CIC Students Assist Chef Sean Brock at Outstanding in The Field

On Sunday, September 26th, CIC Culinary Chair Michael Carmel, Adjunct Instructor John Evans, students Joann Cooke and Ashlee Washington joined Chef Sean Brock and the team from McCrady's restaurant at Thornhill Farm for an afternoon with the Outstanding in the Field organization.

"Outstanding in the Field is a roving culinary adventure – literally a restaurant without walls. Since 1999 we have set the long table at farms or gardens, on mountain tops or in sea caves, on islands or at ranches. Occasionally the table is set indoors: a beautiful refurbished barn, a cool greenhouse or a stately museum. Wherever the location, the consistent theme of each dinner is to honor the people whose good work brings nourishment to the table.

"Ingredients for the meal are almost all local (sometimes sourced within inches of your seat at the table!) and generally prepared by a celebrated chef of the region. After a tour of the site, we all settle in: farmers, producers, culinary artisans, and diners sharing the long table. Our mission is to re-connect diners to the land and the origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivate it."
http://outstandinginthefield.com/

The Hospitality and Culinary Student Association Site is now up and running on my.tridenttech.edu

Go to the HCSA Group page under Clubs and Organizations. If you have joined HCSA, you will have access to the Group Site. If you have not joined, you will need to click on Request to Join before you will be able to access the site.
The HCSA home page has a list of all the events upcoming for HCSA under Announcements. You can sign up to volunteer or participate in any of the Club’s events by clicking on the Event Announcement. At the bottom of the home page is the HCSA Semester Calendar. You can see the date & time for all semester activities, and you can click on each event in the calendar to get more information. Right now we are taking nominations for 2011 President and Vice President, volunteers for the Taste of Charleston and Iron Chef, and applications for the Farm to Plate field trip.

Mr. Hallman and Chef Alexander Featured in Fall "Sizzle"

In the fall 2010 ACF magazine"Sizzle," an article on mentoring titled "Learning from Experience" features two CIC instructors, Hospitality Instructor Blake Hallman and Culinary Chef Instructor Jeff Alexander.
"According to Mr. Hallman, the whole idea of mentoring is to put somebody new with someone with experience. 'A smart person learns from another person's successes and failures. I think a mentor is responsible for making sure students recognize what will be required of them in the real world.'" ... '"We try to let students know what the industry is like and what to expect, and not just the skill set they need to learn in class,'" says Hallman. "I tell students 'I do not plan to train you to be a manager, but rather as a leader.'"
For quotes from Chef Alexander and other industry leaders, see: http://www.sizzle-digital.com/sizzle/fall2010#pg12

Beautiful lemon meringue tarts and raspberry cupcakes were just two of the divine items that were offered in today's Bake Sale. CIC Chef Instructor David Vagasky and his Retail Bakeshop class put these on weekly - and always sell out! For the Bake Sale schedule, see the "Coming Soon" column on the left.

Chef Mitchell Works on Chef Brock's Team at The Charleston Wine + Food Festival's Ultimate Critics Dinner

According to Charleston Magazine's Social Columnist, Reese Moore: "Gourmands who attended the Ultimate Critics Dinner at the Cottages on the Charleston Harbor truly experienced a night to remember. The event featured capanés and a five-course tasting menu prepared by seven local chefs, selected by Charleston food critics as the best culinarians of 2010, and was hosted by Mickey Bakst of the Charleston Grill." The event raised almost $20,000 for the Festival's 2011 charity, Lowcountry Local First.
For more, go to: http://www.charlestonmag.com/party_scene/blog/ultimate_critics_dinner

CIC Grad Renata Dos Santos Introduces Charleston's Newest Underground Dining Experience: L.I.M.E.

