The Art and Economics of Charcuterie Part 2 (StarChefs.com)

The Art and Economics of Charcuterie Part 2

by Amanda McDougall and JJ Proville
photos and video by Antoinette Bruno
March 2009

Interview
John Toulze on Charcuterie


In-house charcuterie programs have experienced exponential growth over the past two years. It is arguably the biggest and most far-reaching trend we’ve seen—bordering on an all out culinary movement. US Chefs are learning the craft—from old school/Old World techniques to more modern ones—and developing their own programs large and small.

With this in mind, we’ll be publishing a multi-part charcuterie series that looks at several different operations, but all run by chefs with a penchant for curing and aging all sorts of animal parts with a goal of bringing in some serious revenue for their restaurants.

Zach Allen and his Vegas salumi operation—not to mention his oversight of all of Batali’s dozen other restaurant salumi programs—was the first in this series of features. The second in the series takes a look at how chef John Toulze of the girl and the fig (restaurant, café, and catering) and Estate works his brand of charcuterie into his two restaurants and catering operation (see below). Seattle’s Adam Stevenson of Earth & Ocean at W Seattle is third in line, discussing his charcuterie program from a hotel chef perspective. The fourth piece goes small-scale with El Dorado Kitchen chef Justin Everett’s charcuterie on-a-shoestring.
Part 2: A Multi-Restaurant Operation on a Smaller Scale
For chef John Toulze, making good and safe charcuterie is “all about pH”—knowing that you’ve got the right amount of acid to kill off the bad stuff, but keep the good stuff. Of course, extensive reading, practice, and some trial and error, also contribute to a fine end product—and Toulze does plenty of that.

A self-taught charcutier, Toulze has been making all forms of charcuterie for nearly all of his life (he remembers witnessing his parents arguing over how to best make headcheese as a kid), and professionally for over a decade. As a novice, the chef started with what he calls “wet charcuterie,” country-style pâtés and mousses; years later, he’s graduated to smoked bacon, chorizo, rosette de Lyon, sopressata, and 18-month cured prosciuttos. All in all, Toulze and his team produce anywhere from 7 to 11 products for the two restaurants, café, and catering operation.

When it comes to the economy of charcuterie, Toulze sees making it in-house as a no-brainer. Where he once paid $7 a pound for outsourced bacon or upwards of $12 a pound for quality prosciutto, he’s now looking at getting in the raw cuts for a buck and some change per pound, plus the added benefit of knowing the meat’s source and having direct control over quality and production. “There is a tremendous opportunity for savings,” Toulze explains, “If you manage your staff, time, and space there really is not a product where your food cost won’t be amazing.”

But it’s not just about that amazing food cost that keeps Toulze keen on cured meat. He loves the process; he loves introducing people to new products; most of all, he loves having a story to tell about his food. “There a lot of food trends right now, but I think there’s one that never goes away and that’s the idea of handmade production—simple, ancestral foods that have a place and a story to be told.”

Interview with John Toulze

JJ Proville: How long have you been doing charcuterie? How did you get into it?
John Toulze: It’s been 10 years. I can remember my father making headcheese at my house and it being a total disaster [laughs].
I remember it was always a big feud between my parents on how to make it. For a kid it was a pretty big novelty to see a pig’s head in the fridge. That was a fascination for me. On Sundays we always had French bread, cheese, and a pâté of some kind.

JJP: Have you been formally trained in charcuterie?
JT: No. My experience comes from trial and error and a lot of reading; trying a lot of things; asking questions.

JJP: Was it something you immediately got into at the beginning of your culinary career?
JT: It evolved. In the beginning we always made what I call wet charcuterie. Rustic terrines and country-style pâtés with chicken liver mousses and things like that. It just kind of evolved over time and still is. You get good at something and one road will lead to another. You get good at making pâté de campagne and then you ask, what’s next? Wet charcuterie leads to some of the very simple cured dried meats. Timing and space also plays an important part. As we had more space and more time, it got easier to take on some of the more complicated elements that take months to start and finish.

JJP: Would you say that wet charcuterie is a more natural place to start at the beginning of one’s charcuterie career?
JT: I think so because it gives you that first element of the importance of your grind and it allows you to have a first look at the transformation of a product from raw to finished. The good thing is that it’s quick. There’s some technique involved, but there’s a relatively quick turnaround. Pâté de campagne takes three days.

