{"id":76227,"date":"2013-04-30T09:06:14","date_gmt":"2013-04-30T13:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=76227"},"modified":"2013-05-15T11:18:25","modified_gmt":"2013-05-15T15:18:25","slug":"not-your-average-joel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2013\/04\/not-your-average-joel\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Your Average Joel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three things instantly become clear when you meet Joel Gamoran<\/a> \u201907 (CLAS), resident chef at high-end cookware retailer Sur La Table: This guy loves food. This guy loves people. And this guy is poised for something very big.<\/p>\n

Find him a place to cook \u2013 whether it\u2019s a makeshift kitchen in the middle of a misty apple orchard or a hot plate in a dorm room \u2013 and inevitably, Gamoran will find a way to work his magic. In fact, the 27-year-old UConn alum is as relaxed leading gourmet cooking classes for discriminating New Yorkers as he is whipping up dishes before millions of viewers on NBC\u2019s \u201cToday\u201d show.<\/p>\n

[yframe url=’http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_7PmhYWxWA0′]<\/div>\n

Combine all of that with his sparkling personality, bright smile, and effortless gift of gab, and \u2013 voil\u00e0!<\/i> \u2013 you have a star in the making.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really, really, really want to inspire people and get them excited about food,\u201d says Gamoran, who in 2011 returned to the East Coast, relocating from Sur La Table\u2019s headquarters in his native Seattle to the company\u2019s location in the Big Apple. \u201cI would love to share that with the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is well on his way to doing exactly that. Teaching cooking classes at Sur La Table and appearing in its bevy of online product videos, Gamoran is also making media appearances locally and nationally \u2013 cooking things up on live TV, from the \u201cToday\u201d show to \u201cNew York Live.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, he has co-created and starred not only in a film nominated for a 2012 NYC Food Film Festival Award, but also in a beautifully produced, documentary-style Web series known as \u201cHumbly Northwest<\/a>,\u201d which recently sold to a production company and could yet be purchased by a network.<\/p>\n

For the high-energy chef, who dreams of having a cooking show of his own by the time he reaches 30, this is simply all in a day\u2019s work \u2013 and he can\u2019t get enough of it. As he good-naturedly asserts, \u201cThat\u2019s what you do when you have a dream, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Joel Gamoran\u2019s Strawberry Poppy Eton Mess<\/span>Get the recipe!<\/a><\/span>
\n\"Joel<\/div>\n

MADE TO ORDER<\/h2>\n

\u201cI was 12 or 13 when I kind of discovered what cooking did and what it was,\u201d says Gamoran, who, in learning through experimenting, has never followed cookbooks. It was at that age he realized his family and friends seemed to congregate whenever he was making food. \u201cI think a lot about why I started cooking,\u201d he says. \u201cI just really love the fact that it brings people together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Volunteering throughout high school to work for free in his favorite Seattle-area restaurants, Gamoran quickly gained invaluable hands-on experience in the culinary world. But it wasn\u2019t until he arrived at UConn and found himself living in a dorm \u2013 without a kitchen \u2013 that he truly missed that part of his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout three months in, I realized how passionate I was about cooking and how much of an outlet it was,\u201d he says. Stumbling upon a flyer in the dorm hallway encouraging students to create their own major, he immediately knew what direction to take. \u201cI was ecstatic,\u201d he says. \u201cMy first thought was, \u2018I am so doing this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the next two years, Gamoran met with deans, professors, and advisors from across UConn to create a personally tailored degree program from scratch. Crediting Margaret Lamb \u2013 now senior associate director of the Honors Program \u2013 for her support, he shared UConn\u2019s course catalog with chefs and restaurateurs in Connecticut and Seattle, asking them to identify classes they considered most essential.<\/p>\n

Gamoran enrolled in everything from accounting to nutrition and also spent a Study Abroad semester at a cooking school in Florence, Italy, graduating with an individualized degree in restaurant management \u2013 the first major of its kind at the University.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so grateful, and I\u2019m such a big fan of UConn because everyone was so flexible,\u201d he says. \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t have even gotten to phase one if people weren\u2019t receptive to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Joel<\/p>\n

