Professional Cooking School, Cooking Classes or Self-Taught?

So many folks here have so much knowledge of food, methods, foreign ingredients, I have often wondered if you had professional training or a few classes or just winged it? As for me I started teaching myself when mom was not at home because she had a fear of me blowing something up or burning the house down. I loved going to my aunt's home every Sunday. She was a self-taught home cook, baker, seamstress and gardner. Way ahead of her time with cooking and presentations, I marveled at all she did, and wanted to be just like her. My mom was an excellent cook,as well. She worked all day, so cooked on weekends and a few week nights, but her food was very fresh and tasty. As an unmarried girl, I ate at good restaurants with my girl friends every week in Eureka, CA. Local cookbooks done as fund raisers were especially appealing to me and I perused them for recipes from local restaurants. Then I learned along the way, cooking for kids, entertaining for friends,and gathering recipes. I could follow directions well and there was not a recipe I could not do well. I took a Chinese cooking class for eight weeks and loved it. We learned so many great recipes from a local chef who cooked in her home for us. Now and then I took cooking classes at local kitchen shops. I even had a cooking lesson from Linda Stradley on the art of sushi making. It was a blast!

Mostly, it has been learning through doing, and searching out the best foods I could find, cooking them simply, correctly and learning to season. It has been a ball and I am not done yet!
So, how about you?

I learned a lot from watching over my mother's shoulder. I've also learned quite a bit from watching cooking shows, like Julia Child and others. I don't do some things like TV chefs do. For instance, I have my own method for chopping onions. I've also picked up recipes from several cook books I own. I feel comfortable in my own kitchen, but I don't think I'd ever want to work in a restaurant. I just wish I could figure out how to do a great pie crust.

I learned a lot of basic techniques from my mother, who is an accomplished cook, and our housekeeper, who was probably even more accomplished (she had cooked professionally in New Orleans in an earlier life). When I left home and started living on my own, I started collecting cookbooks beyond my battered copy of Joy of Cooking, and one thing led to another. A lot of restaurant dining motivated me to learn new recipes. Basically, my major motivation as a cook has always been my love of eating

Mark Lipton

I was the youngest of five, so by the time I came around I think Mom was eager to pass the whisk to someone (anyone) who would take it. She was a very good cook, of just good basic food mainly. (With five kids there was always a lot of shopping, laundry, shuttling, so there wasn't much time for culinary experimentation.) She taught me the basics. The importance of browning, seasoning, how to make a good gravy and "white" sauce (Bechamel). I took to it, and then I became the creative cook and what inpsired me were the compliments from my parents and siblings around the dinner table.

Between jobs while in my 20s, I thought I might like to start a catering company. Of course didn't know much about it, so went to work for one. I spent a lot of long hours in the catering kitchen pulling tendons out of chicken tenders, and making the various dishes, cookies, sandwiches and desserts the company offered. I learned a lot of "professional" prep and presentation tips, but mostly what I learned was that I didn't want to work as a caterer!

My background is television production, and one of my jobs was managing a television station for a municipality. The City owned a convention center that needed promoting. Turns out the chef there had some pretty good credentials, so I came up with the idea of producing a cooking show out of the convention center kitchen and running it on our channel. Through producing and editing that show for several years, I learned the art of braising and just became a better cook overall. I think back and laugh about all the times I had to remind the chef not to double dip his spoon while tasting the sauce! Not something viewers want to see when they might be hosting an event at the place!

Finally, I took a day course at Cordon Bleu and several cooking classes at various restaurants over the years but can't think of anything significant I've learned at any of them.

My mom was a terrible cook. My high school French teacher, however, taught us about all things French, which included the food. My first experiences in the kitchen were preparing terrines for French class!

The real boost came in grad school. I lived in a communal house with 4 other students. We wanted to live as a family, rather than as strangers, so we each took a day to cook (weekends were catch as catch can). I had acquired the reputation of being the House Carnivore but, in deference to a semi-vegetarian housemate, I shifted my meat-eating to the weekends and, for the house, cooked only fish and seafood. I became a regular at all the fish markets and read widely for recipes. I also watched a lot of cooking shows.

