On Monday I had the opportunity to lead my first college workshop. When I was first approached by a chef at Stratford University in Baltimore, I was a bit skeptical. Public speaking has never been my thing. Like many chefs, I’m much more comfortable grinding it out in the kitchen with my staff or chatting with customers in the dining room. But I’ve been making a conscious effort to push myself out of my comfort zone. So I said yes, and it was great.
I did two workshops on “Molecular Gastronomy”, which I mostly morphed into a class on the practical uses of hydrocolloids and modern cooking techniques. Yes, there were some whiz bang things like Carrot/Ginger Spheres and Powdered Peanut Butter. But I demonstrated how to do rapid infusions in an ISI, showed them the Searzall and Smoking Gun and touched on gluten-free cooking. We fixed a broken sauce and made fluid gels and cheese-whiz (and a lot more).
I emailed the students a word doc with a list of my favorite culinary websites and resources, complete with active links. If anyone would like a copy, please let me know. It was so rewarding to get email responses from those students telling us how great it was. Nobody was taking pictures during the demo, so here are a select few shots I got. Thank you to the Stratford staff that put this together, and to the students who attended.
Stratford University
Stratford University
Piquillo Pepper Fluid Gel
Carrot/Ginger Sphere
Gluten-Free Snickerdoodle Cookies
If you like what you see, please consider hiring me for an in-home dinner or cooking lesson. I run a personal chef business based out of Frederick, MD. Get more information here. Thank you.
Chris Spear