“My first vivid memory is watching mom in a restaurant kitchen,” recalls Ray. “She was flipping something with a spatula. I tried to copy her and ended up grilling my right thumb. I was three or four.”
Oprah Winfrey calls her a “super chef,” but Ray has had, in reality, no formal training as such. Instead, she insists that since the moment she was born, cooking has simply been a way of life for her. “Everyone on both sides of my family cooks,” she says. As such, Ray gained much of her knowledge and technique by just watching and doing in her family’s restaurants.
“I learned everything about cooking basically at home and in restaurants,” says Ray. But it was never a formal learning process there, either. “A lot of people ask me where I learned how to cook,” she says. “My mother never showed me how to peel a potato. There was never, ‘Try this, you’ll like it.’ There was just dinner: ‘Here’s what you’re eating.’ You didn’t have to ask how to make it if you were in the kitchen, and everybody lived in the kitchen.”
Ray’s strongest critics are from those in the industry who see her lack of formal training as a disqualifying marker for a true chef. But Ray – and her millions of loyal fans – disagree. And, indeed, Ray’s success has proven that it did not matter where she got her education. Whether it was from a top ranked culinary institute or her grandfather’s kitchen, Ray knew her way around a kitchen.
Ray’s grandfather on her mother’s side was the family’s main cook. He not only cooked all of their meals, but he personally grew all the ingredients in his backyard. That way, Ray came to understand the value and nutrition of using fresh ingredients.
“My cooking comes from my grandfather and my mom,” says Ray. “They were both amazing cooks. My mother so blows me away.” With a reference to her top-rated television show, Ray says, “I don’t know if she could do everything in 30 minutes or not, but she is definitely great, and she knows every dish. There is nothing she can’t make.”
Ray also credits her other family members with helping her get to where she is today. “My dad is a great Southern cook, but it takes him, like, six hours to grocery shop,” she says. “He is fussy to the point that it’s ridiculous.” Likewise, Ray credits her brother, a martial arts teacher with teaching her patience, and her sister with teaching her baking, although she admits it still is not her forte. “It’s like the only thing that has ever made me cry besides pain or hardship,” says Ray.
Aside from her family experiences, Ray also spent much time working in the restaurants managed by her family. They were never five-star restaurants, but the business of running them was the same nevertheless. And it was that experience that Ray took with her to prove her critics wrong.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 |
Related Articles |
|
 The Right To Be Rich
|
| |
You have a right to be rich! As Wallace Wattles states in his ground breaking book " The Science of Getting Rich". It is not possible to live a really complete or successful life unless one is rich." Wattles believe...
|
|
Getting Rich Is An Exact Science
|
| |
People who do things in this certain way whether they do it consciously or unconsciously get rich. In science in order for a theory to be proven correct and accepted as fact it must always produce like results from ...
|
|
Twelve Strategic "Grow Goals" To Grow Your Business According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
|
| |
Any time is a good time to think about how to grow your business. The last month of your calendar year or fiscal year is a very good time to think about and plan for the growth of your business. Companies need to ...
|
|
Build Your Confidence-Make More Sales
|
| |
There is a golf story that says: "The most difficult golf course is the one between your ears." The same can be said about making sales. There are more obstacles in your head than any prospective client will thro...
|
|
The marine iguana
|
| |
 Marine iguanas swim. They eat stuff in shallow water, which is surprising behavior for an iguana.
|
|
|
Rachael Ray Newsletter
Get our free newsletter to learn more about Rachael Ray and other famous entrepreneurs!
|
|
|
