I am curious about the paths people take to becoming a “cook”. I am already a cook, because I cook. I’m just not as “great” as I want to be and so I am looking at my option for learning more.
I was looking into the CIA but it is clear they do not work seasonally and not really with local producers (it near impossible to make certain rouxs and stocks when certain ingredients are not in season like tomatoes). Even the French Laundry gets its butter from Vermont I believe, as another example . I am really trying to do sort of the Alice Waters thing in my own way in my own little space. Akin to more to catering than owning a restaurant. Basically I want to work with localvore type of diet (meaning everything comes from within 100 miles of where you live). Luckily I live in bay area where we have lots of variety and good seafood.
I am teaching myself all I can through books (a blast I must say). Though I know in reality the best option for me and my personality, aside from just cooking all the time, would be the long lost apprenticeship (1 on 1).
I also noticed none of my favorite cooks never attended the CIA! Lidia Bastianich, Joyce Goldstein, Martin Yan, Deborah Madison, Penelope Casas, Alice Waters, Cecilia Chiang most of whom ran their own restaurants... Many learned from their parents, and some went to France or Spain to study etc. In my dysfunctional family most recipes were never handed down.
Then you have do it yourselfers like Rachael Ray (gag), and even Joyce Goldstein was self taught and ran the legendary Four Square in SF (though admittedly working at the Chez Panisse café didn’t hurt) and taught classes in her home.
Unfortunately with my budget cooking school seem vastly too expensive to begin and while the education may be stellar I am really trying to shift the way I eat and cook and and cook for others to a more local and seasonal bent.
I was looking into the CIA but it is clear they do not work seasonally and not really with local producers (it near impossible to make certain rouxs and stocks when certain ingredients are not in season like tomatoes). Even the French Laundry gets its butter from Vermont I believe, as another example . I am really trying to do sort of the Alice Waters thing in my own way in my own little space. Akin to more to catering than owning a restaurant. Basically I want to work with localvore type of diet (meaning everything comes from within 100 miles of where you live). Luckily I live in bay area where we have lots of variety and good seafood.
I am teaching myself all I can through books (a blast I must say). Though I know in reality the best option for me and my personality, aside from just cooking all the time, would be the long lost apprenticeship (1 on 1).
I also noticed none of my favorite cooks never attended the CIA! Lidia Bastianich, Joyce Goldstein, Martin Yan, Deborah Madison, Penelope Casas, Alice Waters, Cecilia Chiang most of whom ran their own restaurants... Many learned from their parents, and some went to France or Spain to study etc. In my dysfunctional family most recipes were never handed down.
Then you have do it yourselfers like Rachael Ray (gag), and even Joyce Goldstein was self taught and ran the legendary Four Square in SF (though admittedly working at the Chez Panisse café didn’t hurt) and taught classes in her home.
Unfortunately with my budget cooking school seem vastly too expensive to begin and while the education may be stellar I am really trying to shift the way I eat and cook and and cook for others to a more local and seasonal bent.