Monday =15march10 !!!

Sunday 14march10

C-CAP supporters are everywhere!

C-CAP relies on the kindness, not of strangers, but of many friends and supporters particularly connected with the hospitality industry across the country.

That’s why it’s been so exciting to see jewelry stylist Seanna Kromann at several recent C-CAP events (such as the finals and the recent Mystery Chef dinner at EVIT).

Seanna, an accomplished fashion stylist who currently specializes in fabulous, eye-catching and very fashionable pieces for everyday and for special occasions, is donating proceeds to C-CAP’s Arizona scholarship fund.

If you’ve missed her displays, you can find her online at www.stelladot.com/kromann, or – for a special demonstration for you and a few friends, you might drop her a note at skromann96@hotmail.com.  

Saturday...13march10

2010 C-CAP Scholarships, Arizona

(photos coming soon!)

It’s a rigorous, demanding competition, so much so that every senior who makes it to the C-CAP finals receives some scholarship funding.   This year, 30 students received assistance to further their culinary education.

$1,000 in C-CAP scholarship funds

Samantha Kratzer, Moon Valley High School

Michael Jones, Thunderbird High School

Kristof Rowe, Mountain View High School, Tucson

$2,000 in C-CAP scholarship funds

Matthew Harris, Paradise Valley High School

Courtney Sowers, Valley Vista High School

Jessica McDannel, Liberty High School

Jesus Cruz, MetroTech

Kelly Stephenson, Washington High School

$3,000 in C-CAP scholarship funds

Mikel Guitierriez, Casa Grande High School

Alexander Mayo, Kingman High School

Barbara Culleary Scholarship, $2,000

Samuel Clonts, Ironwood Ridge

Central Arizona College scholarship, $1,800, plus $2,000 C-CAP scholarship

Andrea Parker, Chandler High School – EVIT

American Culinary Foundation, $3,000

Kimberly Contreras, Dobson High School – EVIT

Barbara Fenzl scholarship, $2,500 (includes mentoring)

Adriana Cabrera, MetroTech North

James Beard scholarships, $2,750

Luke Cornelius, Flagstaff High School

Megan Layton, Wickenburg High School

Mystery Chef scholarship, $5,000

Gladys Rangel, Peoria

Beau MacMillan scholarship, $1,000 (include mentoring)

Kordiante Hyler, Mountain View High School, Mesa

Mark Tarbell scholarship, $2,500 (include mentoring)

Rebecca Hermance, Sinagua High School

Scottsdale Culinary Institute, $10,000

Cecilia LeBaron, Cactus High School

Arizona Culinary Institute, $14,000

Shelby Lake, Valley Vista

Justin Richardson, Payson

Classic Cooking Academy, $15,000

Ruben Brito, Flagstaff

Art Instittue,Tucson, $50,000

Tanner Fleming, Flowing Wells

Art Institute, Phoenix, $50,000

Naomi Merritt, Highland High School -EVIT

Joshua Duffy, Hamilton High School – EVIT

Chelsea Edwards, Desert Ridge High School - EVIT

 Culinary Institute of America, $46,750, plus $800 tuition for writing and algebra classes

Lourdes Barrera, Maricopa High School

New England Culinary Institute, $50,000

Andrew Allen, Liberty High School

Johnson and Wales, $80,000

Kelsey Hancock, Wickenburg

Hooray! I get to go to summer school!

It’s a little like the joke about getting to Carnegie Hall.  The key to garnering major points in a culinary competition is simple: practice, practice, practice. 

So even though juniors in culinary classes don’t qualify for scholarships, there’s more to garnering high scores than the honor of preparing lunch during the C-CAP finals. 

This year, four juniors gained the opportunity for culinary school previews through rigorous summer programs.

Shelby Parker, from Liberty/Sunrise Mountain High School in Phoenix, and Billy Lemke, from Casa Grande High School, will attend summer school at The International Culinary School at the Art Institute of Phoenix.

Ana Timmis, of Canyon del Oro High School near Tucson, will attend a summer program at Johnson & Wales, and Brianna Zerth, who attends Raymond Kellis High School in Glendale, will spend summer school at the Culinary Institute of America.

Besides full scholarships to summer school, these fortunate four received knife kits from Swiss Army Knives, whisks designed by Richard Grausman, and a signed copy of his notable cookbook, At Home with the French Classics.

Saturday finals set stage for awards

The lobby and dining room at the Arizona Culinary Institute (ACI) overflow with students clutching C-CAP white coats, teachers, parents, siblings and friends. 

It’s not even close to chaos, but there's a palpable anxiety in the air.  Still, once the students are inside the kitchen area and listening to C-CAP president and founder Richard Grausman deliver final advice, everyone seems to take a deep breath.

He tells them to “push hard at the beginning, and make sure you take enough time with the plates.”

Energy levels begin to rise as Glenn Humphrey, ACI’s placement director and C-CAP’s leaad judge, provides directions and instructions  (“You only need to measure milk.”) for Arizona’s final 2010 C-CAP competition.

He adds one final admonition, “Have fun!” and students take their places in one of ACI’s two kitchens being used this morning and scurry to assemble their stations.

There’s still tension in the air, but these aspiring young professionals appear both focused and confident.

The nine judges, and Richard Grausman, too, prowl and prowl among the students as they work. 

 

Chef Grausman is an inveterate instructor, stopping often to demonstrate a better technique.  Chef Tracy Fierros tastes, questions and tastes again.  All of the judges write and write and write.

Chef Joe LaVilla takes a minute to explain what he’s looking for,  “First, technique.  Cleanliness.  The comfort level in working, and how they’re thinking things through.

“Under pressure, it’s easy to forget the things you know.  If you know the basics well, then you’re safe.  It comes down to dedication.”