Now, I cook more broadly, though my work schedule is often busy enough that I drift towards simpler preps (and the mentality that goes with it... obtain perfect ingredients and do just a little bit to show them off).

Mom was a good cook and had a lot of practice, raising 7 kids. One of my grandmothers was a good basic cook and the other was a terrible cook, except she made great pies. As the oldest kid, I did a lot of helping out and so learned many of the basics. It wasn't until I was in my 60s, though, that I harked back to what I remembered about pies and figured out how to make a good crust. Like an omelet, it's easy once you get the knack. So for our family get-together in July, I made ten pies, and didn't have much left over.
Regarding the question, I'm self-taught. Never went to a cooking school or took a class.

John

I'm a little surprised Mark didn't mention this.

The discipline of Chemistry is wonderful preparation for kitchen work. The lesson that you have to PAY ATTENTION to the ingredients and MEASURE everything carefully leads to highly reproducible results.

Also, having been through grad school, I am really good at learning from books, so from Julia Child to Thomas Keller, I have learned more from the books than from the TV shows.

At any rate sometimes I get to feeling like I'm pretty good in the kitchen. Then I see one of the real Chefs on TV chopping, say, onions, and he goes 20 times faster than I can. And I realize what a complete amateur I really am.

Anyway, the other half of being a good cook is tasting -- I often know the flavors I am aiming at, and if I taste and it's not there I will adjust and adjust until it's where I want it to be. I have an online friend whose mother is a wonderful cook, and she said "I tried to make a soup recipe, and I put in a lot of effort and followed the recipe, but when I was done it tasted terrible, like water, so I threw it out and gave up." Can you guess what she did wrong? I would bet money that she ignored the last instruction (or maybe it was omitted) SALT AND PEPPER TO TASTE. Even the best soup can taste very blah without the right seasonings.

Never took a cooking course.

At any rate sometimes I get to feeling like I'm pretty good in the kitchen. Then I see one of the real Chefs on TV chopping, say, onions, and he goes 20 times faster than I can. And I realize what a complete amateur I really am.

Oh, I would not say that. Have you seen the scars so many of the chefs have? I taught our kids (who always compliment me on my knife skills) to make sure they always have sharp knives and start slowly to get the feel of the technique, the movement of the fingers and let speed follow naturally. I used to be faster at chopping, but my hands have worked hard over the years, and have certain objections now...I try to accommodate them. As long as the finished product is what you set out to achieve, who cares how long it takes to chop an onion. Plus, those TV chefs are up against the clock and are showing off!

I grew up in a family that loves to eat, so it seemed natural to want to learn to cook. I started getting mildly serious about it shortly after getting out of college, when my then-girlfriend picked up an Indian cookbook. I was amazed at what I could do just by using fresh spices and following the recipes. In the late '90's, two things happened which have really affected my cooking. One was getting together with my wife, who loves to cook and eat but is generally too frazzled to go into the kitchen on weekdays. That made me the day-to-day cook for the household, and nothing improves your skills like daily practice. The second thing that happened was my discovery of the FLDG. Seeing what everyone here does has inspired me to broaden my cooking horizons and to strive to continuously improve my techniques. I've learned so much here that although I've never had a formal cooking class, I don't think I fall into the "self-taught" category either.

The second thing that happened was my discovery of the FLDG. Seeing what everyone here does has inspired me to broaden my cooking horizons and to strive to continuously improve my techniques. I've learned so much here that although I've never had a formal cooking class, I don't think I fall into the "self-taught" category either.