JJP: How long did it take to reach the point where you knew what you were doing?
JT: It took a good year and a half for the dried stuff before I felt confident about understanding why things were going in one direction and not the other. We’re constantly playing with different starter cultures and different cuts, but now it’s coming from a base of understanding and being creative instead of going “OK, I think I did everything right.”

JJP: How many projects do you currently oversee?
JT: We have three restaurants and a catering company. We also have a line of food products called Fig Food.

JJP: How many different types of charcuterie do you offer in the restaurants at any given time?
JT: We usually offer between 7 and 11 types at any given time. For the Fig Café we have two or three. Right now we’ve got two types of cured salami for their cheese plate and some chorizo for their pizza.

JJP: How do you allocate the charcuterie to the restaurants?
JT: We store it until its ready and then the restaurants can take what they want. Right now we started a batch of rosette de Lyon for a salami sandwich. We brainstorm over the menus for the restaurants, make the charcuterie, and then once it’s ripe that whole batch will be brought over to the restaurant. We also have items that we frequently do like sopressata, lonzo, lardo, pancetta, rosette de Lyon, and chorizo. We always want to have three or four salamis that are ready. The only one that doesn’t rotate off the list is the sopressata.

JJP: What are the shortest and longest timeframes of charcuterie that you practice?
JT: The shortest would be something like a chicken liver mousse or a boudin, which is basically casing up some chicken liver mousse. From there it would be terrines of all different types, like pork liver terrine or pâté de campagne. We also do our own bacon and smoked salmon which are on the short side. It’s a four day process for us.

The ones that take the longest to make are the salumi, the rosette de Lyon, the Genoa-style salumi, or the large sopresattas. Right now we’ve got some prosciutto in the process which will become the longest; that takes about a year and a half. You start feeling like a wine maker because you’re aging a product and you don’t know your success until you try it!

JJP: What’s the greatest risk in charcuterie?
JT: The peril is that you don’t know how it’s going to turn out for at least a year but you can’t wait that long to start your next batch. So it’s a leap of faith that you have some idea what you’re doing. I think our confidence has evolved to a point where we’re pretty sure we can execute it and we have control over our environment enough that we can do it.

JJP: What keeps you coming back to it?
JT: It’s the suspense of not knowing how it’s going to turn out but it’s also the transformation of the product that’s incredible. I also enjoy it because some of my sous chefs really got into it and I like sharing that excitement with them about what is a very old tradition—which is really controlled spoilage.

You don’t necessarily know how it’s going to turn out and I think that’s the fun of it. Even if we change the starter culture or if we cut it a little different you have to be patient to see how that turns out. The other thing is that you have to keep pretty fastidious notes because how else do you know? That’s the excitement of it. When we take out a new batch, everyone is excited to try it and see how it is.

JJP: What are some of the important lessons you’ve learned?
JT: Some of the things that we’ve learned is that a few more grams of starter culture makes the difference between a beautiful fermentation all the way through, and having one where we couldn’t get the pH to drop fast enough, and that’s just not something that you can guess at. And you’re also dealing with products that in large doses aren’t necessarily considered safe, with your nitrites and your nitrates. That’s what I use and I haven’t gotten comfortable playing with alternatives.

JJP: Is most of the charcuterie you do pork-based?
JT: Its 95% pork. We do beef. We haven’t done a lot of lamb, but I’d like to start.

JJP: How many people are involved in the production?
JT: There are three of us. I have a sous chef that does 90% of it. He’s 23 and been working with me since he was 16. He’s really into it. I help out and so does my chef Chris Jones.

JJP: What are your favorite charcuterie items to make?
JT: My favorite things are the simplest ones. Bacon, pancetta, and the lardo. Bresaola too.

JJP: How do you make your bacon?
JT: We cure it for about three and a half days. Three days is not quite enough and at four days it’s too salty. We smoke it for about three hours. Our technique is really simple. We put it in a 210°F oven and we have an old pan that we throw a bunch of chips in that we get smoldering really good. We throw that underneath the bacon and cook it until the bacon comes up to an internal temperature of about 150°F. However long that takes is how long we smoke it. That has been a really good method for us.

JJP: What kind of wood do you use?
JT: We’ve done fig wood but apple wood has been the nicest [for the bacon]. We tried hickory, but that was just not good [for the chorizo]. It didn’t work with the flavors of the paprika and spices we put it in.

