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Lewis credits Francis Tuttle for helping his career take off.
Chef Gabriel Lewis returned to where it all began as he prepares to complete and promote his first cookbook.
Lewis graduated from the Francis Tuttle Technology Center Culinary Arts Program in 2015, and he used the skills he learned to finish in the Top 7 of Season 8 of the FOX reality series MasterChef. For the week of June 21, he returned to the very Francis Tuttle Demo Kitchen he learned in as a student to record a series of promotional videos for his first cookbook, which he expects will be published within the next year.
“Being able to cook on this side of the Demo Kitchen when my last experience as a student was in the audience is surreal. It was awesome to come in and be behind the scenes and be able to create my own dishes in a kitchen that inspired the love that I have for my craft going forward. It’s humbling and it’s exciting.”
Students from the Francis Tuttle Broadcast and Video Production Program – Demitri Peterson, Merlin McGary and Neftali Enriquez – are working with Lewis to shoot the videos. With some guidance from instructors Waleed Salim and Sherri Gleaves, the group worked all week in the Demo Kitchen with multiple cameras and angles to get the best footage of some of Lewis’ best recipes in action.
“It’s so good for our Broadcast and Video Production students to get this kind of experience and this exposure to a real-world setting,” Salim said. “They have done a fantastic job and are really taking advantage of all those learning experiences that come from actually working on a set, overcoming those challenges and then getting to be creative as the opportunities arise. We’re grateful to Gabriel for doing this here, and as special as it’s been for him, it’s also been a fun and unique experience for us.”
Lewis has spent the week prepping and cleaning his own work station while rolling out one delicious dish after the other. Some of the recipes in his yet-to-be-titled cookbook come from growing up with three “matriarchs” – his mother, his grandmother and his aunt – who inspired him to pursue a career as a chef.
“They instilled that love of cooking into me, so this is my way of paying homage to their love of cooking, their memory and showing people the food that inspired me,” Lewis said. “It’s also a way to show that this food is just as good as anything I can put out there. It’s very home style, it’s very stick to your ribs, and it’s love.”
One of the videos includes Lewis’ modified recipe of his mother Lisa’s famous fried chicken, and another video delves into her signature curry apple chicken salad.
Lewis has come a long way and works now on private catering jobs and social media brand building. He credits Francis Tuttle for giving him the foundation to help his career take off.
“Francis Tuttle helped me to understand what being in the weeds really means and gave me the structure to go forward, to start creating the recipes and food that has ultimately led me to where I am right now,” Lewis said.
Lewis is active on his Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok social media pages, @the_gabriellewis, and recipes can be found at his website, Chefgabeonline.com.