Great comment and one I neglected to mention. There has been a ton of inspiration here for me, to find unusual ingredients and spices I have never tried and generally, to expand my cooking experiences.
I've ventured into different ethnic foods, slowly, as I acquired some of the spices I needed. Robins recent photos and postings with the eggplant have been great. I love eggplant and had a few recipes I loved, which Gene ate but claimed he was not an eggplant lover. Now with several of Robin's combinations, he is coming around.

Wow….reminiscenes! On my arrival in Paris at a quite early age (just under 16), I fell in love almost immediately with the French language (spoken fluently since childhood), French food, French wine and bien sur, a French girl. I registered at university, and, every time she and I had the cash available would dine out, not infrequently at LaPerousse, at that time still one of the very best restaurants in the world.

One night I took fate in hand, walked into the kitchen, spoke with the chef and told him I wanted to learn about what happens in a kitchen such as his. He thought me mad of course and asked if I wanted to become a chef. I denied that and told him it was to become involved in the transformation from fine ingredients to fine dining. After a bit he accepted me and for almost 8 months worked nightly in his kitchen…… fetching and cleaning, chopping cucumbers, working and watching the sauciers, the other stations, taking part in whatever minor way when possible.

Being surrounded by a staff of thorough professionals, nobody "taught" me anything at all but one would have to be a hard-headed fool not to absorb and internalize what was "happening". Interestingly my "test" on a nightly basis was to make the chef an omelet – rejected at first rather harshly, later more gently and finally with his fork from his breast pocket, consumed and praised. After that occasional stints in various kitchens primarily throughout France, a few in Italy. Not a formal lesson in sight, no certification, no nuttin' except the love of the food.

For many years afterwards (including the present moment) as a restaurant critic to see, measure, consider and even potentially use the ideas of fine dishes that are served to me.

Best
Rogov

I'm a little surprised Mark didn't mention this.

The discipline of Chemistry is wonderful preparation for kitchen work. The lesson that you have to PAY ATTENTION to the ingredients and MEASURE everything carefully leads to highly reproducible results.

Frank,
You are right, of course, but in my life I have a hard time separating chicken from egg. Did I become a good cook because I was a chemist or did I become a chemist because of my love of cooking? I don't know. It is certainly true, though, that my approach in the kitchen would remind anyone looking that I was a lab chemist: the way I measure and the adherence to a written procedure marks me, I have no doubt.

Mark Lipton

Exactly. We have had overnight guests who broke out laughing when they saw me making coffee.
I lift the Pyrex cup measure up to my eye level so I can view the meniscus...
It is a habit I can't break, and don't really need to.

[Jenise]

Self-taught. I've only done two cooking classes ever. One was a Cordon Bleu course taught by the vicar's wife in the small northern England town I lived in for awhile. The other was a weeklong course at the CIA/Napa that was continuing ed for professional chefs ONLY under the tutelage of Chef Roberto Gallo of Washington DC in which just 11 of us prepared the huge lunch meal for the Institute, and I held my own there.

[Robin Garr]

I'm self-taught too, but have always been fascinated by cooking, and even when I was a little boy in an era when little boys didn't generally cook, my Mom was pretty intentional about having my brother and me, as well as my sister, hang out in the kitchen and help with things. Maybe because of her own training as a chemical engineer, she was fascinated by the way things worked in the kitchen, got our attention with little games like pouring vinegar on baking soda to make a "volcano" or plant a carrot top or avocado seed and watch it grow; they took us out to restaurants, encouraged us to try a little of everything, and basically instilled deeply in us that food is fun, and that you should eat a little to enjoy and not a lot to get fat.

So when the baby boom started growing up and the food revolution started, I was a prime candidate for James and Julia, Craig and Pierre and the Galloping Gourmet and all the rest, got seriously into food, then parlayed an early visit to Napa into a little wine knowledge ... after Julia and James I got Marcella's first books and cooked through them, Prudhomme's book and cooked through it, and so forth with all the other popular cookbooks of the time ... and was forever grateful that my parents taught me both to love and enjoy food and to know when to push back and go out for a walk, a run or a bike ride.

