"culinary institute of america" news and stories

To celebrate the impending graduation of its 40,000th student, the Culinary Institute of America will hold a one-day trivia contest on Twitter on Nov. 4.

Throughout the day, the CIA will ask trivia questions on its @CIACulinary Twitter about everything from its textbook and history to basic cooking techniques. The CIA's Twitter followers who correctly answer the questions will be eligible to win autographed books by CIA graduates such as John Besh and high-end cookware.

Click here to follow the CIA on Twitter.

For many foodies, becoming a professional chef is a little bit like running away to join the circus. It seems impossible, the kind of bold, crazy move that is compelling simply because it is so unlikely. On the other hand, after hearing dinner guests repeatedly praise your cooking and loudly declaring that you should open a restaurant, it is easy to get lost in daydreams of culinary glory, imagining yourself joyfully preparing outstanding food, day after day, for a dining room full of excited, appreciative customers.

To get a better feel for the realities of the cooking trade, I talked to David Herr, a former engineer who followed the ultimate foodie dream and became a professional chef. For him, the path to culinary contentment began with a job that was, increasingly, becoming unenjoyable. After 20 years in the structural engineering field, he found that "Work was drying up, I was burning out, and I wanted something new. Since cooking was an innate part of my life, I decided that that was what I wanted to do next." After a great deal of research, David determined that his best route would be to enter a chef training program at either the Culinary Institute of America or New York City's French Culinary Institute. After a great deal of consideration, he decided to go with The French Culinary Institute, as its six-month program was shorter and cost less than CIA's 2-year course of study.

I am often skeptical of big, multi-purpose cookbooks. I'm something of a Joy of Cooking girl myself (particularly the edition printed in the late sixties/early seventies) and so I don't always see the utility of having additional huge, all-encompassing cookbooks taking up space on my shelves when I'm always going to turn to Joy.

However, as soon as I opened up the Culinary Institute of American Cookbook, my dedication to Irma Rombauer's opus started to crack just slightly, making me think that it might be a good idea to open myself up to a few more large tomes. There are a number of useful tricks in the introduction, including one that made me slap my hand to my head with its useful obvious. They advise to keep a stick of butter in the freezer and then use a vegetable peeler to detach small bits which will then easily melt on veggies or toast. Genius!

This is a book written and designed for home cooks (as opposed to many of the CIA's publications that are intended for students at the Institute). It's printed on a combination of glossy and matte paper, so that there are several sections of gorgeous pictures, scattered among larger sections of recipes. I was a little disappointed in the recipes, as they seem to be the same collection of world cuisine we see all over these days. There were a couple of recipes that caught my attention, though. I've earmarked the Warm Black-Eyed Pea Salad (page 45), Garlic Cheese Grits (page 183) and Chedder and Thyme Muffins (page 254).

Bottom line: If you have a full-to-bursting shelf of cookbooks, you don't need this book. However, if you're shopping for a cook that is just moving beyond beginner status, this could be a great book to help them walk down that path.

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I have never been to France (just Poland, Hong Kong and Indonesia). However, I dream about going someday, to have an opportunity to taste real French food (particularly the cheese). Until I find the time (and the budget) to make that trip, I've got a new cookbook to help me pretend and prepare. That book is Bistros and Brasseries: Recipes and Reflections on Classic Cafe Cooking. Written by two chef/instructors, John W. Fischer and Lou Jones, from the Culinary Institute of America it is an authentic and tasty collection of recipes that evoke the French bistro.

The book is divided up into six chapters, that focus on Cheeses and Aperitifs, Appetizers and Soups, Pancake and Egg-Based Dishes, Side Dishes, Main Dishes and Desserts in turn. There's also an additional section that discusses foundational cooking knowledge and can be immensely helpful for a novice cook.

For me, one of the marks of a good cookbook is when the writing conveys a personal involvement and appreciation for the food it is trying to convince you to prepare. This volume is so lucious with description that even opening the front cover inspires me to leap up and run to the stove, so that I can prepare the dish. If you are a fan of French cooking and are looking for some fresh spins on classic dishes, this might just be a good cookbook for you.

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