The Chicago Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International (LDEI) recently awarded scholarships totaling $22,500 to female students enrolled in professional culinary- and baking/pastry-arts programs throughout greater Chicago.

For more than 30 years, Les Dames d’Escoffier–Chicago has awarded scholarships to women pursuing careers in food, nutrition, wine and hospitality while enrolled full time in certificate- and degree-granting programs in Chicago-area postsecondary institutions. This year, scholarships in amounts of $5,000, $2,500 and $1,250 were granted based on academic performance, dedication to community service and financial need. Additionally, each recipient will be assigned a mentor from the local LDEI chapter to share expertise and guidance.

“Women are a significant force in Chicago’s vibrant culinary and hospitality scenes,” says Judith Dunbar Hines, chair of the 2013 Scholarship Committee of LDEI–Chicago and owner of Judith Dunbar Hines Culinary Services. “Since 1982, our members have lived our philanthropic mission in part by annually distributing scholarships and grants to assist women pursuing their passion. We’re proud, in our 31th year, to continue this grand tradition by recognizing and assisting seven talented students with the potential to become rising stars in the realm of food.”

Emmi Roth USA announces winners of the Grand Cru® Recipe Contest for culinary students, held in conjunction with CAFÉ.

Emmi Roth USA, a leading provider of specialty cheeses based in Monroe, Wis., recently announced the winner of its Grand Cru® Recipe Contest for Postsecondary Culinary Students. The contest, presented in conjunction with CAFÉ, challenged culinary students to create a unique and flavorful recipe highlighting Roth Grand Cru, a classic Alpine-style cheese.

Alex Hartfelder, 21, of Brentwood, Tenn., submitted the winning recipe—Grand Cru Pistachio Crisps with Spicy Red Pepper Jelly (pictured). As a second-year student at Nashville State Community College, he has been cooking since age 10. Hartfelder will soon realize one of his longtime culinary dreams and use the $1,000 prize money for travel to an internship in Italy. 

The winning recipe was inspired by his father’s favorite holiday cheese straws, which Hartfelder traditionally prepares using cheddar and walnuts. After sampling Grand Cru, the smoothness and earthiness of the cheese inspired him to re-conceptualize his cheese-straw recipe as a savory cracker with Grand Cru and pistachios, rounded out with homemade pepper jelly. Emmi Roth USA judges were impressed with the sophisticated combination of sweet, savory and spicy flavors, praising the buttery texture and the Grand Cru flavor that comes through in the cracker.

In 2013, bright flavors, “free from,” healthier horizons and the “new” convenience took center stage at the biggest foodservice tradeshow in the nation, held in Chicago in May. And are advances in ordering technology taking the “personal” out of service?

Courtesy of Olson Communications

The recent National Restaurant Association (NRA) Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show in May, like every year, provided a lot to be excited about. The show brings together operators across all segments of the industry. While talk among attendees focused on a number of the events away from McCormick Place, the NRA Show exhibit hall still delivered the latest products, flavors, equipment and technological advances.

The show featured several themes that are evident of the industry’s issues, challenges and trends. These themes could be found throughout the show floor and included healthy eating, beverages and flavor bursts.

Healthful and Uncomplicated Flavor
Complex, yet uncomplicated, was the flavor theme common to many new products. Preparations seen at the show in culinary demonstrations and around trendy Chicago restaurants that were a hit during the show featured simple ingredients, nothing fussy or overdone.

The iconic chef led top staff, purveyors and protégés in Sense of Urgency.

Expecting a cooking demonstration from one of the world’s greatest chefs, students at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) instead were treated to something completely different from Thomas Kelleron May 13.

The college hosted Thomas Keller Day at its Hyde Park, N.Y., campus with a keynote address from Keller and breakout sessions covering various restaurant business topics.

The day was scheduled to conclude with a “culinary presentation.” Instead of a traditional demo, however, Keller made his stage debut, leading his celebrated restaurants’ top staff members, including Eli Kaimeh ’00 of Per Se, purveyors and celebrated protégés such as Grant Achatz ’94 and Jonathan Benno ’93 in a one-act play.

“You often hear it said that restaurants are like theater, with a front of the house, a behind-the-scenes crew, a colorful cast of characters, a creative script,” Keller said. “Today we thought we’d take it literally.”

Sense of Urgency was the result—a performance developed by Keller’s team that portrays an evening of service at The French Laundry in Yountville, Calif., and named for the wording on a plaque that hangs under the kitchen clocks in all of Keller’s restaurants. The French Laundry is a Michelin Guide three-star restaurant that was honored as the World’s Best Restaurant by U.K.-based Restaurant magazine in 2003. “We observe the process of execution and the importance of relationships between the purveyors, farmers, and craftsmen of the products these chefs will use to serve their guests,” explains the playbill.

Nearly 1,000 CIA students attended the performance and hundreds more participated in the earlier presentation and breakout sessions, which were simulcast to the college’s campuses in Texas and California. Twenty lucky students were selected to have lunch with Keller.

Photo:Playbill for Sense of Urgency, a one-act play by Thomas Keller—featuring Grant Achatz, Jonathan Benno and others—that debuted at The Culinary Institute of America during Thomas Keller Day at the college’s Hyde Park, N.Y., campus on May 13, 2013.Courtesy ofCIA/Phil Mansfield.

Pittsburgh’s Jeff Sinciline helps Bayer Corporation develop a menu for employees worldwide to enjoy a celebratory lunch marking the company’s 150^th anniversary.