As featured in the e-newsletter "Charlie,"L.I.M.E. stands for Local. Impromptu. Moveable. Evening.
"L.I.M.E. is the new top-secret, upscale traveling foodie event in Charleston, brought to you one Saturday per month. It will generally be all-inclusive (including tax, gratuity and a charitable donation), and feature a sommelier or mixologist handling pairings for each course. The first L.I.M.E., for instance, is featuring a mixologist who hinted at a strawberry infused Grand Marnier that she’s pairing with a dessert course.
"The concept comes to us from Chef Renata Dos Santos, a recent Culinary Institute of Charleston grad, who has garnered a ton of praise and recognition so early in her career. She hails from Trinidad, where liming is a way of life and she’s incredibly excited to bring it to Charleston.
"One of the neatest things Dos Santos will be doing is selecting Culinary Institute grads as the featured chefs. You’ll get young Sean Brocks, young Frank Lees…an experience you can’t get in any restaurant. Sometimes these young chefs will be paired with our local rockstars, but not always. So, in all of your indulgence and delight, you’re also helping bring exposure and learning to the young talents of tomorrow. " For the rest of the story, see: http://readcharlie.com/2010/08/18/lime-enters-the-limelight/
The first installment of L.I.M.E. is Saturday, Sept. 18 at 5pm. Chef: Renata Dos Santos. Cost: $125. Beneficiary: Simply Divine Garden. Tickets: www.LimeinCharleston.com

CIC Grad Ellis Grossman Opens Black Bean Co. Restaurant

The Black Bean Co. occupies an attractive new space at 116 Spring St. just west of Rutledge. Grossman describes it an an "energy food restaurant where what you get will fuel you for the day!"

Susan Cohen of The Charleston City Paper says that "the menu is broken down into several categories, our favorite being the 'Good for the Soul' section with items like the Spring Street (chicken or turkey with hummus, tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh tzatziki, and sprouts). Thanksgiving Joy also has a certain appeal with its combination of turkey, mixed greens, cranberry dressing, sprouts, and fresh mozzarella. Vegans get their own section with eight wraps that range from the Ginger Palmetto (heart of palm, mixed greens, tomato, cucumber, sprouts, carrots, banana pepper, and tofu) to the Festival Wrap (black beans, jasmine rice, zucchini, squash, and avocado). Grossman also has plenty of salads to choose from and a handful of intriguing specialties of the house: fresh spring rolls, California roll, gazpacho, wheat grass shots, ginger mint lemonade, and pasta salad."

The Black Bean Co. serves breakfast from 8-11 a.m., with coffee, espresso, cappuccino,yogurt, berries, muffins. Munchies include biscotti and tasty vegan cookies. It is open from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. seven days a week. Black Bean delivers. The menu is online at http://www.blackbeanco.com/. 843.277.0990. The restaurant participates in the CHAMP dining card program.

Visit CIC Grad Kristy Holdgate at Charleston's Macaroon Boutique

Macaroon Boutique woos the Holy City with authentic Parisian pastries
Charleston Magazine - September 2010: by Holly Herrick
"If forced to select one food that personifies Paris, for me it would have to be the pastel bubble of deliciousness known as a macaroon. So when Macaroon Boutique opened this April, it easily became Charleston’s most authentic taste of the City of Light.
"You can’t help but be happy inside the petite shop run by Fabienne B. Rizzo and her husband, Fabrice, a Paris native whose resume includes study at Relais Desserts International and stints as executive pastry chef at New York City’s Tabla and Les Halles.
"Alongside croissants, pain au chocolat, Pithiviers, chocolate fleur de sel cookies, and baguettes, the glass cases boast lovely macaroons. They’re everything the treats should be, with a crunchy exterior yielding to a smooth-as-butter interior and a creamy, flavorful filling.
“'Making macaroons is not hard,” Fabrice says humbly. He’s wrong. I’ve made them, and I’ve made them with one of Paris’ most decorated chefs. Yet his are the best I’ve ever had. “The key to perfect pastry is to do it all by hand and use only the best ingredients,” Fabrice says. He does just that every morning with the help of Kristy [Holdgate], a Trident Tech graduate who pipes out the tricky meringue batter like a pro." Picture by blog.celebrations.com

Externship: It's a Wonderful Life

Ever imagined what it would be like to do your externship in a bakery? Enjoy the excerpts below from CIC student Violet Beasley's final report.

