Sara Tane — Culinary Arts

Sara Tane's Spring Gnocchi

aday — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 13:29:15 +0000

Sara Tane's Spring Gnocchi aday Thu, 04/23/2020 - 09:29 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/Spring%20gnocchi%20header.jpg.webp?itok=iFkYtwqX Brighten your #stayhome pasta repertoire with spring vegetables. April 23, 2020

By Sara Tane — Culinary Arts

Homemade gnocchi is the epitome of comfort food. Warm, fluffy, airy clouds of potatoes tossed in butter and Parmesan? Um, yes, please.

The key to gnocchi that’s as light as a cloud is getting your potatoes super dry and finely riced. To avoid a gummy, dense gnocchi, try to incorporate as little flour as possible to the dough. Here, I’m serving it up with some fresh spring vegetables like asparagus and peas, but you can use whatever veggies (fresh or frozen) that you have on hand! Whatever you do, don’t skimp on the Parm.

Potato Gnocchi with Spring Vegetables

Yields 4-6 servings

2 1/2 pounds russet potatoes (about 4 large), scrubbed and pierced all over with a fork
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted, plus more for dusting
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 egg, whisked
1 bunch asparagus, ends trimmed, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup fresh or frozen green peas
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1/2 cup Parmesan, freshly grated
Fresh mint and basil, for garnish

Preheat oven to 450 F and line a baking sheet with a wire rack. Roast potatoes until completely tender when pierced with a fork, about 45 minutes.
Use tongs to cut potatoes into manageable pieces. While the potatoes are still hot, run them through a ricer or food mill and into a large bowl. Add flour, salt, and egg and use hands to gently incorporate mixture. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and avoid kneading, rather gently fold and press until mixture forms a flat disc.
Use a bench scraper or sharp knife to portion off some of the dough and use your palms to roll into a ½-inch thick tube, dusting with more flour if necessary. Cut into 1-inch pieces and transfer to a well-floured baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.
Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Drop gnocchi in batches and stir gently to avoid sticking. Cook until they rise to the top of the pot and there is no raw flour flavor when tasted, about 2 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of gnocchi water.
Once all the gnocchi has been cooked, use same boiling water to blanch asparagus. Boil until slightly softened but a crisp bite still remains, 2 minutes, then transfer to an ice bath for an additional 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add asparagus and peas and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Add gnocchi, lemon juice and zest, and parmesan, and enough reserved gnocchi water to create a glossy sauce (you may not need the entire cup). Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve immediately with basil and mint.

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Recipe steps

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 450 F and line a baking sheet with a wire rack. Roast potatoes until completely tender when pierced with a fork, about 45 minutes;

Step 2 - Use tongs to cut potatoes into manageable pieces. While the potatoes are still hot, run them through a ricer or food mill and into a large bowl;

Step 3 - Add flour, salt, and egg and use hands to gently incorporate mixture. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and avoid kneading, rather gently fold and press until mixture forms a flat disc;

Step 4 - Use a bench scraper or sharp knife to portion off some of the dough and use your palms to roll into a ½-inch thick tube, dusting with more flour if necessary. Cut into 1-inch pieces and transfer to a well-floured baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough;

Step 5 - Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Drop gnocchi in batches and stir gently to avoid sticking. Cook until they rise to the top of the pot and there is no raw flour flavor when tasted, about 2 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of gnocchi water;

Step 6 - Once all the gnocchi has been cooked, use same boiling water to blanch asparagus. Boil until slightly softened but a crisp bite still remains, 2 minutes, then transfer to an ice bath for an additional 2 minutes. Drain and set aside;

Step 7 - Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add asparagus and peas and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes;

Step 8 - Add gnocchi, lemon juice and zest, and parmesan, and enough reserved gnocchi water to create a glossy sauce (you may not need the entire cup). Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve immediately with basil and mint;

Mod 5: The Glamour of Garde Manger

aday — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 19:29:15 +0000

Mod 5: The Glamour of Garde Manger aday Wed, 11/27/2019 - 14:29 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/mod%205%20header%202.jpg.webp?itok=LSTiL1tJ Culinary Arts student and Feedfeed editor Sara Tane shares her final adventures in class, from fermentation to sausage making. December 3, 2019

By Sara Tane — Culinary Arts

Finally, we’re onto the fifth and final module and there is only a week of classes left. Ah! This module focuses primarily on garde manger, which refers to the cold station. We’ve touched on everything from hors d’oeuvres, canapés and pâtés, to terrines and charcuterie. Let’s just say, some were prettier than others.

