Here are the interviews I have gotten over the last couple years.

First is Betty Ewing my previous Culinary instructor at Los Altos High School and is now teaching at Gilroy High.

The next 3 are some of my friends who spent a day with me making ravioli. From 8 am to 7 pm we worked making 3 different types of ravioli. I interviewed them about their experiences and how they liked working on it.

Then lastly are some quotes from different chefs about thier life in the culinary industry. Those quotes are taken from last years interviews used to my documentary unit.

Transcription

How did you start in the culinary industry?

I did not start in the culinary industry I actually never thought about it back then and it wasn’t even a word I thought about. I opened my first restaurant in 1978, the peach cottage in bolder creek. I wanted to own my own business and it just ended up being a restaurant and I loved it. I loved the people, the people really enjoyed the restaurant, we got a 3.5 star rating…um and I didn’t really think about going into culinary at school until probably later on in life after I had 2 restaurants. The peach cottage was my first one that id opened that’s how I got started in the business.

How did you choose what to put on the menus?

Pretty much I did things that I enjoyed cooking at the time, but I also learned from my customers and I would ask them what they liked and I would start to develop my menu based on that. If somebody came in with a great recipe or great idea then I would start to implement that idea. We were breakfast lunch and dinner 7 days a week so it was really just an on going recipe building kind of venture for me. I wovuld start out with a general menu but then all of a sudden I would have other menu ideas coming from my customers. And it made it really fun for me because then we would name some of the dishes on the menu after some of the people that gave me their recipes. So that was a good way to start learning form the business and also I met lots of great chefs along the way who honed my skills and taught me some stuff that they know. And that’s how I developed my own, I would say menu curriculum.

What type of cooking do you enjoy the most?

I like all of it. I lean myself more towards savory instead of sweet. I’m not a baker person, basically because I don’t care for sweets in general…um…except for the candy bar that’s sitting in front of me but it is part of my teaching that I have that part of my curriculum that we do of course cookies and pies and cakes and things like that but its not my forte. My forté is working with savory, which are the meats, the BBQ, stews and soups and roasts. Different types of casserole that are just really rustic, Macaroni and cheeses, and pastas. And then I also venture out into the Asian infusion, which I really enjoy like sushi, and Chinese and Japanese and all different kinds of Asian cooking. And I've just recently dabbled into Indian foods…I will try anything, I love to try new foods, I like to learn from people who actually do that food, so blending with my Hispanic community, or Indian community or Asian community has really taught me a lot.

What spices do you use a lot in your cooking?

Well certainly um, I lean to all fresh products, I try to stay away from canned products, I use fresh herbs and spices. I go to certain markets where they sell them up in SF or in PA there are a few markets that I go to where I know the herbs are really fresh. Even the dried goods are really fresh. This can make a days difference in the taste of what I'm cooking. Starting from fresh marapois, which is a celery, onion and carrot, and garlic of course, basils, just different herbs chopped up and put in my product and it just makes a world of difference. Fresh stalks which I use, chicken beef, seafood stalks, and I have them readily available in my refrigerator which are in little cubes which I use all the time. I try not to use, again as I said packaged products, I never use anything out of packages, everything is made fresh and um people wouldn’t even know me if I did that kind of cooking and that’s the kind of teaching I teach as well, I don’t teach out of packages, we teach out of fresh products.

How do you create a dish?

Um research, research. I look it up, I look at the recipe, I see how many people I’m serving, I see what the weathers going to be like, I see what kind of products are available, I try to match up the seasons, I try to find things that go well with the holidays that’s closest or what people like to eat, and then I marry them with wine or marry them with the right starch the right vegetable or the right protein. It really depends on what and where I'm going to go with the food. But I do research I do look up recipes. Like right now I'm planning a party for Friday and I'm doing all appetizers. This is a new group and they don’t know who I am, so I could really do anything from potato chips to dips o all the way to a pumpkin stuffed with dip and lots of different pita breads and get really creative. Read my books, and get some ideas and try to impress people I guess is what I'm trying to do.

With a dish like ravioli how would you make it so that it if possible for people who are lactose intolerant can eat it?

Lactose intolerant people are not new, the y have been around for centuries, its just the market place has stepped up and started to come up with really extremely creative dairy products that can lend themselves to be for people who are lactose intolerant or people who don’t want meat, or they’re vegans, looking to serve the public who are all the way from babies to elderly people in regards to dairy products so you have soy milk, rice milk, you have all of these different things on the market and cooking with them is just as easy as with milk, you can use them depending on what you are baking or cooking, you just have to look at your recipe and you can go online as well and find out other alternatives for using that product um but for raviolis you would just use a different type of cheese if that’s the one you will be using would be lactose intolerant cheese. I’ve only made raviolis once in my life, it really is one of those things that you have to have someone who has that kind of talent and the tools to make raviolis, because they are so variable between vegetables and meat, cheese, and all the pastas are made with different things as well. It’s a Pandora’s box in regards to how you can create your own ravioli.

