Years Of Cooking
This article is about cooking, no matter who you are. Everywhere I go, people always ask me about chef gear. I always find it surprising that being a cook is such a common conversational topic these days. It used to be far more obscure, almost rarely talked about. My life really took a turn when I was featured in a popular Chef Central magazine. Since then my mailbox has been flooded with inquieries. So I guess you could call me a bit of a local celebrity, on the subject, but I don’t let the attention get to my head.
One of the most common questions I get is how I got started. I usually point them to an issue of Cooking with Chef Tony and tell them to start reading. Until you have have read every single page of Cooking with Chef Tony you are not ready to crack open those pots and pans. In retrospect, getting involved these days is a much less intensive process than it was for me. When I first began, you had to crack and egg, butter the skillet and cook some toast before I could even get your feet wet. These days, everything you ever wanted to know about being a chef is just a click away. To be honest, I think the new generation of gourmet chefs aren’t as good as we were because of this. The cadets joining these days are eager beavers, that’s for sure but they are searching for all the wrong things in all the wrong places. Here’s what they ask me every day.
“-What is the cheapest place to buy chef clothes? -is there a particular book on chef gear i recommend?
-what if i mess up when i’m just learning to cook with both hands?
and the list goes on and on.”
look, as someone who has been in the game for a while, I’ll be the first to tell you, being top chef isn’t about being the best egg splitter on day one, but about getting your hands dirty and actually learning from your experience. i remember trying to salt the eggplant parmesan with my eyes closed my first time like it was yesterday and it was not a pretty site. my epiphany came eventually but it would take a long time. it happened when i finally put down cooking for dummies and started concentrating on the fundamentals. i lost interest in the best frying pan and instead focused my efforts on mashing potatoes in the simplest way possible.
i was absolutely amazed as i watched my excessive steamed shrimp cooking time reduced to nothing. my self-awareness peaked and i really saw the light. many people ask me what the key to teaching others to prepare delicious dishes is and i always say that only 22 percent of what i do is actually teaching about cooking tricks. the other 78 is just hard work on the part of the client. they really have to give it their all. and if you over salt the eggplant, remember you could have always discover feces in the food you cooked, so hold your head up high and know that you’re on track to become a world class culinary artist.
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