Chef Report

Cameron Cuisinier’s dreams of a catering career led him to culinary school. Now he’s unemployed and $43,000 in debt, and he’s not alone.

From TV chefs to reality shows where the winners get their own restaurants, it’s a hot time to be in the kitchen. Record numbers of would-be chefs are enrolling in culinary schools, some of which charge $20,000 a year or more. But the restaurant business has always been a tough way to make a living, and many graduates find themselves saddled with debt and working long hours at low-paying, entry-level jobs.

“When they’re trying to get you enrolled in these programs, they tell you you’re going to come out making top dollar,” said Cuisinier, a recent graduate of the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. “I’ve just been way disappointed.”

Industry observers say celebrity chefs like Rachael Ray and Emeril Lagasse — with his trademark exclamation, “Bam!” — helped launch the craze. The rising popularity of cable TV’s The Food Network and reality shows like “Top Chef” and “Hell’s Kitchen” are fueling it.

“It looks really fun on TV,” said Tim Ryan, president of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., one of the country’s premier training grounds for chefs. “You’ve got an audience adoring you. You say, ‘Bam!’ and throw some stuff on a plate and everyone goes nuts.

“That’s not what happens,” he said. “The work is long and hard. There’s a lot of pressure.”

more…

Cameron Cuisiner poses for a photo at home in Monterey, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2006. Cuisinier is $43,000 in debt. And it wasn’t a fancy car or credit cards that got the 24-year-old there, it was dreams of a catering career. Cuisiner spent the money on culinary school. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

HYDE PARK, N.Y., Nov. 6 /PRNewswire/ — Reinforcing its prominent role as an innovator in foodservice research, The Culinary Institute of America’s (CIA) President Dr. Tim Ryan, today announced the establishment of a unique program — The Menu R&D and Flavor Discovery Initiative — a program dedicated to the science of food research and development for the foodservice industry.The initiative will begin with four founding partners, The Coca-Cola Company, Campbell Soup Company, Tyson Foods, Inc., and Ventura Foods. Each has pledged $250,000 to directly support three key areas of applied research, student scholarships, and curriculum development. The partnership also will buttress the expansion of menu research & development as a critical foodservice industry discipline and professional career endeavor. more…

Yahoo! has a site up for nearly every interest–pets, astrology, finance and cars are all well-represented. Yet until Thursday, the Internet portal didn’t have a home for food lovers.Now it does. Yahoo! Food will feature recipes, videos and restaurant reviews, says Deanna Brown, general manager of lifestyles at Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ). The site will cull videos and recipes from several food content brands, such as Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (nyse: MSO - news - people ), as well as posts from 13 food bloggers and one new Web-based cooking show.

Brown has been working with food for most of the Internet’s history. She claims she put the first recipe online in 1995 while launching Conde Nast’s Epicurious.com. In 2002, she revamped AOL Food. Now she’s hand picking chocolate chip cookie recipes, among other things, for Yahoo!.

Yahoo! media and entertainment head Lloyd Braun hired Brown because “[Braun] identified ‘food’ as something he wanted to do. He saw the food marketplace as under-served,” says Brown. more…

Yahoo!Food 

http://food.yahoo.com/

A diet containing curry may help protect the aging brain, according a study of elderly Asians in which increased curry consumption was associated with better cognitive performance on standard tests.

Curcumin, found in the curry spice turmeric, possesses potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

It’s known that long-term users of anti-inflammatory drugs have a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, although these agents can have harmful effects in the stomach, liver and kidney, limiting their use in the elderly.

Antioxidants, such as vitamin E, have been shown to protect neurons in lab experiments but have had limited success in alleviating cognitive decline in patients with mild-to-moderate dementia.

Curry is used widely by people in India and “interestingly,” the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease among India’s elderly ranks is fourfold less than that seen in the United States. more…

In a dynamic documentary style, “Gourmet’s Diary Of A Foodie” pastes together a whirlwind tour of China from Beijing to Shanghai and rural villages in between. Food on television is dominated by eye candy, silly prattle, and 30-minute meals, and some say offers nothing for real cooks. So this new series, produced by WGBH-TV, may fill the void for a more demanding audience. “The show is meant to appeal to serious foodies,” says co-executive producer Michael Selditch. “We went out the door with that crowd in mind and tried to bring back stories that hadn’t been done before.”