• Week one. I should have known that I would injure myself within the first 10 minutes of starting this job... Important lesson # 1: The outside of the oven is hot!
• I wasn't expecting to scoop several hundred cookies on my first day, but as the unpaid extern, I guess I should have predicted I would be doing something "easy" that no one else wants to do. Important lession # 2: Lift weights before going to work in a bakery.
• I officially hate cinnamon buns. I've made cinnamon buns every week I've been here, and I hate them with a burning passion. Important lession # 6: Cinnamon buns are only your friend when you're eating them.
• I've discovered something amazing. One of the things I made this week was brookies. A brookie is basically a chocolate chip cookie encased in a brownie. My mind can barely process all the awesomeness. What could possibly be better than that? Important lesson # 13: Brookies are the greatest thing ever created by man.
• One thing that happened this week was a visit from DHEC. It wasn't actually interesting, though, because nothing really happened. The health inspector walked around and took notes, then it was over. We did really well. Important lesson # 18: Health inspectors are boring.
• I made a pretty awesome new dessert this week. They were chocolate timbals: basically death by chocolate baked in a tube mold. There was a layer of flourless chocolate cake under baked chocolate mousse, topped with ganache and wrapped in a dark and white chocolate shell, garnished with an apricot-glazed strawberry. They were made over the course of about two weeks and took half my day to put together. Important lesson # 21: Anything that takes two weeks to make is well worth eating.
• I tried being slightly creative for the first time this week, but I have no idea if that was a good idea or not. I normally put white chocolate, pistachio, and dried cherries in the biscotti, but I was starting to get sick of that. I decided to put some different stuff in them, but I ended up leaving before they were done baking, so I never got to taste them. I'll always wonder if those biscotti turned out okay. Important lesson # 26: Don't be creative near the end of your shift.

Applications Available for Les Dames D'Escoffier Women in Culinary Leadership Scholarship

Les Dames D'Escoffier Women in Culinary Leadership Scholarship applications are now available.

The award is $1,000 for 1 term, paid directly to the college. Women must be enrolled in at least 12 hours in Culinary Arts, have completed at least 1 term maintaining a 3.0 GPA and excellent attendance. Applications are due to the Les Dames office by Oct. 31. You may pick an application up at Mrs. Mueller's office, 112D in the 920 building.

Chef Alexander Bakes Anson Mills' Colonial Cornmeal Poundcake for Southern Legislators Conference

Thanks to Anson Mills for sharing this recipe.
1 (9x5-inch) loaf pan
8 ounces (1 cup) unsalted European-style butter, softened, plus additional for greasing the loaf pan
2.5 ounces ( 1/4 cup) Anson Mills Antebellum Fine or Coarse Yellow Cornmeal, plus 1 tablespoon for dusting the loaf pan
7 ounces (1 cup) superfine sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for dusting the loaf pan
7.5 ounces (1 cup) Anson Mills Fine Cloth-Bolted Pastry Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Scant ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
4 large eggs, room temperature
3 tablespoons orange-flower water
2 tablespoons dry sherry
2 tablespoons whole milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Generously butter a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan. Sift the 1 tablespoon cornmeal through a fine tea strainer into a small bowl and discard the coarse particles in the strainer or return them to the bag of cornmeal. Add the 1 tablespoon sugar to the sifted cornmeal and stir to combine. Dust the buttered loaf pan with the cornmeal-sugar mixture, tilting to coat the bottom and sides, then knock out the excess. Set the pan aside.
2. Turn the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Crack the eggs into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Add the orange-flower water, sherry, milk, and vanilla and beat lightly with a fork until combined.
3. Beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat-beater attachment until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. With the mixer running on medium-low speed, add the sugar, then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture is light and aerated, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl once or twice. With the mixer running on low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 batches alternating with the egg mixture in 2 batches, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and scraping down the bowl 2 or 3 times. When all of the ingredients have been incorporated, detach the bowl from the mixer and fold the batter lightly with the rubber spatula to ensure that no wet or dry pockets remain.
4. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and, using a small offset spatula, spread it to the sides and corners of the pan and smooth the surface. Bake, rotating the pan after 35 minutes, until the cake is deep golden brown, nicely risen, and a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Invert the cake onto the rack, then turn it right side up and cool the cake to room temperature.
Makes one 9 by 5-inch cake
http://www.ansonmills.com/recipes-poundcake.htm
Chef Alexander sauced both the plates and cake slices with creme anglaise and gave each serving a dollop of mascarpone lightened with heavy cream and sweetened with powdered sugar.

