Calendar
Sept. 18, Wednesday — Class 47 begins
Thursday, Oct. 17: BISTRO!
Thursday, Oct. 31: BISTRO!
Thursday, Nov. 14: BISTRO!
Tuesday, Dec. 3: Holiday Event
Tuesday, Dec. 17: Graduation
The Week in Review
Dec. 13
This week, CCSC Class 47 was engaged in the making of Cakes and Frostings. All were made to perfection and came out delicious. Baker Renee came and whipped up delish frostings with Class 47. 8 way cut chicken made the lesson plan and was very well handled by Class 47. Great tasting fresh chicken lunches were enjoyed by all in 2401.
This was also a busy week for Encore Catering. Our work force development mission was in full swing all week with many alumni and students employed by Encore for our busy holiday events.
Also this week, Serv-Safe sanitation classes took place. The Friendship Trays mission and Encore participation was handled quite well by our students.
Success is in the mix at CCSC. Graduation will be Tuesday the 17th at PNG. Christmas joy & excitement are on hand at CCSC
“Better watch out, better not cry, let’s get cookin’ and start to fry, lots of jobs are coming to town.”
– 47 –
Dec. 6
What a Miracle on Distribution Street! The CCSC end-of-year celebration was as exciting as it can be last Tuesday eve. Alumni vs 47 in a cook-off. Board members and guests stayed all evening waiting for the celebrity judges’ results. Alumni takes the prize by one point! Great food fun and fellowship was had by all. Chef Chelsa and crew served up delish delights!
This week, CCSC Class 47 was engaged in the making of quick breads. We made an Irish Soda Bread and Orange and Cranberry scones. All were made to perfection and came out delicious.
This was also a busy week for Encore Catering. We were a boxed lunch factory on Friday.
Also this week was the beginning of Serv- Safe sanitation classes. F-Trays Mission and Encore participation was handled quite well by our students.
Christmas is in the air at 2401, all is calm all is bright. Busy week in front of us all.
On Dasher, On Donner On Cupid, On Blitzen, let’s all get cookin’ in the kitchen!
– 47 –
Nov. 22
This was a busy week. Chef Peter was in for a two-day delicious workshop loved by all! We had to delay block testing until next week to keep up with the busy season for Encore catering.
A few of the students ventured out Thursday night to assist with caterings. All students participated with Encore preparation and FT support. Reports were great on their performance.
Since there wasn’t as much classroom instruction, a few of the students were concerned. We told them that their participation in catering jobs is one of the most valuable portions of their training here. Most culinary students don’t have this type of opportunity. Most of us didn’t, and looking back we wish that we had.
The RPS morning reflections at 8:30 a.m. led by Dr Keith have been very beneficial to students and staff. All are welcome to this 15 minutes of wellness day starter.
Looking forward to the upcoming week.
– 47 –
Nov. 15
This past week it was all about cooking methods.
We sautéed, grilled and braised.
The students were amazed at how brining can keep poultry and pork exceptionally tender, juicy and delicious and in fact we brined the turkeys that we had for BISTRO!
Brining is simply soaking your poultry or pork (NEVER beef!) in well-salted water, garlic, onion and herbs for at least an hour or overnight.
BISTRO! was delicious and the students stepped up again big time.
We had a few glitches. The dreaded crepes come to mind.
When we made the batter I thought it would be a great idea to put some vanilla in it. What could be more delicious than a vanilla flavored crepe?
Something in the vanilla was making the crepes so tender that when we tried to flip them, they would tear. After 3 attempts we left the vanilla out and presto, perfect crepes.
The students are beginning to grasp how to do large-scale food production. It might not sound that hard to make 155 wrap sandwiches, but if you don’t do it in a certain way it will take you twice as long and be total chaos.
– 47 –
Nov. 8
It was “Eggcelent” in the class this week. Egg cookery.
All the students seemed to have a lot of fun with this one. They learned the egg’s internal structure and that yolks cook at different temperatures than the whites.
Everyone thinks they know how to cook an egg, including the students, I mean how hard can it be? Boy were they mistaken.
Eggs are actually one of the more challenging food items to cook correctly as everyone soon found out. We scrambled, poached, hard boiled, fried sunny side up and over easy, made omelets, frittata’s (crustless quiche) and shirred eggs (eggs cracked into a ramekin with bacon or ham and flavorings and baked.)
The students were determined to flip the eggs without breaking the yolks. All who broke the yolk on the first flip demanded to get another crack at it. I didn’t have to ask, they just grabbed the pan and tried again. Everyone was successful with this task.
Chef demo was crepes with cinnamon/sugar apples, whipped cream and a salted caramel sauce. This was an eye-opening revelation for them. They learned that food doesn’t have to be complicated to be good. They enjoyed this so much that a unanimous decision was made to do a crepe for BISTRO! this coming week.
Next week we will begin to explore different cooking techniques, saute, braising, grilling roasted, etc…and will probably incorporate some of this into BISTRO!
Class 47 – ‘Take Stock 47’
Dec. 17, 2013:
Graduation overview
Awarding of certificates, part 1
Awarding of certificates, part 2
Postings of particular interest to Class 47
The short videos below were initially posted to Facebook.
Nov. 14. BISTRO!
Oct. 17: First BISTRO!
Oct. 14: Culinary Classic Golf Tournament
Oct. 9: ‘We’re making dinner for 70’
Sept. 25: Pounding chicken
Sept. 23: Knife skills
Sept. 20: The journey
Sept. 20, 2013