Which are your favorite Zac Young quotes?
Zac Young is an American pastry chef and TV personality.
He is most famously known for appearing in many popular cooking shows such as ‘Nailed It!’ which aired on the internationally renowned movie platform ‘Netflix’, ‘Halloween Baking Championship’, and ‘Chopped’. Young along with fellow celebrity chef ‘Gian Martinez’ co-founded the famous ‘PieCaken’ dessert.
Young began his career as a pastry chef right after he graduated from the Institute of Culinary Education in New York. He then tried his luck competing on the American reality competition show ‘Top Chef: Just Desserts’ which marked his breakthrough and gained him international following.
Here’s our collection of the best Zac Young quotes:
40 Zac Young Quotes That Truly Inspire
1. “I decided that baking cookies would be a fun hobby and found myself becoming obsessed with the balance of creativity and structure involved in baking.” – Zac Young
2. “People ask me: where did the idea come from? I don’t know. My brain is wired for theater and it’s a mess up there! There’s a lot of freedom in my thinking. A lot of Yes, and… a lot of, how can I play with my food.” – Zac Young
3. “The play was directed by former theatre director Lisa DiFranza and was performed in the cafeteria of King Middle School. There were painted styrofoam panels. I was hooked. The children’s theatre did not have a permanent home at the time. The shows traveled from school to school.” – Zac Young
4. “How much work we do for the savory side of the kitchen: we make pizzas, potato rye crisps, savory flans, etc.” – Zac Young
5. “As the Christmas season was winding down, my mother called and said, “You don’t talk about theater anymore: all you talk about are your damn cookies. Go to culinary school.” That night, I ordered Chinese food and the message in my fortune cookie said, “Some men dream of fortunes, some men dream of cookies.” The universe was telling me something.” – Zac Young
6. “I was not adept at or interested in athletics. I was interested in building things and in creating a fantasy world of my own making. From my first experience, it gave me a team. I tried being a soccer goalie, but really I was afraid of the ball. With theater, I had found my teammates!” – Zac Young
7. “For the rest of elementary and middle school, I was there. It provided a safe space to grow up. As I got older, I realized how different I was from my classmates; that crew became my family.” – Zac Young
8. “For me, arts education is universal. The skills learned, the work ethic forged, the camaraderie built carry through the rest of life, whether or not you continue in arts professionally. I don’t know where else I would have learned these skills.” – Zac Young
9. “I’m asking myself if it’s as “big” as I can make it? Can I try something else? Can I make it provocative? How can I play with it? I ended up working in food media. Sure, the poise and articulation from theater are important, but that’s just the superficial layer.” – Zac Young
10th of 40 Zac Young Quotes
10. “Show up early, leave late. Pay attention: Listen to what your chef tells the other cooks and implement those things in your own work. Don’t complain.” – Zac Young
11. “The real core of it was the personal value that I got. All the messaging that said, You are enough. You are respected. Trust your instincts.” – Zac Young
12. “Once dinner service starts, I go back to the production kitchen and help with prep for the next day.” – Zac Young
13. “I was actually the first extern at Bouchon Bakery, and I burned down the microwave. Since then, I’ve been the Pastry Chef at Butter and Flex Mussels (including the Flex Donuts pop-up shops).” – Zac Young
14. “So many of the plays and shows we were doing were new or written for us or by us. This was very freeing and expressive. Being part of the creative process made us feel important, heard, respected. We felt like little adults. Everyone was there because they loved it.” – Zac Young
15. “It’s hard to think inside the box!” – Zac Young
16. “Simply put, I would not be here without the Children’s Theatre of Maine. Not only did it provide a community and a support system, it gave me life skills and a way of thinking, a freedom that I wouldn’t have found anywhere else. Outside-the-box thinking that I gained there carries through to this day.” – Zac Young
17. “My sous chef and I start inventory/ordering at 8:00 PM, and we go over prep lists for the following morning.” – Zac Young
18. “If there’s a private party or event at the restaurant (and there always seems to be one), it’s usually around 9:00 PM that I put out their desserts, hoping that when 9:30 PM comes I’ll get to head home. But most nights it’s closer to 10:30 PM.” – Zac Young
19. “What started in the basement of a New York restaurant, has now turned into a massive operation that ships these cakes nationwide and year-round.” – Zac Young
20th of 40 Zac Young Quotes
