Culinary Dispatch #10

Starting the final stretch.

I’m back. Back in Paris. Back in school. Back writing. And honestly? It feels really good. Vacation was lovely (and definitely needed), but I can’t deny how energizing it feels to be back in the kitchen. I cooked on my own while I was home - most notably a very extra Christmas dinner - but there’s something uniquely invigorating about the camaraderie of sharing a kitchen with other struggling students and one very stoic chef.

What I’m realizing now, though, is that I missed writing almost as much as precision knife cuts and a perfectly reduced jus. So apologies for the brief break - but I hope you’ll enjoy the refreshed perspective (and energy) I’m returning with.

Superior has a noticeably lighter schedule. No more 10-hour days, five or six days a week. Hardly any 7:30 a.m. classes. It’s more like a demo here, a practical there, and a lot of time spent wandering the freezing streets of Paris. Because of this, I’ll be restructuring the rhythm of Pete’s Table once again. Culinary Dispatches like this one will still come weekly, but they’ll now begin with a longer reflection on what I learned that week in school, followed (yes, behind a paywall) by the recipes we cooked. Every other week, I’ll be publishing a free piece focused on a broader culinary topic - restaurant reviews, creative insights, or whatever small, seemingly mundane thing I’ve decided is profound that week (cutlery, probably).

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the first week back - and what Superior seems to be promising.

If Basic was about foundations, and Intermediate was about making food delicious and appealing, then Superior is about becoming a Michelin-star chef. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration - but there is a heightened seriousness to everything we’re doing. The recipes aren’t necessarily harder, but the expectation for precision is unmistakable. The kitchen is quieter, too, which has been … a challenge for my chatty friends and me. Don’t hate us for trying to enjoy ourselves.

The most exciting prospect of Superior, at least for me, is the chance to finally create our own dishes. We’re given a list of required ingredients and techniques and asked to build something entirely on our own - a daunting but thrilling task. This is why I came to culinary school. Menu development and concept creation have always been my favorite parts of hosting pop-ups, and I genuinely believe that a cohesive, intentional menu is one of a restaurant’s greatest strengths. I was thinking about this a lot while eating at “nice” restaurants back home in NYC - expect a piece on menu cohesion very soon.

I’m excited to take you along as I work through this process. Since I have essentially no kitchen in my tiny Parisian apartment, I’ll be relying heavily on imagination, taste memory, and design sense to get me through. It feels a bit like being pushed out of the nest - terrifying, but necessary if I’m going to figure out what comes next (which, admittedly, is still very much a question mark).

We’re not quite there yet. For now, we’re still cooking cod, making sauces with an almost offensive amount of veal stock, and cutting garnishes to absurd precision. We’re easing back in - slowly emerging from vacation haze and returning to the host intensity of timed practicals. Part of me misses the nonstop pace of Basic and Intermediate, but another part is grateful for the chance to slow down and really understand why I’m doing all of this.

Thank you for being here while I figure that out.

And with that, we arrive at the first two dishes of Superior: Grilled Cod Steak and Veal Sweetbread. Bon appétit!