Post: #1

Hey guys, I have been cooking for years but about six months ago I started to really take things seriously. I set out to teach myself French cooking, which is considered some of the best cuisine in the world. I started just by googling dishes and stumbled upon the "mother sauces" which are the primary sauces which most others are derived from. In French cooking you very commonly take a certain amount of liquid and simmer or boil it with some aromatics, herbs and spices to reduce the total volume. This concentrates the liquid and extracts flavor from whatever you put in the liquid. These concentrated flavors in French sauces are why the art has the reputation it does.

I found a resource that I have to share with you all so everyone can become an accomplished cook. There is a chef in Lake Tahoe who puts out a series of lectures and videos that start from the basics(holding a knife, how to julienne vegetables, etc) all the way to the mother sauces and more recently bread making. He provides all of this at no cost whatsoever, but I am planning to send him a nice bottle of wine to thank him for the website.

The website is Stella Culinary

You start by going to the Podcast Index and clicking the like that says "SCS 1 Basic Knife Skills". You listen to a lecture on the correct tools and other aspects of the topic and then you can watch videos demonstrating technique. There is then a homework assignment, which for the first podcast involves chopping 20 lbs of potatoes. The first couple lessons are basic but very good. He has you jump immediately into making stock, which is the foundation of really good French food, followed by some cooking techniques(blanching, roasting, pan roasting, etc). By the time you get to the last few podcasts you should be qualified to cook just about anything and you will have the foundation to be able to understand just about any recipe.

I have gone through most of the podcasts and feel like I have the background and capability to handle just about any recipe, even those from a country like Japan. The fundamentals still apply, and making dashi is very similar to making stock, even if it is very quick to prepare.

He has a series of videos called "The Completed Dish" in which you build on the techniques learned to prepare very high end food.





There is a lot of prep time for this, but the results are phenomenal. Brining the fish really will turn a somewhat boring piece of meat into the plumpest, juiciest thing you have ever tasted. I made my Beurre Blanc sauce with a little bit slower technique because I don't have a high output gas range sadly, but it turns out just as well, but takes more time.

In short the guy who built this website, Chef Jacob Burton, has really done a great service to guys who want to cook extremely high quality food, for a fraction of the price of going to a restaurant. This is how to live well. The attention to detail and quiet persistence is what makes a culture truly great. It is so wonderful to visit the countries where cooking has been raised to an art form, particularly in France and Italy. The English speaking countries need a cultural revival, and food should be a large part of that.

If you are willing to put maybe twenty hours of work of concentrated effort in getting a handle on the fundamentals you can save yourself years of frustration and mediocre results. I have become a better cook in the last six months than in the previous six years. I can make any recipe, any sauce, debone animals, gut and filet fish and many other skills. The skills also transfer over to the cuisine of other countries and even if I don't know what a particular ingredient is, after a little bit of research I understand what is going on. So go forth and become excellent cooks.

The website focuses more on the technique and not so much the dietary implications. Do you research on the paleo diet and what kind of oils/fats you want to put in your body. Good luck and feel free to ask if you have any questions.

Post: #2

this, this right here is why i love this forum.

Post: #3

The thing with any cooking instruction is to keep in mind that the way that chef does it is just ONE way of doing it, and not THE way.

I've seen the Stella videos before and they're pretty good. I disagree with a few things he does but again, all chefs come to their own conclusions based on experience, and that should hold true for home cooks as well.

The number one thing that will make you a proficient cook, is mileage. Just like anything else. Obviously, it's key to have effective teaching material available, and I think Stella is a good resource.

My first recommendation to anyone wanting to get serious about cooking is to simply buy a curriculum book that cooking schools use. You can get a copy of Professional Cooking by Wayne Gisslin, the most up to date version, for $65 http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1...al+cooking

Also available on Kindle, and also older editions available for cheap. This book is the backbone of the Cordon Bleu curriculum, and it's written so that a monkey could understand it. (Many culinary school students are high school dropouts or otherwise dumb as a fucking brick) It walks you through the fundamentals of cooking in the most linear and logical way possible.

Once you understand the fundamentals of cooking, you can move onto more advanced and progressive cooking like what the guys at http://www.chefsteps.com are doing:





They're showing people how to cook at a Michelin-star level at home, which is pretty next-level shit. Ironically, sometimes that style of cooking is easier than "old school" cooking and involves more shortcuts. Yeah you need the right equipment, but a few hundred bucks will get you there.

Post: #4

For instance, in this video above, the cook is using:

-induction burner http://www.amazon.com/Max-Burton-6400-Di...ion+burner

-pyrex beakers (for measurements in ml, far more accurate than ounces/cups) http://www.amazon.com/Corning-Graduated-...rex+beaker

-digital scale (ideally you want 2, one for heavier measurements up to 5kg, and one for smaller measurements down to .01g) http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-0-0...ital+scale and http://www.amazon.com/Escali-157SS-Digit...rds=escali

-immersion circulator http://www.amazon.com/Anova-Sous-Vide-Im...circulator

-isi cannister http://www.amazon.com/iSi-Cream-Professi...+cannister

For all the above, you're looking at around $500, but you will VASTLY open up the possibilities of what you can do at home.

