Kitchen inspiration comes from a variety of sources
I was lucky enough to have a career in restaurants for many years, both front and back of the house. I started as a hostess, and in my early career, I worked my way up to a certified trainer and then assistant manager of the front of the house. Then, as all 20-somethings can admit two decades later, I got bored.
So, I talked to the head chef and asked him to let me try out the kitchen, and surprisingly, he took a chance on me.
I worked my way from the salad station to lead cook, running up to a 13-person line. Fast forward more years than I’d like to admit, I became disabled and unable to work any longer. Now, I get to enjoy being a home cook, working slowly on my cookbook, writing a food column, constantly reading books and magazines to continue my food knowledge, and watching a plethora of cooking shows.
I wanted to share how I continue opening up my palate by educating myself from my favorite shows, chefs, local restaurants, and reading material. Even ex-professional chefs can learn something every day, and now as a home cook, I can learn shortcuts to use in a personal kitchen that might not be used in restaurants. So here we go:
My three favorite competition cooking shows are “Tournament of Champions” (TOC), “Top Chef,” and “Chopped.” When it comes to “TOC,” it’s amazing to watch some of the most talented chefs in the country spin a wheel and have to cook with random ingredients on the fly. Personally, I learn about unfamiliar kitchen utensils and loads about other cultures with phenomenal ingredients. “Top Chef” shows all of us cooks, whether home cooks or professionals, what true food art is from their plating. Learning how to layer sauces, purées, veggies, and meats, it helps me creatively construct my own dishes. And with “Chopped,” it’s very helpful to learn how to create delicious meals from anything between a crazy ingredient to opening up the cupboards, fridge and freezer to build an amazing meal for you and your family.
I tended to be the only or one of the only female chefs in any kitchen I worked in, so when it comes to watching cooking shows, I am truly inspired by top female chefs in the industry, such as Brooke Williamson, Alex Guarnaschelli, Kristen Kish, Tiffany Faison, Maneet Chauhan, Melissa King, Amanda Freitag … the list goes on, but I also look up to as many male chefs from Ming Tsi, Jet Tila, the Voltaggio brothers, Alton Brown, Richard Blais, Bobby Flay, and Michael Symon just to name a few. All of these chefs, among countless others, including chefs I’ve personally worked with, bring their individual culture, traditions, techniques, and love of food, and it’s contagious.
Lastly, literature: Even though Anthony Bourdain is gone, I have many books written by him, and learn from him to this day. I also have random books from knife skills to sharpen my skills — pun intended — and multiple books on kitchen terms, phrases and techniques. Lastly, personally, I use Food Network magazine (my “little chef”, Bea, fell asleep during the studying part of my day) and Food and Wine magazine, where I find inspiration and new ideas on creating my own original recipes.
Clearly, I’m passionate about food and think myself lucky to be in a small community that has such amazing local restaurants. Just to name a few of my favorite places, I enjoy a juicy ribeye from AA Bar and Grill to a cold beer and hot wings on the patio with the best view at Six Rivers Brewery to a crispy salad and loaded pizza from Babe’s … I could just go on and on (definitely, try out as many local places you can, no matter where you live.)
Bottom line, it doesn’t matter if someone has been cooking for 40+ years in a professional kitchen or is a beginning home cook with just three months under their belt — when it comes to cooking, true passion and love that is put into each meal is the secret ingredient to any dish, and we can all learn from one another and teach each other new kitchen tricks.
Enjoy and love your cooking, be open-minded, and live zestier!