From Hong Kong to New York, thousands of pork shanks will be simmered in solidarity to honor an iconic Italian recipe. To find out more information about the GVCI and the IDIC please go to itchefsGVCI and click on the IDIC.

As a warm up to the great day, the Italian Studies program at the International Culinary Center hosted five Michelin- starred chefs from the motherland. That evening, the gala dinner was attended by New York Italian superstar chefs.

Below is a  glimpse of some of the demonstrations that wowed us during the day, and  of course the most delicious part of all- the gala dinner!

Pizza Master Domenico Crolla, Pizza with Mushrooms

Chef Jessica Botta, Master chef Pietro Zito, The Magic of Making Fresh Pasta

Master Butcher Simone Fracassi

Final plates risotto competition

Gala dinner, Kevin Garcia-'Cesca, Mark Ladner-Del Posto

Fortunato Nicotra-Felidia

Pino Luongo-Centolire

Fabio Trabocchi-Fiola, Washington, DC

Acquerello Carnaroli with Montoro onion cream, Smoked swordfish fillets, lemon & chili scented crispy seaweed, mantecato with Grana Padano

Mixed pasta minestra with reef fish and crustaceans

Cod, whipped potatoes & ginger, dried fruit, anchovies colatura

Neapolitan rum soaked yeast cake

You see, The International Culinary Center started a special three month program on cakes.  We have a professional pastry program that lasts six months, cakes are covered within that course. But cakes have evolved…becoming delicious pieces of culinary architecture and we realized we needed a little graduate program devoted just to them, diving deep into the world of this rich, moist and sometimes staggeringly beautiful dessert.

Visiting Master Pastry Chef-Instructor Ron Ben-Israel, Pastry Chef-Instructor Cynthia Peithman, and students, Cake Techniques & Design class

The English word cake comes from the Vikings’ Old Norse, kaka.  Until the late 1400s cake referred to bread-like, often savory preparations. Historically they are round.  They did not take the form of a sweetened dessert until the 1700s, when ovens and refined ingredients first became widely available.  Today cakes are transformed from the traditional rounds into any shape or size you can imagine.  It takes more than a little knowledge and an oven to transform cakes into masterpieces.

To be a professional cakemaker you have to know your ingredients from gum arabic to vitelline membrane.  You have to make fondants, temper chocolate, make ribbons out of blown sugar, shape and color sugar paste flowers, make charlottes, mousses and custards and a huge list of other techniques, all to be assembled with the craftiness of an Egyptian pyramid builder!  Just look at the cakes from our first class which graduated recently.  I can now admit that my beloved humble pie does not have the depth of the cake pedigree (though it still tastes good!).

If you are interested in opening up a cake business, look up our cake program at the International Culinary Center. You are only three months away from creating some amazing feats with flour, butter, sugar and baking soda!

The first graduating class, Cake Techniques & Design, Senior VP of Education & Student Affairs, Christopher Papagni, Pastry Chef-Instructor, Cynthia Peithman

Of course the playdough of culinary technologists is liquid nitrogen. There was plenty of the stuff on the stage, set to freeze all manner of things. I made a comment that I was very wary about possible harmful effects if the liquid nitrogen fell on anyone. Nathan assured me that hot cooking oil was worse. Well, I wouldn’t want to experience that either! He then challenged me to put my hand in a tub of liquid nitrogen.

He and Dave Arnold were dipping their hands in and laughing. They finally coaxed me up there, Nathan took my hand, plunged it in and out faster than I could think…and I lived! My hand didn’t even feel cold. It did feel smoother. All in all though, I wouldn’t suggest you try it at home.

Perhaps you’re thinking, “well, rich company, easy job”. Logistics however, make it less than easy. Google serves over 10,000 meals three times a day. They have 27 full-on cafeterias, each with a different food profile. Some are Latin American, some health food oriented, some good old American hamburger centric. The food is sourced impeccably: 60% of it is farm to table and 30% of that is bought directly from local farms. They buy their fish directly from boats at Half Moon Bay or in futures from Alaskan fisherman. They smoke their own salmon.

The chefs themselves -there are 7 executive chefs- come from pedigreed backgrounds (the kitchen of Gary Danko for example) and their enthusiasm for what they do is infectious.Talk about a diverse clientele? From Barack Obama to Lady GaGa. Whoa!

