08.09.07

Back to Teaching

Posted in The Story, Teaching Classes at 10:52 pm by Chef Matt

A long time ago - back when I was still working at Tirolo in fact - I was wondering if I should go back to becoming a cooking instructor, or maybe pick up some extra catering hours to help earn some more money for myself. The Tirolo job - being my first cooking job was one that did not pay enough for me to stay afloat by itself, and the fact that Sarah was trying to keep labor costs as low as possible meant that I was earning a very paltry paycheck.

Well the times soon changed as I moved on to Vero, and was earning enough there - thanks to a larger hourly wage and more hours - that I didn’t have to work hard to find outside employment. Though in a weird twist of fate, I was actually doing quite a bit of catering work while I was at Vero simply because that was such a major focus of the business.

Now, as a chef at Rustico, and a salaried one at that, I make enough money that I only need to do these jobs when I feel like doing them. The urgent need to find other sources of income is gone thankfully, and in its place there is the chance for me to pick and choose the extracurricular activities I actually want to do.

And teaching cooking is always one of those things.

Italian style - the only way to make something look good without any sort of functionality whatsoever.

With my incredibly full schedule, I was hardly going around looking for opportunities to be a teacher. Rather, this was an instance where the job fell into my lap. Up in Bedford, PA - where my parents have that aforementioned “cabin in the woods” - there is a new store that has opened that is dedicated to Italian food and design. It’s called “Lifestyle” and it is a wonderful addition to the (until now) culturally bleak offerings in downtown Bedford.

Well, as my mom loves to do, she got to chatting with the owners, and let them know how I’m not only a chef, but way back in the day, I used to teach Italian cooking. Well, they were of course very excited about this revelation, so to skip ahead to the good part, I’ll be teaching a class there on Northern Italian cooking this Monday night!

I’m extremely excited to be back in front of a class again. And this time I am doing so with a culinary degree and over a year of kitchen experience under my belt. When I first started teaching the course, I almost felt like a bit of a fraud - I was simply someone who knew a lot about the subject, but with no real credentials. Now I’m fully bona fide, and while on the one hand this puts me more at ease - people tend to accept that any for real “chef” who shows up is just right about whatever he says - it also has opened that pit in my stomach of performance anxiety. I mean, I’m really supposed to know this stuff now, so if I freeze in front of the class - well, that just won’t be cool.

On the menu for the night: Risotto! (YUM!)

Fortunately, this is a subject I’ve taught before, so I’m intimately familiar with the subject matter. Throw in my love of cooking and teaching, and I am hoping that it’ll all be like riding a bicycle. Easy to remember, and easy to make a fast get away if things go badly.