I want to mentor you. POST IS CLOSED

I am looking to help you become a better a cook. How can I do that here and now.

I am very good at problem solving. I want all people to feel comfortable to cook so they cook more for those around them. I would like to take a small group - ten of you and hope to make you feel at least 5 times more confident in the end of the

"online mentorship." I promise to be committed to you every week for 1 month.

I am thinking that I would like to sprint educate. Boot camp style for about 1 month.

I would like to work with a range of expert to beginner and more balanced towards beginners.

Tell me a bit about yourself, why I should mentor you and what you want to learn.

I am here to help.

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omgitsjulian

Julian Garcia

- Academic Chemist and Project Manager by Profession - I am comfortable with the culinary concepts (science) and have a affinity for organization and product / project life cycle (management)
- Still very green to the Culinary world and am often blinded by wiz bang parlor tricks (powders, smoke, electronics, mirrors etc) and often neglect core fundamentals.
- Like to pride myself with giving that extra 50%; always adding more polish. (I would love to document this process)
- Readily accept feed back and appreciate the hierarchy structure employed within the restaurant business. I learn more from criticism rather than from praise.
- I ALWAYS have a cooking project going on.
- I'm an active an community member within walking distance of the CS office.
- I love learning in the kitchen. It teaches me patients, perseverance and discipline. I whole heartedly feel this enriches countless aspect in my life (professional and social), so much so where the food is an absolute after thought.
- I don't want to dictate what i "want to learn". I'm humble enough to know that i know very little about this hobby and am not blinded by ego. If i need to spend this whole time cutting onions in order to become better in the kitchen; then thats what i will do and will do so with a smile on my face.
- I am here to learn.

tshewman

private or public? :-)

Jo_o_81757

- Computer science major, photographer, and food lover (obviously).

- I love cooking, but I would classify myself as a beginner. I think I'm very good with the things I cook, but I have a tendency to stick to the recipes and techniques that I've already mastered and sometimes need a bit of a push to try something new.

- I'm particularly interested in learning the science and reasoning behind most of the steps performed when cooking.

- I often take a long time researching things before starting a new recipe or technique and it would be extremely helpful to have someone very knowledgeable to ask about these details.

tshewman

Research medical device instrumentation manager - Specialty in human movement sciences. I'm an old man (comparatively speaking) that has found myself almost obsessed with the culinary world. Consider myself somewhere between the beginner and intermediate. Though I am relatively competent in stocks, I feel I am lacking in many basics. Where I excel is I'm not afraid to fall flat on my face (actually, I'm quite good at it) and enjoy what I can take from those mistakes. Cooking has taught me to look at many things differently. I'm always thinking about the next cooking project, be it a technique, a meal a flavor pairing or simply an idea to surprise others. I find following recipes relatively easy (I tend to read them many many times before trying them) and in addition to learning the basics better, I could benefit from learning to think outside the recipe borders (metaphorically speaking). I sometimes get "stuck" mentally in themes or techniques and if I see an ingredient, I often try to use a technique I know instead of one I don't (which is one of many things I need help with). Some structure to the learning process and why we do certain things would be extremely beneficial (like the lettuce example today-why cold water but not too cold). Especially expanding on these would be great. I have no hair because my brain pushed it all out, making room for more knowledge....preferably culinary. :-)

viktorgilck

-Pharmacy student in uppsala sweden. So i am very good at chemistry and biology and a lot of experience in the lab

-My parent bought a resturant when I was 8years old, and I have worked in the business since.

-Worked as a chef for 4 years now ranging from easy cooking but high tempo in the window to fine-dining and organizing events for over 300 people.

-Iam right now in the cross-roads if I want to become a pharmacist or one of swedens best chef´s. I don´t want to be a chef and not be cooking the very very best. Thinking of taking an internship in stockholm or newyorks akvavit.

- I keep on experimenting whit food, researching, coming up whit new ideas.

-I want help whit how to combine flavours and making good new inovating dishes. But mostly i think I want guidence. Whats my next step? How do i keep on progressing? How do i become the best? What berriers do i have to break?

I would love to get this opportunity, and i have really stated to love the forum. I have started to put up some of my creations and i love the feedback:)

Johan_Edstrom_5586

Self Employed software architect, author, and developer.