Touring the Google campus

And then the campus itself is dotted with bicycles and clean cars. It took hours to visit just a few of their cafeterias. There are also 165 minor kitchens stocking snacks. They take their coffee seriously too. They stock at least three or more different boutique brands, including Bare Foot, Blue Bottle Coffee and Four Barrel Coffee.  It is mandatory that all coffees have a roast date of less than one week.  I wonder if you can google the cumulative caffeine factor that goes into each search?

That sunny day, the fresh California air, the youthful exuberance all round the Google campus… no wonder they get 1,000 applicants per job opening.

We are very fortunate to have a great graduate there, Daniel Castano. We had dinner with Daniel at a wonderful restaurant Arcanos Mayores which oozed local color. A mother and daughter cooked with flair and real home feeling. The kitchen was the center of the restauant and the tables surrounding it were colorfully tiled. Even the second floor tables were placed on a balcony overlooking the kitchen. Needless to say, this was our kind of place.

As usual we started with the house drinks. We explored the exotic fruits and our favorite cocktail contributor was the lulu fruit. Not sweet, it was full of fresh flavor. To me there was a tinge of grass with a fruit feel in the mouth. They paired  this with their local alcohol and some grenadine and marischino cherries. It tastes better than it sounds.

The food products of Columbia are world class. To quote David Arnold our Director of Culinary Tech,(who joined us on his 2nd trip to Columbia), “they have the best eggs in the world!” The chicken was so tasty, I now remember what chicken is supposed to taste like. Aside from this, what they are known for is their meat. Most of the restaurants have the word Carne (meat) in it. We were in gaucho land.  And thank god, they are not an overprocessed nation.  Local is a way of life here.

Academics and practicioners from all over South America attended. It was a wonderful chance to learn and explore what is happening in the food scenes in the Latin countries. Univerisities from Brazil to Columbia have added gastronomy programs. School food is an important topic. Native fruits, vegetables and historical cooking are passionately defended.

It was great to walk around the food halls and bump into famous Mexican chefs. We got to drink coca tea and find out that the acai berry from Columbia has more anti oxidants than any other. Once again the array of fruits boggled the mind. Stay tuned, you are going to hear about Columbia as one of the next big food countries.

]]> http://www.lovewhatyoudo.com/index.php/2011/10/bogota-foodies-meet/feed/ 0 http://www.lovewhatyoudo.com/index.php/2011/10/brasil-a-gosto/ http://www.lovewhatyoudo.com/index.php/2011/10/brasil-a-gosto/#comments Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:07:47 +0000 Dorothy http://www.lovewhatyoudo.com/?p=3777 If you go to Brazil and want to taste its local products and cuisine you must go to Brasil a Gosto in Sao Paulo. The chef, Ana Luiza Trajano goes to extreme lengths to bring the cooking of the various regions to the capital city and it is very successfully done. In addition to a wonderful dining room reflecting the artisanal arts of Brazil, a few times a year Chef Ana Luiza honors one of the its regions. She visits the region with a videographer and captures the locals cooking their cuisine to bring back for her menus while also filming the food harvested in its natural setting.

When I was at the restaurant earlier this month the northeast coastal region of Paraiba was being featured. On the wall videos of the region and its cooking methods were projected prominently in the dining room. Normally there would be a flat panel TV playing these images. However in a bow to aesthetics and Chef Trajano’s immaculate attention to detail, she had a wall papered with jungle vegetation, then strategically placed large rectangles where the vidoes seamlessly found a home despite being huge and projected. This makes it easy for the diners to see and quite frankly captivating to watch. It was wonderful to eat these new foods and at the same time see how they were harvested and then cooked locally. The menus themselves were handcrafted, so I could not take one to report to you all the wonderful dishes but ingredients included goat’s meat, lobster, dried beef, native cheeses and beef.

We started with the bartender’s suggestion of a jabuticaba caipirinha. The caipirinha is Brazil’s national cocktail, usually composed of cachaca (a liquor made from fermented sugarcane), sugar and lime. The jabuticaba berry was in season and we were given a plate of the walnut-sized fruit to taste.  The berry’s taste was reminiscent of a tough skinned concord grape.  It was a bit bitter, which proved a perfect foil to the sugary caipirinha.