As such, the viewer goes down the old alleyways of Beijing, where chef Li Qun demonstrates fruitwood-roasted Peking duck. In the village of Xi Tang, which is on the water and famous for its snacks, we get a close look at zongzi dumplings, lean and fatty meats with sticky rice, wrapped in aromatic reed leaves. In Shanghai, we are whisked into the kitchen of chef Jereme Leung , who specializes in what he calls new-Shanghai cuisine for the emerging middle class (a riff on the traditional drunken chicken served in a martini glass with a granité on top), and in Daxing, outside of Beijing, we go to the house of Dr. Du, the village doctor, where lunch is being prepared in side a rustic kitchen in a giant iron wok over a wood fire.

Gourmet’s editor-in-chief , Ruth Reichl , thinks of the show as a “magazine on the air. ” “ It’s so graphically rich in the same way that the magazine is,” she says by phone from New York. Behind the camera is Zero Point Zero Productions, the New York-based team responsible for “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations” and other popular shows. The filming style is fast and unpredictable. With plenty of close - ups, stylish cropping, and moody natural lighting, everything is slick. “We were trying to achieve a look that could match the elegant photography in Gourmet magazine,” says Selditch.

The show really moves. Each 30-minute episode (there are 20 this season) has a theme, with local food journalists serving as translators and reporting on what they know best. Lydia Tenaglia, co-executive producer and director of “Diary of a Foodie,” was already connected to an international network of food people from her work on Bourdain’s shows. “We ended up talking to a lot of the same people and going deeper into stories that we had begun to explore on other series,” she says. more…

” I grew up with food being an integral part of my home. I take what I know, and ideas from where I’ve been. I incorporate seasonal ingredients with fresh herbs and zesty spices to create unique dishes with a sense of style and bold flavors. “

-Chef Alexandra I. Lopez

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken (weight is dependent on how many servings are required)
1 large lemon, cut into halves
sprig of rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
butter or olive oil, whichever you prefer

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Rub butter or oil over the skin of the chicken until it is completely coated.

Take a knife and gently separate the skin from the breast meat; slide lemon halves under the skin with the peel side up. This way the juice from the lemon will coat the breast.
Season skin of chicken to your preference; place sprig of rosemary into the chicken.

Cover and place in oven for 30-45 minutes. Remove cover and continue to roast until juices run clear, basting every 15-20 minutes, depending on size of the bird.

If you’ve followed these steps correctly, your chicken should look like the one in the picture. Bon Appetit!

NEW YORK — “Sam Stern has been a passionate cook for as long as he can remember. This is his first cookbook. It’s brilliant.”

That succinct review on the inside jacket of “Cooking up a Storm” is accurate, if somewhat immodest, for it was penned by none other than Sam Stern.

That it comes off as mischievous rather than arrogant is a tribute to the talents of this spiky-haired 15-year-old from England, whose self-styled “teen survival cookbook” is captivating multiple generations of readers on both sides of the Atlantic.

With its bright print, ample photographs, easy-to-follow directions and versatile menus, the book (Candlewick Press, $16.95) is the perfect gift for a college student. The recipes range from homey (pancakes) to exotic (Thai green curry), with plenty of vegetarian options. A front cover featuring an author as handsome as your dream prom date is a definite plus.