JJP: How long does your chorizo take?
JT: It takes about 10 weeks. It’s one of the most elaborate things we make. We start by cubing up the meat and doing the marinade, which takes three to four days and then we grind it, ferment it, and let it dry out for a couple days. Then we smoke it and hang it.

JJP: Do you do all the ordering and supply management?
JT: No. I work with my sous chef who does the direct ordering. We have pretty strict regulations about the way we order and the way chefs in our company order product.

JJP: How many meat suppliers do you use?
JT: We’ve been using Niman Ranch. We did make some jambon from suckling pigs and brought in a whole pig once to make coppa di testa, lonzo, and pancetta. We’d like to be able to bring in whole pigs, but we have to put together the rest of the facilities to do that. That’s the ultimate goal.

JJP: So your limitation for using whole pigs is lack of space?
JT: Not anymore. Right now it’s just getting to that next step. But one of the reasons we’ve been successful in this program is that we’ve gone step by step and we haven’t bitten off more than we can chew. Most folks don’t realize what kind of commitment bringing in a whole pig is. We have the space and we have a catering kitchen, but its off-premise. So it’s doable, but we need to make the time.

JJP: What do you do in the off-premise space?
JT: We do most of the fabrication there. Some of the easier things we can do in the restaurants like wet charcuterie and bacon, but anything that requires fermentation and extended aging time we do down there.

JJP: Should chefs starting out in charcuterie start out by ordering individual pieces as opposed to a whole pig?
JT: That would be my advice. It allows you to focus on that one product and that one item. If you are trying to do fermented and dried products, you can start with high quality pork shoulder for example. Start and get good at it. That’s been our method of growth.

JJP: How much do pay for your basic cuts? Do you always pay the same thing for your meat?
JT: No we don’t, but they don’t vary that much. You can get pork belly for $1.39-$1.79/pound price range and that’s how much we pay. Shoulder is around $1.19/pound and back fat is about a dollar. Leg is going to be more expensive. It depends on how much we order. If there are fifteen pork bellies, we can get a better price from our purveyor.

JJP: The margin seems to be pretty good.
JT: It’s a no-brainer. For example, with bacon we used to use Nueske’s and were paying around $7 per pound. There’s not a lot of shrinkage when you’re making bacon, maybe 10%. I think we’re making bacon that’s just as good if not better, and we are paying around a dollar for that [laughs]. So even in a worst case scenario we are paying two dollars a pound. But it’s not [that much], even after all the spices, salt sugars, and wood—and I’ve got plenty of wood for my wood-fired oven. [It’s the] same for pancetta—before we were paying around 6 dollars a pound. We use collagen casings to wrap the bellies and those cost around 60 to 70 cents. We can do 10 pancettas in an hour. There is a cost of labor involved, but it’s not significant.

JJP: What charcuterie product contributes the highest margin?
JT: Lardo has the largest margin by far. Some people love it but people can be reluctant to try it if you’re not there to really explain it to them. In the restaurants, where we do have time to explain it to them, it sells really well. It’s neat because there are not a lot of people who have had it. We recently put it on a salad and it sold wonderfully.

JJP: What other products offer similar margins?
JT: All of our bacon and all of our salamis. Prior to ramping up our production we would source very expensive salami. Now we are using pork butt for it which is around $1.20/ pound. But even with a 30-35% weight loss, you’re still in the $2/pound range and you get all the added value with how it’s made. Compare that to a $12-$14/pound product from somebody else and it’s such an incredible margin and it’s so much interesting for me to sell. There is a tremendous opportunity for savings. If you manage your staff, time, and space there really is not a product there where your food cost won’t be amazing.

JJP: Is every piece of charcuterie profitable?
JT: I think there’s no reason they shouldn’t be; I’ve never come across one that hasn’t [been]. Unless you spoil it, it should be profitable and significantly so.

JJP: What’s the biggest challenge to maintaining that margin?
JT: The biggest logistical challenge is just staying ahead. It’s really about thinking in advance about how much you’re going to use in six weeks. If you get behind, you can’t shrink your timeframe. It’s not going to go bad but you don’t want to have too much on hand.

