By Husayn Allmart

Gonzalo Gatica, 43, lives in New Haven, Connecticut, where he is a teacher at a vocational school. He teaches his students the basics of the kitchen and how to work with food. He is also my cousin. We had a recent visit in the Chicago area and I had a chance to catch up and ask him a few questions.

When did you first know you wanted to be a chef?

My first interest in the culinary aspect came from my grandmother, when I was barely able to see over the table in our kitchen. I remember seeing her cook, on a propane stove actually, in Quilpue, Chile. I remember her boiling potatoes. She would throw away the water, and I would tell her that all of the vitamins from the potatoes were in the water. I just knew.

You were about 12 at that point?

No, I was six or seven years old back then. Then I came to the United States, and I went to a culinary program in one of the high schools in Bloomington, Indiana. After three years of cooking in high school, I went to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. I became an apprentice with the school there, and I did a fellowship for two additional years. I worked with Tim Ryan, who is the president of the school today. After that, I basically worked for a country club as a working chef. I worked at mom and pop restaurants, large corporations, and so forth, for 20-something years. Now I'm back to teaching vocational high school students, in New Haven, Connecticut.

When did you become a teacher?

I've always been a teacher. It's just that now I'm in a classroom.

You work with at-risk youth?

Well, they’re a special group of kids. They’re very needy and it’s a poorer section. These children don’t do well in regular schools…they learn differently. That’s what they get in the technical school, a different way of learning, and having a place in society. An important place in society.

How do they respond to you when you teach them how to cook?

They love it. They're able to discover something they didn't know they had. It's great to discover. It's like, wow, I didn't know I could do that.

What do you teach them?

I teach them simple things like how to hold a knife, how to cut things, how to bake cookies from scratch, how to bake bread from scratch, and the aspects of the kitchen. The next chef teaches them the next level, different methods of cooking. I just prepare them for that.

If you had to give any advice or words of wisdom to someone that wanted to be a chef, what would you say?

The kitchen is hot. If you can't stand the heat, don't go in. But if it's in your blood, do it. It's very difficult; it's long hours, it's on your feet. You're staying away from your family, it's very stressful, very demanding. And a lot of times there aren't many rewards.

So why do it?

Well, because you love it. You gotta love it. It is you.

What was your favorite place to work at?

My favorite place probably was Congress Rottisserie. It was a nouveau style cuisine, moderately priced, we did chicken salmon, corn. Everything that can be rotisseried, we did.

What's a rotisserie? Is it like a spit?

It's a spit with the fire on the side.

Why was that your favorite place?

I was able to be the most creative at that place. I had some people working for me from around the world. We were able to play with ingredients from around the world and create new dishes, and it was quite successful. And interesting.

What's your approach to food?

I guess it's respect. You respect food…and it’s an art. You bring out the best of whatever ingredients you have, and…like for example, if somebody gives you a very ripe, perfectly ripe pear, tree ripened pear, what’s the best way to eat it? A lot of people would say you gotta cook it, sauté it, bake it poach it. But sometimes, you just wash it and eat it because it’s just perfect. Being able to find out the best way, whatever the ingredients you have.

It's about not only respecting the food, but also finding out what it needs, how to best prepare it. If you get asparagus at the very beginning of the season, they’re very easy to prepare, steam and so forth, but later on in the season they become thicker, stockier, woodier. All depends on what it is…

Have you read Like Water for Chocolate?

No, but I saw the movie and it was awesome. One of the themes from the story is that people who are in love make better food.

Why’s that?

Because...my wife is saying no!...When you really, really love your food, it's just a certain passion you have for it, and you take greater care. You put a lot of emotions, you put a lot into it, sad and happy and so forth.

Do you think there’s such a thing as a perfect meal? What would it be?

I don't know. It changes every day.

I was reading in Kitchen Confidential how if you ask a lot of chefs what their favorite meal is, it wouldn't be glazed pears with truffles.

Simple. A lot of times, the simpler the meal, the better it is.

Why's that?

It goes back to the beginning of the perfect thing of whatever ingredients you have. If you have fresh sea scallops, just freshly caught, you can almost eat them raw. If you eat them raw they're sweet. If they're a little older, then you can do other things to them. But if you have a really good product you don't have to do much to it. It's good because it's just good. Add a little bit of lemon and parsley, and that's it.

Do you have a favorite meal?

Steak and mashed potatoes.

You've kind of jumped around, you've been in the kitchen, been a manager, now you're in the classroom. What led to those transitions?

Just personal growth. You reach a time when you want to do something a little different but still work with the food aspect. Management at the front of the house is a little bit different than at the back of the house. Teaching, you know I get a lot of joy out of teaching children how to discover food by themselves.

If you had any advice to someone going to a restaurant what would you say?

Check and see if the bathrooms are clean. If the bathrooms are clean, usually the kitchen will be clean. That's a good rule of thumb.

In Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain says to watch out for the "specials." Especially fish. The kitchen buys fish on Wednesday for the weekend, and whatever’s left over they serve on Monday with a special sauce and call it a special.

Yeah, you gotta watch out for the specials.