Emigrated to the US 2001, born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden.

I focus on highly scalable distributed asynchronous event driven systems.

Have worked bars and a little bit of a line during my studies.

Decided about 14 years ago to learn cooking, bought the CIA bible, Pepins Techniques,

was gifted Keller's Under Pressure and started building circulators.

Regularly incorporate quite a few modernist tricks in my meals.

When I don't travel I cook all meals for us as a family, most larger family

gatherings, have dabbled in a few catered dinners.

I've recently started baking, love levain. I roast my own coffee, think I have somewhat decent

knife skills, I really wish I had more time, more plates, more dishes and more challenges.

I certainly would like to get my cooking up as many levels as I possibly can.

I don't exactly know what that means because there are so many darned things I don't know

Matthew_Snyder_68770

I am a dashingly handsome transactional IP paralegal with nearly 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry, currently working in the video game accessories sector.

I've been taking my cooking seriously since about 2002, and aside from ChefSteps and a 24-session class that I took five years ago that didn't teach me anything new I am pretty much entirely self-taught. My beagles enjoy watching me cook. The cat does not.

In exchange for the mentorship, I can teach you how to play 'Eruption' on the guitar.

DiggingDogFarm_65362

Well...y'all have got me beat...I'm just an ordinary dude and not particularly skilled or good at anything!!!!! : )

bojana.nikodijevic

- Mechanincal engineer with MBA, background in finance and strategy consulting

- Mom of two boys small

- Recently quit my office career to work full time with food: (trying to build) creative food consulting business, private chef, blog, food photography. I HAVE to make it work, I just cannot go back to what I used to do and I could really use some help to get my startup going

- I am curious by nature, love to experiment and have (almost) never cooked the same recipe twice

- I am comfortable with cooking 10+ element dishes, familiar with many techniques but need to raise my game now that I want to make my passion for cooking into my profession

- My biggest motivation in whatever I am doing is the possibility to learn new things

- Take me, please!

GaryT_92514

What an amazing offer - pick me

I'm an untrained enthusiast who is easily inspired. I've been keeping an amateur modernist food blog going for about a year now - details: www.6xc.com.au So much to learn...

pizza_Courtoreille_44262

I'm a sous at an Italian rerestaurant in Vancouver and I try to get better every day.

I believe I can achieve more with your help.

Love the site please don't ever stop

Brandon_Truong_117326

I'm a 3rd year undergraduate student studying Computer Science in California. One of my all-time passions is cooking and baking, even though I'm an amateur at both. I love making those around me happy - be it friends, family, or strangers - and the best way to do so in my opinion is to be creative in the kitchen and create a meal that they will never forget.

That being said, I don't have much experience cooking. I absolutely love watching cooking tutorials and videos, but haven't had extensive cooking practice. I'm terribly afraid of disappointing people and since I don't have much cooking experience, I don't cook for others often. However if I had more experience and guidance, I would be more confident in myself and hopefully make those around me happier through food that I make.

As a college student, my peers are always excited to eat and never turn down an offer. I feel that the skills I would gain from your mentorship would have immediate benefits to not only my life, but to the community that I'm a part of. In the future, my passion for cooking would only grow and I would continue using my dedication to culinary arts to create long lasting memories for those dearest to me.

In terms of what I want to learn, I'm not sure. Recently, I've invested in a vacuum sealer and an immersion circulator, though I won't be receiving the immersion circulator for a couple of months. One of my goals is to be able to transform simple and maybe even complex ingredients into memorable dishes. When people eat a dish of mine, I want them to think that it was created through my knowledge and understanding of ingredients, love for food, and skills that I've developed through my experiences. What I want to learn, is how to do this. I want to learn how to blow people away.

Viet_Le_117335

During my senior year of high school, my class was able to attend Disneyland's Grad Nite event. Although my other classmates talked about all the fun they had going on the different attractions in the park, what I enjoyed the most was quite different.

During the trip, I starved myself of breakfast and lunch in order to save my stomach for the Thunder Ranch BBQ all-you-can-eat. Throughout the day my stomach was growling as it wanted sustenance but I refused to give in. When the time finally came to eat dinner at Thunder Ranch, my mouth was already salivating over the thought of eating the deliciously tender barbecue ribs.