JJP: Is putting charcuterie on the menu well fitted to the economic climate?
JT: I think so, and for two reasons: You can be very flexible with the pricing if you need to be, because you know your margins and there’s a lot of perceived value. People know there’s a lot of hand work and time involved. The other thing is that, right now, I think people are looking for a lot of comfort food. I think that salumi is the ultimate comfort food. There a lot of “food trends” right now but I think there’s one that never goes away and that’s the idea of handmade production—simple, ancestral foods that have a place and a story to be told. And it’s an easy story to tell. People are looking to get value for their money and obviously it’s about quantity and quality, but it’s also how interesting it this. What’s the story behind it? A plate of sliced cured meats and maybe some crusty bread by the fire, or a salami sandwich, or a plate of wet charcuterie is the greatest comfort food. And you can bring that to the guests in the dining room, too.

JJP: You said that sopressata was a constant on the menu. Do you always order a fixed quantity of it?
JT: No, and we have a lot of fun with that too because I’m always changing the size of it. The last one we did was all by hand and we stuffed it into beef bungs (casing). So it’s a bigger format salami. It’s basically the same ingredients but just in a different way. You get more of a mosaic look. That’s close to mortadella size and about five and a half inches in diameter. It has a six month aging time.

JJP: Where do you get the casings?
JT: I get most of them online from Butcher & Packer or The Sausage Maker. We get our cultures, molds, salts, and simple sugars from Butcher & Packer. It makes our life so much easier. It’s all very inexpensive.

JJP: How do the simple sugars come into play?
JT: We use dextrose and glucose and a couple other simple sugars. You really need to have them because they’ll help fermentation and make the process so much easier than if you use [a complex sugar like] sucrose.

JJP: At what point do you think you are going to go local with your meat supplier?
JT: We’re definitely moving towards the direction of ordering whole pigs and at that point we’re just going to have to be really intelligent about the pricing and tell a good story, and produce a really phenomenal product. That’s really the next logical step to improve what we’re doing—that is, to refine the product that we are bringing in. Now that we are at a point where we are very good at technique and making things happen it’s finding a fresher, better product. That’s where our program needs to go from there.

JJP: Is sourcing whole pigs going to remain as profitable as ordering separate cuts?
JT: I think the economics are hard on that because there’s so much additional labor involved. I also think you can charge more for some of the things you make out of it. The idea of breaking down a whole pig is a story to be told and you can build that into your price. Is it going to be more cost effective? Probably not. If you’re going to deal with whole animals, you’re going to be paying a fixed price and you’re going to be dealing with smaller producers who will charge a higher premium, as it should be. So I think from a strictly economical standpoint I don’t see how it could be more cost effective than the broken down Niman Ranch pork bellies. What we have to do is think ahead and have different outlets for it and build that premium into some dishes.

JJP: Do you have any health and safety tips?
JT: With salumi, it’s all about about pH. That’s what folks need to learn. That’s going to control your bacterial growth. For safety measures we don’t send out our charcuterie to be tested. Consistency in processing temperatures, watching your pH levels, having the right ratios, getting in fresh products—that, to me, is what you do to have a safe product. And don’t count on someone else to do your due diligence. I think that’s the chef’s responsibility. That and continually developing purveyor relationships so that you can trust your product.

JJP: Do you have any parting advice for chefs starting their own charcuterie programs?
JT: The most important thing a chef can do is read, find someone else who’s been doing it for a while, and do the basics: watch your pH, your salt and preservative ratios, and be smart about it. It’s no different than any food. If you bring in a fish five days before and hold it a room temperature, it’s not safe! There’s no different between these things. It’s really common sense

The Art and Economics of Charcuterie (From Star Chefs)

FROM STARCHEFS.COM

The Art and Economics of Charcuterie, Part 1: A Multi-Restaurant Operation with Chef Zach Allen of B&B Ristorante, Carnevino, and Enoteca San Marco

by Amanda McDougall and JJ Proville
March 2009

In house charcuterie programs have experienced exponential growth over the past two years. It is arguably the biggest and most far-reaching trend we’ve seen—bordering on an all out culinary movement. US Chefs are learning the craft—from old school/Old World techniques to more modern ones—and developing their own programs large and small.

With this in mind, we’ll be publishing a multi-part charcuterie series that looks at several different operations, but all run by chefs with a penchant for curing and aging all sorts of animal parts with a goal of bringing in some serious revenue for their restaurants.

Zach Allen and his Vegas salumi operation—not to mention his oversight of all of Batali’s dozen other restaurant salumi programs—is the first in this series of features (see below). The second in the series takes a look at how chef John Toulze of The Girl and The Fig (restaurant, café, and catering) and Estate works his brand of charcuterie into his two restaurants and catering operation. Seattle’s Adam Stevenson of Earth & Ocean at W Seattle is third in line, discussing his charcuterie program from a hotel chef perspective. The fourth piece goes small-scale with El Dorado Kitchen chef Justin Everett’s charcuterie on-a-shoestring.
Part 1: A Multi-Restaurant Operation
Charcuterie—or sausage-making at least—has been a part of chef Zach Allen’s life since childhood. His family had annual family sausage prep days to take them through the year with a steady supply of the encased ground meats. But it wasn’t until he was working at Batali’s Lupa in Manhattan that his childhood family past-time turned into a professional pursuit.

Allen has spent time with Armandino Batali, Mario Batali’s salumi-famous father, but he’s also done formal training at Iowa State University’s Meat Lab, taking one of their multi-day classes on the science (and safety) behind curing meats. He takes a hands-on approach to his salumi-making too, doing most of the work himself at the three Batali restaurants, and visiting the farms that produce the pigs he turns into cured, money-making magic.

Although Allen doesn’t skimp when it comes to paying for top-quality pork (in the neighborhood of $5.50 a pound, even!), he’s still able to bring in the profit for nearly every piece of coppa or testa that goes to a table. Allen pays top-dollar for his pork, no doubt, and the fact that he’s still making money on it is a statement in itself.

There’s intrinsic value to salumi for diners—especially as they become more and more familiar with it—but it’s especially valued when it’s made in-house and tastes as good as Allen’s. As Allen demonstrates, he can charge upward of $20 for a mere ounce and half to two ounces of product. Granted, you have to take into account the time put into each product (some require multiple brinings, rubs, and other fairly time-consuming manipulation), but in the end, it’s usually literally time (for curing) that can be the most costly aspect.

Every week no less than 1,500 pounds of pork is processed in Allen’s kitchens—it’s brined, cured, ground, stuffed, aged, and sometimes poached in beer (see his recipe for Liver Sausage). It’s a massive volume of meat to process and Allen is careful to balance the menus at the three restaurants and therefore what’s curing in his salumi walk-ins (that’s walk-ins—plural) with a range of items, some taking only a day to make (like pâté) while others cure for months (take his 9-month minimum aged culatello for example). Planning ahead is essential, especially when you have, like Allen, twenty salumi items going at a time and a half dozen in development and testing for three separate restaurants with different price points and menus.

But at the end of the day, it’s always worth the effort and the wait. In Allen’s own words, “if you look at the cost versus the price you sell it at, they all make money.”

Read the interview with Allen to learn more about how he handles his multi-restaurant salumi operation >>

SCCC cooks compete at regional event (Schenectady County, Niskayuna)

SCCC cooks compete at regional event (Schenectady County, Niskayuna)

Posted on: 02/10/09
Jackie Sher
email: news@spotlightnews.com

This weekend students from Schenectady County Community College’s Culinary Arts program will compete head-to-head in a competition not of culinary skill, but of the mind.

Four SCCC students will head to the American Culinary Federation’s Northeast Region H. Galand Culinary Knowledge Bowl Competition, held Feb.7 to 9 in Boston.

“They need to understand all of the definitions ranging anywhere from nutrition, sanitation, culinary basics, baking basics, as well as classical French cooking,” said Christopher Allen Tanner, chef instructor at SCCC and head coach of the team.

Participants had to memorize facts from five culinary textbooks including Escoffier’s “Le Guide Culinaire,” “Culinary Fundamentals,” “Baking Fundamentals,” and a book on management, which is produced by the National Restaurant Association.

The road to the competition has been taxing on the participants.

“They practice three days a week, three to five hours a day,” said Tanner. “They go through a grueling process of getting quizzed by me on the different topics.”

And that’s only when they’re all together. Participants are also expected to practice on their own. The four team members, who were selected from about a dozen applicants, all work full time and also attend school full time.

Many have little time to eat the food they’re studying so much about.

“I work about 55 hours a week at Creo, and I’m the head pastry chef here so I’m in charge of two other students who go to Schenectady County Community College as well,” said Jose Arteche III, team captain. “Then on top of that I go to school full time, but generally I stick to four classes but that’s still four days a week that I physically drive to school.”

Arteche said that one of the challenges of preparing for the competition has been learning French terms.

“Trying to remember French words when you haven’t really taken a French class is tough,” said Arteche. “We’re trying to guess in our minds what the actual words sound like. All of the questions will be read verbally so we have to really listen carefully to all of the questions.”