But what sets “Cooking Up a Storm” apart from other beginners’ cookbooks is its tone: blunt, humorous, enthusiastic and unmistakably adolescent. more…

We’ve written about Anthony Bourdain’s recent experience in Beirut— the globe-trotting chef was there taping an episode of his show No Reservations when fighting broke out. (He was safely evacuated.) At the time, he wasn’t sure whether the episode would ever air. Now comes word that it will indeed be broadcast on the Travel Channel Monday, Aug. 21 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. more…

The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs presents Crossing Culinary Borders on Saturday, August 12 at 10 a.m. During this nine-hour culinary tour, which departs from the Chicago Cultural Center, visitors venture to three Chicago Culinary Schools?Lexington College, Washburne Culinary Institute, and Kendall College?for a day in the life of a culinary student. Guests learn from and work beside professional instructors in top-notch facilities during three cooking classes as these culinary schools open their kitchens to the aspiring chefs. In an attempt to hone their newly acquired skills, students have the opportunity to create dishes on their own, each with an international flair.
The first stop is at Lexington College for continental breakfast and an orientation with a culinary school instructor. Here, guests are introduced to equipment and learn the basics such as kitchen practices and knife skills. Next on the culinary journey is Washburne Culinary Institute, where the novice students work alongside culinary instructors to make lunch dishes utilizing the skills learned in the earlier session. The final stop of the day is at Kendall College, where the lessons of the day are put to the test in a state-of-the-art teaching kitchen. The budding chefs have a chance to show what they have learned as they are given recipes, ingredients and a time schedule in which to produce hors d’oeuvres for a celebration cocktail party, where certificates are rewarded for a successful day in culinary school. more…

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–July 26, 2006–The new August issue of Guideposts magazine features a cover story by Alton Brown, host of the Food Network’s Good Eats, telling readers about his personal journey to finding the many rewards of good food. Though he didn’t start out as a cook, Alton had a passion for food, a good idea and the yearning to know more that sparks any true quest. Taking a huge risk, he left his job to polish his cooking skills and make a demo tape of his show idea. The only problem: as an unknown no one even wanted to look at his demo tape. He had to go back to his old job, but Alton tells Guideposts he believes that things happen for a reason - especially the call “out of the blue” one day that got his show back on track and on TV. more…

Food Network star, Alton Brown, talks about the physical and spiritual nourishment of good food in August Guideposts magazine. (Photo: Business Wire)

When Bill Best began experimenting with radiant heat energy back in the 1950s, he had no idea he would one day change how you and I grill our steaks. The founder of Thermal Engineering Corp. (TEC) of Columbia, S.C., was thinking more of helping auto makers find a faster way to cure the paint on their cars. So in 1961, when he invented a neat technology for generating infrared heat, TEC largely ignored the home market. It was only when the company’s patent expired in 2000 that others jumped at the opportunity to apply Best’s invention to backyard barbecuing.

Infrared grilling is now the fastest growing form of barbecue technology, although it’s still confined to the luxury end of the market. One-third of the high-end grills sold today have at least one infrared burner, industry experts say, and they predict that in 10 years 60% of all barbecues will be exclusively infrared. Why the excitement? Because according to the hype, infrared lets you grill a steak in half the time of an ordinary barbecue. Afficionados say you can prepare an entire barbecue— from the moment you turn the switch to the moment you slide the finished meat onto a platter — in 15 minutes or less. more…

“What, are you blind?” TV chef Alton Brown deadpans into the camera. Whoosh! On cue, a Venetian blind drops down in front of him. Brown is whipping up a lemon meringue pie for Good Eats, his weekly romp in the kitchen for the Food Network, and the prop is supposed to help aspiring bakers visualize chemical reactions they can’t actually see.

“Let’s just say for a moment that this is a microscopic cross-section of our pie crust in the oven,” says Brown, reaching around to run his hand along the closed slats. “By the time the layers of fat start to melt, the protein structure formed by the flour and water needs to be set. That way, when the fat melts, it’ll look like this,” he says, twisting the rod to open the blind. Brown grabs hold of two slats in the middle and wiggles them up and down. “These are the nice flakes in our flaky crust. If the fats melt before the protein sets, we’ll have a real mess on our hands. Ten minutes in the refrigerator will keep that from happening.”

Protein structure? Microscopic cross-section? It sounds more like a half-baked high-school science lesson than a half-hour cooking show about pie. Who is this geek? And why doesn’t he tuck in his shirt? more…

Jennifer Love Hewitt is using her summer break to perfect her cooking skills. The star is taking a break from all things Hollywood to train to become a top chef. She says, “I’ve learned to cook risotto, steak and spaghetti.”

