Subject line should be self-explanatory, and DYAC, it's supposed to be chefs. Writing a novel wherein my secondary protagonist, a chef, is helping a friend, my main protagonist, sharpen her lackluster cooking skills. What would be the high notes you'd touch on, the fundamentals, as well as any problems you'd expect to encounter?
question for chef's only: ever give cooking lessons to a friend?
- Thread starter msjhord
- Start date
Well you know, there aren't many professional chefs on this forum! Currently, I think we have only one active member who cooks professionally. You posted about your novel before a while back. How is it coming on?
SLOWLY! I'm a perfectionist and I like to have a plan of action before I go into a chapter. Plus, work has been really busy and exhausting and that's affected my ability to work on the novel in my downtime. At present, I am about to start (again) on Chapter 3. I'd gotten four pages in and decided I wanted to start it differently, so there we are. But I'll get there. . . eventually. Thanks for asking.
Slumgullioneer
Über Member
Well I'm not sure what kind of imagery exactly you're looking for, and the reality
may be too dull to novelize lol but as a Sous in a pro-kitchen I have shown
several noobies, (mostly female) "the ropes" as it were. I usually started by
demonstrating equipment, from the safe use of knives, peelers, to the food
processor, etc, ending with the "hot line" cooking equipment itself; fryer, oven, stove etc.
With constant emphasis on safety. This provided the basis to really begin working with food,
starting with safe storage and handling, both hot and cold. Then proper prep, and onward.
See? Pretty boring huh?
But I do hope it helped.
=SG=
may be too dull to novelize lol but as a Sous in a pro-kitchen I have shown
several noobies, (mostly female) "the ropes" as it were. I usually started by
demonstrating equipment, from the safe use of knives, peelers, to the food
processor, etc, ending with the "hot line" cooking equipment itself; fryer, oven, stove etc.
With constant emphasis on safety. This provided the basis to really begin working with food,
starting with safe storage and handling, both hot and cold. Then proper prep, and onward.
See? Pretty boring huh?
But I do hope it helped.
=SG=
Well I'm not sure what kind of imagery exactly you're looking for, and the reality
may be too dull to novelize lol but as a Sous in a pro-kitchen I have shown
several noobies, (mostly female) "the ropes" as it were. I usually started by
demonstrating equipment, from the safe use of knives, peelers, to the food
processor, etc, ending with the "hot line" cooking equipment itself; fryer, oven, stove etc.
With constant emphasis on safety. This provided the basis to really begin working with food,
starting with safe storage and handling, both hot and cold. Then proper prep, and onward.
See? Pretty boring huh?
But I do hope it helped.
=SG=
Ah! So you have worked professionally?
Slumgullioneer
Über Member
Yes, most extensively in Event Catering and high-end Banquet Facility. (See my profile for a bit more info,Ah! So you have worked professionally?
but I'm still working on that.) I've also been a line cook in Italian, QSR, couple other things.
Now I realize OP's question was aimed more at fulfilling the needs of a plotline but I'm kind of on a roll now.!
So one of the hardest things to teach in the kitchen (and to learn, too for all that) is the ability (skill really) to time everything, and watch a zillion things at once, so nothing overcooks....i.e., goes up in smoke, sometimes quite literally! lol The result is not only ruined food, but a messed up schedule--having to remake something takes time you no longer have. This would be simpler is everything cooked at the same rate, but of course they don't. Not only do different sides require different cook times, but so do individual ingredients within a combined dish. And flavor blendings are another matter as well.
Getting back to Chefs teaching someone within the actual environment, painful though it is, the only real way is to screw up, then adopt the motto "well, I wont do THAT again!" (And the screw-ups can be as funny as movie outtakes. lol )
But unfortunately, many would-be "trainers, be they cooks or Chefs, don't seem to view the inevitable waste from this as necessary, resulting in slow and even deficient training. The 'slow' stems from the training-cook getting impatient and taking over, which doesn't give the trainee enough hands on experience to really learn. It must be done wisely of course, a few wasted eggs or scorched sauce is one thing, a ruined 12 dollar steak is quite another.
What I've learned I've largely taught myself, though I have had a couple of decent mentors o'er the years.
I've also experienced the dreaded language barrier, which is never any fun at all.
So there you are.
So true! Its also the case in a domestic kitchen. Most of the times I've messed up dishes its been to do with timings. I love cooking and I'm quite obsessive about it - but I actually hate having dinner parties simply because of the timing factors involved. Multiply that with the number of 'covers' in a restaurant and it must be a logistics nightmare.
Slumgullioneer
Über Member
It can be. Gets even more complicated when you have to prepare and cook in batches.
I was often cooking for 60 to 80 guests, from 4 to 7 courses, from a relatively small kitchen. When serving 2 or 3 mains with different sides, for 70 people already seated, things could get dicey. Not only do you have to have some basics down, but you have to know your kitchen like your own name.
I have also cooked, and have seen cooked, some pretty complex meals in the home setting too. After all, foods food and a kitchen is a kitchen. It is indeed even more challenging in most home kitchens, due to space and equipment limitations....unless you have a higher end home kitchen.
I wish!
I can't imagine having to replicate the same dishes for so many people! As I said, I don't even enjoy dinner parties if there are more than two guests to cook for! I generally end up cooking everything in advance and re-heating it. Some dishes benefit from that in any case.
Last edited: