Читать книгу The Cooking Class Cookbook - Linda PhD Marcinko - Страница 4

I have enjoyed cooking for a number of years. My first foray into the kitchen was the result of a 3rd grade math assignment. We were studying fractions and our math book had a recipe for a cake with ½ cup, ¼ teaspoon measures in it, etc. The teacher asked for a couple of volunteers to go home and make the cake and then bring it in for the class to try. I was one of the volunteers. I remember that it was a maraschino cherry cake complete with a garish, pink frosting. I was hooked, though, and wanted to cook and bake a lot more after that.

My mom is English and is as she calls it a “plain cook” and she did not like baking at all. So, I took over the family baking and then eventually moved to the stove. I pored over cookbooks and tried to create a lot of the dishes that I saw in these books. I can’t tell you that they were all successful, but I sure had a lot of fun trying new foods out on the family.

My first job in the food industry was as a fry cook at Bob’s Big Boy. I didn’t make gourmet food, but that job taught me how to be fast and organized in the kitchen. I worked in a couple of restaurants after that, and then I entered into a three-year apprenticeship through the American Culinary Federation. I learned so much in those three years. I worked in all the restaurants at the resort, as well as working in the banquet kitchen, the butcher shop, garde manger and the bakery. I really gravitated to the bakery. The pastry chef was excellent and he taught me all the confectionary arts as well as baking and pastry.

My first job out of my apprenticeship was as a pastry cook at a French restaurant in Phoenix. After that I was hired as a pastry chef at a new club called Gainey Ranch Golf Club. I felt kind of inexperienced to be a chef already, but I had such good skills from my apprenticeship and the job worked out great. During that time, I went over to Europe and took Advanced Pastry Classes and Advanced Cooking Classes at the Cordon Bleu in London and La Varenne in Paris. My next few jobs were as an Executive Chef at different restaurants. Then, because I had always had a desire to own a business, I started a wholesale bakery called Linda’s Gourmet Desserts. I sold my fresh, made from scratch products in the greater Phoenix area as well as Tucson, Sedona and Flagstaff. I closed the business after six years. My customers were starting to demand frozen products and that was not something I wanted to do.

It was then that I started teaching. First, I taught classes at the Art Institute of Phoenix, and then I became the resident chef and cooking class teacher at Kitchen Classics. That lasted for about five years during which time I went back to Arizona State University to start my degree in Dietetics. I continued to teach while I was in school until I decided pursue my degree full time and then just taught classes about once a month in the evenings. I really missed teaching more classes, but wanted to get the degree done.

I graduated in 2002 and then after a one-year dietetic internship, I became a Registered Dietitian. I had hoped to combine my love of food with my nutrition knowledge in the perfect job. That didn’t quite happen though, and I discovered that I though I loved the science of nutrition, I did not enjoy being a clinical dietitian.

I really wanted to be involved with food more, perhaps in product development or as a research chef, which is a profession that was just beginning to be recognized. After receiving a lot of advice, I decided to go back to school and get my Master’s Degree in Food Science. I completed my degree in December of 2009.

I feel so lucky because I love both cooking and science and I have gotten to have jobs in both fields. Cooking and baking have so much in common with science, especially baking. Now I know the reason my cakes might flop or my bread not rise to the proper volume! Also, because of my nutrition knowledge, I can prepare food that I know is truly healthy and can even help prevent certain diseases.

As I mentioned in the introduction, my husband really encouraged me to write this book. I also had a lot of support from some of the students that I taught who wanted to see this book become a reality. My book is a result of all my years in the food business, plus my education in nutrition and food science. I learned so much during that time and I want to pass that knowledge onto you and hope that you learn more about cooking and baking when you make these recipes.