Former CIC Student Micah Garrison Featured in Charleston Magazine's Chef's Table

Quick Bite: Vintage Vittles

Written By Kinsey Gidick Photographs by Kristen Williams

Chef Micah Garrison shares bygone flavors made from heirloom produce

"What with its stableyards, slave cabins, and Versaille-inspired landscape, Middleton Place has long served as a venue for experiencing plantation life. But, did you know that thanks to a green-thumbed chef and his heirloom garden, visitors today can truly taste the past? “I spent days researching the vegetables that would have grown here when it was a plantation,” says Micah Garrison, chef of Middleton Place Restaurant. Following stints at both 82 Queen and Cypress, Garrison took over the Middleton kitchen as executive chef, and subsequently gardener, in 2009. “We grow okra, cucumbers, beans, 15 different kinds of heirloom tomatoes, and peppers,” he says. It’s a lot of work, he admits, but the pay-off is on the plate. Even if you don’t have a garden full of heirloom veggies, Garrison says making an historically reminiscent meal from your own late summer crops, or farmers market substitutes, is easier than you think."

For the recipe and the rest of the story, please see: http://www.charlestonmag.com/charleston_magazine/feature/vintage_vittles

Chef Charlotte Jenkins, chef/owner of Gullah Cuisine Restaurant, is Guest Chef for American Regional Class

Chef Jenkins offered a menu from her cookbook, Gullah Cuisine by Land and by Sea: she-crab soup, chicken stew, fish stew, red rice, Gullah rice, succotach, fried okra, green beans, and bread pudding with hard sauce. American Regional instructor Chef Kevin Mitchell had worked with Chef Jenkins when she was writing the cookbook. Cooking together in one of CIC's teaching kitchens on Main Campus, they tested all of the recipes.

New Locations for Weekly Bake Sales

PALMER CAMPUS: Thursdays 7:00-7:30 p.m. Under the CIC entrance if weather permits. In Bakeshop 166 if not.
9/1, 9/8, 9/22, 9/29, 10/13, 10/20, 11/3, 11/10, 11/17
MAIN CAMPUS: Fridays 1:00-1:30p.m. In Building 920, In front of the Mikasa Dining Room.9/2, 9/9, 9/23, 9/30, 10/14, 10/21, 11/4, 11/11, 11/18
Emails will go out on Bake Sale day announcing what will be sold.

Chef Donald Barickman Joins CIC Faculty

It gives me great pleasure to welcome Chef Donald Barickman as our newest full time chef instructor. Chef Barickman has over 20 years experience in the industry and is a veritable institution as a Charlstonian chef. Chef Barickman graduated from the CIA and went on to become the Executive Chef/co-owner of Magnolias, Blossom , and Cypress. His cookbooks have become Southern roadmaps to great food and cooking. We are very fortunate to have such a talented chef as part of our team. Michael Carmel CEC, CCE, M.Ad.Ed., Department Head Culinary Arts.

One of the South’s most notable culinary figures, Chef Donald Barickman is a 1985 graduate of The Culinary Institute of America. His Charleston career began when the groundbreaking firm of M.&W. Associates hired him as sous chef The Wine Cellar, a legendary fine dining establishment. In 1987, M.&W. opened Carolina’s restaurant with Barickman as Executive Chef. His innovative development of old Southern concepts for the modern palate quickly established his reputation as a leader in contemporary Southern cuisine. Barickman subsequently went to the state capital to open Columbia’s for M.&W. , where his creative use of Southern ingredients brought him futher recognition.

    
In 1989, Barickman returned to Charleston to become a stockholder in and vice-president of Hospitality Management Group, Inc., which would subsequently open three of Charleston’s most prominent restaurants. Under Barickman’s culinary leadership, Magnolias opened in 1990 with Barickman’s menu of “uptown American cuisine with Down South flavor.” Barickman’s unique culinary style of recreating Southern food has been reflected in the Magnolias team for over two decades, with many of the original dishes remaining menu favorites today. Having achieved national acclaim for Magnolias, Barickman went on to lead the group’s culinary expansion, first with Blossom restaurant in 1993, then Cypress Lowcountry Grill in 2001, both of which also received numerous industry awards and accolades.
   
Chef Barickman is the author of two cookbooks: Magnolias Uptown Down/South Southern Cuisine and Magnolias Authentic Southern Cuisine. In the forward of Magnolias, Celebrity Chef Tyler Florence names Barickman as the creator of Lowcountry cuisine, at the forefront of this culinary revolution, and he was recognized in the Tyler Florence Food Network Chefography as Florence’s mentor. 
    
Barickman’s unique modern interpretations of classic Southern dishes have starred in the cookbooks of many others, including the Great Chefs of the South cookbook, The Charleston Chef’s Table, and Nathalie Dupree’s Shrimp and Grits. He has been frequently headlined in national media, including Esquire, Gourmet, Smithsonian Magazine, Southern Living, and the Food Network. A highly respected ambassador for Lowcountry cuisine, Barickman has often been a featured chef at the renowned James Beard House in New York and was a guest chef and instructor at numerous culinary programs across the United States, including the prestigious Cakebread Cellars American Harvest Workshop, La Varenne at the Greenbrier, Star Canyon in Dallas, and the Inn at Blackberry Farm.

Chef Kevin Mitchell is Tapped as One of Charleston's "Food Scene Stars"

According to The Post & Courier, "The Lowcountry's restaurant and hospitality industry has risen to national prominence because of many talented, hard-working people. Here are a few key leaders who have made and continue to make a difference."

Chef Mitchell was tapped along with Charleston Grill General Manager Mickey Bakst, McCrady's and Husk Executive Chef Sean Brock, JMC Charleston event company owner Mitchell Crosby, celebrity authors Matt and Ted Lee, restaurateur Dick Elliott, and Charleston Wine + Food Festival Director Angel Postell.

"Charleston’s chef corps is hungry for diversity. Kevin Mitchell is trying to change that. Hired in 2008 as the first African-American instructor at the Culinary Institute of Charleston, Mitchell quickly emerged as a role model for students. He had helped found the national Black Culinarian Alliance earlier in his career. Mitchell established the Bridging Culinary Awareness chapter at the school in 2010 with goal of promoting diversity and opportunity among culinary students.

"Mitchell has a finger in several other pots, too. He has worked with the BB&T Charleston Wine + Food Festival as a host dine-around chef. He was a judge this year at the National Pro-Start Invitational, a culinary competition for high schoolers, held in Overland Park, Kan. Mitchell also was one of only three Charleston chefs named to the Founders Council of the inaugural Atlanta Food & Wine Festival this year; the others were Sean Brock of McCrady’s and Mike Lata of FIG." The Post & Courier, September 3, 2011

Chef Huff Makes a Second Video for The Post & Courier

Video recipe of the week Wednesday, September 7, 2011 BY MILES HUFF
Chef instructor at the Culinary Institute of Charleston
Chef Miles Huff cooks a hangtown fry, an omelet made with fried oysters, eggs, onions, and bacon.
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/sep/07/video-recipe-of-the-week/

Video recipe of the week Wednesday, August 31, 2011
BY MILES HUFF

Chef instructor at the Culinary Institute of Charleston
Chef Miles Huff with the Culinary Institute of Charleston, makes a crab, spinach and cheese gratin that can be made ahead of time and heated when company arrives.
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/aug/31/video-recipe-of-the-week/ Photos by Sarah Bates of The Post & Courier.