As I bit into the juicy piece of meat that was in my hands, all I could feel was ecstasy rushing over my body. The tender meat slid off the bones with a gentle tug and the sweet barbecue sauce helped it slide right down into my stomach. I remember the feeling of freedom with each bite and relief with each swallow. I was happy, truly, truly happy. This is the most memorable memory I have of that entire trip.

Food, is not something that is just about how it looks and how it tastes. For me, food should be an experience and should make you feel something besides being full. I love food. I have a very good feeling or sense of how food "should" taste. I have tried my hand in the kitchen a few times before and although most of my dishes were successful with my guests, I always felt like I was somewhat incompetent. I do not work in the kitchen a lot and every time I prepare to make a dish I feel like a child who doesn't know what he's doing with the tools at his fingertips.

You should mentor me, because you want to. If you didn't, you wouldn't be posting this. I feel like I am the type of student that fits in with what you're looking for. I am not experienced in the kitchen and I feel with your help and mentorship, I will have more confidence executing my recipes for my guests. I am always open to new things and as someone that isn't experienced in the culinary arts, I trust that you will guide me in the right direction and teach me what you feel is essential to improve my skills in the kitchen.

jason.r.whitworth

• I am a Product/Packaging Designer for a Sporting Goods Company, live in Brooklyn, NY.

• I am passionate about learning new skills and developing new hobbies. Cooking, Cocktails, Hunting, Meat Butchery, Muay Thai, Grappling, Photography, Videography and so on... Its hard to find the time and money to pursue everything.

• I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about a lot of types of cooking from reading books and experimenting at home but there is certainly always so much more to learn.

• I would be willing to commit fully to this project and put in whatever work is needed.

• I find the entire spectrum of cooking to be interesting from the modern (Combi ovens and liquid nitrogen) to the primitive (cooking over a campfire or baking something in the earth with coals)

• What do i want to learn? I would like to learn like the small and sometimes subtle techniques that might take a dish or food preparation from "really good" to "great", or take great home cooking and bringing it to the level of like some of the top restaurants in the country.

anthony_34093

Anthony DiGiulian

-IT Consultant, business professional that has always been inspired and passionate about food/cooking but only recently started to try and take my skills to the next level.

-Married for 6 years and my wife has not cooked once!

-I cook regularly but often find myself getting cemented in the same dishes over and over because they are usually a combination of successful and easy to replicate.

-I want to start thinking more creatively in the kitchen. Not necessarily more complex but more of a focus on how can I elevate flavors and make simple delicious meals that don't take a ton of time on busy week nights (have an 18 month baby too). That probably means more advance prep and planning but also means I need to learn more about storage and preservation.

-I have what I would consider a decent stocked kitchen but not great. Pressure cooker, small food processor, immersion blender, decent blender, dutch oven, standard pots and pans. I have an Anova 2 coming later this month which will be my first circulator. I cook with my cast iron more than anything else. I think my knife skills are pretty good for a home cook.

-The hardest challenge I have in improving as a home cook is that I am my own critic which I think is both good and bad. I want to learn how to understand why certain dishes and flavors worked and why others did not in order to avoid similar mistakes going forward. I was a waiter throughout college and have a deep love and passion for food and restaurants but I've never worked in a kitchen. Primarily all self taught and would love the opportunity to solicit real mentoring from such an acclaimed chef.

merridith

I have been cooking since the age of 11 (I am now 62) when, due to my single mother's disability, I was elected to do all the cooking for my family, including mom and my 3 siblings. Before she became disabled, mom was always cooking and she taught me all she knew. I put myself through college and law school working in restaurants (front and back), cooking privately for a large family of 9 and working in the catering industry. Mom didn't know what value that skill she taught me would lead to!

I have attended classes at the Culinary Institute of America where I gained some confidence in my basic skills and learned that I am a terrible baker. I am an omnivore and I love to improvise and try things that many home cooks would never attempt (sweetbreads, fois gras for example). I am retired now, living in New York City and I don't have anyone to feed anymore except my wonderful husband. But I still love cooking for the two of us.

