The answer is: "no". I do not want to give up my evenings and weekends to a restaurant job. "So why go to Chef School, then?" was everyone's next question.I must admit that as I signed my school admission - transferred over a large sum of money, and handed in my resignation... this last question echoed in my head. "Why am I going to Chef School?" I know how to cook. I've read countless food books. I create from my head, imitate what I taste and see quite accurately.... so, what was I hoping to get out of it?
Today, it all became clear.
Three weeks into the most exciting time of my life, today, I picked up one of my many cupcake books and read over the recipe to get everything ready... I immediately saw some errors in the recipe and remedied them as I mixed the batter.
My cupcakes turned out great. The Vanilla cupcakes were actually whitish in colour (the ones in the picture were a dark golden brown). The cupcake turned out super light and spongy and so delicious (the ones in the picture were flat and deflated).
I'm not trying to pat myself on the back in a public forum... the message I am trying to convey is that Chef School is teaching me something that all of the cookbooks I ever read never did. Chef School is teaching me the chemistry behind the ingredients, the true basics of cooking and baking, and creating in me an innate intuition about food. In class, three weeks in, many are complaining: the recipes are too tough or too easy. The chef is too quick or too slow. the recipes are boring and outdated. My only complaint is that half the class spends there time chatting amongst themselves rather than listening. I am sitting at the edge of my seat, every single minute of the day, soaking in all of the information I can get, picking the Chef's brain about every single detail, and being a pain in the butt, in my very own way, to everyone in class who isn't as 100% fascinated by it all as I am.
For my daily Top 10 lists of things to know on cooking and baking, please go to one of my other 2 blogs:My (corrected) Vanilla Cupcakes
Cream 110grs of unsalted Butter (room-temperature) with 225gr of Sugar.
Add 3 medium-sized eggs, one at a time.
In a seperate bowl, combine 275gr of flour with 1.5 tsp of Baking Powder.
In a jug, combine 120ml of milk with 1.5tsp of vanilla extract.
Add half of the flour into the batter, then all of the milk, and lastly, the last of the flour.
Spoon into muffin cups or a greased muffin tin. Fill to 3/4 of muffin cup. Bake at 160ºC (in a convection oven) or 180ºC in a regular oven for about 20mins (inserted toothpick will come out clean OR pressing down on the top of the muffin will spring back to original shape ).
Frost as desired.
Enjoy!
Carla,
ReplyDeleteI've been a bit out-of-the-loop on your blogs in the last several months, but keep reading them periodically as I post my own blogs. It's great to hear that you've taken your cooking seriously enough to go to Chef School. I did that 20 years ago, after I had gone to my first graduate program. I had wanted to be a chef first, but my grandmother (who had been a professor of art at the university) convinced me to go to graduate school first.
I am, like yourself, glad I attended cooking school. I worked for a couple of months at a 4-star restaurant (the only one at that time in Albuquerque, NM), but realized it wasn't for me. But I had those skills 'under my belt' and have continued enjoying cooking and baking gourmet food ever since. I'm quite well recognized among my friends and colleagues for my skills! So, more power to you for pursuing your dream. As my favorite quote from Joseph Campbell states "follow your bliss and doors will open where none previously existed." You've followed your bliss! Open those doors!!
Donald Jeffries, MPA, MSW
President/Executive Director
Mariposa Men's Wellness Institute
PO Box 190371
St. Louis, MO 63119
Thanks Donald. It is always nice to receive such kind words of encouragement. I think that once you become a foodie - you are one for life! Chef school had always been a dream and although it has taken me a long time to act on it, I think doing it now has been even more exciting because i have so much personal experience (and questions) and a supporting family ready to taste, eat and experience it with me!
ReplyDeleteTell me, do you just cook or do you dabble in pastry as well? The other thing that Chef school has taught me is that, as much as I like to cook... my nature leans much more towards that of a Pastry Chef then a savoury chef. But I am learning tonnes (and having loads of fun) in both my diplomas.