Post: #5

This is so money. Thanks dude.

Post: #6

Great find OP

Post: #7

Veloce-

I checked out the website and it is definitely interesting. There are some lessons on the more modern style of cuisine that are free and some that you have to pay. Modern cuisine tends to use novel ingredients to create new effects, some of which are impossible with traditional techniques. I have read about using Xantham gum for instance to thicken liquids instead of the usual full reduction or roux. They also use sous vide extensively. With sous vide you can cook a steak or anything else to the perfect desired temperature by vacuum sealing it in a plastic bag and then putting it in a hot water bath for a longer period of time. The reason I do not want to do this is because at elevated temperatures the xenoestrogens from plastic transfer to food.

Male reproductive health and environmental xenoestrogens

The site I mentioned is not the be all and end all of cooking, but it will get you to the point where you are knowledgeable enough about the basics to have an informed opinion. There can be several different ways of doing things.

If you guys are interested in the items I have purchased in order to be able to cook pretty much everything I can share. I try to buy on metal, wooden, ceramic and glass items as plastic deteriorates over time. I want to buy the item once and then be able to pass it on to my kid or grandkid. I think I have spent about $300 total on everything. For example I looked for a mortar and pestle. I decided to go with the biggest, heaviest one I could find so I got this Monster. There is no way I could ever break a hunk of granite, so I figure my family is good to go on mortars and pestles for the next hundred years.

Post: #8

No fear of xenoestrogens if you use sous vide supreme or foodsaver bags.
http://nomnompaleo.com/post/12463202060/...tic-safety

Post: #9

This post is MONEY! Good find OP.

EDIT

I have a sister that's a professional chef. She lived with me for a while and I learned a lot. She moved to upstate New York and graduated from the Culinary Institute of America so I would call her to get lessons over the phone. I just subscribed to this podcast to take my kitchen skills to the next level. Thanks again.

Post: #10

(01-28-2015 08:00 PM)Veloce Wrote:  My first recommendation to anyone wanting to get serious about cooking is to simply buy a curriculum book that cooking schools use. You can get a copy of Professional Cooking by Wayne Gisslin, the most up to date version, for $65 http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1...al+cooking

Also available on Kindle, and also older editions available for cheap. This book is the backbone of the Cordon Bleu curriculum, and it's written so that a monkey could understand it. (Many culinary school students are high school dropouts or otherwise dumb as a fucking brick) It walks you through the fundamentals of cooking in the most linear and logical way possible.

I just downloaded this for free and it's fantastic. Thanks for the recommendation.

Post: #11

I don't know how to cook shit, really. I'll be going through this course before I go off to college.

Post: #12

Tim Ferriss' 4-hour Chef is something you might be interested in as well.

As a professional myself I am rarely impressed by cookbooks, but that one I recommend every time "teaching oneself to cook" gets discussed.

Good find though. Some interesting videos on there.

Post: #13

I can only imagine the faces of the people you make this kind of food for.

Post: #14

(01-29-2015 02:27 PM)micha Wrote:  Tim Ferriss' 4-hour Chef is something you might be interested in as well.

As a professional myself I am rarely impressed by cookbooks, but that one I recommend every time "teaching oneself to cook" gets discussed.

Good find though. Some interesting videos on there.

lol Veloce loves Tim Ferriss' cooking hacks

Post: #15

this is great, but the only way to become a "professional quality chef" is to spend lots of time in the kitchen, cooking lots of food.

Post: #16

(01-31-2015 11:00 AM)Kitsune Wrote:  

(01-29-2015 02:27 PM)micha Wrote:  Tim Ferriss' 4-hour Chef is something you might be interested in as well.

As a professional myself I am rarely impressed by cookbooks, but that one I recommend every time "teaching oneself to cook" gets discussed.

Good find though. Some interesting videos on there.

lol Veloce loves Tim Ferriss' cooking hacks

I wrote him a PM once about cooking and the life of professionals, but he doesn't answer me.

By reading his posts I thought we shared a wavelength, but I must have come across creepy or something.

anyway @ OP , apparently Veloce agrees with me on Tim Ferrriss' book, so you should definitely check that out. If you liked that site, you're gonna love that book.

Post: #17

Starting from a few weeks ago, I'm going to start cooking a new dish every week. Last week I cooked and ate Shakshuka for the first time. Can't say I was a huge fan, but nonetheless it was something different.

Next week I'm going to cook Scallops or another fish dish.

Post: #18

I can attest to Veloce's cooking skills. He cooked me the single sexiest and tasty omelette I've had in my life.

Post: #19

I am a student so I try to keep my cooking cheap, this video is awesome. I will often fry a couple chicken breasts in the pan before, deglaze with wine and then cook the pasta in the same pan. I always thought buying pre made pasta sauce was stupid and expensive- a can of San Marzanos is like 3 bucks, toss in the blender with the garlic and fish sauce... is free of preservatives unlike the canned Ragu or Classico crap. Way fresher tasting, try it out!

Post: #20

I've been binging on Food Network shows while in the USA (Chopped, Beat Bobby Flay, Guy's Grocery Games). I think I will step up my cooking game because of it.