Chef Instructor Tom Blog
Learning to Cook
Where and when did you learn to cook? It usually starts with your mom or your grandmother. Both of those women figured prominently in my culinary education. One of my grandmothers could not cook at all. We were much more likely to go out to dinner when visiting in Florida. But my grandmother from Indiana thought of herself as a competent cook. She was not above using frozen halibut fillets from the good fishermen at Gorton's. She would really overcook the dry frozen fillets. It was pretty awful. She did put out a pretty excellent cheese tray before dinner; one that was good enough for an eleven year old in 1971.
My First Job in Pastry: The Mayfair-Regent Hotel
I was still in culinary school, just finishing up my custards class at the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago (CHIC). One of my teachers came into class and leaned over my shoulder during the lecture and said, “youse want a job Beckman?” This was Chef T, Paul Tinaglia. He was a well liked chef at CHIC and had taken a liking to me. I don’t know if he sought me out or I was just the first one he came to but he asked me the question. Of course, I said without hesitation. I had been working at Starbucks and The Gap, both without much success or monetary reward. I thought if I’m going to make a low wage, I might as well be in a kitchen. Plus I had the recommendation of one of my chefs. I thought, what could go wrong.
