New chef on the scene

[Rione]

Hi, my name is Ryan, and I'm new here. I'm 13, I'm from Western New York, and I want to try to get into the culinary business. I am part Italian and I try to focus my cooking on Italian recepies from my grandparents. I love to make pasta with my grandmother's fresh homemade sauce made with tomatoes right from her garden. My great-grandfather came to America from Arpino, Italy, and my great-grandmother was an Italian woman born in Pennsylvania, but whose parents were born in Pescasseroli, also in Italia. I know some Italian and have done some genealogy. I'd love to meet all you chefs, and hope to learn a lot and become a professional chef. Viva l'italia!

[tessa]

it so cool to see kids who love to cook and want to become professional at it , well done . Im Tessa and im from New Zealand , nice to meet you

[GhettoRacingKid]

Welcome aboard.

Your lucky you knwo what you want to do at such a young age. It took my 26 years

[bughut]

Good to meet you,
Plenty to learn here.
Don't ever be intimidated by folk who do, or seem to know more than you, rather learn from all they're experiences. Hopefully you'll learn from they're mistakes, instead of your own.
My Youngest boy of 3 has just turned 14, loves to cook too especially Italian...He would live on pasta...Pretty much does actually!!
You've obviously been blessed with a family of like minded people who love to create fabulous food. they will be your best mentors
Best of luck for the future

[Mezzaluna]

Welcome to Chef Talk, Ryan! As you can see, we're a friendly bunch. You'll feel comfortable here because the professionals and home cooks alike are eager to share their culinary knowledge, answer your questions or help you find answers on your own. We have a good search tool to help you locate topics we've discussed in the past. Don't miss the articles, cookbook reviews, recipes and the photo gallery!

As others have said, you're fortunate to have found your niche so early. My brother was that way about becoming a doctor, and now he's a successful one. Having that kind of focus is a gift!

Does your school have a culinary program? By your age I'm guessing you're in eighth or ninth grade. More and more schools are adding culinary programs. We have a few instructors here on the site, so it might interest you to hear what their programs are like.

We hope you visit and participate here often. Enjoy!
Regards,
Mezzaluna

[Rione]

Wow, wasn't excpect such a rapid response. We kinda have a culinary program in the school. In home and careers we have to cook full course meals, but they have several teams cooking one thing for the meal. I think the best thing to do is watch my mother and grandmother cook. They've taught me the weirdest old-world tricks.

OOh can't wait till Thanksgiving. I could do quite a bit there.

[bughut]

feel free to share - Weird Old - world tricks are definitely desirable.

[Mezzaluna]

Ryan, many of us (both professionals and avid home cooks) learned at the elbows of our parents and grandparents. We can't emphasize enough how important it is to spend time watching, taking notes- even videotaping! I would LOVE to have a video of my grandmother making bread- even an audio recording of her description of the procedure. My memories are vivid, but I wish I had more.

Since my grandmother never used a recipe, my mom had her make the bread three times while she watched. She took the amounts my grandmother was about to use and measured them. Since some days were more damp than others, she averaged the measurements and wrote it all down for me.

Get every little bit of advice and knowledge you can from them. You won't be sorry!