Did you know that a whopping 95% of all wild salmon is harvested in Alaska? From black cod to king crab to sockeye salmon, here’s a primer on Alaska’s sustainable finfish and shellfish for the classroom.

Courtesy of Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute

Since admittance into the Union as the 49th state in 1959, Alaska has served as a model of fisheries management around the globe. One reason for this is that Alaska remains the lone state in the nation with a constitutional mandate stipulating all fish “be utilized, developed and maintained on the sustained yield principle.” Effective, precise management ensures Alaska’s fisheries are productive, sustainable, clean and healthy—as mandated by the Alaska state government.

Wild-caught Alaska salmon, whitefish varieties and shellfish mature at a natural pace, and swim freely in the pristine waters off Alaska's rugged 34,000-mile coastline. Alaska harvests more than 56% of all seafood caught in the United States, and if it were a country, Alaska would rank ninth in the world for seafood production. Alaska pollock is the largest food fishery in the world, and 95% of all wild salmon is harvested in Alaska.

Says this career educator, whether students in your program have a practice restaurant or not, teaching respect for the staff meal and how it contributes to a sense of team will follow your graduates to the kitchens that they work in and eventually run.

By Paul Sorgule, MS, AAC

I just finished watching the United States Girls Gymnastics Team complete an impressive collaborative win. What was most impressive was not their individual athleticism (incredible), but more importantly how they worked together, felt together, supported each other and fed off of each other’s strengths. This is such an impressive feat that I naturally began to think about how this same energy and working philosophy could be imbedded in a culinary-school curriculum. The significance of team is what it’s all about.

I had the privilege many years ago of participating as a member of the 1988 U.S. New England Culinary Olympic Team, an experience that changed my entire outlook on life and my profession. We became a family and learned through trial and error to build on each other’s strengths and accept and help each other with our weaknesses. Yes, we very successful in the Frankfurt “Olympics,” but more importantly we discovered what it meant to get past teamwork and move on to “team.”

Five ways to incorporate nutritious dry peas, lentils and chickpeas into the most important meal of the day.

By Ali McDaniel

A balanced and nutritious breakfast is often touted as the most important meal of the day. But combining the needs of consumers with recommended dietary guidelines can be a difficult task for foodservice operators, especially when competing with tasty, yet unhealthy, convenience products.

Though not usually viewed as a breakfast ingredient, pulses (dry peas, lentils and chickpeas), their flours and purées can be easily substituted for traditional ingredients in morning favorites. Packed full of nutrients, pulses are the perfect addition to many popular dishes—helping foodservice operators achieve USDA MyPlate and school dietary guidelines without sacrificing taste or texture.

By Bradley J. Ware, PhD, and C. Lévesque Ware, PhD

Lectures can be a very effective tool for the chef/instructor if they are carefully planned, prepared and organized. In conjunction with the course outline, the course syllabus and lesson plans must be developed to serve as guides in the creation of quality lectures. Once these instruments are in place, it is time to prepare lecture notes to guarantee the best delivery possible of the course content.

The syllabus generally lists the course objectives sequentially. Course objectives provide a summary of the material/skills that the student is expected to master by the completion of the course. Once all of the course objectives are established, the chef/instructor can devise a list of topics that will be covered throughout the lab/academic course. These topics ultimately facilitate the development of lecture topics.

National Honey Board awards $8,000 in Culinary Institute of America scholarships to culminate Sweet 16 Honey Recipe Challenge

After intense deliberations, the National Honey Board named CIA student Perry Xu Cao, enrolled in the Hyde Park, N.Y., campus, the grand-prize winner of the inaugural “Sweet 16 Honey Recipe Challenge.” Cao was awarded the $5,000 scholarship for his Goat Cheese Tempura with Honey Dipping Sauces following a morning of fierce but friendly competition at the Aug. 20 Sweet 16 Honey Recipe Challenge’s “Final Four” cook-off event at CIA Greystone in St. Helena, Calif.

Cao’s winning recipe was a simple yet elegant appetizer featuring three varietals of honey infused with aromatics to create mouthwatering sauces, providing a delicious balance to the crispy, citrus-laced and savory goat-cheese tempura. His tempura recipe was inspired in part by his first kitchen job, making shrimp tempura. For the Sweet 16 Honey Recipe Challenge, Cao artfully concocted three dipping sauces, infusing three honey varietals (from ubiquitous clover to bold buckwheat) with floral essences and uniting them with spices and flavorful berries. The result is a mouthwatering appetizer that can be dressed up or down, suitable for white-tablecloth to fast-casual establishments. For high-volume applications, the dipping sauces can be prepared in advance and easily served using squeeze bottles. What’s more, the colorful sauces will complement a variety of savory items, including pork, chicken and vegetables.