20. “The most prolific example would be The PieCaken, which started as a joke. A dessert version of the Turducken and the all-in-one Thanksgiving dessert. Why not take a layer cake and add our favorite pies to it? The bottom layer is pecan pie, followed by a layer of pumpkin pie, and finally a spice cake. Cinnamon buttercream runs through each layer and covers the entire cake. To gild the lily, we add oat crumble on the sides and apple pie filling on top. It was a run-away hit and like an improv class, I took it further.” – Zac Young
21. “As a pastry chef, when I’m thinking about a new item, I’m thinking about the theatricality of it.” – Zac Young
22. “In eighth grade, my final year before boarding school, I was Curly in Oklahoma at Waynflete and I was the Emperor in the Emperor’s New Clothes at the Children’s Theatre. It was my first time in a leading role. My classmates had been practicing their jump shots and three-pointers throughout middle school, now I finally felt like I was able to show what I had been doing. As good as that felt, it was never about being the lead, it was about being part of the process and being part of a team.” – Zac Young
23. “This is my dream job, so I’m not really sure what more I could ask for. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!” – Zac Young
24. “I really love the little side projects I get to do, such as making dresses out of chocolate or creating a gingerbread version of the Chrysler Building.” – Zac Young
25. “It’s not about the performance. No. It’s about identity. It’s about life skills. It’s about creating a sense of belonging.” – Zac Young
26. “Baking can be very precise: there are only so many alterations you can make within a recipe before it fails, and what I found was that I really enjoyed playing with those boundaries.” – Zac Young
27. “While I am known for these over-the-top celebratory creations, the foundation is rooted in my solid, classic French pastry training. Just like in the theatre, you have to learn the lines and do your homework before you can be free to start playing with the scene.” – Zac Young
28. “I was working in the wig department at Radio City Music Hall.” – Zac Young
29. “Lisa DiFranza mothered this whole crew of misfits. She was Peter Pan-like. She had a profound impact on people’s lives. Unselfishly and unknowingly, she was a mentor, an educator, a friend, and a mother. This was on top of the life skills being taught.” – Zac Young
30th of 40 Zac Young Quotes
30. “The fact that my parents named seats in my honor and that these seats will be in the new Maddy’s Theatre, that feels like a homecoming to me. Children’s theatre was the beginning of my life. It was the the beginning of me finding me.” – Zac Young
31. “I also help wherever help is needed in the kitchen. If that means plating hors d’oeuvres or expediting the line, so be it.” – Zac Young
32. “At 2:00 PM we start bread production for dinner service. We can easily go through 300 mini loaves of bread so I like to lend a hand: I call it our “Bread Party.” Around 3:00 PM we put out amenities for the hotel, which can include chocolates, cookies, cheese, birthday cakes, chocolate-stuffed strawberries, and champagne. When 3:30 PM rolls around, I chat with the other properties (Townhouse, Fishtail) about specials or upcoming events. At 5:00 PM, I check the service station for dinner service. Pre-meal begins at 5:30 PM with the front-of-house staff and we review the night’s specials.” – Zac Young
33. “We have now created a yule log version, a cupcake version, a Mother’s Day version, The PassCaken (for Passover…) and just keep going.” – Zac Young
34. “I get to work at David Burke Kitchen in SoHo by 9:00 AM and eat whatever is leftover from breakfast (though I’m partial to just eating the fruit filling out of a danish). The sous chef and I go over prep lists and production for the day, and I make sure the station is set and ready for war before lunch picks up around 12:30 PM. Lunch is tough because guests like to get in and out quickly.” – Zac Young
35. “I was in at least 15-20 productions. I went from one to the next. I had found a home and a passion for the arts. I was admitted to Walnut Hill, which had a very competitive and rigorous audition process. Children’s theatre prepared me for that. There, I continued my holistic arts education.” – Zac Young
36. “There’s something about donuts that’s like a great blank canvass for anything you want to do whether it’s cake or yeast or fills. There’s just so many options with it.” – Zac Young
37. “My family’s donation to the Imagine Capital Campaign is meaningful to me because of the importance of having a safe space for me when I was growing up and for all kids. It is about the importance of having an arts education for me and my family.” – Zac Young
38. “The arts are an underfunded resource across the board. It’s vital to support arts organizations for our kids.” – Zac Young
39. “When you don’t 100% fit in, even in an arts-focused school, you really need a safe space to lay the foundation for so much more than just being in a play.” – Zac Young
40. “I’ve also done development work for a large packaged food company specializing in boxed cake mix and frosting.” – Zac Young
Summary
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