It's Like Sex. If You Don't Love to Cook, You Aren't Doing It Right.
After all, we aren't born knowing how to either of them, are we? Of course, with a little time, patience and practice anyone can learn to be quite good at both! And when you are doing either of them for someone you love it shows!
Just like our first real kiss, first hand to hold, or first really intimate touch, our first experience cooking can be scary and intimidating. The fact is, it may not go so well but that doesn't mean that with some experience you can't become a great cook. It just takes patience, practice and understanding some of the basics.
Thanks to our ever expanding media and pioneers in the cooking show world like Graham Kerr, Julia Childs and Emeril Lagasse, the average person has access to a wide variety of cuisines, techniques and cooking styles. The food looks amazing and the TV chefs make it look like a breeze in just 30 minutes. So off you go to the store trying to gather ingredients that you've never heard of and have a hard time finding. You take them home and lay them out on the counter and wonder where to begin. They make it look so easy and what where they doing while the commercials were on? How hard could it be? So you fumble through the recipe that you down loaded off of the internet. It comes out ok but seems like so much work for what is a bit of an anticlimactic end. Where did you go wrong? Why doesn't the food you cook come out as amazing as it does in the restaurants or on TV? Why does a recipe come out perfect one time and terrible the next? This kind of frustration can be the thing that keeps us out of the kitchen completely.
The answer is simple. You don't have the basic foundation of cooking. The basic foundation of food preparation gives you the much needed information that allows you to not only successfully following a recipe but to also create terrific food with no recipe at all. Many of us had Home Economics classes in Junior High School and High School. There the teacher would show the students the basics of cooking, boiling an egg, making cookies, spaghetti and meatballs. I have very distinct memories of the things we made and still use some of those basic techniques today.
You may ask yourself why learning to cook seems so overwhelming to us today and yet was something that every woman learned to do 50 years ago before reaching adulthood. The answer is simple. We don't cook anymore. 50 years ago girls learned to cook because they watched their mothers and grandmothers do it from the time they were small. There is a lot to learn, no doubt and if you never saw your mom or dad make anything else but chicken nuggets in the microwave or mac and cheese from a box, it is certainly going to seem overwhelming!
But fear not. You can not only still learn to cook but also learn to LOVE to cook. I guarantee that as you grow in your food preparation skills you will find more and more satisfaction with every obstacle that you tackle. You will soon come to see that food is one of the greatest connectors to each other. You will see that food is a language that breaks down age barriers, gender barriers and class barriers! Good food is good food plain and simple and if you can create it and provide it, it will bring all sorts of people in to your life and connect you with them.
Don't misunderstand me. I know people are busy. I know you don't feel like spending 2 hours in the kitchen after working all day. In fact if you ask most chefs, they will tell you that when THEY get home they eat a bowl of cereal or a yogurt for dinner when they get home. I am certainly not so unrealistic as to think that people today will give up all of the conveniences of chain restaurants, fast food restaurants, and microwaves. All I'm saying is why not take a day a week or a even a day a month, gather your kids, your spouses, or even a couple of friends and indulge in some real time cooking.
That is where we come in. Here at Utensils Cooking School, are passionate foodies. I have worked in the industry for 30 years and my husband and best sous chef is a foodie who loves to share the great taste and the experience of making food but we do realize that it can be too overwhelming to take on. In the weeks and months to come, we would like to here from you. Follow our blog and we are going to start a special section on cooking basics. We want to hear your questions about the very base part of cooking that you never really understood. Post them here and we will address them as thoroughly possible and we will give you the tools and needed confidence to give it a try on your own.
In a class I taught recently, the students were so surprised to see me seasoning my food several times throughout the cooking process with salt and pepper. As I salted and resalted, they cried out in horror but when it was all said and done, they understood that salting your food throughout the cooking process is what gives it the wonderful depth of flavors that they were experiencing out in restaurants but were unable to replicate at home.
