Being a chef you are constantly asked what by people, “Which Chef school did you go to?” Or “Where did you get your training?” A lot of times people are curious because everyone on some level wishes that they could cook. Granted they might be just making conversation but I believe deep down most people, even if its just for a brief moment, have wondered about or looked into being a chef.

At this point you are probably looking at the title of this article and thinking that I’m going to say something like, “I didn’t go to school and my mom taught me everything that I know, blah blah blah.” But that is not how this story ends.

I did go to school, The DATC (Davis Applied Technology College) to be exact, a local trade school located in Kaysville, Utah. It was a basic 9 month to 2 year basics-of-cooking cooking program that I went to in high school and a few months after I graduated. Funny thing is, I wasn’t even interested in becoming a chef.

When asked what I wanted to be in high school I usually replied an artist of some kind. I wanted to create things and be able to step back from and admire my work, not just sit at a desk while stamping and stapling papers all day while constantly eyeing the clock. I got into the DATC by accident. My high school guidance counselor directed me to it because there were no other art classes left for me to take. So when he handed me a newspaper-looking course catalog and I read “Culinary Arts,” I thought that
it would be just another art class. So now, here I was at just 16 years-old, unaware that I was about to begin my career.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when on the first day I walked into a room full of 30 year-old career changers and thought, out loud, “What have I done? . . . .” In my mind it was supposed to be an art class in which I would be carving watermelons and creating ice sculptures, not stirring sauces, rolling what seemed like hundreds-of-thousands of dinner rolls (it was more like 30) getting burned in every imaginable way and working my guts out. I should have quit before the foodservice bug got into my
blood and my soul, but unfortunately I liked it and I was good at it.

Now is the point in the story in which it is appropriate for you can to ask, “How in the world does this have anything to do with your mother?” Now the rest of the story . . .

My Mother was the daughter of my grandfather who was a sheep herder/insurance salesman (interesting combination I know) and my grandmother who was a wonderful stay-at-home mother. They taught her how to work, they taught her how to be a mother and they taught her how to teach her children, thus perpetuating the cycle. I am the oldest of 3 boys, so my Mom couldn’t teach her “girls” how to cook and sew and iron, she was stuck with us. That of course didn’t stop her from teaching us all that her parents had taught her, and then some.

Although Mom taught me some things in the kitchen, the most valuable lesson that she and my Dad taught me was to work hard in all that you do and be the best you can be. It didn’t matter if it was ironing a shirt, browning pork chops or sewing on a button, Mom never settled, it was always the best she could do.

That lesson has impacted me and helped me more in my professional life than any cooking school or job training could have done. So even though I’m not one of those guys who says he “learned everything he knows from his mother” when it comes to cooking. I actually learned everything I ever needed from Mom and her example and her desires for me to live up to my potential.

Thanks to all those Mother’s out there who never let their kids settle. We owe it all to you.

Try this easy Bread Pudding Recipe with optional Whiskey Sauce.

Bread Pudding

Serving Size: 8-10

6 ea Eggs

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Vanilla

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 cup Sugar

3 cups Milk

1 Loaf French Bread

1 ea 12oz can Sliced Peaches

1 ea 12oz can Sliced Pears

PROCEDURE:
1. Cut bread into cubes and place in oiled roasting pan.
2. Mix Eggs, Salt, Vanilla, Cinnamon, Sugar and Milk and stir until mixed thoroughly.
3. Add peaches and pears to bread cubes.
4. Pour liquid over bread cubes and sliced fruit.
5. Mix everything together until consistent throughout.
6. Cover tightly with foil and place in oven and bake at 400 degrees for 90 minutes.
7. Remove foil, broil on high for 5 to 10 minutes to crisp the top. (Optional)

Whiskey Sauce
Serving Size: 8-10
8 tblsp (1 stick) Butter
1½ cups Granulated Sugar
½ cup Whiskey
1 cup Heavy Cream

Heavy Cream
PROCEDURE:
1. Melt Butter in shallow frying pan.
2. Add sugar to butter until it looks like the consistency of wet sand.
3. Cook on high stirring frequently for approximately 5 to 8 minutes.
4. Add Whisky and stir in, then light and stir until flames.
5. Turn off heat and add Heavy Whipping Cream, stirring until mixture looks consistent throughout.

© 2011 Salt TV Network LLC. All rights reserved.
 

© 2011 Salt TV Network LLC. All rights reserved.