The Cooking Class Cookbook

Linda PhD Marcinko

Description

This wonderful cookbook is the result of the 10 years of cooking classes that I taught, plus my vast knowledge of the culinary arts that I acquired through working as an Executive Chef. All of the recipes are easy to use and result in great food. I tell you a little history of each recipe, and what type of class it was created for. I taught a variety of classes including baking and pastry classes and many of those recipes are in this book. At the end of many of the recipes, I've included notes that may give the reader information on certain ingredients, or tell them how to prepare part or all, of the recipe in advance. This book also has a Tip and Advice section that touches on some important aspects of cooking.
I tested all of the recipes in this book before conducting the classes that they were featured in. In addition, many class participants went home and made the recipes and reported how the food turned out, so I know that these recipes are great and really work! This is so important as it seems that there are a lot of cookbooks out there where the recipes are not tested before hand. To this day, I use these recipes at home because the resulting dishes are so tasty.
This is a book that can be used for everyday food and also for special occasion dishes. It has quite a few healthy recipes too. As I am a chef and a registered dietitian, I was called on to teach a lot of classes featuring healthy foods, so I have included those recipes as well. I have made the recipes simple and have not used any hard-to-find ingredients. I really want people to enjoy reading this book and using it a lot.

Sujets

• Cuisine
• Cuisine par plats
• Cooking
• Dishes

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 04 avril 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780615441399
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Cooking Class Cookbook
 
by
Linda Marcinko
 
Copyright 2011 Linda Marcinko,
All rights reserved.
 
 
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
 
 
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0081-5
 
 
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.


 
 
 
With thanks to my husband, Dave for all of his encouragement when I was putting together this book.
I would also like to thank Dot Beers and Margaret Fox for their help in re-testing recipes and making sure that my grammar was correct!
 
 
Inspiration for this book
I know what you might be thinking: “Not another cookbook!” There are so many cookbooks out there now, can there really be any new recipes to put down in a book? Well, I certainly think so and this book is the result of that belief.
My background is as chef, Registered Dietitian and I also have a Masters degree in food science. I have worked in many aspects of the food industry, but my favorite job is as a cooking teacher. I love cooking and enjoy sharing my knowledge with others. I have taught demonstration classes, hands-on classes and even just one-on-one private classes with someone who really wants a lot of the teacher’s attention! I can’t tell you how rewarding it is for me when a student successfully prepares a dish that they may have thought they would never be able to make. Or when I’ve shown a group of students how easy it is to create a fabulous holiday menu and they now have the confidence to go home and duplicate that menu themselves.
Food is so much more than just nourishment. I’ve always thought that when you prepare food for your family and friends that it shows your love and appreciation for them. I’m sure like me, you have a lot of memories that revolve around food. There might be that one cookie that your mom made at the holidays and you make now every year, because it just wouldn’t seem right if it weren’t there for all to enjoy. Perhaps there is a comfort food that you had when you were a child that even now makes you feel better when you eat it. Maybe there’s the dish that you and your significant other ate when you were on vacation and you’ve taken the time to re-create it at home because of the good feelings it brings when you remember your trip.
I have a lot of fond memories of the recipes I shared and how much class participants enjoyed them. That is why I wrote this book. I wanted to share my favorite recipes with others that had not been in my cooking classes. I must admit I did receive a lot of encouragement from my husband to write this book. He has thought that I should do a book for a long time and I am so grateful that he has cheered me on as I have been writing it. Also, I need to express my gratitude to both Dot Beers and Margaret Fox. They both helped me by re-testing many of the recipes and also by reading through the recipes to make sure that the instructions were clear.
Most all of the recipes in this book are original ones that I created for my classes. I’ve included a few recipes from other sources because they are so good and I really wanted them to be a part of this book. I can honestly tell you that all of these recipes have been tested not only by myself, but also by my class participants. I have bought many cookbooks that unfortunately had untested recipes in them, and have had disappointing results with the final product. There is nothing worse than making something and having it turn out badly because of an untested recipe.
I always tried to create a recipe that my students could go home and easily prepare. I did not want to intimidate them with a huge list of ingredients or preparation techniques that were complicated. When someone sees a recipe like that, the chances that they are going to try to make it are slim. I really wanted my students to duplicate what they had learned in class and I feel that I was successful with this. I had students come back and tell me that they had made a certain class dish at home and it was a hit with their friends and family. It sounds hokey, but this is music to my ears. This brings me back to what I mentioned earlier about these recipes being tested by both myself, and my students. I know these recipes work and that the results are delicious, because my students have conveyed this to me.
You will find a variety of dishes in this book to prepare. I did not want to write a book that simply covered one area of food. That’s why you’ll find dishes that range from appetizers to desserts and that some recipes are more “healthy” than others in that they may contain less fat or calories. I wanted someone to be able to pick up this book when they might want an entrée, or a brunch item, a healthy side dish or a dish suitable for a buffet that they were planning. I don’t like having to search through multiple books when I want to make something, so I have tried to write a book that can be used for a number of occasions with a lot of different categories.
I think you’ll discover that the ingredients used are fairly easy to find no matter what part of the country you live in. I have included a section of tips and advice, and notes at the end of many of the recipes with ideas for advance preparation, where to buy certain ingredients, etc. I also have some pages where you can add your own notes if you like. I hope you enjoy using this book and creating some incredible food!
 
My Story
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 ti