If you are tired of drinking the same old beverage when you dine out, you might want to try a Coca-Cola Hot Tamale or a Fresca Pomegranate.

Coca-Cola has been working with The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park to develop creative drink recipes that could be offered at restaurants such as Chili’s and T.G.I. Friday’s.

Chili’s, which recently opened a restaurant at 2016 South Road, said it had nothing to announce at this point.

CIA’s Industry Solutions Group has developed “Coca-Cola Specialty Beverage” mixtures such as the Coca-Cola Hot Tamale — a drink made with Coke, lime, black pepper, Worcestershire and hot sauce —and other variations using the foundation beverage.

Ron DeSantis, the director of Industrial Solutions Group, described the partnerships as “two world-class organizations looking toward each other to collaborate to find the best, the newest and the most innovative things for the dining public.”

Photo courtesy of Michael Nelson/CIA
Certified Master Chef Rudy Speckamp of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park develops a recipe using Coca-Cola.

It’s no surprise that red wine makes you sleepy, but Italian scientists have discovered the reason - high levels of the sleep hormone melatonin.

According to University of Milan lead researcher Iriti Marcello, the melatonin content in wine grapes could help regulate human sleep-wake patterns, known as the circadian rhythm, just like the melatonin produced by the pineal gland in mammals.

Melatonin, which is believed to have antioxidant properties, is naturally secreted by the brain’s light-sensitive pineal gland at night, and informs the body when it is time to sleep. more…

What if the next burger you ate was created in a warm, nutrient-enriched soup swirling within a bioreactor?

Edible, lab-grown ground chuck that smells and tastes just like the real thing might take a place next to Quorn at supermarkets in just a few years, thanks to some determined meat researchers. Scientists routinely grow small quantities of muscle cells in petri dishes for experiments, but now for the first time a concentrated effort is under way to mass-produce meat in this manner.

Henk Haagsman, a professor of meat sciences at Utrecht University, and his Dutch colleagues are working on growing artificial pork meat out of pig stem cells. They hope to grow a form of minced meat suitable for burgers, sausages and pizza toppings within the next few years. more…

A sample of muscle grown without an artificial scaffold.

It’s not easy cooking for 300 people.

But inside an aroma-filled kitchen in Jeffersonville Saturday morning, close to 20 Red Cross volunteers didn’t mind working up a sweat doing just that as part of Disaster Kitchen training hosted by the Clark County Red Cross.

“This is the first time that this class has been taught in the state of Indiana,” Phyllis Wilkins, executive director of the Red Cross’s Clark County chapter, said in a phone interview Friday.

The purpose of the two-day training, which took place Friday and Saturday, is to teach volunteers how to prepare mass quantities of food for people in need when disaster strikes. more…

Learning culinary techniques might not be everyones cup of tea, but for some area youth, it could some day be their way of life.

With The Food Network as one of her favorite television channels to watch, young Biljana Stephens of Windsor was a perfect candidate for a cooking class geared just for her age group.

Biljana, 11, is the daughter of Tammy Stephens of Windsor and David Stephens of Gays. more…

Young chef-in-training Zara Kasey drops frozen grape concentrate into the blender as Mackenzie Gossard and Jessica Taylor watch as their group makes a Purple Cow milk shake June 21 at the Coles County Fairgrounds 4-H extension building in Charleston.Photos by Ken Trevarthan/Staff Photographer

BENNINGTON — Mark Vaughan, editor and publisher of a Bennington-based restaurant trade magazine, Santé, hopes to create a $4 million culinary institute downtown.The proposed Santé Institute would be located between North and Depot streets, along the Walloomsac River. The land is owned by local developer Jack Appelman, with whom Vaughan has been discussing his plans. more…

Want to start a heated discussion? Just ask what’s better: charcoal or gas?While a recent survey by the consumer marketing research firm NPD found that the majority of American grillers prefer gas, there’s a kettle full of anecdotal evidence that suggests charcoal rules in and around Memphis. more…

Newswise — “Food is related to just about every single challenge people have living on this planet,” is the perspective of Alton Brown, television personality and author of the popular book, I’m Just Here For The Food, who spoke Sunday at the opening of the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting + FOOD EXPO®, the world’s largest annual scientific forum and exposition on food.

