The Kitchen &The Garden Patch

INTERVIEW - Michelle Alvarez

Meet Michelle, one of my best friends in high school. We worked in a kitchen together at a resort for 4 years, listened to pretty much the same bands, and drove almost the same silver land-yacht (mine was a 1990 Crown Victoria). 

Alright Michelle, let’s start off with a bio. Tell us a little about your background in cooking.

Well, I got my Associates in Culinary Arts from Southern New Hampshire University in 2008 and this May I’m getting my Bachelors of Science in Hospitality and Business Management.

I’ve worked at Tucker’s Restaurant, Cambridge House Brew Pub, Milano’s Restaurant, Genesis Spiritual Life Center and The Quill at SNHU. I really knew I wanted to work in the restaurant business from working at High Meadow.

Also, besides cooking, I also wait tables and bartend.

That’s really impressive. What is the best thing that you’ve learned so far? 

Wow best? As far as cooking, I’d say my favorite thing is the sense of urgency that goes along with the whole business. You learn to work fast and efficiently and that helps outside of work as well. 

For techniques, there’s not really a best thing. It’s all about variety and finding what works for different foods.

I like that; it must build a lot of character. Learning to do something well, but also efficiently.

It does! Not everyone has the work ethic for it, but when you stick in the business you find that people are similar. It’s about passion, which sounds super corny, but if you don’t love it, it’s not worth it.

I love other restaurant people (especially my culinary school friends) cause we just get really excited about food when we’re together.

That sounds like a great environment to be in. In school, did they help you learn vegetarian/vegan options when you were learning recipes? How far did they go to teach you to cater to peoples diets and allergies?

In every lab and service class, there is a vegetarian and vegan option on the menu. They let us know ways to change dishes to suit for veg or vegan too.

We took a nutritional cooking class that did a lot with vegetarian and vegan too.

With diets and allergies, you learn more about that in the actual industry. When I worked at Genesis, I got lists of allergies and would sometimes have to make one main meal and four or five totally separate ones.

The food there was served in a family style buffet, so things had to be kept very separate.

You told me recently at a culinary tasting you got to try some vegan ice cream. Was that unusual to find at an event like that? Or do you think vegetarian options are starting to become more common?

It was at the American Culinary Federation North East Regional Conference in Hershey, PA. Sooo fun by the way! It was at a tasting demo. Vegan and vegetarian is seen as an upcoming trend. Healthy eating is a major trend too, so of course, restauranteurs are going to cater to what people want. It’s definitely not wierd, chefs are interested in vegan and vegetarian things. We like all things food.

Thats really good to hear, and I think the health trend is such a positive thing. I hope it stays that way.

So do I!

There needs to be a real change in the way we eat. I read about this woman the other day that is 600 lbs and wants to reach 1000. I couldnt believe it.

Eeesh, that’s ridiculous.

She’s going to eat to death.

They must teach you about portions as well; Do you think what they teach you in school meshes well with food labels? Or do you think the FDA is a little off in their portion sizes?

One of my chef’s favorite phrases is “feed not fatten.” Portion is definitely a concern, especially with multiple course meals.

Plus, it honestly has a lot to do with costing.

Food labeling is a concern, but restaurant food is usually more caloric because it’s based on tasting good.

Most restaurants do have portioned and calorie counted recipes for all of their menu items though.

Is there anything that you still want to learn to make? Is there anything you’ve had trouble making in the past?

There’s soooooo much I want to learn to make! Everything! I’m going to keep learning as long as I keep playing in the kitchen. I’ll try to make anything, if I have an interest or if someone else wants to try it.

I really don’t have a lot of trouble making things because I’ve spent a lot of time at work or in school learning how different things go together. Not to say that some recipes don’t go wrong, but I have a better chance of figuring out how to fix them.

Part of my job as a chef’s assistant at school is fixing the messes that the kids in class make haha.

If you could be a personal chef for anyone from past or present, who would it be? Why?

That’s something I’d like to do! I really only like cooking if someone else will enjoy it. I won’t go all out for myself. 

I always love cooking for my family, my daddy loves everything I make. He loves to eat though so he isn’t hard to please haha.

It would be cool to work for a family, or a group. I like getting random requests that are challenging.

Google actually has amazing kitchens! I’d love to work there!

What if it could be a celebrity (dead or alive)? What do you think youd be cooking most for them?

Oh you know, Elvis Presley or Gwen Stefani. Standard answer for me haha because I love them both.

Elvis ate mostly Southern comfort food, which is always awesome to make. Lots of butter and cream Paula Deen style stuff. And peanut butter and banana sandwiches!

And I bet Gwen eats healthy and she loves Japanese culture so I could make sushi! 

What is the one ingredient that makes everything right in the world? Why?

 Love of course! You have to cook with love! I always joke with the kids in my classes though and tell them to add magic.

Haha I was like 99% sure you’d say garlic!

Ohhh mannnn I love garlic!

Okay real ingredient that I love? Saffron. I wouldn’t add it to every dish by any means, but it’s so unique and delicious.

Plus it’s in my favorite family recipe: paella!

Oh yeah I know you like that! I still want to veganize that one.

I have a good one! Vegan mac and cheese!

You cook macaroni risotto style with saffron.

No cheese needed, the starches make it creamy.

I just made that the other week soooo good. I baked it with breadcrumbs and sliced tomatoes on top. I should do a risotto style too. I found a recipe for cauliflower rice yesterday, it sounds interesting and low carb.

Did you know ristotto is a technique not a food type? Most people confuse that. It’s the way you cook. Because you can make barley risotto or arborio risotto. You constantly stir and add liquid til the starches release and make the food creamy.

And I looooove mashed cauliflower! Just FYI haha.

Oh potato risotto too, but that one is kinda difficult. You sometimes end up with mashed potatoes haha.

I can imagine that’s kind of a fine line haha. If you could only eat one food the rest of your life, what would it be?

Oh no, worst question ever!

Haha why’s that?

 It’s soo hard. Can I have a buffet of salad fixings? I’d pick that, because there’s so much variety.

You can have whatever you like! Let’s do top 3 comfort foods. You can list them.

Top 3 comfort foods would be pastina, buffalo chicken calzone with blue cheese, and chorizos y huevos. Yummmmmmm!

Does anything interest you about veganism/ vegetarianism, even if it wasnt full time?

I tried it for 2 weeks last year, it was honestly too hard to keep up with work. If I can’t taste the food, I can’t be sure it’s good!

I would love to do it if I had more time to make good, solid meals and really get into the lifestyle. I’d probably end up eating bread and salad otherwise haha.

I never knew that about you! Any cooking advice for the newbies out there?

Try everything! Don’t say you won’t try a food. As long as you get basic techniques down, you can expand from there. 

Also! Culinary school is NOT a good idea if you’re doing it because you don’t know what else to do with your life. That sounds mean, but it’s a lot of work and time and you do have to love it. It’s a good idea with most things haha. I’ve just seen a lot of kids drop out and be really frustrated.

Thank you so much for all the solid advice. Where can we find you online? 

@miCHEFvarez   (twitter)

http://happy-pineapple.tumblr.com/  (cooking blog)