Trama still keeps a menu from Lord Chumley’s from the 1970s in his office, which stars everything from prime cuts of steak, ribs, various seafood and more at extremely low prices reflective of the time period.
While Trama cooks in a full kitchen while operating his business, he also enjoys grilling outdoors, and makes it a point to work with fresh ingredients. For the Patio Pitmaster series, Trama created grilled picanha and steaks on a 58-year old grill that still works perfectly. He also made roasted vegetables and a garden salad.
“It’s important to use quality ingredients,” the chef said.
In addition to Trama’s experience as a chef, he’s also been a culinary instructor, which he said has been very rewarding.
“I taught at Ivy Tech for 10 years,” Trama said. Though his role as a teacher at the school has ended, he said, as a chef, he’s always teaching.
“We do Culinary Nights here and that’s about education and having fun,” Trama said. The center’s occasional Culinary Nights feature themed menus and chef demos.
“With teaching, there’s that satisfaction of putting that spark in people,” he said. Teaching is also something chefs automatically do, in a sense, he added.
When it comes to making a successful dish, such as the fresh garden salad he made as an accompaniment for the steaks, Trama said it’s all about balancing “color, texture and flavor.”