I once bid a substantial amount of money on a charity auction (benefiting our local slow food chapter) in order to have the chance to shadow a favorite chef for a day in his busy restaurant kitchen.

For a few years (while living in Missouri) I wrote a food blog about my experiments with sous vide cooking and my dedication to slow food. During that time I was part of a small group of food enthusiasts who would buy whole animals on the hoof, process them and share the goods, thereby enabling us all to participate in serious nose-to-tale eating. I taught myself sausage making and a little charcuterie and I used to host sausage making parties for this group.

I sing when I cook.

randy7fx

I am a single dad of a beautiful 6 year old girl. We have chickens in our urban backyard, because it is important for her to learn where our food comes from, as well as to be green. I just want to be able to cook healthier and delicious meals for her.

Tim_Sutherland_52834

Varied careers, Army Officer; Finance; Photography; cooking.

Born in Canada, accent Australian, live in Dallas TX.

Between boarding school and the Army I didn’t need to cook for myself until 31. Mum and Grandma baked and always cooked but but nothing special or standout.

I started cooking after leaving the Army mainly Asian dishes and baked cheese cakes. The renovation of a kitchen in Brooklyn NY made me cook. We moved to Dallas a year later and after trying to find short courses to improve my home cooking, I competed a culinary degree. I worked in fine dining for 9 months but couldn’t commit full time due to travel opportunities (I travel internationally at least once a year and domestic opportunities come up at least once a month). To fill in a few hours a day, I started to work as a private chef. I now cook dinners for two large high net worth families (6-8 with another due in December, and 5-10. Mondays I feed both families dinner one at 5:30 the next at 7:15). I teach private cooking lessons to home cooks a few times a month.

I have more kitchen equipment than a medium sized restaurant, and more cooking related books than a large library. I rate my cooking skills a 1/10 only because with at least 192 countries and over 7 billion people in the world, I will be lucky to be exposed to a fraction of the cuisines on this planet, let alone trying to cook them myself in my lifetime. My cooking skills do not compare with those of the xiaolongbao stuffer in Shanghai. I am yet to master the ability of the Osakan street vendor to cook over 100 takoyaki simultaneously. I am all thumbs when pitted against a Malay weaving the palm leaf for ketupat.

My wife grew up on a wheat/sheep farm, has an Ag Econ degree and has worked her entire career in banking ag clients. For fun we walk through markets looking at product lines, price points, labeling, and who the distributors/processors are. When dining at restaurants we end up discussing operational efficiency, labour structure, margins, turn rates, menus and suppliers. Yes we know how to have fun.

With my current families I rarely cook seafood, red meat needs to be served no pink, vegetables are something to be served but not really eaten and sauces/dressings on the side again rarely touched. The bulk of my cooking is now not overly adventurous, and stuck in a small menu rotation.

I have little face to face interactions with adventurous cooks/chefs. Those that I do interact with think it strange to want to hold a dinner party for 8 with at least 10 courses when 3 basic courses would be more that enough.

I need something to push me out of my rut.

Allan_2543

I am a Chef in Vermont. I have 15 young, eager to learn cooks working under me yet i feel like I should be teaching them better techniques than I currently do. I owe them that because of all the hard work they put out every day for me.

I have bought cryovac and sous vide machines, invested in many other equipment in order to try to bring this part of the country to par with the rest of the Northeast. Now I just need to learn a little more about the practice I am actually trying to put in place in this not so well know part of the culinary world!

I would not put myself in the category of beginner, just someone trying to get really good in order to help all those around me become really good.

lockgavin

37 year old architectural designer from Canada. Single dad, time crunch is always an issue these days. I try to cook the best food I can when we are together and try to muster the energy to cook even better food for myself and others (I am not picky like he is) when I am given the opportunity.

I guess my interest in food started from a very honest place - the need to cook once I was on my own. Like most things I do, I become more and more interested in the things the more I work at them. Before I knew it things went from simple recipes involving canned soup that I thought were pretty solid to making the thing that was being passed off as soup in that can I mentioned before. The fact that you can only get better and never really 'master' the craft further adds to the interest. There will always be room for improvement, development and innovation.

