The 3 Most Important Things I Taught Every Student at Culinary School

After I graduated culinary school, I was offered a position as a teaching assistant, which I promptly accepted because I love learning and the gig paid pretty well. I stuck around for a couple of semesters to soak up as much I could, while passing along what I deemed the most important lessons to my students. I taught them to yell things like “Corner!” and “Behind!” (which are crucial when working in a tight kitchen), how to sharpen their knives, and the mechanics of plating a dish. Although some of that has fallen by the wayside (these days I outsource my knife sharpening, and I don’t plate dinner because my kids are particular about the layout of their food), I still follow three golden rules: Clean as you go, always taste your food, and label everything. 

When you’re cooking, there’s always a lot going on. One of my tasks as a teaching assistant was to walk around and observe the students, and more often than not, I was pointing out their messy stations and reiterating the importance of cleaning as you go. It might not seem groundbreaking, but the state of your work area can influence how you feel. If it’s chaotic with piles of dirty dishes and spilled ingredients, you’ll feel chaotic. On the flip side, if it’s neat and organized, you’ll feel prepared to focus on the recipe you’re making. So the next time you’re in the kitchen, take a moment to really look at your work area, tidy what you need to, and then proceed — you got this. 

Before the students arrived each day, I would make sure each work station was stocked with the basics: salt, pepper, neutral oil in a squeeze bottle, and disposable tasting spoons. It was expected that they would taste their food throughout the cooking process. That said, I’d often catch my students right before they started plating to ask if they had tried it. Nine times out of 10, the answer was no. I’d then watch them taste it and frown because it always needed more seasoning. Take it from me — a dish isn’t really ready until you’ve tasted it (at least several times) to make sure you’re happy with the final outcome. 

Whenever you’re cooking a meal, leftover food or ingredients is a given. As you’re packing it away, you may think you’ll remember what you put inside each container, but that’s never the case. Labeling every container with the name and date will help you keep track of what’s inside — and more importantly, when you should toss it. Grab a Sharpie and a roll of tape (I prefer masking tape over painter’s tape, which may be a hot take in itself; I find that the blue color makes the labels harder to read). Your future self — along with your stomach — will thank you.