When I was a newspaper reporter, my foodie and wineaux status got me extra-duty gigs as the newspaper's wine writer, then dining critic, and that in turn eventually led me to set up Internet food and wine Websites back before there was any competition in that field, and that brings us here.

I always felt as a food writer I should be able to do the things I was writing about or else I'd have no standing to criticize, so I set myself to a high standard, and think I've become a pretty good cook. As I've seen a lot of you say, although I love eating out, it's seldom that I'm served anything in a restaurant that I don't feel I could cook as well, although in a lot of cases I wouldn't bother.

And as for training, it's mostly self-taught, although I've picked up tips from interviewing chefs along the way and visiting their kitchens, including a few big names like Prudhomme. And during a career shift into the non-profit field in the early '90s, I had my best hands-on restaurant experience, when I wanted to write about an exceptionally innovative soup kitchen in Lafayette, La., and the crusty old African-American Cajun cook who ran the place agreed to give me access provided I "paid my way" by helping out in the kitchen. It was a surprisingly good place, a soup kitchen serving food free to homeless people and for pay to working people, and it was always crowded with a happy group of both varieties. In the back was a serious, if cramped, restaurant kitchen, and in the process of paying those dues for two weeks I also got a hell of an education in working a restaurant line under hot, crowded and rushed conditions and taking pride in helping to crank out really good food.

Lately on life's path, maybe seeing more gray hair in the mirror in the mornings, I've been instinctively shifting toward less meat and more vegetables in my diet, and for the last couple of months have been intentionally eating an all-vegetable diet, partly for the simple challenge of seeing how I can bring to bear all the things I've learned in the kitchen to creating delicious dishes that are filling, healthy and tempting, that fill us up and don't leave us wondering "where's the meat?" I have no idea how long this phase will last, or if it will last, but right now it's an interesting chapter in a fun and varied life with food. And what's life without food?

Oh, yes, The Galloping Gourmet. I watched the show whenever I could. He always seemed to have such a fine time: jumping over chairs with a glass of wine in his hand, slinging butter everywhere, a few words about technique, pulling an audience member up to the table with him....

No lessons unless you include cooking shows on TV. Have picked up a lot from there, such as separting an egg by running the white through your fingers. Also zillions of cook books.

I got my start when watching a Joyce Chen Cooks episode where she showed how to grow your own fresh bean sprouts (only canned sprouts were readily available in supermarkets back in the mid-70s) and then how to use them in a simple stir-fry. I copied down the instructions for growing bean sprouts and my mom copied the recipe. A week later we had about a gallon of fresh bean sprouts and my mother asked me, "What are you going to do with them now?" I replied, "You're going to cook them." She said, "No, you're going to cook them. You'll be on your own in grad school next year and it's high time you learned how to cook."

So I ended up making stir-fried pork with bean sprouts. It was fun, and the result was delicious. I bought Joyce Chen's Chinese cookbook and the rest is history.

I'm mostly self-taught. I cook like a chemist, owing to my training in the experimental scientists. I did take a formal course in Chinese cooking. My other big influences were Julia's The Way To Cook and Chef Carey's Chef on Fire, both of which focus on technique and systematics.

-Paul W.

Nothing formal.
Background in chemistry, an enjoyment of Graham Kerr, and living alone while at university prompted experimentation that hasn't yet ended.

[Jenise]

I replied, "You're going to cook them." She said, "No, you're going to cook them. You'll be on your own in grad school next year and it's high time you learned how to cook.

Great story, Paul! I'm impressed by how many of you learned so much from your mothers.