It’s probably for the best that the pastry module is over because your body can only eat croissants for dinner for so long. This is a chapter in my culinary school diaries that I am ready to leave behind. One of the most immediate differences that our class noticed between Mod 5 and previous modules is the lack of food. I’m pretty sure there was not a single thing to eat during the first five lessons. Devastating, I know. This is because the first few classes were heavy on fermentation, pickling, curing, smoking and brining, so everything had to sit for at least a few days, some for a few weeks, before the desired final product was achieved.

How did I go from eating muffins and brioche for dinner to nothing?! My body is absolutely desperate for a normal routine and perhaps a vegetable, but I digress! When it finally came time to plate and serve all of the various items that we’d been working on, it felt all the more worthwhile. For what it’s worth, I still think frequently about the duck pastrami.

We made bacon, gravlax, kimchi, pickles, hot sauce and yogurt, to name a few. Everything felt like a fun science project, the best part being that you can eat it in a few days. What a thrill! If you’ve never made homemade sauerkraut, I highly encourage you to try it out. Not only does it require basic ingredients, it’s also incredibly simple and massaging the cabbage is a great way to get out any pent-up aggression. Therapy is expensive and cabbage is cheap. Don’t tell my therapist I said that.

During these classes, we also learned about sausage, chicken liver mousse and foie gras, which are all very delicious, but making them is anything but glamorous. Despite the irreversible damage that these classes have done to my eyesight (Have you ever seen the deveining of a foie gras lobe?), I will admit that I really did enjoy making sausages. Once you get past the fact that you’re literally grinding and blending up raw meat, fat, ice water and spices, only to squeeze them into edible hog casings, it’s pretty fun! These classes taught me the definition of a sausage, which is an emulsion of meat and fat (my previous definition was “mystery mixture of meats and spices that are jammed into mystery material), and emulsions are an important meat preparation technique for a variety of applications.

Despite the visual horror that was sausage-making, I did learn some useful tricks. Whenever you’re making a mixture of raw meats and spices, you typically want to check the seasoning before you proceed making your dish. Usually, to test the seasoning, I would throw a small sample of the meat mixture into a skillet with some oil and taste. Our chef pointed out that this technique is slightly misleading because when you sample your cooked meat, you’re getting flavor from the caramelization that’s happening while sautéing the meat. Instead, we were instructed to wrap a small bit of meat in plastic wrap and gently simmer it in water. Although the texture of this cooked meat is less than desirable, it really allows you to taste the meat for what’s actually in there and adjust your seasoning accordingly, if necessary. This doesn’t apply to just sausage making — try it out next time you’re making a batch of meatballs or a meatloaf.

One of the best days of this module is the hors d'oeuvres class. I am partially biased because the dish that I mostly worked on was David Chang’s recipe for oysters with kimchi consommé and pork belly (9-1-1, I’d like to report a flavor emergency!!!), so you could say that I was happy as a ... clam (just go with it). The rest of my classmates worked on other tasty dishes and in the end, there were platters upon platters of shishito pepper tacos, pork buns, plantain chips and empanadas. This definitely made up for the fact that we went hungry for the first half of the module.

Believe it or not, that pretty much wraps up all of the new material that we’ll learn during the Culinary Arts program! Now, we’re switching into review mode and market basket cooking. This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for: All of the lessons and techniques that I’ve learned along the way will be put to the test. Send positive vibes! Or croissants! I’ll be accepting both!

Make your way to Module 1 of 91��߹'s Culinary Arts program.

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Asian Cuisines and Modern Plating in Mod 3

aday — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 20:18:06 +0000

Asian Cuisines and Modern Plating in Mod 3 aday Wed, 09/11/2019 - 16:18 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/ingredients%20header.jpg.webp?itok=anQRqy4V Behind the scenes of Culinary Arts classes with wok cooking, sushi rolling and plating practice. September 12, 2019

By Sara Tane — Culinary Arts

Feedfeed Food Editor Sara Tane is sharing her experiences in weeknight classes in the Culinary Arts program at our New York campus.

