seven phone calls. I get six nos, we don't need anybody, and I got one yes. We're looking, we're interviewing, you wanna come in? I go into this restaurant, Jams, were Jonathan Jackson is the Chef, and they interview me and like me enough and say, would you like to come back tonight and try out? And part of it is saying yes. Say yes. >> [LAUGH] >> So I say yes, I go back. [LAUGH] You know I'm scared. I don't know the kitchen I don't know the people, I don't know the menu. You know, but it's an experience that you, so I say yes I go back. While I'm trying out that night making food and just working with the staff there, the grill guy goes, do you need an apartment? I'm like well yeah you know if I get this job yeah I guess I would. He's like, cuz I have a friend who needs to sub let for a year. She's a film maker and she's French and she's got to go out to LA to work on some film and she needs to sublet her apartment in the West Village. I'm like yeah I need one of those yeah. So he's like okay I'll call her. And like in one weekend I come back from this one weekend in New York and I've got a job. I've got an apartment and they need another person where I work. So I've got a job for my friend, and I got to Mary and say, guess what? I got us an apartment! I got us jobs and men! She goes, well you know, I really, my resume's not back from the printer yet. And I really wanted a chance to send that out. And I'm like, oh, my God. She's not ready. She's blowing me off. And I go to New York by myself. >> [LAUGH] >> That's what I'm talking about, someone who puts obstacles, it was her idea! >> [LAUGH] >> So I moved to New York. So that starts my sort of more international restaurant experience. 

Say Yes

One day, one of the line cooks didn't show up at work. And they looked at me and they said, "Gale, can you cook?" And I said, "No, I can't cook." You know, I'm from the north shore of Chicago, you know, we make reservations. And they threw an apron at me and they said, "You can cook now. Get in the kitchen." And I was--I always get choked up when I talk about this-- I was completely terrified for like four seconds. And I go in the kitchen, and I start to kind of--you know, it's like tinkering on the piano. You've never played in your life, and suddenly you have to play a concerto 'cause the guy who was on next didn't show up. And you get to decide sort of which kind of person are you. You know, are you the person that answers back and says, "Sure, yeah, okay, let's do this" or are you someone who sort of, you know, throws obstacles in the way and says, "Well, I'm not quite ready..."? 

Character

Gale Gand Highlight

Did you ever have a feeling of maybe feeling inadequate for this when you first got in? >> I did. My old chef, who I had worked part time with called, and he has a pastry position, he needs filling. I'd never really been a pastry chef, but he's like, can't you just come and cover for me for six months? And I thought, you know, are you the person that answers back and says, sure, yeah, okay, let's do this. Or I'll use someone who's sort of throws obstacles in the way and says well, I'm not quite ready and I really wanted to have done this first and. >> I definitely have. >> Is that you? >> Not with everything, but with some things, I feel like I need to do something in order to feel qualified for it. >> Yeah. >> Like >> Here's what you need to do. You need to lie and say you're qualified, and then when you get there, you will be. [LAUGH] And my example is that, this chef says to me one morning, do you know how to make croissants? And the right answer to everything in the kitchen is, yes chef. [LAUGH] Whether the real answer is no, you always say, yes chef. If they say like is your work done, yes chef. Do you need something to do, yeah. Just say yes to the chef, right? [LAUGH] So what do I do after work? I go home that night. I make seven different batches of croissants from seven different books. I stay up all night [LAUGH] and teach myself how to do it. And when I come to work the next day and he says about those croissants, you now how to make those? When I say yes I'm not lying cuz now I do. 

Dedication

Hard Work

Perseverance

Yes Chef

When I'm around ten and 11 years old I start making jewelry and like stringing beads. >> Mm-hm. >> And then in high school I take silver and goldsmithing classes at school. I take every class they've got. >> Oh my. >> They have no more. So now what do you do? So I find a lady locally who's a silversmith and take classes with her and negotiate with the high school to get extra credit. So that sort of the start of me being the self managed person who finds a path they like, work the system so that I get to do it more and I get credit for it 

Determination

Individualism

Instincts

Work The System

What was the first I guess your doorway to getting into the kitchen? >> Well I dropped out of college for a year. I went to Europe for a bit of it, I went to France. And I slept in my car and spent all my money on eating in three-star restaurants all over France. I'd show up for my reservation at 7:30 in the morning. I'd say, hi, I'm here for my lunch reservation at noon, and they'd be like, well, you're a bit early for your reservation. And I'd say, I was just wondering if maybe I could spend the morning in the kitchen. And they'd slam the door and go away and come back and they're like, we talked to the chef and they said that you can just, if you can sit in the corner and stay out of the way, and not talk. I'm like, that's what I would love to do. And what you do is after like the first half hour find the guy in the kitchen who's doing the most menial task. And you walk over to him, you go, you know what, I bet you have better things to do than just peel that bag of potatoes. Why don't you let me do that? And like slowly they'd let you handle the food and they'd let you in the kitchen and then it becomes sort of this funny like hey want to show you their secrets. Like a guy would come over, it's like come here I want to show you something. And he was stuffing truffle slices under the skin of a chicken, and by the end of the morning then you sit down for lunch. You know everybody, everybody loves you because you've done their grunt work for them, all kinds of extra stuff comes to the table and you learn a ton. If you're smart you can figure out where to get the knowledge that you need for whatever it is you wanna try to do. 

Gale Gand

Pastry Chef / Food Network Host

Videos

Gale Gand

Milestones

Education

Career

Career Roadmap

My work combines:

My work combines:

Food

Television

Being Creative

Interviewed By

Life in Motion