New Here

Greetings.  I am both new here, and some-what new to the world of the culinary arts.  I have apprenticed under a chef (a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu in Boston, MA) for the last three years and am working on gaining more experience in a professional kitchen.  I have been able to learn a lot from my friend, and teacher/mentor, but I know I still have many things to learn as I progress in this fun profession.  I hope that I will be able to learn much from the people here, and at some point be able to contribute to this forum as well.

My interest in cooking began when I was 10 years old and my mother insisted on teaching me the basics of cooking.  I grudgingly agreed to learn what I thought was going to be a boring task, and soon learned that I enjoyed cooking.  By the time I was in high-school, I had learned to love cooking, and prided myself in being able to cook food from around the world.  I could only follow recipes at the time, and did not understand the method behind why things were done a particular way, but it was a good start.

I enlisted in the US Air Force in 2005, and found myself in Korea from 2007 to 2008.  I picked up a deep love of Asian food (Korean in particular) while there, and learned how to cook some pretty good food while I was there (all self-taught still).  When I returned to the US from Korea I got an apartment off-base, and ended up having two friends move in with me as flat-mates.  One of them was in town on his externship as part of his education from Le Cordon Bleu (in Boston, MA).  He quickly picked up on my love of cooking and agreed to teach me the concepts and science behind why things are cooked a particular way, so I was not so tied down to just what was on the recipe card.  Besides this, and a new-found love of French food, he also taught me many other things such as proper knife techniques, product selection, wine/food pairing, and much, much more.  

I worked with him for three years, and when my enlistment ended in October, he offered to help me find a cooking job in San Antonio (where we were living at the time) if I was going to stay in the area.  I chose to return to Pennsylvania to finish pursuing my degree in anthropology and archaeology, but since being an archaeologist doesn't usually pay the bills very well, I am also pursuing a career in professional cooking.  After almost 7 years in the military the long hours of school and working in a kitchen are not going to be anything new to me, and I welcome the challenge in hopes that it will push me to be better than before.

I am currently working in a catering department of a hotel here in Northeastern Pennsylvania, where my younger brother is the sous chef.  His chef instructor (who he apprenticed under) had invited him to come work with her again, and when they both found out I was back in town they asked me to join the kitchen team.  At the time I was hired they did not have any positions open on the line, so I am currently hired as a server...the executive chef is working on getting me hours as a line cook however, and if I do well with it (as both she and I are certain I will) she has promised to have me transferred to the back of the house as a permanent line cook.  It is an interesting thing, having your younger brother as your boss, but his skills in the kitchen are far superior to mine, and I am mature enough to both realize this and to accept it.  I've been working there for a month now, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.