How many of you here are classically trained?
I'd like to know not because I'm interested in attending any culinary or vocational school (couldn't afford quitting my job even if I did), but because I simply want to further my knowledge of cooking on a personal level. What does the curriculum involve? Are there any standard textbooks they go by?
What resources do you all use to improve on your cooking? Following a simple recipe is one thing, but I'd like something more--like why spice X goes good with spice Y, the type of flavor profile it creates and possible variations of the combination might make in other dishes, etc etc.
>>7145342
I'm trained classically and contemporaneously.
Who the fuck are you?
>>7145399
Just some nobody who wants to get better at cooking??
>>7145405
I walked Julia Child on set, 1979.
Who the fuck are you?
>>7145410
What? I'm confused as hell. Is this a running joke?
>>7145342
>why spice x goes with spice y
The Flavor Bible.
Look it up. Get it.
You're welcome.
>>7145423
Appreciate the heads up on that book.
>>7145415
I'm sorry I fucked with you OP.
Google trumpet fight.
6 month culinary schools like FCI, CIA, etc. are all a waste of money. All they do is put you in 40k of debt when you are going to being working at a $13 an hour job for like the first 5 years before you become a sous somewhere for $35k a year at 55 hours a week and another 3-4 years until you can become an exec somewhere for like $60k a year. Also many people don't even work a single day in a restaurant and they still decide to shell out the 40k to go to culinary school and then after they graduate it turns out the restaurant industry is nothing like they imagined and it turns out they just wasted a shit load of money. What I did is attend the 2 year culinary program at my local community college. You learn the EXACT SAME stuff as other culinary schools, except its even better since the classes are smaller so the professor can focus on you individually. Plus you get an actual associates degree instead of some shitty certificate. Only cost me $2.5k per semester too. There are not really any standard textbooks anyone uses, everyone has their own shit. Can't learn that much from a textbook anyway, you actually have to cook and taste the food to learn. If you want to learn what goes with what, just experiment. Try out different combinations of herbs and spices with different foods instead of the same old stuff.
>>7145449
That was pretty terrifying.
>>7145456
Which is why I said I wasn't interested in attending one of those schools, haha. I get paid enough right now to get by, I'm not going to take a huge pay cut for something that isn't assured. I was only wondering what their curriculum might involve and if there was any of it I could take to do on my own for more experience. Just 'trying different stuff out' doesn't fly with me. Food can get pretty expensive if you're experimenting with obscure ingredients that aren't local. I'd like at least -some- direction in becoming a more affluent cook.
>>7145507
Buy Julia Child, both volumes, and every Thomas Keller cookbook you can get your hands on. Start with Ad Hoc at Home and/or Bouchon Bakery if you want to learn some pastry. Check out Chefsteps.com for more modernist techniques like sous vide/whipping siphons/spherification. Buy a scale and never use measuring cups again.
The best way to learn to cook is to find a good restaurant and wash their dishes for 6 months. Every moment you're in there pester the chef and line cooks with questions. See what tools they use and use those tools. Go to a place which is avant-guarde (I'm in the Twin Cities, so Travail is my go-to) and make friends with the bartenders and chefs and ask them questions. Most good cooks are either alcoholics or really damn passionate so they'll leap at the opportunity to teach you what they know, or vomit on your shirt.
Last time I saw one of these threads I think there were only 3 people who attended actual culinary shcools.
>>7145520
Those books look very promising; into the cart they go. Thanks for posting them.
You might have fun reading some books:
Making of a Chef - Ruhlman
Beaten, Seared, and Sauced - Dixon
>>7145342
The only benefit I gained from matriculating at the CIA was easier access to ACF exams, as Tim Ryan is the president of that elite group.
I took and passed the CEC exam, never will I try the CMC exam, too hard, too expensive and far beyond my talents individually speaking.
The CIA, like any higher learning institution is really more a "making connections" experience for your future rather than learning "so much more" than what Le Cordon Bleu or JWU can provide to you.
>>7145415
it's a meme, you dip
>>7145522
Culinary schools are for saps.
>>7145837
What were your classes like, if you don't mind me asking? What exactly did you do in them which might have benefited you overall as a cook?
