Online Exclusive: Paring down tool kits

by Chef Educator Today staff

Proper instruction in the classroom relies not only on the instructor's ability to convey course material, but also on the quality of the knives and other tools used in the kitchen lab. Many cutlery companies offer services and resources to help you and your school pick the proper tools for your students to succeed. Here are a few worth honing in on.

Mercer Cutlery

Students with access to the best academic tools in their field have a proven advantage when it comes time to further their education or pursue a career. For the last 30 years, Mercer Cutlery's mission has been to help students achieve that professional edge. Let the sales team assist you in getting what you need quickly and within your budget. With more than 2,000 products--from chef's knifes to chocolate dipping forks--Mercer Cutlery will work with you to customize a set or package to suit your students' needs. Visit www.mercercutlery.com, call (800) 221-5202, or e-mail education@mercercutlery.com.

R.H. Forschner by Victorinox

To properly address cutlery needs, R.H. Forschner by Victorinox creates a custom experience for each client school. "We personally examine each culinary school’s needs on a case-by-case basis and make recommendations from there," said Tom Lawler, vice president of sales for the company. "We’re confident that once students use our cutlery, they will become fans of our brand throughout their careers." To better illuminate the company’s long history in the culinary arts field, R.H.Forschner by Victorinox plans to roll out significant marketing materials on supply programs to culinary schools in 2009. Visit www.rhforschner.com, or call (800) 243-4074.

Canada Cutlery Inc. (CCI)

CCI believes that you should feel 100-percent confident that the culinary kit you chose for your students is of unrivaled quality and value. The Superior Culinary Master brand consists of unparalleled, European-made knives and tools, crafted from the best European cutlery steel available. These tools are designed with ergonomic handles and extra-wide blades for safer and superior cutting performance. Visit www.canadacutlery.com or www.chef-tools-direct.com (for online purchasing), or call (800) 698-8277.

New cooking classes from Food Network and The Art Institute of Atlanta

The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of Atlanta and Food Network recently began to test a new series of cooking classes in Atlanta. The recreational classes and cuisine workshops, which are open to the greater Atlanta community, have thus far featured themes like "How To Boil Water," "Oktoberfest" and "Halloween."

The hands-on classes, geared toward cooks of all experience levels, offer tips and techniques from Food Network's behind-the-scenes team of experts at the Food Network Kitchens. Developed in conjunction with The Art Institute, these classes allow participants to learn what the pros know and to enjoy cooking. Other classes in the series will cover tailgating, healthy dinners, quick breads, an easy Italian dinner party, a Latin fiesta, traditional Southern cooking and more.

"It's an honor for The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of Atlanta to host the first hands-on Food Network Cooking Classes through our community education department. These new classes offer the community an exciting way to experience Food Network while enjoying the use of our professional kitchens and expert instruction from chef instructors and alumni of our culinary arts degree programs," commented Janet S. Day, president of The Art Institute of Atlanta.

The classes will be held from 10 am to 2 pm on Saturdays at The Art Institute of Atlanta for $119 per class per person. For more information or to request a reservation, go to www.foodnetworkclasses.com.

L'Academie de Cuisine hosts fund-raiser for US team in 2009 Coupe du Monde

Since 1989, the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie (the World Pastry Cup) has honored the world's greatest pastry chefs. The bi-annual competition brings together 20 national teams from around the world—each composed of three top pastry chefs who join forces to compete against other countries in the fields of sugar, chocolate, ice sculpting and desserts.

In September, L'Academie de Cuisine, which offers programs designed for students who want a formal education in the culinary and pastry arts, hosted a fund-raiser gala at its professional culinary school for the 2009 Team USA, who will compete in the 20th-anniversary year of the Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie in Lyon, France. Guests of the fund-raiser enjoyed chocolate and sugar demonstrations by the team; hors d'oeuvres and dinner with complementary wines; silent and live auctions of chocolate, knives, restaurant dinners, team memorabilia and a chance to watch Team USA in action! The 2009 Team USA members—Remy Funfrock, David Ramirez and Roy Pell, along with team captain and former gold medal winner En-Ming Hsu—regaled attendees with stories of past competitions and volunteered their services to produce pastries to accompany many of the live auction dinners.

In all, the evening's auctions raised over $25,000, far exceeding everyone's expectations. The guests and L'Academie de Cuisine were very excited to support the team in such a generous way.

New produce-based competition provides scholarship opportunities

Culinary students don your whites and sharpen your knives because a new contest from the Southeast Produce Council is too delicious to pass up: R.E.C.I.P.E.—or Recognizing Educational Creativity in Produce Excellence—is a new culinary-student scholarship competition designed to educate future food professionals about the bounty of fresh produce items.

