Dessert expert shares insight in new book

Delmar, part of Cengage Learning, has published The Dessert Architect, a guide to building versatile and creative desserts for professional pastry programs and chefs.

The book, by chef, teacher and foodservice consultant Robert Wemischner, features an overview of essential dessert-making tools and equipment, contemporary plating techniques, ingredient sources, 50 multi-component recipes that can be mixed and matched, and beverage and dessert pairing suggestions.

For more information or to purchase the book, visit Delmar's Web site.

ICE boot camp gets students into culinary shape

The Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) introduced the ICE Boot Camp series, an intensive summer program offering 11 courses that cover basic techniques of cooking, baking and wine education.

ICE Boot Camp provides students with a sample of the professional culinary program at ICE through intensive classes ranging from two to five days in length. The program runs from July to mid-September. For more information, visit ICE's Web site.

Culinary scholarships more important than ever

(Photo by Christina House for The Los Angeles Times)

Over the years, culinary scholarships have helped launch countless numbers of aspiring chefs into the foodservice industry. Today, though, with households nationwide shouldering the burden of the ongoing recession, such scholarships are more important than ever. In fact, for many students-chefs and their families, a scholarship is not merely a catalyst to pursuing a professional culinary eduction; it's a requirement. Given these circumstances, then, it's equally important to celebrate those who--despite the odds and the pressure--do earn scholarships.

A recent Los Angeles Times article, published on June 11, did just that, profiling a select group of the 34 California high school seniors who participated in a recent culinary competition and walked away with scholarship earnings totaling more than $590,000. Held at at the International Culinary School at the Art Institute in Santa Monica, Calif., the competition was sponsored by Careers Through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP), a nonprofit organization that works with students in several U.S. cities.

To read the full article, click here.

Kendall College debuts outdoor oven

A new piece of equipment is getting a rise out of faculty and students at Kendall College, but it’s not located in one of the school's state-of-the-art kitchens; it’s in the courtyard. Kendall recently unveiled an outdoor wood-fired brick oven, which aims to revive a centuries-old custom of community cooking and baking while expanding students' learning experience.

“Historically and throughout the world, many town and village squares boasted an oven that everyone used to bake their home-prepared bread dough,” master baker and Kendall culinary arts instructor Melina Kelson-Podolsky said in a recent press release. “The oven served as a gathering site for the community.”

Kendall’s wood-fired bread oven is expected to draw welcome interest from the surrounding community on Chicago’s Goose Island, but that’s not the oven’s primary purpose. “It’s used across the curriculum--everything from drying herbs to roasting meats to baking pastry and breads,” Kelson-Podolsky added. Guests of Kendall’s highly rated Dining Room also benefit; the outdoor oven is often employed to cook pizza specials on the lunch menu.

Construction of the oven, which began last summer thanks to funding from Chicago-based Bays English Muffin Corp., was an exacting process that encompassed several months and capitalized on the talents of local artisans. The “guts” of the oven were completed by a team of five students, Kelson-Podolsky and another baker with oven-building experience.

Christopher Koetke, CEC, CCE, Kendall College’s dean of culinary arts, said in the release that foods baked and cooked in a wood-fired oven take on a pleasing organoleptic quality that is often difficult to achieve in a conventional oven. “Breads and meats from an outdoor wood-fired oven promote the interaction between the mouth and nose in a way that recalls rustic cooking of yesteryear,” he went on to say. “The sensory experience is enticingly nostalgic and leaves us hungry for more.” Koetke added that periodic tasting events for the local community and greater Chicago area will expose more people to the tantalizing flavors and aromas of foods cooked in the new oven.

OCCI to host two summer culinary competitions

The Oregon Coast Culinary Institute (OCCI) will be hosting two culinary competitions on back-to-back days this summer.

The Bay Area Chef’s Association of Southern Oregon will present Cold Salon on July 31. The event is sanctioned by the American Culinary Federation (ACF). Contestants will present cold platter, pastry desserts, buffet showpieces and other dishes for judging. The OCCI-hosted event offers setup at 7 a.m. and judging at 10 a.m. Applications and an entry fee ($50 for ACF members, $100 for non-ACF members) are required for participants. The deadline to submit the registration form (PDF available here) is July 10.

The next day, Aug. 1, OCCI will host the ACF-sanctioned Albacore Tuna Cooking Competition. Competitors will receive one whole 12- to 15-pound albacore tuna. They need to provide the rest of the ingredients to complete ten portions of their signature dish--three portions for the judging panel, one for photography and six for the public to consume at the event. Competitors must provide their own equipment and china. They will have two hours to complete their dishes--one hour, 50 minutes for cooking and a 10 minute window for plating and serving. Competitors must provide recipes for their signature dish at the time of the event. These may be used in promotional material by the Oregon Albacore Commission. An entry fee ($50 for ACF members, $100 for non-ACF members) and a registration form (PDF available here) are required. Awards will include ACF medals, trophies and $1,000 in cash prizes.

For more information about either event, contact chef Tom Roberts at (541) 888-1545.

International Gold & Silver Plate Society awards internship stipend

The International Gold & Silver Plate Society awarded East Carolina University Department of Hospitality Management senior Timothy Stewart Smith a $1,000 stipend to help finance the cost of his internship this summer at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C.

Criteria for the internship stipend include consistently high academic achievement, financial need and a strong commitment to a career in hospitality management. The Gold & Silver Plate Awards program, sponsored by the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association, helps develop industry programs and projects that emphasize the need for improved education and training in the next generation of foodservice industry leaders.

CSU launches hospitality initiative

The California State University (CSU) system has partnered with hospitality industry leaders to launch a Hospitality Industry Initiative, which aims to create excitement about career opportunities in the hospitality industry and prepare the industry's next generation of managers.

California's hospitality industry accounts for more than 5 percent of the state's Gross Domestic Product and provides jobs for approximately 10 percent of the workforce, according to data from CSU.

On May 29, the CSU and industry executives held the inaugural meeting of the Hospitality Industry Advisory Board to discuss industry trends and workforce expectations. Fourteen of the 23 CSU campuses are taking part in the initiative. Participating board members include:

• Bob Alter, executive chairman and CEO of Sunstone Hotel Investors;
• Bruce Baltin, senior vice president of PKF Consulting;
• Caroline Beteta, CEO of the California Travel and Tourism Commission;
• Paul J. Brown, president of Global Brands and Services for Hilton Hotels Corp.;
• Jim Burba, president of Burba Hotel Network;
• Jot Condie, CEO of the California Restaurant Association;
• Tom Davin, CEO of Panda Restaurant Group;
• Daniel Haag, president of Sysco Los Angeles;
• Jeff King, co-founder and chairman of King's Seafood Co.;
• Mark S. Liberman, president of LA Inc.;
• Lynn S. Mohrfeld, CEO and president of the California Hotel & Lodging Association;
• Robert Martin, tribal chairman of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians;
• J. Michael Ortiz, president of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; and
  
• Julia Stewart, chair and CEO of DineEquity Inc.