As the kitchen heat rises, Chef Andrew Cerrato, 31, slides into the zone. With one hand he’s flipping sausages. With the other he grabs a seasoning.
As executive chef at St. Albert’s 12 Acres Restaurant, he works under constant pressure to deliver food quickly without sacrificing quality.
He stands on his feet for long hours and endures cuts and burns all while coordinating kitchen staff, planning menus, determining portion sizes, controlling food costs, ordering supplies and ensuring plate presentations are spot on.
As a teenager growing up in a Costa Rican protected tropical rainforest that was two hours away from a major city, cheffing never crossed his mind.
First and foremost his adolescent years were spent exploring the tropical forest reserve and reforested areas, hanging out by the river with friends and tubing, or playing a game of soccer.
“On rainy days we would play soccer. It was super. You could slide everywhere and get dirty. It was so much fun. Our entire back yard was a field,” said a smiling Cerrato pulling out a cellphone photo of an extensive lush green backyard that never seems to end.
The well-travelled chef was born in Iowa where his Canadian mother, a physics and biology student, and his Honduran father, a chemistry student, met at university while working toward their doctorates.
Within a few years the couple was hired to teach at Costa Rica’s Earth University, an 8,300-acre campus of research, development and innovation.
A private, non-profit university it is supported by the federal government, and numerous international sponsors such as Kellogg's.
Earth University’s goal is to invest in Latin American students by offering a four-year undergraduate program in agricultural sciences and natural resource management.
“It was started by two or three professors that wanted to change how the dynamics of agriculture was in Latin America. Students apply to the university and receive free tuition that is normally about $40,000. After they graduate, they go back to their country and help whatever export the country produces,” Cerrato explained.
The university stewards the massive rainforest with its primary and secondary forests. It houses a banana plantation, greenhouses, laboratories and a cattle farm.
“Everything is green all the time. We had mangos, papaya, coconuts and bananas. We even had a lychee tree in our back yard. But it was struck by lightning and it split in half. And after we’d play a game of soccer, we crack open a coconut and drink the milk. We were always surrounded by real food.”
After graduation from high school, Cerrato enrolled at La Universidad Latina de Costa Rica in the computer science-engineering program.
“At the time I didn’t realize it wasn’t for me. I get fidgety and after two hours in a lab I have to go for a walk.”
At a decision-making moment in life, Cerrato opted to travel and explore South America. Upon returning home, he’d decided to become a cook, an occupation that complements his high energy level.
While Cerrato was enjoying the fruits of Earth University, several of his relatives from New Brunswick moved to Edmonton during the oil boom. With family already established in the area, the move to Canada was a natural progression.
“I feel that if I had grown up in a city, I would have had more restrictions. In my case, having all that freedom, made me look more openly at things. Having freedom was in my best interest. When I moved here, I wasn’t scared.”
Cerrato’s plan was to get a job in the industry for a year and then attend culinary school. Within two weeks of landing in Edmonton in May 2009, he was hired at the west end Original Joe’s.
“I just wanted to get my foot in the door. When I look back, I appreciate what I learned. At home I could make mac and cheese and grill chicken. But understanding what the ingredients are and how to manipulate food was different.”
The Original Joe’s was located across River Cree Casino. After hours, several cooks and chefs from the casino would drop by the sports bar for a relaxing drink. Cerrato, eager to learn more about the culinary arts, joined them.
Six months later under executive chef Christoph Eeithurritze, Wolfgang Puck’s pastry chef for 17 years, Cerrato started an apprenticeship at Sage that lasted five years.
“It was my dedication and passion. I really wanted to succeed and prove myself.”
Mixing salads, plating desserts, filling small plates and even peeling potatoes were not above his station.
“I was there to listen and learn. I knew I had no experience and I knew I wouldn’t be at the sautĂ© station or prep the entire line right away.”
By watching and practicing, he developed the skills to make delicate sauces, basic stocks, flavourful soups as well as breaking meat and fish down and perfecting expert cuts.
After five years, Cerrato moved on to Ampersand 27, a trendy Edmonton restaurant that specializes in molecular gastronomy. This avant-garde style mixes science and culinary traditions to create a new approach to cooking methods.
For instance, chefs around the world have experimented with pressure probes to determine the crunchiness of batter, blowtorched beef and beat ice cream in a bowl of liquid nitrogen.
At one point Cerrato was tasked with making citrus pearls using lemons, a gel agent and oil. However, the decorations would take up to four hours a day to make. For the high-energy sous chef, the amount of time required to create the fancy trappings versus its necessity to the dish was a waste.
“I like to keep food here as simple as possible. I like to let the food speak for itself. Food here is simple comfort food and it’s something I like to do.”
The slogan at 12 Acres is fresh “pasture raised, no hormones, no antibiotics,” and it fits with Cerrato’s personal culinary mission.
A champion of the Mediterranean cuisine, he advocates a style of cooking where flavours blend and subtly pop in the mouth.
“There’s something in Mediterranean food that plays with your mouth so well. If you compare it to other styles, it’s mellower. But it’s so well rounded. Just look at a simple Caprese salad. The tomatoes are naturally acidic, but when you add salt they taste sweet. The cheese is creamy and smooth with a bit of tang and the basil is sweet. Put olive oil in it and a touch of balsamic and it completes it.”
In keeping with sourcing local ingredients, Cerrato displays a salumeria made on the premises in a smokehouse. Stacks of marinated vegetables line open-air shelves and meats are brought in from local farms.
“I feel like cooking from the heart is where it should be. If I can make food taste good, people will feel it was made with passion.”
