Gold Medal Classroom

Apr 2, 2025, 6:28

50-Minute Classroom: How to Order

Thursday, 06 November 2014 03:00

For newer culinary-arts teachers, ordering can seem a daunting task. But it’s really quite simple, says Chef Weiner, who suggests three basic ways to order for day-to-day teaching (while taking into consideration two common snags). His chief advice? Under order.

By Adam Weiner, CFSE

This article is dedicated to the newer instructors. If you are experienced in ordering for teaching purposes, then feel free to skip this article and join me again next month.

If you are new to teaching, you have only been ordering for your class for a short time. By now you are probably banging your head into the wall, particularly if you have never ordered for a foodservice facility.

In the beginning, new chefs and instructors tend to over order. This is only slightly burdensome for non-perishables and freezer items (although sooner or later space becomes an issue). This can be a real money loser for perishable items that can’t be frozen.

WORK VERY HARD to under order. Remember, your job is to teach the students how to cook—not to feed them. If they only get a half serving (or even a taste), so be it.

Think Tank: Preparing Students to Be Humble, Caring and Generous

Wednesday, 05 November 2014 03:00

As much as our primary educational mission is to prepare students to be professionally successful in their chosen career, Chef Sorgule asserts our obligation extends far beyond: Educators have a responsibility to help mold good citizens, community leaders and honorable members of society.

By Paul Sorgule, MS, AAC

Chefs and restaurateurs have historically been some of the most generous people that I have known; however, this generous nature grows by following the lead of mentors who set the example.

When disaster strikes, when others are in need, when a good cause cries out for support, chefs and restaurateurs are typically at the front of the line to help. This caring nature is what has always drawn me to restaurant people and something that I feel is paramount to truly experiencing a level of personal success.

As crusty as some chefs and restaurateurs appear to be, they care about others both on their team and in the community at large. Chefs, in particular, are very protective of their team, oftentimes going above the call of duty to support and help when there is a need.

Lesson Plan: The Professional Chef Discovers Maine Lobster

Tuesday, 04 November 2014 03:00

From recipes to roe, and from properly extracting meat from the shell and paring it with wines, this free online learning course from The Culinary Institute of America is suitable for culinary-arts students in class and as homework.

The Culinary Institute of America has launched a free online learning course, “The Professional Chef Discovers Maine Lobster.” The program provides a crash course in all things Maine lobster, including chef-tested recipes, all downloadable and demonstrated in streaming HD video by CIA Chef Scott Samuel and some special guest chefs.

Sponsored by the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative, “The Professional Chef Discovers Maine Lobster” takes viewers to the coastal waters of Maine as lobstermen pull up their catches and into the kitchens of the CIA’s Greystone campus in Napa Valley.

Green Tomato: How the Sun Can Power a Bakery

Monday, 03 November 2014 03:00

A successful, time-honored business in Northern California projects saving 65% of current energy usage thanks to a new solar-energy system it recently installed, helping to shape the future of the baking industry.

Sugar Bowl Bakery, one of the largest family- and minority-owned bakeries operating in the United States, recently installed solar modules and electric vehicle-charging stations to increase the energy efficiency of the facility. With the installation of a photovoltaic system, Sugar Bowl Bakery, located in the Bay Area, will have the capacity to produce 700,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year, which offsets 65% of the facility’s current electricity usage.

Sugar Bowl Bakery’s decision to incorporate cutting-edge and renewable technology within its factory will help shape the future of the baking industry.

Guest Speaker: How I Would Change the World through Food

Tuesday, 07 October 2014 13:29

On its 80th anniversary, Kendall College’s president envisions a future in which everyone worldwide with a passion for food may pursue their dreams to cook professionally.

By Emily Williams Knight

Kendall College’s School of Culinary Arts exists to create agents of change, not only in Chicago and the Midwest, but across the country and globe. We teach people with a passion for food how to put that passion in play in ways that extend far beyond creating convivial social experiences for people.

Our graduates have the power to greatly enhance a community’s health and well-being. They leave our campus with ardent commitment to serving and protecting the environment that sustains us. These newly minted professionals, trained in the art of culinary and the business of securing and preparing high-quality food for others, can also help alleviate that which keeps populations worldwide adequately fed yet severely malnourished.

Given the immense potential of trained culinarians to bring significant, positive change to all corners of the planet, we in the United States and many other nations are fortunate that a relatively newfound respect for chefs coupled with increasing love of and fascination with all things culinary extends throughout our respective cultures—making it easier to enact real, worthwhile change.

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