What kind of ingredients would you put in ravioli?

I go all the way from butternut squash and cinnamon to veal to beef chicken shrimp lobster crab, all raviolis they can be cooked and boiled or they could be fried or they could be um…there’s lots and lots of ways of doing raviolis and really they are considered a dumpling in a lot of countries such as dim sum dumplings and everyone has different names for them but its just a dough wrapped product, like puroski's are another little dough wrap, Nyoki is another one. Just depends on what you will be putting on the inside of them, so there can even be dessert ones which I've seen as yogurt and honey inside of a ravioli and they are really good. But that’s just somebody who does ravioli all day long. They have the right dough, the right temperature, everything.

How long would it take to cook ravioli if you were to boil it?

It depends on the ingredients. If it’s a meat product, all protein you will go longer, if it’s a dessert one you’ll go a little lighter. It depends on how you want your dough, some people like it a little bit more Al Dante than others and others want it well done, and it depends on if your going to use that tortellini or ravioli in a salad, are you going to cool it back down, are you expecting it to have another life afterwards? And you have to handle the pasta so you don’t want it to fall apart so you don’t want to over cook it. So I’m looking between 7, depending if it’s small or large to 15 minutes, depending of course whats inside of it. If its fish or beef it’s a little longer, if its vegetarian then you can go lighter.

What are some good spices to use in an Italian dish?

Always, garlic, basil oregano, all of those are extremely the best, I've even done fresh chopped bell peppers of course and the mushrooms but the herbs are all the same, garlic oregano basil of course salt and pepper but that’s to taste.

Sabrina's interview

What was your experience like making Ravioli for the first time?

It's harder than I htought because I've always thought that making Ravioli is going to be easy but it turns out that it wasn't. It's not to say that I dont liek the experience. Making the Ravioli made me realize how hard the chefs and cooks in the kitchen have to work. It also made me appreciate their hard work.

What was your favorite part of the process?

I have more than one favorite part of the process which are the making of the ravioli, all the processes of making, and letting the other people taste the finishing piece. I like it when the others compliments how good the Ravioli is, it made me forget about the long and tiring hours i've spent in the kitchen.

If you were going to make a Ravioli, what filling would you make?

If I were to make a filling for Ravioli, I would experiment around with cheese, it's because I liek the cheese filling the most.

What was your favorite style when cooking the Ravioli?

I personally like to deep fry the ravioli, I feel that with a cheese filling, the crunchy outside compliments the soft and gooey inside.

Would you make it again?

Of course, next time thought, I would rather like it if we would make more cheese type fillings.

What did you learn?

I learned that being a chef/cook is harder than it seems.

This was an interview I conducted over email because we could not find a time to meet.

What was your experience like making Ravioli for the first time?

My experience first time making Raioli wasn't what I thought it would be. I never made anythign from scratch before and this was the first time for me making something so complex. So it was quite fun though it took a long time, it was still fun.

What was your favorite part of the process?

My favorite part was eating them. But if that doesn't count then probably rolling the dough 'cause it was fun seeing how the little ball [of dough] turning all long and thin.

What different types of ravioli did you make?

We made mushroom, cheese and meat. The cheese were the best!

How did you make the Ravioli?

We cooked the meat first, and then we rolled up the dough. We then put the meat in the dough, after rolling the dough out and then
we cut the dough (after the meat is in it) into squares and then made sure there aren't any air bubbles. After that then we cooked them and ate them.

Would you do it again?

Of course I would! I will not miss this kind of activity ever! haha and the results are yummy as well. Haha.

What did you learn?

For me...hmm..I learned that cooking is harder than it looks and it took longer than I thought it would. I learned how to make a dough out of scratch and it was fun seeing it go from a small ball to a really long and thin piece of dough.

Tiffanys interview

What was your experience like making Ravioli for the first time?

Well I got there a little later than everyone else, but I helped to make the dough and that was pretty cool. But overall, I really enjoyed making Ravioli because it was an experience that I got to share with my friends.

What was your favorite part of the process?

My favorite part, besides eating it, was making the dough casings becasue I liked the texture of the dough. [It was] smooth and cool and translucent. Rolling out the dough and watchign a thick lump transofrm into an elegant work or culinary art.

Would you make it again?

I totally waould! But I would only do it again it I was doing it with other people because it takes a very long time and it's always more fun to do things together than alone.

What would you do differently?

Well, I would be more careful when actually putting the Ravioli together. Sometimes I would start to seal one, only to realize it had an airpocket...So I would then have to tear holes in it. But other than that I liked the experience with the Ravioli the way it was, and I wouldn't change any of it.

What did you learn?

I learned that...um...well, I learned why moms like to bake food for their kids and stuff. It's a good feeling, making food for other people...edible food that is... and I learned that professional chefs are seriously hard-core. I have much much respect for everyone and anyone that cooks even the instant noodle student. haha.