The biggest takeaway from this past chapter of school is that I’ve been stir-frying incorrectly my entire life. Good to know! Life-shattering epiphanies aside, I think it’s pretty safe to say that the Asian cuisine classes were some of my favorites of the program thus far.

Wok cooking was nothing short of an absolute thrill, and the flavors and dishes that we created in these classes were next level. My only complaint about these lessons is that there weren’t more — I still have so much to learn. I guess this means that I’ll be planning a trip to the Eastern Hemisphere once school is over.

From spice mixes to chutneys to pastes to clarified oils, there were so many intricate components to each dish, making everything a true labor of love. Going into these classes, I was mostly unfamiliar with how these dishes come together. I am very lucky to work with Rachel Gurjar, our test kitchen manager at Feedfeed. She blesses the team with homemade curries for lunch from time to time, so I can confidently say that I know a poppin’ curry when I eat one. Every time she makes one, I always ask, “How’d you make this?” Most times, she just looks at me and exhales deeply. I now know why: So! Many! Ingredients! Asking her to summarize how she made that curry is like asking someone to summarize everything that happens in a season of “The Real Housewives of New York City” in a sentence: simply impossible!

This was my first go-round with wok cooking, and let me just say that I had the time of my life. One of my favorite dishes that we made is a red Thai coconut curry. The aromatics in this dish definitely cleared my sinuses but in the best way possible. Another one of the dishes that ranks pretty high is the kung pao chicken. Both wok-centric recipes employed a technique called “velveting,” which was completely new to me. Basically, the chicken pieces are coated in cornstarch and egg whites and then deep-fried in oil at a low temperature. If you’ve ever wondered why the chicken that you get in your go-to Chinese takeout order is exceptionally moist and tender, this is probably why! Goodbye, dried-out chicken stir-fries!

Another perk of our Asian cuisine studies was sushi day! I’ve never made sushi before, and this class honestly felt like arts and crafts. We learned the way to perfectly cook, fluff and season sushi rice, and then everyone got to rolling. I cannot stress enough how much fun it is to roll sushi. In fact, my next birthday party might be a sushi-making party. You’re all invited. Sushi day was our last day of Asian cuisines, and frankly, I was really sad to move on.

Before we finished up Module 3, we had a couple of classes on modern plating. Admittedly, these classes were not my favorite. Plating dishes really is an art and a balance of ingredients. There isn’t a clear “right” or “wrong.” You want to consider colors, flavors, textures, portion sizes and dishware, but ultimately, there are plenty of sufficient ways to display your food on a dish. I am far from a perfectionist, and truthfully, I don’t really have much interest in hunching over a plate, drawing out swooshes of purée, delicately placing dollops of sauce across the plate or arranging microgreens in a specific shape. Fine dining is clearly not in my career trajectory, and the world is a much better place because of that, TBH. I will say that these lessons illuminated which students in my class are destined for fine-dining greatness. Some of the plates that my classmates created were true masterpieces (we’re talking tweezers and everything!), and I hope that one day when they open their fancy white-tablecloth restaurants, they’ll let me come try their food. Don’t forget about me, guys!

The practical exam for Module 3 was also slightly different than our last two practical exams in the sense that we had some liberties with what we decided to present to our chef. We were required to serve a supremed chicken breast, a hot starch and a hot veggie dish. I went for sautéed green beans and gnocchi. Not going to lie, I was pretty pleased with how everything came out. I don’t have to pack my knives and go ... yet.

Next up is PASTRY, and this sweet tooth of mine is ready for it all!

Trace Sara's journey back through Module 1 and Module 2 and start your culinary career path at 91��߹.

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Sara Tane Makes Breakfast, Salads and Sandwiches in Mod 2

aday — Mon, 08 Jul 2019 15:39:34 +0000

Sara Tane Makes Breakfast, Salads and Sandwiches in Mod 2 aday Mon, 07/08/2019 - 11:39 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/salad%20header.jpg.webp?itok=EQyCfLqQ The Feedfeed food editor and Culinary Arts student shares lessons from her second module at 91��߹. July 8, 2019

By Sara Tane — Culinary Arts

I would like to start this blog by letting you know that I just completed my practical exam for Module 2, and my chef told me that my food was OUTSTANDING. If for whatever reason you decide to exit this web page before you reach the end of the post, at least you now know that I am a perfect human. JK, but I have to admit that receiving such positive feedback was a momentary boost to my ego, and for that I am very grateful. Feel free to send me any further congratulatory sentiments. Thanks so much.

