April 20, 2024
News - Joliet and Will County

Joliet Junior College chef achieves his lifetime dream

Timothy Bucci is now a certified master chef

By Denise M. Baran-Unland

Bucci attained a certification few chefs attain: certified master chef. In today's culture, where the term "master chef" can mean anything from a television show to a highly skilled chef, a CMC, as defined as by the American Culinary Federation, who bestows the certification, is the "highest level of certification a chef can attain." The ACF website said 72 total have passed the test and 67 are certified.

Bucci attained a certification few chefs attain: certified master chef. In today's culture, where the term "master chef" can mean anything from a television show to a highly skilled chef, a CMC, as defined as by the American Culinary Federation, who bestows the certification, is the "highest level of certification a chef can attain." The ACF website said 72 total have passed the test and 67 are certified.

Bucci said this doesn't mean he is "better" than other chefs in the industry. But it does mean he is now held to a higher standard. "For me, it's more of a personal goal that kind of validates what I've been doing my whole life," Bucci said. He will also have additional opportunities to learn from more advanced master chefs and, eventually, help critique other chefs when they take the grueling eight-day exam. "The new journey is just beginning," Bucci said. In a text message, Michael McGreal, department chair of JJC's culinary arts program, said Bucci is one of the most "talented, creative and driven chefs" he's ever met. "He has put in thousands of hours of practice and research just to be able to take this grueling practical exam," McGreal said. "He serves as a wonderful role model to our students, but also to the many professional chefs that look to him for advice and guidance on competing. We are all so proud of him, not only as an incredibly talented colleague, but also as a friend."

Bucci first met a two master chefs when he was in his early 20s and had a glimmer of what the term meant. The notion became a solid goal in the early 1990s when he met master chef Steve Jilleba at one of the Chicago Chefs of Cuisine chapter meetings. " From then on I had it in the back of my head and thought about how to get there, how to get that good to be able to reach that certification," Bucci aid.

Fortunately, Bucci worked in "old school" restaurants where all food was prepared from scratch, starting with the butchering, he said. Then he began entering culinary competitions, participating in more than 60 since 1998, he added. Bucci then set a goal to make the ACF Culinary Team USA, which he did in 2010. Bucci remained on the team for two years. Team By 2013, Bucci felt ready to begin his preparations to take the test in late 2014. He gathered recipes and in 2014 embarked on practice runs, many of which lasted hours, he said. Master chef mentors at the time included Jilleba as well as Stephen Giunta. (Photo provided)

In August 2014, Bucci unexpectedly had heart surgery but was soon back in the kitchen executing 12 hour runs. Then, seven days before the test, Bucci sliced his thumb open, and he mentally crashed. "It took me a few years to get back in that same mindset," Bucci said. "It was a huge letdown." It took three years for Bucci to begin practicing again for the test, which was held March 1 to 10 in Michigan. Bucci was one of four chef candidates, but the other three had dropped out by day four. "The mental part of this test is huge," he said. The process, he said, is rigorous. Chefs receive ingredients by random drawing. They write up menus and prepare food lists at night. They are in the kitchen by 5 a.m. working as quickly as they can until mid-afternoon with a new student assistant each day, he said

Each day they walked down a hallway into a room where a dozen master chefs will critique their processes and the results, Bucci said. This part of the testing has received "a bad rap" Bucci said, but he views the comments, many of them negative, as building blocks for the next day's run. "If you can do that, you'll get better every day," Bucci said. "If you look at the process as being negative, then you're going to break down mentally and you're going to have a bad day the next day, and then it's really hard to recover. You have to able to take the criticism and learn from it. "I felt the judges were all very supportive. They want you to do well. They want you to pass. But you have to take the information they're giving you and adopt it the next day. If you take something personally, it isn't going to end up well for you." (Alex Ortiz)

Dover sole and chicken caused Bucci to stumble early in the testing. Bucci said those two items take him a long time to fabricate. Knowing that, he mentally put himself behind, he said, which affected his score in a serious way. "I needed that," Bucci said. "I wasn't being myself in the kitchen. I'm normally very fast and I wasn't moving like I normally would." On day four, Bucci reminded himself he was "just cooking." "It's cooking at a very high level," Bucci said. "But it's just cooking." Nevertheless, he told his assistant as they were plating the food, "If I don't finish in time, I'm going home." Bucci finished on time and progressed to the next day. "By day five I started to have fun in the kitchen. It wasn't this grueling day," Bucci said/ "I was like, 'We're going to cook. It's hard, but we're going to have fun, 'too.'"

Bucci passed the final exam that he was allowed to retake the classical portion of the test on day nine. He's calling the entire experience "surreal." "It hasn't totally sunk in yet," Bucci said. "But when I was driving home from Michigan, for a moment I got this smile on my face because I knew what had just happened." Above, Bucci, center, is pictured with the following master chefs, from left: Dan Huglier, Jeff Gabriel, Shawn Loving, Brian Beland and Fritz Gitschner

KNOW MORE The American Culinary Federation website at acfchefs.org broke the testing days down like this: Day one: Healthy cooking using bison, pompano, tempeh, amaranth, escarole, Moro orange and kiwi. Day two: Buffet. The chefs and their apprentices spent 12 hours in preparation. Day three: Three candidates completed edible cold platters. Only Bucci moves onto classical cooking. Day four: Classical menu – with Dover sole and chicken. Day five: Freestyle. Bucci uses his individual style to prepare squab, quail eggs and other ingredients. Day six: Global cuisine: Food of the Americas, Asia and eastern Mediterranean. Bucci prepares chow fun, paella mixta and snapper veracruzana as selected by the lead evaluator for this portion of the exam. Day seven: Baking and pastry. Yeast bread, celebration cake, puff dough Day eight: European cuisine and a mystery basket. Bucci's score is high enough to retake "classical," so a ninth day is added to the exam. Day nine: Bucci earns the title certified master chef. (Above, former students come out to support Bucci. Pictured, from left, are Kristyn Granahan, Javier Reyes, Emma Prucha, Diamond Taylor, Mike Shannon and Joe Biskie). All photos provided by the American Culinary Federation except where noted otherwise,

Stephen GiuntaFoodJoliet
Denise Unland

Denise M. Baran-Unland

Denise M. Baran-Unland is the features editor for The Herald-News in Joliet. She covers a variety of human interest stories. She also writes the long-time weekly tribute feature “An Extraordinary Life about local people who have died. She studied journalism at the College of St. Francis in Joliet, now the University of St. Francis.