The thing with any cooking instruction is to keep in mind that the way that chef does it is just ONE way of doing it, and not THE way.
I've seen the Stella videos before and they're pretty good. I disagree with a few things he does but again, all chefs come to their own conclusions based on experience, and that should hold true for home cooks as well.
The number one thing that will make you a proficient cook, is mileage. Just like anything else. Obviously, it's key to have effective teaching material available, and I think Stella is a good resource.
My first recommendation to anyone wanting to get serious about cooking is to simply buy a curriculum book that cooking schools use. You can get a copy of Professional Cooking by Wayne Gisslin, the most up to date version, for $65 http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1...al+cooking
Also available on Kindle, and also older editions available for cheap. This book is the backbone of the Cordon Bleu curriculum, and it's written so that a monkey could understand it. (Many culinary school students are high school dropouts or otherwise dumb as a fucking brick) It walks you through the fundamentals of cooking in the most linear and logical way possible.
Once you understand the fundamentals of cooking, you can move onto more advanced and progressive cooking like what the guys at http://www.chefsteps.com are doing:
They're showing people how to cook at a Michelin-star level at home, which is pretty next-level shit. Ironically, sometimes that style of cooking is easier than "old school" cooking and involves more shortcuts. Yeah you need the right equipment, but a few hundred bucks will get you there.
I've seen the Stella videos before and they're pretty good. I disagree with a few things he does but again, all chefs come to their own conclusions based on experience, and that should hold true for home cooks as well.
The number one thing that will make you a proficient cook, is mileage. Just like anything else. Obviously, it's key to have effective teaching material available, and I think Stella is a good resource.
My first recommendation to anyone wanting to get serious about cooking is to simply buy a curriculum book that cooking schools use. You can get a copy of Professional Cooking by Wayne Gisslin, the most up to date version, for $65 http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1...al+cooking
Also available on Kindle, and also older editions available for cheap. This book is the backbone of the Cordon Bleu curriculum, and it's written so that a monkey could understand it. (Many culinary school students are high school dropouts or otherwise dumb as a fucking brick) It walks you through the fundamentals of cooking in the most linear and logical way possible.
Once you understand the fundamentals of cooking, you can move onto more advanced and progressive cooking like what the guys at http://www.chefsteps.com are doing:
They're showing people how to cook at a Michelin-star level at home, which is pretty next-level shit. Ironically, sometimes that style of cooking is easier than "old school" cooking and involves more shortcuts. Yeah you need the right equipment, but a few hundred bucks will get you there.