He said that he and his teammates are used to reading the phrases and words — not hearing them.

This is the first time Schenectady County Community College has participated in the competition in more than 10 years.

Team members include Arteche of Colonie, Valerie Inman of Watervliet, Daniel Sala of Watervliet, Lisa Valentine of Clifton Park, and Evan Weissman of Saratoga Springs. They will compete against students from Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia to take home the Northeast Regional title. The winners will go on to compete in the national competition held at the American Culinary Federation’s national convention in Orlando in July.

The questions asked during the competition will be very specific.

“They need to know all the primal cuts that are found in a beef cattle and what can be done with them. They need to know the proper techniques or the amount of time to wash your hands underneath sinks before you work in a kitchen. They need to know different laws on sanitation, as well as management laws,” said Tanner.

Students might have to name the two species of fish that Escoffier recommends using for fish stock (sole and whiting), and they might have to specify the type of gas that is employed in the flour bleaching process (chlorine gas).

However, despite the endless number of facts participants must commit to memory, they and their coach are excited and have enjoyed the process.

“If anything, this has expanded my knowledge in culinary arts. I can now point things out in recipes and menus that I wouldn’t have known otherwise,” said Arteche.
You can contact news@spotlightnews.com with any questions. Also, feel free to post comments below.

From the SCCC Kitchen: Chicken jambalaya dish easy, healthful Cooks can control level of spiciness in recipe that’s well-suited for Mardi Gras

From the SCCC Kitchen: Chicken jambalaya dish easy, healthful
Cooks can control level of spiciness in recipe that’s well-suited for Mardi Gras
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
By Jeff Wilkin (Contact)
Gazette Reporter

http://www.dailygazette.com/videos/2009/feb/10/134/

Carnival law is now in effect for New Orleans, as tourists and natives prepare for Mardi Gras.

The Cajun version of easy living includes masks, costumes and plenty of spicy food. Christopher Tanner’s version of easy living gives home chefs a fast way to celebrate the day, without all the carousing and purple and green party favors.

“It’s really easy to make,” Tanner said of his chicken jambalaya, a healthful and spicy version of a rice stew. “They call it the creole trinity; the three main vegetables are in there — celery, bell pepper and onions. They’re just sautéed with a little bit of olive oil, put the Cajun seasoning in with that along with one cup of the andouille sausage and you kind of brown that a little bit on the bottom.”

This browning puts a bit of crust in the dish, and some extra flavor.

“Then you put the rest of your ingredients in there, the tomatoes, the stock, the rest of the sausage and the chicken, add your rice, stir it up put a cover on it and let it go until it’s fully cooked.”

It’s as simple as throwing beads off a balcony. Using chicken as the main protein also makes this healthier than a shrimp-based jambalaya, as Tanner said the latter dish can be high in cholesterol. A chicken jambalaya, the chef said, means people with allergies to shellfish can fill up their bowls.

New Orleans cooking means spicy, and Tanner’s salute to Mardi Gras is a spicy one.

“What you do to make it less spicy is take some of the Cajun seasoning out,” he said. “There are 5 tablespoons in this recipe. If you want it less spicy, just put 2 tablespoons of that in there or take the Tabasco sauce out as well.”

But people should not remove too much of the seasoning and sauce — this is a Mardi Gras diversion, after all.

“You want to have some of that in there,” Tanner said. “That’s the flavor of the actual dish.”
Chicken Jambalaya

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 cups Spanish onions, diced medium

3 cups green bell peppers, diced medium

1 cup celery, diced medium

5 tablespoons Cajun seasoning

3 cups chicken andouille sausage (found in supermarket poultry sections), sliced in quarter-inch rounds

6 cups chicken broth

2 cups peeled, chopped tomatoes

8 ounces chicken breast, sliced julienne

3 cups Uncle Ben’s rice

2 teaspoons Tabasco

Coat the bottom of a heavy, 5-quart pot with the olive oil, place over high heat and preheat. Add onion, peppers and the celery, 3 tablespoons of the Cajun seasoning, 1 cup of the andouille sausage and cook, stirring constantly until a crust begins to develop, about 12 minutes. Add 1 cup of stock to de-glaze, cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Add tomatoes and julienne chicken slices, cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add the rest of the sausage and chicken broth. Stir in the rice and return to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook until the rice is tender.

Stir in Tabasco sauce and serve.

