A Culinary Memoir

My First Time in the Kitchen

Dulce Colon

            As a kid you are always interested in everything around you. My interest was in food and the kitchen. It started with me watching my dad cook our family meals. Then one day I found myself standing in the kitchen learning how to cook.

Every time my dad was in the kitchen, he would be standing over the stove stirring the sauce for the pasta or reaching into the oven pulling out a very nice looking New York steak. I always found it fascinating watching my dad chopping vegetables for the chicken noodle soup or plating the finale product. My father, born in Puerto Rico and grew up in California, made meals ranging from a nice American cheeseburger, to Mexican tacos, and Italian pasta. I had always enjoyed the different variations of foods my father always made.

I was seven when I finally stepped foot in the kitchen and started the learning process of getting to know a kitchen. My responsibility in the kitchen at the time was to set up everything that my dad would need to make dinner. I would set up the sauce pots or the sauté pan and the cutting board if there was cutting involved. I was pretty much his assistant. If it was not my dad in the kitchen, it was my mom. With my mom I would help her make boxed Easy Mac and Cheese or boil hot dogs. I always enjoyed helping both my parents in the kitchen!

Over time I worked my way up in my parents’ kitchen and was responsible for cutting the vegetables. Note that when I started cutting vegetables I used a regular steak knife. At the time I never complained that it was a “crappy” knife to cut with but, I was eventually able to use a kitchen knife to cut up our vegetables. I remember when I was cutting vegetables I thought it was so much fun until I met the onion. The first time I cut into an onion I was taken back on the way it made me cry. Even five minutes later I would be standing at the counter blinking like no tomorrow trying to get my eye sight back. Ever since then, I have dreaded cutting that evil onion.

The first meal I ever learned to make was beef stew, our family recipe that was passed down from my Abuelo, grandfather. I remember how I browned the nice tender, fresh cut meat and chopping up all the different vegetables of carrots, celery, potatoes, green bell peppers, golden onions and cilantro. The smell of fresh cilantro was always my favorite ingredient to use. It has an earthly smell and works great to season the product that I am cooking. It was not easy at first when I learned to make beef stew but I have now accomplished the steps to “assembling” the dish that I can do it in my sleep. I have accomplished the dish so well that it is the most popular dish I make for my family.

By the time I reached the age of twelve I was left to be in the kitchen cooking without having to need my dad stand by my side and guide me. I had learned everything that I need to learn to make the same meals that my dad had made but I make them better, even though I let him think that he does. My dad is a really good cook who learned how to cook from his dad. It is kind of like a family tradition; learning to cook from your dad.

To this day I am still learning how to cook. I am not perfect as I still make mistakes in the kitchen, whether it’s forgetting to add an ingredient into the dish or I will over cook the meat. I have received so much support from my family but most importantly from my parents. There is so much support that I am now attending Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena; the best school there is to learn how to become a chef. I am learning how to make everything from scratch and I have also learned how to make a new version of beef stew. I will have to say compared to how I used to make beef stew to how I learned to make it today, there is a lot more flavor to the dish.  

I also have to say that learning to become a chef is not as easy as people think. There is a lot to learn that I did not learn before. I went from a house kitchen, the only kitchen I have ever worked in ever since I learned to cook, into a professional kitchen in which everything works at a different level. I have never worked in a professional kitchen and never worked in a restaurant but that did not stop me from going to school and producing the best dishes I can.

Thank you to those who believed in me and helped me get me to where I am now. I am a person who loves cooking and learning new things that will help me succeed in my future career. And when I retire many years from now I will retire happy and proud for doing something I love to do and that is cooking and becoming a chef in the future.