What's your philosophy on cooking and recipes: Simple or intricate?

When I'm cooking and having fun, I like to throw a lot of things in there if I have them. Usually it is in pretty small amounts.

What I try to do is put just enough of something that you can taste it, but it is hard to identify the flavor. I know that sounds contradictory, but it can turn an ordinary dish into an amazing one.

I don't use a lot of expensive ingredients - I can't afford a lot of things chefs regularly use. And I've never cooked a recipe out of Prudehomme's Louisiana Kitchen, for example, because of the long list of spices in most recipes.

quote:

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Here it is:

trinity
butter
flour
thyme/sage/paprika/salt/pepper
shrimp
hvy cream
tomatoes

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Trinity is 3 ingredients and all your spices are each single ingredients. Yes, water is an ingredient too. Therefore, you have close to the same amount in your etouffee as they do.

I am a very experienced home cook but a home cook only. When I started to scale back the ingredients in my recipes, my food got significantly better (my wife and kids agreed). I am sure there is a threshold of number of ingredients for the average home cook that when exceeded, turns food from tasty to confused. I am not skilled enough for complex cooking so I cut back.

I am always searching for info on how to cook better. A relative who was aware of my keen interest in cooking gave me the book Ruhlman's Twenty as a gift and it made me an immensely better cook. His approach makes sense to me and helped me build solid foundations in dishes. Less experienced or beginner cooks could learn a lot from it.

Etoufee with heavy cream and tomatoes?

Jesus

The Kenji effect

everyone thinks they are a food scientist now

I prescribe to the theory that food and cooking should not be overly complicated, especially in the home. However, that means different things to different cooks at different levels. I acquired a culinary arts degree because I knew it would help open doors. This industry is one big fraternity and I have been hired more times for who I know vs. what I know. Of course, I still had to prove my self.

Now, I am a culinary arts instructor and I teach my students that using high quality ingredients means we only need to accentuate the natural flavors of the product to achieve a flavorful dish. Most of my recipes for the course have 5-8 ingredients, not including salt. When we make food, I make sure they taste the food as we have prepared it before allowing them to modify it on their plate. I struggle to get them to understand that less is more but, TikTok has them convinced otherwise.

When cooking is your occupation, cooking at home can become a burdensome chore. We eat very simple food at home. Usually a grilled or pan-seared protein and veg or starch. The most arduous recipe I make at home is a shepherd's pie, and sometimes I cheat and buy premade mash potatoes because it saves time and people like it all the same.

The term chef is very polarizing in my current line of work. There are two types of instructors, those who have transitioned over from industry, and those who were previously teaching Family and Consumer Science (FACS, home-ec). I'm not going to get into the specifics but, you can imagine how industry folks view home-ec teachers teaching culinary. Personally, IDGAF what they call themselves.

At the completion of the course, my students often ask me, "Am I a chef now?" or make some proclamation that "now I'm a chef!" which leads me to explain my philosophy on what a chef is. I tell them that I am not a chef, which confuses the hell out of them. I explain that to me, a chef is someone who is in it, day in and day out. Someone who has sacrificed a normal life and now lives to cook. They are people who have immersed themselves so deep into their work that it is the very essence of their being. So, I am not a chef. They call me chef because I am their instructor and it's a term of respect but, in my philosophical point-of-view, I am not a chef, so they are not chefs either.

At the end of the day it is what it is and its just food.

So, in your opinion is culinary school useless as the OP suggests, or is it valuable.

I actually bought a lifetime course online for 59.00 and I have learned a lot with the little I have used it so far, but others who have bought the same are turning out some damn nice dishes, and they are grateful to the instructor that offered it. He has an advanced segment he is now adding, but I have no plans to do that one. I just wanted to up my game from where I was at which was pretty basic.

I can also see the OP learning the trade in the way he did being also beneficial. Just curious what your thoughts are since you not only got a culinary degree, but now instruct others.

He didn't say it was useless, just that it was a ripoff, which I can somewhat agree with, but that all depends on where you go. I got a degree after working in the industry for +4 years. I had the talent and skill to progress but just wanted that piece of paper to pad my resume, which it did. I got hired because I was an alumnus of the same school as my future bosses but I was promoted because I produced and delivered.

But, as with most trades, the people who come up in the industry have different knowledge and a different set of skills that can only be acquired from years of experience. One of my good friends makes $115K with a chain restaurant co. and he barely graduated from high school. His road was a lot longer than someone with a Bachelor of Hospitality Management degree, but he got there.

If a student is interested in having a career in culinary arts I give them these three pieces of advice:

1) Go to a state school/ technical college where you can use HOPE grant and scholarship money to pay for school that is more affordable. I still have students that go to private schools who graduate with debt but, they want the prestige of having JWU, CIA, or ICE on their degree.

2) Stay at home and commute to save money. There is a tech school 30 minutes away from where I teach and I recommend they enroll in it and live with their parents while they are attending.

3) Get a job in the industry while you are going to school. This helps connect theory to practice and also gives them an idea of what they will be doing when they graduate.

Thank you, and you’re right he said rip off and I inserted my interpretation but can see the schooling being useful but the price of it being a rip off. Thanks again.