Now that I have the good news out of the way, let’s get to it. The practical exam for this second module was pretty straightforward. We had to prepare a medium rare New York strip steak with a red wine pan sauce, sautéed green beans and pommes persillade (which reigns as one of my favorite recipes at school thus far). When turned into a task that will be graded, cooking, which is usually a joyful activity that calms me down, becomes a highly stressful experience. I don’t really consider myself a perfectionist, but there’s something about knowing that I will be given a numbered grade on my food that makes me absolutely militant for perfection. When I handed my chef my plate of food to taste and examine, I probably had so much adrenaline pumping through me that if I lost a limb, I wouldn’t have felt a thing. Cooking is a sport and I am clearly a world-class athlete. Somehow, my nerves didn’t get in the way of cooking a lovely meal, which I’m pretty pumped about!

Since my last post, we’ve covered breakfast cookery, salads and sandwiches, all of which I have enjoyed very much. I am not proud to admit that my first absence (due to a work trip — sorry that I’m a young professional!) fell on the egg cookery class. As a certified egg enthusiast, the amount of FOMO I had while I missed this class was nearly unbearable. Luckily, my chef was kind enough to give me a personalized French omelet demo when I returned to class the following week. Trust me folks, it might look simple, but it took me a few tries before I got it.

After we covered eggs, it was time to move onto cereals, French toast, pancakes, waffles and crêpes. Despite the fact that this class sounds like a relaxing Sunday morning, I’m going to go ahead and admit that this might have been one of the more stressful lessons. The pancake, waffle and crêpe batters were slightly fussy because they needed to rest for an hour. Plus, you need to find a happy balance of mixing the batters enough so that the wet and dry ingredients are fully incorporated yet not too much because overmixing can result in less-than-fluffy, barely rising cakes. A real travesty, indeed. You better believe that I had to throw away several rounds of crêpes before I finally figured out how to peel them away without tearing or burning them.

By the end of this class, I had successfully presented my chef with slightly too-browned waffles, pancakes that didn’t rise enough and crepes that were folded incorrectly. Cool! I could’ve really used a mimosa that night. I did, however, manage to make a nice tray of French toast, a spicy, cheesy bowl of grits, and a pot of cream of wheat that was cooked to perfection. If you know anything about cream of wheat, you’ll know that this means nothing because cream of wheat is an absolute garbage breakfast cereal. One of the other groups in my class made oatmeal and I demanded that they pour me a generous bowl. Repeat after me: Oatmeal is life and cream of wheat is disgusting.

Now that I’ve gotten my breakfast cereal rant out of my system, let’s talk salads and sandwiches. Like the great Spongebob once said, these classes were F-U-N. The way these particular classes work is that since there are so many salads and sandwiches to cover, the recipes are divided up between groups, and then we all present our food as a class at the end like a family-style meal. This format is a nice break from our normal routine because you get to taste more recipes and you don’t have to go through the nerve-wracking process of individually presenting dishes to your chef-instructor. Also, if your chef instructor says that something was prepared incorrectly, you can blame your group members. JK, I am a lovely team player, I promise.

For the salad lesson, our class whipped up three types of potato salads, Cobb salad, Niçoise salad and a variety of whole grain salads. I. LOVE. SALAD. It should go without saying that I genuinely had a great time during this lesson. Just when I thought that the salad class was the absolute pinnacle of culinary school, it was time for sandwiches. This lesson more or less convinced me that I need to find the nearest rundown truck and convert it into a glossy, state-of-the-art food truck, thus fulfilling my true calling in this world.

We made every sando under the sun: pan bagnats, Cubanos, Reubens, veggie burgers, Croque Monsieurs, Mexican chicken tortas, Muffalettas and finally banh mi. I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed this class and how glorious my to-go box was that night. The next day, my very lucky roommate had already consumed three sandwiches by 2 p.m. Impressive work, Gabi. But seriously, if you know of any junk yards that are looking to do away with an old utility truck, connect me with them, please and thank you.