Chef Alexander Is Featured in DISH

A lesson in the art of bread making
An Artisan Approach
by Jeffrey Alexander

"An artisan is a craftsman, someone who produces handmade goods using as little machinery as possible. The goal for a craftsman is not making money or attaining a big, glamorous lifestyle. His goal is to deliver an honest product made with honest ingredients and intentions.
"For the artisan baker, these ingredients are flour, water, salt, and a natural starter.
"The craft is a circular process that begins with grain shepherded through harvest and milling, added to natural ingredients that live in our environment, made into a dough by the baker with his knowledge, and baked into something that provides life again. True artisanal bread procedure, made with only the four ingredients, through fermentation and hydration of the grain, can result in hundreds of different breads. Small wonder that in France the artisan baker is held in the same regard as the artisan cheesemaker and the artisan winemaker.
"My artisan breads class is required for students seeking an associate's degree in baking and pastry at the Culinary Institute of Charleston."
For the rest of Chef Alexander's story, see:
http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/a-lesson-in-the-art-of-bread-making/Content?oid=2215258

Chef Mitchell Featured in Post & Courier

Chef, Instructor a Role Model for Local Culinary Students
By Teresa Taylor
The Post and Courier
Saturday, August 7, 2010

“I just want them to reach for every opportunity,” says chef Kevin Mitchell of the students at the Culinary Institute of Charleston, where he is an instructor.

For the rest of the story: http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/aug/07/chef-instructor-a-role-model-for-local-culinary/

Chef Morgan and Kid's Cooking Camp Featured

Kid's College Cooking
Trident Tech's offering of week-long courses continues to expand
By Diane Knich The Post and Courier Wednesday, July 14, 2010
"They've fried catfish, made chicken marsala, shocked broccoli and baked cookies. And the students in culinary boot camp at Trident Technical College this week are still in elementary school.

"The class is one of more than 100 week-long courses being offered this summer through Trident's Kids' College. Youths from 7 to 16 can take half-day classes in many subjects, including the culinary arts, sciences and computers, Kids' College director Michele Shinn said. Most classes are for 8- to 11-year-olds or for 12- to 16-year-olds.

"Eight-year-old Gabrielle Bouchard said she took the cooking boot camp class because 'my mom does it a lot and sometimes I help her.' Gabrielle was part of a group that was making chicken marsala Tuesday afternoon. Another group made broccoli, rice and cookies. At the end of each half-day class, the children, who ranged in age from 8 to 11, sit down and share the meal they have prepared."
For the photo gallery: http://www.postandcourier.com/photos/galleries/2010/jul/14/kids-college-summer-camps/
For the video: http://www.postandcourier.com/videos/2010/jul/14/1170/
Photo: Mary Austin, The Post and Courier

CIC Grad & Middleton Place Restaurant Executive Chef Featured in Post & Courier

Middleton Place Chef Talks About Sustainable Seafood
By Angel Powell, Special to The Post and Courier Thursday, July 1, 2010

Micah Garrison took the role of executive chef at Middleton Place Restaurant in 2006 after cooking at classic Lowcountry restaurants such as Boone Hall Plantation, Cypress and 82 Queen.
These days, Garrison is spending much of his time in the production gardens at Middleton, trying to be as self-sustaining as possible. He is a two-time winner of the Sustainable Seafood Initiative Award sponsored by the South Carolina Aquarium.
For the rest of the story, see: http://www.charlestonscene.com/news/2010/jul/01/micah-garrison/