Peggy Aoki
Location
Mountain View, CA
School
University Of Missouri – Columbia, University Of Southern California, California Culinary Academy
Expertise
Classical Western Cuisine, Food History, Nutrition
- Peggy loves butter so much that she spent time learning butter and cheese making at Jonathan White's Peekskill Dairy.
- She staged at the 150-year-old Le Pré aux Clercs restaurant in Dijon, France.
- Peggy can not resist buying books about food — cookbooks, food history, and any writing about food and the people who grow and prepare it.
Experience
Peggy has been a professional cook and cooking teacher for more than 25 years. She began cooking when she still needed a stepstool to reach the stove and after an attempt at a career in sales, gave in to her passion to work in restaurant kitchens. While heading the kitchen at Mountain View CA's Chez TJ, she was invited to teach a class at a local cooking school which launched her passion to share her love and understanding of food. After many years of teaching public cooking classes, catering, opening local restaurants, and working long hours, she accepted a position with a large food service company supporting other chefs. She continues to teach hands-on classes in person and through Zoom, and enjoys learning from other chefs around the world through on-line classes as well.
Education
Peggy has bachelor's degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a master of arts in teaching from the University of Southern California, as well as professional cooking and baking certificates from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, CA.
Tasting Table’s editorial coverage hails from a veteran group of writers and editors with expertise in their respective fields in the food and drink, hospitality, and agriculture industries. Outside experts are also consulted to help deliver factual, up-to-date information and original recipes.
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Stories By Peggy Aoki
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Nespresso hasn't always been a giant in the home-brewing space. Here's what the brand's machines looked like when they first appeared on the market.
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Trader Joe's sells a wide variety of custom drinks. Some are self-explanatory, which others like the To the Power Of Seven red juice are more mysterious.
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Depending on what you're cooking, you may want to experiment with different types of rice, and it's important to understand what you're working with.
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If you want to skip the mayo in your deviled eggs recipe, you might have overlooked a perfect non-dairy option for making a flavorful filling.
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A martini pairs well with steak. But if you don't feel like a cocktail, you could always create a sauce inspired by the components of a dirty martini.
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Properly storing your sourdough starter is key for its longevity if you hope to continue using it long term, and not all storage materials are equal.
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Keeping your Nespresso coffee pod machine clean is an essential part of getting a good brew, but there's one dirty spot you might be neglecting.
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You might assume that thick, yellow lemon curd and lemon pie filling can be used interchangeably. But that's not the case. Here are the differences, explained.
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Although there are a bunch of zero-sugar versions of popular sodas on the market, one soft drink in particular can hold its own against the original.
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There are lots of creative ways to use your grill and improve almost every aspect of a meal, including tossing on slices of yummy sourdough bread.
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Heirloom tomatoes are colorful, flavorful fruits. Cooking them down into a sauce doesn't do them any favors, so here are some better ways to use them instead.
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Vanilla sugar is incredibly easy to make and has nearly limitless potential uses, from baking cookies with it to sprinkling some over oatmeal.
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Everybody raves about the way you can cook steak in a sous vide machine, but it can do so much more, like prepare immensely flavorful syrups.
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No matter how you make your coffee, a crisp, bright flavor depends on having clean equipment, so here's how to clean your Nespresso with a spray bottle.
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Salt-baking is a time honored technique that results in tasty dishes but requires a LOT of salt. What kind of salt is best to use for salt-baked dishes?
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A sourdough starter can be a bubbly, stinky mess before transforming into a tasty loaf. Here’s what the different scents signify and what’s normal.
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A sure way to add flavor both on the grill and when you pan sear a steak is to baste the meat as it cooks, and here's how to do that with leftover marinade.
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MSG is still a mysterious ingredient to many of us. But it's worth storing in your cupboard, particularly when it comes to seasoning steaks for maximum flavor.
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What does it mean to hydrate sourdough? We'll talk you through the science of hydrating, how to calculate it, and what it means for your dough.
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There's more to just brushing some egg yolk on your pastries to get a golden finish. Find out the best way to use an egg wash so you can have tastier food.
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We all love Costco samples, but some of the bite-sized treats are more appealing than others, and shoppers in LA were recently treated to an interesting one.
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A company is recalling an array of their canned coffee products after it was revealed their bottling process makes their cans vulnerable to botulinum toxin.
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Cheese and scrambled eggs are the perfect duo, but adding it in can be tricky. Luckily, an expert shed some light on the best varieties and techniques to use.
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When sourdough starter is left to ferment at room temperature, a liquid ranging from clear to a dark gray color will often form. We'll tell you what to do next.
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It's a nice nod to hospitality to get that icy cold cup from your Starbucks barista, but there's some etiquette to observe to keep the system working.
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We talked to a bread expert who gave us an unusual tip for making a quick loaf that he calls second-best sourdough that's still packed with tangy flavor.
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You'll have seen the instruction for a drizzle of olive oil in many recipes. We drill down into what that instruction really means when you're cooking at home.