Chef of Chef Works – Chef Rupert Boreland

by Chef Works Canada,

Each month we feature a Chef of Chef Works®. If you’re a fan of Chef Works gear and are interested in being featured, email marketing@chefworks.ca. Pictured above is our July Chef of Chef Works®, Chef Rupert Boreland, Chef of The Wild Game Cooking Show and Vice President, Retail Sales/Grocery at GBS Food Service Equipment, photographed in his Madrid Premium Cotton Chef Coat.

 

Chef Works: Tell us about your journey of becoming a Chef

Rupert Boreland: I started working in a restaurant at the very early age of 13. I was shown how to hold a knife properly on my first shift and was given a mountain of items to clean, peel, julienne, dice, chop, and turn. I was hooked from day one. Albeit, in the beginning, most of the product I produced was added to the stock pots, but slowly I became good at it and was hooked to the kitchen vibe and comradery.

 

Chef Works: What is the most rewarding part about your job?

RB: The most rewarding part of my job has to be the lifelong relationships I have made over the years. And of course, the many chefs that have stayed the course and finished their apprenticeships that worked with me along their journey and who still work in the industry or who have opened their own businesses and still reach out occasionally to me.

I guess when you sweat it out in the dog days of summer with a group of people, and you have way too many bookings and never enough staff, it affects you in a way I can’t describe. I have worked in many kitchens, but it’s always the same when you’re in the juice together. You build a bond with each other.

 

Chef Works: Best anecdote from the kitchen?

RB: While preparing for a busy dinner one Saturday, I sliced my hand open, I drove myself to the hospital, got 11 stitches and drove back to work to finish my shift, and while we worked through the night, a waiter started to complain he had strained his hand, and my chef yelled out Rupert show this guy your hand!

 

Chef Works: For those in our audience who haven’t discovered the Wild Game Cooking show, what can they expect?

RB: Wild game cooking is a show that has just started to test the waters on the theme. I am a fanatical hunter, and I love to eat the wild game. So, it was a natural transition. I guess I do simple and some not so simple dishes using the product I have harvested with my friends while fishing or hunting. The recipes are usually the more popular dishes we all have enjoyed in camp together. Most people cook game meat with some fear or don’t know better, so the show helps deal with the fear and misconceptions that wild meat is gamey.

 

Chef Works: What’s something about you that would surprise people?

RB: I took home economics in high school, and I did very well! Not just the cooking classes either!

 

Chef Works: What is your all-time favourite culinary tip?

RB: Keep your knives sharp! Sharp knives stay true to the target. Also, a cut from a sharp knife will heal faster!  Sharp knives will help you cut items more accurately and uniformly, and uniformed product cooks evenly, and that translates to a better presented and tasting dish.

 

Chef Works: How does your culinary uniform make you feel?

RB: The culinary uniform makes me feel like I belong to a fraternity of hardworking people that have been around for centuries, quietly contributing to people’s memories of milestones and life celebrations in the best way.

 

To learn more about Chef Rupert Boreland and the Wild Game Cooking Show, follow their social profiles:

Website: www.wildgamecooking.ca

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/wildgamecooking

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildgamecookingtv/

 

Meet other Chefs of Chef Works:

Year 2021

Year 2020

Year 2019

Year 2018

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