Dutch Emler

I started cooking "Silver Dollar Pancakes at 8 or 10 for Saturday morning breakfast. My Mom must love me a lot, because you know I made a mess at that age. My cooking expanded over an open campfire at 12 & 13. My Boy Scout troop went on a camping adventure once a month. I quickly got tired bologna and peanut butter so I started doing some simply thinks over the fire. After all I was an experienced pancake chef by now. :-)

My first Sous Chef position was the summer of my 14th year. I realized that If I complained about dinner not being ready I'd get grumbling, but if I asked what I could do I could get dinner on the table faster so I could go out and play while the sun was still out.

In college I need a "kitchen design" class that would be helpful in my Dad's restaurant equipment company and it had to food courses as prerequisites. Think Alton Brown on "Good Eats". I learned a bunch of food science to go with what I already knew.

After college i would have small dinner parties of the people I have met and wanted to get to know better. I soon got a copy of The Silver Palate Cook Book, and the cooking marathon began for real.