So go ahead and ask away. Think outside the box. What is your favorite food to go out for? What have you always wanted to know how to make but never thought you could? Homemade pasta? A souffle? How about a perfect omelet? How about amazing seafood? Empanadas! The perfect pie! Let's start talking food!
We are getting our January schedule together and it looks like it's going to be a blast. We have put together some great classes to get you ready for the festivities that come in February!
The Superbowl/ Tailgate Party
A Romantic Intimate Valentine's Dinner
A Singles Night Out
Please check out our Facebook page for class schedules, cooking tips and pictures from previous classes. Please like us on Facebook and follow us here on our blog to keep in touch with us!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Utensils-Cooking-School/175892409271467?ref=profile
Thanks to our ever expanding media and pioneers in the cooking show world like Graham Kerr, Julia Childs and Emeril Lagasse, the average person has access to a wide variety of cuisines, techniques and cooking styles. The food looks amazing and the TV chefs make it look like a breeze in just 30 minutes. So off you go to the store trying to gather ingredients that you've never heard of and have a hard time finding. You take them home and lay them out on the counter and wonder where to begin. They make it look so easy and what where they doing while the commercials were on? How hard could it be? So you fumble through the recipe that you down loaded off of the internet. It comes out ok but seems like so much work for what is a bit of an anticlimactic end. Where did you go wrong? Why doesn't the food you cook come out as amazing as it does in the restaurants or on TV? Why does a recipe come out perfect one time and terrible the next? This kind of frustration can be the thing that keeps us out of the kitchen completely.
You may ask yourself why learning to cook seems so overwhelming to us today and yet was something that every woman learned to do 50 years ago before reaching adulthood. The answer is simple. We don't cook anymore. 50 years ago girls learned to cook because they watched their mothers and grandmothers do it from the time they were small. There is a lot to learn, no doubt and if you never saw your mom or dad make anything else but chicken nuggets in the microwave or mac and cheese from a box, it is certainly going to seem overwhelming!
But fear not. You can not only still learn to cook but also learn to LOVE to cook. I guarantee that as you grow in your food preparation skills you will find more and more satisfaction with every obstacle that you tackle. You will soon come to see that food is one of the greatest connectors to each other. You will see that food is a language that breaks down age barriers, gender barriers and class barriers! Good food is good food plain and simple and if you can create it and provide it, it will bring all sorts of people in to your life and connect you with them.
Don't misunderstand me. I know people are busy. I know you don't feel like spending 2 hours in the kitchen after working all day. In fact if you ask most chefs, they will tell you that when THEY get home they eat a bowl of cereal or a yogurt for dinner when they get home. I am certainly not so unrealistic as to think that people today will give up all of the conveniences of chain restaurants, fast food restaurants, and microwaves. All I'm saying is why not take a day a week or a even a day a month, gather your kids, your spouses, or even a couple of friends and indulge in some real time cooking.
That is where we come in. Here at Utensils Cooking School, are passionate foodies. I have worked in the industry for 30 years and my husband and best sous chef is a foodie who loves to share the great taste and the experience of making food but we do realize that it can be too overwhelming to take on. In the weeks and months to come, we would like to here from you. Follow our blog and we are going to start a special section on cooking basics. We want to hear your questions about the very base part of cooking that you never really understood. Post them here and we will address them as thoroughly possible and we will give you the tools and needed confidence to give it a try on your own.In a class I taught recently, the students were so surprised to see me seasoning my food several times throughout the cooking process with salt and pepper. As I salted and resalted, they cried out in horror but when it was all said and done, they understood that salting your food throughout the cooking process is what gives it the wonderful depth of flavors that they were experiencing out in restaurants but were unable to replicate at home.
The Superbowl/ Tailgate Party
A Romantic Intimate Valentine's Dinner
A Singles Night Out
Please check out our Facebook page for class schedules, cooking tips and pictures from previous classes. Please like us on Facebook and follow us here on our blog to keep in touch with us!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Utensils-Cooking-School/175892409271467?ref=profile
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