Self-taught Michelin Star Chefs
It’s one of my all-time favourite Saturday or Sunday morning rituals, watching TV cooking shows. Often the regular hosts invite established and decorated professional chefs to perform and showcase one of their dishes. I have to admit, I have tried many times to recreate some of the dishes I thought would be easy, only to discover the hard true fact that isn’t as simple as it seems.
Becoming a well-recognised chef is a decade-long path of dedication, sacrifice, experimentation and a little drizzle of luck of course. Gaining a Michelin is the ultimate decor a chef is striving for. It’s the recognition of your hard work and lifetime achievements.
For background, the history of Michelin stars began in the early 1900s when the Michelin guide was first published. The guide was originally created to help French motorists find good places to eat and stay while on the road. In 1926, the guide began rating restaurants on a scale of one to three stars. Michelin stars have since become one of the most prestigious awards a restaurant can receive.
Key Points:
- Self-taught Michelin star chefs exist.
- Most of them have been earning their stripes as apprentices in other kitchens in order to master their craft.
- Attention to detail is the guiding principle on how to run a successful kitchen.
- Refining and inventing a new style and signature dishes takes years and multiple failures.
- The relentless quest for perfection and finding new and matching ingredients and techniques is what all chefs have in common.
- Apprenticeships are the most common route to becoming an acclaimed chef.
Are there any self-taught Michelin star chefs?
Self-taught star chefs do exist. Most of them have been earning their stripes as apprentices in other kitchens in order to master their craft. Learning the attention to detail as the guiding principle on how to run a successful kitchen is the foundation of becoming a highly rated professional chef yourself. Refining and inventing a new style and your signature dishes, however, takes years and multiple failures in order to perfect your cooking skills.
If there is one common trait that all chefs have it is that they have an relentless quest for perfection and find new and matching ingredients and techniques to deliver the much-wanted wow factor for their customers.
There are many self-taught Michelin star chefs, including
- Heston Blumenthal
- Marco Pierre White
- Ferran Adria
- Thomas Keller
- Alain Ducasse
- Joel Robuchon
- Pierre Gagnaire
Is Gordon Ramsay really a self-taught chef?
The well-known TV chef from the UK was born in Scotland in 1966. He began his career as a professional footballer, but his career was cut short due to injuries. He then attended culinary school and apprenticed under several Michelin-starred chefs, including Marco Pierre White and Albert Roux. Ramsay eventually opened his own restaurants, which have been awarded 16 Michelin stars.
He claims to have learned the hard way in his years as an apprentice in France. Despite the language barrier he earned his stripes in probably one of the toughest environments. After Ramsay had worked hard at Le Gavroche for 12 months, his boss, Albert Roux, invited the young chef to work alongside him at the renowned Diva, in a luxurious ski resort hotel in the French Alps, as his second in command. This kick-started his career as he moved to Paris at still a relative young age of 23-year-old. There he started working with Guy Savoy and Joël Robuchon, both highly praised Michelin-starred chefs.
Who is the youngest 3-star Michelin professional chef?
Massimiliano Alajmo is an Italian chef who is the owner and head chef of the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Le Calandre. He is also regarded as the youngest professional chef ever to receive three Michelin stars, having been awarded the honor at the still relatively young age of 28.
Max as he is often called is from Venice, Italy and began his culinary career working in his family’s restaurant with his brother. He has won a number of prestigeous awards, including the prestigious “Best Young Chef in the World” award from the Gambero Rosso guide.
He is in charge of all the kitchens which are part of the Alajmo family’s business. This includes two one-starred restaurants – Montecchia, also in Padua, and Quadri, which is located in St Mark’s Square, Venice. Is also means he oversees the family’s several bistros and cafes, including a pop-up restaurant in the Venetian lagoon, where it is possible to stylishly pick up your own takeaway mean, if you have boat of course.
Are there any 5-star Michelin chefs?
There is no such thing as a 5 star Michelin chef. First of all, Michelin stars are awarded to restaurants, not chefs. Second, the maximum amount awarded to a restaurant can be 3. Currently, there are 133 restaurants with 3 Michelin stars, 516 restaurants with 2 Michelin stars and 2870 restaurants featuring 1 Michelin star.
As a reminder, the long-standing definitions of the Michelin stars are as follows:
1 Michelin star: “A very good restaurant in its category”
2 Michelin stars: “Excellent cooking, worth a detour”
3 Michelin stars: “Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey”
Who are the self-taught Michelin Star chefs?
Out of all of the many chefs mentioned, there are probably 3 that especially stand out, namely Heston Blumenthal, Grant Achatz, and Ferran Adria.
Heston Blumenthal is a Michelin-starred chef from the United Kingdom. He is the owner as well as the head chef of The Fat Duck, a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Bray, Berkshire. Blumenthal is known for his experimental, molecular gastronomy style of cooking. I had personally the pleasure to dine in his restaurant and I have to say it was really an interesting journey.
You usually have not much choice because you’re being served a tasting menu, comprising of anything between 12 to 28 dishes. Now, you will certainly not like all dishes but there will generally be a handful which will absolutely blow your mind in a positive way.
Grant Achatz is a Michelin-starred chef from the United States. He is the owner as well as the head chef of Alinea, a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Chicago, Illinois. Similar to Blumenthal Achatz is versed in the intricate art of using all available tools in cooking, transcending physics with high-end gastronomy.
Last but not least in this group is Ferran Adria a Michelin-starred chef from Spain. He is the owner and head chef of elBulli, a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Roses, Catalonia which closed its doors in 2012.
Out of those three, only Adria and Blumenthal can claim to have learned the skills pretty much by themselves and without any big chef helping them on their way. In many ways, that’s exactly what distinguishes them from many of their other highly acclaimed peers.
Is Jamie Oliver really a trained chef?
Jamie Oliver is best known for his work as a television celebrity chef and food writer. He has published several cookbooks and has hosted several television shows, including The Naked Chef and Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution.
Yes, Jamie Oliver is absolutely a trained chef. He attended Westminster Kingsway College, where he studied for a City & Guilds National Vocational Qualification in Professional Cookery. Jamie Oliver’s career began when he started working as a chef at The River Café in London. He then went on to host The Naked Chef, a cooking show that aired on the BBC. He has since published several cookbooks and has hosted several other television shows, including Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution.
Do you need a degree to be a Michelin Star chef?
Similar to art, a chef much like an artist does not necessarily need a degree to become internationally acclaimed. As in all things it obviously helps to have learned the basics but especially in gastronomy, these skills are all obtained on the job rather than in a study room.
There are more plenty of places where you can go about studying how to become a chef, however, including culinary schools and cooking schools. Apprenticeships is the most common route to becoming an acclaimed chef. Many top restaurants can hand pick their supporting kitchen staff out of many applications. That’s only the year-long starting point of maybe one day having a star in the restaurant kitchen where you are possibly the head chef.
Conclusion
In conclusion, self-taught Michelin star chefs do exist. Most of them have been earning their stripes as apprentices in other kitchens in order to master their craft. Learning the attention to detail as the guiding principle on how to run a successful kitchen is the foundation of becoming a highly rated chef yourself. Refining and inventing a new style and your signature dishes, however, takes years and multiple failures.
There are many self-taught Michelin star chefs, including Heston Blumenthal, Marco Pierre White, Ferran Adria, Thomas Keller, Alain Ducasse, Joel Robuchon, and Pierre Gagnaire. Most of these chefs have been able to achieve success by learning the basics of cooking through apprenticeships and then refining their skills over many years.
