A cooking coach guides people through buying the right meal ingredients, following a recipe and properly cooking and serving food. Outlining the ingredients of a recipe, explaining which utensils to use and identifying the temperatures to set for cooking various meats are a few examples of instructions that might be given by a cooking coach. Many cooking coaches work in cooking schools, restaurants and food stores. Some teach from a distance through hosting television shows, creating videos or maintaining websites. Traveling to people's homes to demonstrate cooking techniques also is common for some cooking coaches.
The main objective of a cooking coach is to teach people how to cook. Cooking coaches typically gain knowledge and skills through a formal education in a culinary school and/or extensive cooking experience. A coach might work with beginning students in a cooking school. It also is common to guide large numbers of cooking assistants in a restaurant, sharing tips on how to choose fresh ingredients and how to coordinate cooking tasks. Some food stores also hire cooking coaches to interact with customers and answer questions such as which flour to use for gluten-free cake or how long to soak beans.
Some cooking coaches teach by giving presentations on television shows and videos or by maintaining their own websites. The typical tasks of a cooking coach include selecting a dish to cook, providing a list of ingredients and guiding viewers or readers through detailed steps. Instructions also might be provided on where to find rare ingredients for a cultural dish or how to determine whether a particular fruit is ripe. Which cooking utensils to use and how to serve the food are other areas of instruction. When learning from a videotape or a website, students typically benefit from the ability to replay or reread the coach's instructions.
People who want to improve their cooking skills might hire a cooking coach who travels to private homes. This type of coach typically has a conversation with the client ahead of time to agree on a particular dish. Depending on the particular circumstances, the client and coach might meet at the grocery store to select the right ingredients for the meal. Instruction is then delivered in the home as the coach demonstrates how to slice foods, provides ideal cooking temperatures, cooks items in a particular order and explains how to avoid burning or under-cooking food. Coaches who work privately with clients often charge on an hourly or per-project basis.