Chef Della Gossett
Pastry Chef Instructor, 2011 National Pastry Team Champion
Della Gossett completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in Arts Education and Painting. Following her studies, she taught at the K-12 levels for several years before deciding to enroll in a culinary program at a Chicago school. She later received an offer from the restaurant, Trio in Evanston, a four-star rated restaurant, according to the Mobil Travel Guide, where she stayed for six years working with pastry chef Gale Gand, and later with Executive Chef, Shawn McLain. In 2000, Gossett moved to New York to work at Atlas in Central Park South. While at Atlas, her Pancetta Apple Tart dessert was featured in the New York Times’ “Dining In” section in May, 2000. She placed first among New York pastry chefs in the Quady Wine and Dessert Pairing Competition in the same year. She returned to Chicago in 2001 to work at Charlie Trotter’s where she remained as the pastry chef for nearly a decade. Charlie Trotter’s, a Mobil Five Star, AAA Five Diamond award winning restaurant has won 10 James Beard Foundation awards. During her tenure at Trotter’s, Gossett had the opportunity to work alongside many world-class chefs who collaborated with the restaurant, including Pierre Hermé, and Ferran and Albert Adrià of elBulli, a Michelin 3-star restaurant which has been named the Best Restaurant in the World a record five times by Restaurant Magazine. She also traveled across the country and world to train with masters including top chefs in New York City, and Ramon Morato, Best Artisan Master Confectioner of Spain 1997, at his school, Aula Chocovic, in Vic, Spain near Barcelona. This was a hands-on training program with Chef Morato for selected chefs from around the world. Gossett was one of two American chefs chosen for this elite workshop. From each enlightening session, Gossett learned new techniques and methods, not just with recipes but also in how to run a successful kitchen and manage a staff comprised of different personalities, and often representing many different countries and cultures. She learned about ingredients and advocates using fresh, seasonal, and locally grown fruits and vegetables in her desserts. She believes that using seasonal ingredients allows a chef to stay true to the main element of the dessert thus preserving its integrity. While staying true to ingredients, Gossett is also known for her experimentation and creativity. In addition to the duties of Executive Pastry Chef for Charlie Trotter’s, Gossett regularly participated with The Charlie Trotter Excellence Program, where three times a week she and members of her team shared their work with Chicago high school or middle students, teaching youth about excellence and the importance of always trying to attain excellence, no matter what they pursue. Gossett found fulfillment in serving as an inspiration to these students, relaying stories of real-world experience, explaining the elements of the menu items they got to try at the restaurant, and giving them a new outlook on what is possible with food.
Since 2010, Gossett has been an integral member of Pilot Light, a volunteer-based association of many renowned chefs of Chicago who teach educational hands-on programming to children integrated into school curricula. Pilot Light was formed in response to First Lady Michelle Obama’s national call to the country’s great chefs to come together through her Let’s Move! Campaign to end childhood obesity. Download printable Bio (PDF)
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