Brown brings the science of food chemistry to a broad audience as host of the Food Network program “Good Eats” and “Iron Chef America,” two food shows that Time magazine named as “worth their salt.” more…

Show host and author Alton Brown signs copies of his book in Orlando after his address at the IFT Annual Meeting Food Expo, the world’s largest annual scientific forum and exposition on food.

Recently, new media has reported a study showing the radiation from cell phones is so full of energy they can be used to cook eggs. In the experiment, researchers placed one egg in a porcelain cup (because it is easy to conduct heat), and put one cell phone on one side and another cell phone on the other. The researchers then called from one cell phone to another and kept the cell phones on after connecting. During the first 15 minutes, nothing changed. After 25 minutes, however, the egg shell started to become hot and at 40 minutes, the surface of the egg became hard and bristled. Researchers found the protein in the egg had become solid although the egg yolk was still in liquid form. After 65 minutes, the whole egg was well cooked. more…

The vegan artist filmed a clip for the Humane Society of the United States, addressing the state of factory farming in the U.S., which he calls “an abomination.”

Moby, a vegan and self-proclaimed animal-lover has filmed a clip for the Humane Society, addressing factory farming and animal welfare. Against shots of wide-eyed cows in pens, pigs stumbling in warehouses, and chickens writhing on dirty floors, Moby implores viewers to seek out ways to help reduce the suffering of animals raised for meat, eggs, and milk. “I’m a vegan because I love animals,” Moby said. “You have to make your own choices and I’m not going to tell you how to live, but could you look a cow in the eye and say that your appetite is more important than that cow’s life?” more…

Anna Ference was born in Boston, Massachusetts on October 4, 1982. At the age of 2, she moved to San Antonio, Texas where she stayed until she was 18. Anna attended Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania where she received a Bachelor of Arts. During college she realized her true passion was cooking. After graduating she decided to continue her education in culinary arts by attending California Culinary Academy, where she will receive an Associate of Occupational Studies Degree in Le Cordon Bleu-Culinary Arts. more…

Anna Ference is the winner of the regional S.Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Competition at the California Culinary Academy (CCA). Anna Ference is a top student at the California Culinary Academy who impressed the judges with her innovative creation of Seared Ahi Tuna.For an intense two hour preparation for the student contestants’ signature dish for presentation and judging, Anna Ference and eight students from CCA competed for advancement to the national competition. A panel of celebrity chefs and food media judged the contestants’ culinary and presentation skills, in addition to offering some guidance and tips on how to become a culinary star! The culinary judging panel included Arnold Eric Wong of EOS Restaurant & Wine Bar, Scott Giambastiani of Voignier, Greg Cole of Celadon and Coles Chop House, Mark Stark of Wili’s Wine Bar and Steven Oliver of Nob Hill Gazette. more…

Would you trust a computer hacker to cook your dinner? What if the menu included dishes baked with lasers or served up in laboratory test tubes? A high-tech brand of haute cuisine called “molecular gastronomy” is gaining more than a few fans from the pocket-protector set, who have taken to experimenting at home in their kitchens and coming up with some extraordinary recipes and unexpected flavor combinations.

Geek gourmet began with experiments by professional chefs at high-end restaurants like el Bulli in Spain and the Fat Duck in England, where steam baths, centrifuges and microscopes share counter space with more traditional cooking tools. more…

The seventh annual Washington D.C. International Wine & Food Festival, Saturday and Sunday at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert St. NW, will feature more than 280 wineries from 14 countries; demonstrations from such celebrity TV chefs as Michael Chiarello (”NapaStyle” and “Easy Entertaining”) and Ted Allen (”Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”); and seminars on the wines of Uruguay, Australia, Portugal and South Africa. more…

The world’s largest event on food ingredients, which will take place between June 24-28, will this year feature four major themes: food defense and bioterrorism; functional foods; globalization; and food allergens.

