The New England Culinary Institute’s (NECI) Baking and Pastry Department chair, Chef Michael Rhoads, was awarded a silver medal the prestigious “Salon of Culinary Art” competition held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City in November 2012.

The “Salon of Culinary Art,” organized by the Société Culinaire Philanthropique, is presented each year during the International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show. The salon welcomes competitors from around the world who showcase their skills using traditional and modern techniques to present current trends in the culinary world.

“Chef Michael’s showing at this important culinary competition is a monumental win, for him and for NECI,” said Chef Jean-Louis Gerin, the school’s vice president of culinary operations and executive chef. “The competition couldn’t be harder, and Chef Michael’s silver-place trophy demonstrates his exceptional skill.”

The Société Culinaire Philanthropique is one of the oldest chefs associations in the United States. Founded in 1865, it regroups chefs, cooks, pastry chefs, bakers and butchers, including some of America's most famous chefs. This year marked the 144th Annual Salon of Culinary Art competition.

With the official opening of the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts’ Cuisine Solutions Sous-Vide Training Kitchen on Oct. 19, 2012, foodservice professionals throughout the United States and around the world can register for online theoretical courses on sous vide as well as workshops with certified sous-vide instructors.

An audio recording of a presentation on sous-vide cooking by Renee Zonka, RD, CEC, CHE, dean of Kendall’s School of Culinary Arts, is available by clicking here. Zonka spoke Aug. 1, 2012, to an enthusiastic audience on a leading trend in the foodservice and food-manufacturing industries with “Sous Vide: Why This ‘Rediscovered’ Cooking Method Might Be Right for You” at the 2012 R&D Applications Seminar in Rosemont, Ill.

Zonka’s presentation includes the history of sous vide, which traces to the late-18th century and was rediscovered by American and French engineers in the mid-1960s as an industrial food-preservation method. She further explains how cell walls of meats and vegetables are damaged by high-heat cooking, which can make foods mushy and dried out. By heating foods in an environment that approximates desired finished temperature, meats retain moisture and vegetables become firm/tender and remain intact. Because the sous-vide technique involves vacuum-sealing, seasonings and flavors penetrate foods effectively.

Zonka was invited to present at the R&D Applications Seminar because of Kendall College’s professional culinary-arts training programs and its partnership with Cuisine Solutions, Masters of Sous Vide since 1971. The partnership led to launch of the Cuisine Solutions Sous-Vide Training Kitchen and curriculum at Kendall College’s Riverworks campus. In addition to offering expert training and certification in the sous-vide process to seasoned culinary professionals through Cuisine Solutions’ education arm, the Culinary Research and Education Academy (CREA), the new kitchen and curriculum also benefit Kendall’s associate- and baccalaureate-degree culinary students.

The American Personal & Private Chef Association (APPCA) based in San Diego, Calif., recently announced official endorsement of the Escoffier Online International Culinary Academy, which launched last June by Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Triumph Higher Education Group at www.escoffieronline.com.

Modeled after prestigious culinary institutes worldwide, Escoffier Online offers a comprehensive curriculum of cooking techniques and fundamentals via an online platform that combines learning essentials into one intuitive, easy-to-use interface.

“We are pleased to endorse the Escoffier Online International Culinary Academy,” says Candy Wallace, founder and executive director of the APPCA. “This contemporary method of culinary-arts instruction is an ideal avenue for learning—not only for those entering the culinary profession, but for home cooks, as well. For would-be cooks who aspire to formal culinary-arts training, but whose life demands don’t facilitate enrollment in a traditional brick-and-mortar program, Escoffier Online offers an eminently convenient and affordable option.”

Physical structure and location are no longer as important as the ability to promote a good food product through both traditional and innovative means. Beyond pop-up restaurants, touch-screen ordering and food trucks, what’s next on the horizon?

By Douglas D. Stuchel, MAT, CHE

The restaurant business has traditionally relied on word-of-mouth advertising as a method of marketing and driving repeat business. Usually, this exchange has resulted directly from conversations between friends/acquaintances who have recently dined at a particular facility.

We are, however, rapidly becoming a society that uses such mobile applications as Urbanspoon, Foodspotting and OpenTable to guide us to restaurants based on the opinions and recommendations of people we do not know and, most likely, will never meet.

It used to be said that if you had a bad meal at a restaurant you would tell approximately 10 friends about the experience. Today, a bad online review can reach hundreds of potential customers in real time, influencing their dining decision and immediately impacting a restaurant’s bottom line.

Here are five trends and 10 accompanying flavor combinations (farro, blackberry and clove, anyone?) predicted to catalyze menu innovation this year.

