Chef Guy was my favorite chef at Le Cordon Bleu Paris. He always took the time to explain things in detail, helping me understand why things work the way they do. He was the one who said, "Ce n'est pas grave," (It's not so bad) when I knocked my saucepan full of a wonderful sauce I spent 45 minutes making to the floor during class. He also showed me the tape from when he appeared as one of the first competitors on Iron Chef, my favorite cooking show of all time.

This weekend, he embarks on a new and exciting adventure. He will be working for my idol, Pierre Gagnaire, at his new restaurant in Tokyo. This is an unbelievable opportunity for him and a chance to return to Japan where he lived and worked for over 15 years.

We met for a drink after I got off of work, and Chef Guy offered me three sage pieces of advice.

One, know your ingredients. It's not enough to know that a carrot is orange and tastes slightly sweet. Instead, to truly understand a carrot, you must know what it tastes like cooked many different ways. How does it behave when baked versus steamed? What flavors emerge? When is it in season. Where does it come from? How many different varieties are there? When I think about it, I can't answer most of these questions. I've never spent any time really studying my ingredients and getting to know them inside and out.

Two, always ask why. In cooking and pastry, there are no stupid questions. It's important to understand why something is the way it is. Why is water necessary when making a Hollandaise sauce? How much oil can you add and when? If you don't understand how baking powder really works and why it's used instead of baking soda, well, you better learn. It made me realize that at my current internship, I don't ask why very much. Instead, I just follow orders and do as I'm told. Once I'm back at work, there will be a lot more questions emanating from my lips.

Three, keep your mind open. Just because a dish is made a certain way doesn't mean there aren't a thousand other ways to do it. In school, we learned how to temper chocolate the old fashioned way. But unbeknownst to me, there are actually several ways to achieve the same result. To really learn, you must start with the basics, and once you've mastered those, the possibilities are endless.

I thought those were pretty profound words. When was the last time I really investigated a fig or a pear? How many times have I asked why in the last week? Have I been keeping an open mind when learning? It really made me think about how I function in the kitchen. I have so much to learn.

So if you have any sage words of advice, I'd love to hear them. Feel free to comment below.

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