Q&A with Aaron Fee

A profile on the high school’s aspiring chef

Photo courtesy of Aaron Fee

With the end of the year approaching, most high school seniors have cemented their post-high school plans. Within that, an overwhelming majority would likely say they are taking the college or trade school route, but there is one blazing his own path—Aaron Fee. Aaron has plans to continue his culinary career after highschool. I sat down with him recently to further discuss his plans.

T: What began your interest in cooking?

A: My mom’s side of the family is Italian, so Christmases and other family events had very traditional Italian food, and all the food just got me into the culinary arts. 

T: What’s your favorite part about cooking?

A: I love the creativity involved. I like taking weird, odd ingredients and putting them all together to make a delicious meal. There’s a lot of techniques and different ingredient combinations you can learn.

T: What kind of career do you want with culinary arts?

A: So, I recently got a job at Houndstooth. It’s a very creative environment over there. It’s my style—they use a lot of ingredients people don’t normally use and make something out of it. Down the road, I want to own a resort maybe. It’d have multiple restaurants and a golf course. 

T: What is your favorite cuisine to make?

A: I love French cuisine, I love Mexican cuisine, I love Italian cuisine because of my family. But if I had to choose one cuisine— it’d probably be Mexican, maybe using French techniques and Mexican ingredients as a fusion. 

T: If someone put a gun to your head, and told you to cook any dish you wanted, what would it be?

A: Probably Birria Tacos. Traditionally they’re made with goat, but a lot of times people use beef. Basically, you’re taking a consommé—a french broth of sorts—and a tough cut of meat and sear it on both sides for flavor. Then you throw some onion, cinnamon, bay leaf, garlic, and dried chillies into a pot with chicken stock and let that boil. You cook them until the dried chillies are rehydrated. After that, you take the chillies out and blend them into a sauce, which you then pour into the broth. You cook that until the meat is tender—usually about five hours. Put it in a corn tortilla with some queso cheese and fry that. You can then take that and dip it into the broth for flavor. It’s pretty good.

T: One last question—favorite place to get food in town?

A: I’m gonna have to go with Houndstooth. It’s crazy what they do there. My favorite thing there is probably the black bean chicken. It’s phenomenal.