What I learned from a James Beard Award winning chef
and my AHA moment about the value of a live virtual cooking class
Happy faces at the end of the private virtual cooking class with Chef Ken
For my 50th birthday this year, I got the most amazing gift from my husband….a private zoom cooking class with Ken Oringer who owns multiple international locations of Toro and a few other local restaurants in Boston. I really wanted to learn how to make the paella he has on the menu at Toro and what I thought was a fantasy request during Covid became a reality. Little did I know what I was getting into and what a revelation it would be.
If you know me, you know how much I love all things food especially dining out for a really great meal. Not only do I love to eat, but I love the experience and I love dreaming about dishes I have had that I want to recreate in my own kitchen. You can imagine how excited I was in the days leading up to the class!
Paella with chicken, chorizo and seafood
To prepare, I bought and prepped all of my ingredients to make Paella, Gambas al Ajillo and Brussels Sprouts a la Plancha. An hour before I was set to hop onto Zoom, I was confused about how to season my new paella pan so I went to YouTube and stumbled across a video of Ken’s business partner, Jamie Bissonnette, making the exact same paella I was about to make. I got sucked into the video and started to think that maybe I could just watch this video and make the paella on my own. There was a professional chef walking through each step right on my screen, maybe I could have saved some money and not hired Ken Oringer. Boy, was I wrong and quickly realized it was worth every penny!
I hopped onto Zoom with a twinge of nerves and excitement, professional chef versus passionate home cook. I didn’t want to feel stupid, but that was just my imposter syndrome speaking (and that could be a whole blog post on it’s own…stay tuned if I drum up the courage to share my deepest fears with you). I already didn’t know what Pimenton was when Ken sent me the instructions…..um, it’s just smoked paprika for those of you who are wondering.
The entire night was like a dream come true. I was just chillin’ with Ken Oringer, he in his kitchen, me in mine and it was like cooking with a friend. He was patient and kind and did not make me feel stupid at all. He walked me through all three amazing recipes and we ate each as they were done. Everything tasted fantastic as if Chef Ken made it for me, but I made it all!
A lightbulb went off at the end of the night. There is no way I could have made the paella as well as I did from watching a YouTube video. It’s not the same as having the live visual of what is going on in the Chef’s kitchen and getting all of the little nuances of how he makes the dish. Even following a recipe would not have the same result. There are tips and tricks that are shared in a live class that you cannot read about. In this instance it was years of culinary school and restaurant experience/ownership and travel and a James Beard Award that came together to provide me with much more than a recipe.
And in that moment, I also realized another thing. THIS is what my students get from me when they take my classes. They get all of my years of cooking and eating and learning from classes and The Food Network and my mother and my grandmother all rolled up into one. So when I say tips and tricks they are really invaluable to making a dish come together to be it’s best.
If you have taken my classes, you know what I mean. Keep my voice in your head when you cook and pass it on! And if you haven’t yet tried a class with me, what are you waiting for???
See you in the kitchen,
Debbie