by Don Bingham
To say that Robert Hall, executive chef for the University of Central Arkansas, loves to cook might be an understatement.

As a certified executive chef with the American Culinary Federation, Chef Robert “stirs many pots” — from cooking to overseeing the day-to-day operations of a campus culinary program that does up to 16 to 24 special events and provides 6,000 meals on a daily basis.

Chef’s first experience with cooking was when he grew weary of his sister’s routine menu of fish sticks and macaroni and cheese — and his mom told him to learn to cook by reading the recipe. He took this literally and his first cooking task was mixing “by hand” a brownie batter.

The “culinary path” from here led to cooking on a mission trip to Brazil for his church. The next stop was at UCA in pursuit of a bachelor of music degree in percussion performance and a part-time job at “A Place To Eat” (formerly located in Downtown Conway), where he credits the beginning of his cooking career.

Chef Robert and his wife have three children, two are hearing impaired — which led him to Utah for medical assistance. It was there the next adventure in cooking was realized when he worked for the Sundance Resort, owned by Robert Redford.

His culinary skills were advanced in this area, but he credits the years of hard work with his own restaurant, “Dixieland Jazz Restaurant,” and his own catering business, “Signature Catering,” as one of the greatest training grounds for a career as an executive chef.

Upon returning to Conway and UCA, Chef Robert spent four and one-half years as a pastry chef before moving into the position of executive chef with ARAMARK Corporation.

As an employee, he was offered the opportunity of a lifetime when he was invited to serve on the ARAMARK cooking team for the International Olympic Committee during the China games in 2008.

This was ARAMARK’S 14th year to be the culinary provider for the worldwide events held in Beijing. Nineteen countries from around the world were represented on the cooking team, with a management group of 230 chefs.

Chef Robert explains, “We fed 3 1/2 million meals over a 17-day period!”

Among his greatest memories of the time spent in Beijing was the amazing inspiration of seeing the awarding of four U.S. gold medals and hearing the National Anthem played, with all that represents.

He was able to attend four of the events as a fifth-generation veteran, and as Chef shares, “The scope and size of the energy still gives him chills when he thinks of those special times.”

He offered that his greatest challenge spent there was the communication problems. Out of the entire chef staff, only 30 were American ARAMARK staff chefs who had the language skills required to manage 7,000 Chinese nationals.

Chef Robert’s gratitude for his family, his job, his daily rewarding experiences in cooking, teaching and training have led him in his 18-year journey to be most appreciative and thankful for all those who have mentored and assisted him in his career. Two of those are Conway resident David Stobaugh and Paul Philpot, former chef of “A Place To Eat.”

“They are the two who first saw the potential when they handed me a knife and told me to dice fruit; starting at the bottom and with the basics, that encouraged me to know I could reach greater heights to my full potential…I’m very thankful for these men and all others who have helped me to be where I am today in my profession.”

As for his goals, he hopes to do more with corporate management within the ARAMARK company, encouraging other chefs and food service staffs in quality, excellence and creativity. One way he is doing this is establishing a testing team for future certified executive chefs in the state — a much-needed program for the food industry.

One of Chef Robert’s favorite and most requested recipes, from both his family and profession, is his alfredo sauce. Our thanks to Chef Robert Hall for sharing this recipe.

Five-Cheese Alfredo

1 stick butter

1 tsp. garlic, minced

1 tsp. dry basil

1/2 cup white wine

1 pint heavy cream

3 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded

3 oz. provolone cheese, shredded

4 oz. parmesean cheese, grated

4 oz. Romano cheese, grated

4 oz. asiago cheese, grated

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat; sweat * the garlic and basil.

Add white wine and reduce by a third. Add cream, stirring occasionally, and bring to a simmer. Slowly whisk in cheese until smooth and incorporated.

Serve over pasta and add a favorite topping – grilled chicken or blackened shrimp. Can also be cooled and used as a sauce for pizza.

*Saute the garlic and basil until they “sweat” so the natural juices come out. It’s almost like frying the onions and garlic until translucent, but they actually “sweat” the liquids from the garlic and basil.