I have decided to start a new column for PIIYF and I am going to call it “Notes From The Kitchen.”  It is going to be my notes from my cooking trying out new techniques. I will be going through cook books working on my technique and telling you a little about what I find and telling you how to cook certain things I find and love.

 

Most of you know Tom Colicchio as the head judge of the Bravo reality TV show, Top Chef.  Many of you know he is a great chef too.  He was head chef and Co-Owner of Gramercy Tavern in NYC which was for many years one of the city’s best restaurants.  He now owns and is the head chef of Craft in New York.  But what most of you don’t know is that he wasn’t classically trained in a school... That's right no CIA no FCI.  He taught himself how to cook at the age of 17 by cooking his way through Jacques Pepin’s book La Technique and La Methode.

 

I am going to attempt to do the same thing but only to a lesser extent. I don’t have the time or the patience to go through Pepin’s monster book so what I am going to do is cook through Tom’s new book Think like a Chef.  It will probably never reach the legendary status of Pepin’s book, but it will be a good place to start.

 

9/08 - Start Think Like a Chef by Tom Colicchio

8/09 - Start French Laundry by Herbert Keller

 

-- Robert