"CIA" news and stories

One of the nation's top cooking schools (and one the "expert" resources to KitchenDaily, Slashfood's sister site) has dramatically increased its commitment to Latin cuisine, opening a 30,000-square-foot campus in San Antonio dedicated to promoting "the true quality, depth and breadth of Latino cuisines in the United States."

The Culinary Institute of America has more than quadrupled the size of its Texas facilities, according to Nation's Restaurant News. The new digs not only offer more teaching kitchens and classrooms, but spaces that were specifically designed to teach traditional Latin American cooking techniques, such as an outdoor kitchen that includes a wood-fired clay comal, a parilla grill and an in-ground barbeque pit.

Most healthy cookbooks are written for home chefs by home chefs - or at least by those who specialize in writing for home chefs. Few are written from the perspective of professionals and even fewer are marketed towards them. The Professional Chef's Techniques of Healthy Cooking is an exception, then, as it was prepared by the Culinary Institute of America to give pros a "grounding in nutritional principles" and a base of healthier recipes to work from. That being said, home chefs and pros alike can benefit from this particular volume. The recipes cover a huge range of dishes and come off as being more elegant - and often more flavorful - than your standard low fat fare and the photos that accompany many of the dishes are sure to tempt even the most reluctant healthy eater. Fat does, of course, equal flavor in most restaurant dishes, so there is a lot of detailed discussion about enhancing the flavor of foods by choosing high quality base ingredients and working with spaces and fresh vegetables. For those who aren't just interested in cutting fat, there is plenty of information on using less sugar and salt, as well. The recipes rage from very basic sauces to complex main courses, and include Veal Stock, Pan-Seared Chicken Breast with Artichoke and Mustard Sauce, Broiled Swordfish with Tomatoes, Anchovies, and Garlic, Tropical Fruit Parfait with Honey-Vanilla Yogurt.

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The Culinary Institute of America has put out some great books in the past, all of which are not only good references for home cooks looking for creative recipes, but are great references for those interested in learning as much as possible about cooking techniques. The Culinary Institute of America Book of Soups: More than 100 Recipes for Perfect Soups is no exception. The book covers stocks, cream soups, cold soups and just about any other type of soup that you can think of in great detail, walking you through all the steps needed to perfect your technique. There are over 50 step-by-step instruction sets, as well as tips for correcting consistency and flavor. The emphasis is on classics, such as Vichyssoise, Clam Chowder and Cream of Tomato (which would be perfect with Grilled Cheese), but there are plenty of creative twists on standard flavors to keep things interesting for even adventurous cooks. On top of all the soup recipes, or rather following them, is a chapter dedicated to the accompaniments that can turn any soup into a meal, primarily breads, croutons and crackers.

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The Culinary Institute of America has launched an R&D program with several leading food-service players, including The Coca-Cola Co. and Campbell Soup Co. Who knew that the CIA was involved in food-service research? In my mind it's always been more well-known for turning out top chefs.

The other partners in the CIA's Menu R&D and Flavor Discovery Initiative are Tyson Foods and Ventura Foods. Each founding partner has ponied up $250,000 toward the project, which will focus on food science as it pertains to food service.

Applied research that can be published in trade journals is one of the venture's primary goals. The research areas will include flavor discovery, consumer preference and emerging food-service technologies. Perhaps the program's findings will help Hardee's come up with a salad that doesn't break the 800-calorie mark.

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Just reading the title of The Professional Chef, 8th Edition tells you exactly who the book is written for and what kind of recipes you're going to find inside. The book was complied by the Culinary Institute of America, based on the techniques that they are teaching now and the ones that were the foundation of modern cooking. It is part cookbook, part reference guide, as it was designed to be a "comprehensive 'bible for all chefs.'" Serious professional chefs will probably already have a copy, but it is a must have for anyone who intends to produce restaurant-quality food at home. And we're not taking the "quality" you'll find at a casual dining chain, either.

In addition to over 600 recipes, plus a number of variations on them, the book covers food safety, cooking tools, ingredients and nutrition. You'll find information on matching and balancing flavors, as well as in-depth instructions on the more than 125 different techniques that are used to create each of the dishes. The book also includes photographs of the components of dishes, the cooking processes and the finished plates, as well as step-by-step diagrams for many of the techniques that warrant it.

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