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS<\/h2>\n

Although that degree earned Gamoran entry into the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley and, by the age of 23, a prominent position as a restaurant chef in San Francisco, his rapid success somehow felt empty.<\/p>\n

\u201cBottom line is, when you\u2019re cooking, you\u2019re just staring at a wall a lot of the time,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019re in the back of that kitchen, you send out the food, and you never even see the person\u2019s reaction. So it wore on me \u2013 a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

He left the restaurant business behind, convinced he would quit cooking altogether \u2013 that is, until he landed a job as an instructor at Sur La Table in Seattle. It offered the perfect mix of meeting people and making food.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was obsessed. You have no idea,\u201d he laughs. \u201cI would take any shift. I would cancel plans. I would just be so excited. I was totally reinvigorated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quickly working his way up while still looking to break into the media world, Gamoran was then recruited to Manhattan, where he arrived about a year ago.<\/p>\n

Perhaps more in his element than ever before, today Gamoran shows no signs of slowing down. Yet he asserts that, without his alma mater, he would not be where he is today.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was really amazing about UConn, for me, was how supportive they were, and how they gave me a chance to be here,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m here because of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

All over again, too, he is back to developing his own personal recipe for success, as it were. True to form, he follows no cookbook, simply experimenting with what inspires him most.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like this path is similar to the path I took at UConn, where there was no major,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is no road to having a show on TV. You have to create it. And I feel like my whole life\u2019s been like that. I\u2019m just waiting for the \u2018UConn\u2019 out there to give me a chance, wherever they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To see Gamoran in action, visit <\/i>joelgamoran.com<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

\"Strawberries.\"<\/a>
Strawberries.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Joel<\/a>
Gamoran slices strawberries.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Eggs.\"<\/a>
Egg yolks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Joel<\/a>
Gamoran whisks egg whites.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Poppy<\/a>
Poppy seed egg white mounds.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Joel<\/a>
Gamoran grates lemon zest.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Joel Gamoran\u2019s Strawberry Poppy Eton Mess<\/h2>\n

\u201cAnyone can make this messy dessert that screams early summer. The texture is what I love about this \u2013 crunchy and creamy at the same time.\u201d \u00a0\u2013Chef Joel Gamoran \u201907 (CLAS)<\/em><\/p>\n

Makes 2 servings<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Ingredients<\/h3>\n

2 egg whites
\n1\/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
\n1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste, divided
\n1\/4 cup sugar
\n2 tablespoons poppy seeds
\n1\/2 cup heavy cream
\n1\/4 cup powdered sugar
\nBig pinch salt
\n1 cup strawberries, cleaned and quartered
\n1 lemon, zested and juiced<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Directions<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.<\/li>\n
  2. Put the egg whites, cream of tartar, and half of the vanilla paste in the bowl of a stand mixer. On high speed, mix until the egg whites get foamy, then add the sugar and keep mixing until the egg whites look marshmallowy and stand straight up when you dip your finger into the mixture.<\/li>\n
  3. Using a big spoon, dollop the mixture onto a parchment-papered sheet pan. The mounds should be about half the size of your fist. Sprinkle the top of each mound with some poppy seeds and bake in the oven for about 2 hours. They are done when you can open one up and it is dry all the way through.<\/li>\n
  4. In a new bowl, add the cream, powdered sugar, salt, and the rest of the vanilla paste. Using a whisk, whip this until you have a nice light whipped cream.<\/li>\n
  5. In another bowl, combine the strawberries, lemon juice, and zest, and let them sit for at least 20 minutes.<\/li>\n
  6. In a big bowl, break the meringue cookies into big pieces, and fold in the whipped cream and the strawberries. Mix together and spoon into a frosted jar. Serve immediately so that the cookies stay crisp.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    UConn alum Joel Gamoran ’07 (CLAS) is cooking up a seriously successful culinary career \u2013 with even bigger plans for the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":77040,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,70],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[49],"class_list":["post-76227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-video"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-12 12:16:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76227"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77100,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76227\/revisions\/77100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/77040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76227"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=76227"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=76227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}