My goal is to learn how to cook like a professional. I want to become as close to a professional cook as I can without actually working in a restaurant kitchen or going to cooking school - basically, to give myself a culinary education at home by cooking a new recipe every week (or so).
The purpose of this blog is to journal about my cooking experiences in order (a) help myself remember what I've learned, (b) hopefully help others learn something more about cooking, and (c) inspire others to seek taste bud excellence!
As a disclaimer to actual culinary school graduates, this "education" will not strictly cover the same things taught in a cooking school. The reasons why are simple: (a) I don't really know what is specifically taught in cooking school, and (b) the recipes I make are simply those that seem tasty to me in any given week. But, the goal of this plan is to teach myself as many of the basic skills and techniques that culinary school teaches.
Per the suggestion by a law school friend, I will be rating recipes on a 5 point scale, with 5 being "holymotherofgodicandieahappymannow" to 1 being "i think i just threw up a little in my mouth..." For all you math geeks, this scale will *hopefully* follow a normal curve, which means (for you non-math geeks) that 1s will be rare, 2s uncommon, 3s quite common, 4s uncommon, and 5s quite rare. I might, as a bonus, give something a 6 if it is truly amazing and should guarantee me a spot in heaven (but don't hold your breath while you wait - it's gonna be a while...).
Some of the resources I'll be using are the following books and TV programs:
- Cooks Illustrated (both magazine and webpage)
- Food Network (both TV and webpage)
- The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook
- The Professional Chef by the Culinary Institute of America (aka the CIA).
There are certain recipes that I really would like to become skilled at. A good starting list is this:
- All of the French mother sauces
- Veal stock
- Beef stock
- Truly fine chicken stock
- Good pie dough
- Beef Stroganoff
- Leg of Lamb
- Pulled Pork
- Potstickers
- Gorgonzola cheese sauce
- Alfredo Sauce
- Compound Herb Butter
- Court Bouillon
- Homemade butter
- Homemade Thousand Island dressing
- Homemade mustard
- Rouille
- Sauce Gribiche
- Tzatziki Sauce
- Fried Calamari
- Clams
- Paella
- Lobster
- Fish and Chips
- Coquilles St. Jacques
- Coconut shrimp
- Egg drop soup
- Beef borscht
- Tortilla soup
- Irish lamb and cabbage stew
- Clam chowder
- Cioppino
- Shrimp bisque
- Lobster bisque
- Bouillabaisse
- Eggplant Parmesan
- Homemade pickles
- Panzanella
- Spanakopita
- Indian and Thai curry dishes
- Stuffed bell and poblano peppers
- Egg rolls
Of course, there will inevitably be more. But, this is a good starting list.
Just for kicks, here is a bit about me. I grew up on old farm (non-operating) in the country, southwest of Ann Arbor, MI. I still live in southeast Michigan. I spend youth climbing trees, playing soccer, and riding my bike. I started cooking in high school when, in my infinite wisdom, I decided to become a vegetarian. My mom, an avid lover of steak, said that was fine on two conditions: (1) I'd still have to eat healthy, and (2) I learned to cook vegetarian myself b/c she sure as hell wasn't going to become one. So, I learned to cook. And, as time as passed, my interest in it has only increased. Besides creating delicious food, my favorite aspect of cooking is cooking for others - I love to gather my friends around and share a wonderful food and drink. In terms of types of cooking, I've enjoyed almost every cuisine I've had. It really just depends on how well it was made. My tastes in cooking are the same I have of books - I don't really care what it was about so long as it was well-made (or, as it were, well-written).
In terms of my non-cooking life, I'm a second year law student at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, Michigan, and have a strong interest in environmental law. I also enjoy the martial art To-Shin Do, which is a form of ninjutsu (the martial art of ninjas) at the Ann Arbor Quest Center. Any non-school, non-cooking, and non-martial arts time is spend with my wonderful girlfriend Katie or with my friends (or parents/sister, who all still live in A2, and hence I see with relative frequency).
Anyways, on to the cooking!
5 comments:
Dude, this is a great idea. I'm excited to watch it develop (and to poach recipes!)
Apparently law school wasn't enough?
indeed! law school was not enough and poaching recipes is totally cool! (though, as you'll see, very few will be things i just straight up thought of on my own).
I know your blog is "Once A Week Cooking," but what if we want to try your techniques more than once a week? Is that recommended or would you recommend sticking by more of the standard (non-progressive) recipes for six days of the week? Thanks for you help...GREAT BLOG!!
Mikey,
I'm glad you like the blog!
Feel free to try them as often as you like! I make one new recipe a week only b/c I don't have the time or money to pay for more (I would loooove to cook more, but school gets me down...). In general, I would recommend cooking anything you like - I don't have a particular order for what I cook. It is just what sounds good to me at any given point.
If you have any other questions, feel free to post another comment :-) Again, thanks for the support!
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