<< View All Events
Dan Marek - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)
Ask Rouxbe's Director of Plant-Based Culinary and Development Anything!
Join Chef Dan Marek in his virtual office as he welcomes all of your questions. This event was created for you and we encourage you to Ask Anything – from cooking techniques to course-specific questions, to how to turn your cooking passion into profit or simply hearing the perspective of a professional chef, Chef Dan is ready to answer them all.
About Dan Marek

Dan Marek is a chef educator who has been teaching vegan and vegetarian cooking for over 15 years. At Rouxbe, he is our Director of Plant-Based Culinary and Development where he helps develop content, classes and builds courses for many of our partners.
Dan is a board member of Slow Food Austin, the Institute of Child Nutrition, and Conscious Capitalism. He has earned his BA in Journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University and holds certificates in Nutrition from Cornell University.
Prior to his role with Rouxbe, Dan worked with Whole Kids Foundation training teachers and food service at schools across the country on nutrition and culinary best practices. He also worked as a Healthy Eating Educator at Whole Foods Market’s flagship store in Austin, TX, was a personal chef for some of Austin’s elite business people, taught classes in culinary techniques at Austin Community College, The Natural Epicurean, and Le Cordon Bleu.
Dan also regularly volunteers cooking or speaking about nutrition for the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Marathon Kids, Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, and the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Austin and Central Texas.

Tuesday, January 28th, 2025
Share this Event:
Listen on:
Related Video FAQs:
- I’ve always wanted to work in a restaurant kitchen, cooked/prepped for years as an amateur chef at home. What’s the best way to enter into this type of arrangement?
- I like to make biscotti which involves toasting almonds and anise seeds. Does it affect quality to batch roast a month’s worth of seeds and nuts?
- Do you occasionally make your own bread? Any bread making tips for whole grain breads?
- How do you wash medjool dates? They are so flacky they are difficult to scrub or wipe dry.
- Can you suggest a Puerto Rican Sofrito recipe?
- When I use ripe (not too ripe) avocados for chocolate mousse, sometimes there are brown spots/streaks on and inside of flesh of avocado. There is no odor and tastes fine. Cause for concern?
- I have been asked do a demonstration for a WFPB group in March. I’m not sure what a going rate might be. Any suggestions on what to offer?
- On a white button mushroom, should the brown areas/spots be removed?
- How long do you let legumes and rice cool before refrigeration? And do you have to heat to 165 degrees if you are just putting them in a salad?
- When submitting photos for the class, do you include a paper with your first name on it for every submission? I only see it requested for the first assignment and not for others.
- You mentioned making buffalo cauliflower wings, every where I've tried them they were always too soft. How do you get that more wing like style?
- I love Miso in hot water in the evening but it does have a "lot" of salt (healthwise,) is there a brand that's better for that?
- Any suggestions for cooking vegetable dishes, which types of veggies enter the sauté cycle at the proper time?
- When I make Mayonnaise at home, it always tastes too oily, I use sunflower oil. I tried many different recipes and tried switching different sunflower oils.
- Any suggestions for a good knife, cutting board, pan and any other useful kitchen equipment to have, including brand names, for a novice cook to stock up on?
- Please explain how to identify or know what are “bad spots” that need to be removed on mushrooms from your refrigerator that you are getting ready to prepare.
- In your day-to-day home cooking, what are the 5 spices you use the most, and why?
- Microplastics are a growing concern, and I'd love to hear your best practices to minimize exposure, especially regarding water and vegan convenience products, tofu, tempeh, vegan diary, etc.
- How do you feel about cooking with an Instant Pot regarding time/ease of food preparation and is there any nutrition degradation?
- I'm trying to stop using Olive Oil and Cheese for my Sauté's. Can you share any suggestions to help with that?
- I would like to make cream of broccoli soup and wonder what WFPB ingredient would be a good sub for milk/cream?
- I want to get into making my own dairy free coffee creamer. Do you have a recipe for that?
- When using silken tofu, do you carefully drain the liquid or use it?
- Can you please recommend brands of glass freezer storage containers that will prevent freezer burn?
- What is the best way to wash greens such as spinach, arugula, or lettuce? And when buying packaged greens can you trust they have been ‘triple washed’ or should they still be washed?
- Do we have to be concerned about rice and rice flour in baked goods, like bread, when it comes to bacteria development?
- Would you comment on the usefulness of electric sharpeners available to sharpen knives at home (DIY)?
- Do you use vegan butter? It tastes good but may not be so good for health. Any comments?
- What are three things you’ll be serving at your Game Day Party? Looking for “easy and delicious.”
- There are a lot of different kinds of salts (kosher, sea, pink himalayan, table, etc.). Is there are rule of thumb for when to use what kind?
About this Event