Student chef crafts culinary experiences

Derek Colglazier, a sophomore business major, has late night study sessions like any college student—but he also has late nights battling stove fires, chopping vegetables, and preparing food for hungry customers while working as a part-time chef at Reynold’s Plantation.

Colglazier holds his position at Reynold’s Plantation, a local country club on Lake Oconee, while still maintaining full time enrollment as a college student at Georiga College. Colglaizer wants to pursue a career as a chef after getting his degree.

Submitted by Derek Colglazier

Derek Colgazier, sophomore business major and part-time chef, prepares dishes for customers at Reynold’s Plantation.

He works as a line cook at Reynold’s Plantation and plans to attend the Culinary Institute of America, located in New York, after graduating.

Cooking has always been a part of his life.

“I’ve always been fascinated by food,” Colglaizer said.

His stepdad, who was head chef at Reynold’s Plantation but now acts as head chef at Sanctuary Golf Club in Sanibel, Fla., played a large part in his interest in being a chef.

“(My stepdad) kind of opened me up to the business and I’ve always been interested since then,” Colglaizer said.

His time at Reynold’s Plantation didn’t start with him being a chef. He began as a server’s assistant, showed his interest in cooking and was hired as a line cook. Line cook is a common position for a chef without a culinary degree.

There are various levels of chefs–ranking from line cook, who carries out the day to day cooking, all the way to executive chef, who prepares the menu and acts as a manager of the kitchen. In his desire to advance as a chef, Colglazier is always looking for new recipes to cook.  “I just like cooking new things. I’m just all about learning new recipes, I really don’t have a favorite dish,” Colglaizer said.

The larger a chef’s repertoire of recipes, the better suited they are for various jobs. Although Colglaizer couldn’t pick a specific dish as his favorite he did say that his go-to food type is any kind of fish, as it is the easiest to cook.

It would seem that being a chef means you eat a gourmet meal every night, but that isn’t necessarily the case.  “I don’t really cook for myself to eat. I cook more like, find a new recipe and cook it just to learn. I don’t just get hungry and find something to cook” Colgazier said.

However, while growing up Colgazier often cooked for his family. With his stepdad working long hours at the country club, the daunting task of dinner was often taken up by Colglaizer.

A chef’s time isn’t the only aspect of their life that is at risk. A kitchen full of sharp knives and very hot stoves is bound to have its hazards. A common occurrence is burns, something Colglaizer knows all too well about.

“You get burns just about every day,” Colglaizer said

Not only are the physical hazards highly present, but chefs have to deal with bad hours and constantly working on holidays. As well as safety hazards, kitchens are in a perpetual rush for time.

“I guess I would just say you’re in a big time crunch,” Colglaizer said.

Chefs unwittingly pit themselves against the clocks by being a chef alone. Their goal is to provide the food that is ordered in the shortest amount of time, with the best overall quality.

There isn’t any downtime when making a meal. Coupled with the lunch and dinner rush that comes in throughout the day, keeping the momentum can be challenging.

“It can get pretty crazy in there, but as long as you have people that can do it, it stays pretty in line,” Colglazier said.

Posted by MarkWatkins on Apr 2 2011. Filed under Close Up, Special Sections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.