Advice You Can Chew On: First Dates & Culinary School

Welcome to Advice You Can Chew On! Ask and you shall receive great recipes! This week our readers show their eagerness to dive into all things culinary. From what to do on a first date where your counterpart happens to know a lot more about food than you ever could, and reasons why culinary school just might be for you. We can’t answer your questions if you don’t ask us! So don’t forget to send in your culinary related questions, continue reading to find out how!

Dear FreeSpiritEater,

I am going on a first date soon with a friend I have been interested in for a while. Although he has had culinary experience from working in restaurants through college, I offered to make the meal. I know the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, so my question is, how do I host an impressive first date for someone who is a much better cook than I am?

-Lauren T., OH

Romantic Dinner (Courtesy of YourRecipes.net)

Dear Lauren:

I believe you should look at your situation not as a dilemma, but an opportunity to spread your culinary wings and explore! I’m sure your soon to be boyfriend started out in the kitchen like the rest of us, not knowing the first thing about cooking. A first date doesn’t have to be about extravagance, you can impress someone simply by creating a meal from the heart, something meaningful. Ask him what his favorite dish was as a kid, maybe it was mac and cheese. Modernize a comfort food favorite. maybe try a lobster mac and cheese drizzled with truffle oil, it has a bit of extravagance while sticking to comfort, with a touch of sensuality. Most people believe in focusing on aphrodisiacs, but I say don’t let him know he’s being seduced, let the flavors do the seducing. I see all ingredients as aphrodisiacs, food has the power to create similar reactions to indulging in food as they might do when indulging with a lover. If you would really like to go the more impressive route, a 3 to 5 course wine pairing dinner, set under the stars is always romantic. Remember seafood and chicken go with white wine, while red meats are paired with red wine. You can always find lovely dessert wines as well, poached pears topped with ice cream go wonderfully with Riesling ice wine, a wine I tried years ago and never got over. Since you and your date already know one another, then maybe you’ll consider making a finger food dinner. It’s pretty self explanatory, but some guys find it very attractive when women are confident enough to eat that way, and this type of eating can eventually lead to feeding one another. If you decide not to go the finger food route, at least give it a try with the dessert. Stuffing strawberries, mini fruit tarts, and chocolate truffles can be a great excuse to feed your date without feeling the guilt from over indulging. My last suggestion for getting close is making a custard together. Measure out ingredients together, take turns mixing, decide on your favorite fruits for topping, and curl up together to watch a romantic film while the custard cools, plenty of time to “discuss” the wonderful meal you just enjoyed and laugh over the mess you both created with your custard. I hope these tips inspire you to create a fabulous custom dinner date that will secure many more dates in the future.

Dear FreeSpiritEater:

I am 20 years old  and have always loved to cook and bake. I know I want to be a chef and own a restaurant one day, but I hear so many negative things about culinary school, drop out rates, and how hard it is to find a job in this field especially in this economy. As a woman, is culinary school worth the time and money, or should I just jump into the field and begin working to gain my experience that way? 

Confused Chef-To-Be, NJ

Culinary School Students (Courtesy of a Creative Commons License (Flickr/COD Newsroom)

Dear Confused Chef,

I understand the confusion, I too heard many things when I began my search for the right culinary school. I was told that women can’t cook in a fast paced industry, that it’s “too hard” and that women are placed in kitchens with little chance of succeeding. But I’m sure like you, the people who said this were those who had never attended this kind of school nor knew anyone who did. Culinary school is NOT easy and it’s certainly not for everyone. I can only speak for my school when I attended years ago and for friends who attended culinary schools as well. A large percentage drop out, fail, never enter the business or are only in it for a little while after graduation. I believe the reason for this happens to be uninformed decisions. Before you enter school, you must know the gravity of what you’re getting yourself into. Say good bye to holidays, vacations, going out on the weekends and having the same schedule as your spouse. As a woman, you cannot wear make up, nail polish and it’s almost impossible to keep your hair neat if you’re working hard. We all know women have certain monthly pains, well in the kitchen no one cares, it doesn’t get you out of lifting heavy items or cooking for hours on end without a bathroom break. It’s a harsh field, but passion is what gets you through the day. As for wasting your time, I wouldn’t call it a waste, education is something no one can take away from you. Yes many people work in this field without a degree or certification, but those places are beginning to be taken over by managers who want to clean house. Which means get rid of all workers who don’t have the credentials and hire cooks straight out of culinary school. In school you will learn every type of food borne illness known to man, its causes and how to prevent it. If you don’t know kitchen safety, standard procedures, health department codes and standard temperatures for storing and cooking ingredients you could potentially get someone sick or get a place shut down. Owners know this and many refuse to take that risk anymore. Yes you get the most experience by being in the field, but no chef will sit down and go over every single safety procedure, they expect you to already know that. Culinary schools are usually linked to bigger organizations with amazing opportunities for competitions, volunteer work, and a chance to work with some of the best chefs around. Culinary schools have alumni associations and career advisers to help set up and prepare you for job interviews. Just like any career, the best way to advance in the field is to be educated on it. Although it wouldn’t hurt to work as a line cook while you’re attending school, that way you can put what you learned into practice at work, and when you enter an internship, having had experience will help you secure a job.

Thanks for stopping by Advice You Can Chew On! Please feel free to send in your culinary related question to FreeSpiritEater@Bromography.com to be featured on our column. Come back next week for more tips, recipes and advice. Until then, remember to never settle for anything less than delicious. =]