What is your philosophy concerning food and how you manage your kitchen?
I guess being a chef means you always come from different schools of thought. Trends come and go. A few years back, you had this all-molecular gastronomy. I think it's really just simplicity and freshness. It's so simple that whatever's seasonal, whatever's out there. Food should taste as good as the raw ingredient. You should be able to get spinach and not put anything on it because if it's a good product, you cannot mess it up unless you're really a bad chef. That's really the main thing: choosing the best and most seasonal ingredient you could use. Preparation is secondary. Once you get all of those two things in there, I think you're good to go.
Philosophy in the kitchen? I think it's empowerment. I have three other sous-chefs that are very, very talented. I hate to admit it. [But] sometimes I feel like they are more talented than me. As a leader, if you know how to mentor and you know how to impart and relinquish work, they're going to make the kitchen the easiest place to work with.
On your days off in the White House kitchen, who is cooking and what are they cooking at home?
Definitely not me. It's like being a hairdresser. Would you want to come home and do your hair? When I'm home –"OK, John [Chef Comerford's husband], the kitchen is yours." He loves to cook. He takes care of that part. It's really just spending time with the family. [We like] simple meals. We have a rule at home; anything that takes more than 10 minutes is work. It's a part of the Filipino in you that you just want a big bowl of rice with just a little something. I'm trying to avoid [rice] but it's such a comfort to have nice, hot rice with anything on it.
You've been an icon for women and American immigrants. To what do you attribute your success?
It's a combination of things. I think it's faith and family and just really being grounded. Once that's in line, I think everything else will come into place. You might be the most successful chef in the world but coming home to an empty house, that sucks.
Your sister mentioned that your first chef was your mom. Who, besides your mom, has influenced your cooking the most along the way? Even before the White House.
No one that I could think of. To be honest with you, I didn't even plan on being a chef. When I was applying for college, my dad who is a school principal was like, "You have to go to chef school." This was back in '75. I was like, okay dad, you're crazy. But he's a school principal so I really should've known that he knows better about what he's talking about. But I was like no, I want to go to UP and take Food Tech and yadidadida… It never dawned on me… I just took it from there.