Hunt Valley, Md.-based McCormick & Company recently revealed its McCormick® Flavor Forecast® 2013, now in its 13th year. The report is an annual spotlight on the emerging trends that will drive flavor innovation over the next several years.

Compiling insights from a team of McCormick chefs, sensory scientists, dietitians, trend trackers, marketing experts and food technologists in more than 100 countries over the course of a year, Flavor Forecast highlights distinctive food trends and flavors that have a common thread throughout the world.

For 2013, five trends and 10 accompanying flavor combinations are predicted to be the catalyst for menu innovations that are global and personal:

 Food-waste consciousness, “mini meals” and veganism top the list of consumer health trends that will dominate this year.

The growth of food waste consciousness, mini meals, gluten-free products and mainstream veganism top the health trends expected to make headlines in 2013, according to a second-annual forecast by a leading national research group studying health-related attitudes and behavior in America.

The Values Institute at DGWB,a social-science research entity based in Santa Ana, Calif., used observational studies to identify the top health and wellness trends that Americans are most likely to embrace in 2013. A collaboration with DGWB’s BalancedHealthy practice, serving clients in the health and wellness space, the annual list is an extension of the Institute’s work in values-based marketing and social entrepreneurialism and long-term partnership with the international research firm Iconoculture of Minneapolis.

The top five consumer health trends for 2013 will be:

This year, mixers will matter and whiskeys will wow. Also, hard ciders go up a notch, and expect the Americanized version of the German Biergarten to blossom.

Chicago-based trend-tracker Technomic tapped its analysts, consultants and experts to highlight the trends shaping the drinks business in 2013. Based on ongoing research into spirits, wine and beer volume and sales, as well as surveys, interviews and discussions involving brand marketers, on-premise and retail operators, bartenders and consumers, these insights are supported by Technomic’s extensive adult-beverage database including its Trends in Adult Beverage reports and other tools, such as MenuMonitor and the consumer-tracking Project CO-PILOT.

The major developments influencing adult-beverage choices in 2013 include:

According to Mintel research, turkey products report stronger growth than chicken, partly due to increasing interest in heritage breeds.

When it comes to poultry sales, chicken rules the roost, but according to new research from Mintel on the U.S. poultry market, sales of turkey, duck and other specialty birds grew a considerable 6.5% in just one year, reaching $7.1 billion (2011-12).

Growing from $6 billion in 2008, other poultry products, largely consisting of turkey, grew the most in this category. Moreover, more than eight in 10 (84%) Americans say they eat turkey; chicken is eaten by 94% and other poultry, such as duck, goose and hen, are consumed by 23% of the population.

Today, poultry in the United States is valued at $30 billion (2012), with chicken parts accounting for 58% of the total poultry market. Worth $17.3 billion in 2011, sales of chicken parts grew 4.5% year on year. Meanwhile, whole chickens weren’t chicken scratch, with sales of $5.5 billion in 2012, an increase of 0.6% over 2011.

Ris Lacoste, owner of RIS in Washington, D.C., got her big break while typing recipes at La Varenne Écôle de Cuisine in France. Today a chef celeb and successful restaurateur, she has a particular message for women in culinary: You can handle the job. Lacoste should know.

By Lynn Schwartz

Ris Lacoste has been a culinary shining star in Washington, D.C., for more than two decades. She arrived in the nation’s capital from New England in 1987 to help Chef Bob Kinkead open Twenty-One Federal and then Kinkead’s American Brasserie. Washingtonian magazine named them Restaurateurs of the Year in 1992. Lacoste then spent 10 years as executive chef of Georgetown’s 1789 Restaurant, where her innovative, regional fare earned numerous awards and national recognition.

Lacoste is also a writer and created “Cooking for Julia,” a PBS documentary celebrating Julia Child’s 90^th birthday. When Lacoste faced a big birthday of her own, 50, she knew it was now or never to open a restaurant, and RIS, situated in the heart of D.C.’s West End, was born. “I suppose opening a restaurant is really a young man’s job,” Lacoste says, “but I also know that RIS is successful because I’ve come with years of experience. I know what I want. I know how to get things done.”

Like it or not, for a growing number of our students, Facebook is the preferred means of communicating—with everyone. To help them use their Facebook sites effectively, we need to remind them of at least three important guidelines: audience, permanence and development.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

In December, we talked about e-mail and the e-mail pledge that represents a focus on communicating clearly and with respect using e-mail. This month, we will talk about Facebook.

Facebook as E-mail
A number of students and others use Facebook as a means of communication to others. Instead of just friending people, building a profile, posting pictures and jointly playing games and other activities, Facebook has become, for them, the preferred way of sending messages, following up on conversations and chatting. In fact, a number of my colleagues reported getting thank-you notes during this holiday season through Facebook and not via regular e-mail.