Module 2 was a great one, and I’ll admit that I’m a little sad to see it go. Now we’re moving on to Module 3, which is French and Italian regional cooking, so I’m excited for lesson upon lesson of dishes that I cannot pronounce, as well as some cooking that is inevitably going to be less than OUTSTANDING. Bon voyage?!

Make your way to the breakfast, salad and sandwich module in 91��߹'s Culinary Arts program.

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Sauces & Soups with Sara Tane

aday — Fri, 03 May 2019 17:49:44 +0000

Sauces & Soups with Sara Tane aday Fri, 05/03/2019 - 13:49 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/sauces%20header.jpg.webp?itok=xdkboGg8 The Feedfeed editor and Culinary Arts student says she knows more about sauces than she ever thought possible after a successful first module at 91��߹. May 6, 2019

By Sara Tane — Culinary Arts

In college, they used to call me Chief Boss with the Sauce. Just kidding, no one has ever uttered those words in reference to me. It’s more of a self-proclaimed title. But seriously, it’s *all* about the sauce. In my book, a meal is not complete until there’s a flavorful sauce to finish it all off. That said, you can imagine just how excited I was to start the Sauces & Soups chapter of Module 1.

Coming into this chapter, I felt only vaguely familiar with the five mother sauces of French cooking. Sure, I had heard of them all at one point or another, but was not intimately knowledgeable about how to make them or their general purpose in cooking. It’s safe to say that now, I know more about sauces than I ever thought possible. Frankly, I really enjoyed learning about the five classic mother sauces of French cooking (bechamel, Espagnole, hollandaise, velouté and tomato... BOOM) and all of their derivations because it’s interesting to see how one simple technique can be transformed into so many different final products. Will I use these on a daily basis? Probably not, but it’s definitely a useful springboard for future sauce-making endeavors.

Aside from the mother sauces, we also learned how to make mayonnaise, slurries, coulis and vinaigrettes. One of my favorite aspects of cooking is the ability to build on ingredients and play around with flavor combinations, so it’s nice to have a solid foundation of ratios and techniques for these sauces. This way, when I’m developing recipes, I have a baseline technical understanding of the sauces that I’m making. If there’s anything that I’d like to get across in this blog post, it’s that your vinaigrettes need to have a 3:1 ratio of oil to vinegar. If you love yourself and the salads that you make, you will listen to this advice. Thank me later.

Soup practice in Sara's Culinary Arts class.

After we mastered our mother sauces, we moved onto soups. Let me preface this by saying that I really don’t like puréed soups and I would probably never make one for myself or anyone that I care about. That said, I understand that every day of class can’t be shellfish day (I miss you, my sweet, sweet oysters), so I put my skepticism aside and put on my Positive Puréed Soup Face (it’s a convincing face, trust me). Long story short, we made a creamy broccoli soup. It was fine. My chef said I over-sweated my veggies. I tried not to take it too personally. We live and we learn and we better ourselves.

At the end of this chapter, we took our first practical (!!!!!), which was the first time that we were graded on food that we prepared. If I’m being honest, I was so nervous. Partly because my high school tendencies of achieving absolute academic perfection are a quality about myself that I can’t seem to shake, but also because the environment was so tense. It honestly felt like I was a contestant on “Top Chef,” and I’ve never felt so PRESSED! Also, I didn’t realize how awkward it is to cook in silence until I had to do it for four hours. Chopping veggies without a podcast or a little Ariana Grande playing just doesn’t feel right, but I somehow managed.

Despite a little case of some nerves, I fared just fine (my chef did *not* ask me to pack my knives and go... phew), and I’m moving on to the next module. I will admit however, I did not ace the test (high-school me would be so disappointed). My chef told me that my mayonnaise was oversalted, and I’ve never wanted to sob in my mother’s arms more in my life than that very moment. Negative feedback is part of the gig and I’m working on trying not to take it too personally. As you can see, I’ve still got some work to do. Like the great Hannah Montana once said, “nobody’s perfect!” Thanks for the memories, mother sauces. It was nice knowing you, puréed broccoli soup. Module 2, here I come!

Conquer the five mother sauces and perfectly salted mayonnaise in 91��߹’s Culinary Arts program.

