i need a suggestion,,,,,iam thinking of going to culinary school,,,,i have long term sobriety,,,but i have noticed they use a lot of wine in cooking,,,,that scares me,,,,what do you think,,,i really want to go to cooking school,,not sure what to do,,,maybe there are some chefs on here that can help me out,
Hey ram6, I almost guarantee you'd have a crazy thought about taking a swig (crazy- as in 'hit the gas and ram the idiot who cut you off' kinda crazy) holding the wine bottle, Depends on recipe, a soup calling for a generous swig might be cause for caution- but mostly small amounts, alcohol is cooked out and the flavors remain. If you went to culinary school, you'd run into specific advice somewhere. My experience would be with mouthwash- The first time I used mouthwash, about 6 months sober, my mouth got drunk. No kidding. Flushed feeling in my jaw and everything. Asked about it in a meeting, got speeches and advice one way and the other- finally, I made a decision and said the hell if i'm gonna BE like that. I use mouthwash fine every since. Ryan
Hey there Ram. Just wanted to say welcome to the MIP board. I hope you stick around and offer up some of your experience, strength, and hope!
As to being a chef........I would think that you would definitely have to use alcohol in cooking. I guess it's all about where you are in your recovery. If that has been something you really have wanted to do all your life, I would say follow your instincts! Only you can decide what's right and what's wrong with you. The big book never says anything about us having to stop following our dreams in order to stay sober!
Hi Ram. Good to meet you!! Hope to hear from you often!!
I made cheese fondu a few years ago, and I had 2 years sober. What was important was not how long I was sober, but how solid my recovery was. As you may already know, white wine is needed to break down the swiss cheese,a nd for flavor. The fondu turned out great, a sober friend and I shared the entire pot.. (BUUURRRPPP!!!) and neither one of us relapsed, felt 'guilty', or was negatively affected by it.
Likewise, as Rj shared, I use mouthwash every day and have never had an urge to swallow it or anything. I have taken liquid cough medicine on just a couple of occasions, when I was extremely ill and coughin my head off... and I did not get 'triggered' or relapse. (I felt like the walking dead, actually... )
But there was a time when I know in my heart that I was not in a good enough spot to be doing things like that, so I did not. I would not take any risks when it came to the possibility of setting off the 'physical craving'. In sobriety, we have to hace a real honest sense of whether we are truly on solid ground; whether we are 'done'. Of course, I don't know what it would be like to work in a kitchen and 'handle' the bottles and such on a regular/daily basis...??? These are all things you will have to consider.
Have you asked your sponsor??
Hope you will find the answer you need... and please come back and share with us!!
Many years ago I used to run restaurants. I was used to working in commercial kitchens with top chefs. In the kitchens were I have worked there was always plenty of alcohol used in cooking - different types of alcohol would be used in different dishes and so on, not just wine. Also, a lot of the chefs that I worked with used to be quite heavy drinkers.
But, only you can possibly know if your sobriety is strong enough to handle working in that environment. I know that for me, at this moment in my recovery, it is something that I wouldn't do. But, perhaps you can really talk it through with your sponsor.
Could you perhaps try a course which only lasts a short time to see if you would be happy in a kitchen? It might not be possible, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Anyway, Ram, it's good to see you here. I do hope that you'll drop by often and read and post as much as you want.
Take care,
Carol
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