TEACHER LOVES TO DEMYSTIFY COOKING
By Carmen Rusca
The Contra Costa Times, Food Section
Wednesday, May 27, 1998

Linda Carucci
Cooking Teacher

PERSONAL: Married, Carucci and her husband, Allen Rehmke, live in Oakland's Montclair district with their two cats. She is the owner of Linda Carucci's Kitchen cooking school in Montclair.


Conducting a healthy cooking demo at Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center, Union City, CA, July 2002


CULINARY HISTORY: Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Carucci grew up with two sets of Italian grandparents, so Italian cooking comes second nature to her, she says. Her maternal grandparents ran a dairy where fresh mozzarella and ricotta were made daily -- a happy coincidence when she was asked to do a television demonstration on making mozzarella in 1994.

When she was in third grade she wanted to become a waitress -- she now thinks it was because there were few females in top positions as chefs then.

Carucci received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Stonehill College in Massachusetts and a master's degree in education from Colorado State University. She worked as director of a residence and associate dean of students at Occidental College in Los Angeles and during her stint there began offering Italian cooking classes. In Los Angeles, she won a recipe contest for her Hummus. In 1983 she decided to attend the California Culinary Academy.

Upon graduation she traveled to Europe to educate her palate and see a bit of the world. When she returned, Carucci became a private chef and has since managed a restaurant in Inverness, worked for the UC Medical Center and run a catering company called Carucci and Company.

She became dean of the California Culinary Academy in 1989 and worked there until 1993. Surviving a bout of breast cancer in 1991 focused her more on her true goals. "I wanted to be more than an administrator," she says.


Spinach is good for you!


She began doing free-lance work and got involved on the boards of organizations such as the American Institute of Wine & Food and the San Francisco Professional Food Society. She started cooking classes for adults and children out of her home. She also was the featured chef in three cooking programs on KQED-TV's Cooking at the Academy and does team-building cooking classes for corporations throughout the United States.

SIGNATURE DISH: "I'd like to share my recipe for hummus, which I won a prize for many years ago from the Los Angeles Times."

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY: "I love teaching. I believe it's what I was meant to do. There is nothing I enjoy more than when someone 'gets' what we're working on, whether it's how to hold a knife or the differences in the taste of herbs. I see my role as passing on skills and knowledge. I love taking the mystique out of cooking."

COOK'S PANTRY: "I definitely have to have olive oil, both virgin and extra-virgin. I need kosher salt, and unlike many cooks, I couldn't live without good quality garlic powder -- especially when grilling, it's the best way to add an infusion of garlic flavor without ending up with burned pieces of fresh garlic."


Extolling the virtues of Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt.


COOKING LIBRARY: "I love Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone -- it's a gift to the world, it's so basic and simple. I also love Janet Fletcher's Fresh From the Farmer's Market -- it has lots of integrity. I also use Savoring the Wine Country and Madeline Kamman's The New Making of a Cook."

WOMEN IN FOOD: "When I enrolled as a student at the Culinary Academy, women were only 25 percent of the student population, but now it's much higher and women can be found at all levels in kitchens. I'm a charter member of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, which is an organization that deals with basic issues that affect women chefs, such as child care and good shoes. It's wonderful -- and it's open to men."

FAVORITE DISHES: "Lately, I've been cooking a lot with country-style pork ribs, I guess because I grew up with pork. My mother always started her spaghetti sauce by rendering the fat from a piece of pork that she had tucked away in the freezer. I love Chinese Black Bean Spareribs, and for holidays I've been roasting crown roasts of pork that have been brined."

DISASTERS IN THE KITCHEN: "Sure I've had them. Once, during a cooking demo at Sur La Table, we were broiling a crab-crusted fish. I just happened to look at it way before the cooking time was up, only to discover that the top was completely charred black. You just have to smile and go on. Everyone has disasters. It's how you finesse them that matters."

This piece has been edited for accuracy and space considerations.

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