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From aerospace engineer to acclaimed chef: The struggles of a reluctant cook
“Some days I get to wash the dishes, and for me it’s like, zen,” confessed Chef Jay McCarthy, a Certified Culinary Professional, and named the best chef in San Antonio, Texas.
It was a strange thing to come out of the mouth of someone who earned continuous accolades, but for him it was the only time he didn't have to think. Even using the dishwasher was hazardous.
"When I'm with the dishwasher, I go, 'You see that plate? We served too much sauce. You see those bones? We have be sure to trim the bones. And I don’t know why they didn’t eat that potato, but we need to figure out why they didn’t eat that potato.' And I look at it and I’m deconstructing and it’s just a dish going to the dishwasher," he bemoaned to reporters over a luncheon at The Cafe in Hyatt City of Dreams, Manila.
This was how McCarthy's mind worked now, after spending more than three decades in the kitchen — and in the past two, all over the world.
McCarthy has created and co-created nearly 30 restaurants, though lately he doesn't stay too long once they kick off — travel doesn't allow it. He spends much of his days traveling to different countries for the Texas Beef Council, Nebraska Beef Council, and US Meat Export Federation.
He holds lectures and classes, teaching chefs his expertise: underutilized meats.
To think that McCarthy did not even want to be a chef in the first place, and spent years rejecting the idea.
"If anyone told me 'In 20 years, you're gonna be traveling the planet to show people how to cook beef,' I would have said 'No way, Jose!," he said.
McCarthy had graduated with a degree in aerospace engineering, and despite learning how to cook while he was taking it, he was insistent that he will become an engineer.
After working with air foil design and thermodynamics for a few years, he finally decided to switch to the career that everyone kept telling him to pursue.
"I didn't get to be creative. It wasn't very fun...In cooking I get to be very creative," he said.
Reality bites
Life, of course, doesn't always go in one's favor.
McCarthy suffered a setback once he embraced the idea of working as a chef. He went from having a steady income to being paid a low wage by the hour. He sacrificed a lot of money and time to learn under Florida's best chefs, which he did for six years. While he grew content with that, others weren't.
The last chef he worked under gave him the pink slip — a 90 day notice, and an order to get out and spread his wings.
"He told me, 'Jay you have 90 days to find a new job. You're doing everything perfect. If you stay here, you're not going to keep growing. You'll grow stagnant if you stay here. You need to go do your own thing,'" McCarthy recalled.
"I was mad, because I told him I didn't want to be a chef. All he did paperwork, he had to deal with personnel issues, and unruly customers. I just got to cook, make great food," he added.
Nevertheless, McCarthy followed his mentor's advice. He then went on to create a restaurant in Florida, which won "Best New Restaurant in Florida." He moved back to Texas, and set up a new restaurant that won the title "Top Restaurant in Texas."
He started to guest in television shows, and write cookbooks, and teach chefs about odd cuts — and the rest is history.
Tough pill to swallow
Despite everything he has accomplished, McCarthy still finds it all a little hard to swallow.
"It’s a funny thing. When you get good at something, whatever it is. Whether it’s writing an article, or [taking photographs], what eventually happens is you get to a point where you have to evolve. You have to go to the next level," he mused.
"So once you cross the threshold...then you’re in a learning process and you’re doing a whole new set of things. And some of them are not so fun," he continued.
Cooking, he can do. Cooking, he's best at. Calling a plumber — he doesn't see anything fun about calling a plumber.
But 30 years and 30 restaurants later, these are just details. And simply walking across a dining room would put these details in harsh light.
"I'd walk from there to here. I get to the end and go... 'The chair on that table is broken. There was a chipped glass on that table. The napkins weren't folded right. That table is missing a fork, composition 3. And there's only three chopsticks in there,'" he said.
It was the business aspect of it that made him hesitant to go all-in in the industry. While he is thankful of how his career bloomed, it will always be an obstacle for him to get over.
"I'm not over it yet, I'm still trying to get over it, for the past 30 years," he said.
But having regrets is too difficult for someone who has led such a colorful life.
"I get it now, but if I could have just kept being a cook, making great food and great sauces, and been successful at it, I probably would have stuck there. But I wouldn’t have been able to make the money, or make the travel, or have the impact that I have if I have done that," McCarthy said, seemingly torn.
Looking back, McCarthy deemed himself lucky that although he often strays too far from the passion that started it all, he still gets to come back to it.
"It takes you away from what got you into it originally, over time. And if you’re lucky enough, you get to go back to it again. And I’m lucky enough that I get to do that," he said. — AT, GMA News
