Chris Cosentino facts for kids
Chris Cosentino in 2010
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| Born | Rhode Island |
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| Cooking style | Italian cuisine |
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Current restaurant(s)
Cockscomb
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| Official website | |
| https://www.chefchriscosentino.com/ | |
Chris Cosentino is a famous American chef and reality television star. He is well-known for winning Top Chef Masters. He also competed on The Next Iron Chef and appeared on Iron Chef America.
Chef Cosentino is famous for his unique cooking style. He uses all parts of an animal, often called "nose-to-tail" cooking. His former restaurant, Incanto in San Francisco, was known for this adventurous approach. It served dishes like lamb's necks and pig trotters. Incanto closed in 2014. Later that year, he opened Cockscomb, a restaurant that offered his fresh take on classic San Francisco dishes.
In 2017, he wrote a cookbook called Offal Good: Cooking from the Heart, with Guts. He also has a website dedicated to offal, which means organ meats.
Contents
Early life and learning
Chris Cosentino grew up in Rhode Island. He graduated from Johnson & Wales University in 1994. In 2018, he returned to his old school to give a cooking lesson. He shared career advice with students.
During his visit, he thanked one of his important teachers, Chef Jacques Pepin. Chris explained that Pepin's cookbooks, La Technique and La Methode, helped him a lot. These books had very detailed, step-by-step pictures. This was especially helpful for Chris because he has dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. These conditions made it hard for him to read regular textbooks and cookbooks.
Chris was raised in an Italian American family. He has said that he didn't like offal (organ meats) when he was a child. He especially disliked the tripe his Italian grandmother made. But as a chef, he learned to appreciate using the whole animal. He wants people to understand that when they eat meat, it comes from a whole animal. This idea sometimes makes people choose vegetable dishes instead.
Chef's journey
Chris Cosentino worked in many famous restaurants. He started at Mark Miller's Red Sage and Kinkead's in Washington, D.C. Then he moved to San Francisco to work at Rubicon. This restaurant was owned by famous people like Francis Ford Coppola and Robert De Niro.
He also worked at Coach House on Martha's Vineyard and Chez Panisse in the Bay Area. Later, he became a consultant for the Aqua restaurant group. With them, he helped open several restaurants, including Nobhill at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
After 2002, Cosentino became the executive chef at Incanto in San Francisco. He worked with co-owner Mark Pastore. They created an Italian menu that used cuts of meat and fish that people usually throw away. In 2007, Incanto held its fourth "Head-to-Tail Dinner."
In 2007, Chef Cosentino opened a salumeria (a shop selling cured meats) called Boccalone: Tasty Salted Pig Parts. This business followed his family's traditions. His mother's family had run Easton's Sausage Company in Rhode Island for many years. He uses many of their old recipes for Boccalone products. Incanto also started making its own cured meats, from mortadella to charcuterie. This was part of a plan to support local food producers.
Cosentino learned an important lesson from the late chef Jean-Louis Palladin. Palladin taught him to cook for the diners and himself, not just for good reviews. Palladin was also a hunter. He taught Chris to respect animals and understand where food comes from.
TV shows and challenges
In October 2007, Chris Cosentino was a contestant on The Next Iron Chef. He competed against his friend and former mentor, Traci Des Jardins. In one episode, when he got squab (a type of pigeon) as a secret ingredient, he immediately looked for the organ meats. The show joked, "No guts, no glory," because the insides had been removed. He made it almost to the final round. In November 2007, he appeared on Modern Marvels to show his skill in cooking pork brain.
In August 2009, he and fellow chef Aarón Sánchez hosted Chefs vs. City on the Food Network. Each week, they visited a different city. They competed against local chefs in food challenges. Once, eating too many chili peppers caused a serious injury to Chris's digestive system. It took five years for him to heal.
Cosentino often appears on the Food Network show The Best Thing I Ever Ate.
Cooking secrets and hobbies
Chris Cosentino believes that different kinds of extra-virgin olive oils are his secret cooking weapon. He works closely with local farmers' markets. This helps him build strong relationships with the people who produce his ingredients. He especially loves the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market.
In his free time, Chris enjoys cycling on mountain-biking trails in Northern California. He also does long endurance rides. He spends time with his wife and young son.
In 2011, it was announced that Cosentino would help write a comic book with the publishers of Wolverine. He would also be a character in the story. He wrote a cookbook called Beginnings: My Way to Start a Meal, published in 2012. The book has recipes for first courses, mostly vegetable-based. It also shares his cooking ideas and includes his handwritten notes and sketches.
In March 2012, Cosentino teamed up with Adam Fleischman to open PIGG. This restaurant in Los Angeles celebrated all things pork.
On September 26, 2012, Chris Cosentino won season four of Top Chef Masters. He won $141,000 for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.
In 2014, Cosentino closed Incanto. He then opened Cockscomb, which focused on classic San Francisco food, especially oysters and shellfish. In 2016, he announced he would open Jackrabbit in Portland, Oregon. However, on October 21, 2020, Cosentino announced that Cockscomb was closing permanently.
Television appearances
- 2005, Check Please! Bay Area
- 2005, Martha Stewart
- 2007, Iron Chef America
- 2007, The Next Iron Chef
- 2007, Modern Marvels - Episode: The Pig
- 2008, Iron Chef America
- 2008, At The Table With...
- 2009, Chefs vs. City Food Network
- 2009, No Reservations Travel Channel, August 10
- 2009, The Best Thing I Ever Ate Food Network
- 2011, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern Travel Channel, March 1
- 2012, The Layover, San Francisco, Travel Channel, January 9
- 2012, Top Chef Canada-Episode 4, Food Network Canada, April 1
- 2012, Top Chef Masters Season 4, Bravo, July 25
- 2012, Time Machine Chefs, ABC, August 16
See also
- Animal husbandry
- Italian-American cuisine
- Local food
- Locavore
- Sustainable agriculture
- Sustainable food system
