Culinary Skills

Culinary skills are close to the top of the list of skills we need to live self-sufficiently.

Before starting to prepare for our journey, I would describe my culinary skills as basic. I could basically cook most things from a box, can, mix, and frozen foods sections of the grocery store.

In our research regarding provisioning for the boat, we came to realize that frozen foods would be out of the question and that I would need to learn how to cook. I needed to find a teacher. A teacher that could work around my busy schedule of being a full-time wife and mother of two small children.

Enter Jacques Pepin: Chef Pepin has been the most encouraging, empowering, flexible teacher I could ask for and not to mention free!

I became familiar with Chef Pepin while watching season 5 of "Top Chef" on Bravo and I became a fan. Chef Pepin has authored/co-authored over 20 books and has had several cooking shows on public broadcasting. There are also several websites courtesy of KQED public media of Northern California. These websites have episode videos and recipes from Chef Pepin's cooking shows and his books. My favorites are "Fast Food My Way" and "More Fast Food My Way". The videos cover how to make the recipes from start to finish with culinary techniques explained as an added bonus. After watching a couple of the videos, I felt confident enough to try the recipes and to tweak them to my family's preferences.

Here are the links to where you can find out more about Chef Pepin and where you can view his videos and recipes.

http://www.kqed.org/food/jacquespepin/
http://www.kqed.org/w/jpfastfood/home.html
http://www.kqed.org/w/completepepin/
http://www.kqed.org/w/morefastfoodmyway/
http://www.kqed.org/w/theapprentice/noflash.html
http://www.kqed.org/w/jacquespepin/