My first cooking teacher was my grandmother. Getting her to let me into the kitchen was another story.
She was traditional, raised in Mexico, and firm in her belief: “Men don’t cook at home, only at a restaurant. Women cook for the household.” She chased me out of her kitchen more times than I can count.
But as arthritis made working the masa harder, she began letting me help. Sometimes that lesson ended with, “Get out of here, I’ll fix it.” Little by little, though, I learned.
Every holiday meant making tamales with her. During my school years, she would offer to make fresh tortillas, beans and cheese, pork chili, or enchiladas. My friends always seemed to want to come over. Looking back, I understand why. Her kitchen was a place where people wanted to be.
Along the way, she taught me more than recipes. I learned to taste while cooking, build seasoning gradually, reduce a sauce, and pay attention to how food felt, smelled, and changed with heat.
Some of that knowledge had a history I never experienced firsthand. My grandfather, who passed away before I was born, was from Spain, classically trained, and the head chef at the Hotel Utah. My grandmother met him while working in salad preparation. She learned from him, and years later, some of those skills reached me through her kitchen.
By 2015–2016, people were paying me to cook for small parties and gatherings. Later, I volunteered at the Big Green Egg Culinary Center near Spaghetti Junction. I started washing pans, then helped carry food, and eventually cooked alongside visiting chefs, helping them prepare their menus on the Big Green Egg.
When chefs asked where I had trained, my answer was simple: “My grandmother.”
In 2019, I began teaching professional cooking classes. Today, through Chef D.Mart, I share that same love of scratch-made food through private dinners, cooking lessons, and catering.
Fresh tortillas, carefully built sauces, and food cooked over fire still feel like home to me. And I still want what my grandmother’s cooking created all those years ago: a table people are excited to gather around.