Judges begin tasting the minute the first plates appear.  Before noon, all of the plates are out, tasting is almost complete and the judges begin to assess presentations.

The students clean up their stations and begin to wait.  It’s a long afternoon, and interviews will take nearly all of it.  Monday’s scholarship presentations seem a long time away,

How to make, fill and fold a crepe

• Timing, timing, timing.  If you make your pastry cream first, drop a sheet of plastic wrap right on top and keep it in an ice bath at your station.
• Make sure your eggs aren’t curdling; keep stirring!
• Keep your pastry cream smooth and as light (thin) as possible.
• Keep your crepes as thin as possible.
• Make sure your crepes are the right color.
• Practice folding your crepes.
• Play with the presentation before you get to competition, to give yourself a plan and options in plating.
• Be careful about your chocolate sauce, and how you pipe it onto the crepes and plate.
• Chocolate piping doesn’t need to be too glitzy!
• Finally – don’t forget to taste!  The pastry cream should taste sweet enough, with a whisper of vanilla. 

Chef Francine Marz says, “If you want this, fight for it.  The night before, review every step and make out lists.  Visualize everything you will do and what your plates will look like,”

More than that, she adds, “Develop a sense of urgency in your work.  And visualize how it will feel to win.  You want an emotion to hang on to as you work.”

Coming soon...

Watch for more tips, especially about cooking crepes and chocolate sauce, in this space soon!

Tips, hints, and help in competition

She’s a competitor. Chef Francine Marz was a member of the competition team during her days in culinary school, and now she coaches the team at the Art Institute in Phoenix.

           

Following Saturday’s practice session, she had some general and also some very specific suggestions that went well beyond “Practice, practice, practice.”

General help in competition

• Know the rules and make sure you’re observing them to the letter.
• Know your recipes inside and out.
• Deve lop a timeline that includes techniques for each step of each recipe.  You can tape  a timeline to the top of your tool kit or keep it in a pocket for reference.
• Keep a clean working area.
•      Don’t leave anything stacked on the cutting board while you continue to cut other ingredients.
•      Have a waste bucket and a scrap can (so usable ingredients can be salvaged).
•      Clean up as you go and remember to maintain sanitation.
•      Be careful of cross-contamination.
• Have enough gloves along with you.
• Ditto on pots.  Have an extra one or two on hand in case something burns or you need to  redo  a step quickly.
• Don’t use glass containers for your mise en place – if they shatter, it’s a sanitation mess.
• Don’t wait until the night before competition to sharpen your knives – you need to know how sharp they are so you can avoid accidental cuts.
• During competition, stay busy every minute – or, at least, look as if you’re busy.
• Know how to think on your feet, so that nothing throws you off course.
• Taste, taste, taste! Know how each recipe is supposed to taste and get it as close as possible.
• Get a good oven thermometer and make sure you use it.
• Know your cooking temperatures as well as times!
• Stir everything as it should be stirred.
• Use enough ingredients to create a presentation plate, a tasting plate, and to resolve any mistakes or problems that may develop.
• Leave the food alone while it cooks!
• Don’t’ leave a plate to sit with half a presentation on it – plate everything at one time.
• Remember when plating: hot food, hot plate; cold food, cold plate.

Supreme poulet chasseur avec pommes chateau 

(Hunter’s chicken with turned, sauteed potatoes)

• Make sure your chicken breast is about the right size for a serving.  If it’s too large, cut it.
• Stock needs to be perfectly clear, with a good taste.
• To help sweeten the stock, add more onion.
• Be careful with the glace.  Even a small burned bit in your saucepan will give it a bitter, burned taste.   (Butter will help take care of lingering bitterness.)
• Don’t leave tomatoes or potatoes sitting in an ice bath.
• Remember to season the potatoes.
• Let the potatoes get just a little color in the saute pan.
• Be careful how you slice the chicken for plating; don’t fan it out too much (it will cool too quickly).
• Have some sauce under the chicken and  some sauce or garnish on top.
• Create a presentation with a delicate look to it; if you use a parsley or herb garnish, mince finely and don’t let it clump.   Also, it belongs on the food, not the plate.

Saturday practice at the Art Institute

Early on a gray, chilly Saturday, about a dozen high school students crowd into the café just outside the Art Institute of Phoenix kitchens.

They’re a little wired, but sleepy-eyed, chatting with teachers and parents before the last larger formal practice session for C-CAP’s 2010 competition begins.

Chef Francine Marz, coach of the Art Institute’s culinary competition team, says, “know the rules, know the recipes – and then know the recipes and the techniques well enough to talk and cook at the same time.”

She reminds the students that this practice is a time for them to focus on perfecting  techniques,  “You can develop speed later.”

There’s a brief demonstration on turning, the classic French technique for producing perfectly pared, rounded pieces of potato, carrot, mushrooms.  Chef Marz suggests practicing with an egg, to become accustomed to the way in which a knife needs to move.

She also tells the students how to develop a timeline, and why they’ll want to have one as a tip sheet in a competition. 

With two reasonably complicated recipes to complete, practice begins with a thorough, hands-on review of turning and knife skills.

It’s a long morning.  Everyone is clearly tired by the time the last crepes are presented. 

During the practice, it’s become clear that some students waited until this morning to read their recipes through.  Chef Marz has spent the morning observing, critiquing and tasting.  .

She’s more than ready to give these budding professionals her perspective on their cooking techniques and their presentations.

Her reviews begin with a distinct admonition.  “Read. The. Rules.  Read. The. Recipes.  Practice your knife skills until your hands hurt.  And then practice cooking the recipe until you’re tired of cooking it.”

Coming next:  Competition tips.