{"id":4900,"date":"2015-06-22T15:01:54","date_gmt":"2015-06-22T20:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escoffier.edu\/?p=4900"},"modified":"2021-09-30T11:41:05","modified_gmt":"2021-09-30T16:41:05","slug":"auguste-escoffier-instructor-profile-getting-to-know-chef-will-packwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escoffier.edu\/blog\/austin-student-life\/auguste-escoffier-instructor-profile-getting-to-know-chef-will-packwood\/","title":{"rendered":"Auguste Escoffier Instructor Profile: Getting to know Chef Will Packwood"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Alex Charpentier, Culinary Arts Student<\/em><\/p>\n

Before I sat down for a chat with Chef Will Packwood, instructor in the Culinary Arts program<\/a> at the Austin campus of the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts I did a little research on him online.\u00a0 Here\u2019s what I found out from articles that have been written about him in the past: \u00a0Chef Packwood was born in Italy to a Texan father and an Italian mother.\u00a0 While he spent much of his childhood in Texas and Illinois he traveled to Italy often to visit his extended family.\u00a0 He attended the prestigious CIA in New York at the age of 24, has owned multiple restaurants in Austin and was named one of the Best New Chefs of 2001 by Food & Wine<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n

I admit that as a lifelong food enthusiast, home cook and current Culinary Arts student I was slightly intimidated by the idea of sitting down one on one with Chef Packwood to ask him questions about his thoughts on the industry.\u00a0 My fascination with Chefs and how they do what they do goes way back to my days in restaurant operations and catering and I have found that like most artists Chefs don\u2019t necessarily like to talk about what they do, they just prefer to do it.\u00a0 Their pleasure is in the making and doing, not in the talking about.<\/p>\n

That said, when we had a chance to sit down together after classes in the farm to table<\/a> room one humid, rainy, June afternoon I learned a lot about Chef Packwood as a person and a Chef.<\/p>\n

\"Photography<\/a>

Photography by Marc Brown<\/p><\/div>\n

Q:\u00a0 Chef Packwood, there is already a lot that has been written about you online, what can you tell me about yourself that isn\u2019t already out there?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0 Well, I love border collies!\u00a0 Seriously I do, but I expect you are more interested in things related to food right?<\/em><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 Yes, although I find border collies adorable too.\u00a0 Tell me about how you approach food.\u00a0 What is your perspective?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: \u00a0It\u2019s interesting, I have worked a lot in fine dining, both for others and in the restaurants that I have owned but I never really wanted to be pigeon holed in one cuisine.\u00a0 I have found that it is more a need that food writers and food critics have to put Chefs in a box or category for easy labeling.\u00a0\u00a0 I actually love to make Asian food at home, but I would never do a concept based on it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 Why is that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0 Because I believe that a Chef needs to fully understand a culture to be able to really sell it, to appreciate the ingredients, the flavor combinations, everything about that cuisine including the people.\u00a0 My entire family still lives in Italy and I worked in Italy for a decade.\u00a0 The Italians have a different appreciation for food and dining.\u00a0 They really socialize through food and that is the way I live my life.<\/em><\/p>\n

Food is Chef Packwood\u2019s life.\u00a0 Eating, drinking and cooking.\u00a0 He is fascinated by the producers of the ingredients that he is using, the farmers themselves, and the ones who are passionate and committed to a limited number of things.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 You have spent your career in high-end cuisine, is this why you started teaching?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0 Yes, teaching was a natural transition for me as I have stated, its part of who a Chef is.\u00a0 I had been working as a Gourmet Specialist for a local food supplier in Austin and wanted to get back to teaching to get closer to the food.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: \u00a0When did you join the Austin campus of Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts<\/a>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0 I joined in October 2014 and I primarily teach the six-week classical cuisine block, meaning the cuisines of France, Spain and Italy.\u00a0 During this six-week course we cover the most traditional dishes from each country. In France we make confits, boeuf bourguignon and lobster bisque to name a few dishes.\u00a0 In Spain its cassoulet and paella while in Italy it\u2019s of course pasta, gnocchi, risotto and polenta.\u00a0 I also teach an introduction to the wines from these countries as well as a few New World wines.\u00a0 It goes fast but the students get good exposure to the foundations of many of the dishes from these classical cuisine countries.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: \u00a0What advice would you give to someone considering culinary school<\/a>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0 You get out of it what you put into it so be ready to work hard.\u00a0 I recommend working in the industry before going to school so that you get a realistic view of what it takes to be successful.\u00a0 Do as much research as you can and come into it knowing what to expect.\u00a0 Bottom line: do your homework.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 What advice do you have for current Auguste Escoffier students?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0 I always tell my students the same thing I used to tell my kitchen team, \u201cevery day when you come in, think about what you are doing, how you can do it better, faster, make it taste better and look better.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s about the integrity of what we make.\u00a0 Chefs are givers, we revel in watching people enjoy our food, as such we strive for perfection in everything we do.\u00a0 We don\u2019t smile often, not because we aren\u2019t happy, quite the contrary, most of us love what we do or we wouldn\u2019t be doing it.\u00a0 We aren\u2019t smiling because we are concentrating on achieving perfection in what we are making while paying attention to everything happening around us in the kitchen.\u00a0 Being a good Chef requires discipline, passion, vision and an ability to communicate it.\u00a0 When you really think about it, Chefs are teachers, especially in today\u2019s kitchens.\u00a0 They are constantly showing their Sous Chef and cooks how to be better and must continue to educate their waiters and front of house teams on the food that they are producing and the ingredients behind it.\u00a0 From there, the wait staff can share this information with the customer to enhance their experience.\u00a0 The modern day Chef working in high-end cuisine is a teacher all day every day.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: \u00a0What are you most passionate about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0 I had my first chef position when I was 21\/22 and I just came across the menu I had created back then a few months ago.\u00a0 It\u2019s really interesting to see the evolution of what was important to us as Chefs at one time and how that changes based on how we mature and evolve.\u00a0 Right now I am passionate about foraging, learning about and utilizing indigenous products from the Central Texas area.\u00a0 I want to really explore what the natives, the true locals were eating before the white invasion, not only what is growing here now, but also what naturally grew here.\u00a0 I am a minimalist and a purist and I enjoy simple cuisine, which means I like to let the ingredients speak for themselves.\u00a0 This is actually much more difficult because you need to have really good product and really good technique or your mistakes will ruin your dish.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: \u00a0What keeps you up at night?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0 There is so much culinary \u201ccontent\u201d out there, food I mean and so much competition; honestly anything that feeds anybody is competition.\u00a0 Austin went from crawling to running a culinary marathon and everyone is trying to keep up.\u00a0 Sometimes hot restaurants and food trends are more about the media hype as opposed to the real quality of the food.\u00a0 For many people if they read it online then it must be the fact.\u00a0 That can be challenging for smaller restaurants and Chefs that produce really good food but remain unknown.\u00a0 As a purist, I guess that my hope is that in the end the ones putting out the best food will get recognized by people and be successful.\u00a0 After all, it\u2019s why we do what we do!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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