Teaching, like cooking and baking, is part craft, passion, inspiration, patience, empathy, listening skills and intuition. Most chefs I've worked for have not been incredible teachers. Self admittedly they do not have the patience for it. The cooks who took the time to explain technique or the whys and hows of a particular recipe are those I channel when I teach. Because I did not go to culinary school I had to hone my watching and practicing skills sharper than I honed my knives. Maybe because I learned everything on the line, literally, I remember the moments in time and with whom I experienced learning epiphanies with.
As a floundering "B" position garde manger cook at LuLu almost 14 years ago I ate my first fresh fig, put thinly sliced raw artichokes in my mouth, dodged flying plates from an angry chef, was purposely burned for the first time by a fellow line cook and jokingly surprised by fresh mango sprinkled with cayenne, tasted lavendar ice cream, shucked oysters and learned that every sous chef has a different idea of what enough salt is.
With as many cooking shows as are on TV these days, cooking and baking, as with all crafts, are best learned though hands-on classes. One on one with chefs who understand what they are choosing to teach backwards and forwards. An actual person standing there to watch, correct and encourage what your hands are learning or feeling awkward with. Being inside a kitchen, standing over a hot stove, watching with wonder how eggs added to flour, water and butter can become a delicate airy eggy puff, a crunchy-creamy doughnut, rich gnocchi. Eating an afternoon's hard work and taking home a recipe one intimately understands with hands and mouth and mind.
This is the teaching I do. I explain the whys not merely the hows. I am better than a cookbook, more responsive than a TV show, and I have inspired and encouraged fellow bakers and novices equally.
Although my classes come about organically I am hoping to teach one per month. Want to learn a particular something? Let me know, if there's enough demand and interest, you may well design July's class. I hope to see you soon!
Understanding Pate Choux
Sunday June 11 1-3:30 PM
Berkeley, CA
$68
You may pay via PayPal or email me directly if you would like to send a check.