A few thoughts for aspiring young chefs

Recently I had the privilege to teach a 1st year course on bakery in St Lawrence College, Kingston.
It was one of the most gratifying experiences of my life. It felt really good to see students enter a classroom with very little knowledge of bakery and then leave 12 weeks later completely changed and inspired.
It also forced me to look back at the scientific basics that are necessary knowledge in the kitchen.
I am constantly amazed whenever I think about the fact that there are just 6 basic ingredients used in the bakeshop and from those (depending on how one controls the chemical reactions) we can produce hundreds and hundreds of different dishes.
It also brings me to the sad realization that there are many young chefs out in the hotel and restaurant world who are vainly trying to create highly technical dishes without the necessary basic knowledge.
In early December I dined in Susur Lee’s restaurant in Toronto. I happen to believe that Susur is the most skilled and creative chef in Canada. The meal was in every way as near as one can get to absolute perfection, and yet I have actually heard Susur say that on many occasions he enters the kitchen thinking that he does not have enough knowledge.
I consider that the fault of many chefs today is that they are under the impression that theoretic knowledge is not as important as practical knowledge, and some even dare to believe that they have learned everything there is to know. I have been cooking professionally for over twenty years and I am constantly learning. Every time I enter the kitchen I find out something new.
Take something as basic as the baking of cookies for instance. An apprentice pastry chef needs to understand that if a cookie recipe has baking powder or baking soda in it, it will produce a cookie that spreads out when cooked. He also needs to know that the addition of maple syrup or corn syrup or molasses also causes cookies to spread. When you know and understand these things you can control the way that you wish your cookies to form. This is the kind of knowledge that young chefs are apt to dismiss as soon as they learn it and this is also why so many chefs and pastry chefs cannot achieve the perfection that Susur strives for.
I admire the likes of Thomas Elia and Richard Hendy of St Lawrence College. They both spend their lives trying to impart this knowledge into the minds of young apprentice chefs.
A chef must never forget that information is always helpful, but if it comes along with experience it becomes vital. Ambition requires knowledge.