CIC Alum Jordan Snider Invited to be a Member of the Callebaut Ambassadors Club

A CIC Baking and Pastry graduate, Jordan Snider is now  executive pastry chef at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar in San Diego. In this new role, he will  becomes one of seven Callebaut Ambassadors located in the United States. The invitation-only Ambassadors Club includes a global membership of more than 100 pastry chefs and chocolatiers from more than 20 countries. Chef Snider will "collaborate with other Callebaut Ambassadors to shape the world of pastry through educational demonstrations, recipe development and product innovation."

According to the Callebaut press release, Chef Snider joined the Carolina Yacht Club as a banquet pastry chef in 2008. In 2010, he was named Pastry Sous Chef at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Las Vegas. Following his time at the Mandarin, Snider worked as the Pastry Chef Tournant at Paris and Bally’s Las Vegas Casino & Hotel. In 2013, he joined the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino Las Vegas as the Executive Assistant Pastry Chef where he oversaw all banquet, convention, retail, restaurant and chocolate production for the resort. Snider joined the Fairmont Grand Del Mar in San Diego as Executive Pastry Chef in 2014. In this role, he is responsible for the hotel’s high-volume banquet operations, three fine-dining restaurants, room amenity program and wedding banquet operations.

“Chef Snider demonstrates the highest level of technical skill, quality, creativity and passion in his approach to fine pastry,” said Miriam Madrigal, Callebaut Brand Manager. “Our Ambassadors are selected based on their technical expertise, knowledge of ingredients, professional portfolio and process leadership. We were impressed with Snider’s mastery in all key areas, as well as his refreshing approach to pastry. It is an honor to welcome such a celebrated chef to our Club.”

Read more: https://fb101.com/2016/06/callebaut-usa-appoints-san-diego-based-pastry-chef-jordan-snider-ambassadors-club/ 

Faith Huff Externs Under CIC Alum at Little St. Simons Island

CIC student Faith Huff has just begun an exciting externship at the Lodge at Little St. Simons Island under CIC alum and the property's executive chef, Ulfet Ozyabasligil Ralph.

Faith will spend 10 weeks on this privately owned eco-resort, which is one of Georgia's famed Golden Isles. 

Pictures: Faith ringing the dinner bell on her first day, fruit forming on the pomegranate tree, and the organic garden.

Charleston Magazine Features CIC Alum BJ Dennis

BJ is pictured with Josh Johnson at Johnson's Old Tyme Bean Company farm.
Photo by Ruta Elvikyte

"When Benjamin “BJ” Dennis IV started looking for his culinary roots, he didn’t have to go far. Although he grew up in West Ashley, his great-grandfather bought 22 acres on Daniel Island in its days of rice ponds and cattle and ran a ferry to get folks to the mainland. His grandfather, Reverend Benjamin Dennis II, still lives on the land with sugar cane abutting his vegetable garden, memories of growing coconuts and raising goats fresh in his mind.

"Dennis began to see influences in Lowcountry cuisine that had originated with West African slaves and were perpetuated in the foodways of the Gullah Geechee, African Americans who settled in coastal counties from just above Wilmington, North Carolina, down to Jacksonville, Florida. Dennis also worked for four years in St. Thomas, finding in the West Indies a commonality of Gullah Geechee culture and cuisine, which he incorporates in the food he now cooks as a personal chef and caterer based in Charleston. It has brought him both local and national notice."

Read the rest of the piece and get BJ's three corn recipes here.