Have an Offal Valentine's Day at Irving Mill

Irving Mill is a restaurant down in Manhattan on 116th East 16th st with a menu driven by American ingredients with a classical rustic French and Italian twist. They describe their menu as "Old World clean." Ryan Skeen, their chef has a decidingly Italian background with a Sicilian grandmother along with his early years at Riccardo's in Portland, Oregon. At Elisabeth Daniel in San Francisco he picked up his French style of cookery, along with stints at Daniel, DB Bistro Moderne, Cafe Boloud, and even an Executive sous chef spot at Jeanes Georges in New York City. In 2008 he was rated on of the top ten fifteen young new chefs by the James Beard Association.


So why does all of that matter. Well, I took a look at Irving Mill's website recently and found a picture of Chef Skeen lugging a small pig on his back, a man with a similar passion for the swine I must say. Upon further look, from a suggestion of a friend, I checked out his Valentine's Day menu. The main menu was the usual high end great food that one would expect from a restaurant like this, however, I scrolled down to the bottom of the page to find this wonderful addition to the menu.

7 Course Heart Tasting Menu $85

Chicken Heart Tempura with Sweet Garlic and Parsley Sauce
Duck Heart Confit & Crispy Duck Neck with Smoked Duck Bacon, Chicory and Poached Quail Egg
Grilled Pork Heart BLT with Tomato Confit, Horseradish Aioli, Parsley and Romaine
Squab Heart Sugo with Gnocchi and Burrata Cheese
Cured Shaved Lamb Heart with Pickled Beets, Rapini Leaves and Goat Cheese
Sweetbread Stuffed Calves Heart Grand Mere with Grilled Porcini, Thumbelina Carrots, Pearl Onions and Veal Bacon
Hearts of Palm Tres Leche


Holy cow, it's too bad the wonderful woman I am currently dating will be away for Valentine's Day, well maybe too bad for me and lucky for her in her mind. I might have to make a trip down to NYC for the day at any rate to just see for myself how good this chef might be. With the "guts" (pun inteneded) to put together a menu like this, along with his impressive resume, I'm guessing this menu will be an exciting venture.

Restaurant info:

Irving Mill
116th East 16th Street
New York, NY 10003
212-254-1600

website: http://www.irvingmill.com/restaurant/

Schenectady County Community College Knowledge Bowl Team

For the first time in over ten years, Schenectady county Community College will be representing the New York Capital District region in the Baron H. Galand Knowledge Bowl competition at the American Culinary Federation regional convention. This years convention will be held at the Westin in Boston, MA.

We have an amazing team this year representing the college. The members include Jose Arteche III (Captain), Evan Weissman, Lisa Valentine, Valerie Inman, and Daniel Sala. They have been practicing constantly for the last two months preparing themselves for this grueling academic competition which requires them to have a vast knowledge of culinary arts. the topics range from basic cooking and baking, to hospitality management, nutrition, sanitation, and knowledge of classical French cooking from Escoffier's le Guide Culinaire.

The competition will take place February 7th during the ACF regional convention which takes place from Feb. 7-9th. So please join me in wishing them luck next month while they take on this great challenge. The team captain and I will be on Channel 13 WNYT news in Albany next week at 8 am talking about the competition and then we will be preparing some healthy Super Bowl goodies afterward.

American Culinary Federation SCCC Spring Culinary Classic

American Culinary Federation
Capital District – Central New York
and
Schenectady County Community College

Spring Culinary Classic

Please join us on April 18-19 for a weekend of culinary excellence during an ACF sanctioned culinary competition. Local chefs and culinary students along with chefs and students traveling from far and wide to display their skills.

Local chefs will be competing in an intense Nutritional Hot Food (F/4) during which they must prepare an appetizer, soup or salad, entree, and dessert - ten portions each in a four-hour time limit with incorporation of the principles of moderation and balance as identified in The 1990 Dietary Guidelines for America, U. S. Department of Agriculture and US. Department of Health and Human Services.

Chefs will also be competing in a variety of other equally intense categories including single chef Market/Mystery Basket (F/1, F/3, F/5), two chef Market/Mystery basket (F/3), individual Contemporary dish (K/1-9, P/1-5), and “Student Skills” (S/1), Edible Cold Food (G), and Cold Food display (A-E) competitions.

For more information contact Chef Christopher Allen Tanner, CEC, CHE at 518-526-6427 or tannerca@sunysccc.edu