Blog #11 - Final Reflection

Concluding my experience working with Chef Lyons, Tim, and Jacoby, I really appreciate many new aspects of cooking. Before I watched Gordon Ramsay and met Chef Lyons, I really just thought food was just something you had to eat to survive. After projects, I think it is something more akin to art and more of a transporter to making people's lives feel better meal by meal. Certainly, through my project, I have learned to make simple, but delicious foods. Although I have answered my project's essential question, I have also learned how to present dishes, adjust the recipe on the fly, and cut produce like a pro. For example, when we were making a hummus dip for Monday's Rise and Dine event, we mixed the standard hummus recipe, then adjusted the product multiple times whether it be the level of paprika was too low or if it needed more tahini. Things like this a cookbook could never teach you - only a mentor can. Furthermore, Jacoby's project aim was to learn more about working in the culinary industry while ours was just to learn the basics of cooking, and Chef's work with us covered both of our aims. One thing that I believe may have been lacking was just practice and the hectic pace we were going at. While I admire everything Chef taught us, some methods such as braising was hard to perform, but it is simply impossible within the scope of our project to practice it multiple times. I will definitely practice it by myself over the summer knowing how much expertise it takes. Chef Lyons himself was a superb example of what it is to be a mentor. He was patient with us, taught us the finest details, and made sure we knew what we were doing in the kitchen. He prioritized health and cleanliness at all times in the kitchen, and the fact he spent well over $1000 in produce on us just speaks for itself. Unfortunately, because of this hefty price tag, he will not work with any future Hawken student. Being the first and last type of this project, I am honored to have learned so much over these past three weeks. Coming into Chef Lyons's kitchen, I had no idea how to use a knife, and by the time I walked out, I knew how to cut anything. Literally anything, whether it be a simple onion or an entire chicken I have to butcher into its respective parts. I will sincerely miss working alongside Chef Lyons. His sense of priority and insane work ethic has inspired me and my two peers, and I hope to be more like him in this aspect. Now that I know every main cooking method, I plan on cooking every day over the summer by looking at recipes that intrigue me and adjusting them to my liking by taste and intuition.