I don't think I learned a thing from mine! She was a good home cook with a fairly varied repertoire for her day, but she didn't have the teaching instinct nor the knowledge to answer questions like "what's the difference between sauce and gravy?" and "why can't we make that at home?" after a great restaurant meal. I discovered Graham Kerr when I was 8 or 9, and he became my teacher. From him I gained the confidence that we could TOO make great food at home. I learned the importance of knife skills, I learned about rouxs, sautees and reductions, and he instilled in me the certainty that someday my life would be full of fine French food like crepes and quenelles. And while other little girls were reading Nancy Drew, I was reading the Time-Life Food of The World series my mom bought for herself and never opened. I was 11, in 7th grade, the first time I informed mom that I was going to make dinner for the entire family. And I did all by myself--all food we'd never had before. Details are sketchy now, but I know I served Steak Diane for the main and for dessert my first pie ever, a blueberry pie. I planned it meticulously for weeks, and being enamored of every aspect of restaurant life, after dinner I gave each member of my family a check so they could tip me.

I replied, "You're going to cook them." She said, "No, you're going to cook them. You'll be on your own in grad school next year and it's high time you learned how to cook.

Great story, Paul! I'm impressed by how many of you learned so much from your mothers.

I don't think I learned a thing from mine! She was a good home cook with a fairly varied repertoire for her day, but she didn't have the teaching instinct nor the knowledge to answer questions like "what's the difference between sauce and gravy?" and "why can't we make that at home?" after a great restaurant meal. I discovered Graham Kerr when I was 8 or 9, and he became my teacher. From him I gained the confidence that we could TOO make great food at home. I learned the importance of knife skills, I learned about rouxs, sautees and reductions, and he instilled in me the certainty that someday my life would be full of fine French food like crepes and quenelles. And while other little girls were reading Nancy Drew, I was reading the Time-Life Food of The World series my mom bought for herself and never opened. I was 11, in 7th grade, the first time I informed mom that I was going to make dinner for the entire family. And I did all by myself--all food we'd never had before. Details are sketchy now, but I know I served Steak Diane for the main and for dessert my first pie ever, a blueberry pie. I planned it meticulously for weeks, and being enamored of every aspect of restaurant life, after dinner I gave each member of my family a check so they could tip me.

Jenise, I could swear that I read somewhere in some publication on the interenet that you studied cooking at the CIA in Napa Valley, am I wrong? Gene and I spent some time in Napa Valley over the years and I have always been facinated with the area. I always wanted to go to the CIA in St Helena.

[Jenise]

Jenise, I could swear that I read somewhere in some publication on the interenet that you studied cooking at the CIA in Napa Valley, am I wrong? Gene and I spent some time in Napa Valley over the years and I have always been facinated with the area. I always wanted to go to the CIA in St Helena.

Nope, just went there for the one class. If life had been a little kinder to me I might have gone to New York--I had the passion for food and the excellent palate to go with it, but do the whole enchilada just wasn't possible. And by the time my career as a cost and schedule engineer took off, I had the sense to know that between earning power and hours, I was way better off cooking for a hobby and not a living.

I was 11, in 7th grade, the first time I informed mom that I was going to make dinner for the entire family. And I did all by myself--all food we'd never had before. Details are sketchy now, but I know I served Steak Diane for the main and for dessert my first pie ever, a blueberry pie. I planned it meticulously for weeks, and being enamored of every aspect of restaurant life, after dinner I gave each member of my family a check so they could tip me.

What a great story, Jenise, and it has echoes in my own life. My mother still tells the story of when I was 10, home sick for 3 months with hepatitis (from swimming in a green swimming pool in Oaxaca) and one day got a hankering for sweet and sour pork. I looked up the recipe in one of my mother's cookbooks, went out shopping for the needed ingredients and spent the better part of the afternoon messing up the kitchen to create it. And then, when I was 20 and living off campus one summer, I decided to make a French dinner for a roommate's parents, who were visiting, and cooked from recipes in MFK Fisher's Time-Life book on Provincial French cooking. I recall making Bearnaise sauce and my first ever cheese souffle that evening and -- mirabile dictu! -- it all came off well. Oh, the foolhardy courage of youth!

Mark Lipton

I served Steak Diane...

That brings back memories! I have neither made nor eaten Steak Diane in years.