Chef Profile: Jimmy Gherardi
The Chef: Chef Jimmy Gherardi is a Certified Master Chef and Chief Culinary Advisor for Pierre Foods.
The Toolbox: Seems like lately, simple is better with the chefs we’re profiling at BehindTheKnife.com, and Chef Gherardi is no exception. He spreads his tools between a soft-shoulder bag and two rolling Stanley tool carriers.
The Tools: Assorted knives, tongs, measuring cups, a juicer, spatulas, grater, sifter, spoons, whisks, and a rolling pin.
The Sentimental Tool: Unlike Chef Trevino’s good-luck charms, Gherardi’s sentiments run towards the strictly utilitarian. An old wine cork retriever an old chef gave him is about it.
A Non-Kitchen Tool You Can’t Live Without: “A screwdriver,” he responded matter-of-factly. “I had a spice mixture in a bottle that had become solid, and I needed something to break it up. I saw a Philips head screwdriver nearby, ran it through the dishwasher, and used it to break up the mixture. It’s been in my toolbox ever since.” Does he use it for anything else? “Oh yes, I’ve also used it as a screwdriver.”
The contraption at the top is the old cork retriever Gherardi mentioned.
The You’re Kidding, Right? Tool: A pair of nurse’s scissors. Once, he needed a small pair of scissors to cut patterns out of parchment paper, and standard-issue kitchen shears were the only thing he could find. A quick-thinking assistant saved the day and reached for the kitchen emergency kit. Et voila! Like the screwdriver, the nurse’s scissors have been a part of Gherardi’s kit ever since.
The Tool That Twisted A Recipe: “I used a melon baller to make tiny chicken meatballs for one of the children’s recipes I created for Pierre Foods,” he reveals.
The Professional Analysis: One glance at his toolbox, and Gherardi says that a psychotherapist’s first question would be “Why do you hold onto this stuff?” After all, he admits that of his vast collection of knives, he uses only two: a chef’s knife and a paring knife.
Did I miss an explanation of why chefs have a toolbox for their knives and tools if they are working in the same kitchen all of the time?
Do they do anything to protect the knife edge other than to keep each knife in a separate compartment in the tool roll?