<\/figure>\n\n\n\nPhoto: Rondel Charles<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His mantra, \u201cI’m not passionate I’m hungry\u201d best describes his attitude which is fuelled by his lack of formal training. Unlike many chefs, Vincent didn\u2019t go to school to learn culinary arts; his training came from watching people like Chef Ramsay and practical experience, working with his aunt in her catering business after he dropped out of college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI always loved cooking but I guess within society they had this thing about going to college and that is how you make it. I went to Andrews University to do physical therapy but it was boring and I told my mum I wanted to go back to New York but she said no. I switched to nursing but I said nah, I washed my hands of that and went back to New York. I had to work because I had a lot of student debt and my aunt owned a catering company in Manhattan. She ran me through the wringer, she made me work for every single penny but I learned a lot,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vincent graduated from his aunt\u2019s business to the One World Trade Centre where he works today as a banquet chef serving celebrities and high-end clientele from all over the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Applying to be on Next Level Chef was his way of sealing his prowess in the kitchen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople look at not being formally trained as a crutch but it is fuel, you overlearn to compensate. If you go to school and have a degree hanging on the wall, you think you are done, I am never done,\u201d Vincent declared, noting that he has sacrificed everything, including relationships, for his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vincent\u2019s interest in food began in T&T. Growing up in Sangre Grande with his maternal great-grandmother and grandmother after his parents split and his mother migrated to the US, he learned a lot that stayed with him to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy great-grand is Carib and she taught me a lot of ways of cooking. My grandmother would wake me up to go on the market run and she kept me on her hips the whole time in the kitchen so I learned things like how to break down a chicken. You know older Caribbean women would teach you everything so no one could cut style on you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also learned a lot from his dad who lived in Maracas, St Joseph, and worked as a taxi driver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vincent bonded a lot with his father when he attended Caribbean Union College. Describing his late dad as a “bush cook”, he recalled watching him bubble large pots of soup and wild meat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI learned how to season food from him. His favourite thing was curry duck and dumpling. He took me to my first river lime at Caura around the age of nine and as a kid, whenever he made the dumpling in the big pot, I would take the pot afterward and put it on my head and end up with pieces of dumpling in my hair,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nReuel Vincent. Photo: Rondel Charles<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vincent migrated to the United States two weeks before 9\/11 to live with his mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said though his father never went to the US, he asked a lot about the food over there. As Vincent started cooking for himself, his dad walked him through the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said from his life in Trinidad, he learned how to deal with raw ingredients and the basics of flavour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you are doing pelau or curry, they seem simple but they are layered. I used to watch my dad make curry dishes and he would add water to the curry before he put it in the pot. Now I understand the science behind that. We add water to the curry for it to bloom, the steam makes the curry bloom and the aromatic flavours open up,\u2019 he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vincent, who last visited T&T around the mid-2000s, dreams of opening a restaurant in the land of his birth one day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Until then he will continue building his name and his appearance on Next Level Chef might be just the show to put him on the map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cStrap in,\u2019 he said of the show. \u201cThis is gonna be a good one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Next Level Chef <\/a>airs Wednesdays on Fox at 9\/8c.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Through his informal training to become a chef, Reuel Vincent consumed everything he could from Chef Gordon Ramsay. On the first episode of the show Next Level Chef, Vincent, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago, had an experience he couldn’t conjure up in his wildest dreams when Ramsay selected him as the first person on his team. To say it was surreal for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Trini-born chef stars on Gordon Ramsay's Next Level Chef - Laura Dowrich-Phillips<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n