5 Important Things You'll Learn From an Online Chef
1. Mise En Place
In French, mise en place translates to “setting up” or “everything in its place.” Chef’s live by the mise en place code, and you should too . . . especially when cooking together, virtually, with a chef online. When taking cooking classes online, it’s easy to get behind if you don’t have everything pulled out and prepped before class begins. Even if you aren’t cooking online trying to keep up with a virtual chef, mise en place will suit you well in the kitchen always, helping to avoid culinary chaos.
2. You Might Be Holding Your Knife Wrong
How do you hold your knife? Are you using the pinch grip, or are you sneakin’ that pointer finger up the blade? We see you, and so does your Chef. In class, your online chef will typically cover the proper way to hold a knife with the pinch grip. That’s where you squeeze the knife, just above the handle, between the side of your pointer finger and thumb. This grip gives you more control over the blade and will help you make more meticulous cuts. Take an online cooking class, and let Chef see your form!
3. Recipe Agility
Chefs are known for their ability to improvise on the fly. When participating in an online cooking class, you and your chef will review the recipe and all the ingredients. But here’s the thing - recipe is a guide, it’s not written in stone. Embrace agility, roll with the punches, play with ingredient swaps, and make it a dish that’s true to you. Online cooking classes are not one size fits all. People are joining from all over the world, ingredient availability is going to vary. Never hesitate to reach out to us before your class for ingredient swap suggestions - just drop us an email at yourevent@withhomemade.com.
4. Fresh is Best . . . Always
We know that attaining fresh ingredients year round is not attainable in most places, but try your best to get your hands on them if you can. Chefs plan menus and write recipes around what’s in season, but that might be different depending where you’re cooking virtually. This goes for fruits and veggies, as well as herbs. If you have to sub dried herbs, use half as much as the recipe calls for, since they’re uber potent. Your personal chef can help you make adjustments to quantities depending on what groceries you were able to get for class.
5. Sharing is Caring
Chefs inspire people to cook . . . and eat. Pay it forward! Sharing your food porn with the world inspires people to get in their kitchens and cook. You never know when a dish you share will spark a new idea and inspire someone else to make something great. And, being culinarily curious yourself, can level up your cooking game! We’re all in this online cooking world together. Chefs share dishes all the time, taking inspiration from other chefs as well as from their students, and share away!. There is always something new to learn and different to try, and we can learn so much from each other. As Homemade's Chef Ryan once said, “That’s why I love cooking, you can never plateau.”
