Been a recipe chef my whole life. Wondered why 10 people could use the exact same recipe and get 10 different results. Then I realized that it was because ingredient freshness, recipe interpretation, and cooking METHOD was something that you needed to agree on, (impossible from following a recipe) in order to get the desired results! I think 90% of the people who cook, have learned by trial and error of following recipes. Sometimes it turns out great, other times, its a disaster. Either way, you think to yourself, "it was the recipe". Then I took Todd Mohrs "cooking by method" class and immediately, everything just clicked. I used to have to start preparing meals the night before or the morning of, as sometimes marinades asked for hours of soaking up the seasonings. I used to use a lot of seasonings because thats what the recipe called for. Because the cooking methods unknown by the 90% of recipe cooks out there who have never even taken a single culinary class, was trying to manipulate a piece of protein by dousing it in the flavors they wanted to impart, many times, the cooking process they used changed the flavors while cooking! Once I learned that the METHOD was more important than the recipe, I realized 2 things immediately. First you don't need a lot of ingredients, in fact, you need very little of it, to enhance the flavors of the protein. And secondly, you can use whatever your imagination desires, and get a pretty consistent recognition of the exact ingredients you use. When I cooked from a recipe, even my own dishes would come out inconsistently because something was always being altered in my fumbling around, and with timing, (just as a woman can't always do their make up the same way even tho they do it daily), AND my inability to understand exactly what the heating process was doing. Im just barely 1/2 way thru module one, which emphasizes mainly how heat works and saute method. Immediately, I understood what I have been missing for so long. In just a few lessons, I took command of when, how and why instead of just mimicking a process and crossing my fingers. Its a funny thing. Ever cook that places a dish in front of a person eagerly waits to hear what grade they received on the flavor. Let me just say that ever since I started perfecting the first module of 'saute method', even tho I have yet to perfect it and Im still experimenting on different flavor combinations, one thing Im hearing consistently ever since I started the new process, is those 3 little words that every chef loves to hear.... "Is there more?" Best money Ive spent on Todd Mohr's culinary classes! How many material things can you buy in which you can honestly say, it changed my life? This ones a game changer...
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