As Bayer Corporation marks the 150th anniversary of its founding this year, the company will hold an Employee Celebration Day luncheon for all 110,000-plus employees around the world on June 18, serving one international upscale menu to every employee on the same day. The anniversary menu was created using the expertise of five global Bayer “Celebration Chefs,” including the executive chef at Bayer’s Pittsburgh campus dining facility, Jeff Sinciline.

In preparation for the Celebration Day anniversary meal, Sinciline and a team of chefs from  Germany, China, France and Mexico worked for months to develop recipes with high-quality, fresh ingredients that are available worldwide, taking employees on a culinary trip around the globe while preparing the meals onsite at Bayer locations.

Creating a culture that recognizes differences in a positive manner is a key element of good teaching and an important strategy for making every student feel safe and secure while encouraging learning.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

Last month, we discussed ways to encourage critical thinking by using executive summaries and abstracts. This month and next, we will focus on issues of difference and diversity. In some ways, these topics are a natural follow-up to discussions of critical thinking since teaching about differences and diversity is about changing or broadening people’s minds and actions. It also helps them improve their perceptual and assessment skills.

Differences and Diversity
Increasingly, the membership of our classrooms has changed to include a wide range of students from all kinds of backgrounds and with all kinds of interests. The fascination of the culinary world and its prominent status, on the one hand, and the recessionary economy, on the other, has brought students into our programs who might never have been there before. In fact, the range of differences among our students can include any of the following (in alphabetical order to point out that no one difference is more important than another):

Says Chef Weiner, it’s time to assess ourselves as role models to our students, who witness more than we realize. And a tragedy hits home that we must work to positively influence those in our charge while we have the opportunity.

By Adam Weiner, CFSE

From January through April I addressed how to teach your students recipe skills and basic cooking skills. In May I took a break and wrote about the importance of teaching real networking. In that article, I stated that I would pick up with cooking techniques this month.

Please forgive me, but I changed my mind. I decided that with the end of the school year for most of you it is timely to consider our position as role models.

It is important that we, as teachers, take a look at ourselves and realize our impact upon students—sometimes beyond anything that we imagine. Further, we have skills and talents observed by our students without our realizing it. In May 2012, “The Gold Medal Classroom” published my article on assessment. So, now at the end of the year, it is time to do an assessment of ourselves as role models.

Find answers to hot (and cold) potato questions at dr.idahopotato.com.

The Dr. Potato Blog, the Idaho Potato Commission’s (IPC) popular resource for frequently asked questions about the state’s top crop, now has its own address. For answers to puzzling ingredient, technique and menu queries about Idaho^® potatoes, the Doctor is in at dr.idahopotato.com. Even better, operators, educators and students will find useful tips for maximizing the appeal and profitability of Idahopotato offerings.

Don Odiorne, IPC vice president-foodservice and Idaho potato-industry veteran, applies his practical and culinary experience to each response. His current posts tackle timely topics like healthy Idaho potato-menu options, the best internal temperature for a baked Idaho potato and techniques for baking 50 Idahopotatoes at a time.

Submit an Idaho potato question to Dr. Potato at dr.idahopotato.com. To browse the Idaho Potato Commission’s foodservice-recipe database, “Passionate About Potatoes” foodservice ad campaign, and shippers and processor directory, or to download the Idaho Potato Commission Foodservice Toolkit, visit foodservice.idahopotato.com.

To order a “Passionate About Potatoes” chef recipe set, email the Idaho Potato Commission at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call (208) 334-2350.

A significant profit center in any foodservice operation is energy efficiency and savings.

By Jay Fiske

As the economy and the foodservice industry appear to be gaining steam, are you prepared to reap the full benefit? While operators are conditioned to keep a tight rein on food and labor costs, when it comes to overhead, many throw up their hands in frustration and resignation. You might not be able to change the terms of your lease or rising property taxes, but with a few easy actions, you can control much of your energy destiny.

Best of all, every energy dollar saved is pure profit. For an operation with an 8% profit margin, you’d have to increase sales by $12.50 to add just one dollar in profits. To keep that in perspective, if you cut $500 a month in energy expense, that adds an additional profit of $6,000 per annum. To generate that profit in the traditional way, you’d have to increase sales by $75,000. So there’s not a moment to lose!

As cooks, we exist to express ourselves, learn and work together as a team and produce some amazing art that people in the dining room will eat, smell and enjoy.

By Paul Sorgule, MS, AAC

To some it may be a job, a means to an end. Yes, there are those who work in kitchens simply to pay the bills. This is not true of the people with whom I strove to work and hired for the kitchens in which I was privileged to work.

When you stop to think about it, there is something truly magical about working in a professional kitchen. I have often said that most serious cooks are frustrated artists—individuals who have this innate artistic ability that is simply looking for a vehicle of expression. Some are writers, painters, sculptors, bloggers, musicians or even poets. Few are outgoing enough to have an interest in the live performing arts, so their goal is to find a place where they can be expressive behind closed doors. Ah … the kitchen, what a perfect place.

Once they find their way into that cross between the cleanliness of a surgical room and intensity and heat of Dante’s Inferno, they are hooked. Just think of the advantages for the artist: an environment where every day you get to paint on your canvas (the plate), use a plethora of exciting raw materials, appeal to every human sense simultaneously, earn a paycheck, work with other driven artists, learn from a teacher (the chef), and receive instant feedback for your work (although many cooks could care less as long as they feel that the work is an expression of who they are).