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This is awesome

Submitted by GJM on May 6, 2019 2:29pm

I love this article, it is hilarious! It really shows how serious Culinary School is, but that you can also bring your own personality to it! More like this, please!

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Why a New York City Food Editor Enrolled in Culinary School

aday — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 15:08:15 +0000

Why a New York City Food Editor Enrolled in Culinary School aday Thu, 03/14/2019 - 11:08 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/Sara%20Tane%20header.jpg.webp?itok=AR1onj9P Culinary Arts student Sara Tane shares why she’s taking on 91��߹’s career training program years into her food media career. March 18, 2019

By Sara Tane — Culinary Arts

I’ll be honest, I never thought I’d actually go to culinary school. I’ve always loved to cook, and the idea of culinary school has always appealed to me, but I never thought it’d be an experience that I’d have the opportunity to explore.

While I was in college, I was a server at a sports bar and an upscale pizzeria — each experience could not have been more different from the other. I learned a ton and enjoyed myself at each restaurant, but if there was one key takeaway from both, it was that I did not want to work in restaurants for the rest of my life.

This learning left me in a slight predicament: How would I turn my love of food and cooking into a career if I had no interest in opening a restaurant? The answer that I decided on as a junior in college was … food media! I’d still be able to use my creativity and hands-on skills in the kitchen without working in the service industry. You can only imagine just how excited my parents were when I told them I was changing my major from chemistry to food studies. Liberal arts, FTW!

With this shift in my studies, I went all in — I founded my college’s chapter of Spoon University, I created a food Instagram just for funsies, I interned at Saveur magazine, and I somehow managed to land a fellowship at the Time Inc. Food Studios. My foot had snuck its way into the door of the food media world without any professional kitchen experience. Impressive? Ehh, not really. Difficult? Very. If I have any advice after a whopping three years in food media, it’s to fake it ‘til you make it.

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Had the BEST damn time at @cascadianfarm yesterday with so many amazing peeps! And for those asking, yes, my Farmers Only profile is coming along quite nicely! #TeamFeedfeed #OutgrowOrdinary

A post shared by Sara Tane (@what_she_ate) on Sep 14, 2018 at 11:45am PDT

At the time, I considered my experience at the Time Inc. Food Studios to be an accelerated, integrated version of culinary school. I was surrounded by so many people who had attended culinary school, owned restaurants and won fancy culinary awards. In other words, they knew their sh*t (unlike me). I soaked up tips and tricks every day, and when I wasn’t in the test kitchen learning from my seasoned colleagues, I was scouring the internet for useful information to include in the articles that I was writing daily. There’s no denying that I learned a ton at this job, but at the end of the day, I was still very much an amateur. I mean, they even made a show out of my lack of professional training. Millennials, am I right?

After two years of what arguably could have been the best introductory job into a career in food media, I landed yet another dream role with Feedfeed. I am very lucky, I know! As a food editor, my role includes anything and everything from recipe development and assisting with events to content creation, including food styling, taking pictures (iPhone photography for life) and writing articles. Like my last job, I’m learning more and honing my skills every day.

So what’s the appeal of culinary school for a girl who has a job that teaches her something new every day and is surrounded by culinary school-educated coworkers that can answer all of her questions? I want to be taken seriously, dammit! I’m only slightly kidding. Because of the experience that I have, I’d consider myself to be a confident cook, but I want to better. What the hell, I want to be the best! I’m ready and willing to take my culinary knowledge to the next level. My ultimate goal in the trajectory of my career in food media is to empower people to cook, and if I’m going to be an authority on this, then I want to be educated like it.

Enter the Institute of Culinary Education. I cannot express how excited I am to be a student at such an impressive institution. I’m most looking forward to solidifying and finessing my skills, as well as understanding the “why” behind a lot of the tidbits that I may already know. I’m sure there may be a lesson here or there that might feel somewhat elementary to me because of the headstart that my job has given me, but there is still a ton for me to learn and perfect. I’m excited (and just as nervous) to be pushed outside of my comfort zone and delve into techniques, dishes and cuisines that are completely foreign to me. One of my favorite (yet equally infuriating) parts about food and cooking is that there is always more to learn. Bring it on 91��߹, I’m here, and I’m ready for it all!

Stay tuned for all of Sara's adventures, and schedule a tour to see if you're ready for culinary school.

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