The trade show will be opened on Sunday morning with a keynote address by the Food Network’s ‘Good Eats’ guru, Alton Brown, known for his combination of science, history and culture in his approach to food. more…

Are you a wine enthusiast? Are you a beginner seeking to learn more about wines? In either case PDA Sommelier can help. PDA Sommelier is a program for your handheld that gives you access to everything you ever wanted to know about wine. Designed by iConcepts, Inc. in partnership with Charles Gill, a 23 year wine industry veteran, PDA Sommelier contains a searchable database of 53,000 Wines and Ratings, Vintage Ratings, Best Values, Best Producers, and even a section on Food and Wine Pairing. more…

It’s not every day I dine with someone who has noshed on iguana tamales in Oaxaca, swallowed the beating heart of a cobra in Vietnam, and feasted on raw, bloody seal innards and eyeballs with an Inuit family in the northern reaches of Canada.

But then, Anthony Bourdain is not your typical lunch date. more…

Step away from the barbecue. Let someone else make the fruit salad. This summer, embrace a staple of the Vietnamese table: the summer roll.

Light, refreshing and easily personalized, the summer roll is well worth mastering. It’s a near-perfect blend of noodles, meat or fish, vegetables and lettuce, all enclosed in a rice paper wrapper. It’s great finger food for a party, and two or three make a nice light snack. more…

If you could bottle summer, it would look like limoncello. And taste like it, too. Sweet. Sunny. Vibrant. No wonder chefs are using this Italian liqueur to brighten their menus and get diners’ attention. In Italy, limoncello is adored as a digestif, served in small glasses to top off a fine meal. In the U.S., including here in Houston, chefs also are discovering its potential as an ingredient in summery desserts. more…

This past school year at Montlake Elementary, fourth- and fifth-graders participated in the Ravioli Project, which was an extension of the Greenhouse and Garden Program that has been a part of the curriculum since 2001. In addition to learning about horticulture, students tasted the garden-to-table experience through collaboration with Cafe Lago (2305 24th Ave. E.), a nearby pasta restaurant known for its ethereal lasagna.

In herb ravioli, the students discovered culinary context.

The Greenhouse and Garden Program was the brainchild of Cheri Bloom, who had specialized in horticultural therapy, working with the elderly and other special-needs groups. About 12 years ago, she transformed her “typical Seattle back yard” into an organic farm, which she had certified as the smallest organic farm in Washington. The farm benefited her clients and the restaurants that bought the greens. more…

Cafe Lago chef Brad Jencks imparts the finer points of making ravioli to Montlake Elementary student Augusta Chapman as part of the Ravioli Project.

Curious to see if their rules were accurate, we asked four sushi chefs for their opinions: James Hamamori, chefowner of Wasa in Irvine and Newport Beach, Calif.; Takashi Abe, chef-owner of Abe in Newport Beach and Bluefin in Newport Coast; Lorin Watada, corporate sushi chef for 11 Roy’s; and D.K. Kodama, chef-owner of six restaurants in Hawaii, including three Sansei Seafood Restaurants & Sushi Bars, and coauthor of “D.K.’s Sushi Chronicles From Hawai’i” (Ten Speed Press, $35).

The “rules” and the sushi chefs’ comments:

1. It is correct to eat sushi either with fingers or chopsticks.

Hamamori: In Japan, we use our fingers. You can use chopsticks; you don’t have to use your hands. But fingers are more correct.

Abe: I eat sushi with my fingers. Sushi is delicate and soft — if you use chopsticks it is messy. more…

BERKELEY, Calif. - Eric Schlosser, investigative journalist and author of “Fast Food Nation'’ - the expose of the fast-food industry and how it manipulates customers to buy food that isn’t good for them - is speaking to his latest audience: preteens and teenagers.Schlosser’s new book, “Chew on This: Everything You Don’t Want to Know About Fast Food,'’ has just come out, and he and co-author Charles Wilson are giving a presentation to 600 kids at Martin Luther King Middle School in Berkeley. more…