The amuse plate had many fried offerings but I was captivated by the grilled native curd cheese, coalho, washed with a Brazilian molasses then speared on a skewer. The taste was so addictive, I could have made a dinner just of those!

For my main course I had to order the Amazonian fish pirarucu. It is a fresh water white fish. I commented to my Brazilian friends that it must be a huge fish because my filets were almost an inch thick. It was succulent, sweet and delcious.  Yes, you should be jealous that I got to taste this delicacy.

Pirarucu

The desserts in Brazil are very sweet and very tropical.  Coconut is one of the more dominent flavors.  Here, we had a corn pudding flavored with tropical sugars and coconut.  I can’t tell you had scrumptious it was.  Obrigada Chef Ana Luiza!

We visited a Senac in what was described as one of the rougher neighborhoods in Rio. When I arrived at the school I commented that the tough neighborhood was very clean, neatly lined with cars and topped with satelitte dishes. I need to take them to the East New York in Brooklyn to show them a struggling neighborhood.

Well, this school serviced 7,000 students in Culinary, Beauty and other arts. Rio will host both the World Cup and the Olympics in the next few years and they need all the hands they can get. The government is investing heavily to vocationally educate the citizens. It was joyous and delicious to walk in their classrooms. The students had been waiting for us and had prepared some Brazilian delicacies for us to taste. We loved them! and the food was delicious. I think Rio will be gastronomically ready when the crowds arrive. So if you are lucky enough to get to the World Cup or the Olympics, don’t pass up the local food!

First of all, Brazil is known for its juices. The natives of Rio (called Cariocas) were pushing their orange juice. It is delicious though I do think Florida juicers rival them on citrus, but their passionfruit, acai, and cashew juice (pictured left), really give your palate a wake up call. In fact down here, I am ready to squeeze aside wine and beer for these exotic drinks! Okay, I  will admit I like to also add their native alcohol  Cachacha which gives a little punch.

Another thrill was going for Brazilian Bar B Que. I don’t know how these restaurants started but the parades of meats that descend on the table every four and a half minutes had us reeling, they were superb and plentiful. The restaurant even gives each person a little sign: face up is green and means, ” Yes, more please!”, but face down is red and means “No, I give up!”

Our friends took us to Porcao, billed as the best BBQ in the world. It is definitely up there. The view wins hands down- we could see the lagoon, Sugar Loaf mountain and the iconic Christ statue. The tropical beaches surrounded us.

Now back to the food! I must say the sirloin was the best I ever tasted. I had never seen a sword of chicken hearts so tantalizing nor a rump steak taste so tender. What was the most curious was that even though this was a meat extravaganza, the restaurant also had a sushi bar and huge buffet with salads, salamis and shrimp!  I get it now. Brazil prides itself on its diversity of people but it is the diverse offerings in the restaurants that capture their appetites.

The Sword of Chicken Hearts, Porcao

The International Culinary Center's Tony Garcia and the Rump Steak

Margo True

The magazine is housed in an extraordinary building. It embodies the essence of California. While Margo toured me, I mentioned that it reminded me of the Mondavi winery in Napa. She laughed and told me that Robert Mondavi had visited Sunset and hired the same architect to build his eponymous winery. The one thing Mondavi could not replicate were the extraordinary gardens. There are grass gardens, succulent gardens, exquisite pine trees and the most enviable vegetable garden. We tiptoed into that garden because it was lunch time and some of the staff were practicing Tai Chi in glen! It was an”OMG!” workplace. No wonder the magazine is so beautiful and inspired.

Sunset vinegar

But I also think that has a lot to do with Margo and her colleagues. I was captivated as she told me that she decided to try to have the magazine go a year with eating off their land. That meant raising chickens, canning, making vinegar, crushing grapes with her feet to make wine and finding the wheat to transform into flour. I ate some of the bounty. Delicious!

And the test kitchen was abuzz…by the way it looked out towards the garden. We were trying salads for an upcoming issue. I wouldn’t know which one to pick. We drank a lovely Pinot Blanc from Chalone and they literally had to pry me out of the door to get me to leave.

A parting gift was their amazing book, The One-Block Feast: An Adventure in Food from Yard to Table, about how they went about living the year making all their own food. It has become one of my favorite food books of all time. Check it out!