having trouble finding a mentor/teacher for next fall

I've been trying for a couple of seasons to find a mentor/teacher to help me take my cooking to the next level, but I'm having trouble sealing the deal and maybe could use some ideas from the crowd. Do y'all have any suggestions or feedback? Is finding a mentor a naturally tough proposition?

Background: I'm a decent cook, and I've been to c-school so I know how to dice an onion and pipe choux, but I haven't worked in a commercial kitchen since I was a kid, and cooking isn't my "real" career. I've got decent technical knowledge but could use some practical skills, many of which are taught best in person. Since I haven't had restaurant experience, some of my skills are advanced but some are weirdly very basic. And I could use help with plating and presentation.

I figured caterers and personal chefs would be a good place to start, since restaurant chefs work 90 hours a week. It seems like personal chefs are prepared to teach knife skills and seasoning, but I'm looking for someone with modernist experience - truffle explosions and the like. I got all the way to creating a sample menu full of skills to learn with one chef who was open to the idea, but he got nominated for a big name award so his interest understandably evaporated.

While I am generally easy to work with, I suspect that the whole pitch is unusual enough that it freaks people out. Maybe a little like asking someone to marry you on the first date? I could go to local cooking classes to meet teachers, but those classes are geared toward the "how-to-crack-an-egg" demographic (I've taught those, even).

Any ideas or suggestions?

Here's the menu I pitched if you're really inclined to read it: http://bit.ly/1pm6qod

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Comments

Tim_Sutherland_52834

This is hard.

By accident I just spent two hours this morning talking with the lead instructor and head of education of the local culinary school and another two hours talking with a bunch of the culinary instructors. The summary of the discussion was, you can find good cooks and you can find good instructors, but it is very hard to find a good cooking instructor. Compounding the problem is the culinary field is low paying and long hours. Those that have the ability and experience are too busy to provide the one on one training. Those that have the free time are usually the ones you can teach a few things, not the other way around.

I am fortunate with the time and the means to learn via trial and error. I play a lot in the kitchen practicing and/or trying new things. I go to the local culinary school (where I graduated a few years ago) and talk with the instructors to bounce ideas off/get ideas from/trouble shoot problems I am having. I hold cooking days at my place where I have culinary students make stuff. This allows me to fill the freezer and the kiddies learn how to make pressure cooked stock. It also allows me to try multiple recipes in a short period of time as I get the kiddies to scale recipes out. Also been the "smartest-person-in-the-room" I spend time studying the recipes before the kiddies arrive which gives me a better insight. I am about to start the same thing with a few chefs that have the weekends off.

I find holding dinner parties on a regular basis practices your plating and presentation skills. Start slow and practice one or two techniques per party. You will be surprised what guests find amazing.

I would be surprised if you could find one chef that could produce all the items in your menu. Look at finding a baking/pastry/desert chef and a savory chef.

I you are ever in Dallas TX hit me up, and I'm willing to spend time in the kitchen with you - just bring the beer.

Jack_Mayer_85396

@Ted, if possible - take @Tim up on his generous offer. A few weeks back he invited me to come cook with him and I had scheduling conflict so I couldn't participate. But I did visit his lovely home and we "talked cooking" for an hour or two. A very informative and enjoyable experience to be sure!

christopher_12897

I would say honestly trial and error can be very helpful. The internet has TONS of visual material to help advance. Working in kitchens becomes very routine and busy with not a lot of room for teaching and mentorship unless your getting yelled at into doing something correctly. Sometimes you can rack the brain of someone higher up than you but that VERY much depends on their mood and how busy it is.

I would cook with friends that are more skilled or maybe just team up and have more than one person developing and maybe achieve results faster. Sometimes there are older cooks,chefs that you can take classes from and learn skills but they have never been inexpensive enough for me to consider it personally.

Where you call home?

merridith

I got involved in my local foodie community when I lived in Missouri through Slow Food org. I also hung out (lurked?) at a local farmers market and met like minded folks. We formed a buying group for pigs and cows and lambs and made friends with the folks who, like us, wanted locally grown, organic, etc., slow food. Then we would get together with our meat and make sausage, cure & smoke bacon, etc. we learned as a group and shared a great deal of info. I became a sausage expert this way. It was a very fun way to learn and improve our skills!

com-chefsteps

Thanks for all the thoughts, y'all, and I'll hit you all up for dinner. I forgot to mention that my sweety is a pastry chef, which relieves the burden on the mentor somewhat, assuming she doesn't strangle me with pate brisee. We did, for a couple of years, host a weekly or monthly "practice" potluck encouraging folks to bring a dish they wanted to learn, whether it was "great" or not - this was a huge success, but not much in the mentorship/teaching realm.

That said, in addition to booking my flight to Dallas this morning (thanks @Tim, I'll be there for dinner) I'll probably also call some of the faculty at the c-school and see if they know anyone. Thank you!