Since then I have sort of tried to learn and expand my knowledge base and confidence in the kitchen. I feel pretty confident when it comes to cooking for the most part, although by nature I second guess things often - in this case; flavour, texture, doneness, presentation, etc.. like I mentioned earlier - most everything can always be better in some regard. Conception, visualization, pairings, textures are all things I am curious about.. as well as honing technique and getting the work small mentality and prepping in order (I am brutal for this).

Worked in a meat department for 10 years, which at the time was a means to end.. but in hindsight as proved immensely useful for me.

In the end, I just love food. I love making it, I love eating it, I love sharing it. And hey, if I get a pat on the back or two.. or more importantly a silent table with only mmmmms.. that's even better.

jonathan.mota

Hey Grant!

About me:

Born in NY but raised in Venezuela for 18 years. I've lived in Europe for another 9 years (Spain basically, but also Italy and England). I got back to Venezuela 1.038 days ago and since then I've been in the catering business, not behind the stove but in management. The company I work for dedicates to serve food to people on the oilfields.

Since food served in canteens of companies are usually called "comfort food" (and not in a good way) I'm trying to introduce new and simple cooking techniques to the staff in the kitchen so our results gets us to be some kind of benchmark on the industry. Kind of a personal signature.

Why to pick me:

Because I'll return the favor to the Chefsteps team in the future (I have some thoughts)... but who knows, maybe I end up peeling onions on your lab kitchen.

What I'll like to learn:

Mastering the simplest but most amazing techniques that differentiate a standard result from an astonishing one would be enough. But anything you can in that month Grant!

com-chefsteps

What an exciting idea!

Last year, I asked my wedding caterer to mentor me and we developed this list of techniques and dishes I wanted to learn with his help. But he was nominated to be a James Beard semifinalist so he got swamped and we never did it.

I'm lucky enough to live very close to one of the very few c-schools that offers a non-degree chef program for folks who already have all the degrees they need, so I've done all the classics at least once. But I love my "real career" so I haven't worked in food service since college age.

My strengths are science and theory. My weaknesses are dull, repetitive, finicky tasks (dumpling folding, etc.). I can always explain food better than I can make it.

The c-school gave me their "great guy to work with" award at graduation - I was touched, but also unsurprised that I didn't get any "cooking skills" awards. I adore prissy, modern, clean presentations but it's very hard for me, so I mostly do homestyle dump-and-serve. I was proud of the dish I submitted to Chefsteps even if it's just poached fruit, but I got a ton of help from my sweety (a pastry chef) to make it look so nice.

Top of my to-do list are: solid sauces, quenelling (I cannot get it for the life of me), spoon-basting, sous vide terrines, clean and orderly presentations, Xiao Long Bao, and a crispy-fried version of Brendan Lee's Lo Bok Gou here at Chefsteps.

pepealberola

That sounds fantastic. Unfortunately I am not sure I can fit a one month cooking boot camp in my schedule. But I wish I could....

Steve_97818

I am new to the professional culinary world. I have not attended culinary school and have probably worked about every job in the front of the house and various jobs outside the industry. But the food is the heart and soul of the resturant. And I've always loved the food.

About 2 years ago I took a job as a culinary assistant in a private kitchen for a pretty big company. Never having experiance in a professional kitchen I am going the baptism by fire route and learning as I go. So this website has helped my tons with ideas for recipes (when I do get the oppertunity to cook or having fun trying new things out) and the techniques to pull them off. I have done a few things to impress my chef as well as some off the executives around my place. But I am still learning and don't feel confident with a lot of things I do. I always feel it could be done better.

You should mentor me because I am a fairly clean slate. Ready to learn as much as I can! I have a basic understanding of kitchen operations and tools in the kitchen and feel I have a good palate and understand flavors. I love the things you do on the website and would jump at the chance to soak in any knowledge you'd be willing to share. I am eager and willing to learn and hope to be a part of this!

