By Adam Weiner

Says Chef Weiner, even in short classes, instructors must stop doing the mise en place themselves unless they plan on accompanying students to their first jobs.

There are five “P”s of professional cooking: Planning, Preparation, Presentation, Passion and Pride. Presentation and planning have appeared in past “50-Minute Classrooms.” Now, preparation.

I tell students that preparation (aka MISE EN PLACE) is everything. I start with an example of changing the oil in a car. You don't get under the car, climb out and get a wrench, climb back under and then climb out and go to the store to buy a filter, etc. You first get everything next to the car.

Fifteen of 26 chefs have qualified to compete in the second of two culinary competitions to determine who will be selected to represent the United States on ACF Culinary Team USA at the Culinary World Cup in Luxembourg this November and the 2012 International Culinary Art Exhibition (IKA), commonly referred to as the “culinary Olympics,” in Erfurt, Germany.

Starting in Fall 2010, sophomore Baking & Pastry Arts majors at Johnson & Wales University will have the opportunity to fulfill their internship requirement in an intensive baking and pastry-arts program offered by France’s leading pastry-arts school, L’Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Pâtisserie (ENSP).

Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) has released a new resource to help navigate the waters of sustainability titled "Alaska Seafood Sustainability In Plain English."

With the seafood sustainability trend sweeping the world, it’s important for foodservice operators to provide consumers with transparent information about the seafood they source.

As consumers have been inundated with eco-labels and color-coded ‘eat-this-not-that’ seafood sustainability messages, ‘Sustainability In Plain English’ offers a holistic perspective looking at what really constitutes sustainable seafood in Alaska.

Brian Schreiber is almost famous. That’s because the Chicago-based Kendall College School of Culinary Arts student won the 8th-Annual S.Pellegrino® Almost Famous Chef® North Central Regional Competition on January 22 at The International Culinary School at The Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago.

Following the success of Sullivan University’s culinary team that traveled to Beijing to cook at the 2008 Olympic Games, the school’s National Center for Hospitality Studies (NCHS) based in Louisville, Ky., is proud to announce that it will send another group of students, alumni and faculty to cook for the athletes at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The group, consisting of one chef instructor, three students and three alumni, will be part of the team providing food service at the two USA Houses, the hospitality centers for the U.S. Olympic Committee, sponsors, athletes and guests.

Twenty foodservice instructors from professional culinary schools across the country will further their cheese education this summer as they tour farms, cheese plants and restaurants in Wisconsin, the country's largest cheese producer.

By Harry J. Crane

The president of the Research Chefs Association encourages creative and science-minded students to explore Culinology®.

Your students may have a deep love for the culinary arts, and many may also have a desire to explore careers outside of foodservice. The growing area of food research and development (R&D) offers opportunities for those who want to expand their careers into this niche. Exploring the discipline of Culinology®—the blending of culinary arts and food science—is the first step toward becoming a research chef.

By Eric Stein, M.S., R.D.

Can the words “light,” “healthy” and “desserts” even be used in the same sentence? More than ever, chefs are proving that they can.

Most basic dessert recipes rely on just a few key ingredients, such as butter, granulated sugar, eggs, heavy cream, chocolate and flour. Although the outcome is usually tasty, these ingredients often result in desserts full of empty calories and few nutrients. In a time of calorie-conscious consumers, chefs are beginning to take basic dessert preparations and make them healthier through the use of ingredient alternatives and by adding nutrient-rich foods.

Courtesy of Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board

Deadline for a new CAFÉ recipe contest featuring Wisconsin cheeses in healthful applications is April 1.

In our world of an overwhelming amount of information, some of us still don't have the right information! Such is the case among some culinary professionals and consumers when it comes to cheese and its healthfulness. Current food-trend information points to a high interest in healthfulness and well-being, a trend that many chefs are anxious to heed, so it's important to know the facts.

To put a misinformed rumor to rest, cheese is not a no-no in healthy diets—it absolutely can be part of a healthy diet, and not just reduced-fat styles, but the types of cheese restaurant patrons love—mozzarella, cheddar, Parmesan, blue and fontina, for example. Using cheese in moderation and choosing appropriate applications are the keys to keeping the succulent flavor of cheese on the menu while offering choices that fit with today's health-conscious diner.