Chef Bryan Kelly
When Bryan Kelly, the district executive chef for U.Va. Dining Services, headed up the mid-Atlantic team at the 2011 Aramark Culinary Excellence competition, he knew to expect the unexpected.
Each team is given a mystery basket of ingredients with which to prepare a three-course meal, and this year Kelly and his teammates—Brandon Rudisill of James Madison University and Anthony Baker of Muskingum University—received a pig’s ear in their basket. Although certainly a surprise, the pig’s ear was not a new ingredient to Kelly, who is a member of the Nose to Tail Mafia—chefs devoted to using every part of the pig. After using the ear to flavor some beans, his team won first place, taking home the prized copper pot.
Kelly did not have a chef’s traditional education, forgoing culinary school to apprentice under Master Chef Peter Timmins at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, where “you’re not filleting a salmon and taking a test on it,” Kelly says. “If you’re filleting a salmon, you’re filleting a salmon for the entire hotel.”
The scale and pressure of his apprenticeship helped train Kelly to oversee every aspect of U.Va.’s Dining Services. One day he might be preparing a 12-course avant-garde menu for a select group of diners, the next tweaking the macaroni and cheese in Newcomb Hall for thousands of undergraduates. He is also responsible for catering, menu development, food safety, and research and development.
“In my position,” he says, “you’re able to switch gears really quickly.”
Kelly’s culinary agility also goes back to his apprenticeship with Timmins, who routinely gave his protégés mystery baskets, just as in the Aramark competition. “It’s a more intuitive way of thinking about food,” Kelly says.
But it is not all intuition. The trick, he says, is to always have a road map, a plan that is detailed but allows for improvisation. “We knew that someone was really going to have to beat us that day,” Kelly says. “We knew we were going to execute it flawlessly.”
The preparation included watching YouTube clips of famous chefs, like football players watching game film.
“[Kelly’s] leadership,” notes teammate Anthony Baker, “kept us composed through all of our practices and competition.”
While there was a time when cooking with this sense of competitiveness would have seemed strange, the growing popularity of culinary culture has changed that. Now, people can root for their favorites on television shows like Top Chef or Iron Chef. “About a generation and a half ago, the U.S. Department of Labor considered chefs domestic help,” Kelly says. “But through the advent of cooking channels, culinary magazines and just general recognition, we now have a bona fide, recognized profession that can now be promoted.”
All this has gone a long way in expanding the palates of a new generation. At U.Va., Kelly says, “a lot of things we’re able to put on the menus come from the students, who are going out and experiencing new things.”
“Charlottesville is a great food city,” he continues. “People who eat around this area know good food, so we certainly have a challenge to serve as high quality food as other restaurants in this area.”
WATCH & LEARN
U.Va. Chef Bryan Kelly’s tailgate recipes: mini cheesesteaks
U.Va. Chef Bryan Kelly’s tailgate recipes: BBQ shrimp
Comments
kudos to the uva culinary team. food in c'ville has come a long way. however, the food trucks at the amphitheater are a tragedy! isn't there a better location for them so the noise and vehicles themselves don't mar the beauty of the grounds?
I agree with CPC that c'ville food has come a long way. Thirty years ago there were ~3 restaurants that could boast upscale food. We now have a plethora of good restaurants and we are challenged to check them all out.
Great ideas for tailgating. What would the Chef recommend for a "welcome Syracuse to the ACC" tailgating party?
As a vegan, first for health reasons and later in my evolution for ethical reasons, I find this disgusting and abhorrent given that pigs are highly intelligent and sentient beings. All I can say is that at least the pig was used in his or her entirety, but with no consolation for the pig. It would be great if this publication could balance things out and, perhaps, write about strides made by UVA grads devoted to sustainability, health, and the ethical treatment of animals. Many famous CEOS, academicians, researchers, comedians, politicians, and everyday people are taking these issues to heart. I hope you will too. Sincerely, Ana Maria Sierra, Ph.D. GSAS '88
I just read this article and I think it is great that uva dining is recruiting the best talent. This guy trained at the Greenbrier which is easily one of the best hotels in the world. I liked the chef's quote about the culinary profession. I think chefs nowadays are honoring food and ingredients, sourcing out the best quality and healthiest products. I believe the other commentaries missed that point in this article. Why do you have to make others feel bad or "elite" because they like good food? I think that is a problem in the US
Pigs' ears good food? Really?
Whether or not one agrees that animals should be eaten...which is its own difficult discussion ... **IF** an animal is used, surely it is better to use the whole animal, rather than just a few parts. If a life is given, can common ground at least be found in ensuring that the life is as honored and valued as possible? I believe that's the point of Chef Kelly's training, and largely lost art, of knowing how to use the whole animal. It may be, however, that someone who finds the very thought of killing and eating an animal for food would not agree with this philosophy, either, on the grounds that any part whatsoever is too noxious a notion.
Nothing's better that a good good 'ole Southern pig-pickin'; yep, we eat the WHOLE thing (minus the entrails) with Carolina bbcue (vinegar based, of course)sauce cooked over charcoal and applewood seasoning, served with cole slaw,deep-fried hushpuppies and Jack Daniels mint juleps. Oink. In your face PETA.
Professor Cora Diamond at the Law School would be an interesting person to interview. She's a philosopher, ethicist, and specializes in language and morals.
I am a retired private practice dentist, philosopher, ethesist and a proponent of conservative moral values and I love to debate liberal progressives and show them the error of their ways.
Indeed.
The most important thing that UVa taught me is that there should be a place for everyone around the table. Otherwise, the meal's not worth eating.
Exactly!
I am frankly shocked that a UVA grad with "conservative moral values" so quickly would attack somebody else with the kind of inflammatory (and frankly, ignorant) language seen here. Shame on you Carson for degrading this conversation. More importantly than whether the entire pig is used, are the conditions under which it is raised, both from an ecological and ethical perspective. Our treatment of animals reflects our compassion for each other. The way we "grow" animals impacts the air, water, and land we all need to live.
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