Lennard__34626

Everyone has incredible stories but I thought I'd join the lottery. I'm a mechanical engineer and have been for two years. I don't particularly like my job and I don't understand what it's like to wake up in the morning, excited to go to work. Which is why I'm planning to quit my job in 6-7 months and do something food related, because food genuinely makes me happy. I'm very inspired by the food I interact with, whether it's the food I eat, the food I hear about or see on the Internet, techniques for cooking that I have never imagined existed, or working with produce that I don't normally get To work with. I day dream about food a lot and I'm always trying to build dishes in my head at work

I'm a self taught home cook, and I managed to help out at Guy Savoy in Singapore once an week form bout 2-3 months, that was quite an experience going from cooking at home to working at Guy. I'd be happy to fly up to Seattle for 3-4 weeks after I quit if you're willing to take me, I'll do anything you have for me, I really just want to learn about food and improve

puran.chen

About me:

I am 25 years old and a medical student, graduating in January from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. I am also a PhD student since 2013, currently working on developing a human lung tissue model to study the interaction between the human immune system and cancer cells. I have also played classical piano for more than 17 years and I am lucky enough to have a grand piano in my 33 sq meter student apartment. My kitchen is small, but it has not stopped me from trying to explore the art of cooking. I've always loved things you can eat and taste. I've quite recently gone through a period of exploring the art of mixology and before that I've been trying to learn more about wines and whiskey. My love for cooking started with making desserts of all kinds (my favourite is the "Budapestbakelse" and I'd love to take that one to a new level with some of the techniques I've learned here at ChefSteps and Modernist Cuisine) and although I always loved to cook since I moved to live by myself, it is not up until recently I have started to STUDY food.

Why you should mentor me:

Because I think I have the prerequisite to be a really good culinary scholar. I am scientifically trained with a critical mind and meticulous approach to everything I do. My background as a pianist have made me appreciate the beauty of art and to perform art to perfection and most important of all: practise makes perfect. I love to work hard, I am ambitious and I love to learn new things. I believe I am a scholar with high potential, but I also believe I need a great mentor to realise my potential.

What I want to learn:

First of all, I want to learn all the classical "modernist" techniques but I also want to be well rounded when it comes to classical french cooking (i.e. Escoffier-type of cooking). My goal is to be able to take my friends favourite dishes and turn them into something special, with a twist. I want them to recall their favourite food memories but at the same time create new ones. By that, I hope they will appreciate the "scientific way" of cooking and possibly wanting to learn more and make delicious food themselves. I love to try new things, food that I have never eaten before and I hope I can inspire my friends to do the same. I want to give my friends and family extraordinary culinary experiences so they might rethink what food can be.

Ryan_Jones_36451

I'm now 30, and although I am an attorney by trade, I like to consider myself a creative by practice. Food is one of the few things in this world that I find can connect any two souls together and it's why it delights me to no end. Although I began as my mother's little helper when I was five or six— adding breadcrumbs to her meatloaf to assist her messy hands, or cracking eggs as she mixed them into the creamed sugar base of our Nestle Toll House cookies—I began cooking seriously as a hobby about three years ago.

While I still consider myself closer to beginner than expert, I crave cooking knowledge and have begun to branch out using more modernist techniques. I am the first one I know not online who began cooking sous vide, and the only one I know who owns an iSi, but I still am looking to put it all together.

Although I would love to see myself one day contributing meaningfully in the food service industry, the logistics of that seem difficult to imagine right now. Instead, I put my cooking skills to use and find no greater joy today than when I cook for my girlfriend, family, and friends. My interests have spread and I've given my girlfriend the cooking bug and I find we grow closer brainstorming elaborate meals, conceptualizing dishes, and sousing for each other in the kitchen. My food journal is filled with various notes and ideas that catch my fancy and make me happy.

I seek mentorship because I want to be pushed to the next level with cooking. I want to be able to create culinary experiences for those I'm close with and break bread with them to develop closer bonds with those I love. I want to make my girlfriend feel special when I cook for her on Valentine's day or her birthday. I want to soak up more.

I am a very visual learner and ChefSteps has awakened my imagination when it comes to realizing what is possible in the kitchen. I believe your mentorship will provide me the confidence needed to feel in control in the kitchen at all times. While mise en place has given me a grasp over controlling the kitchen, I still sometimes let the pressure of unexpected events get the better of me and turn me into a frazzled, sweating mess. I want to learn how to maintain my cool and composure regardless of what the kitchen presents and understand how to better manage various tasks that take place rather close together in time. I want to learn how I can stop letting these distraction get in the way of making an exceptional dish instead of a merely pretty good one. I want to learn how I can make multi-course meals for my girlfriend while also being able to enjoy them with her at the same time. I'd also like to learn how to better photograph my creations before service to document them for posterity.