The competition challenges students attending culinary schools in the Southeast to create a three-course vegetarian menu that includes a starter, main course and dessert. Students can choose from a variety of fresh fruit and vegetable items as part of their pantry.

A committee of industry professionals will select the top six recipes, and the winning students will be invited to compete in a three-course meal cooking challenge in Tampa, Fla., at the Southern Exposure Convention on March 7, 2009. Finalists will also be judged on knife skills and other fundamentals.

Scholarships of $10,000, $7,500 and $5,000 will be awarded to the first-, second- and third-place winners, respectively.

Recipes can be submitted through Dec. 1, 2008. For more details, go to www.seproducecouncil.com.

DePaul to launch hospitality leadership school

DePaul University recently received a $7.5 million gift—the school's second largest private donation ever—from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to establish the DePaul School of Hospitality Leadership, which will help address the hospitality industry's growing need for highly-educated, diverse management.

Based at the university's nationally recognized College of Commerce in downtown Chicago, the school will offer a bachelor's degree in hospitality leadership beginning in the fall of 2009 to prepare students for management roles at hotels, restaurants, convention and tourism ventures, spas and related leisure industries.

In addition to targeting traditional undergraduates, the innovative program will seek to enroll qualified Chicago hospitality workers who want to move into management but lack the educational credentials to do so. The goal is to help these workers—many of whom are minorities and/or potential first generation college students—embark on management career paths through greater access to education. Ongoing fundraising will support DePaul's plans to add graduate degrees, continuing education programs and a research center at the school.

"Chicago is the third largest convention destination in the United States and has been chosen as a candidate city for the 2016 Summer Olympics. It deserves a world class hospitality school to support this major industry," said the Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, C.M., DePaul president. "Thanks to this generous donation from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, DePaul can build a program that will educate leaders from diverse backgrounds for this industry."

New gluten-free cookbook from CIA chef-instructor

As nutritional therapies—like a gluten-free diet—gain more and more attention in battles against everything from wheat allergies to celiac disease to autism, many parents are seeking gluten-free recipes that round out and complete their children's diets. Luckily, those parents eager not to miss out on important food milestones, like a first birthday cake or an afternoon of cookie baking, now have a new resource: a complete cookbook of gluten-free baked goods, compliments of renowned chef and Culinary Institute of America professor of baking and pastry arts Richard J. Coppedge, Jr., C.M.B.

With a foreword by George Chookazian, founder of Foods By George, chef Coppedge's Gluten-Free Baking with The Culinary Institute of America: 150 Flavorful Recipes from the World's Premier Culinary College (Adams Media; October) grants the gluten-sensitive the opportunity to indulge in gooey cinnamon buns, crusty French bread, savory pizza and schmear-worthy bagels. With nutritional analysis accompanying each recipe, chef Coppedge shows readers how to use alternatives to gluten in baking such favorites as: maple pecan tart, pineapple upside down cake, cream cheese rugalach, molten chocolate cake, ham and cheese scones, potato leek quiche, and black bottom cake with cherry compote.

Whether first-time bakers or professional chefs, readers will find the baking techniques in this book to be comprehensive and easy to master. Using a combination of chef Coppedge's flour blends, readers will soon be creating pies, tarts, cookies, brownies, savories and pastries sure to satisfy any palate—gluten-sensitive or not.

The French Pastry School names three new chef-instructors

The French Pastry School recently added three chef-instructors to its faculty: master baker Jonathan Dendauw, former World Pastry Cup champion En-Ming Hsu and 2008 World Pastry Cup champion Dimitri Fayard.

Dendauw’s devotion to Artisan bread-making has taken him all across France and the United States. Originally from a small town in Belgium, Dendauw began his baking apprenticeship in Nimes, France through a centuries-old organization called Les Compagnons du Devoir. Most recently, the Compagnons took Dendauw to La Farm Bakery in Cary, N.C., where he worked under master baker Lionel Vatinet.

Hsu’s accomplishments over the past 15 years include numerous awards and accolades. In 2001, as team captain of the U.S. World Pastry Cup team, she lead the United States to victory in Lyon, France. That year, her team won by the largest margin ever achieved. An apprentice of The French Pastry School’s co-founder Sébastien Canonne, MOF, Hsu will begin teaching at the school in January 2009, focusing on plated desserts instruction.

Originally from Auch, France, Fayard first came to the United States at age 19 to work for François Payard's Payard Pâtisserie and Bistro in New York City. In 2000, he became the assistant pastry chef at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. In 2003, he and his wife Keli Fayard opened Vanille Pâtisserie in Chicago. Chef Fayard specializes in flavor profiles and will teach the French cakes and tarts portion of the school's 24-week "L'Art de la Pâtisserie" program beginning in January 2009.