Thanks for listening Grant. Not to suck up because I'd say this either way, but I think what you and the entire ChefSteps team is doing is one of the best things going on on the Internet right now.

cammarata.nick

What are your favorite things to sing when you cook? I personally love listening to Le Festin by Camille because I love Ratatouille

merridith

Show tunes and standards mostly. But lately I have been trying to "lalala" some classical stuff (love those fanfares). ;-))

HammeredChef_DEFINITELY_does_NOT_work_at_22134

Grant,

I am 63 years old, semi-retired, and an avid cook, pressure cooker, SV (bought my VFR 10 years ago), steam oven, smoker , grill etc.. Without boring you I would like to be part of your program. I hold a class at my home every other week for 5 people (10 with spouses). I would love to be able to pass on new skill sets. I have found that when you teach, you get to find out how little you really know when the good questions come :-) The group bought 4 Anovos last month and 3 pressure cookers. All have joined CS and are supposed to study before class. I have actually spoken to John Lusk about the occasional Skype guest appearance by members of CS.

aaron.m.kent

Hey Grant,

I'm 32 and would classify myself as a culinary beginner. My background is in math and engineering, definitely no formal culinary training. I only really seriously began trying to learn to cook a few years ago. I've been through the the usual channels of online recipe forums and standard cookbooks. But I find the way that cooking is "taught" on the internet is generally very frustrating. Recipes are presented mostly as interesting combinations of ingredients/flavours without focus on the technique and fundamentals. A few years ago I found Ruhlman's 20 to be the first really useful volume I encountered because it focused on principals and abstraction. (I admit that I have not read Modernist Cuisine.) But this summer I found ChefStes, and I was impressed with what I would consider a radical shift in approach of instruction. The emphasis is clearly on technique and concepts, and the *entire* cooking process is discussed. So far in my cooking journey the most important techniques and principles I've learned are:

(1) Deglazing. Simple I know, but a universal concept that has really improved my dishes.

(2) Degreasing. I am not good at this, but even my meager attempts transform soups and stews.

(3) Scratch. I think the single simplest technique I've learned is to just make everything yourself. Homemade stock, batter, mayo all make such a difference.

(4) Ingredient state. Considering the temperature, moisture level, salt content, etc of ingredients before cooking, especially meats.

These are all basic and simple concepts for anyone with a culinary background, I'm sure. But these are steps I've really enjoyed making and would love to continue improving and understanding. I still can't really sear a scallop, can't turn croissant dough properly, can't make a great pan sauce after roasting a chicken, cannot butcher almost anything well. I also want to learn how to think like a chef, how to manage the prep process and understand what steps need to happen when. I obviously balance a lot of commitments with cooking, and I want to learn strategy for finding the time, managing the stress, and creating lovely meals.

I actually stopped by the ChefSteps facility last week when I was in Seattle. Tim was kind enough to offer a tour. It's an impressive space.

Thanks,

Aaron

grandpa.yum

Therapist with a huge interest in Chemistry. I love the science of food and learning more about how one can improve shelf life, texture, flavor, and durability (for lack of a better word) by incorporating scientific knowledge in the kitchen. I love being able to explain why things are better in a truly objective and definitive way (e.g. minimizing ice crystal formation in frozen foods). I also love the communal nature of cooking and eating; cooking for and with others as a way to socialize and develop relationships with others. Food is something that everyone inherently has a relationship with and it's always interesting to see what people treasure and hold close to them. I worked in restaurants as a line cook throughout high school and college but most of them were cruddy and I never really got instruction; I simply stayed because I enjoyed it and was willing to learn on my own. I think with all this I have solid skills in the kitchen but I could really use a push to get to the next level and this would be a great opportunity to do so

coryhansen78

Same here.

Hirman_111552

I've been listening to Le Festin - Camille, since year 2007. Ratatouille is my inspiration and because that i pursue to working far and abroad.